Chapter 27: How to Win Friends and Influence People

Kaius sat on the cavern floor, jagged rocks digging into his back. The natural stone made a poor backrest, but his chain vest saved him from the worst of discomfort. He’d moved over from the entrance to the portal room, shifting to the side so as to not block the meles from an exit.

He was, after all, trying to convince it he was friendly. So far it had gone okay.

The greater beast sat across the cavern from him. Thin pools of stagnant water and the corpses of fish in varying stages of decomposition layered the ground between them. Remnants from both of their entrances to the depths, and those of prior ones.

Settled down on to its haunches, the meles eyed him with a quiet intensity as it rested its head on its front paws. As they had talked, the creature’s fur had begun to dry out. Returning to a dense fluffy halo of red tapering to black. It – he, Kaius reminded himself – looked so bloody soft.

The flickering mental connection that the meles had forged between them pulsed as it transmitted more thoughts and sensations to him. As their chat had progressed, Kaius had been getting better at parsing the information into something resembling language. That, or the meles’ sharp mind had been able to pick up on how he structured communication, and was making it easy for him.

“So they chased you from your hunting grounds, challenging your Patriarch without honour?” The almost words echoed with notes of indignation for the bandits’ offence. Kaius nodded emphatically.

“Yeah, and now I – we – are trapped down here. At least until I am strong enough to deal with the Guardian. If I wait for my class that’s going to be about two years,” He responded, frustration creeping into his tone as he thought of the yawning length of time ahead of him.

“You are not yet grown? But you are larger than those … vermin… that trapped us down here?” The meles words carried overtures of confusion, a biting venom suffusing its emotions as its mind had drifted over the bandits.

Kaius laughed. One he quickly cut off as the meles jumped slightly at the sudden noise.

“Sorry about that. It means I’m amused.” Kaius gingerly scratched the back of his head. Snorting in acknowledgement, the meles settled back down.

“Most peoples like my own, human or otherwise, are already full grown for a couple of years before we gain our class. Like I said, mine is two years off.” He continued.

With a chitter the meles ever so slightly cocked his head at him. “I see.. It is somewhat different for us beasts. A full connection to the ancestral power brings with it … significant changes. I am a summer or two off from it myself.”

Pushing off with its back legs, the meles dipped into a deep leaning stretch before it fully rose to its feet. It took a sniff and sneezed, pawing at its nose.

“The fish here are disgusting, take me to your den.” It demanded, its imperious tone unable to hide the undercurrent of uncertainty in its emotions. Kaius shot back a warm smile, making sure to hide his teeth. He’d made sure the meles knew it was a friendly gesture, but it had yet to fully get over its discomfort at the sight of a grin.

“I’d love to.”

Kaius stifled a chuckle as the meles huffed in frustration as its heavy body slowly skidded down the scree slope, a great cloak of dust billowing out behind it.

He found it impossible to forget what the creature was, but he also couldn’t deny just how young the creature came across as. Even the size of a small bear, he didn’t miss that its paws seemed just a little too oversized, its demeanour flicking to anxiously scan the tree line just a little too often.

He lengthened his steps, feet sinking deep into the loose gravel. Pulling up alongside the greater beast, he laid his hand on its shoulder. Fingers sunk deep into hyper dense fur as he gave it a pat.

“It’s okay, I’ve already cleared out this area of the glade. Even if something has wandered back in, I have yet to find something I haven’t been able to handle myself. With the two of us, we would be more than okay – if we are careful.”

The meles huffed, but leaned back into his touch all the same.

“I know that! It’s just… The Matriarchs warned me off this place, at least until I had reached the next stage of life.” The meles light touch on his mind bringing with it the sight of a massive beast, easily towering over the younger creature. The image radiated with the familiar certainty of safety. Smelled of home.

Kaius stiffened as the blare of a system notification dragged at his attention.

**Ding! General Skill Available! Would you like to learn: Empathetic Communication (Uncommon)?**

“No.” He thought, quickly dismissing the prompt. Attention turned back to the meles as he scratched its shoulder, luxuriating in the softness of its coat as the individual fibres parted between his hands, bunching between his fingers with a feather light touch. He had the strange sense that he must be dreaming, who got to actually pet a greater meles?

Dragging his focus back to their conversation, his fingers continued to twist through its fur absentmindedly.

“Your mother?” He asked.

“No,” the meles snorted. “Matriarch, the oldest mothers of the den. Keepers of knowledge, and ruiners of all fun.”

They reached the bottom of the slope, quickly pushing into the trees that grew with density as they got further into the glade.

“She said that the Guardians were too strong, that it was littered with obstacles designed for those who walked on two legs. Without the strength to simply overwhelm everything before you, you would simply get trapped, and eventually starve.” The meles tried to hide it, but Kaius caught the undercurrent of fear that thrummed across the connection the creature had forged with him.

“Ah, that. The Guardian is going to be a problem, but it is one that we do not need to rush into. They stay in their chambers, and we can wait until we have a surety of success before we challenge it.” Kaius said reassuringly.

“As for obstacles… I assume your Matriarch was talking about traps. I haven’t seen any yet, but if we come across them I have a skill to both detect and disarm them. We should be fine.”

The meles huffed in response, an image of a stable and secure burrow with thick walls flicking across, an undercurrent of gratitude and resolve shining through.

Up ahead, Kaius spied another one of the gladeplum trees. He stopped for a moment, taking the opportunity to fill up his pack with several of the delicious fruits.

The meles approached, sniffing one of the cracked, almost scaly, exteriors of the purple fruit. Its eyes widened, backing up as it batted at its nose with one paw.

Poison! It said with suspicion, eying kaius as its lips peeled back to reveal a hint of teeth as the hair on its hackles stood on end.

“Woah buddy, I know!” He said, arms rising placatingly. “It’s not for you. The poison only puts you to sleep, and it’s a useful way for me to train one of my skills without too much danger.”

“You will not make me eat this?” Teeth were still revealed, but the hair on its neck and back flattened again.

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“Nope. Though it would be good if you could watch over me when I eat them.”

“Alright… Though eating poison seems silly.”

“Trust me, it’s better than the alternative.” A hint of grim certainty entered his voice.

The meles dropped the matter, simply watching as Kaius threw on his pack. The pair walked on, deeper into the glade.

After walking for a while longer, softly glowing foliage parted ahead of the pair. The break in the tree line revealed the edge of the wall that circled the church and its accompanying graveyard. It was a sight for sore eyes, Kaius breaking out into a wide smile as he took in the sight of his basecamp.

He jogged forward, waving to the startled meles to follow him.

“Come on! We’re here. I’ll get the fire started.” He said, jogging backwards for a few steps as he called out to his new companion.