Game Master in Another World

The next morning, I still hadn’t calmed down from the news about Ravencrest; I wanted to return and figure out what had happened. I sought revenge for all the friends and family who had been lost.

Juliana, however, seemed fairly calm; she had taken to living as a cat quite well. We followed the usual feline behaviours, right down to cleaning ourselves with our tongues. The sensation of licking fur was strange at first, but somehow I had grown used to it.

It didn’t take long for everyone to finish breakfast and hit the road again. Our convoy of four wagons made us feel more secure; the requirements for assaulting our group would be more than just a two-man band now.

We rode in Igasnov’s lap once more, with Vera draped over him, looking content. Toby rode in a different cart. Thankfully, he seemed to have regained his cheerful demeanour, but he was unwilling to sit near Vera and Igasnov due to their public displays of affection. When asked which cart he preferred, he quickly answered, “Whichever one Vera isn’t in.”

As the road lazily wound through the forest, the sound of birdlife was incredible. I could hear the common calls of tui and bellbirds, combined with the sweet aroma of the kanuka forest, its leaves roasting in the morning sun.

However, the tranquillity could not last; several Forlinth soldiers were blocking the road ahead. Their uniforms appeared worn and dirty, their armour mismatched.

As the convoy stopped, Igasnov stood, retrieving his mace and muttering quietly, “I think we might need your help.”

Vera looked at him quizzically. “I’m not sure how I can help, my love; I am not able to fight.”

I smiled to myself; he was likely referring to us—the current cat—now finding ourselves rudely ejected from his lap.

We followed Igasnov as he walked to the head of the caravan; from the periphery of my vision, I could see more soldiers stepping out of the forest, surrounding us.

Igasnov’s expression was grim, his mouth pulled tight.

Once we reached the front, the men stared at Igasnov. “You seem to have a giant as protection for your caravan,” the soldier wielding a longsword remarked, pointing his weapon in Igasnov’s direction.

The soldier was unkempt, his brown hair messy and his young face sporting a scar on one cheek. He wore slightly better-looking armour than his comrades, but it still appeared somewhat off, quite different from what we had seen other soldiers wear.

“Now, it seems I must repeat myself: you are to donate your products to our cause, so we will be taking your carts. Refusing to hand them over is a crime punishable by death!”

“But you are not Forlinth soldiers,” Igasnov replied.

“And what makes you think that, for we are wearing the armour of your nation, are we not?”

“Well, let's just say I can tell and leave it at that. Who are you, really?” Igasnov asked, adjusting his stance a fraction.

“How about this, then: we just kill you all and take your wares that way.”

“And there it is. Juliana, please do your thing!”

That was our cue. Juliana shifted back into her Nhalyri form, immediately using a spell to restrain half the soldiers.

The shock on the faces of both the soldiers and the caravan members upon seeing our true selves was immediate. Their stunned silence was broken by the screams of men being dragged to the ground.

Immediately, the leader of the gang shouted, “Stop! We are Cyrll soldiers; we are on your side!”

Juliana simply responded, “I take no sides.”

Igasnov quickly charged the restrained men and used his mace to cave in their heads.

The soldiers from the treeline charged the caravan; noticing this, Juliana swiftly directed a bolt of lightning through four of them, causing them to collapse.

Then, out of the forest, four bolts of light whipped around the trees before striking us. Searing pain coursed through our body. Juliana howled before shifting into a beast, our four massive brown paws pounding against the dirt.

We found the terrified-looking mage staring at us, his eyes wide. “Please, no! I don’t want to die.” Those were his last words as we tore his throat out with our massive teeth. The salty, metallic flavour of blood washed over our tongue.

One man now held Vera with a knife against her throat, backing away into the forest.

For a moment, I did not want to save her, but it seemed Juliana still possessed a soft side. We charged the man. Vera screamed as he slit her throat, blood pouring forth.

We leapt over her, ripping the screaming man’s face off just as he stabbed us in the gut, the hot sensation of the blade slicing through our flesh burning intensely.

Juliana quickly shifted back into her Nhalyri form, placing a hand on Vera’s throat and casting a miracle. The wound closed immediately, the shower of blood ceasing. Vera’s face, however, remained pale, her breathing shallow.

Another soldier took that opportunity to charge us, bringing his mace down. Juliana looked up in time to dodge the swing before touching the soldier's body and speaking an incantation.

The soldier began to choke, blood pouring from his mouth as he collapsed. A moment later, he was dead, his lifeless eyes staring into the distance.

We glanced around the battlefield; there were no soldiers left standing. Those who remained were either dead or had fled. The villagers, however, were staring at us with looks of abject horror.

“It’s the devil!” shouted Xanthia, holding Toby close.

“Please don’t kill us!” shouted Trudy.

Myrra was staring at us as we stood over Vera.

“What did you do to Vera?” she shouted. “Did you kill her?”

“She’ll be fine,” Juliana replied, raising her hands to show she was no threat.

“Step away from her, then,” Barry shouted back.

We backed away from Vera, and Barry rushed in, scooping her up and quickly carrying her back to the carts.

“Did you know about her, Igasnov?” Bevan asked in an accusatory tone.

“Yes, she helped defeat the invading Cyrll army, preventing them from raiding a village,” Igasnov replied calmly.

Frances stared at Toby, his eyes narrowed. “And you must be the demon strategist—a man who merely looks like a child.”

Frances snatched a sword from the dirt before advancing toward Toby, who was still being held by Xanthia.

Toby tried to break free, but Xanthia wouldn’t let him go.

Toby began to panic, his eyes wide as he writhed to escape. Igasnov ran and stood between Toby and Frances.

