The night came and went.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Damien and Jack found the cave, built a fire, and slept under the protection of a wind barrier Damien conjured as an alarm system. When morning broke, they set out on the mountain pass. The terrain had flattened—no longer steep ledges, but arching white walls that imprisoned the road in its middle.
As the brothers walked, the Great Divide was strangely quiet. It had been strangely quiet all night, too—no screams, no roars, nothing besides rustling leaves and the occasional locust chirp.
I guess that in itself is a little strange. Aren't locusts usually found in warmer places?
Damien pondered while kicking a rock. He had kicked the same rock up the icy road for miles now, not losing it once—a feat he was rather proud of.
To his right, Jack shuffled near the mountain's wall, munching on a banana and shivering from the cold in his too-large coat. He was obviously uncomfortable.
Damien's brows furrowed.
The little runt couldn't look gloomier.
As he opened his mouth to needle his little brother, he froze. Through the wind barrier he'd maintained as they walked, he sensed movement a mile ahead. From the limited details, there seemed to be six people all clustered in a circle, slashing weapons at what he could only assume was a large magical beast.
What to do? What to do?
After a moment's reflection and feeling the minuscule weight of the food bag slung over his shoulder, Damien said,
"A mile away, six people are fighting a magical beast. Let's go check it out."
Jack groaned. "Why? We should just wait, brother. Wait for them to slay the beast, and we can continue our journey safely. I don't see a reason to risk ourselves for nothing."
"You're mistaken, brother. Where there are people, there is opportunity."
A brisk run later, the brothers were onlookers in an epic battle. They were sprawled on the cold ice, barely peeking over the top of a hill. Catching his breath, Damien looked ahead to the flat resting area where, indeed, five humans, all dressed in skimpy clothing, were circling around a mangled black wolf.
The resting area was oval-shaped and small, with only an entrance and an exit parallel to each other, Damien and Jack at the entrance.
But worse than that was that the bloody wolf wasn't a magical beast.
The wagon they were kicked off had collapsed by the exit, and the horse had been butchered.
The black wolf was the shitty druid.
And he was about to die.
"What should we do? That's the druid, right?" Jack whispered.
Damien didn't know what to do. In fact, he was sure this was the worst possible situation. If the strangers were fighting a magical beast, he would have lent a helping hand, because he was a benevolent soul—or at least benevolent enough if there was a reward involved.
However, only one type of crazy would attack a druid.
Poachers.
There was no good way to deal with poachers. After all, they would harvest Damien and Jack if they figured out his race.
The blood of the seven blessed races was a valuable commodity.
"A druid hasn't wandered into my neck of the woods in a long while. Stay still, you'll make for a good steak."
Damien was about to say they should leave when a guttural voice snared his attention. The black wolf was backed into a corner, his tail brushing the right wall.
The burly man who spoke was in the middle of the poachers' semicircle. Step by step, the semicircle constricted, spears raised.
Wait... did he say steak?
Fuck me. Poachers and cannibals... this day couldn't get any worse.
Low growls rumbled as the wolf lunged at one of the henchmen, biting his arm before dodging another spear thrust. With jutted bones, a mangled face, and deep pooling blood at his feet, it was miraculous that the druid clung to life.
"Agh, god damnit!"
"I told you to be careful," the burly man scolded.
Then he lunged, his spear aimed at the black wolf's head. His movements were slow... too slow.
It's bait!
Trapped with the desire to live, the druid could not see as clearly as Damien and Jack, who were spectators watching from afar, able to see the battle unfold with almost omnipotent clarity.
Wind gathered, building into powerful gusts. However, a second later, they died.
Damien let the wind die at his fingertips.
As a result, the druid was unexpectedly impaled by two spears from opposite sides. He let out a cry that echoed over the mountain pass, and his black wolf's body fell limp to the ice, dead.
"Brother, why?" Jack's expression was shocked. He'd expected Damien to help the druid, as his brother had always been kind-hearted throughout their childhood. But maybe his kindness had limits?
Damien looked at Jack solemnly.
"We couldn't help him, brother. He was almost dead with one foot in the grave, and I won't ever risk your life for someone else, because you are the most important thing to me. I won't lose someone I care about again..."
Damien paused, and something dark flickered across his face. "Let's go. We might be able to climb around the trap further back."
Jack was stunned by his brother's words. He'd never heard him speak with so much maturity before... it was reassuring. Their journey would be long, and if Damien acted recklessly at every inconvenience, then they'd end up like the druid sooner rather than later.
"You can come out. We can feel your presence." The burly poacher's voice thundered.
For a moment, the brothers didn't move, clinging to the icy road as if it were an invisibility cloak.
Then a woman's voice called out, sharper than the wind. "I'm an Elementalist. I can feel you on the hill with my wind."
Shit!
Damien pondered his two options. Run and hope that Jack would be fast enough to escape. Unlikely.
That only leaves...
He sighed.
If I knew they could sense us, I would have helped the druid. Oh well, I can at least buy Jack time to escape.
Standing, he brushed off the ice from his fur clothes and looked at his brother.
"Go back to the cave. I'll come find you when it's all over."
"Don't! Brother, please—we can both run!" Jack pleaded.
But Damien ignored him, instead turning to the poachers with a serious expression.
"Are you all ready to die?"