by Jeff Hook
It yelped and ran. In fact, all of the wolves ran. They knew that they were outmatched.
Karugo laughed, holding his sword aloft. “Victory!”
“I think we’re getting better each time,” said Hishano. Was that appreciation in his voice? Yes. Hishano was smiling. He, Karugo, had been useful to someone and they loved him for it. Even Ishū allowed himself a quick smile before resuming his typical blank expression.
Then Ishū frowned. “They’ll be back,” he said. “And next time it won’t be just three.”
23
Animal Intelligence
Mud covered every bit of Ishū’s body. It soaked his clothes and transformed his green skin to brown. It masked his scent. It made him less recognizably human — which meant that the animals were less likely to find and attack him.
“This is why we went to the swamp?” complained Karugo. He and Hishano were also covered in a protective layer of brown sludge. If they lay still on the ground, only the most sensitive of noses and the most alert of eyes could detect them.
“We don’t want a bigger battle,” said Ishū. It was bad enough that they were in danger; hurting animals as intelligent as wolves felt wrong.
“Speak for yourself,” said Karugo. “That last one was even more fun than the first.”
“The important thing is that we get the ingredients H’raldri needs,” said Hishano. “Then we can get money, save Seth’s family, and continue on our journey.”
At least one of them understood.
Most of the time they moved quickly, winding their way through the woods while avoiding any groups of animals, guided by Ishū’s hand signals. When there were animals around they couldn’t avoid, they moved slowly and kept to the ground. Moving on all fours seemed to make them harder to detect as human.
As they neared the edge of the woods, close to the bamboo forest, Ishū heard a loud thud.
There was a creature up ahead moving stubbornly back and forth. As he got closer he saw that it was a four-legged creature with shaggy brown fur. It ran forward, turning a translucent grey as it passed through a bush, then back to brown after it was past the obstacle. The buffalo reached a large tree, its trunk as wide as Ishū was tall, and ran into it with a loud crash. No ghosting this time.
“Ghost buffalo,” whispered Hishano. “That’s what started the whole trouble last time.”
Ishū tried to read its thoughts, but it was a confused mess. It felt almost like reading an individual one of the jelly-like creatures that had together formed a larger intelligence.
They snuck forward, leaving the buffalo behind and entering the bamboo forest. Animals darted back and forth, oblivious to them. The wolves and snakes were surprisingly sparse, although when he considered that they lived by eating other animals it made sense. The land could only support so many predators.
A mass of animals that he assumed were buffalo gathered off on the northern plains, farther than he could speak or listen. However, their destination was in that direction, and if the buffalo herd charged the way they had yesterday then there wasn’t much that could be done except run away… especially if the animals were still convinced that he was their enemy.
He had to fix that somehow. Maybe he could find a frog. Hopefully the rollup-tongued forest frogs were just as talkative as their sticky-tongued city brothers. Well, hopefully they were almost as talkative.
He sensed a creature alone, a frog with its long tongue laid out on the ground, and snuck up on it. He was careful not to send out any thoughts — animals couldn’t sense his presence the way he could sense theirs, but there seemed to be certain qualities of thought that they could detect. Normal thoughts were like whispers, while purposeful thoughts were a normal speaking voice… and panicked, overly emotional thoughts were like screams. If he wasn’t disciplined then the frog would detect him as he approached.
He also slowed his movements and tried to keep any noises he made to a minimum. “Stay back,” he whispered to Karugo and Hishano, without explanation. He rounded the large bamboo plant the frog had settled in beside and was delighted to find that he was behind the frog.
Is someone there?
Okay, too much excitement. Settle those thoughts down.
He crept forward and finally, when he was close enough, pounced.
He grabbed the body and lifted it off the ground with both hands. The legs and body were only slightly larger than those of frogs on Tandoku Island, but the head was nearly twice as big in order to hold the oversized tongue. The tongue rolled toward them and slapped into the frog’s mouth, knocking them both back.
Did you do that on purpose?
Oh no! It’s the mind destroyer! it screamed. Please, spare me!
Why does everyone keep calling me that?
Because you go into our minds, take over our bodies, make us attack our friends. No animal feels safe when you are near.
What? All I’ve tried to do is talk!
Do you not remember? They say it only happens when you’re in your beige-skinned form.
Beige-skinned form? Could they seriously not tell humans apart?
There is you, the mind-aware, and then there are the rest of the humans.
Oops. He’d done an external thought by accident. I think there’s another mind-aware human on this island. Do you know where he is?
Away.
Well that was useless. Then again, he couldn’t expect a frog to give step-by-step directions. They’d have to figure out where that other mind-talker was some other time. But as long as he was here, he might as well get a little help with their main mission.
Do you know where these ingredients are? Ishū sent thoughts of the various plants that H’raldri needed, images as best as he could remember from the little book the Lapine had shown them.
Plains to the north, caves to the west, swamps to the southwest. In that order. Please do not take my mind.
