“What is plan B?” Nevin asked.

“I’m going to go back across,” Jess informed him.

“What? Why?”

“The slimes need to fall in the trench,” she explained, “if they don’t, I can’t tell if they’ll stay in it.”

“Mike wouldn’t like this.”

Jess shot him with her sternest ‘don’t you dare’ look.

“He wouldn’t though,” Nevin said, quickly averting his gaze.

Jess sighed. Nevin had a point. Mike seemed overly cautious at the best of times, but this might actually cause him to lose his temper. Needs must, she thought.

“I know. I know. It’s risky and, you know, somewhat irresponsible,” Jess said, “but consider this – either I take a teensy risk now… or a huge risk later with the kiddies if I don’t know that this side of the trench will stay slime free.”

Nevin’s pout lessened slightly. It was only a minor victory, but Jess would take it.

“All I’m going to do is run over there and run straight back,” Jess said, “just putting my toe in the water to get their attention. Ok?”

Nevin nodded sullenly, his frown still deeply engraved.

With a little bit of effort, Jess managed to manoeuvre the plank back into position across the trench. The slimes appeared unconcerned and continued with their sedate movements. The nearest one was only a stone’s throw away. Close enough to worry her but far enough that she could easily hop back and drag the plank out of reach before the slime could approach. She placed a foot on the end of the plank and kept a close watch on the slime as she gingerly made her way across.

When Jess stepped off the plank and onto the grass, she found the need to run back unnecessary. The slimes continued to ignore her.

“I guess running across confused them,” she said, looking back to Nevin. His face was a portrait of confusion as he continued to stare at the slimes.

“I’m going to get a bit closer,” Jess said.

“What?” said Nevin in a panicked tone, “You said you would run straight back!”

“Look at them though. They’re not even reacting,” Jess said, pointing at them.

“But you said!” Nevin argued.

“Fine! I’ll come back across. But I’m getting the bow,” she said.

She teetered on the plank as she suspiciously glanced back at the wandering slimes before standing beside Nevin for a moment.

“Have you ever seen something like that before?” Jess asked.

Nevin shook his head.

Farmer Hewitt had briefly explained that some of the adventurers could get away without injury, but the slimes would give chase all the way to the road before giving up. That was one of the main reasons that she had asked the building folk to vacate the area. The last thing that she needed was collateral damage in the form of innocent lives.

Jess stooped to pick up the bow and the remaining two arrows. “Alright. Plan C, I guess.”

Nevin stared at her wide-eyed as though he expected the worst to be announced. He wasn’t far wrong.

“I’m going to stand on the other side and hit one. Hopefully. I’ll be right by the plank though so I can run straight across,” Jess said, “and I need you to watch the slimes. Ok?”

Nevin gave a single begrudging nod.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“You make sure you only watch them, ok?” Jess said. “If they stop chasing again, I want to know when. I can move the plank. You just keep your eyes on the slimes.”

“Ok,” Nevin agreed with a note of uncertainty.

With that, Jess lightly stepped across the trench and aimed again. Even when this close the arrow whistled past her target, leaving the slime oblivious to her attack. The second arrow was a glancing hit, but it was enough. The slime changed direction immediately and began its advance.

When Jess reached the safer side of the trench, she called out to Nevin who appeared to be following her instructions to the letter. “I’m pulling the plank away. Is it still coming?”

“It’s still coming,” Nevin said before Jess caught sight of him raising an arm suddenly out of the corner of her eye.

The slime had called off the chase and begun its innocent meandering once more.

Jess frowned. “It stopped.”

“They all did,” Nevin said.

“But only after I took away the bridge?” Jess asked.

“They only stopped when you said you were moving it,” Nevin said, “I didn’t see if you had moved it though. You told me I should just watch the slimes.”

“No. No, that’s good,” Jess said, hoping to ease his anxiety. “You did good.”

