Chapter 232: Jungle (P2)

It takes all of my strength not to turn away from the man. Anselm seems to fare a lot better but the truth remains that he is hideously disfigured. 

The skin of his cheek droops downward like sludge, leaving several little openings into his mouth, I can see his teeth, his tongue through his cheek. 

He has no eyelids, but with whatever happened to the man I'm sure he is grateful if only to have eyes, although they stare unblinkingly at us. Whatever took his eyelids was sure to take his brows as well, all in all making him look like an alien beast, a creature right at home in this forest.

"You must be a Lord of great mettle." He says, and for the first time I notice the distortion in his speech, one caused by having such a mouth. His jaw hangs open and he swallows, "My Lord looked upon me and immediately cast me away...useless he said."

I let out a strained cough, trying best to keep down my breakfast, "You said you were a Hunter, do Hunters serve lords?" 

"You do not know this?" His head tilts at me, perplexed by my ignorance, "Well, I suppose a Lord of a simple, little village like Demme would have little need for a Hunter in their court, but the Lord I served did. He is a powerful man, far too powerful to deal with monsters by his own hands, the prestige of a Duke wouldn't allow for such."

A Duke. I breath in deeply, once again realizing that the Kingdom is far larger than just the Marquess here, and there are powers far superior to hers, to mine. And here I have someone that served in the court of a Duke, if only for a while. What luck.

"He cast you out because of your face?" Anselm doesn't hesitate to ask, "I don't think it's above a Duke to have the facilities to heal you, or is it?"

Jungle covers his face with the mask once again, and sighs, "No, it is not. But the foe I was sent to make a prize out of for his in-law...the serpent. It's predominantly found within this Forest. My injuries had long since settled and healed before I could return for healing...I am stuck with this face."

Anselm nods knowingly but I'm still quite lost. What value does his face have to a Lord? I know for sure that his hideousness doesn't change any of my plans for him. He already has a mask on and he still has his limbs and a working enchanted weapon, all that I need to serve me as a fighter in my war. 

But let's not mention said war just yet. For the look and feel of things, I think he still harbours some loyalty toward this Lord.

"That's terribly unfortunate, Jungle, so you are here to hunt the beast that robbed you of your status then?"

He turns to me and I feel his unblinking stare behind his green mask, "Yes, but all I have found are its progeny, the beast itself hides deep within the forest and perhaps even under it."

This catches my interest, "Under it you say?"

He nods and picks up his spear, starting an aimless stroll that we follow, "Yes, the beast I speak of now gave me this injury about two years ago."

At this I pause and think. Could it be that this man has been in the Forest for two years since then? Hunting this serpent? 

I don't ask, saving the question for later and listen to what he has to say about the underground.

"Two years ago the beast I faced off with was guarding a nest of several eggs, large eggs of different colours. And it was the size of the serpent you two just destroyed. But I came across it again, in the swamps, the true swamps of this Forest and it was massive."

Anselm hums contemplatively at this and asks, "How do you know it was the same beast? I could have been anyone of those colourful eggs you saw bloom to adulthood, a year had passed after all."

He nods, "Yes, I thought the same thing then as well, but I know it is the same because even then, in out second encounter, it still had those eggs with it, and only a few hand hatched. Her progeny were the size of a human straight from birth. I attacked, and they fought me back. I was arrogant to think I would succeed where I had failed a year earlier, even with several more to contend with. But..." He trails off, gripping his spear tightly.

"But then, I believe the beast, the mother, my foe took pity on me. It called back its children just as they were about to feast on my broken body and they sunk into the waters, never to be seen again..."

"They could have just swam off somewhere else in the swamp." I say, still struggling to understand that within the Forest there are other ecosystems like a swamp.

"No, I chased after them once I was healed, there are...there are caves of sort, large, boundless with flora that glows and lightens the place. I believe there is a system of caves the Beast mother has control over, she deploys her children from there into the world above...I was watching over the Serpent you two attacked because I wished for it to lead me to the Beast Mother....but you just had to kill it didn't you?"

I raise my eyebrow at the accusation, "I didn't deliver the final blow, you did. You took its head off with your spear."

"Yes, but you forced my hand, I saved you if anything. The lot of you have no clue how to deal with such beasts, it was cornered and smaller, it's nimble body would have suppressed you lot in an instant had I not intervened."

I chuckle at this, surely he is simply jerking himself off, "I am a Mage, I have more than a few tricks up my sleeve and-"

"And your friend is a flying Cyromage as well." He scoffs and shakes his head, the sense of superiority wafting off of him beginning to piss me off, "Your dagger and your Blood arts would not have saved you, you were already kneeling over from the use of those spikes you sent into its throat."

"Oh enough you two, this is pointless." Anselm interjects with a huff, "Let's just figure out exactly what we're doing here."

Jungle looks at Anselm and then back at me, "Your companion is right, what are you doing here? I know what I am doing."

"We're here to train."

"Of course, the Mage Association would fall upon your head if they knew you practiced something as vile as Blood Arts, even if it is with your own blood."

I expertly resist the urge to laugh in his face and reveal the truth, that I am at war with everything, that I am a Necromancer bent on taking over the Kingdom or at least a portion of it and there are few who can stand in the way of my goals.

Instead I nod lightly and thank him, "Yes, it's a good thing you're here in the Forest, I doubt you'll be running to the Association with news of this."

"It is none of my concern." He curtly says, dismissing the notion.

"Perfect, then there shouldn't be anything keeping us from working together, Jungle."

"Working together?"

I nod, "We don't know this Forest like you do, to practice our magic we will need foe, we will need targets."

Even though I can't see him I can sense him frowning underneath his mask, "I though Mages enhanced their art by studying."

"We do, but to every theory there must be a practical, this is it."

He nods, "Then you want me to show you where the best monsters are. I believe I can do that...but, I will need your help with something."

A grin crawls onto my lips, "With your Beast Mother? That will be no issue, from the sounds of it this Beast will be an exciting thing to look upon."

"And kill."

"Yes, of course, and kill."