The four of us set out on Zarri's selfish journey. As much as I hate Crile, I am more than happy to make Zarri's wishes come true. Perhaps I can learn to deal with the Unwanted One? A loud splash.
“Get back here or I'm leaving you behind!” Zarr... Breeze yells. I look down. Crile is taking a swim. Buck naked. Forget it. I'm never gonna get used to him.
“It's too hoooot!” He yells back and splashes around a bit.
“Suit yourself! I'll have her all to myself!” I jump Breeze.
“Hands off!” And a gurgle. We giggle. Emerald brings a rope and we toss it over to the sinking lug. I turn away as Crile climbs back up.
“Hold on a bit longer. We're almost there.”
“Can’t.” Crile lands back on board with a squish.
“I didn’t know it could get this hot around here.” Bree... Zarri says. She will always be Zarri to me. I hear rustling noises and sneak a look. Pants on. Good grief.
“So what's the plan then?” I ask. “Do we keep drifting or try to park this thing somewhere and wait it out?”
“If we keep going our water supply will run out. We won't last.” Crile explains. “And that - is way too salty.” He nods overboard.
“Right then. We anchor off at the first sight of land.” Zarri says coiling up the rope.
“Aye aye, Captain.” Crile winks at her. Ugh.
“I'll go check the rest of supplies then.”
“Thanks, Star.” Zarri smiles at me. I answer with a smile of my own. I underestimated how difficult it will be for me to endure being near the two of them in a space I cannot escape from. I understand that they are keeping their "activities" on the downlow too out of respect for me and Emerald, mostly Emerald, probably, but that just makes me more miserable. I feel like a nuisance.
“Maybe I shouldn't have come...”
“Regretting your decision?”
“Oh!” I almost drop a jar but a hand catches it. Zarri. “You startled me.”
“I noticed.” She sets the jar down. "You've been counting the same jar three times now." I shut my eyes. Damn it. “Something on your mind?” She asks again.
“Nothing at all.”
“Liar. A terrible one too.” I don’t answer. “You always puff your lips when you lie.” I quickly clench them shut. She giggles.
“Well? Am I gonna have to tickle the answer out of yer or yer gonna tell me?” She tries to imitate a Cornutese dialect.
“Now THAT - was terrible. That sounded like a drowning Ballistian of the old days. At best.” I smile and Zarri shrugs. “And to answer your question - a little something, maybe.”
“Missing home?”
“Not that. It's...”
“Star, don’t try to play the burden card with me now. If you think that just because the four of us are cramped up in this shoe box, it somehow makes you a nuisance - I will throw you over board myself. I don’t need you to suddenly be considered of my feelings, by putting yourself down in exchange. If you need a break from us - say so. We can always stay on land longer so that all of us get a break from each other. Nobody said this will be easy.”
“I know. I'll get over it. Maybe.” I crack a smile. Trying my best to lie with it.
Zarri sighs. “Learn to be selfish a little.” She pats me on the head and leaves. If only...
“How is she? She mad at me again for goofing off?” Crile asks me when I get back up.
“Didn’t say nothing. As usual.”
“Think she wants to go back?”
“Not yet, according to her.”
“And you won’t force her either, of course.”
“She's a grown woman. If she wants or needs something - she can say so herself.” I help Crile with the sail. He takes my hand into his.
“How long did it take you to say what you think to people, who you are afraid of upsetting?”
“This is not the same. This is me. You. We...”
“The closer you are - the worse it hurts. Least that's what Ira says.” Crile smiles.
“Hate it when you use him against me.”
“Privileges of getting daily beatings from him.”
“Rub it in why don't ya.” I pretend to kick him and he answers with a cheeky tongue tip smile.
“If we make land at night let’s stay on board till morning.”
“Fine with me. You wanna stay up or should I?”
“I'll do it. You can scorch up here for now.” I tell him.
“That's for the nudity, isn't?” He asks and I stick my tongue out a bit this time.
“Maybe.”
