Chapter 340: Change of Plans
Although everyone in the room was eager to get started on the new Maple Sugar business, there were still many problems to overcome before construction could get started.
For instance, they needed to find places where harvesting villages could be established.
They also needed to arrange settlers, then actually build homes for them.
Then, of course, there were the logistics of tapping trees, processing sap, shipping product, creating sales channels, and so on and so forth.
In short, no matter how eager they were, it was going to be a while before they had any sugar to be sold.
Understanding this, Lucas and Allina bid farewell to Count Randolph and General Caldwell with a promise to maintain correspondence over the coming days and months.
According to the original plan, the migration convoy was supposed to spend 2 days in Falcon’s Bend, but between repairing the Raging River Legion warship, tending to the wounded, burying the dead, and just general de-stressing, Lucas and the others of his group wound up staying twice as long in the city.
4 days after the convoy first pulled into the harbour, 5 days after Lucas had touched down in Falcon’s Bend, the migration convoy got underway once more, the various warships and merchant vessels all pulling out of port and sailing down the Lorren River again.
2 warships from the Swift Current Legion also accompanied the convoy, their presence meant to ensure no further ’incidents’ took place.
.....
The Fifth Order Saberclaw Raptor screamed and spat as it flailed wildly, its razor-sharp claws slashing at the enemy standing before it.
However, no matter how much it thrashed about, it remained pinned down, unable to inflict any harm to its foe.
With its heart pierced though and torn apart from the inside, the beast knew it didn’t have long to live, yet it still gave its all to struggle against the inevitable.
Ultimately, though, the light began to fade from its hate-filled eyes and its movements became sluggish.
Soon, the creature slumped over, dead.
Withdrawing her spear, Celestina showed no sign of joy or relief after dispatching the creature, only cold indifference.
It had been 4 days since her face-off against the Red Tail Deer Alpha, and the General and her hunting party had finally caught up to the fleeing Saberclaw Raptors.
A battle ensued the moment contact was made, with the humans of the Rockwell Kingdom and their Snow Spirit Fox allies ripping into the exhausted lizards with overwhelming ferocity.
With 6 Adept-level masters on their side, 2 humans and 4 foxes, the hunting party was quickly able to tear apart the Raptors, and less than 15 minutes after the fight began, the battlefield fell silent.
There was just one problem; this wasn’t the whole Saberclaw Raptor pack.
In fact, it was at best a quarter of them, and all of the individuals in this splinter group were already heavily injured.
Spitting out the bloody remains of one of the younger, weaker raptors from his maw, Bron cursed loudly, "Damn these bastards! They tricked us, again!"
The expressions on all the other leaders of the hunting party were equally gloomy.
After the stand-off in the forest south of Blossom Town, it had taken them a whole day of searching to finally catch the trail of the Saberclaw Raptors.
Naturally, Celestina and her team pursued the enemy doggedly, trekking through particularly dense forests and deep marshes as they continued the hunt.
Along the way, faint traces of blood, deep tracks in the dirt, and broken and disturbed vegetation all seemed to indicate that they were closing in on their prey.
It was extremely tiring and unpleasant, but that only fueled the team’s confidence. They imagined that, unable to conceal themselves anymore, the Saberclaw Raptors were trying to lose them by leading them through the roughest terrain possible.
Finally, after nearly 3 days, their efforts seemed to pay off when Frey managed to lock onto the fresh scent of a wounded raptor.
Descending upon the enemy like a storm, Celestina and her allies succeeded in bringing them down, but it was obvious now that this was all a clever ruse, a distraction meant to throw them off the real enemy’s scent.
Celestina knew that the Saberclaw Raptor pack had not come out unscathed from their conflict with the herd of Red Tail Deer, but neither she, nor anyone else in her hunting party had anticipated these tropical lizards being so cunning and ruthless.
