Upon arriving back at the village, the man returned to the building the warriors were using as their barracks, while Niphru returned to Amilya’s house.  As he entered the home, he saw Amilya resting in the chair in the main room, head perking up as she heard him enter.

 

Amilya yawned and rubbed her eyes before speaking, “Oh, welcome back, Niphru, how has your day been?”

 

“I went with one of the warriors into the forest to try to get an update on the ants, and he said he thinks it will be about another day before they arrive here,” Niphru replied.

 

“Well, at least we were ahead of schedule getting the firebreaks done, and we should have enough wood chips for a good amount of fire before they get here.  You should get some rest, Niphru.  I’m going to be running around quite a bit, I was just taking a quick nap before I check in on the farmers,” Amilya replied, arching her back until it cracked, then standing up before continuing, “and on that note, I should probably get going.”

 

Niphru headed into Dawn’s room as Amilya left, then, finding that Dawn was not there, went to the other room and hopped into his chair, curling up for a nap.  A few minutes later, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

 

The door slamming woke Niphru up, followed by stomping and shouting in the main room.  He could quite clearly hear a man ranting, “That damn beast is at fault for this!  I told you it was no good but you insisted!  Now people will die because you wouldn’t tell me where it was so I could kill it!”

 

Feeling quite uneasy, he gently dropped to the floor, moving near the door but not passing through, remaining in the shadows behind the wall.

 

Amilya spoke up, emphasizing, “HE is a valued member of our village, just as you are.  Don’t forget how many twisted creatures he removed.  Your hate towards beasts should be directed to those that cause harm, not those who are intelligent and caring.”

 

The man continued screaming at her, “The damn fox is at fault, if that beast wasn’t here, the Church wouldn’t have sent their men and this would never have happened!”

 

Amilya raised her voice in response, “Norman, enough!  Niphru saved lives, and has done no harm to anyone in our village.  You will leave, or I will make you leave.  This is no time to turn on ourselves!”

 

There was a sound of stomping, a surprised shout, and a meaty thud as Norman shouted out, “I will not go quietly, you witch, I will prove my kin are the greatest!”

 

There was a noise similar to digging through gravel before more stomping and the door slamming reached his ears.  Immediately afterward he rushed out into the main room, seeing Amilya lying on the floor bleeding from her mouth and nose, holding her stomach and grimacing in pain.

 

Wasting no more time, Niphru covered her head with his foxfire, slowly moving it downward with healing intent as well as using what little healing magic he had figured out to try to help, though he was unsure what to focus on or how to make it better.

 

Amilya winced in pain and closed her eyes before directing him, “The bastard hit my chest, I think he broke a rib or two, my head is fine.  It is a good thing you stayed out of sight.”

 

Immediately Niphru moved the foxfire to her chest and nuzzled her face for a moment before a thought appeared in his mind.  He raced to the door, opening the bottom part, and raced to Monti’s house without bothering to close the door behind himself.

 

As he reached Monti’s door, he turned sideways while jumping, slamming his body into the door with a loud thud.  Backing up he repeated this several times until the door opened.  Unable to speak without disrupting his foxfire he yipped and ran back a few steps, watching Monti observe him.

 

After a quick glance of confusion, Monti asked, “Is someone injured?”

 

Niphru promptly nodded his head and began racing back to Amilya’s house, constantly looking back to make sure Monti was following.

 

As they arrived, Monti looked shocked and raced forward with shocking speed, opening the rest of the door and racing in.  Amilya looked up as he entered and muttered “Ribs and chest, Norman went mad.”  Before closing her eyes as Monti began healing her.

 

Observing this, Niphru relaxed and went back to align the lower part of the door and latch it back to the upper part, though he wasn’t strong enough to close the whole door.  Instead, he returned to Amilya’s side, curling up against her head.  He considered for a moment before disrupting his foxfire and asking Monti, “Does my foxfire interfere with your healing or should I keep it going?”

 

Thinking, Monti replied, “It didn’t seem to be a problem.”  Happy, Niphru switched the illusion back to foxfire and focused it on trying to heal Amilya’s chest again.

 

A few moments later, a few villagers arrived, peaking through the open door before exclaiming in surprise.  Amilya looked up and carefully motioned them in, directing, “Norman has gone mad, if seen, stay away.  Somehow we need to warn the lumberyard.”

 

Niphru immediately realized he was probably the best choice, and disrupted his foxfire for an illusion again, asking, “Is my foxfire needed to help heal, or should I go do that?  I’m probably the best at staying hidden.”

 

Monti frowned at the additional distractions and waved him off towards the door.  Taking this cue, Niphru sprinted out the door towards the eastern gate, as Amilya began speaking again.

 

As he approached the gate, he saw a commotion ahead and dove into the shadow of a house, throwing up an illusion over himself to hide.  Ahead, he saw the two guards by the gate try to stop someone only to be slammed against the gate with enough force to crack the beam holding it shut, pushing it open.  As the guards collapsed to the ground, the man shoved the gate open further, then ran out, leaving the outer two guards behind as they tried to catch him.  After a moment, they returned to the gate, letting the man get away.  Instead they ran back to the other two guards, helping them sit up.

 

Niphru approached, dropping his illusion, and asked, “Is everyone okay?  I assume that was Norman?”

 

One of the guards that had been knocked down nodded, replying, “Yeah, I’m fine at least, just winded and bruised.  He was going on about how he would solve the problem of the swarm on his own and then kill ‘that damned fox,’ by which I’m assuming he means you…”

 

The guard tending to him shook his head, remarking, “He must have been exercising quite a bit, as we weren’t able to catch him in time…”

 

The other guard resting on the ground muttered under his breath before speaking up, “No, he was a fool.  I saw him throw something in his mouth as he approached, and, while he was distracted, I got into his pocket,” he then moved his hand over, opening it up to reveal several small mana stones.

 

“That damn fool is turning into a monster, willingly.  We can only hope he won’t be too horrendously dangerous…”  The guard shook his head and leaned back against the gate, putting the mana stones into a pocket and continuing, “At least I managed to get a handful of them back.  I’ll bring them back to Amilya when our shift ends.”

 

Niphru nodded at them, worried, and spoke up again, “I need to get out to warn the woodcutters, will there be any problems with that?”

 

The last guard looked up and replied, “That is a good idea, go ahead, but be careful, we don’t know where that madman went.”

 

Upon hearing this, Niphru raced through the open gate, draping himself with illusion again to hide himself from sight and hearing.