Thank you, little frog.
That had gone relatively well. It wasn’t nearly as full of philosophy and grievances as its city brother and it had given them some useful information, even if it couldn’t tell them where the other human was.
“There’s another human around that can talk to animals,” announced Ishū. “We don’t know where he is, but the frog did tell us where the other plants are.”
“We already know where the other plants are,” said Karugo. “Next time can I sneak up and catch it? That looked fun.”
Ishū sighed. There was a reason he preferred to work alone.
——
Hishano was happy that the team was all together again, working as a unit. Ishū was so focused when they were walking and Karugo was so excited when they got to fight.
Maybe after they’d earned enough money he would get H’raldri to teach him how to fight. He didn’t have the knack for just jumping in and doing damage the way Karugo did. It wasn’t his nature. However, he realized that if he wanted to protect his friends then he needed to be able to hurt his enemies… but until he could train in combat, he’d just keep on swinging sticks and jumping in front of danger. These were his current strengths.
They finally made their way past the bamboo forest and into the plains. Their camouflage, intended for the woods, worked even worse here than in the bamboo forest. However, nothing attacked them.
“Are the animals still angry with us?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Ishū, “but it’s not as bad. And our scent is dampened from this mud, so they don’t detect us nearly as easily.”
They continued forward, eyes on the grass. Then he saw it. “Look!”
Sure enough, that was the plant they needed. Four blue petals, each with jagged-looking edges that were nonetheless soft to the touch.
He reached down and grabbed it at the stem, careful not to damage any of the leaves, and stuck it in one of the bags that H’raldri had given them. Unless they really got rowdy, the bag would keep the plant pressed safe and flat, perfectly preserved for use in a potion.
“This is what saving the world looks like,” announced Hishano. Picking a plant, which would get them money, which would let them save a farm and buy passage to their destination. The plant would likely cure someone’s illness, which was yet another good deed springing from a single action. They were saving three worlds with this one act.
“Pretty anti-climactic,” said Karugo. “I’d kinda hoped it would involve more fighting.”
“We’ve still got four more of these to pick, and then two more types of plants,” said Ishū. “You may get your wish yet.”
——
Ishū wondered what creatures would be in the caves and the swamps. Humans rarely went there, so Seth didn’t know them the way he knew the forest creatures. Therefore, they had no strategies built up for those creatures and had been lucky that they hadn’t run into anything while at the edge of the swamp.
And those creatures might be very angry.
So he had to get things settled. Hopefully, the herd of buffalo could help.
He convinced Karugo and Hishano to climb up on one of the giant white boulders that dotted the plains. They were the same white boulders that surrounded the town, so they were probably something that the buffalo wouldn’t run through. A frog lay at the base with its tongue extended, its relaxed presence implying that buffalo wouldn’t come trampling through unexpectedly.
Now to speak with these buffalo.
He couldn’t see them, but they were close enough that he could sense how they were arranged and — when he was ready — talk to them.
If this was a collective intelligence like those jelly things, it was laid out strangely. There were groups of four to six buffalo, each group standing close together to graze but separated from the other groups by a good twenty feet or so.
He first tried to listen to the collective mind, but it came out like a crowded room.
Then he focused down to one of the groups and was shocked to hear intelligible thought. The fire one is the most dangerous. It could catch the entire sea of grass on fire.
There was silence after that, then another thought.
But the mind-shatterer doesn’t understand us. It is stuck in singleton patterns of thought.
He was hearing what just one cluster was saying. Ishū relaxed his mind further, trying to pick up the other being in the conversation, another cluster of buffalo. …is why it is dangerous. Amdi, you are young, have never had a member change. It is disastrous when it happens as quickly as this human does it.
Can we not charge him, destroy him?
When he can take a member from any cluster that approaches? You were part of the panic yesterday.
I do not remember it.
Yes, because we were all too intermingled. He doesn’t understand our thoughts. He still caused chaos by moving members randomly. With the stampede, he stole the thoughts of the entire herd. Besides, he is in the caves. That land is far too crowded for us.
The caves. How convenient. Ishū decided not to risk conversation with the buffalo herd for now, but he at least knew their next move.
“Let’s go to the caves,” he said.
“Nothing from the buffalo?” asked Hishano.
“They told me far more than I expected,” he said grimly. He hopped off the boulder, stabilizing himself by squatting and placing his hands on the ground.
“What’s that mean?”
“Karugo, get ready.” No one messed with the animals like this and got away with it. “We’re going to go kill a human.”
24
Animal
A human!
Karugo thought back to the fight with Jack and Freddy. They were pirates, so they were different than other humans. Meaner, stronger. Maybe this human would be a pirate too. They had to be mean if Ishū wanted to kill them.
If this human was a pirate, then they would be strong. Good at fighting. They’d all gotten a little bit stronger and a little bit more skilled lately, but they still might not be able to take down a pirate like Jack without trickery.
