Sitting with his back against an uneven wall, Puck felt this dive trip was something he would remember for a long time.
The helplessness, the struggle against the urge to breathe—just recalling it made his breath shallow again.
At least it was over; they had made it.
Reaching for the ideal housed in his chest, Puck knew it was more than pleased. Once it came out of cooldown from helping Scarlet, he’d be able to take another step forward in controlling it.
Seeing Scarlet move toward him, Puck was pulled from his thoughts. It was time to move on.
Their trip through the water had happened about two days ago, and they still needed to find food. The current they’d traveled in had been barren of fish, and there was no edible moss in the region either.
Pulled up by Scarlet, Puck felt grounded by the touch of her hands. He was hungry, but it was manageable, and the most important thing was that the tunnel area they were in now showed no signs of being cut off anytime soon.
When choosing their path, they always went with the tunnel that led upwards, following an unspoken agreement.
Finally, after another day of travel, they found a type of moss Puck had never seen before, which Scarlet recognized as edible.
As the days turned to weeks, Puck’s mood soared as they resumed their usual training schedule. His muscles were constantly sore, and his head ached from all the new knowledge of unfamiliar flora. But he was learning, and he was enjoying himself. Once, he even managed to land a hit on Scarlet during one of their sparring matches—though only because she was holding back and landed a lethal blow in return. But still.
The one disappointment was that the beast who had shown him the way had not reappeared, and Puck feared it hadn’t made it through the water. Over the weeks though, even the fate of the feline creature receded to the back of his mind.
When something finally disrupted their rhythm of training and traveling, Puck wasn’t sure if he was elated or disappointed that things were about to change.
Pointing with his finger, Puck alerted Scarlet: “Look, there’s a sign!”
Standing at a crossroads, they could make out signs everywhere, pointing to different tunnels with various symbols adorning them.
Only familiar with the rudimentary system of Gremlin symbols, Puck had already been taught by Scarlet that there were far more advanced systems, and this seemed to be one of them.
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Scarlet wrinkled her face in concentration for a moment, then her eyes lit up.
“It’s not a very common language, but I’ve seen it before. It’s used by one of the smaller Orc kingdoms on the surface of the eternal ice!”
“Does that mean we’re actually reaching the surface soon?”
As thoughts of his vision of flying through the sky filled his mind, Puck wondered if his dream was finally becoming reality. Hearing a rush around him, he soon felt the wind on his skin.
“Put your ideal back in your body. Even if your ideal is freedom, it’s still your ideal and shouldn’t act without your intention.”
Receiving the scolding, Puck saw a smile tugging at Scarlet’s lips and knew she at least partly shared his excitement.
“Don’t get your hopes up too early, though. The Orcs map tunnels far below the surface, and the journey might still be several weeks on foot. We might reach some underground settlements before then, though.”
Hesitating a little, Puck remembered something Scarlet had mentioned before.
“Don’t the Orcs hate most other races and even hunt us Gremlins?”
Growing more serious, Scarlet nodded solemnly.
“In general, Orc kingdoms are some of the unfriendliest places for other races, but in this case, we might be lucky. Or at least as lucky as one can get with an orc kingdom. This kingdom, Kartorok, is led by an indomitable warlord who shares the name with his kingdom. Thankfully for us, in his expansion efforts, he is willing to incorporate other races and kingdoms if they submit to him. Some Gremlin tribes should already have yielded to him.”
Shuddering a little, Puck felt as if he was stepping into a whole new world. Kingdoms, empires—neither the Gremlin caves nor the tunnels of eternal ice they’d traversed before had anything like that.
Continuing, Scarlet grew even more serious.
“Even then, officially, all races that yield are accepted, but we can expect harsh or even deadly treatment from most Orcs if they think they can get away with it.”
Feeling a foreboding sensation creep up, Puck focused back on the present.
“Can you read those signs?”
“Partly, but what I can read isn’t of much use. We’ll just have to keep going upward until we find the first settlements.”
After a brief rest and some physical training, Scarlet called for them to continue. Just because they might reach a hostile kingdom soon didn’t mean they could stop training.
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Sniffing the air, the leader of the group suddenly signaled the others to halt.
They were an exploration team, searching for new resources in the eternal ice in the name of Kartorok.
Saying something in their guttural language, the leader began to smile terrifyingly, his prominent canine teeth bared.
Soon, the entire group was laughing low and whispering amongst themselves. But not wanting to alert their newfound prey, they kept their voices low.
Gremlins had very good hearing, after all. But, as luck would have it, not as good as Orc noses.
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Having followed the two small creatures who had facilitated his escape for over two months now, Taron was increasingly certain he would reveal himself to them again soon. Over the past two months, he hadn’t shown himself once, simply observing, but now he was satisfied.
Every time they hunted, they offered tribute to the Great All-Mother and never wasted anything. These two were good creatures and could be trusted to some degree. And he dearly needed company.
Having noticed the group of surface-dwellers who had been trailing the pair for a while now, Taron felt that the moment to reveal himself in a helpful situation would soon arrive.