Heretical Fishing

Book 2: Chapter 84: Ambush

With the morning sun peeking its orange-hued rays through the trees above, Cinnamon wiggled her cute little tail. Small as her task may be, she was excited to be included in the mission. She took one last bite of her sugarcane stalk, licking up every last drop of its sweet juices. She swallowed, the chi-enhanced stalk making her body tingle with power.

Despite how powerful she had become, some of her base instincts remained. Nothing within the forest could hope to hurt her, yet she still hopped silently through the underbrush, feeling much more at ease when tucked away from sight. Lucky for her, that’s where the things she hunted also liked to hide. They were prickly things, so each time she found one within the leaf litter, she’d bat it into her small sack with a paw, taking care not to strike any of the spines.

Though she never doubted her own ability to harvest them, she hadn’t anticipated just how many of them she’d find. The sun had only been up for an hour or so, and she’d already filled her sack multiple times, depositing her harvest in a specialty box designed by Ellis and the woodworkers each time it became full. After another two bushes, it was time to deposit again. She hopped back to the box, leaping up its odd-shaped sides to get to the top. Marveling at how weird a construction it was, she popped the latch open and dumped her harvest inside. As she fixed the latch in place again, she peered in through one of the many slits lining the box. In spite of how many she’d harvested, the vast majority of the box was still empty.

A grin crossed her little bunny face. She didn’t have much time, but she would make sure to fill as much of the container as possible. For her master, for her friends, and for every member of the congregation, she would do this task.

With resolve steeling over her features, she launched herself back toward the trees, intent on gathering even faster than before.

***

I leaped from branch to branch, the midday sun peeking through the leafy canopy I occupied. Borks and Maria joined me, sprinting from tree to tree at inhuman speed.

“Uh, Fischer?”

I glanced at Maria as I leaped from a particularly thick branch. “What’s up?”

I was leaning forward, my arms trailing behind. “What? You’ve never seen the Naruto run before?”

She narrowed her eyes, unimpressed with the reference we both knew she wouldn’t get.

“I thought it might be more efficient now that I’m a cultivator and all, but it still feels pretty awkward.”

“Well, it can’t feel worse than it looks.”

I laughed so hard at the unexpected jab that I fumbled the landing on the next branch, falling to the floor and having to abort my Naruto run lest I slam head-first into the ground. I skidded to a stop on all fours, and an opportunist took advantage of my positioning. Borks flew in under my legs, assaulting my chin with a barrage of licks.

“Stop!” I laughed, squirming to get away.

He followed, his tail wagging as the assault continued. Maria rescued me by scooping Borks up into a hug. She cradled him like a baby. He accepted his fate, resting his head on her shoulder as he panted to catch his breath.

“Do you want lunch soon?” I asked, smiling at them.

Borks’s head shot around at the mention of food, his ears perking up.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” I checked the map Ellis had given us. “If we’re where I think we are, the next village is just over the next hill. And just past that...”

“The river?” Maria asked. “There’s no way we traveled that far already, is there?”

“Pretty sure we have. If the village is where I think it is, the river will be just west of there.”

With our energy reserves receiving a booster shot of excitement, we took off once more. A couple of minutes later, we caught sight of the village. It was the biggest one yet, its houses sprawling across the distance of a valley. We kept our distance from it, circling wide to the south. When we got to the other side of the valley and crested the hill there, Maria turned to me.

“That means the river is close, right?” Her eyes grew intense. “Do we have time to fish?”

“We’re almost halfway to the capital already and don’t have to be there until tomorrow night. We can spend the rest of the day, and then some, fishing.”

She did a little happy dance, a strand of hair falling from behind her ear that she didn’t bother sweeping back into place. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

We tore down the hill, and as we emerged from the trees on the river’s bank, we all came to a stop. As beautiful as my home in Tropica was, the vista we stumbled upon might give it a run for its money. Unlike the water that sometimes turned murky in the river mouth, the water in the river was crystal clear. Smooth rocks lined the riverbed, their gray uniformity somehow stunning beneath the sparkling surface. The sun, directly above us in the cloudless sky, beamed its life down on all we saw.

“Beautiful...” Maria said.

“Thank you! Not so bad yourself.”

She slapped me on the arm lightly, but couldn’t fully hide her smile. “Let’s set the rods up. I’m starving.”

***

As the sun set over the western mountains, Bill couldn’t help but swell with pride.

He had covered a vast stretch of coast, getting even further than he imagined possible. With every beach, cove, rocky cliff, and mangrove swamp he crossed, his formation grew. They were nearing a thousand strong now, already exceeding the numbers necessary for the plan. There were still a full two days to gather more strength, and as he pictured how large the formation could grow, a shiver ran down his spine, continuing toward the tips of his mighty wings.

