Hunting was unnecessary it seemed.

It was just as the man on the outskirts of town had said.

"Drop a line into the lake to the south, You will pull up a fish immediately."

We had about a couple dozen foot long fish before long. We roasted some of them and placed the rest in a small bin of salt we had brought. It was handy to preserve some of this plentiful food source.

This must be why the village hasn't starved entirely. With this vast population of fish the whole town could probably fish the lake without problem. It was bizarre, but I chocked it up to this world.

Perhaps as well as exporting gold, this town could export fish from the lake. I'm not super knowledgeable on running a fishery but I did run a aquaponics system with a few hundred thousand fish. I'm sure I could teach them a thing or too, and looking at the greenery around the lake this water was clearly suited well for agriculture. Looking at the land nearby thought it wasn't as suitable as the water. Mostly it was rugged rocky land.

Surprisingly there were almost no tree surrounding Godrick.

I did notice an overabundance of stumps however. So my assumption was this town had also once exported lumber. It would explain why the village masters roof was in such disrepair. They have over-forested to such an extent that they can no longer even provide lumber for their own homes.

Noticing my lack of attention on my cooking Claire swiftly flip the now blackened fish.

Damn i really need to stop thinking while I'm supposed to be focusing on something.

I apologize for burning the fish and attempt to choke down the burnt meat.

It was still edible but the other more properly roasted fish looked much more appealing. Claire finally relents and hands me one of her's. She take my burnt one and reveals her magic.

Now I know what your thinking.

Oh she could heal the burnt flesh, or maybe she could rewind it's time.

No.

I remembered her skill immediately when she opened up the small black tear and dropped the burn fish into the 'trash can'.

It was basically a two dimensional black rip in space.

I couldn't remember what they were called. But it basically acted as a bottomless hole. It has no gravity, only happily accepting whatever was dropped into it. It was somewhat handy, you could open one up a few feet underneath you as an easy way of digging a hole.

Or for this particular use. As a trash can.

It was handy though.

Honestly, I know you're thinking it's useless. I mean bears or wolves would smell the burnt fish if we had just left it here so it's much safer this way. As we used to say in the boy-scout's.

Leave no trace.

Or maybe that was the marines, I often got those two memories mixed up.

Oh man, not knowing what those black holes are called is really going to bug me.

I remember it had a cool name. Well, if I'm lucky Claire will brag about it sooner or later.

----------------------------------------

Two days and she hasn't bragged about it. She hasn't even used it once since that time at the lake.

Really? Well I suppose knights pride and such.

We did run into several occasions to use our blades. It was mostly just for cutting through what became a fairly large jungle as we head further up river.

We left Godrick soon after we got the fish. And these past few days we made good progress towards the second city. Colgate. As I've said there's no real path from town to town.

After Godrick, according to the townspeople the best way to get to Colgate is by following the river until you see life. 'And once you feel death you've gone too far.'

That last part was a tad bit ominous but I left it alone.

Travel was slow. We creeped along at a relative snail's pace. The horses seemed useless at this point, in fact they likely made it harder. The path we were striking in the jungle was forced to be wider due to the animals we lead behind us.

The temperature had seemingly risen at some point, I associated it with the dense jungle capturing the humidity or maybe creating it. Honestly i was too sweaty to think carefully.

I just had to keep taking steps and cutting vines and weeds.

That was my life now.

It was an unsatisfying life.

I wondered if Claire couldn't just cut these with black holes but as she didn't do it herself I just assumed there was something wrong with that idea.

Really, if I had known she just hadn't thought of it either this could have been so much easier.

But I didn't know. I just kept my mouth shut so we continued along with blades.

Nearing nightfall I tied the horses off onto a nearby tree branch and began setting up a proper pile of leaves to sleep on.

Claire had now completely given up on the tent the knights corp lent her. It was far to difficult to erect. Now instead she gathered a similar pile of leaves beside mine.

I may be hallucinating but it seems her sleeping location was inching nearer each night.

We talked about the various things we typically spoke about.

She, as always, avoids the topic of my dad.

I suppose she likely feels a loss from his passing as well. He did raise her after her own dad died so I suppose he was something of a father figure to her as well.

She told various tales of valor from her knights training. As well as the various gossip that was happening behind the scenes during those times. It was good fun, I could listen to her tell stories all night. If only.

