Leaving the settlement to look for the underground storage, Goliath and his group passed by Benji and Ana, who was holding Mirabelle’s hand. Mirabelle skipped along with a beaming smile.

  ‘Hello there, are we looking for puppies?’ Goliath said, guessing at the purpose of the outing.

  ‘Yes, puppies!’ Mirabelle exclaimed, no sign of her anxiety from the night before. He supposed the troubling lights were either gone or not visible to her in daylight.

  ‘Indeed, we are looking for puppies,’ Ana confirmed with a smile at Mirabelle. ‘Also, I’m helping Isaac demarcate smallholdings while we’re out here. He’ll join us in a bit; he’s just finishing up a few things in the settlement.’

  ‘And I’m coming along to help,’ Benji added with a happy smile.

  ‘Good to know, Benji. You take good care of them,’ Goliath responded. Benji was still a piece Goliath didn’t quite know how to fit into their settlement. At least Ranca had come to him looking for a way to apply her already established skillset. Benji, on the other hand, had no previous occupation and didn’t seem troubled by this lack. Goliath filed it as a problem for later. At least Benji was actively pitching in in his own way.

  <>

  At the time Goliath’s group headed out of town, the other half of the group devoted to the puppy quest had already been in the surrounding countryside for several hours. Figuring that dawn and dusk were the best times to spot animals and that a puppy is at least an animal from all accounts, Gwyn, Micheal, and Tony had started their search at the crack of dawn. At this point they had already combed the meadows outside the settlement. That part had been easy since, coming out of winter, the vegetation was still sparse.

  Now, they were preparing to enter the forest, and Tony, as a logger, took the lead. ‘All right gang,’ he said. ‘We’re going to be looking more for signs of an animal than the animal itself. So, tracks, scat, kill sites, or possible dens.

  ‘Wait, kill sites?’ Gwyn interrupted. ‘You do remember that Ana has forbidden any wolves as pets, don’t you?’

  ‘Sure, sure. But we don’t really know what this puppy is. So I figure we should keep an eye out for anything.’

  ‘I guess that makes sense,’ Micheal said, eyeing the forest distrustfully. The part of the country he came from had been located firmly in grassland, and he didn’t trust this dark and forbidden-looking place. ‘Town’, in his mind meant civilisation, and that was the operative word in his occupation as town guard. Still, he realised that he’d need to add a new skillset if he wanted to be of use to his new settlement. There wasn’t much town to guard yet, so he needed to learn the ways of the countryside. He hoped it didn’t include savage animals and monsters. Still, he had his gladius, and he would be ready.

  ‘Let’s take it slow, one part at a time, and keep in sight of one another so we don’t miss anything,’ Tony continued. ‘Also, we want to be able to get to each other quickly if there’s a problem. Gwyn and Micheal nodded in agreement. As a battle medic and town guard, they knew better than to be foolish enough to wander off on their own in an unknown area.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Much later, Gwyn and Micheal looked up to see Tony excitedly signalling them. They moved over as quietly as they could, Gwyn much quieter than Micheal, who was used to treading heavily in his boots. Tony pointed down the little incline they were on. At the bottom, between the tree roots, there was a den visible with three wolf pups playing clumsily outside it. Gwyn gave him an exasperated glare. A moment later, the cubs came to attention as a she-wolf entered from the brush on the side, carrying a small hare. The cubs leaped upon it, and a tug of war ensued, one cub falling back on its bottom as the ear it was holding on to, bloodily tore off. The watchers shuddered.

  ‘So, not a wolf pup then,’ Tony conceded.

  <>

  Back in the settlement, Isaac had joined Ana’s small group, and they were walking the perimeter, marking and measuring suitable sites for smallholdings to fulfil their assigned quest.

  Quest for Isaac and Ana: Smallholding

  Work as a team to identify suitable locations for at least three smallholdings within the settlement borders.

  Reward: Rudimentary housing

  What made it easier was that there were still some signs of the previous town allotments, although faded and weathered by time. As such, they had already identified five sites to add to Alan’s town blueprint. Mirabelle, tired of all the walking, was hitching a piggyback ride with Isaac. Benji carried Isaac’s pitchfork for convenience’s sake while following and watching for any puppies that might be about. Mirabelle’s descriptions weren’t exactly proving helpful.

  ‘… an if I have puppy, I ride on it’s back!’

  ‘Oh, so it’s a bit like a horse then?’ Isaac said absentmindedly as he continued surveying the landscape.

  ‘No, no, not a horse. No horse.’

  ‘But it is a large creature?’ Ana said, looking worried.

  ‘No, puppy very small.’

  ‘But if it’s small, how will you ride on its back?’

  ‘It grows!’ Mirabelle crowed in delight.

  And so the conversation continued as they treaded the perimeter of the ancient smallholdings. Finally, they reached the end of the last one and stopped.

  ‘I guess that’s it,’ Ana said.

  ‘Seven, all in all. Not bad,’ Isaac added.

  ‘What’s that?’ Benji asked, pointing to the bushes behind them.

  ‘Those? Just looks like some shrubbery to me,’ Isaac responded.

  ‘It just moved, I saw it.’

  Without a word, Isaac reached for his pitchfork while Ana took Mirabelle from his back. The bush gave a little tremble, which was odd, seeing as there was no wind. Isaac raised his pitchfork, narrowed his eyes, and advanced. The bush shrunk, trying to look as innocuous as it could.

  ‘I can see you in there,’ Isaac said. ‘Who are you, and —’

  Before he could finish his sentence, the bush jumped up and raced off into the countryside, the camouflaged man losing bits of shrubbery as he ran.

  ‘No, wait!’ Benji called, running after him. Mirabelle, Ana, and Isaac watched as he dashed past the spot where the man had lurked, gaining on him at an impressive speed. The man glanced behind and, realising he was being followed, frantically began struggling with the branches tied to him. Hopping on one leg, he managed to dislodge a thicker one tied to his leg.

  ‘Benji,’ Ana screamed, trying to warn him, but it was too late. The man swung the brunch, and Benji, unable to stop fast enough, ran right into the strike, the force lifting him off his feet, and then he plopped down onto the ground. The man dropped the branch and continued running as they hurried over to the downed Benji. He sat up as the other man disappeared into the distance, swaying slightly from side to side.

  ‘Benji, are you okay?’ Ana asked.

  Benji blinked groggily at her, replying, ‘Yes, I think so. Do you see those lights?’ And then he collapsed back onto the ground.

  ‘Mirabelle see the lights,’ Mirabelle said, patting his arm.

  ‘We’d better get him to Gwyn,’ Isaac stated.

  <><><>