Chapter Forty-Eight: Village 3

FORTY-EIGHT

They stumbled upon the walls of the village from one moment to the next. They’d fallen into a comfortable silence after Roan had put Taoya’s manuals in his pack, promising he’d look at them later. It hadn’t taken more than fifteen minutes of walking after that until they’d found it.

Twelve foot tall gray stone walls with crenelations and armed guards patrolling them. Every tree in a hundred feet from the walls had been felled, the grass mowed nearly to the soil. There was no way to hide or walk toward the walls without being seen.

“Well, that’s interesting. Think it’s the saferoom?” Taoya asked as he leaned against a tree, ten feet away from the demarcation line. Roan shrugged and started circling the area without speaking, Taoya following him as they circled the tall walls.

“Those aren’t human guards,” Roan said, looking at the patrolling figures. They were humanoid, but something about them was off. It took a minute but he realized it was a perspective problem. These creatures were too short, their arms and heads too small for a human.

“Yeah. Another variety of mob?” Taoya asked as they reached the far side of the cleared area. Here was a pair of massive wooden gates that worked as the entrance of the area.

“They are,” a voice said from right behind them. Roan spun, instincts screaming at him as he attacked without hesitation. The massive warhammer whistled through the air toward where the voice had come from. Taoya cursed and jumped, leaping ten feet in a burst of light.

Roan’s arms jarred as the warhammer was stopped in its tracks. A furry hand held the trembling weapon without effort. Roan’s eyes were locked on the hand’s owner, a female rabbit-kin who looked decidedly more human than the one who’d welcomed him to the tower.

“That’s not polite,” she said. There was an accent to her voice, something East Coast, maybe Boston? Roan couldn’t decide as his mind ran through everything he knew as he remembered the old rabbit-kin’s words at the entrance of the tower.

“They are not restricted by the tower level. They just can’t stop a climber. But they can defend themselves.” Roan instantly stopped struggling with the hammer, releasing it as the smaller creature smiled widely at him.

“Smarter than most,” she said cheerfully as she dropped the heavy weapon and turned her warm amber eyes toward Taoya.

“That was an impressive leap. But don’t make me chase you. Come here.” She was polite but firm, waving a mostly human hand toward the big man. He walked instantly toward her, bowing at the waist as he got closer.

“Forgive me, you startled me!” Taoya said, not looking up from the ground. The rabbit-kin just laughed and waved her hand in a dismissive motion.

“Don’t worry about it. Now, you have found Village Three, congratulations! I am the Mayor, Sheriff, and all other important positions. This is your saferoom where you can access the market as well as buy services from the mobs. This is my Village and I make the rules. Do you understand?”

“Of course. Your word is law!” Taoya said, still not looking up from the ground.

“I know they’re subservient to the beast-kin as originators of their bloodlines, but this is a bit much.” Roan kept that opinion to himself as he looked over the beast-kin.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

She was tall, nearly his height, and her body was mostly human. Definitely less rabbit-esque than the one who had greeted him. She had a stubby nose that twitched this way and that and long furry ears that came out of her brown hair which looked more like a mane of fur. She wore an armless tunic that was belted around her waist by a thick black belt, showcasing her muscular arms that had a thin layer of fur across them. Human hands though, four fingers and a thumb.