All the Dust that Falls

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.

***

Finally, after a lot of walking, they came into view of the castle. Bee ran ahead and knocked on the gate, leaving Tony and Susan the unenviable task of herding the flock the rest of the way.

The ringing of metal echoed across the castle grounds. Soon enough, she saw a figure walking over from the direction of the fields. Is no one watching out for danger? We need to fix that. There are more than enough people here now that keeping a watch on the road should be doable.

The worker turned out to be Silas. Turning over his shoulder, he shouted, sending people scurrying about. A few went into the castle to round up the others; a few moments later, Silas worked the winch to raise the portcullis.

"It's good to see ya lass! Uh, er, highness." Silas exclaimed as she stepped back onto the castle grounds at last. "I'm sure Trent or Mary will fill ya in detail, but things've been generally quiet round here, as it's been.' Side from a few things, 'course."

Bee let out some tension she had been holding in her shoulders. Ever since she had left, the knot of worry had been growing. She was responsible for these people; how that had fallen to her, she wasn't entirely sure, but it had. While she trusted that Void would watch over them, she was still on edge to be away for so long, even if it was on a holy quest.

"Thanks for letting me know. I think Tony could use some help if you know anything about sheep," she said, gesturing over her shoulder to the flock just cresting the last hill.

"I mayhaps know a thing or two," The old man grinned as he set out towards the herd with a brisk but steady stride. "No worries, we'll get 'em in no time."

As he was walking away, she heard him mutter something under his breath. "Don't want to be near Trent when he learns about this. Looks like we'll be workin' through the winter after all."

She wasn't quite sure she understood the statement, but hopefully, they weren't completely unexpected. Even if they were, that Void was the one who asked for them would smooth things over. As much as she grew to hate the sheep, she understood her master's rationale for wanting them. They had a store of clothes from the mages, but not many of them were sized for the smaller children.

Also, the sheep had other uses. They could get lots of food from the fields, and the harvest they had collected from the nearby farms should be enough to take them through winter and spring, hopefully. But despite all that, they didn't have a source of meat. Now they had the sheep, at least as a backup. It might be enough that they wouldn't have to go hunting in winter.

Just as she was thinking, a familiar black disk appeared from inside the castle doors. It leaped forward at her, somehow perfectly timing its airborne arc so it crashed into her chest on the descent. She caught it in surprise, driven back just a step with the gentle impact.

—

After I confirmed that it was indeed my humans on the trail home, I returned to the castle to go about my day. I played with the kids, cleaned, and trained my mutations as I did every day. Slowly my control was improving across the board. But no matter how much I tried to throw myself into my work, one thread was dedicated to updating my timer with their estimated time of arrival.

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?