A Soldier's Life - 325 - A Manticore Hunting We Will Go

Chapter 325: A Manticore Hunting We Will Go

We waited three more days for the reunions to unfold as family members traveled to Eternis from across Stone Mountain Island. The Eternis Council released Maveith only when all the Returned were reunited with their immediate family, relatives, or relations. Maveith was used as a symbol of hope, courage and strength, and he despised it, still feeling guilty for running away.

Raelia made me attend the feasts and celebrations with her, and she was always annoyed the next day when I woke up rested and energetic while she had a hangover and was sore and exhausted from dancing.

I became well-known for my dancing, and my confidence in my footwork was due to from practicing my sword forms for many years. I was surprised that Raelia did not get jealous when the female goliaths got a little handsy when I danced with them as they tried to lead and guide our steps.

I spent my days with Konstantin, who introduced me to manticore hunters passing through the city. We talked about tactics and strategies. Today was special because a goliath named Navek was in the city. There were two clans that focused on manticore hunting, but Navek was unaffiliated and hunted alone. Konstantin organized the meeting, and we gathered in a small tavern by the stone pier.

Navek looked like all goliaths, but he had prominent scars on his face and shoulders. He was also missing his right arm below the elbow. As we sat across from him, his pale green eyes studied us. I recognized those eyes; they were the eyes of a predator, an angry predator.

“Order whatever you like, it’s the price for your time, I’ve been told,” Konstantin began. After we all ordered, Navek glanced at us expectantly. “You don’t look like much,” he stated. “Manticores are cunning beasts, the females more so, and if you think you are smarter than them, then you are already dead.”

I took that as my cue to place my manticore pouch on the table. Navek grunted, untied his own pouch, and set it down as well. His was noticeably larger. “Looks like you stretched it quite a bit,” Konstantin said suspiciously about Navek’s pouch.

I didn’t understand why Konstantin was provoking the goliath. This meeting was supposed to help us plan where to start hunting. Navek’s eyes narrowed, but then he laughed. “It may look like it, but the manticore I cut this from was so old his balls were practically dragging on the ground. He was mostly blind when I found him and put a spear through his eye.”

Navek picked up the pouch that Maveith had made. “Yours is from a sizable young bull. Impressive. Did you kill it yourself?” The question was clearly a test.

“No, but I helped kill it. I distracted it while my goliath friend broke its spine with his club,” I replied truthfully. “He made this for me as a sign of our friendship.”

Navek slowly nodded, accepting the explanation and handing back the pouch. “So, what information do you wish to know for the meal?”

Before the food was served, Konstantin asked some general questions, mostly confirming things we already knew to test Navek’s knowledge. I had ordered python steaks with a pineapple glaze. They tasted very similar to pork, but slightly chewier. Konstantin had some steamed clams and root vegetables. Our guest had a large lamb steak and had no trouble eating it with one hand.

“Why do you hunt manticores?” I asked, after our plates were mostly clean.

Navek took a long pull of water before answering. “They killed my brother’s family, my children, and then my wife. I have hunted them ever since, usually alone.” He acted like his profession choice was the most natural thing in the world.

“What method do you find the most successful?” Konstantin asked as a fellow professional.

Navek spoke earnestly, “Luring them to the ground with a corpse or shiny metal. They usually cannot resist the latter as they need a lot of iron in their diet to grow their tail spikes. Did you know they will consume their expended spikes once the battle is won to reclaim the metal?”

“No, I did not,” Konstantin said appreciatively of the information. “Do you attack at range with a bow?” Konstantin questioned.

“I set thin metal wire in the trees, hoping to damage their leathery wings. One good cut will keep them grounded. I hide, allowing them to wallow before presenting some dummies for the beast to expend its tail spikes on. If they charge at the dummies, I have snares set to restrict their movement. Only once the creature is bleeding and exhausted do I reveal myself. No arrows,” he held up his stump. “I throw thin, heavy spears with excellent penetration. I then let the beast tear its insides apart as it moves with the spear lodged in it.” Navek’s only arm was thick and muscled, even for a Goliath, and I could imagine the power and force behind his spear attacks.

“How do you think the island supports so many manticores?” Konstantin asked his burning question that no one had been able to answer.

