Chapter 87
Eden – Day 34, Sunday
Glenda woke Jay with a massive hand over his mouth to keep him from making any noise. Once he calmed himself down she released him. “You watch. See anything. Hear anything. Wake me!” she said, poking him with one large finger in emphasis.
Jay nodded and carefully extricated himself from M'redith's sleeping form. He gently placed her head that had been resting on his chest up against the tree he had been leaning against and moved to the spot Glenda had been watching from.
Jay retrieved his Midnight Mask from his bag and placed it against his face until it stuck fast and activated. Moments later the forest around him bloomed in to view as the mask traced the edges of everything he could see in green.
The forest was a mess of tangled plants and trees all growing every which way. Jay had difficulties seeing anything past a few feet in the thick underbrush even with the aid of his mask. Still, he kept alert the best he could. It was boring repetitive work but if he missed something it could get them all killed. They were still being actively hunted for all he knew.
The night passed slowly and Jay found himself jumping at every sound he heard of which there were many. The air smelled musty and of overturned earth. Something about that bothered Jay but he couldn't put his finger on it. It continued to bother him and nestled in the back of his mind, a constant subconscious worrying that something was off.
Jay shrugged and continued his vigil. As time passed Jay could make out the sky beginning to lighten as dawn approached. The ground itself was still shrouded in darkness however, the sun's rays not yet penetrating that deep in to the forest.
Jay let everyone sleep until the sun rose at which point he got up and carefully shook Glenda who woke instantly and sat right up which freaked Jay out for a second. Glenda wiped at the corner of her eyes and stretched. “Problems?” she asked turning her head towards Jay.
“No. It was a quiet night.” Jay responded.
Glenda grunted. After a moment she had woken enough to stand up and help Jay begin waking the others. Sunlight was now filtering through the treetops and the first rays of light touched the forest floor. There wasn't a lot of it due to the thick tree cover but there was enough to announce that the day had begun.
The group gathered together and Glenda had them take out the sacks she had given each of them back in K'tharkle. Jay took out his sack and opened it to find a stack of wafers and a canteen of water.
“Breakfast.” Glenda said as Jay removed one thick wafer. They were about the size of a sandwich and only a half inch thick. They were brown in color, smooth in appearance, and as Jay took a bite he realized they were unflavored. Unless chalk counted as a flavor.
They were disgusting.
“This is breakfast?” Aiden complained as he wiped a bit of it off of his tongue that had refused to budge.
Glenda nodded, “Lunch and dinner too.” she added.
Aiden groaned as if wounded. “I miss real food.”
M'redith laughed tiredly, “You haven't even finished your wafer! Eat up.” she said with a teasing grin.
Norri was quiet and reserved. She didn't appear as if she had slept very well and her hair was flat on one side of her head and stood up a bit on the other.
The group huddled together and ate their 'breakfast' and washed it down with some warm water. That was all they needed as the wafers were packed with protein and nutrients. They were incredibly healthy, they just also tasted like chalk.
As the group continued to chew on their chalky nutrition wafers Norri paused. “What's that smell?”
Jay nodded, “Right? Smells earthy.”
Aiden shrugged, “We are in a earthy forest.”
Glenda had gone quiet at that point and began looking at the forest around them.
“Ya but we haven't overturned any earth – that's what it smells like. As if someone had just been digging or something.” Jay added.
Glenda appeared to have figured something out and said a little loudly, “Weapons out!” as she drew a pair of handaxes she had stored in her backpack. She wielded one deftly in each hand as the rest of the group struggled to ready their weapons.
They had plenty of training back in the Guild but the same movements that had seemed so easy back in training now were slowed by the terror of the unknown. They moved clumsily with the exception of Norri who handled her staff with skill.
They could hear the rustle of leaves moving but could not make out any movement in the forest around them. Between the dim lighting and the thick vegetation they could only see a few feet in front of them at best.
