novelraw Chapter 172: Meeting
Chapter 172: Meeting
"Found it!" Felix shouted back, digging into the crate.
Syri poked her head out from the numerous supplies and rubble the elves fished out from the remains of their carriage. She squealed in delight and turned into her cat form, using her small size to climb out and catch up to him. She glowed a bright white before growing back into her humanoid form, snatching the withered leather book from his hands and carefully wiping the cover with her paw.
"Hmm, she says the bird lives in here. How does it fit in here though, can we get him out?" She asked, flipping through dozens of empty pages before turning the opened book upside down and giving it a shake.
Felix chuckled and reached out, sealing the novel shut for her. "That's a good question to ask her, we should get going now."
"Right, the meeting!" Syri beamed, tucking the book under her arm and hurrying down the rope bridge.
Felix kept up the pace behind her, the bridge swaying lightly with each step they took. The way the woodland elves lived was like a series of huts built around trees, each one attached by these bridges. He made sure not to look down due to how high up they were from the ground floor. They passed by several guards, a few rangers, and even skipped through several huts that housed a few families. Some of the kids giggled and clapped their hands, pointing at them and trying to chase after them like a game of tag. They whined when their parents snatched them up to stop them.
Syri seemed to know her way around, thankfully. To him, these huts looked familiar with a slight change in size being the main difference. They were built in the same structure using wide leaves for rooftops, and each hut would have three bridges attached. He did spot a familiar sight as one hut seemed segregated, elevated higher than the others with a few wooden cages dangling beneath it. He imagined anyone with a fear of heights would be scared stiff like statues, unable to move without causing their cage to rattle.
They reached the center of these huts where the largest one stood waiting for them. While Syri hurried down to greet them, Felix slowed down in his approach before coming to a stop. The cheerful looks, the numerous giggles and even the sound of gossip and whispers filled his ears. Really, it was the sight of seeing so many cat girls roaming around these huts that took him back. Months ago, he took a big risk when he took in one cat girl under his care. He grew up believing that Monster Girls were dangerous creatures that would snatch him up from his home and take him for their selfish uses, draining him until he was gone.
That's what everyone was raised to believe. Even as a slave with his lack of education, he was still taught to fear them. Now, seeing all of these cat girls running around or sitting atop the hut leafy rooftops to gossip, he wondered how he even came to fear them before.
He paused when he heard the sound of rustling followed by leaves descending from above his head.
Felix jumped back when a cat girl landed in front of him, both of the locking eyes as she immediately turned red. She covered her blushing face and spun around, unable to keep her composure while wrapping her two tails around her waist. Like many of the other cat girls, she dressed in simple brown fabric wrapped around her chest like a sash to keep her breasts hidden along with some underwear. The girls didn't mind showing skin, most of them dressed as if they were in the beach despite it being winter.
Felix inched forward, admiring the color pattern of this girl's fur. She was shorter than him, he guessed around five feet in height, and her fur was this light gray with black spots around her tails, paws and hair. Slowly she turned around, facing him but still hunched over burying her face in her paws. He could hear her friends giggling from the rooftop behind them, watching the awkward display.
"Told ya she couldn't do it!" One of the nudged the other with a punch to the arm.
"C'mon Ori'Chi! A dare is a dare!"
Felix looked back at the timid short girl, feeling a bit awkward about this himself as he cleared his throat. "Umm, what did your friends dare you to do? I'm sort of in a hurry."
"S-Sorry~ they dared m-me. Mmm~scared?" She asked, her brown eyes peaking up from her fluffy gray paws.
Felix glanced back at the clutter of giggling cats watching them. "Did your friends dare you to pounce on me?"
"Yes... no, they dared me to touch you." She responded, scooting inch by inch as her tails trembled and slowly wiggled its way to his hip before making contact. "Touch."
"Ooooo- she did it!"
"Told ya she would!" The other girl returned the sucker punch to her friend.
Felix snickered, shaking his head. "What do you win?"
"Mmmm-mm." The timid girl mumbled, looking embarrassed.
"What's wrong, you're acting like you never met a boy before." Felix chuckled, finding her shy behavior rather amusing.
"Mmm, not like y-ou." She said, hugging herself. "Hoo-Hoos here super small or super wrinkly."
"Hoo-Hoos?" Felix began to laugh, what is it with cat girls unable to pronounce the word 'human', at this rate he was beginning to believe it was genetic. "Look, I'd love to stay but I'm sort of on my way to this meeting."
"M~Meeting with Alma?" She looked up at him with her deep brown eyes, finally making eye contact. Her face had light freckles spotted around her cheeks.
Cute, he thought. "Yea, are you attending as well?"
She shook her head. "Watch." She mentioned before pointing to her friends.
"I see. What's your name?"
"O-Ori'Chi." She said with a subtle smile behind her paws. "You-You're hoo-man who saved Nityri?"
"Yea, sort of. I guess so." He watched as she shuffled her way toward him, almost as if she intended to give him a hug. He braced himself for it, but she hesitated and placed her head against his chest instead. He awkwardly patted her on the head, watching her cat ears wiggle in appreciation. "Okay... look, I need to get going. You play safe with your friends, okay Ori'Chi?"