Navek sucked his lunch from his teeth before responding. “There are two species of manticores on the island. The ones on the far end from here mostly hunt fish and eat shellfish. They are smaller, less intelligent, but harder to deal with since they only hunt in open areas and nest in open cliffs.” He paused to be dramatic. “Then there are those in the interior of the island. Larger, cunning, despicable beasts that torture their prey and seem impossible to wipe out. I think a dungeon is somewhere on the mountain releasing these manticores.”

Konstantin and I looked at each other. Maveith had said there were no dungeons on the island. “Where is the dungeon?” I asked, returning my attention to Navek.

Navek shook his head. “I don’t know. It could be high on one of the inaccessible peaks or in the depths of the Endless Dark. I have hunted the beasts long enough to recognize that their ugly visages as being too identical to be a coincidence. The problem is they are not very conversational when you are killing them.” The goliath chuckled darkly.

“Any ideas where it might be?” Konstantin asked, sipping casually on his water.

“I have searched for it for more than ten years. I've heard that dungeons can be destroyed. If there is a dungeon, and it's possible, the plague on my people will come to an end by my hand,” Navek stated determinedly. 

“Do the fishing manticores come from the dungeon as well?” I asked. I was figuring if there was a larger population on the other end of the island, then maybe the dungeon was there.

“I think those manticores are the descendants of the dungeon-released ones. I observed them for months. They are a more social breed and prefer to get their meals from the sea. They will attack small fishing boats, but don’t come near the flocks or clan villages.” He finished his water. “If you survive your hunting trip and find the dungeon, find me.” I almost wanted to laugh as he thought we only planned to hunt a single manticore.

“You sell the anti-poison?” Konstantin asked as it looked like Navek was getting ready to go.

“Ah, I do. Thirty gold a dose,” Navek said, and Konstantin winced. “The poison in their tail spikes is a vile thing. Most afflicted wish themselves dead rather than suffer. It eats away at the muscle, and the pain makes it difficult to move.”

“Nice sales pitch,” I said sardonically. I agreed that the poison was one of the worst things I had experienced on Desia. I placed one of my three platinum coins on the table. At first, Navek looked confused, but after tasting and inspecting the coin, he nodded. He set three murky gray vials on the table along with a filthy, large gold coin.

“Brewed them myself. They are good for at least another four months.” I nodded, swept up the antidotes, and placed them in my dimensional space.

After that, Konstantin presented Navek with a map he had purchased, and Navek showed us the best hunting spots on the island. He left us with a warning. “Don’t climb to the exposed parts of the mountain. It will attract the creatures, and you will have little defense against a spray of quills when they are flying a hundred yards above you.”

After he left, Konstantin ordered some ale. “Everything I’ve learned over the last few days suggests this is a fool's gambit, Eryk. Every hunt has the potential to end in disaster.”

“Do you have another way to help Castile?” I asked. Finding a dungeon with a steady supply of easy-to-kill monsters that dropped channeling essences would probably be better, but the Adventurers Guild heavily managed most dungeons, and you might only get one delve a week if you were lucky. I also didn’t know a single dungeon where channeling essences could be sourced. Returning to the Shimmering Labyrinth was a possibility with the kettle of souls, but none of us wanted to risk returning to the Empire.

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For most of the night, we had walked through the humid jungle to this hunting location. It was slightly above the dense jungle canopy, and we had secreted ourselves on the face of the mountain with a clear view of the trap.

Maveith’s bulky mass was squeezed into a shallow cave just below me. Raelia was concealed in her ranger’s cloak near a polished longsword, half-covered in the dirt. We had tried to make the lure as unnoticeable as possible. Konstantin was—well, I didn’t know where Konstantin was hiding; it was probably in another cave nearby. Baldo was securely tucked into my dimensional space. Konstantin had wanted to use the griffin as a lure, but Raelia wouldn’t have any of it.

My large cave smelled of stale urine and was littered with bone splinters. A manticore most likely used it as a lair within the last few months, but it was now vacant.

The plan was simple: a manticore would find the sword with the reflection of the rising sun, and then I would be the bait, targeting it with my bow. I would retreat into the cave, and the manticore would exhaust its quills on my cave while I hid behind air shields. It would land to finish me off. Raelia was the backup plan to ground the manticore with a fireball. Konstantin and Maveith would reveal themselves once the manticore came to my cave to snack on me.