Glenda motioned for the group to stay put as she gracefully disappeared in to the forest. Jay and his group formed a circle with everyone looking outwards towards the forest, their weapons held out in front of them at the ready.
An undercurrent of rustling could be heard as something began to move very quickly. Something struck Jay at the knees and knocked him over. Jay caught a flash of movement but by the time he had looked it was gone.
As Jay struggled to get back to his feet the creature struck again and the group caught a flash of a creature Jay wanted to call a snake. It was huge and fast – unlike any snake Jay had seen on Earth. It was easily a foot across with a heavy wedged head it had used to knock Jay over. It was covered in bands of red and brown. Jay guessed it was at least six feet long.
Jay regained his feet but when he attempted to hold his staff his left arm refused to obey him. Blood dripped from a bite wound that had gotten his upper arm. Leather armor was great but it didn't cover everything. It also really wasn't designed as an anti-snake suit.
“I'm hurt, left arm.” Jay said as the arm continued to flop about uselessly.
“On it,” Aiden said as he reached over with one hand and grabbed Jay's arm. Aiden mumbled something and there was a glow of light as a woven grey patch formed over Jay's upper arm.
The creature reappeared in a blur and struck M'redith in the legs, bouncing off of her. It didn't move her even an inch thanks to her Class Ability Giant Frame. M'redith didn't hesitate and cut downward and across with her sword scoring a deep gash along the snake's side. The snake made a rasping hiss sound and moved back in to the forested undergrowth in a blur, leaving a bloody streak in its wake.
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It was fast.
They would hear it approaching, turn, and then.. nothing. Then they would hear it again, from another direction and then the same. This happened a few times before the creature darted out again, this time soaring through the air at waist height towards Norri. Norri muttered something under her breath and the snake froze, its body locked rigid as its wedge shaped head struck Norri and then collapsed to the ground unmoving.
An unharmed Norri stood over it angrily as she focused on using her Control Creature ability and locking up its muscles. The snake struggled against her control and moments later escaped in to the underbrush once again.
“You ok?” Jay asked.
Norri said yes but then actually checked to be sure. “Yes. For sure this time.”
Jay flexed his hand once again as sensation returned to his arm. A commotion was heard in the forest next to them and the group could make out the sounds of movement. A few swish sounds later and Glenda reemerged as she dragged the six foot creature back in to their clearing.
She dropped it with a thud that they both heard and felt when the body struck the forest floor. The snake, if that is what it even was, weighed a few hundred pounds. Jay couldn't figure out how it had moved as quickly as it had. Probably magic he decided.
“Too loud. Others come. We move now.” Glenda said quietly as she waved at them to follow her. They left the corpse on the forest floor where Glenda had dropped it – they weren't about to eat it and they didn't have time to skin it.
The group made their way back in to the forest and Glenda kept up a solid pace. As the going was so difficult due to the sheer mass of plant life it wasn't as if the pace was grueling. No one had any trouble keeping up. If anything, the group would prefer she move faster.
Glenda led them on a winding route towards Ashagi. Multiple times during their journey Glenda would stop and motion everyone to hug the ground. Almost always after she did that a monster of one kind or another would walk past them, oblivious to their presence. Thank Goddess they were oblivious Jay thought. If Glenda was scared of the creatures then Jay was terrified of encountering them.
After hours of walking they broke for lunch. Glenda seemed more relaxed than she had the day before. She had explained using one or two words at a time that Ashagi's monsters moved a lot slower during the day, if at all. It was at night when their group would need to be extra cautious.
“These wafers are awful. Why do they need to taste like chalk of all things?” Aiden complained.
“Next time you can buy whatever flavor you want. You should be thanking Glenda for packing you any food at all.” M'redith scolded him in reply.
Aiden pouted but after a moment said, “Thank you.” to Glenda.
She nodded and laughed in response.
They hadn't unpacked, only sitting to eat their wafers before once again trudging through the thick forest.
