It took almost an hour to load that poor mule with all the paraphernalia, and Daemon's attempts to warn that perhaps it wasn't a good idea carrying so many things.
"Impossible." the professor said, "It's all essential equipment."
Once left the city, Daemon and the professor entered the forests heading west along a known path, and soon the professor was completely captured by the nature around them, starting to scribble incessantly in a notebook.
Everything seemed to catch his interest, and more than once during the journey Daemon had to warn him to keep an eye on his horse to not risk crashing somewhere, or even worse, getting lost.
"Try to always maintain eye contact. This forest is far from safe."
"You can rest assured, Mr. Haselworth. You wouldn't think so by looking at me, but I have visited much more dangerous places than this."
"With all due respect, but I find it hard to believe."
After only a few hours they had to stop, since the terrain had now become so rough that it would have been dangerous to venture there with the loaded mule.
"From here on, it's best to proceed on foot."
At least, despite his age, physique and the impractical cloak he was wearing, the professor seemed really at ease walking on rough terrain, and managed to follow his guide for the entire journey without too much trouble.
While Daemon monitored the surroundings, the professor immediately got to work, and armed with a net, he began to capture as many spiders, insects and small reptiles or amphibians as he could, carefully cataloging them and placing them in the few jars that he had managed to put in his backpack.
"I'm going for a check-up. You please stay here. This area of the forest is relatively safe, but it's better to be cautious."
The professor was so engrossed in his work that he limited himself to a wave of his hand, and for a few minutes, he continued to take notes sitting on a rock.
But then, a colorful butterfly flew right in front of his eyes, attracting him like a moth with fire.
"Wait little one. Let me take a closer look."
Without thinking twice the professor ran after her, entering deeper and deeper into the trees; the chase ended only when the elderly teacher, having slipped one foot, rolled like a wheel down a short slope.
"Note." he muttered, getting back to his feet. "Only the fool looks at the sky without paying attention to what he has under his boots."
However, once he had cleaned the mud off his clothes, he realized he was lost.
All around him there was nothing but trees and silence, and not even a trace of his guide or anything else that could help him understand where he had ended up.
"Perfect, from bad to worse. When will I learn not to get distracted by the first butterfly I see?"
He tried to follow his own steps to return to where he had come from, but that forest was so thick that orientation was impossible.
His non-stop wandering led him to a new clearing, and while he tried in vain to recognize some element, a rustling of leaves made every single hair on his body stand on end.
"Who goes there? I warn you, I don't taste good."
A small monkey with a superb black coat emerged from the foliage and, completely ignoring the chubby professor, instead turned all his attention to a nearby wild strawberry bush.
"But you are a black mountain monkey. What a fortuitous meeting. I thought you lived much higher up this time of year."
He immediately took out his notebook and began to jot down a sketch, completely forgetting the context in which he found himself.
"Wait!" he exclaimed when the little monkey, perhaps intimidated by the attentions of that funny human, ran away. "I'm just missing a few details!"
This time, however, the natural instinct to run after the object of his curiosity cost the professor much more than a tumble, because after just a few steps he found himself face to face with another black monkey; with the only difference that this one, in addition to being six or seven times bigger, did not seem at all happy to see her little one molested in that way.
"By Gaia's hair! No, no. Wait! I wasn't doing him anything bad!"
The monkey was almost about to charge him, when a stone thrown with incredible force hit a tree nearby. A moment later Daemon was standing between the professor and the monkey, facing the latter in open defiance.
The animal growled, still apparently determined to attack.
"What are you waiting for? Kill her!"
Instead, Daemon dropped his bow to the ground, just as the monkey began its charge against him.
Then, an instant before being overwhelmed, he screamed; it was a bestial, animalistic cry, which left the professor first dismayed and then immediately speechless, the moment he saw the monkey arrest the attack and stop, towering over the young boy with all his grandeur. Over the years, Daemon had grown into a well-built young man, but that beast still made him look like a gnat.
Suddenly the boy started screaming, waving, beating his fists on his chest and on the ground like a possessed man, without ever shying away from eye contact with the monkey.
"What are you doing?" the professor muttered in terror, noting that the animal, after a moment of hesitation, had soon started to imitate him. "You'll only make her even more furious."
But Daemon didn't listen to him, on the contrary he became more and more excited and blatant, at one point even tearing up grass and throwing it at his opponent.
Professor Hinkel expected at any moment to see that beast split his guide in two with a single slap; instead, the monkey soon seemed to lose conviction, becoming almost fearful. Her displays of strength diminished, until, having received a final scream from Daemon literally an inch from his nose, she hastily retreated, recovering her baby before disappearing into the trees.