He, as well as the congregation, had assumed that with each addition to the formation, controlling them would become even more difficult. They couldn’t have been more wrong. Their burgeoning numbers made them stay closer together, their surrounding brethren seeming to give them a sense of security as they migrated. There were still times when sections attempted to scatter, of course, and just as he was wondering when next it would occur, it happened. A full third split off toward the west, following the lead of one misguided fellow. Faster than the formation’s eyes could register, Bill appeared on the ground in front of them, kicking up sand with two mighty beats of his wings. They rejoined the main group, and all became right in the world.

Bill rode an unseen column of warm air back into the sky, and as he stabilized high above the coast, he felt a power approaching from behind. He glanced back, a content smile coming to his face when he saw who it was. Pelly was a kilometer back, rocketing toward him at incredible speed. So swift was her passage that within the space of two wing beats, she was over him. Rather than stop, though, she kept going. His grin widened, and before she could get too far away, he honked to get her attention.

She jolted, spreading her wings wide and flapping backward to halt her passage. With a furiously blushing pouch, she came down to meet him, her eyes averted. Bill shook his head with wry amusement, letting out an understanding honk in an attempt to ease her shame. He, too, sometimes lost himself when shooting along unseen winds high above the ocean. It was natural—a remnant of their animalistic origins.

Pelly let out a honk of her own, telling Bill she was ready to take over the formation. Giving her an appreciative nod, he dove toward the ground, swooping past the formation’s edges to bring them tighter together. With one last wave toward Pelly, he veered off toward a rocky cliff in the far distance. Letting off some steam, he shot toward it, his enhanced wings crossing leagues in the time a regular pelican could travel meters. He found a nice little crevice that shielded him from the elements and tucked himself inside, settling down to sleep.

***

Beneath a blanket of stars, Claws skipped along a dirt road while dragging a makeshift sled behind her lithe body.

Her day had been wonderfully productive, and as she glanced back at the dozen creatures lying unconscious on her sled, she let out a toothy grin. While she had never once doubted her ability to complete the task, her clandestine skills had surprised even herself. She’d accumulated dozens upon dozens of them, which, considering she only took the largest and ugliest of each group, was no small feat. Among their kind, her captives were bruisers that could conquer entire ecosystems, yet all it took was a tap on the head for Claws to render them unconscious.

Her attention drifted to the beautiful sky above. There wasn’t a cloud in sight. A crescent moon beamed its blue light down on the surrounding trees, granting them—

Weight shifted on the sled. Claws spun, ready for violence.

One of the creatures had awoken. It shook its head groggily, getting to all fours. Claws saw the moment it registered the other unconscious bodies of its kind; the creature's eyes went wide. It bunched its muscles, crouching to gather strength and flee far from this place of terror. Claws sent a tiny little zap of lightning chi its way, so small that the unawakened eye wouldn’t even register it. It hit the creature at the base of the skull, hitting its ‘reset button’, as her master would say. The creature collapsed back to the sled, once more in a state of slumber.

Trilling a little song to herself, Claws continued back to the cart that Ellis had designed and the crafters had made for her. Unlike the one made for Cinnamon, hers was designed for her to carry it. She could only do so under the cover of night, obviously, so time was of the essence. Claws wondered how Cinnamon and the pelicans were doing. While she wished them luck with their tasks, she intended to hunt so many of her quarry that her ascended friends’ efforts seemed paltry.

Claws’s toothy grin turned predatory as she reached the cart. With lightning-enhanced limbs, she threw each captured creature into the cage, wedged her sled in a place it wouldn’t get dislodged, then grabbed the handle and tore off along the road, trilling a happy little song all the way.

***

With a stomach full of fish and flavor of the jungle perch still lingering on my tongue, I let out a content sigh.

“Agreed,” Maria said, resting her head on my shoulder.

Borks let out a similar noise, rolling onto his back beside me and offering his belly up for a good rubbing. We’d spent the entire day swimming, fishing, and relaxing, even sneaking in a cheeky sun nap in the late afternoon. The fish had been the perfect thing to top it all off, and despite the minor disappointment of not discovering a new species in the river’s waters, it was nowhere near enough to besmirch the rest of the day’s joy.

“Want some juice?” Maria asked, glancing up at me.

“I would love some.”

She gave me a kiss on the cheek before standing and stretching. “Back in a moment.”

She went over to the tent and started rummaging through our bags. Borks bolted upright, his ears at attention.

“What’s up, Borks? Did you hear—”

Something metallic reflected the campfire’s light as it flashed from behind the tent. A man, covered head to toe in dark-green cloth, held a spear to Maria’s torso.

“Don’t move,” he ordered, his lean muscles poised to plunge the jagged spear into Maria's side.