The raptor Alpha had clearly separated all the injured members from its pack and forced them to head into the most rugged lands they could find, essentially sacrificing them in order to draw their pursuers away.
So now, after 4 days of hard effort and having used up their only solid lead, all Celestina and her party had to show for it was a dozen or so already dying Saberclaw Raptors, only one of which was Fifth Order.
The Sixth Order Raptor Alpha, as well as at least 6 of its Fifth Order subordinates, were still out there, still a threat.
Even the mild-mannered Corey Stone and Frey were showing visible annoyance now.
They had been outwitted by a pack of supposedly unintelligent beasts yet again. It was not just frustrating, it was downright insulting, like the raptors were mocking their stupidity.
Flicking the blood from her spear, Celestina did her best to remain calm as she turned to her team and asked, "Any casualties?"
"None from our side," Corey took a deep breath and shook his head.
Frey, on the other hand, didn’t bother trying to conceal her frustration as she grunted, "A few of my kin got too heated and were wounded, all despite being stronger and outnumbering the enemy. Disgraceful!"
"Let it be," Celestina patted the female fox gently, trying to sooth her anger.
"What now, General?" Corey asked, a tinge of helplessness colouring his voice.
They had no more clues about where the remaining Saberclaw Raptors were, only a vague idea that they were still heading east.
Continuing to comb the nearby forest was unlikely to yield any results, but falling all the way back to Delore and starting a new search from scratch also didn’t seem like a sound plan.
Everyone, both human and fox, turned to Celestina, waiting for her to make a decision.
Staring down at the fresh raptor corpse before her, Celestina mulled over her options, searching for some way to end this nonsense once and for all, but no matter how hard she thought about it, no answers came to her.
It seemed she had no choice but to once again fall back, regroup, and try again
Arriving at this unpleasant conclusion, Celestina no longer hesitated, "We head north."
"Our destination?" Frey inquired.
"We’re almost to the border of the South and South-East Provinces," Celestina mused, "We’ll head for Count Kelgen’s territory and make contact with the aerial search teams there before deciding what to do next."
Since no one had a better suggestion, the rest of the party simply agreed and set off, moving through the woods as they headed back towards the kingdom’s southernmost road.
A few hours later, however, before even leaving the Southern Province’s forests, a faint but distinct sound reached Celestina’s ear.
Knitting her brow, the General signaled for everyone to stop as she closed her eyes and focused her senses.
Sure enough, it was the sound of a signal horn, one commonly used by military scouts when searching for dispersed infantry units.
Leaping up into the canopy above, Celestina climbed to the top of the trees and turned her gaze north-east towards the source of the sound.
There, off in the distance, she spotted a large black bird traveling west. It was a tartan, and atop it sat an Aerial Knight, blowing their horn at regular intervals.
Without wasting any time, Celestina pulled a similar horn from her Space Bag.
.....
Half-an-hour later, in a small clearing adjacent to a trickling brook, the Tartan landed and its rider dismounted, offering a salute.
Returning the gesture, Celestina got straight to business, "Why are you here, soldier?"
"Reporting to the General, Commander Clark dispatched a dozen scouts to this region to deliver a critical message," the young Captain replied succinctly, "The enemy has been spotted on the western outskirts of the Balfour March and is now heading due east at high speed."
Celestina was naturally taken aback by this news, not only because the elusive Saberclaw Raptors had been spotted, but also because of just how far away they were from their current location.
In order to reach the western border of her family’s territory, the raptors would have had to run day and night without stopping, taking the most direct paths possible.
Thinking about it, though, Celestina suddenly understood, a predatory grin soon creeping onto her face.
The enemy was getting desperate and had chosen to completely give up stealth in favour of speed, all in the hopes of escaping far enough that their pursuers would give up the chase.
If that was what the Saberclaw Raptors were betting on, however, they were bound to be disappointed.
Quickly adjusting her strategy, Celestina turned to the rest of the hunting party and declared, "Change of plans..."