"Well... I'll have to remember to write it down in my notes."
"What part of "stay here" wasn't clear to you, exactly?"
Despite everything, he held out his hand, helping him get up.
"I admit that I have never seen anything like it. I was sure she would kill us."
"Female mountain monkeys are very aggressive when protecting their young, but if they perceive that the threat is not worth the risk of a fight they prefer to run away."
"I must confess that at first I was a little skeptical about your reputation, but the closer I am to you, the more I realize I was wrong."
"Glad to hear you say that. But now it's better to move. For now she has given up, but it's better not to challenge her patience."
Whereupon the two set off, with the idea of reaching the horses and looking for another area in which to stop and wait for the night.
"Anyway, if it's animals you want, you'll find plenty of them here. The problem is that many are even more dangerous than the monkey you just met. Red wolves, mountain boars. For some time now, a tarkana has even been established in this region."
The professor flinched.
"A tarkana you said!? Big?"
"The biggest one you've ever seen. Or at least this is what the few who met him and were able to tell the story said. And no, don't ask me to look it up. I care too much about my life."
"Don't worry, it's not the kind of creature I'm dying to run into."
In the meantime, however, the walk seemed to take a little long.
"Sorry, if I may. Are you sure this is the right way? I thought we had to go downhill to get to the horses."
"We're not going to get the horses." Daemon then replied almost whispering, with a tone of voice completely different from the previous one which worried the old teacher quite a bit.
There was something wrong.
"Don't stop." the boy said again before the professor could think of slowing down his pace. "Keep walking."
"What... what's going on?"
"They're following us."
"What!? Who!?"
"On the rock ridge, to the left of the path, at the highest point."
Trying to be discreet, the professor slowly turned his gaze in that direction, just in time to see a shadow that disappeared behind the edge an instant before being framed.
"Who are they?"
"Macaire. There is another one above our heads, among the trees. And there will surely be others nearby."
"Are they... bandits?"
"Worse, they are also monsters. They often attack wealthy travelers and anyone they surprise in the forest to collect money and materials. But it's strange that they're here, since they usually hang out around the Castle."
"Mother Gaia, perhaps it would be better to return to the horses."
"It would be useless, as well as dangerous. Either they have already dispersed them, or more likely their companions are keeping an eye on them. We continue walking in this direction, to separate them from their companions. Attacking them now would be useless, and if we started running they would jump on us. They must not suspect that we have noticed them."
On the advice of his guide, Jacob pretended to immerse himself in his work again, but he was so agitated that he could barely contain the urge to constantly look over his shoulder.
Meanwhile Daemon had all his muscles tense, and as if he had the eyes of a fly he continued to monitor everything around him without almost moving his head.
"Look, Professor." he said, suddenly stopping "That beetle on that rock is a unique specimen, typical of this region."
"Eh... What... Where...?"
The young male feline armed with a cutlass fell on the professor the moment he bent over, but was intercepted in mid-air by Daemon and kicked away, hitting the tree from which he had come down with such force that he fainted on the ground.
His accomplice stationed nearby immediately ran to his aid, but aimed directly at Daemon and attempted to slice him with her sharp lynx nails. The hunter dodged the first assault, tripped her, causing her to fall, and before she could get up he jumped on her, using the bowstring like a garrote and cutting off her air just enough to make her faint.
When the professor, who had barely noticed anything, turned around, the two attackers were already both out of action.
"You never cease to amaze me."
"These were the first. Their companions will arrive soon. We have to leave now."
"Leave? And where?"
Just then, distant noises announced the arrival of the next group.
"Anywhere but here! Come!"
Taking the professor by the arm, and throwing all discretion to the wind, Daemon started running.
Unfortunately, poor Jacob, given his age and physique, wasn't definitely a marathon runner, and after a few tens of meters he already couldn't take it anymore.
"I... I don't think I can go any further..."
There was nothing left to do but try to fight, but it was necessary to find a suitable place to hide the professor.
"Quickly, get in here!" he said, pushing him forcibly into a small opening between two large rocks.
Having secured his protégé, Daemon positioned himself in front of the opening wielding his bow and with the safety strap of the long knife already loosened.
The assault began within a few seconds, heralded by furious battle cries and the growing sound of running footsteps; since they had now been discovered, it no longer made sense to maintain a stealthy approach.
The first to emerge from the bush was a wiry red-skinned orc, who charged headlong towards Daemon brandishing a pair of double-headed axes; but he didn't even have time to get within ten steps of his target, because the young hunter pierced his knee with a single arrow, making him literally collapse to the ground.
