Their journey continued. The further they went, the weaker the swamps hold over the territory as it gave way to more trees and turned into a forest. It sped up their progress as the road became a little firmer and their wagon didn’t suffer as much to move. The horse pulling it seemed to snort in relief at the change.

Ratface finally saw something she recognised from home as they walked. There were a few Kauri trees littered around the forest. They dominated the areas where they grew. A wide tall tree that had a deep shade to its canopy.

These ones were small for what she’d seen. They were still bigger than most of the trees in the area. It was a little nostalgic to see them outside of home. Her own village had been in proximity to one of these. Most of goblin villages were close to at least one of them.

She pointed it out to the group. They agreed the tree was big but clearly didn’t feel the sheer awe as what she did. Tiffany was closest as a druid.

“These trees can grow to be really old. I got told that they don’t like to listen to druids at all.”

“Good wood on those trees,” Isabelle said, “it’s great for enchanting.”

She saw the look of horror on Ratface’s face which was reflected faintly by Tiffany.

“Uhh. Not that I would ever use it for that,” she said. She looked away when Ratface kept staring at her.

Taking care of these trees was one of the few things that elves and goblins agreed on. Even an elf would get punished if they damaged one of these.

“Don’t go to Lurian,” Ratface told Isabelle after a while.

Abigail snorted.

“She wouldn’t be able to even if she wanted to. You have to be a high-level adventurer to even be considered. Or a noble.”

“It’s that dangerous?” Tiffany asked.

“Yes and no. It’s the elves and goblins sanctuary. You need a specific hunting license for goblins there.”

Ratface hissed about that. Sanctuary isn’t how she’d describe a place that still let you be hunted so long as there was a license. Her mother had kept a wall of the certificates from people she’d slain with them. If someone was found with it in a raid they were never offered any mercy.

Their wagon came to a stop and Ratface saw that two paths stretched ahead of them.

“It’s time we told you where we were going,” said Abigail, “I’ve kept it quiet because I didn’t want anyone knowing for sure. Once we take this path it’ll be obvious to anyone who knows the area. Particularly if they know me.” She gestured to the path to the left. “We’re going to the Redwood.”

There was a silence to her statement followed by horrified exclamations.

“The witch’s forest?” Tiffany squeaked.

“We’ll die,” cried Albert.

Ratface kept silent. She didn’t know what the fuss was about. The name told her the trees might be red but that was about it.

“You’re not going to die,” said Abigail. She was clearly irritated at the insulation as she got the wagon moving again. “The Redwood is only dangerous if you don’t follow the rules or challenged the trees.”

Stolen story; please report.

Ratface frowned at that. How did you even challenge a tree?

Abigail gave them all a hard stare.

“You need to be prepared as well. Something is out there. It might not have anything to do with us but if it does, then we should be prepared for monsters.

It was only by the afternoon that Abigail’s paranoia was proven correct. A swarm of bugs came for them and Ratface was treated to her first true swamp experience. The irony that it came after she got out of the place wasn’t lost on her.

The bugs were big creatures and looked like if a mosquito was designed to drain all your blood instead of just a bite. They had a barbed needles for mouths and Ratface was dismayed to discover they had six of them. Their feet ended in tiny claws, and she resolved to not let one of them touch her. The bugs dove towards the group. Isabelle threw a small fireball into their centre which sent them scattering. A few of them dropped but not as many as Ratface would have liked. The main benefit was that some of the bugs swooped low to dodge the spell which Tiffany took advantage of as vines shot up from the ground to catch and crush the creatures.

The rest of the bugs made it into close range. The three melee members of the group took over. Ratface had wondered how Abigail would deal with them. A greatsword seemed like a big enemy kind of thing. To her surprise the woman wielded the weapon with surprising dexterity. Cutting down the swarm and sometimes letting their own momentum split them apart of her blade.

Albert was in his element. She’d seen him deal with swarms before, so she wasn’t that surprised he was good at it. His new spear seemed to be almost worth the trauma of getting it as he stabbed and swept it through the creatures. He barely seemed to put any effort into cutting them.

Ratface was not so graceful as the other two. She’d learned a bit more about how to fight with her knife and sword, but her fighting could still best be described as a cat stuck in a sack. She was a lot of quick slashes and stabs. Her armour was a big help and Ratface saw why Abigail insisted their skin was covered with it. The claws and little spears stabbed into her clothes a little, but it was clear they were used to fighting animals that only had skin to get passed. They always seemed surprised to not draw blood, and she used that moment to cut them down with her knife.

Tiffany and Isabelle kept behind them and Ratface worried for the two. She didn’t know about Isabelle, but Tiffany definitely didn’t have any armour on under that robe. Sure, it was a pretty sturdy robe, but it would only take one stab for it to start going downhill.

Thankfully the bugs seemed relatively stupid. It was like someone had thrown them in their path and then left them to it. They concentrated on the three at the front because they were closest. Some made it to the wagon. Ratface got ready to throw her knife to protect the sleeping Halmir, but she couldn’t get a clear shot. Tiffany saw them and swung her staff through the bugs. She met Ratface’s eyes daring her to say something and Ratface wisely kept her mouth shut. She was glad the helmet was hiding her antagonising grin. The way the other girl kept looking at Ratface made her suspect Tiffany could still sense the grin anyway.

The battle was over quickly, and Abigail got the wagon moving.

“Grab the bodies,” Isabelle called to Albert and Ratface. They scooped up as many as they could then hurried to catch up with the wagon.

It was only a few hours later that another swarm caught up to them. Then there was another a few hours after that. It even came with a few city gators.

Ratface frowned after the second group. While she wouldn’t underestimate the monsters, with the group they had it was unlikely that their group would be overwhelmed by these small groups. It’d be better to swarm them. They were less coordinated than the monsters in the sewer as well, so she was obviously missing something.

The next group had more alligators and less flyers. It also had a big deer of some sort that had antlers as sharp as blades. It charged and Abigail specifically got in its way. She grunted when she caught the thing before cutting it down. Ratface wondered what they’d do if a herd of those had hit them.

She watched Abigail quickly grab the deer, then leave the rest of the bodies on the floor. She got the wagon moving and Ratface noticed she was pushing the wagon to go faster. Abigial drained some of the blood of the deer and put it in the horse’s oats as well as a couple of dips of healing potion. Ratface had wondered how they kept moving so fast. Now she knew.

The doping of the horse was the last part of the puzzle to make it click.

Whatever kept sending the creatures at them wasn’t trying to take them out with the monsters, though she imagined it wouldn’t be upset if it did so. No, it was trying to slow them down while more of its creatures got together. She’d thought they were in a battle, but they were actually in a race.

With that information, each stop to fight them was filled with a little more panic. It must have shown in her fighting because Abigail nodded at her with a grim expression. It was that expression that really filled her with dread.

Whatever was chasing them, Abigail didn’t want to fight it.