include us!
The next day, while the group was resting and eating, I wandered off in search of any recognizable wild herbs. I had no luck in finding any, and decided that when we settled down I would experiment to see what those that were new to me were useful for. I was walking back to where the group was resting when I came upon the type of animal that must have made the footprints. It was large and woolly, but seemed to be fairly harmless. I had never seen anything like it in the forests I had traveled before. I herded it back to the group, and Master Thomas proposed that it be taken with us. We had no other livestock for when we founded the village, and besides, it could carry packs.
I thought that the thing probably wasn't safe to eat, because of the magic that had obviously affected it. Master Thomas called a meeting to discuss possible problems from changed animals.
'As we all know, the mage storm has obviously affected the land, and the plants and animals on it.
We have one of the results of the storm in our camp now, the animal we have named Carpet. Carpet will be very helpful to us when we settle down, but although she is apparently safe, we do have to look at the wider range of our worries. I personally have noticed that Carpet is unusually intelligent, and other people have also commented on this. Forest animals are often cunning, but never intelligent. We will have to be exceptionably wary, and closely observe all animals that we encounter. From now on our scouts will be carrying magical sensors that Errold will make. These will detect any large animals nearby, and by night I will erect shields around the camp to protect us when we are sleeping. Does anyone have anything else to suggest, or does anyone disagree with our plan?'
Now that people knew the facts, the meeting went well. People who wanted to be taken off scout duty were reassigned, but generally everybody was fairly happy with what our leader had proposed.
After everyone had dispersed, I went over to Master Thomas.
'Master Thomas? I have an idea.' I said.
'What is it?'
'Master, consider the level of intelligence in our friend Carpet. Herbivores are usually a bit dim, they don't seem to need that much intelligence, but Carpet is as bright as a dog. If a herbivore is now that smart, what will the carnivores be like? They may be extremely intelligent now, possibly even sentient-and all that being sentient implies.'
'This is true, Errold. What are you proposing?'
'Making the sensors for the scouts won't be hard. At most, it will take a couple of hours. I must do some scouting myself, though. While you are shielding the camp, I will set up scanning spells to sweep the forest for a hundred yards all around. If some of predators in this forest are as intelligent as we think, they will come at night to observe us. If I detect something, I will go out and make sure it is harmless or try to disable it.'
'That's very good proposition, Errold. But I don't want you outside of my protection like that. I am tempted to go instead of you, but I am used to working with huge amounts of magic and I would not be as good as you would be against a single animal. You use the smallest spells to the best advantage. I give you permission for this plan. Do you really think that the predators will be so intelligent?'
'Yes, I do. Even before the storm, it was thought that some predators in the known world were remarkably cunning, if only in pursuit of their prey. I think that any new `smart' predators will be a real threat to us, if not now, then when we settle down. It is vital for us to establish that we are not prey and should be avoided.'
Master Thomas nodded his head but still looked doubtful.
'Better figure out how you are to disable predators, though. They will be fast, deadly, and intelligent, while you are just intelligent. You need a spell that can tell if something really is intelligent.'
In all my studies, I had not come across anything like that.
'It'll be tricky, but I'm sure I'll think of something, Master Thomas,' I said, not at all sure if I could actually do it.
I lay in my tent that night, furiously studying the spell books I had brought. I had an idea that would use a really simple spell. Predators are curious, and did a lot of patient stalking. Thus, my trap worked on curiosity and would certainly disable anything watching me. It was the sensing of large animals that I needed to work on. I stayed up most of the night, figuring out how to combine shields together, how to get the right range, and the search requirements. I got it together eventually, then crawled gratefully to my bed roll. I needed all the sleep I could get, because I knew that some night soon we would have company.
* * *
The following day everything seemed to go fairly normally. We noticed no large shapes in the distance, and saw no unusual tracks. I still felt as if we were being watched, though. Any truly smart animal would stay on rocky ground or the trunks of fallen trees. It was nightfall that I was waiting for.
That was when we were not moving and the shields would be up. It would be then that I would be prowling just like a predator.
After we had found a suitable spot to camp, I immediately cast my sensing spell, but it wasn't till halfway though the night that it alerted me. I sneaked out of camp, using a simple camouflage enchantment on my clothes and carrying a rope. The magical sensor that I carried told me when I was fairly close to the animal, and it 'felt' only one animal in a hundred-yard radius. This made everything a lot easier for me. I sat down a few yards from the bushes where my sensor amulet had shown the animal was. Now I prepared the spell that I had thought of using the night before. I took my time. Anything nearby that was curious would be watching intently as I waved my hands and conjured energies. Then closed my eyes and set it off.
Even with my eyes shut, the blinding flash of light still hurt. Judging from the thrashing noises and growls from the bushes, whatever had been lurking there had been staring at what I had been doing with intense interest. I conjured a globe of light and set it hanging in midair. It showed a huge cat with a high forehead. Its fur was a very deep shade of green.
Using my rope, I ensnared the thrashing limbs and tied up the cat before it could see again. Then I sat down in front of it, weaving a rather delicate and tricky translation spell. Soon I could hear that the animal's noises were not really just yowling, but some very nasty swear words.
After it had blinked a few times, and seemed to be able to see a bit, it focused its gaze on me.
'Speak, I can understand,' I told it.
For a moment it just stared in surprise.
'Well? Why haven't you killed me?' it asked.
'I could ask why you have not attacked our other scouts,' I replied. 'But I already know why. You are intelligent, and you were being sensible and cautious. Because of that, I caught you with a spell that would have worked with any truly intelligent species. A more stupid predator would have just attacked me because I am smaller and look defenseless.'
'I do not care to risk injury by attacking dangerous prey. If I am not fast, fit, and strong, I will starve.'
'To answer your first question, I haven't killed you, because we, too, are an intelligent species.'
'That is obvious. I was sent to watch your camp for three nights, then report to the rest of the pack. You puzzled us: you do not hunt, yet you do not graze either. You are soft and defenseless, like grazers, yet bright and cunning...'
'Like hunters.'
'Yes. We would have attacked your camp already, otherwise.'
'That would have been very, very silly. Our weapons are not claws and teeth, but they are still deadly.'
'Now I know that your species is truly sentient, not like the mrran.'
'Mrran? What is that?' I asked
'A mrran is the animal that you have adopted into your herd-or should I say pack? It puzzled me greatly when you did not kill and eat the mrran. The others could hardly believe me when I told them.'
'We have other uses for the mrran. It provides wool to cover us. Unlike you, we have little fur of our own. Do you understand that?'
'Yes. In a way I pity you for not having a naturally warm, glossy, thick coat.' At this it preened a bit. 'What are the other reasons?'
'Do you remember what happened a couple of days ago?'
'Vaguely. There was a storm...and before the storm I was something else. As smart as the mrran, perhaps. Maybe even less smart. During the storm, I changed. All those of my pack changed.'
'In a way, the storm created us as well,' I explained. 'We make our own food, we are neither hunters nor