“Grrr.” He growls. I walk up and kiss him.
“Have fun.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
Luckily for us, we manage to make landfall right before a storm hit us. No wonder the last few days were so hot. We wait it out huddled up below the deck. Even with the boat anchored, the waves rock us enough to make the footing unsteady. Emerald does not hide her frustrations. The wood is covered with scratches and holes from her claws. It kind of inspires me to be a little more transparent. Emerald is the calmest creature in existence. She can be so quiet that she almost becomes invisible at times. The way she is able to simply lay there motionless for hours always amazes me. I thought I needed to be like her. Calm and collected. I mean. Compared to Zarri's flares and Crile's antics, I figured it was up to me to stay cool. But I rarely could... Seeing Emerald as openly annoyed as she is right now makes me reconsider a few things. Crile was right. Zarri is constantly moving forward. I'll need to make more effort to keep up with her if I want to stay by her side...
“We're lucky we ended up with some greenery here. We can collect rain water for our supply. It might not be much, but still.” Crile helps Starlight off the boat. Emerald makes a grand entrance jumping down by herself and I don't see anything worthy of our concern.
“All clear, but stay sharp still. And don’t call me captain.” I tell Crile and put the lens away.
“Ah! Finally some solid ground!” Starlight taps the sand underfoot.
“I can always interest you in some solid–”
“Don’t. Even.” Star cuts Crile off with a single look. When is he gonna learn. I shift and get to work. Just because I couldn’t see anything, doesn't mean there isn’t anyone there. Emerald and I act as trackers and bodyguards, allowing Crile and Amana to refill our water supplies. The canopy isn’t as thick, but if we take our time - we could replenish a quarter or a third of our water. It should last us till the next stop. Whenever that will be.
Crile fashions a quick duct from some bigger leaves and branches and I climb the first tree and shake. Star holds the canteens up first. I send Emerald up ahead alone for now to scout the inland. There may be a drinkable water source somewhere else here. Gathering water from trees always takes too long and half of it always spills.
“This is taking too long!” Star complains. Took her long enough.
“Agree.” I answer as I shift back, jumping down. “Let's take a break and see if Emerald has any good news for us.”
“Well if anything, we have enough for a day or two. If we're careful.” Crile says.
“A day. Emerald has been trying to hibernate to lessen her needs, but she does need to eat and drink her norm eventually.”
“Right, so a day at best, then. Provided there is no other water source.”
“We could dilute the sea water.” Amana suggests.
“That takes even more forever.” Crile jumps ahead to complain first this time.
“True. But we'd have water and salt? We can always use it to sell it later or trade?” Star looks at me.
“We'll use that method as a last resort. We barely have what we need for it anyways.”
“I can think of a few things that could help speed up the process.” She says.
“Good. Let's move for now then.”
“Is it ok to leave our boat like that? Shouldn't one of us stay with it?” Star asks.
“You wanna stay here alone?” I ask.
“No.”
“Then let's go.”
“But.”
“If we get robbed while out - so be it. We'll make it work. It's not like we have anything much worth stealing.”
“Besides food.” Crile adds.
“Besides food.” I correct myself.
“Fine.”
“Anything?”
“No.” Emerald answers.
“Come back then. Can you tell me how far you are able to hear?”
“Enough to her the beach. It's not a big island. It could take maybe half a day to cross it.”
“Ok then we'll focus on the middle. If there's anything worth while - it should be there. Keep an eye out for anything when you can.”
“As you wish.”
“According to Emerald, there's not much here. Says it would take about a half a day to cross here.”
“Well damn. I was hoping for a hunt or something.” Crile pouts.
“If the island is that small, there might not even be here anything big enough worth hunting.” Star makes a good point.
“Except for that.” I whisper and point. Crile catches on quick and gets a dagger out.
“What is EECK!” I shut Star up.
“Say when.” Crile takes aim.
“Is it venomous?”
“Can’t say from over here. Even if it is – venom's in the fangs.”
