The four of stared in shock between Katye and the Bataie. True, there were numerous humaniod creatures in the "Rift" and there were even quite a few that were friendly towards humans, but none of us could understand the beast language they used, so we were always forced to rely on Melissa"s telepathy."Melissa taught you telepathy?" I asked, a.s.suming that was how she understood them.
"No... they speak English, although it is very broken," Katye replied.
Now, we all were giving her strange looks to which she gave an annoyed huff and turned back to the rabbitmen. A strange, barely audible sound came from her throat and the creatures returned it, pointing between them with their weapons.
"See?" Katye asked.
"Katye, they weren"t speaking English. You spoke whatever they do," Terri said.
"We are overhead; is everything okay down there?" Yue"s voice chimed through all of our ears.
"Yeah, everyone"s safe, but could you send Melissa down?" Gustavo asked. "Katye found some locals and they have a few injured members."
"Kiara, too! They are beastmen, so her presence will be calming," Terri added.
"We"ll be down in a minute," Melissa replied.
"Katye, let them know we are bringing healers to help them," Terri said.
While they talked, Lesedi knelt down next to me and took my storage ring from my finger while I leaned against the large body of the dead variant. She pulled out a deep red, almost purple potion from my ring and handed it to me before she got up and started collecting my scattered weapons. I flipped the stopper off with my thumb then chugged the sickly, sweet liquid, but even that couldn"t mask the horribly bitter aftertaste. I grimaced, but I could immediately feel the calming energy hit my stomach and start to spread which made me let out a sigh of relief. When Lesedi returned with my ring, she helped me to my feet and pa.s.sed me a cleansing scroll, which I used right away, as the tree branches above us parted, creating a hole for Kiara and Melissa to easily enter the forest.
The Bataie cowered at the sound of movement overhead, but their eyes grew in wonder as they watched the two women seemly step down on the air itself. Kiara was channeling her natural aura to the max, causing the trees, bushes, and even the gra.s.s to perk up while it also had a soothing effect on the soul. Melissa was doing something similar, but her aura only revitalized the body on people and animals. The two women, along with Katye, crossed over to where a few rabbitmen were still laying on the ground.
"Their bones are crushed throughout their torsos... This one has a puncture lung. I"ll start on her while you give the other two a Bone Mending Potion," Melissa said as she checked over the Bataie.
"Here, Katye, give this to that one," Kiara said as she handed Katye a milky white potion then knelt down next to one of the rabbitmen.
Katye did the same and poured the potion down its throat. Kiara was able to take it a step further as she channeled her energy into the Bataie"s stomach and sped up the absorption process of the potion. Before Melissa finished healing the first, Kiara finished with the one she had been helping and moved onto Katye"s while Katye talked with the standing rabbitmen.
The gentle golden light around Melissa"s hands faded and she plopped down on her b.u.t.t while she pulled out a blue mana potion. The little Bataie that she had been working on slowly opened its eyes and gave a quiet squeak. The six Bataie standing literally "hopped" in excitement as two actually jumped over to the little rabbitman and started helping her up.
"Easy, easy," Melissa said gently, using a hand to slow their movements.
The rabbitmen made some more of their strange, quiet sounds while they looked over the one that had been injured. Melissa smiled as she turned to the next one and started healing it. Katye"s eye grew wide all of the sudden and then all of the Bataie fell to their knees, bowing to the point their heads touched the ground to the three women.
"Ummm... guys... they think we are G.o.ds," Katye said.
The rest of us chuckled since it had happened before with a few of the other peaceful tribes of beastmen we had stumbled upon. Healing magic was very rare, with most tribes never seeing a healer born to their ranks for centuries, and none would be able to match Melissa"s practiced hand. They had probably given up on their injured members, thinking them dead, and now we had come along, returning them back to life.
"This has happened before," Melissa explained. "Even if we try to explain to them we aren"t, they still will. What we normally do is warn them that others like us my appear one day, but they may not be as kind as us."
"How many times has this happened?" Katye asked.
"We"ve met about fifteen peaceful tribes and all of them, except for one, we met through similar circ.u.mstances, so fourteen," Melissa answered as she moved onto the third and last.
"Wow... I never thought something would consider me a G.o.d," Katye said.
"Show off a bit of your power back on Earth and you can have people thinking it as well," Terri chuckled.
Katye giggled as she realized Terri was right. Melissa finished with the last injured Bataie and sat down while she sipped on a second mana potion.
"They will be fine now, but they can"t walk far. Will you let them know?" Melissa asked.
Katye nodded and spoke in the Bataie"s language. The largest of the group of rabbitmen slowly raised its head and explained something to Katye. They conversed back and forth for several minutes, much longer than a simple statement should have taken.
Katye sighed, "I finally got the location of their home which is on the next mountain over, but they are trying to swear something like a life debt to us."
"Yes, I could see that. Their reverence for Becca, you, and me has completely clouded their small minds and is headache-inducing when I try to connect to their minds," Melissa said.