She pulled away and nodded, keeping her head down before jumping over his head to be with her friends again. They teased her endlessly, the poor girl unable to respond as she kept her lips sealed tight and her face buried under her paws and tails.
He smiled before walking down the bridge where Janette and Syri were waiting.
"Took you long enough." Janette chuckled, guiding him inside the hut. "You seem rather popular here."
"I don't know if I can get used to it." He admitted just as they entered through the doorway curtains. He paused as they were greeted with a number of Elves dressed in their Ranger gear, all of them talking over one another in heated discussion. Alma sat patiently at the center with her elbows on the table, her hands up and fingers interlocked. She raised her head, glaring at them with stress in her eyes before breathing in deep and reaching for a big rock.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
She banged the rock against the table to silence the whole room before gesturing at Felix and his friends to join them. Na'Vi was seated there, but no sign of Nyitzcha and Reta around. Felix meant to ask but the look from Alma signaled for them to stay quiet.
"You're a bit late," She sighed, leaning back and running her hands down her eyes. "But no matter. Felix. Janette. You two along with your friend came in to find this KuliKuli, who we know as Nityri."
They nodded.
"You mentioned Perdilius, tell us what you know about him."
"Only that he leads some religious group of fanatics with a serious hatred for cat girls." Janette said.
"Not just cat girls." Felix added, recalling the brief exchange he and Perdilius had during the confrontation at her house. "He seems to hate all Monster Girls, for reasons unknown."
"Do you know anything about the city of Faehorn?" One of the Rangers asked, a seemingly older man with bags under his eyes and a hoarse voice.
Felix looked puzzled before his face lit up. "No- wait yes! From Vardare, that's the name of some city hidden in this forest."
Alma breathed in, gazing at him with intrigue. "Please, share."
"Well, we know about Faehorn City and Faehorn Forest. We've heard from Dimyri about this big tower that Perdilius discovered, which I think lies in the city as well. And that some elves helped protect him while he did that."
"Protect him!?" The elder Ranger barked, standing up and balling up his fist. "That man did-"
"Lygo, please." Spi'Reto reached out with a hand on his arm.
The older man scoffed before being seated.
Alma licked her lips. "We cooperated with Perdilius many years ago, yes. He and my husband came to an agreement, he was granted a temporary stay with his people to learn more about the Tower of Babel."
"That's the name of the big tower?" Janette pried.
She nodded. "He claimed it was for religious purposes, but his stay came with complications. It is a long story; one we can share another time. I invited you here because you have proven yourselves as potential allies with similar goals."
"Whoa, hang on a second." Felix leaned forward. "We're here to rescue Kuli and her family, isn't that what you guys want too?"
"Rescuing them is something I want as well, Emyri and I share history together." She explained, staring him down. "Your friend told my son about what that man did to you and how he burned your home down. But still, you pursued despite knowing the danger he presents. We admire that, though we wonder how you intended to rescue them alone?"
"Actually, we were looking for you." Janette explained, "KuliKuli, I mean Nityri, she had the idea to look for you. Said that if we find you guys, we'd have a better chance at taking Perdilius down."
Hearing this brought a small grin to the mother elf. "Hm, touching. She was the most sentimental of her siblings."
Felix nodded in agreement. Alma snapped her fingers, signaling her son to roll out a map in front of them. They leaned close, making out the rough details layered out on the wrinkled scroll. It was hand-painted with a few indents to give it a more three-dimensional appearance for the dense forest surrounding the whole place. The forest surrounded the whole thing, with a few grooves to make out gray mountains and even some blue swirls and squiggles for flowing rivers. At the center stood a few gray buildings settled around a large black tower that protruded in layers, like that of a cake.
He spotted a few brown squares hidden amongst certain patches in the forest before Alma pointed at a right side one with her finger.
"This is where we are." She stated, dragging her finger south toward the mouth of a ravine. "And here is where my son found you. Perdilius has proven himself to be resourceful and deceitful, manipulating outside forces to participate in his crusade against the Monster Girls."
"So he's attacking you guys because you protect the cat girls?"
Alma's eyes darted up from her map to meet his gaze. "We protect them because they are family, but we share no allegiance with other monster girls."
"Huh, I see." He said, leaning back. "We were following their trail up to this ravine, but the bridge was gone."
"That was our doing. We had intended to drop the bridge once Perdilius had crossed, but our arrival and actions were late."
"Though we did take out some of his men." Her son pointed out with an optimistic tone.
"At the loss of our own." The older elf named Lygo muttered in anger.
Spi'Reto took the hint and resigned back to his seat in silence.
"Perdilius has taken over Faehorn City for many years. We didn't have enough forces to retaliate, so we chose to hide. We assigned scouts to keep track of him, and to keep us one step ahead. It was going well until Nityri had disappeared. We scoured the forest in search but turned up empty. Until one day she strolled in without care or thought in mind, bring Perdilius' men with her. She took him to us. Now we are few in numbers, and soon after we learned that he found Emyri's clutter as well."