She couldn’t help but smile at the way his chest puffed out with pride. Inside though, doubts were building. Why won’t the slimes follow? Maybe they’re like ants and follow a trail. It doesn’t make sense. They don’t go to the edge of the pit and stop.

“I guess you know the pit works now,” Nevin said in a chipper voice.

Jess wrinkled her nose. She knew that wasn’t entirely true. The slimes didn’t appear to chase people across onto this side, but they could still accidentally wander in this direction. If they accidentally wandered into the pit and out up the other side, she would be non-the-wiser until it happened.

“I don’t like it,” she replied. “There’s just something off about it.”

“What do you mean?” Nevin asked with a frown.

“I don’t know,” she said, “just like it feels a bit weird.”

“Slimes are weird,” Nevin said.

“Yeah, but they seemed predictably weird. This isn’t predictable weird. It’s just weird weird.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

Jess tapped at her forehead with an index finger. “There’s method in the madness. I promise you.”

“What will you tell Mike?”

“Nothing,” Jess said, “what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him so mum’s the word, ok?”

Nevin stewed on this information whilst Jess retrieved the emptied quiver. She felt a little bad that she’d used all of the arrows and most of them poorly. Maybe I could just go get the other ones? The slime didn’t attack before.

“Is it like a code word?” Nevin asked suddenly.

“What?” Jess asked, confused.

“The word.”

“What word?”

Nevin looked as confused as Jess felt. “You said that ‘mum’s the word’,” he said.

“Ah,” Jess said, “yeah that’s just a saying. It just means that we’ll keep it between ourselves.”

“Oh.”

“My bad,” Jess apologised. “Just a local quirk of the language.”

The two of them stood watching the slime in silence. Jess couldn’t help feeling that the day had been a waste of time. It clearly hadn’t been. She’d learned something, but at the same time, she felt as though she was missing a trick.

Nevin grabbed hold of her arm suddenly. His focus was no longer on the slime in front of him but had moved to the hill behind them.

A group of adventurers was moving towards them in great haste. Two heavily-muscled warriors barrelled headlong down the grass whilst three more slender folk followed. One was a willowy man who looked like a dark and edgy version of Robin Hood, whilst the other two were women who were probably able to use magic. Or at least, Jess assumed from the garishly coloured robes and capes that they were magic users of some kind. Perhaps all the flashing lights burned their retinas, and they could no longer see how their wardrobes resembled kaleidoscopes.

Nevin pulled Jess towards the equipment that the labourers had left. It wasn’t much cover, but it was better than standing out in the open in front of a big hole that they could get stuck in.

The adventurers continued their stampede until they reached the edge of the trench. It seemed to confuse them, and they toed up and down the edge of it, turning to one another as they did so.

“What are they doing?” Jess asked in a whisper.

“Probably hunting slime,” Nevin said.

“No. I mean, why aren’t they just going across? You saw how fast they came down the hill. They could easily jump across that gap,” Jess said. “Even the ones in the neon get-up. It doesn’t seem to slow them down any.”

The only answer she got was a lazy shrug.

After a few moments of watching them, the troop of adventurers seemingly came to a decision as they renewed their breakneck dash across the grass. This time, they were running along the edge of it.

“They can’t actually be planning on…” Jess said, watching them. “They are. They’re running the whole way around.”

It didn’t take the adventurers long, and without the trench to separate them from their prey, they began their barbaric work at once. A pit formed in Jess’s stomach as they ravaged the slimes in groups at a time. Those with weapons, including the emo ranger, worked to strike at slimes and then lead them into one gathered position. There, the casters incinerated anything that moved.

As dismayed as she was, Jess had to admit that it was a flawlessly executed plan. Within ten minutes, the whole field stood barren. The only slimes that remained were those that were still in the lake beneath the water.

“There go our afternoon plans,” she said before sighing.

“What should we do now?” Nevin asked.

Jess gave a weary smile. “How does lunch sound?”