"Me?" I asked surprised.
"You did kill the big guy pretty much alone," Terri chuckled which made me chuckle too.
"Anyways... That is too far for these three to walk. What do you think, Yue? Want to see if we can do some trading with them?" Melissa asked.
"That"s sounds good to me. Alice said Tsitsuyi Mountain should have special, natural wards that would block our detectors, so its likely they could have herbs and monster cores to trade."
"Alright. Katye, ask them if we can carry their injured members back to their village and talk to their leader," Melissa said.
Katye nodded and relied the message. The Bataie all perked up at this question and the apparent leader of the group enthusiastically beat its furry paw against its chest as it answered.
"They agreed and will be throwing us a feast when we arrive," Katye said.
"Lesedi, Becca, gently pick up one of the Bataie. Their bones are set, but will be fragile for the next week," Melissa said.
We nodded and picked up two of the rabbitmen while she picked up the third. Katye said something to the Bataie and I expected them to lead the way, but instead, when they all stood up, they hopped over to the bodies of the Uktena and broke into teams, trying to pull the bodies of two of the snakes. Terri chuckled and walked over to them. They dropped the snakes and backed away while bowing. Terri squatted down and waved them over, but they didn"t approach. Even so, she gave them a smile then touched the body of one of the snakes with her hand, making it disappear. Their eyes grew wide in surprise then she waved her hand and the snake reappeared. One of the rabbitmen gave a squeak as it poked the snake body with a fuzzy finger. Terri stored the body of the snake away again then stood up and collected the others. It was an easy guess that this had been a hunt gone wrong before we stepped in.
Now, the big Bataie took the lead and directed us through the forest. Everyone carried a tracking device that the zeppelin could follow, so the ones on the ship had no trouble staying with us. They led us through a few game trails, making our way slowly down the slope towards the east before starting up another half an hour later. The further we walked up this mountain, the more the forest started changing as we walked through a light mist. Instead of growing colder, it was starting to warm up like a gentle, sunny spring day. The trees were no longer only pine and juniper, but also willow, maple, and even a few apple trees. The trees thinned and the ground beneath our feet slowly became gra.s.sy as we approached the other side of the mist.
We stepped out onto a gra.s.sy field that ran all of the way up to the peak of the mountain. Flowers bloomed everywhere, coloring the slope while filling the air with a pleasant scent. There were cl.u.s.ters of a few trees scattered all over the mountainside and tens of Bataie could be seen carrying on their daily duties. There was a cry of alarm from one of the rabbitmen up the mountain and it pointed up into the sky. Peeking up and over my shoulder, I saw the zeppelin break through the clouds.
"Katye, ask them to send some people to calm everyone down and explain," Gustavo said.
Katye stopped our Bataie escort, saying a few things and pointing up. The leader pointed to a few of his members who then dashed up the mountainside.
"I"ll hold the ship here to ease tensions," Yue said.
The bigger rabbitman said something then continued up. We followed them into a crowd of Bataie near the middle of the slope. It was a veritable sea of black, brown, gray, and white flurry heads and fluffy, long ears that only reached waist high as we were surrounded. Unlike the hunting party, who looked upon us were fear and respect, their was only curiosity in the rest of the Bataie"s eyes. Slowly, an aged-dyed white rabbitman walked over with the support of a walking stick and another Bataie. The crowd parted right away as the old rabbit shuffled over towards me. I almost backed away then remembered the Bataie I was carrying had been the one the others were most excited to see healed. I knelt down and carefully placed the small Bataie on her feet. The old rabbitman dropped his staff as he fell forward, catching the girl in his arms. Remembering Melissa"s warning, I caught the man before he put away weight on the girl so that only his arms could wrap around her. Katye knelt down next to them and said something to them. The old Bataie said something then repeated it to me.
"You can pa.s.s him back to the other one," Katye translated.
I helped the old Bataie back to the one who had helped it walk before then I picked up his staff and returned it to him. It turned to the others of its kind and said something. The Bataie cheered, I guessed as I only heard a strange hum and they all put their little fists in the air before they scurried off. I smiled widely at the sight of over fifty rabbitmen hopping off excitedly as did the others.
Katye said a few more things to the few Bataie that remained then explained, "She is the daughter of the Matriarch of their tribe. She wants to thank us for saving her life with a large feast and some entertainment tonight and tomorrow she will gift us anything we want."
"Make sure she knows we want to trade and won"t take anything for free. We will explain what we can tomorrow about the future, but that part can wait," Gustavo said.
"Okay," Katye said with a smile.
"Don"t forget to ask if we can come down! I want to see the bunny people," Ella called out through the intercom.
We all chuckled while Katye talked to the Matriarch. The other three were given permission to come down which they did after Yue returned the zeppelin to its dormant form and stored it away into her storage ring. We were led over to a large, open, flat area with a long wooded table running down the middle. They sat us down at the end of the table where the Matriarch sat in the only chair at the head of the table while the banquet slowly formed around us.