Monster Girls Book 1: A Tale of Tails!

Chapter 174: Stealthy Maneuver

"Watch your step!" One of the elves called out. 

Felix looked uneasy as he made the jump, landing on the branch with a stumble and falling onto one knee. Reta stood by his side, realizing the stress this was causing to his knees as the other elves slowed down for them. 

"We're close," Alma mentioned, her words bringing relief to their human friend. "Keep your voices down."

Felix nodded, pushing himself back up. His thighs and knees burned from all the swinging and jumping they did high up, but he was eager to press forward. True to Alma's word, their destination was several trees up ahead. He could tell because of the change of scent in the air. When they came to a stop, he tried figuring out the smell for himself, practicing his newfound sense given to him by his transformation. 

Reta leaned in and took notice of his nose wiggling, seeing him close his eyes to focus on it. For a moment, she was reminded of KuliKuli whenever she picked up the smell of fish during their trips to Farmers Den. "What do you smell?" She asked softly. 

"Hm?" He opened his eyes, turning to her and realizing that he was not as subtle as he hoped by the number of eyes staring back at him. "Oh. Just-" 

"Right." Alma caught on, stepping up to him. "You've pair bonded with Nityri, that means you've inherited some of her traits."

"It's still new to me," He warned her, gazing at the numerous elves that were watching him. "But I've learned a few things. People tend to have different smells, but for Perdilius' men, they smell of metal and sweat. I'm getting something similar in that direction, along with the smell of alcohol." 

"And what about sound?" Alma asked, intrigued. "Can you hear them from this far?" 

"Ah, hearing is a lot harder here. This place is full of sound, lots of birds, insects, and other animals moving around." He held still, focusing on his hearing as the elves kept still. "Sorry, it's too soon for me to tell. If there are people in that direction they might not be speaking." 

Spi'Reto nudged his arm with a smile. "Why not ask the girls for help when we return? I'm sure they would love to teach you more about those traits."

"The mothers, that is." Alma stated with a stern look. 

"Right, that's what I meant." Her son chuckled, shrinking under her gaze. 

Returning to focus, Alma led them two trees further before they could catch on to the smell of fire and food cooking. Using hand gestures, she signaled everyone to sink down before hopping onto a lower branch herself. Felix watched as the other elves silently swung down to follow her before doing the same. Reta made sure to stay behind him, just in case. 

He landed forward on his hands and knees, making sure to keep himself steady and balanced. The cautious thing about this swinging and tree hopping was that one misstep could send him crashing down, and at this height he didn't want to test if he could survive it. Spi'Reto offered him a hand back to his feet, pressing a finger to his lips as the elves traveling along the tree, inching close enough to find the source of the fire. 

Further ahead was a large wooden fort, boxed in and surrounded by a wooden fence. The large heavy trees surrounding the fort were visually chopped up along their size and used as materials to build this structure. Felix knelt down, narrowing his gaze to get a better look at this place. It wasn't as tall as the southern fort they found upon entering the forest, nor did it match the same concrete material that the other was built from. What it lacked in height, it made up for its width. This wasn't just a small campsite; it was a large settlement that housed numerous wooden buildings inside and dozens of men roaming around. He could see a few of them sparring with swords at the front, and near the center were four men huddled around a small fire to cook skewered chunks of meat for their lunch. 

"This looks different." 

"How so?" Alma asked, looking back at him. 

"The fort we came across when we first entered Faehorn Forest was built like a fortress. Concrete walls, metal gate, that kind of stuff." Felix explained, keeping his eyes on the fort. "This doesn't look as durable."

"Built from the forest itself." Spi'Reto remarked, scooting in between Felix and Alma. "On ground level, of course. Think that fence would help?" 

One of the elves scoffed. "Never seen a slime turn away from a fence before." 

"I see archers." Reta mentioned. "Tracing along the walls." 

It was true. The tall fences offered a second floor for the guards to pace around the large settlement with crossbows in hand. 

Alma sucked in her lips, her teal eyes searching for a weakness around the fort. "Hmm..." 

