Chapter 28
It was not until the group had traveled two more kilometers that they finally came across anything new. They could see a bridge crossing the river valley ahead, but that was not the thing that caught their attention. In the dirt of the ditch where there was a motley of tracks. It was either six bipedal or three quadrupedal animals. However, the tracks themselves did not match any that she had seen before. She inspected them for a minute, trying to glean anything, before looking forward to Shadow, "I do not recognize these tracks. They could belong to goblins, but I haven't actually looked at their feet so I am not entirely sure. We should be careful moving forward." The wolf nodded before resuming his movement forward, sniffing out the tracks themselves. Maia and Emily came out and started moving on the flanks of the group in case there was an ambush set up.
'Smells like goblin. Don't know numbers.' The reply came grimly from Shadow. The wolves all tensed up, preparing for a fight. After Natalie brought up that it looked like there was about six going by the tracks, the wolves all moved down into a hunting stance and moved quickly and quietly along the ground, following the tracks. It took Nat everything she was capable of to keep pace with them silently, but she was just not able to bend down nearly as low as them. As they neared the bridge, they could make out the sound of some high pitched yips and barking coming from underneath. Shocked by the sounds, Natalie checked the position of the sun. Noting that it was still high in the sky, she knew that something was going wrong.
While she had not recognized the tracks from earlier, these sounds were common place. A coyote's high pitched noises were very easily distinguishable. The part about this that was all wrong though, was that coyotes were a generally nocturnal creature. As they came up to the bridge, it was easy to tell that the sounds were coming from below. And they sounded very violent. Something that was easily guessed on why based on the fact that the tracks they were following lead straight down into the valley. Believing that the coyotes could be getting attacked by the goblins they had been tracking, the group picked up their pace. As they reached the bottom of the valley, they finally saw the source of the commotion.
On the west side of the valley, two adult coyotes had their backs against a rock wall underneath the bridge. Surrounding them were six goblins, who were slowly getting closer. As the goblins moved closer, the coyotes tried to nip out defensively, but never fully committed to an attack. Upon a closer look, huddled up behind the two coyotes were three pups pressing themselves against the wall behind them as if they hoped to fall through to safety. When compared to the wolves, the coyotes smaller size made it so they did not have a size advantage over the little monsters. Add that to the fact that they were defending young and outnumbered, they were in a bad way. As quick as she could, Nat started running towards the goblins, axe in hand. The wolves ran beside her, keeping pace as they approached the besieged coyotes.
As she neared the goblins, one turned around as they heard her approach. However it was unable to do anything before the axe buried itself in its head. The sight of four wolves flanking someone with what it saw as a big ass stick shocked it so much it could not move. As the axe was going through the goblins soft head, each of the wolves pounced onto one of the monsters, their superior size and strength allowing them to take down the goblins easily and quickly. Seeing the opening caused by the sudden attack, the two coyotes launched forward and took down the final goblin. It left a glancing hit on one of them, but it was poorly aimed and would at most leave a bruise. Satisfied that the first threat to their young was dealt with, they slinked back towards their young.
Seeing them move back to their pups, Natalie took the opportunity to quickly look over the two coyotes. They had a bunch of small gashes, mainly open on their muzzles. It seemed the goblins had gotten a couple hits in as the coyotes fought defensively. Moving forward slowly, she approached the wounded duo with trepidation. As she got within a few meters, both of them turned toward her and growled, their hackles raising instantaneously. Stopping where she was, she gestured to the two predators, "I just want to help. I can heal you up and take care of those cuts for you. I do not mean any harm to either you or your pups." The coyotes just stared and looked at her, then looking that the four wolves that came to flank her. Noticing the trust that the wolves had for her, they turned to each other. Small high pitched yips went back and forth as they seemed to discuss things.
After a very short deliberation, they roused their pups and moved them towards Nat. Seeing that they were guiding the pups first, she sat down. It would be easier to check to see if anything was wrong if she was lower to the ground. There was no fear or worry like the first time she had done this with Kali, as the wolves on her sides were bigger and stronger than the smaller canines coming up to her. Contrary to her expectations, the pups bonded with her and entered the Soulscape as soon as they got to her, then were followed by their parents. When she looked in, all of them settled down and laid down. Before they all went to sleep, one of the adult ones thought to her, 'Thank you. Need sleep.' now finally being a lot more used to the bonding process, Nat got up and started moving up the west side of the valley. Shadow and Ash quickly returned to their previous places in the formation, while Emily and Maia went back into the Soulscape. Someone had to keep the wolf pups from disturbing their new members rest after all.
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