“You're the expert here. Do it.” I answer. He throws the blade and nails the snake to the tree. Takes out two more knives and pins the creature by the tail and the head next.
“Clear.” He says going in closer.
“Ew.” Star shivers.
“Star, you want some? Fresh snake venom! Makes good medicine!”
“Or lovely poison!” She answers and Crile chuckles. She never has any problem answering him straight... "A few drops will be enough and save the head for me! I can’t work with it if I don’t know what it is!”
“Thought you'd never ask.” Crile grabs his belt and pulls on it. Starlight blushes immediately.
“YOU MORON!” She screams out, I crack a smile too and Crile roars with laughter.
“Having fun?” Emerald approaches us carefully.
“Look what I caught for dinner!” Crile shows her the giant coil.
“WHAT! THAT is dinner!!” Star freaks.
“With a bit of fire and salt - yup.” I nod.
“Ew. Gross.” Star turns away. Emerald takes a moment to inspect our catch.
“Anything?”
“No.”
“We're clear.” I tell Crile.
“Neat. Thanks, love.” He chops the snake up into a few chunks and we share them. Easier to carry round. We go deeper in, but nothing interesting more happens. We spend the night and head back to the boat. We camp out on the beach for another day just to make more water. Star works out her method with the bare minimum that we have on hand.
A pot with sea water over a camp fire, surrounded with thick leaves to keep the wind out with the lid hung over the pot at an angle, so when the steam rises it hits the cold metal and turns back to water, sliding down into the jars. We empty those out into the barrels. We have two pots and a pan and Star is using all of them. So each of us gets to oversee the mind numbing boiling.
Once the water evaporates, we scrape the sides of the pots to gather the salt left behind. And while we play around with lids and jars, Emerald explores the rest of the island by herself. I hate it how there's barely any room for her on the boat. If it weren't for the changes that Blain made for us before we left - I would have had to leave Emerald behind, but that - was never an option for me...
We continue our travels by water. Zarri decided that she won’t risk cruising through the main roads, so we stick to the lesser islands. Less traffic, means less people, more privacy, but also means less food. Our floating shoe box sprung a few leaks here and there, but Crile managed to patch ‘em up. That was probably the first time I was genuinely happy having him around.
We encountered a few small boats along the way too. Made a few trades, oh and almost got attacked too. Zarri and Emerald made quick work of it. They jumped over to the other boat and sunk it. We had a feast with whatever they managed to toss over to us before returning triumphant.
Each island is different. The mixture of microclimates and ecosystems is truly fascinating. Some of them shouldn’t even exist, since the conditions for certain plants that allow them to thrive are murderous to others’ and yet. That’s Primerian Magic, I guess. Each island - a failed experiment of some kind, left behind to fend for itself. Amazing how Nature adapts to survival...
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
We are slowly approaching the end of safe waters. Give or take. Zarri said our boat is made for short distances. So for us to get to Crepitus or further - we'll need to find a vessel big enough to hold Emerald and strong enough to make the trip. The Island Darts only go a third of the way into the open waters.
Technically, the route that we have been traveling counts as “open water” since it is deep enough. Considering how many islands there are, it should be impossible for bigger ships to maneuver, but the depth alone allows for smooth sailing. That alone shows that most of the islands did not form naturally...
As far as I understand - Snake Port is our destination. But before that - we make one last stop on one of the islands on the way there.
“Where are we now?”
“Dark Forest.” Crile answers. “Apparently, it's so thick that the sunlight barely gets through.”
“Lovely.” I sigh.
“We should be careful here. It's the last stop before the Port. There might be more travelers.” Zarri says.
“Or thugs.”
“Or pirates.” Crile makes a joke.
“We were lucky to encounter as few boats as we did.” Zarri says.
“That's only because we avoided all the major stops and stopped at every tiniest damned island instead! Most weren't even worth the effort to anchor!!” Crile complains.
“The point is to explore.” I tell him.
