Chapter 6

Waking up at the base of the boulder with the tree roots on it, they wondered if they dreamed the whole thing. Examining herself and the others, Endermon determined if they had been attacked, one, they were extremely silent, two, left no visible injuries to examine, and three, all their stuff was still with them. So it was either robbery, or information prevention.

They figured anyone going through the process of hiding themselves so completely, wanted the treasure more than they did, and would do anything to get it. Leaving the matter alone for the time being, they headed back down the path towards the strange fruit stand.

The path was still slippery and the tide was still out, but they could tell they had to hurry because it was showing signs of coming in. Endermon thought it looked exactly the same as when they went in. But that was impossible. There had been a substantial amount of time taken to get there, climb up the rock, hop/climb down into the cave, fall in the water and find the weird glowing room.

Once they got back to the fruit stand, the driver looked surprised to see them. This caused considerable confusion between them all, because to the driver, they had just left. But the three of them clearly remembered the last part of the journey. They looked for the opening in the trees. It was there but led straight to the ocean, with no cliffs on any side.

When Endermon went to check on the horses, they jerked away from her at first, but after a few moments, nuzzled into her hands. Having the other two stay with the driver, Endermon hopped up on her horse for a ride to clear her mind and get some answers.

With an open communication link between them, Endermon had her first honest conversation in a while. She told her horse her side of things and the horse said they left and the driver made sure they had food and went to messing about in the back of the carriage. The horses communicated for a few moments and then heard the three of them coming through the trees.

Endermon asked why she jerked away when Endermon came up, the horse said they were glowing and Endermon's eyes were entirely black. The horse apologized and said they thought the group had been replaced by impostors, but the glow faded, and Endermon's eyes went back to normal.

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Endermon said she thought it was weird that she could suddenly see in the dark cave, but if after falling in the pool of water, the glow remained for a few minutes, then what happened in the glowing room where a treasure chest used to be sitting on a suspicious altar? Turning around she went back to the group and shared what she had learned on her ride, carefully omitting the fact that she was talking to her horse.

Feeling the search for the treasure was over, because of what happened in the mysterious cave, they decided to go back to the cabin to come up with what to do next. Whether ti was to continue looking, or to go their separate ways. Getting enough beverages to last them awhile, they suited up and headed back the way they came.

Getting back to the cabin was easy, and since they had ample time before dark, Dresden wanted to hunt. Wanting to try out being a bird and quickly became a magnificent looking bald eagle. They weren't sure what to expect, and when he took off into the air.

They watched in awe as he made lazy circles in the sky. All of a sudden he darted down and within a few seconds had a rabbit in his claws. He changed mid-air and landed with a grace they wouldn't believe him capable of had they not seen it themselves.

Telling Dresden to get dressed so they could make dinner, as he wouldn't stop strutting around naked. Endermon efficiently and quickly cleaned the rabbit and made a stew, some grilled bits, and even had enough raw material to make some bread to go with the rest of the food. And using some of the drinks made a rather large meal for the three of them.

While Endermon was making the food and Dresden was loudly repeating his time as an eagle, exaggerating what happened as he did so. Rutus had grabbed some of the old armor and some long bones, and had started fashioning knives out of them. Within the space of an hour or so, Rutus had managed to make three knives, one for each of them.