"Why build a fort here?" Felix asked, "There's nothing but trees and mud surrounding it. No trail to follow either." 

"We would settle around certain points surrounding Faehorn so that each of us served as scouts to keep a watchful eye on things." Alma analyzed, stretching her neck to one side to get a better look. "There, further left. See that man, the one in the red tunic?"

"What is he pushing?" Felix asked. 

"Looks like a wagon to me." said Spi'Reto, scratching his head. 

"The fortress you spoke of was structured from different material because it was built using imported sources." Alma explained. "This fort uses the wood from the trees to blend in, similar to how we disguise our huts with leaved and vines."

"They're learning." Her son commented. 

One of the elves shot up from his hunched posture. "I see movement, someone's traveling along the center." 

"Don't suppose it would be Perdilius?" Felix asked. 

Alma scoffed. "Most doubtful. The mad priest wormed his way through the Mountain Pass, that trail leads him west into the Training Grounds." 

Just then, one soldier came strolling out from one of the larger buildings while dragging along a pair of leashed cat girls. Felix tensed up, eyes flared at the sight. The man was barking orders at the pair, agitated with something they did or failed to do. He swung at one with a backhand, sending the girl to the ground while her friend shrieked and knelt down over her. Whatever they were saying, this man wasn't having it. He held his arm back and swung at the second Nekomata, striking her in the same way. The nearby men drinking ale and eating at the fire observed with hoarse laughter, cheering at the display. 

"You son of a-" His nails grew into claws, teeth forming fangs as his pupils changing to resemble cat eyes when a familiar hand grasped his shoulder. It was Reta, shooting him a worried look and shaking her head. Looking down, he realized that he had inadvertently stabbed through his leather gear, piercing through his thighs enough to draw blood. He pulled back, calming down from the shock as his claws retracted back into his pinkish fingernails. 

"Whoa." Spi'Reto whispered, scooting away. "Now I know not to get on your bad side."  

Alma sighed, moving in to look Felix in the face. "You mean well, but we can't have any emotional outbursts like that. Control yourself, for their sake."

"I-I'm sorry." He hung his head, staring at his hands. "This... this changing thing is still new to me." 

Reta clasped her hand over his, squeezing his palm. She may not have words, but from the look she gave him he could tell that they shared the same conflict within. 

Looking back, the two cat girls were permitted to stand back on their feet before the man yanked them by their collar, dragging them into a different building. Those women didn't wear much but shredded brown cloth as a bra and underwear, their skin being stained in dirt and mud and their hair messy and unkept. 

Felix frowned, searching around the fort before realizing a crucial detail. "Problem, they seem to have cleared out any trees or foliage nearby. It's nothing but muddy waters, how are we to go through? I don't suppose we'll be swinging in from above?" 

"Nay, there aren't any trees close enough." Alma licked her lips, giving it some thought. "Sauza, Ya'Go." 

Two nearby Rangers spun around at her call. 

"Gather some leaves from the BonBon trees." They nodded and snuck off to their mission. 

"BonBon trees?" Felix asked. 

Alma gave him a funny look. "The trees that resemble large mushrooms from their rounded pattern that provide good shade from rain and heat. Their curves large leaves will prove useful for this. Rest up, we wait until the sun goes down."

"What exactly did you have in mind?" He asked, feeling rather nervous as the Elf Mother smirked in return.

One of the soldiers patrolled along the east side of the fence, lighting up a nearby torch as the sky turned dark. A cold breeze swept through acting as a reminder of the winter season. The man tapped his fingers along the shaft of his weapon, strolling down the fence when caught movement off the corner of his eye. Immediately, he spun around and took aim, squinting with both eyes out across the muddy pasture. 

Nothing. 

He loosened up, raised his head and stood still, waiting for any movement until his friend arrived. 

"See something?" 

He sniffed, wiping his runny nose. "Thought I saw something." 

"Think it's another of them slime balls?" His friend joked with a toothy grin. 

He scoffed and spat to the side, unamused. "Be it so, better to keep an open eye."

"Relax Orel, you worry too much." 