“Exactly. Or do you have some place better to be?” Zarri mocks him.
“Nope.” He smiles at her. I hate that smile of his.
“Well come on, let's go.” Zarri grabs her bag and throws it on her back. This time we bother taking a tent. According to our annoying tour guide - the limited sunlight makes it difficult to know how long or far, one goes when entering the Dark Forest. Crile and Zarri carve markings into trees as we go, so we'd know where to come back to the boat. An arrow with an X at the head means forward, and an arrow with an X on the end means back. Zarri uses her claws for the carving instead of a knife.
“Any ideas on how long have we been walking?” Crile asks eventually. My feet are killing me...
“A few hours at least.” Zarri answers.
“How can you tell?” I ask.
“I'm starving.”
“Me too!” Crile answers. “Make camp?”
“Sure.” Zarri agrees. We stop and settle.
“Are we starting a fire?” I ask with the Spark stones in each hand.
“Look around. You see any lights flickering?” Crile asks.
“No.”
“That's what worries me.” Zarri tells me.
“Me too. Let's try and do without the fire for now.” Crile adds.
“Agree. With Emerald in the tent with us we should be ok for warmth.” Zarri says. A low growl answers her. I giggle to myself and look up.
“Can’t tell if it's the tree tops or the night sky I'm staring at. One thing is clear. The further in we go – the darker it gets.”
“Exactly. Considering it was after noon when we got here - it should still be day out.”
“Should be. But this place...” I look around our site. “It gives me the creeps...”
“Same.” Crile says next to me. Something about his tone sharpens my senses... He seems too alert, even for him.
“Guys. Is it just me or you see that too?” Zarri points into the depths. I focus and stare.
“Is that a light?”
“More than one.” Crile answers me. I turn.
“Oh.”
“Emerald. If you please.” Zarri says and the Saber lies down. “Right. Let's keep it dark. Emerald will be our lookout.”
“Try to keep the noise on the downlow too.” Crile adds.
“What noise? I haven’t heard a single animal since we got off the boat.”
“Exactly.” Zarri says. “We don’t know what or who those are. We'd better set up a perimeter with what we can manage, just in case.”
“Going for the ground?” Crile asks grinning.
“Yup. Got some thread here for ya.” Zarri tosses the spool to him.
“Gonna need some sticks or something too.” He adds.
“Those I can help with. There's plenty of sticks here for your little traps.” I crouch down and ruffle in the ground for stones and stuff.
“Then I'll set the tent.” Zarri offers. “And stay close.”
“Roger.” We answer. This is going to be one long night... I pick up a few decent rocks and give them to Crile. He works on the trap. Well, more like a trigger alarm. He ties the thread around a tree root and every few steps he ties a small stick, placing a stone underneath each stick. It's not the same as hanging metal pots and pans or laying down broken glass, but it gets the job done. If the thread is triggered, the sticks make soft thuds, clanging into the rocks, alerting us. Usually the sound is too soft to be noticed, but Emerald and Zarri can pick up on it. Especially if Zarri shifts.
I'm usually the one that sleeps through these things, but this place is too creepy. I can’t relax whatsoever. Which usually isn’t the problem for me. I do feel rather safe with Zarri... I make a third round of rock picking and my fingers get caught on something. I dig into it a bit.
“Ouch.” A sharp pain. Warmth. Blood. “What the...”
“What is it?” Zarri approaches me, eyes glowing.
“Something sharp here.” I point. She crouches down and digs lightly.
“Ah!” I shut my mouth with my hand.
“What is it?” Crile comes over too, daggers in hand. “Oh.” He watches Zarri for a moment. “What do you wanna do with it?”
“What can we do?” She asks.
“Bury it.”
“Or we can use the bones for the trap too. They are probably hollow by now.” I tell them. “It's a Cornutese custom to...”
“To reuse the bones left behind, so that the hunters can continue on with their Eternal Hunt even after death. That's how some are made into trinkets or weapons.” Crile finishes for me.
