214 Passing by Three Pines

In case anyone was wondering, Sir Stout had no idea his father died, or how, or even why. It would be a long time before he even thought to check. It wasn't that he was unfilial or anything. It was just that this day would be very, very chaotic.

***

At the time, the Itarim commander was laughing. His head was tilted to the sky as he roared his laughter madly.

The Itarim colony had already fallen. In fact, their vaunted siege engines and artillery barely got off a single volley before they had fallen silent entirely.

"What happened?" he had asked.

"Sir, they're already overrun!" his aide reported.

"What? How? The Wilds haven't even breached our perimeter yet!"

"Sir… they came from the lake."

"From the lake?!" at that time, his voice was filled with disbelief.

"Yes, sir… they can swim."

They can SWIM! Wilds from the water had struck out on land, amphibious types, poisonous frogs, blindingly fast newts, reptiles the names of which he didn't even know… the Itarim colony had counted too heavily on the protection of the lake, completely taken off guard when they were attacked by the Wilds who lived in it.

In the end, all the Itarim commander could do was laugh, and laugh, and laugh as absolute chaos and destruction fell upon the colony all around him.

***

Including the 50+ children and the handful of mothers in their own escape airship, the refugees rescued from the Ashdale colony numbered almost 200. In contrast to that amount, the number of refugees rescued from the Itarim colony was less than 20.

"By the time we got there, the colony was already overrun. These twenty were just the lucky ones running out the north side." Markus explained.

George had Song Chen and Markus side by side after both of them returned with refugees from the western colonies. Meanwhile, the Bellas colony was starting to seriously reconsider his offer and a full Sky Barge bearing two hundred of them had already arrived seeking shelter in Kara-Goth. A second and third Sky Barge was over there now filling up with refugees and their belongings.

As for the Nine Mountains colony… George didn't know and wasn't about to try and help them out any more after the way they had treated his messenger.

"Any word on Three Pines?" George asked next.

"They're fine. Darian's there. Remian too." Markus shrugged. "I hear the Beast Tide is just passing by. They're not even being attacked."

Song Chen mused. "It makes sense. Just about everyone there has a Comrade. There are more Wilds in their treetop settlement than there are humans. Plus, the Eagle Lord is friendly. Sort of."

"Still. I can't help worrying. It only takes one bloodthirsty Wild to try for a quick bite…" George muttered darkly. "Things could go very badly very quickly."

***

To be fair, it already happened.

"What is that?" Damien Vin asked, standing on the deck of his School Sky Barge with his two sons at his side. Darian was watching the Southern Tide pass by with him, while Remian… seemed a bit preoccupied in conversation with Phoebe. As for his wife, Lisa, she was in the other School Sky Barge high, high above the clouds with the youngest and most vulnerable of their students.

"Skeletal Serpent." Darian told his dad. "They're even meaner than most far south Wilds and that's saying something. But they shouldn't attack, because the Flame Emperor ordered them not to. Just… try not to provoke them…"

BANG! Someone saw Phoebe's face, missed a step, and crashed headlong into someone else, who dropped an entire crate on yet someone else's foot.

"Aargh! Idiot!" The third person with the smashed foot screamed. Blood trickled over the ground.

Six Skeletal Serpents suddenly stopped and turned, hissing.

"They smell the blood." Darian explained, as if teaching a class while all six of those Tier 5 Wilds came slithering at them at cheetah speeds. "It looks like they're in attack mode."

"Battle stations!" Damien shouted. "Everybody, to arms!"

Remian, who had been chatting in a soft voice with Phoebe up to that point, turned around. "What happened? Why are they attacking?"

Damien rubbed his forehead. "Bring Phoebe below, please. Just… keep her out of sight for a bit."

Remian nodded, then tossed a command over his shoulder. "Everyone! Into the trees! Fire at will!"

Crossbows twanged all across the deck of the Sky Barge and from sixteen different trees near the ruins. People on the ground or in the settlement scrambled to climb trees. Many of them rode Tier 4 Comrades similar to Carrie. A few of them ran beside Comrades too small to ride.

Would the Skeletal Serpents spare the Comrades because they were Wilds too?

Of course not. Wilds ate other Wilds on any average day. Attacking Three Pines wasn't a duty of the Beast Tide; they were just stopping for a little snack, a quick bite on the way to work…

The Snacks in question had a good deal to say about that, but the Serpents probably wouldn't listen, so crossbows it was.

Word reached Lisa from communications crystals. Rather than feel upset about it, Lisa actually smiled smugly. "And THAT is why I brought everyone on board this airship far, far above to safety."

Meanwhile, the first Serpent had reached the ruins and was quickly running down a rather round boy trying to flee to safety alongside a Tier 3 Blood Bunny.

"Excuse me a moment." Darian said to his father politely, then leapt right off the airship.

"Darian!?" Damien yelped.

Darian didn't say anything more. Falling out of the sky, light gleamed and took on solid form all around him. Wyvern wings and scales shimmered in a translucent image, forming a small draconic silhouette around him. Darian wasn't ready for the large dragon silhouette that Doom employed, but he was quite able to pull off the silhouette of a small, juvenile wyvern.

With a flap of those wings, Darian shot forward. He didn't strike at the Serpent, didn't use any of a half dozen long-ranged attack techniques that he knew. He just grabbed the boy with his silhouette's claws, picked up the Blood Bunny with his 'tail', and soared back into the sky.

Suddenly deprived of its snack, the lead Serpent hissed at Darian, but it was already too late. In mere moments, Darian had climbed easily a hundred feet into the air, and was already halfway to the airship.

"What were you doing down there?" Damien scolded the tubby guy as Darian arrived. "You shouldn't even be on the ground!"

"But… but…" the tubby guy spluttered.

"Save it! Just… get somewhere safe first." Damien dismissed the boy without hearing his explanation.

"Why are there still children on the ground? I thought we already picked everyone up and had everyone clear the area already." Darian asked.

"We did." Damien frowned. "Or at least, I thought we did. I don't know how that boy was still down there."

Darian glanced around. "Most of the rest should make it, except for that girl, and those two teenagers… what are they even doing…?"

Damien grimaced. "Based on the state of their clothes, they wanted a little privacy and didn't think they'd be in much danger."

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"Idiots." Darian scowled. "I'm going to go save the little girl. That couple can go fend for themselves."

Damien rubbed his forehead again. "Darian..."

"Fine. I'll get them too." Darian rolled his eyes. "But they owe me. They all do."

"Understood." Damien agreed, and let his son do the rescue work.