The battle came to a close quickly after. The Magnate that had taken the form of a troll had finished his opponent first and succinctly killed the nearest mountain lion; the same one that Harper had shot initially. From there, the larger mother lion was surrounded and taken down.
Afterward, the party moved efficiently, gathering up the wounded and keeping an eye out for further threats. The worst of the injuries was the man that had been gouged in front of her. He was tended to by a fellow ranger, someone with experience in field medicine.
The green clothed woman slathered on a poultice over his wounds. It was probably a minor alchemical paste, something Harper hoped to be able to make after enough practice. The medicine would speed up the healing and stave off infection. Hopefully it would shave off a few days of his recovery time. Everyone else walked away with small scratches or bruises at most.
The corpses were the next priority. They were skinned and the cores extracted. All the valuable parts were stored into the various party members’ aetherspaces. Once they got back to Mentril, the parts would be appropriated by the ranger’s organization, and they would be given a bonus based on their contributions and the total spoils.
While Haper was helping dissect the mountain lion she had killed, she noticed her fellow couriers, Mister and Missus Gunter, glaring and making the sun and star sign at her. It was their right hand splayed over their diaphragm, with their left fist balled up in front of it. It was meant to convey the sun in front of the stars.
The sun and star sign was used by practitioners of the Solian and Clarmian branches of the Lumiantary religion. It was used to ward off evil, usually those who used the Lunar Domain. Their issue with her was not due to her noble blood, at least not just that. It was with her house, which was known for their specialty with the Domain of Moon. Her glowing blade only served to highlight this.
In absence of the earrings that showed ones associated religions, she wasn’t sure which they followed, but she could guess. Considering that they weren’t frothing at the mouth and swearing at her, Harper judged that they were Clarmians.
Both branches detested those who used the Lunar Domain, seeing it as blasphemy, but the hatred of Solians was on another level. Both religions came from southeastern Magnon, from two countries that almost had enough theological conflict to compare to the wars and crusades in Canjor.
She was tempted to make her own branch’s religious sign back at them; the eclipse. Similar to the others, it was shown with hands pressed to the diaphragm, though instead of one being splayed representing a star, both were fists, representing the moon covering the sun.
She refrained; those who followed Luxalism should conduct themselves with grace. The other branches had lost themselves long ago and no longer worshipped as the Great Father and Mother intended. It wouldn’t do to throw out the holy symbol at the slightest provocation.
Harper looked down her nose at them and pointedly turned away. Trying to maintain good relations with them would be useless. Better that she just ignore them from now on and hope others in the couriers wouldn’t be swayed by their misguided persecution. She returned to her task: skinning the mountain lion.
In only a short time, everything was taken care of. The two Magnates of the delegation were debating as to whether to stay the rest of the night, find a new campsite, or forgo rest until the next night. Eventually, they decided on the first. By the time they moved to a new area and set up camp again, it would nearly be morning, and they wanted to be in peak condition when the party met the tribe.
There was a risk that creatures would be attracted by the recent fight, and the cores they now carried, but it had been enough time with no danger that it was deemed safe as anywhere else in the wilderness. The largest risk was that a Magnate creature would detect the cores and attack them. The further they went into efferan territory, the more likely this was. So, staying in place was the best option for the night.
Harper and Amelia had the misfortune of being on the next and last watch. They would have to make do with what rest they had managed. Luckily, the rest of the night passed in peace, and they were on their way in the morning. They expected to reach the tribe in the late afternoon, but they saw early signs of civilization, primitive, in Harper’s opinion, but still civilization.
They followed a trail that was too large and worn to be a game trail, but lacking any signs or markings. It wove around most obstructions, not cutting through as most roads in the north had. Old tracks, belonging to a variety of creatures were left in dried mud.
In the early morning, they passed an abandoned tree fort. It was built atop an intersection of sturdy trees and wasn’t much more than planks tightly bound above the branches. No ladder or rope granted access. It would be unnecessary, efferan claws, small they may be, granted them excellent climbing ability. The structure was in an ideal place to watch the surrounding area.
It was likely a leftover from the conflict between the colonies and the tribes. Several in the area went on the offensive when Arboren and New Golvoran were founded. That was decades ago though. Now, a relative peace had been made, and relations had been opened.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Only a couple hours away from the tribe, they were spotted by an efferan. The tribe would know that the delegation was arriving, but not the exact day that they were going to. The party only saw the retreating figure of one of its members, probably running ahead to notify the tribe and send out a party to meet with them.
Sure enough, only a short time before they arrived in the tribe’s territory, a group waited for them. No weapons were drawn, but the hands of both parties rested on their weapons and a light tension settled over both. Trading and communication there may have been, but relations could not be called overly friendly.
