Loch stopped, crouching behind a tree. He could hear fighting ahead. The sounds of raptors screeching and growling, along with weird chattering. It was something speaking a language Loch didn’t understand, the noise like ice scraping across a surface.

  Leaning around the tree, Loch could see a large rocky hill, a cave entrance barely visible behind a larger piece of rock that had fallen off the hill. Raptors were spread out in front, screeching and clawing at a group of small creatures attacking them.

  The other creatures stood about four feet tall. They were dressed in white leathers and furs, bald with whitish-blue skin. They held clubs made of wood or what looked like ice. Loch used Evaluate on one of the closest.

  FROSTEDGE CLAN NIDAN

  Loch didn’t know what a Nidan was. They looked like dwarves, which no one in the Clan had encountered yet. Cerie had said that there were dwarves in the Connected Races, and some had most likely come to Earth like how the Silver Bark Elves had.

  There were six of the Nidan, the body of one laying on the ground at the feet of a raptor. They faced off against four of the raptors, two dead dinosaurs at the entrance to the cave.

  Loch watched the fighting. He was tempted to follow the tracks back to see where these Nidan had come from, but held off, wanting to see how the fight ended. His Evaluate had told him the Nidan was multiple Levels below him. He’d already fought the raptors, so wasn’t worried about them. But as the fight went on, neither side seeming to gain an advantage yet, Loch realized the raptors were a new breed he hadn’t encountered yet.

  ICECLAW VELOCIRAPTOR

  He was used to seeing the lightning based raptors. These ice ones were a new breed. He wondered what benefits the Clan could get from the hides. As the fight went on, Loch realized he might not get a chance to find out. The Nidan were winning the fight.

  Soon it was over, the raptors all dead, three of the Nidan still alive.

  The strange creatures ignored the dead raptors. They didn’t skin the creatures. The raptors didn’t turn into the multi-colored sparks of Spirit Experience, telling Loch that the Nidan weren’t a true Connected species. They were like the Dark Mound Hobs down by the library.

  Loch shifted, the snow crunching under his feet.

  All three Nidan heads turned quickly, the creatures raising their clubs. One of them grated something out in the language. It sounded as cold as the creatures looked. They walked forward, shouting at the woods. Loch didn’t think he had been spotted, but he had been heard. Not in any danger, Loch stepped out from behind the tree.

  “Hello,” he said.

  The Nidan jumped back, holding their weapons ready to attack. The three were all male, completely bald. The hides and fur only covered their chests and legs, leaving their arms exposed. The creatures were heavily muscled, their features kind of sharp like they’d been chiseled from ice.

  “Where did you come from?”

  The lead Nidan took a single step forward, growling in their language. Loch had no idea what they were saying and they seemed to have no understanding of his language. The three raised their clubs, breath frosting in the air. They took a step toward Loch, expressions filled with anger and aggression.

  “We don’t need to do this,” Loch said, holding out his hands, looking unarmed.

  With a warcry, the Nidan charged. Loch sighed, summoning Onyx.

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  ***

  Loch stepped around the three dead Nidan. The fight hadn’t taken long and hadn’t gained him much. The three had been too low Level to give him much in the way of experience. He got a tiny bit because there had been three of them. They didn’t even have anything worth looting.

  He had pulled the hides off them but they were too small and too thin to provide much warmth for his people. But maybe the leatherworkers and tailors could get some use from them.

  The raptors were much more interesting. He wished there had been a skinner with him, but he did his best. The cold weather didn’t help him. Loch had to take his gloves off to work the knife, pausing often to warm up his hands.

  By the time he was done, it was dark.

  Pulling out one of the few flashlights they had, Loch approached the cave. Nothing had come out, so he assumed it was empty. He didn’t feel any energy indicating a Dungeon. It appeared to be just a cave.

  He walked in, angling to squeeze through the thin opening. The light drifted around the cave as he examined it. The floor was empty, just a few bones from the raptors meals, but nothing recent. There was nothing hiding in the corners, the cave only about ten feet deep and high.

  Walking back out, Loch grabbed some branches off the ground, breaking some branches off some trees. He brought the large armful back into the cave, setting them down, using his foot to clear a spot. Breaking some of the branches up, he pulled some flint and tinder out of his bag.

  It took a bit to get the cold and wet wood going, but he soon had a small fire. Loch held his hands out to it, feeling the heat moving through the fingers and warming them up. He leaned against the rock wall, stretching his legs out. The fire grew, spreading over all the branches he’d laid in a triangle shape. Water and snow dripped from some, sizzling in the flames.

  Loch pulled his dinner out. Just some jerky and water. Not the best, but it was filling. He shifted to a position where he could look out the cave entrance. There wasn’t much out there, a couple small animals moving through the trees. He tried to avoid looking at the bodies of the Nidan and the bones, still with meat on them, of the raptors.

  Pulling the blankets out of his bag, Loch spread one out on the ground, moving some rocks and bones out of the way. He shifted and laid down, pulling the other blanket over him. It was going to be a cold night, but he had enough wood to keep the fire going all night. Trying to get comfortable, Loch settled in for a long night.

  ***

  He didn’t know what time it was as the noises woke him. Growling and snapping, ripping and tearing. Sitting up, he threw a couple more branches on the fire. They caught quickly, spreading light into the cave and out in front. Loch saw Mutated Coyotes tearing into the Nidan bodies, pulling at the bones of the raptors.

  One of the heads lifted up, staring at him.

  “Don’t,” Loch said, releasing his Presence, letting it spread out and crash into the Coyotes.

  They whimpered, snapping at each other, as the three retreated into the woods, disappearing. Loch sighed, putting another branch onto the fire. He knew the scavengers would be back. He should have dragged the bodies further away from the cave, but the Nidan had been surprisingly heavy.

  And cold to the touch, even dead.

  But by the time he’d finished skinning and harvesting the meat from the raptors, he was tired and didn’t want to deal with the bodies. Regretting it now, because he’d be dealing with scavengers all night, Loch laid back down to try to get some sleep.

  ***

  Loch followed the trail from where he’d picked it up, heading east deeper into the woods. He was glad there hadn’t been any snow during the night, the tracks still looked pretty fresh. Pulling up his mental map, Loch tried to judge the distance from where he was to where the forest ended at Bow Lake Road. He was getting close. Where had these Nidan come from?

  The raptors weren’t a surprise. They roamed the area but there hadn’t been any evidence of creatures like Nidan before.

  An hour later Loch stepped out onto the road. He looked both ways, not seeing anything, the Nidan’s trail continuing to the other side. He was down the road from Bow Lake Fields. With the snow, no one was heading up that way. Walking across the street, he entered the woods on the other side, still following the trail. He could see the raptor tracks, the Nidan had chased them for a while.

  Loch followed the trail for another couple of hours when he heard some noises. More of the icy growling of the Nidan. Moving over to the side, using the trees as cover, Loch approached closer. Leaning out from behind the tree, remembering how sharp the creature’s hearing was, Loch’s eyes widened in surprise.