“Exactly.” I nod.
“Ok. Let's bury the skull and any tiny bones we find. Use the bigger ones for what we can.” Zarri reaches for the skeleton.
“Wait.” I grab her hand. “There's a prayer. A thank you.”
“Sorry.” She steps back and kneels. So does Crile. I kneel too. I've never done it, but my parents made sure to drive our customs and traditions into to me. I put one hand on the skull and the other on the ground.
“Tho thy body has been hunted by the earth,
Thy spirit remaineth with us,
Tho thy body cannot hunt no longer,
Thy spirit shall carryth on.
Thanketh we you for these gifts, use them well we shallth.”
“May the Stars welcome you into their warm embrace.” Zarri whispers the Noxian goodbye.
“The Fire of Life will burn again.” Crile adds the Balli ceremonial farewell too.
That's right. I put my hands together. “Rest in peace.” I offer the last wish to the dead, as per the Primerian tradition too.
“That was kinda nice and sad and sweet, all at the same time.” Crile whispers first.
“Yeah. We won’t know what race the person was till we dig the skull out, but doing that before the offerings didn’t feel right. I’m glad Star mentioned the prayer. I wasn’t sure what to do, to be honest. I feel better now that we did that first.” Zarri says, digging around carefully.
“Just hope this wasn’t an Odion.” I mutter, helping her dig.
“Why? They are people just the same when dead.” Zarri tells me.
“I.. well, I mean...”
“She means, not all people deserve respect even after death.” Crile jumps in, digging at the legs.
“True, but we don’t know them. I did it for my sake more. Turning away from this body now that we found it, wouldn’t sit right with me. It'd be a different story if we had never found it. But now.” Zarri dies down. We can see the skull now. Well, as much as the dimness around us allows us to.
A Cornutese. The horn was what I pricked my finger on. Some Cornutese altered their horns to be like sharp daggers. It's an extinct tradition. It's too painful and takes too long. Some would even add metal tips to their horns, sharpened on both sides, but Father told me that barely anyone these days do that anymore... Could it be that this body has been here this long?
“Hey, Star, is it true that the size of male horns tells you the size of the...ya know...” Crile asks.
“Utter nonsense.” I tell him gathering up the bones. “Some do believe that the bigger horns represent power and might.” More like stubbornness, I think to myself. “But that - is pure bull.”
“Thank you, for lightening the mood.” Zarri nudges Crile.
“Well, it is getting harder to see.” Crile says.
“Yeah. Let's dig up whatever we can use and toss the rest back in.”
“How long will we be here?” I ask.
“Since it's difficult to tell time - we'll judge by how it goes.” Zarri answers. “For now, let's just finish this up and eat already.”
“On it.” Crile gathers up the longer bones from the legs, arms and the ribs, while we bury the rest. Zarri uses a pelvic bone to scoop the ground.
“Use them well we shallth.” She tells me. I smile and follow her example. It does make a difference and we get the job done quickly.
“Too bad we have no flowers to offer.” I sigh.
“No, but we have this.” Crile sets a stone on the fresh gravesite. “There goes our good deed for the year.” He says.
“Hilarious. Come on.” Zarri holds down a canteen, splashing water a little. Crile gestures to me to go first. I wash my hands and stagger back to the tent. Can’t even see my own feet anymore. We settle down and eat quietly.
More like snack. We're low on food. Most of it has been dried fish, since that has been easiest to replenish. On sunny days we'd hang the fishes out to dry on the main mast. Other times we'd press them between the two Hot Plates: two stone squares with handles, connected at the back. One plate acts as a lid, the other as the bottom. Place the food between them and press down. The hot stones flatten the meat and dry it up. Add water or oil and you can use the plates as a stove, but we need long lasting food, so we dry and store them in special, enchanted leather pouches. Once you draw the air out through the special tube and seal it, it can keep the food fresh longer. Especially dried foods.