The efferans were a people surprisingly similar in appearance to humans, more so than atorans and ranvas, but less so than tetrans and labuntans. The most obvious difference lay in their skin; most of the tribe''s party bore green skin, though there were a few tan colored people. Not the pale tan common on humans, but a tan the color of sand or desert rock.
The efferans’ skin was not a single color like humans, nor a distinct pattern of stripes or spots like the natives of Zecura. Instead, the color was in a blended pattern of lighter and darker shades. It may have been best described as a ‘camouflage’ pattern.
The delegation''s leader, a woman by the name of Amice Green, swung off her horse and walked forward. She spoke in a language Harper had never heard before. It was unsurprising, there were dozens of languages spoken by the native people.
The leader of the efferans dismounted and stepped forward as well, greeting them in Quilish. His accent was thick, but not so much that she couldn’t understand him. “And may your eyes spot the elusive prey. I greet you and welcome you to our lands.” Harper wondered what that first part was about. It sounded like it was a ritualistic response to something Missus Green had said.
Most of the remaining tension died down and the delegation walked forward, leaving only a few yards between parties. Without any fanfare, they were motioned forward and followed the efferans.
Harper continued her study of the native people. Every one of them had hair that was surprisingly long, absurdly so in her opinion. It reached their lower waist, just above the thighs. Their hair wasn’t left to swing freely though, it was gathered into a single, if wide strand and bound at the end.
She squinted at the pale object that was tied with all their hair. Is that a... fish tail bone? She confirmed her observations when the woman she was looking at paused for a moment. The bone had a funnel carved on its end and the hair was threaded through and tied in place.
As to the rest of their apparel, Harper would have been scandalized at their immodesty if they weren''t an entirely foreign race. Most of them, men and women, wore only a woven skirt to cover themselves. They were loose-fitting garments in the colors of water, mainly blue and green. Supposedly, you could tell an efferans tribal allegiances with a glance just by being familiar with their clothing. They were prolific weavers, and each tribe made their own clothing with certain colors and patterns.
Of the few that wore more than this, they wrapped themselves in the skins of animals, mainly seals and beavers if she had to guess. Likely, it was to keep warm. They were still in a relatively warm part of the year and the areas high humidity helped to mitigate any chill that may arise, but those who had few Domains were more susceptible. Harper herself had brought along her coat.
The only other wearable they possessed were animal skin pouches to hold supplies, and bandoliers to stow weapons and tools.
They carried several weapons, most made of bone. Long pieces sharpened and turned into spears, small bows made of ribs, and daggers or shivs fashioned from smaller bones, but she did spot the occasional firearm. She knew from her studies that this was typical weaponry for most efferan tribes.
Where other continents developed metal and wood weapons, those on Vanax had learned how to maintain and elevate the parts of creatures. Such would be ineffective with mundane bones, but the enhanced skeletons of Domain creatures and versatility of aethercrafts enabled some creative applications.
Only an hour later, they reached the shore of a large lake. In the distance, Harper could barely make out structures on the water. Squinting her eyes, she tried to make out details, but it was no use from this distance.
She turned her attention to the shoreline, where two large rafts waited. Are some of us staying here? she wondered. There was no way that the rafts would fit all of both parties, maybe half of them.
The efferans began wading into the water, but they did not make their way to the rafts, instead, all but a few of them began to transform. Shifting into aethereal light, the delegation watched as they took the forms of various creatures inclined to the aquatic.
About three quarters turned into large fish, the smallest being her size, and the biggest looking to be nine feet long. The most common variety of fish having ribbed sides and whisker-like barbels, single Domain catfish. Of the rest, she saw a couple otters, a crawdad, and even a snake, one not too different from the Alius now in her aetherspace.
One of the those who transformed was obviously a Magnate. The elderly man shifted into a fish almost thrice as large as the others, a primepiscis. Like birds and a few other species, there were so many two Domain fish varieties that picking out a specific type was difficult, so they were given a catch-all name.
The fish he transformed into looked like a more advanced version of the catfishes. The barbel protruding from the fish''s face looked larger, and sharpened to points at the end. The Magnate swam towards one of the rafts and slipped into a harness attached to it, controlling the water to do so. He used what she quickly identified as the Apex Aquatic Domain to help the other fish do likewise. It seemed that they would be carried to their destination.
The delegation split into two and boarded the rafts, leaving the horses with a couple rangers who stayed on the shoreline and began to set up camp. A few of the efferans stayed in their human forms and boarded the rafts as well. One of these was the leader of the party who had spoken to them earlier. Even though he had not shifted into an Alius, Harper was willing to bet that he was a Magnate as well.
They rode in relative quiet, only faint murmurings emitting from the delegation. Harper kept well away from the water and sat quietly, not wanting to accidentally fall in or somehow offend the natives.
It took only an hour to reach their destination. Soon, the details of the floating village became clearer. She was expecting the buildings to be made of wood, but the reality turned out to be much stranger. Are those... fish corpses?