Captain Strykar and I rode along the hard packed dirt road at a fast pace, the Ember Mountains slowly shrinking behind us along with the village of Yellowseed. The trees that surrounded the village had given way to large logging fields, neatly cut stumps peeking out of the thick grass, while other sections held rows of juvenile trees that had been planted to replace the ones already taken. Beyond the logging fields, we travelled through a large plain with gentle rolling hills covered in yellowing grass tipped with seed. Small birds barely the size of my thumb would flit through the grass and land on the stems so they would peck at the seeds, and when we passed would take off as a group, flying about like a swarm of insects.
The Duke had tried arguing against us leaving separately for a while before eventually giving up when the Captain refused to budge. The conversation had then turned to pressuring the Captain to take at least a couple more guards with us, which was also stubbornly refused with the reasoning that more people would make the passage through Shadewind more difficult and risky.
“Why do you have to go with her?” the Duke shouted after talking in circles with the Captain for a while. “Send someone else! I don’t want my son putting himself at risk like this!”
Captain Strykar tapped a finger against his arm, clearly agitated although he kept his voice calm. “I’m the strongest fire magus here, father, and I have the most experience in a fight. This will only work if we can travel fast, and two people can travel much faster than a group of twelve.”
The Duke sighed, raking his hand through his hair, a gesture I had seen the Captain make before. “Alright, alright, I’ll concede your point.” He looked at him intensely, concern clear on his face. “Just promise me you’ll be careful Will. The Tarnished won’t hesitate to cut you down regardless of whether you’re their main target.”
“Of course,” the Captain said cheerily, clapping his father on his shoulder. “If we do this right, the Tarnished won’t be able to catch us before we make it to the capital.”
The Duke had still seemed tense when we’d left, barely uttering anything else to his son. The Lycan guard had all been cheerful, but clearly worried. Clara had even hugged me and promised that she would meet me in the capital before long.
The road we travelled along slowly began to curve around so it followed the Ember Mountains, and would eventually end at the Deadwall Fortress. Captain Strykar had told me we would stay on this road until it came close to the edge of Shadewind Forest, and then begin the trek through the forest. Captain Strykar had assured me he knew of at least a few landmarks in and around the forest I would be able to use to guide us through safely. He seemed awfully confident, which was a feeling I did not share with him.
Heavy clouds sat over top of the Ember Mountains, but the sky above us was thankfully clear. The occasional rumble of thunder could be heard coming from the clouds whenever the wind stopped howling in my ears. I could feel my lips and skin beginning to dry out from the warm wind that was blowing, and had to stop myself from licking my lips knowing it would only make it worse. It felt odd being in a place where all the plant life was no higher than my hip. The absence of the familiar presence of tall trees left me with an unsettled feeling in my stomach, and my teeth were constantly on edge as though waiting for something to leap out of the grass at us.
The Captain had set a hard pace for us, slowing the horses when necessary to allow them to rest and urging us into a gallop once again. Lunch was eaten in the saddle, consisting only of stale bread and dry jerky that did nothing to help the dry sensation on my face. My legs and butt ached horribly, and I found myself trying to massage my thighs whenever we slowed in a futile attempt to relieve the pain.
At nightfall we moved a little way off the road and set out our swags for the night. Captain Strykar didn’t allow for a campfire since it would be too easily spotted in such an open area, so it was more cold stale rations for dinner. The wind was quickly becoming cold with the absence of the sun, and I wrapped myself up in my cloak to keep the chill at bay. I had expected to feel awkward being all alone with a man out in the middle of nowhere, but I was so exhausted that I just couldn’t bring myself to care.
We took turns to stay up and keep watch during the night, with him taking the first shift and me the second. I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit my swag, and was asleep for what felt like mere minutes before I was shaken awake for my turn on watch. A three quarter moon lit the surrounding plain, leaving everything looking grey and washed out. The grass that moved with the wind looked like a large moving sheet, like one hung out on a line to dry. The distant cries of small animals and the occasional shuffle from the nearby horses were the only sounds I could hear, though I strained my ears to listen for any noises which may be travellers coming along the road.
I struggled to stay awake at times, having to pinch myself hard to wake back up properly, but managed to make it until dawn without falling asleep. Once the Captain woke up, we quickly packed up our things and mounted up again, taking up the same gruelling pace we had yesterday. My whole body protested intensely to the abuse, but I just had to grit my teeth against the pain and keep going. I would not be the reason we stopped.
In the late afternoon we turned off of the dirt road and struck out into the grass, heading for the dark line in the horizon that Captain Strykar said was the forest. The going was a bit slower, the ground full of holes and dips that the grass hid well. It felt like we hadn’t made much progress at all when we halted for the night, once again forgoing a camp fire.
“We’ll reach the forest by mid morning tomorrow,” the Captain said as he handed me my dinner.
Ugh stale bread and jerky again, my teeth will fall out of my head at this rate.
I muttered my thanks, taking the food and biting into it without complaint. “It feels like we didn’t get any closer to the forest at all today,” I said around a mouthful of food.
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“Yeah, distances are deceptive out here,” the Captain replied after swallowing his own food. “It’ll creep up on you faster than you think.”
As the Captain had said, by midmorning the next day we had reached the start of Shadewind Forest. Tall dark green pine trees rose in front of us, acting as a wall for the forest. Rather than the trees gradually increasing in density as the forests I’d experienced did, these were instantly densely packed with their branches touching and weaving over each other. I couldn’t see into the forest at all, as between all the trees hovered a thick white mist. It was constantly shifting, thin tendrils curling around the trunks for a moment only to dissipate, and wove through the leaves to peak out between them in the scarce gaps. Occasionally the mist would seem to part a little, revealing dark shadows of more trees within its borders, before the mist would shift again and become a blanket of white once more. The branches swayed in the wind, the leaves shuffling against each other and emitting a sound that was similar to whispers you could almost hear but couldn’t quite tell what was being said.