"We've been rescuing as many as we can find, but one misstep and we risk losing all that we have." Alma leaned in close, her eyes looking at Felix and Janette with a sense of hope. "That man has discovered a way to weaponize the Nekomata and turn them against us. Do you know how excruciatingly difficult it is to fight back against cat girls that you helped raise? With their sense of sight and smell that surpasses our own?"
Felix fell back feeling a twinge of guilt in his heart, recalling the cat girls that ambushed them in Janette's home.
Janette looked sick at the thought, squeezing Syri's paw and breathing in. "Those collars they wear around their necks, they work with that ruby he carries in his book."
"We know that." Alma sighed. "Those rubies work as the control that commands them."
"He has more than one?" Felix asked, saddened by her nod. "Damn."
"So you see, we are not at our best." She explained. "But we hope that can change with your help. Rescuing them is a noble cause, but our main priority is preventing him from taking Syri."
"Me?" Syri cried out, seated next to Janette. "Why me?"
"Because he needs you to complete his ritual." Alma replied. "You and your two sisters. By having you with us, we prevent him from fulfilling his ritual. You see, our first option is taking advantage of you outsiders here. You are not all fighters, and you are not enough to help our forces grow in size. But Perdilius is not aware of your being here."
"You're suggesting that we take Syri and leave?" Janette asked, figuring out their proposal.
"What about my sisters? What about mom?" Syri asked in a whimpering tone. "You can't ask me to abandon them, that's not fair!"
"Everything about this is unfair to us, kitten." Alma sighed, brushing her long red hair back. "That is one option we can make."
"What's stopping you guys from taking her and leaving instead?" Felix asked curiously.
Spi'Reto chuckled. "Leave the forest? Boy, would I-!"
"Spi'Reto!" Alma snapped, shushing her son. "All we know is Faehorn. We serve to protect this forest and preserve the life it carries. We know nothing about the outside world."
Felix briefly looked to Janette and Syri for their input, but the looks they gave him said enough. "We'll consider it."
"What!?" Syri shouted.
Felix raised his hand in worry. "I said maybe! Look, I'm not going to repeat the same mistake I made before. I stupidly thought standing our ground was the answer, and look what happened? Just... think about it."
He turned back to Alma. "Is that why you called for us here?"
"We were hoping you had valuable information to help us," Lygo chimed in, leaning back. "But that doesn't seem to be the case."
"How did you plan to fight back? You've done well retaliating so far." Felix pointed out.
"That is because of his absence." Alma reminded him. "Now that he and his caster have returned, it puts us in a more dangerous spot."
"Still, I'm seeing more camps just like this one around the map. How many do you have in total?"
"We've had to retreat from the north side, and Perdilius has sanctioned off the west. South is where we have five other camps, along with three more hidden in the east section."
"They've kept a tight grasp on Faehorn City," Lygo mentioned, dragging his stubby fingers over the map. "And now we have slimes becoming a problem eating wildlife to grow and multiply."
Janette shivered at the thought, with Felix recalling the green residue they found at the fort ruins.
Janette's eyes lit with an idea, grabbing the book from Syri and placing it over the table for everyone. "Wait, I think I have something here to turn things around. Vardare, come out!"
"Vardare?" Alma pried. The elves leaned back and watched with wide eyes as the book opened and the inky text emerged, forming the shape of an egg before an owl burst from its shell. It flapped its wings, sending out glittering gold residue like pixie dust before it settled down and adjusted the monocle over its eye.
"A summon?" Lygo gasped.
"Cool!" Spi'Reto's smile grew.
Janette smiled in amusement before pointing at the map. "Vardare, you have Perdilius knowledge with you right?"
"I know about his past exploits and present schemes, yes."
The elves exchanged shocked looks.
"Could you tell us where Perdilius' camps are in this map?"
The owl hobbled its way toward the map, tapping its claws around curiously. "Hmmm," He hummed to himself before gently making a few marks around the forest. "Here, here, here. Here, here, here... and here."
"H-How?" Alma asked, speechless for the first time.
Janette beamed, crossing her arms. "You guys wanted some information, right? I think we found a way to help."
Felix laughed to himself, enjoying how things were turning around. The elves now began discussing with each other like they did before, but the tone was different. Rather than worried looks and agitated words, they seemed ecstatic and hopeful. Alma was surrounded by them, spreading her arms wide and banging the rock over the table to silence them once more.
"This is quite the revelation. Indeed, it seems you can be a big help to us after all." She smiled, standing up from her chair. "Which of you can fight?"
"Err, ahem." Janette sunk back in her chair, blushing by Syri's teasing giggle.
Felix remained standing. "I-I'm sure Reta and Nyitzcha wouldn't mind participating as well."
"Good. Would you join us then? It seems we have work to do, starting with the nearest camp."
He nodded. "When do we leave?"
"Soon as we are ready."
"Er, you mean now?" He asked.
She smiled back. "Yes. If we are to push him back and possibly rescue Emyri and her daughters, we must act now."