The only pain is to keep the Stones hot enough. The holes on the sides of the stones keep the air flow open for the fire to burn, but drying meat out requires power. Fire Mages and Shamans can use their magic to kick the heat up. Someone like me, who knows how to channel their Mana outwards can keep the fire alive through the stones too. One side is always heat resistant to be able to touch it or place it down without burning anything. That's usually the side with the crest. Pocket Heat Stones have special pouches to carry them in too. Also with holes in them to keep the fire alive.
In our case, we need to feed the fire oil soaked paper twigs through the holes in the sides to increase the heat when needed. It sparks up a lot, so the sides must be kept clear. That's why you can't use it in a cramped space. Unfortunately the floating barrel we have been traveling in, doesn’t really provide many options for that. That's why we try to use it above deck or on land as much as we can.
Zarri and Emerald did catch us some birds and things along the way, but there's only so much preserves you can manage to prepare with limited equipment. I chew on my last few bites of charred rabbit... What if we can't find anything out here? I haven’t seen or heard any signs of life around us the entire time we've been here. The flickering lights seem to stay still too.
“Let's pack it in.” Zarri suggests.
“Fine with me.” Crile agrees.
“Sure.” I add too and all four of us cozy up in the tent. Well, more like a roof on legs with two tarps stretched out to make a corner. Not sure we could even tell if it was raining in the canopy this thick, but better safe than sorry, I guess. All three of us sit down with our backs to Emerald. Zarri and I take one side with Crile by himself on the other side.
“Night you guys.” Zarri says.
“Night.”
“Rest well.” Crile answers.
It's soooo hoooot... Whyyyy... I toss in my sleep.
“Hey, hey Starlight, wake up.”
“Uh.” I turn.
“Amana!” A ruff nudge.
“The hell!” I throw my arm back and sit up. “What is your problem.” I pry one eye open.
“Don’t scream.” Crile points to the side.
“Wha? What is it?” I slam my hands on the ground and stare at something...big...and white!?
“Eeeh!” Crile shuts me up. “Whaht isah thaht!” I mumble underneath his fingers.
“I'll give you three guesses. Who the heck you think it is?” He mutters.
I take his hand off my mouth. “Are those feathers? Is she dead?”
“Yes and no. She's asleep. That, or in a trance still.”
“How can she be in a trance still!” I hiss. “You telling me she doesn’t know what's going on???”
“Possible. Sh. She's moving.” Crile drags me back a bit. The thing moves and shows it's head. A bird. It shakes lightly.
“Breeze.” Crile talks to it. “Can you hear me?” The bird turns to us and blinks with a yawn and a tiny shriek escapes it's beak. It shuts up and stares.
“Stretch your arm.” Crile says. The bird listens. And shrieks again. It jumps up and tumbles out from under the tent roof. It, She, stretches her wings and looks her body over. Emerald stands up and goes out to her. We follow. Emerald nuzzles Zarri, she looks once at us and takes off. A white figure soars up into the grey darkness. Guess it's daylight now... A shriek reaches us and an opening appears above us just for an instant. Another muffled shriek.
“She's flying...” I mumble. Crile stands next to Emerald with his head tilted up.
“That she is.” He says smiling wide.
“How is she flying already!” I crawl out and stand up, rustling with my stupid hair all over my face, trying to see something. A shriek after shriek lets us know she's up there, somewhere.
“She wasn’t born yesterday, you know.”
“Yeah, but, how...” I studder.
Crile sighs. “Ira once told me that Breeze has exceptional instincts. Even for a Beast Druid. She adapts quick to her forms.”
“She only ever had one form so far.” I argue.
“True. But she already has an animal spirit within her own character. That allows her to give into her Spirit and use the form like an animal would, without much effort, yet without loosing herself either. That's how she's able to use her forms different ways, than say a regular animal would behave. It gives her an advantage.”
“You keep saying forms like she's always had more than one.” I look at him.
“I believed one day she would. No way her wild side wouldn’t get companions to reflect it.” He says grinning at me. I open my mouth and a shriek, louder this time, cuts me off.