The morning sun pulled the humidity of the jungle below up to us. I was sweating and glad for the cold stone inside the cave. I spotted a few dots in the distant sky that I confirmed were manticores with my spyglass, but none saw fit to fly over us. Maybe we should have used a dead goat as bait. Konstantin thought the sword was less conspicuous for the intelligent creatures. It was half drawn from a sheath and looked like it had been dropped.

We had discussed what to do if no manticores took the bait. We would wait till nightfall, regroup, move farther along the mountain face, and try again tomorrow. Hunting was a waiting game for flying creatures, as tracking them was difficult. Maveith sneezed below me, and unpleasant smells drifted up to me from his cave. It was going to be a long day.

Shortly before midday, we had our first manticore fly over our position. It didn’t stop and I didn’t think it had noticed the gleaming metal. But a few minutes later, it flew back in the other direction. It was scouting and looking for signs of a trap. Although we had purchased the thin metal wire Navek had suggested, we were not using it for this first hunt. It would be too obvious in the light of the sun, even with charcoal rubbed into it.

I pulled back further into the cave's darkness and readied my bow. The arrows were thicker than I was accustomed to, but I had practiced enough with them that I felt comfortable hitting a target at sixty yards.

The manticore was annoyingly patient. Crossing the area and circling on the updrafts from the steaming jungle. Its flight pattern drew a second manticore, and after a brief fight in the air, the second manticore was chased off. I thought that was a good sign that the first one was considering landing to claim the blade.

It was another hour before the creature felt comfortable landing. It was almost fifty yards from the blade and approached cautiously. There were no snares or traps, so I hoped it would be comfortable. I edged to the entrance and drew when the creature turned its back. I aimed for the shoulder joint that supported the wing.

My bow twanged, and another bow twanged below me. Not Maveith, so probably Konstantin. My arrow’s impact satisfactorily penetrated a few inches into the shoulder. Konstantin’s arrow had targeted the rib cage, hoping to get into the lungs. I don’t think it pierced far enough through, but it was hard to tell as the manticore screamed and roared in anger and pain. The feminine-like voice wailed, causing birds in the jungle to flee.

It tried to flap its leathery wings but quickly stopped as it twisted its horrid face to try to grab the shaft with its mouth. A second arrow left my bow, sinking into its flank. The tail whipped, and a dozen tail spikes rained toward my cave. I didn’t move, letting my air shields deflect them. I clearly had the attention of the beast and the higher ground. It was either going to have to confront me or rush into the jungle.

Raelia’s fireball raced from the jungle's direction, washing over the manticore and causing it to stumble. It would not be able to fly, so Maveith revealed himself as well. His massive bow sang, and his arrow penetrated much further. As arrows rained down, the manticore finally decided to run for the safety of the jungle. I hoped it had not located Raelia. When it reached the jungle, I yelled, “Hold!” I scanned the skies with the spyglass to see if any other manticores would come to this one’s aid. It was unlikely, but still a possibility.

After a minute, I announced, “Get to the jungle!” Konstantin was scrambling down the slope with Maveith behind him. I was higher up but used air shields for steps when needed and caught up to them. A rock turned into Raelia as she pulled back her cloak.

Konstantin, breathing slightly heavily, announced, “It took ten arrows; it shouldn’t be able to get far. The blood trail should be easy to follow.”

I took that as my cue to take charge. Equipped with the aether shield amulet and air shields, I used my earth pulse to jog into the lush jungle. There, I spotted the manticore lurking in a small gully, waiting in ambush. To ensure victory, I snuck up and took a significant part of its brain and bottoming out my aether. I called out, “All clear,” to the others.

When they approached, I removed my pack and retrieved the collector. Getting enough aether to activate it would take just a few minutes. The others took defensive positions, leaving me to approach the foul-smelling beast. Maveith noted, “A large female, the wings are intact, just slighty charred. It was a good kill.”

Before approaching, I studied the creature, making sure it showed no signs of life. My hand trembling in slight anticipation, I placed the collector and activated it. The blue aetheric smoke looked promising as an essence coalesced. A glossy black sphere formed, and I rolled it into my hand—a major channeling essence. Not a bad start to our manticore hunt.

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