“Move out of the way, Igasnov; they have clearly bewitched you. I thought something was off over the past few days—you haven’t seemed as cheerful lately.”

“No,” Igasnov said firmly. “I will not let you harm this boy. I assure you the rumours are untrue.”

Harry had also retrieved a blade and was slowly walking towards us, closing the gap cautiously.

“I’m but a humble servant of my god, who only desires the protection of the innocent,” Juliana pleaded.

“Her throat has a damned scar!” shouted Barry. “It’ll be lucky if she is able to speak again!”

“I did the best I could given the situation. I needed to rescue her, but my healing isn’t perfect,” Juliana stated solemnly.

While we were speaking, Igasnov had pulled Toby free from Xanthia and started retreating into the forest. After they were clear, we shifted shape, the world appearing larger as we leapt into the air, taking flight.

From above, we could see the carnage; numerous dead soldiers lay strewn across the ground. The villagers scattered, looking up at us as we retreated.

It didn’t take long to find Igasnov and Toby walking through the bush. We descended and landed, shifting back into our Nhalyri form.

“Oh, Juliana, thank you for your help back there; I’m sorry how it turned out,” Igasnov said.

Juliana looked at Toby. “Are you okay?”

Toby nodded without saying a word.

“I think we should tail the caravan just in case they run into any more trouble,” Juliana said.

“First, I would like to check the bodies of the men we killed; I want to confirm their claim that they are part of the Cyrll army,” Igasnov replied.

“I believe we can aid with your request,” Juliana responded.

We waited about an hour before making our way back to the battlefield. Several bodies remained lying on the ground, but the caravan had moved on.

Igasnov rolled over the body of the leader and began to remove his clothing, going through his pockets.

He pulled out a folded piece of parchment, unfolded it, and began to read aloud:

“Orders: interdict supplies within the Forlinth countryside. Ensure that you impersonate Forlinth soldiers to sow distrust. Burn this order after reading.”

“Well, it appears, luckily for us, this man was too stupid to follow the notice exactly,” Igasnov quipped.

“We should remove all their armour so the wild animals can feed more easily,” Juliana suggested.

Igasnov gave Juliana a quizzical glance.

“Why not bury them?”

“Their bodies should be useful to nature,” Juliana replied.

I always admired her unwavering commitment to nature.

Igasnov and Juliana then went from body to body, stripping each naked and discarding their armour and clothing into a pile. They also went through everyone's pockets, removing coins and any letters.

In total, we recovered five silver pieces and two letters addressed to lovers.

“Great. Now that is done, shall we follow the cart tracks, then?” Igasnov asked.

Juliana smiled. “Yes, let's.”

We set off walking quickly; the carts weren’t fast-moving, but they maintained a relentless, brisk pace that was going to be challenging to match. It was highly likely the best we could hope for was hiking longer days to catch up with them each time.

The quick march was tiring Toby out quickly; he wasn’t saying anything, but his breathing was heavy, and he was beginning to stumble.

“Are you okay, Toby?” Juliana asked.

Toby nodded, his face pale.

“Now, Toby, please don’t try to be tough,” Juliana said.

“Okay, I am struggling a bit,” Toby wheezed.

Juliana spoke an incantation, and suddenly we had wings again, complete with a giant, feline face. We were once again a griffin.

Igasnov stared at us for a moment, and Toby sat down, appearing utterly dumbfounded.

We motioned with our head for them to climb onto our back.

Igasnov lifted Toby up before mounting behind him. We flapped our massive wings and slowly ascended, the paladin’s heavy weight making it difficult to gain altitude.

Once above the treetops, we could fly much faster, requiring far less effort to stay aloft. We loosely followed the road, scanning for potential obstacles the caravan might encounter. It wasn’t long before we overtook them; thankfully, no one was looking up.

Eventually, we spotted the clearing they would likely use to camp for the night. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a larger group of the mercenaries we had seen earlier already occupying it, completely unaware of their colleagues' demise.

At first count, there were five or six men. They all seemed relaxed, mostly sitting around a campfire and chatting.

“Take me down. Let's clear this site for them,” Igasnov requested.

We descended swiftly, landing directly atop one of the conversing men.

He collapsed beneath us as our talons dug into his back; we could hear the sickening crunch of bone breaking under our immense weight.

Igasnov leapt off and brought his mace down on the second man, killing him instantly.

Toby slid off carefully before we launched back into the air. The remaining three bandits were yelling, frantically arming themselves with their swords.

Igasnov was too fast for one of them; he swung his mace, catching the man in the chest and knocking him flat. The bandit gasped for air just before Igasnov brought the weapon down onto his face, making contact with a wet, heavy thud.

The final two men broke into a run. Juliana refused to let them escape; she snatched both of them up, carrying them high into the sky as they flailed against the sharp talons digging deep into their flesh.

Once fifty metres up, she released her grip. They plummeted to the earth, landing awkwardly with a fatal, bone-shattering crack.

With our job done, we touched down next to Igasnov.

“Good work. I think we should clean up the campsite so the villagers don’t get spooked. Could you please move these bodies somewhere deep in the forest?”

We nodded. Grabbing two corpses, we took flight, carrying them a short distance away from the path before dropping them into the dense undergrowth.

We repeated the process twice more while Igasnov swiftly dismantled the camp, throwing the discarded equipment into a pile atop some folded tent fabric.

Once everything was collected, we picked up the bundled gear and flew it away to dispose of it.

Upon returning to the empty clearing, we shifted back into our Nhalyri form.

“Shall we find a place to make camp nearby, then?” Juliana suggested.

Igasnov and Toby nodded in agreement, and we headed off as a group into the surrounding woods, content to provide these villagers with some unseen protection.

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