“We should try and look for something edible. She'll need sustenance. She'll be dead tired when she gets back down. Whenever that will be.” Crile rustles through our bags, arranging all of the potions we have on hand.
“Why do you say that? She has perfect control over her shifts! She hasn’t passed out from her turns since we were kids!”
“True. But this is her first time shifting into a new form. First shift always takes more out of a Druid. Especially since she's moving around in it so much and so well already. She's burning through her Mana faster and she knows it.”
“Wait. Does that mean she can pass out mid flight?” I stare up again.
“Ha! Yeah. A rookie might. Hell. A rookie might not even be able to fly after the first shift. Breeze on the other hand - nah. She'll come down when she's good and ready.”
“How come you know all this?” I ask rather angrily. Crile stands up.
“Because, Amana, while you were occupying yourself with heals, I was studying up on Druids. Because that is what she is.” He stares me down. “Did you know? When Druids fuse with a Spirit their hearts stop beating, but the body keeps breathing.”
“I did not...” I admit.
“That's because you have a habit of having your head in the clouds.” He points up. “As much as you'll deny it and think otherwise. Meanwhile, I try to see everything from down here, as it is.” He points down to the ground and taps it with his foot.
“That's the difference, Star. You and I are like the Earth and the Sky, and she is the only one that connects us.”
“What a poet.” I mock him. He doesn’t answer. Guess I'll need to study up on Druids a bit more closely once I get the chance... A shriek reaches us and a white shadow descends to us. Crile steps out and holds his hands up to the sky. The giant bird slowly shifts back into a lean, feminine figure. The talons retract into slim legs, the wings shrink into slender arms with the hair scattered around in a wave and a lean figure glides down right into Crile's embrace. He catches her and carefully holds her to him...
“I can fly...” Zarri exhales, exhausted.
“That you can.” Crile kisses her on the forehead.
“I saw...”
“Easy now. Talk later. Rest up.” Crile picks Zarri up and puts her on Emerald.
“Let’s pack up here.”
“Why?”
“Assuming those lights last night were people – someone could have noticed a giant, white bird flying around. They can track us down here. We don’t know who we’d meet, so let’s move.”
“Track us? Serious? I can barely see below my feet where I just stood!”
Crile steps toward me and loams over me. Pissed.
“Star. I’d love to tell you to move or go home, but I’m pretty sure you’d get lost here and die. So I’ll only say this once more – you don’t have to like me, but do us all a favor and simply trust me blind. I’m not saying this to piss you off or mess with you. I am telling you this for her sake.”
“Alright.” I answer and pack our things. Crile gets the tent.
“Which way?” He asks Emerald. She steps first, I follow her with Crile behind me. We walk for what seems a short forever and we don’t leave any marks this time. Emerald stops and we set up the new camp again. Crile takes Zarri off Emerald and carries her to the tent. Emerald follows, but Crile stops her.
“Would it be a terrible inconvenience for you, milady, to locate us anything for dinner? If possible.” Emerald growls and whips her tail up and down.
“That's a no, huh... Fish?” Crile tries again.
“I'm sick of fish.” I mumble.
“Then starve. Here. Have some tree bark. Plenty of that.” Crile nods.
Emerald stares into the distance.
“Don’t bother if it's too much trouble.” Crile says while holding Zarri still. Emerald stands up and dashes off. Crile lays Zarri down and tucks her in.
“Stay with her.”
“Where are you going?”
“Up. I'll see if there's anything usable.” Crile takes his daggers out and climbs a better-looking tree. I'd settle for a squirrel or a crow at this point... Or an egg at least...
Zarri was out, for what we figured, half a day at least. Considering that she had eaten less lately, her body needed more time to recharge. Something I could have known if I bothered studying... Something I could have prevented if I had packed more Herbs... I didn't anticipate the possible food shortage to this extent... I am clearly underprepared in more ways than one...