Understanding the danger of the enemy, the other four decided to attack all together, falling on Daemon from various directions and engaging in a ferocious melee with him. Among them, the only familiar face was that of their leader and second-in-command of the gang, Mytra.
Professor Hinkel watched the fight from his shelter, without anyone apparently noticing his presence. And precisely because no one seemed to pay attention to him anymore, he was the first to notice another figure, lurking in a nearby tree, preparing to hit Daemon with a small crossbow.
"Watch out!"
Without thinking too much he came out of his hiding place, moving the young man just enough to remove him from the path of the dart, fortunately only being grazed in the neck by it himself.
"Professor!"
"Nothing serious, just a scratch."
Having noticed that he had missed the target, the shooter started to reload, and at that point Daemon had no choice but to pierce him between the eyes.
"Urzi!" the lioness exclaimed in tears as she saw her companion fall from the branch.
Her anger at the death of her partner drove her to lash out at Daemon with even more fury, soon putting the boy in a corner.
Daemon knew he had done something beyond repair, and now talking was useless. All that remained was to try to escape.
Reaching into his belt he retrieved three small leather spheres with a fuse attached, which he lit by rubbing them all together on the metal buckle.
"Cover your face!" he ordered the doctor, raising his collar to do the same.
The three spheres exploded with a powerful bang a few moments after being thrown, releasing a thick blood-red dust that overwhelmed the lioness and her companions, causing them to collapse to the ground amid screams of pain, red eyes and burning noses.
Having the eye and nose of an animal was certainly an advantage, but in certain conditions it could become a curse: and a mixture of crushed chili pepper and gunpowder was more than a monster with even slightly more developed senses could bear.
Even after the cloud had cleared, Mytra and her men needed a long time to regain their sight, while they had to pour all the water they had on themselves to calm the piercing pain in their nose.
"Let's find them!"
Throughout the Khoral Range, between abandoned mines and natural caves, it was not difficult to find a good hiding place, and even if it was not common for him to visit that part of the forest, Daemon knew two or three well-sheltered ones that could be suitable for them.
Not being able to move quickly or easily due to his elderly travel companion, his choice finally fell on a small cave dug into the rock at the top of a steep slope.
"We should be safe here. The stony ground confuses the tracks, and if someone approached we would notice it in an instant."
The professor, however, wasn't listening to him, because he was distracted by an incessant splashing that seemed to come from the dark bottom of the cave.
"What is this noise?"
"An underground river. It flows beneath our feet, and comes out in the forest a couple of miles away."
Jacob was almost convincing himself that the worst might be over, when he saw himself being grabbed vigorously by the collar and lifted up.
"But who the hell are you?"
"What do you mean?" he replied in a cold sweat.
"This isn't about attacking a rich man to rob him. Those Macaire wanted to kill you. And now they will want to do the same with me, since I had to kill one of them to protect you. May I know why they want you dead?"
"I... I have no idea, I swear. I've never even been around here in my life."
Perhaps there was another possible explanation.
"The Macaires are above all raiders, but Mytra and his followers do not hold back when it comes to slavers or traffickers. Are you involved in something like this?"
"Absolutely not. Quite the opposite. I am the only professor at the university with demihumans at my service as assistants."
The situation in the last few minutes had been so tense that Daemon hadn't noticed the paleness that appeared on his protégé's face, and it was only when the professor, once released, collapsed badly on the damp floor that the hunter realized that something was wrong.
"Are you feeling sick?"
"I... I don't know... suddenly, I feel very tired..."
Daemon's eye immediately fell on the scratch on his neck.
"Wait a minute."
As he approached, he sniffed carefully, perceiving a strong smell of cocoa.
"Darenia root."
If before he was only pale, upon hearing the name of that flower the professor literally turned white.
"So it's..."
"Sarpides."
"But... how is it possible!? I should be dead by now."
The sarpides was deadly because it acted within a few seconds, but there was one exception to this otherwise inevitable sentence.
"Do you suffer from the sugar disease?"
"What!? ... Well, yes... Unfortunately I haven't taken my medicines for days. I forgot them in an inn and never bought them again."
"Good for you that you didn't. Having a lot of sugar in the blood greatly attenuates the poisonous effect of the sarpides."
"Really!? I had never heard about this. So, does that mean I'm safe?"
"Not completely. The sarpides kills very quickly, but is also expelled with the same speed if the victim doesn't die. The important thing is to keep the sugar level high for as long as necessary."
"And how can it be done?"
"There are plenty of ways. It shouldn't be too difficult. I'll go find everything I need. You wait for me here without making any noise, breathe slowly and try not to make any effort. I'll be back in no time."