Later that day they had been walking peacefully when Jay was struck in the head by an acorn from above. “Crap!” Jay complained as he clapped a hand to his head where the acorn had struck, the spot already swelling. Looking up Jay saw a number of squirrels all clinging to the trees high above them, staring with their little black eyes down at the group angrily.
They had apparently wandered in to someplace they should not have because the squirrels were doing their very best to move them along. The squirrels threw acorn after acorn at the group from such a height that they actually hurt when they struck someones head.
Glenda had hurriedly moved them away from the area but it took a few minutes of dodging acorns as they ran away from the group of tree squirrels.
It wasn't as if they could fight them. Have you ever tried chasing a squirrel? They're fast. Too fast. Plus they're small – tiny targets, very difficult to hit. Plus, there were a lot of squirrels. No, it was easier to just move along out of their territory. It wasn't as if they were being mean or evil – they just didn't want Jay's group near the trees they lived in. Simple.
Norri had asked if she should try controlling one of them but Glenda had firmly said no.
“No fight squirrels!” she said adamantly as if Norri was crazy for even asking and the rest of the group was forced to agree as the group finally moved out of their territory.
No fight squirrels. It was a good rule to live by Jay thought with a grin.
He had asked Aiden for a heal for the bump on his head.
“No can do.” Aiden had replied after taking a close look once they had moved out of the squirrel's territory. “Too close to your eyes. If I heal your bump the patch would cover at least one eye. Maybe two. Better off just dealing with the pain until it heals on its own. Sorry Jay.” he finished apologetically.
Jay rubbed his head. The bump still really hurt.
The rest of their trip that day proved easy goings and as the sun set further and further Jay became more and more worried about what the night might hold.
As the sun began to finally fully set Glenda started to look for a good place to camp for the night. They were in an area that must be near a lake or a pond Jay thought because the ground had become a bit muddy. They trudged on even as darkness approached.
When Jay had stopped her to ask if they should stop for the night she only answered, “No good spot here. Walk more,” before she continued on.
Their pace had dropped to a slow walk as the sun finally set entirely. The sky was a cool dark blue color but the ground was cast completely in shadows. The ground had become quite thick and muddy at that point and the group was having trouble walking without losing their boots to the muck.
Glenda stopped and looked about as if orienting herself. She turned ninety degrees to the left and led the group that direction. They walked for a while in the pitch darkness only able to make out the few people in front of them and not much else. Tried as she might Glenda was unable to lead them to solid ground. There was just too much mud.
Glenda stopped and frowned. “Hate mud.”
Aiden nodded. “I hate everything about this but yes the mud sucks too.”
Glenda shrugged. It was what it was. She pointed at the muddy ground. “No sleep.”
She moved back a step from the group and pointed at the massive tree they were standing next to.
“Climb. Sleep.” Glenda said as she helped the group climb the massive tree.
It turned out to be easy. The tree was huge and had some thick low hanging branches perfect for climbing. Their group slowly scaled the tree until they were all up off of the ground. Glenda took out some rope ties from her bag and showed each of them how to tie themselves to the tree so they wouldn't fall out in their sleep.
Aiden looked a bit terrified at the thought of falling out of a tree in his sleep but Norri calmly talked him through it and even helped him tie himself to a tree limb so he could lean up against the trunk.
They all picked a branch and got comfortable. They were maybe twenty feet off the forest floor and unless they made a sound nothing would even notice they were there.
They were arranged so they could at least see each other and were tied off near to one another so they could gather up in an emergency.
“Sleep. I watch. Jay watch next.” she said quietly and that was it. They didn't even pause for dinner as no one was really interested in eating a chalk wafer at that point. They all just wanted a moment of sleep.
The group fell asleep just like that. Mud stuck to their legs and boots, feeling dirty and sweaty from their travel, tied to a tree under the cover of darkness, all while possibly and most probably still being hunted by a monster.
Jay fell asleep instantly.