Orel licked his chapped lips and scratched his patchy beard. The pair stood eerily still, waiting for any further movement but to no avail. He spotted nothing but pools of water and muddy bumps. "Hm, false alarm." 

"You're tired, now gimme de damn bolt and git some rest." His friend cried out, snatching the crossbow from his hands. "There we go, 'ello beautiful." 

"Hmph, have fun." Orel muttered, plucking the metal cap off his bald head as he descended down the steps to retire for the night. 

As his friend wiped the shaft of his weapon to gaze at it, the bumps of mud began crawling forward. Spi'Reto kept watch back at the trees, left with a pair of archers to cover their ground in case things went south. He looked to his quiver, eyeing the rounded arrowheads gifted to him by the dwarf, promising him that this would 'make fireworks'. 

Felix crawled along the mud just behind the other Rangers as they moved in coordinated groups. Out to his left, he spotted the other group of Rangers sneaking through with their bellies to the ground as well. The BonBon leaves were large enough to drape around their shoulders like a cape, that was the idea. Alma had them coat it in mud, using it to cover them as they crawled through under the cover of darkness. He wasn't a fan of getting himself covered in mud, but that didn't matter now that they knew this fort housed cat girls inside. 

It took a few minutes before they reached the wooden walls, ditching the leaves as they planted their backs against the fort. Felix and Reta watched as Alma gestured for one of the elves to climb first, locking her fingers together to act as a step. He sprinted toward her, planting his foot on her hands and flung himself onto the fence, disappearing as he climbed over it. In a moment, they heard the rustle of movement and someone grunt before a body was tossed over, landing with a splat atop the mud. Felix looked down, recognizing the corpse's sunflower sigil. 

The elf threw down a rope for them to climb over one by one. When he peaked to his left, Felix saw the other group had matched their success and were climbing over the wall as well. Once he reached over, Alma gave him a look before signaling to the other group of Rangers to join them before setting her sights on Felix. He understood, they had planned this while scaling the fort earlier. The reason behind his involvement was to use his enhanced senses to help find any Nekomata here. 

He sniffed the air several times, getting a good whiff of things as his brain processed the information. The soft popping of a burning fire as another log was chucked in to keep it going. The sound of men trading tales and fantasies while drinking their file of ale. He wrinkled nose when he picked up the sound of panting gasps and whimpers accompanied by the scraping of claws digging through soil and dirt. 

He slowly held out his hand, pointing toward the direction where that noise came from. "Over there." He instructed them, all eyes turning toward the same building where the pair of cat girls were last seen. 

"Wait." He urged, turning his head as he caught a familiar smell. His lips pressed together, his tongue tasting the roof of his mouth as he visualized a trickle of blood dropping down the chin from a wounded cat girl. She hung her head in defeat, her tired breathes paired with the sound of chains rattling. His stomach turned as he could taste the metal from her blood. "Gods, someone's in pain."

"Where?" Alma whispered. 

"That building over there." He said, pointing to the opposite side of the fort. "I'm going."

"Hold on, you're meant to stay here remember?" Alma warned him, keeping close to the shadows. "This place is filled with soldiers. Getting caught risks all our lives, not just yours." 

"I am not standing by like a coward." He stated, locking eyes with her. "Please, just let me do this." 

The Rangers turned to Alma, waiting for her command. Her lip quivered, agitated but relenting with a sigh. "I don't want to put your life at risk, what would KuliKuli say if you got hurt?" 

"If I don't do this, how could I help her then? I tried waiting before, and it costed us everything."

Reta walked up to be by his side. "I'll go with him." 

"Fine." Alma hissed, rolling her eyes. "Ya'Go, Sauza. You two follow him. Remember, stay in the shadows. Reveal yourself only if the enemy has found you. Find the girls then retreat, that's it. Understood?" 

Everyone nodded in agreement before disbanding. Felix took one deep breathe, looking to Reta for support. She nodded back. waiting for him to take the lead. The pair of Rangers stuck to his side. 

"Okay, on me." Felix said, hopping down from the fence.