Liquid Gold

With the help of the orc tribe, we managed to track down the beehive on a tree that they had seen before. It was actually massive. You could fill a barrel with that, and still have some beehive left over.

“Flashfreeze!” Sybille cast out.

The beehive froze over with light frost, and the bees inside went to a deep sleep.

“Okay!” said Sybille. “Now, get it down!”

“Of course,” said our new orc friend.

He walked towards the tree with two of his buddies, all readily equipped with axes and bags.

As it turned out, the orc’s name was Rocksplitter. And what was more, he was actually half-orc. His mother was a human who fell in love with an orc man, and after a rendezvous in the night, returned to the village with Rocksplitter in her belly. Alas, human settlements are not too kind to orcs and their kin. They may not be able to hurt them, as they are still protected by the rebound effect, but that does not stop them from discriminating. When it became too evident what Rocksplitter was, he and his mother were exiled from the village. They together went to the father’s clan and had been together ever since. Rocksplitter’s parents had long since passed away, but he still honored their memories. It was his mother who had taught him the Common Tongue.

“Heave-ho!” went Rocksplitter, cutting off the branch where the beehive was.

The beehive fell right into the beg held by the other two orcs, who quickly tied it up, and brought it to us.

“There you go,” said Rocksplitter, jumping down from the tree branch. “Good luck catching that goat.”

“Thank you so much, Rocksplitter!” said Sybille.

I grabbed the bag from his friends.

“I thank you as well,” I added.

“You are welcome,” said Rocksplitter. “Anything for someone who helps my tribe.”

I gave him a light bow, and turned my way down the trail of the mountain. Just as we were about to leave, however…

“That is…” muttered Sybille.

Her eyes were locked on something dripping from the severed branch of the tree.

“Is something wrong?” Rocksplitter asked her.

“Uhm, Rocksplitter,” she said, “could I ask you to collect that thing from me?”

She pointed towards the dark ooze slowly dripping from the tree.

“Ah…” said Rocksplitter. “Of course. We will see it done.”

***

It was time for the rematch.

With a bag of honey on my back, our sights on the goat, and our united to take i t. The Sacred Beast was eating the wheat carried on the back of an unfortunate merchant’s wagon. It was in the middle of the road, just outside the city gates, enjoying its moment to the fullest.

“Hey, you goat!” I shouted.

“Great Heidrun!” added Sybille.

The goat turned towards us, warily. I produced the beehive out from my bag and tore off a chunk for her.

“Well?” I said. “How about it? It is good, isn’t it?”

I slowly walked towards her as I showed her that chunk of honeycomb. The Great Heidrun sniffed the honeycomb, and then, took a bite out of it from my hand, leaving me coated with her saliva.

“Baa…” she bleated meekly.

She liked it, it seemed.

“Here, here,” I said. “Plenty more…”

As I reached out for my bag, the giant goat stuck her face into my bag whole and went feeding herself directly. That worked too, I suppose.

“You got her!” said Sybille.

“Almost,” I said. “I just need to…”

I reached for the rope. It was still bound around her neck. The moment I grabbed it, however…

“BAAH!”

Heidrun, unfortunately, got very mad about it again. She tackled me, knocked me down to the ground, then down on the merchant’s wagon, and then ran away.

“Not so fast!” shouted Sybille.

She flew around and cast a massive wall of stone to emerge from the ground, impeding the goat’s path.

“Bah!”

The Sacred Beast turned tail, and ran again, but this time… towards the gate.

“She is running towards the city!” I said.

“We have to stop her!”

She flew in the chase of the legendary goat. I rolled over unto my feet, and went after the two of them as well. Sybille and Heidrun went right through the city gates and into the town. The holy goat trashed around the place, sending clamor all across the streets. She trampled over stalls, knocked over hay figures, and ate the hats of unwary villagers.

Sybille grabbed the rope.

“I got you… now!” said Sybille. "Oh, no, no, no! Waah!"

She was pulled towards the goat. Unable to stop herself from the fall, Sybille fell right unto the Sacred Beast's back.

Silence.

The havoc of the town was reduced to a quiet still, and the goat went completely still.

“Bah,” said the holy goat.

She lied down unto the ground, relaxed, took a bite out from some laundry, and let Sybille lay with ease on her back.

“Huh?” said Sybille.

A city-wide cheer struck across the streets.

“The Harbinger of Light has come!” roared the townsfolk.

“We are saved!” they added.

Sybille’s face was like that of a deer caught in headlights.

“Eh?” she said. “EEEEH?!”

The goat liked her, as it turned out.