#odyssey

Somewhere, a furious troll elder forms as she tears into a carriage...

And a centaur moves with quick silver to keep up with it and bellows his own attack.

They are about to bring Da'an upon them. The omen said so.

Clementine DeBuke, Chief of the farmhold, does not give a shit. They hurt one of her family. NO one does that and gets a prize on top of it.

And Buck? Buck loves Clem and she can be stupid, but she won't be stupid alone.

But they were WARNED.

And Da'an is not to be ignored.

And wild chimera in the area hunger for fresh chrystlaid, and come forward in great terrifying numbers at the now stopped and open carriage, while the Troll and Centaur turn to face new enemies.

They were warned they'd lose part of themselves. Maybe it will be an arm or a leg.

Portents were pretty clear on that It WOULD happen if Clem went

The monsters look like slime coated fire ants the size of small poinies, Dozens of them.

But there is no Flyswatter and its wielder nearby.

There is no Shuri, chosen champion against the swarm.

There is only toxin, mandibles, and pain

Clem ignored Da'an. IT may cost her the centaur she loves.

Buck joined her. It could cost him the woman he cares for.

They're gonna lose something.

Da'an, don't ignore, but one repeats ones self

FIRE Explodes from them, each in their own way, Primal and Pyretics!

The ant things bite and burn

burn and bite

They're dying in droves.

Even as chunks of kithain flesh are torn out, and venom injected

In the end, there's an over turned wagon, and piles and piles of dead and burned chimera

"Buck?" Clem croaks, "You kay?"

"Dandy" he answers "Clem, you okay?" Asking in raspy return

"Oh hell... better even than you" She manages, feeling sick as a dog. "They didn't get in the carriage."

"Then.. we did good" He nods

Clem opens the carriage to help whatever chryalid is there and finds a pair of trusting pleading eyes on a child who could not much older than four

And her heart loses its outrage and grows soft, and protective and... more ..something new, something beyond troll duty.

She was warned. she really was.

And Clem loses a part of herself "Oh aren't you just... the most darling..." And she plucks the childling to her arms and holds. Buck comes closer, and smiles "How sweet" he adds

Why does NO one read the warning labels on portents?

You can't escape Da'an

(End scene)