After confirming Howard's resolve to help me I collapsed back on the ground. I observe the streaky white clouds as they move slowly across the sky. The dark blue of night mixes with the pink and orange sunset as the moon rises and the sun falls. The splashing of the wolves in the slow current and the crashing of the waterfall echo in the canyon with an occasional breeze picking up the water droplets and spraying them on the river bank. I close my eyes and embrace the sounds around me, my heart beats loudly in my ear and each breath I take moves my whole body up and down. It felt calm, too calm. As if the fight between the orcs, goblins and us didn't happen. The monsters burst into purple smoke however there was no loot from them this time.
I lay there until the sky turned dark slowly regaining my strength and recovering from the fight. During the fight, I did not lose that much HP since I was able to dodge most of the goblin's blows due to their small arms and legs but I felt like my body was made out of stone. My arms and legs were heavy and each movement I had to do needed lots of energy.
I heard the quick footsteps coming from HavenFall and turned my head in the direction. Howard stood up and walked towards the footsteps.
"Howard, here I got all the stuff Ian asked for."
Lucina had accompanied David and Melody carrying a bundle of sticks. I got up with great difficulty, my whole body felt heavy and sore. Seeing my struggle Melody placed down the vines she was holding and came over to help me up. Grabbing my arm and placed it around the back of her neck while holding my waist with her other hand.
"Thanks for the help Melody."
Even speaking was a bit difficult, my voice was soft and hoarse. I coughed slightly at the end and the sudden jerky movements caused pain in my already weak legs. Standing up was hard, my legs felt like jelly and I was in a half-bent state.
"Ian, what do you want us to do?"
I took a deep breath and told them the steps slowly.
"Howard set down the 2 larger sticks next to each other with a gap large enough that Noah can fit on top of it. Since we don't have enough vines to make the whole thing just out of vines I need you to place the smaller sticks in between the 2 large ones...Yeah just like that. Place it so it's a bit more apart...Good job, Lucina I need you to tie all the small sticks to the large one and after you are done wrap the rest of the vines between the middle."
Lucina, went to work after Howard finishes his part. Slowly the stretcher came together and once it was finished it was ready for Noah to get on top. David and Howard moved the stretcher so it was right next to Noah. Since it wasn't good to move Noah's body too much they slowly lifted his head and arm shifting the stretcher under his body bit by bit. It took a while but eventually, Noah's body was on the stretcher and it was time to lift him up.
David and Howard slowly lifted the stretcher off the ground stopping for a bit once it was off the ground completely. Since the stretcher didn't break and fall apart they got more confident and lifted it up higher until it was at waist height. They both nodded at me confirming that they were good to start moving. I nod back and start to move back to HavenFall with Melody helping me move along the way. The wolves stopped playing around and start to follow behind us as well with the pup riding on top of the adult wolf.
It was a long slow journey home but as we got closer I could see the worried expressions of our new and old friends. Owen and Frank rushed down the path to relieve Howard and David, letting them rest their arms. I heard the two breath sighs of relief and saw that their arms were trembling slightly.
"David, Howard get some rest and try not to carry anything for the rest of the night. Let your arms recover."
They both smiled weakly, slightly embarrassed that I noticed their time of weakness. We got up the path and Owen and Frank moved Noah into the mud house. Everyone else gathered around the fire as we waited for Owen and Frank to come back.
"Now that everyone is here let me introduce myself. I am Ian and welcome to HavenFall. Melody, Frank, Lime and Celine this place houses humans, goblins and golden wolves and we live in harmony. It might be a bit tight in one house but we will build another one so please bear with me on that. Any questions by the way?"
"I have one."
"Yes, Celine?"
"What do we have to do here? Are we...Slaves here?"
"No. Of course not Celine. Ideally, I would like all of you to stay here and help HavenFall grow however, if you want to leave feel free I will not stop you. If you do decide to stay I would like you to help either build new architecture, forage for food, farm, fish gather resources there are just too many things that can be done. We are all starting from zero."
Celine nods slightly at me and looks at Melody.
"I think we should stay here Celine. Ian and David helped us out of that hell and we should live freely from now on. Ian, I have a question too. Are you going back to the Balta and killing him?"
I look at Melody and nod.
"Everyone, I have an announcement. We are going to prepare an attack on Balta and the encampment. From what I heard there are more humans stuck there slaving away and I wish to free them as well as eliminate the threat that is Balta. We will not be attacking straightway but once everyone has recovered and we prepared the equipment I want to attack as soon as possible."
I saw the grim expressions on the new residents but at the same time next to them I could see the smiling Howard.
"EVERYONE! WE CAN DO THIS!. Get some rest, tomorrow we start the preparations."
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