When they got to the bamboo forest, Karugo grabbed a big, sturdy bamboo stick.
They might not have those in the caves and he would need a weapon.
——
It was happening again.
Ishū could hear the panicked voices of the animals, no one certain who was themselves and who had been taken over. No one knowing if they would be next.
A tri-snake came at them alone. Strange that it came alone.
I’m not your enemy, he thought at it.
So you’ve got it too, it said back.
You know there are two of us who can speak to you?
It laughed at him. A very human laugh. You think you’re talking to the snake?
The snake sprung toward his leg with no regard for its own life. Ishū leapt back, but it would still have gotten him if not for Karugo bringing a flaming stick down on its back.
The kid was getting good at lighting stuff up fast, not that the flame helped much in this situation. The impact was enough to slow the snake, though, and then Hishano was able to jump in, grab it by the tail, and thrash it against the ground until it was dead. Or at least unconscious.
Another snake came out of the woods, straight toward them. This guy could keep on taking over animals until they were dead.
It was time to take a risk.
He put out a thought that was the equivalent to shouting. It would alert every animal in the area to their location, but if he could convince them properly, they might come to help instead of attack.
The mind-controlled animals are attacking me! They’ll attack you next! I am mind-aware, but I just want to talk! Help me kill the one who’s been taking over your minds!
Would it work? Would the animals believe him?
There was a flurry of chatter, excited, scared, noncommittal.
And none of it would help with the snake that was currently coming at them. He grabbed a fallen bamboo stick and swung it in the snake’s general direction.
You think that will help? You’re defenseless against my power.
The snake sprung. Ishū jumped to the side and tried to strike at the flying snake, but he tripped on an exposed tree root and fell to the ground. Karugo and Hishano chased the snake. Karugo caught it by a tail, but instead of stopping, the snake ripped itself away, slithering toward Ishū’s prone body with two tails and a bleeding stump.
A brown and green tongue rolled out right beside Ishū, and when the snake slid over it, it snapped back. As the tongue and snake approached the frog’s body, the frog hopped and spun, releasing at the perfect time to send its prey flying; the snake ended up wrapping around a bamboo stalk at high speed.
Any animal that thinks of helping that human will be my next target. It was clearly the other human, but it was coming from a nearby wolf.
Better some of us die now than to be forever at that man’s mercy, said another animal.
For the pack! said a wolf.
We’ll help as far as we can go, said the ghost buffalo.
Let’s do this! said Ishū. Those closer to the caves, figure out where that man is. Those closer to me, stay twenty paces away. When he takes over one of you, pin that animal until they’re back in their right mind. If they get too close to us, we’ll have to kill them in self-defense. Let’s do this with as few deaths as possible.
“What’s happening?” asked Hishano.
Right. They couldn’t hear everything.
“I don’t know,” said Karugo, “but it’s fun.”
Of course that was how Karugo would think about it.
Ishū, on the other hand, wanted to preserve as many intelligent animals as possible. “We’re going too slowly. Let’s run.”
——
Karugo sprinted forward, trying not to notice the dozens of animals running ten to twenty feet on either side of them.
“Don’t attack unless they come for us,” said Ishū.
Karugo didn’t complain. There were so many animals, far more snakes and wolv
es and buffalo than he could ever fight. Ghost buffalo ran through the bamboo, wolves dodged in between stalks much as the humans had to, and the snakes used their triple tails to move expertly between trunks, never hitting the ground.
“Left!” yelled Ishū.
To the left, a rainbow wolf ran toward them, its red and orange snout taut in an anguished growl. Karugo held his bamboo stick at the ready and caught it on fire.
The wolf didn’t hesitate. It lunged straight for Ishū. Karugo swung his flaming stick down on its back, with force that set it to howling… but it didn’t stop. It moved more slowly, but it didn’t stop. Even at this slow pace it could keep up with their party’s jog and continue to close the distance. Karugo set himself on fire and moved in between Ishū and the wolf, but the wolf still approached. It seemed to have no fear of the fire. When it got close enough, it went for Karugo’s leg. Karugo moved in time, but not before the wolf had set its own snout on fire.
“What’s wrong with it?” yelled Karugo.
“It’s being controlled,” said Ishū. “Controlled by someone who doesn’t care about who or what he harms. He just wants to — right!”
The wolf stopped and suddenly started howling in pain.
Hishano moved to their right, putting himself in between Ishū and a rogue buffalo. The buffalo seemed to stumble, as if whoever controlled it wasn’t quite as skilled at handling this animal, and it started drifting back to its companions.
“Ha,” said Ishū. “Haven’t figured them out yet, have you?”
“Who are you talking to?” asked Karugo.
Ishū ignored him. “Front!”
It was a snake this time. Always one at a time. That was nice and convenient. Much easier than fighting multiple animals at once. Of course, the fact that they weren’t scared of his fire anymore did make things more difficult.