I felt tense, my knuckles almost white with how tightly I was clutching onto the reins. There was a distinct lack of birdsong that reminded me all too much of the Tarnished ambush at the bridge, and I found myself waiting for something to come charging out from the mist towards us. I glanced over at the Captain, trying to gauge his reaction. His face looked calm, and it seemed as though he were studying the forest.
At his signal, we dismounted and led the horses up to the tree line. Both horses tossed their head and snorted, apparently also feeling uneasy in this place. I took a deep breath to settle my nerves, or try to, and placed my hand on the tree nearest to me. The familiar feel of rough bark and the almost perceptible hum of life within it was comforting, and I felt some of the tension around my shoulders ease.
“What landmarks am I looking for in here?” I asked the Captain once I’d felt my heartbeat had slowed a little.
“The first ones a lake,” he replied, stroking his hand along his horse's neck to calm it down. “It should be near the centre of the eastern and western borders of the forest. It’ll be about the same size as a large town.”
I nodded my head, exhaling deeply as I drew on my magic through the magic circle on my necklace and linked it to the life force within the tree beneath my hand. I spread my awareness out, expanding along the intricate network of roots and fungi that sat just beneath the surface of the soil and travelling further and further away from where I stood. The edges of the forest seemed to hold no animal life around it, but a little further in from the border I felt traces of small critters scurrying along the high branches and over exposed roots of the trees. I continued to push outward, searching for the lake. Though I probably wouldn’t be able to determine a ‘lake’ specifically, I should be able to feel a void amongst the larger plantlife
The more I stretched away from myself, the larger the strain on my mind. I was beginning to feel a twinge along my temples that would soon become a headache but forced myself to ignore it. If I couldn’t find this landmark we’d have no hope of getting through this forest safely. When the twinge had turned into a sharp stabbing pain, I finally found it. A large, vaguely crescent shaped area devoid of trees appeared, roughly in the centre of two of the forest’s borders as the Captain had said. The network of tree roots didn’t connect with anything in the void, and it was too physically far from me to reach out past the tree roots to see if I could sense aquatic plant life, but I had a feeling I’d be able to once we got closer.
“Got it,” I told Captain Strykar as I opened my eyes and removed my hand from the tree trunk. I magically kept hold of one tree right next to the void to act as a beacon for us to travel towards. “It feels like it’ll take us about a day to get there.”
The Captain was sitting down against the tree next to the one I had been using. I must have taken a while to locate the lake, but he didn’t utter a word of complaint. He stood, brushing the grass from his pants.
“Excellent, let's see how far we can make it today,” he said, picking up the reins for his horse once again. I noticed a long, slack rope had been tied between the two horses which was loose enough for them to comfortably walk in line with each other.
That must be so we don’t lose each other in the mist.
I looked at the forest we were about to enter. Though the mist prevented me from seeing in, I had been able to feel how densely packed everything was when looking for the lake. Guiding the horses through this was going to be nothing short of painful.
“Just a moment,” I told the Captain, who looked at me questioningly.
Pulling at my magic again, I set my hand against the tree and concentrated it along a narrow strip through the forest towards the lake. With some rustling and the sound of groaning wood, the branches, trees and shrubs directly ahead of us all parted and shifted to create a path large enough to lead a horse along it without issue. The mist blocked any view of this from the Captain, but he no doubt heard the noise it made and noticed the trees either side of us had moved.
“What did you just do?” he asked, sounding curious.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose with one hand, trying to quell the pain in my head that had intensified with the last pull of magic. “Made things a bit easier for us,” I told him, picking up my own horse’s reins. “I’ll put it all back how it was later, don’t worry.”
“Alright,” he said, nodding towards the forest, “lead on.”
I led Echo into the mist, patting her nose soothingly when she tossed her head in agitation. The thick whiteness closed around us, leaving only vague shadows all around that were too indistinct to identify. Not being able to see quickly set my nerves back on edge, and I set a small magical circle of awareness around me so I could feel the edges of the path in my mind and assure I didn’t wander off course. My headache protested this, but I ignored it. Walking around completely blind was not optional.
I wonder if the Captain is alright going through this?
“Are you alright back there sir?” I called. The mist made my voice sound muffled and flat.
“Yep, still here,” he replied. I heard a slight edge in his voice, and got the impression he was also anxious with the lack of visibility.
Checking in on each other ended up becoming a habit as we walked along with little more than the sound of the horses hooves hitting the dirt and the jingle of their bridles to break up the monotony of whiteness. One of us would call, and the other would answer, reassured that we hadn’t strayed or gotten eaten by the forest. Boredom was quick to replace the apprehension I was feeling. Though I could sense the trees and shrubs around us, not having anything to see was not very entertaining.
“Hey Captain,” I called after a while of silently suffering the boredom. “How’d you know about the lake in this forest? I thought no-one has been able to explore this place without ending up going in circles or disappearing completely.”
I heard him chuckle from behind me. “It was by chance really,” he said. “I got dragged into going on a Ventus Airship that my mother and a bunch of other nobles had been invited to as a show of friendship between the two kingdoms. They happened to fly from the capital over Shadewind forest, and I was able to spot a few landmarks through the mist.”