Chapter 130: Sheep’s Clothing
Bee watched the far-off bird move unnaturally fast in the air above them. It had only been up there for a few minutes, and it was really freaking her out. The speed was completely unreasonable, not to mention the zig-zagging direction changes; worse, she could only make it out as a dark smudge in the distance, so she had no idea how fast it was going. Is this some new undead threat I've never heard of?
There wasn't much they could do, though. That would be if they tried to move the flock off the path and into the forest. She doubted they would ever find more than a quarter of them again. As much as they had improved at controlling the flock, getting them on the path was tricky. Now the trees themselves were helping a lot to keep them focused in the right direction.
Bee suspected that was because the undergrowth was dense, and the sheep were dumb enough to not realize that going into the forest was an option. Tony thought that it might have been that they were smart enough to stay on the path, but she figured that was giving the dreadful things too much credit.
Susan said the instinct to stay together in a group was helping them out here, but they still walked up and down the column to head off any issues, pressing the sheep forward.
The flying thing in the sky zipped over them again. So far, it hadn't attacked, so they figured it was maybe a scout of some sort. Since it had already seen them, perhaps it wasn't worth trying to hide. Though, Bee thought, is it my imagination, or did it get larger this past?
It was heading toward the castle. She felt a slight pang of fear but relaxed just as quickly. Considering who guarded it, she was able to master herself. The castle was much safer than they were right now. No matter how powerful this flying threat was, it would stand no chance against Void.
Continuing to drive the sheep forward, Bee started to let her mind wander in the execution of her relatively mundane task. She planned out a few new potions she wanted to brew. After meditating on the liquid projectiles her master sometimes used in fights, she started to have an insight.
She was nearly certain that it was a highly corrosive substance. Often, weak acids were used in cleaning, meaning her Divine Alchemy should work on them. The question was, how corrosive could she make the substances before her skill no longer applied? Also, now that she had a third domain ideal for Void, she decided to consider how she might be able to earn experience by incorporating it into her activities.
Divine Alchemy wasn't likely to be helpful with lost children...unless she could make some sort of tracking potion? She would have to think more about that later. But she needed to figure out a better way to level. This trip frustrated her for many reasons. For one, despite killing many undead, they were so weak that she hadn't even earned a single level.
Also, being away from the castle, she wasn't even earning a steady stream from working with the kids or doing her normal cleaning chores. Even tending to ramps hadn't been an option out here. How could she serve her master if she stayed so weak?
She realized, deep down, that it was a bit of rationalization. If she was being honest, she just wanted to be stronger, but she glossed over that for now.
It was a complete waste of resources, but I didn't mind too much. I was just too excited.
When I finally picked up Beatrice on my sensors, I zipped through the castle halls, leaving my room half done. I could always come back to it later. A small burst of my Thrusters sent me gracefully arcing into her arms.
As fun, as it was to fly everywhere, it was still very nice to be carried. There was a sort of security to it. I let out a welcoming beep, trying to convey all my joy that she had made it back in one piece. I ran my sensors over her carefully, but somehow, I didn't detect even the slightest bit of damage to her. This was unprecedented! Beatrice had an entire adventure without me and didn't end up broken. I was so proud of my pupil and human. Truly, I never thought I would see the day.
It occurred to me that she may have just had time to heal herself, but I supposed that was okay too. She cocked her head slightly, interpreting my noises, and smiled. "I'm glad to be back too, Master."
Now, where was Tony? Also, I think I saw whatever those Sheep things that Bee had been trying to retrieve were. After a moment, Beatrice put me down on request and said she would like to talk to Trent and Mary about everything she had missed, so I let her go.
Rolling down the path, I didn't quite make it to the gate before I saw them; fluffy, off-white animals started to stream through. I stopped in my tracks as I ran my sensors over them. They were dirty! They were so dirty that their fur was many shades more off-white than their composition indicated! That would need to be fixed post haste! I supposed that might have happened during the trip, but upon closer inspection, I found that a lot of the grime was quite old. Were these things ever clean?
Baths were in order first. We needed to remember our priorities. Before I could finish settling on how we would bathe the sheep, Cliff came running from the little stand of trees she had claimed as her own. I was quite impressed with the rate at which she covered the gap. The sheep were, too; it seemed as if they decided they wanted to race.
They couldn't quite pick a direction, but from their excited noises, I could tell they were ready. Somehow they weren't able to make it out the main gate, so they started to run around the castle ahead of Cliff and in other scattered directions. The mass of the sheep was valiantly running as best they could, but it was clear that there was no comparison between the grace and speed that Cliff ran with and the bumbling gait of the sheep. However, Cliff was sporting, veering off to give them a better chance. It was only when she crashed into a bleating animal did I realize something wasn't quite right.
Tanu came running and was suddenly yelling at the very large dog. Cliff froze with her teeth just a few inches away from the sheep's throat. She cocked her head to swivel her ears back at Tanu.
Hearing a commotion, I sensed Beatrice and Mary hurrying out the front door of the castle. There was also a bit of a crowd forming off to the side. Presumably, they were here to welcome Bee and Tony back, but they were instead looking at Cliff. I heard one mutter, "That's got to be the biggest wolf I have ever seen."
Beatrice came running out the door but pulled up short when she laid eyes on Cliff. Her eyes didn't leave the dog as she slowly spoke. "Master. Why is there a wolf on the castle grounds?"
Well, this might be a bit of a story that we didn't have time for at the moment. First, I needed to lend Tanu a hand in restraining Cliff; I guess she needed to learn some manners. The little kids tried to play rough, too, before we taught them better. I hovered up next to Cliff's head and extended my Grabby Arm. Like I had seen her grab the smaller dogs, I used my claw to bunch up the fur at the back of her neck and lift her off the ground away from the very scared sheep. Cliff didn't seem to enjoy this treatment very much, and her wiggling made it very hard to explain what was happening.
Still, with the immediate situation resolved, I tried to briefly explain how I had found Tanu, Cluff, and the other dogs to Beatrice.
My human listened but seemed distracted somewhat. Her eyes kept darting over to the sheep running about in the courtyard. I wondered why they were still running - didn't they know the race was over?