"Do you have regrets?" Claire asks as the moon peaked between the dense treeline.

"Hm, regarding what?" I say unsure what exactly it was that she was inquiring about.

"You know, just, everything."

I contemplate the question a little further, sure there were things I regretted of course.

Things I hadn't said to my dad.

Things I hadn't asked.

I'm sure everyone has regrets. I think it would probably be more rare to not have any.

"Sure a few. Like when you left for knight training," I explain once I decide how best to answer.

I say this not with any ulterior motive. It was the truth. It was something that always gnawed at me.

"I wanted to run away too, I think part of me still wants that. I regret that."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Which part? That you wanted to run? Or that you didn't?" Claire asks and then adds after my long silence. "That's dumb though. You should have just asked me to stay."

"So you say; but you wouldn't have stayed."

The night air again grew still. Claire and I quietly snack on salted fish in the darkness. The chilly night air brought a great sense of sleepiness to our bodies.

The moon moved across the sky effortlessly.

I don't know about Claire but I was sound asleep when the first sound was heard.

It was followed shortly after by three other short howls.

Claire rose first.

She kicks the place where I'd been sleeping.

When my eyes erupt open the first thing i see was 'Penelope' and 'Daisy' running directly in my direction.

I swiftly rolled out of bed nearly dodging a hoof to the face. The two horses galloped with all their might down the path Claire and I had cut earlier that day.

It didn't take long to see what they had run from.

Standing across from Claire were three large wolves. Their silvery fur reflected the full moon above.

Claire's sword was already readied. She seemed more nervous than I had expected her to be. She was a knight, these beasts should have been nothing. But as I looked at them I realized they were much more fierce looking than a typical wolf. What was wrong with these beasts? What had made them so riled?  

Drawing my own sword I step up next to Claire.

We nod to each other and strike forward towards the two closest wolves.

Claire's target jumps out of the way in time but my strike hit firmly. With an instantly quieted whimper one of the three beasts falls to the ground.

One down, two to go.

Or so I had thought. But the whimper from the fallen beast had seemingly called back up. Behind us two more wolves appeared. Dark blood dripped from the two's fangs.

No, please don't tell me they already caught up to Penelope and Daisy.  

I focused my ears and indeed could no longer hear the sounds of heavy footsteps.

Oh, man. For Claire's newly named horse to die.

I will have to console her carefully once this is finished.

While my attention was lost on the two beasts who had joined the fray. The wolf who has taken the place of the dead one swipes with a heavy paw.

I didn't even have a chance to react.

It clears a great distance with a single kick of its hind legs.

"Ugh!" Claire groans as the heavy claw came down on her leg.

Without taking a moment I struck forward twice.

The first kick knocked away the heavy beast.

The second cut his throat cleanly as he sailed through the air with a spurt of blood.

I grabbed the blade from the fallen Claire and stood in front of her glancing at the remaining enemies carefully.  

I had no idea how bad Claire was wounded. From the moment I grabbed her blade I saw a fair amount of blood. I have to finish this as soon as possible.

Two wolves leapt at me simultaneously from behind me and in front.

The front one was more dangerous so I shifted my dominant arm forward and caught the leaping wolf on my blade.

A burst of blood enshrouded me drenching my hair and face. I then swung my left arm to intercept the airborne wolf behind me. My aim was a tad off though. My blade only caught the tops of his ear. Its heavy mouth closed firmly around my arm.

The pain was indeed intense. After a few firm clenches of his jaw he released me and dropped back to the ground. I gave him a swift kick and again glance around.

Two wolves down. one injured, and one was watching closely circling around me and the collapsed Claire.

I don't have time. I need to finish this immediately.

I let out the strongest battle cry I could manage and then plunged the two swords down towards the wolf I had just given a haircut.

Blood burst forth again and with that the final circling wolf rang off with a solemn whimper and bolted into the forest. I didn't have time to hunt down the last enemy, Claire was my priority right now.

I kneeled down beside her, and again feel regret.

Claire had learned how to deal with medical emergencies while training to be a Knight. I, on the other hand had no clue what to do.

Seeing the grimacing Clare I was greatly relieved that she wasn't dead. I suppose an attack like that wouldn't likely kill a person though.

'Oh, wait. No, get ahold of yourself Drew.'

I was a nurse for a little over three years, I can handle this small laceration. But I don't have any tools. First things first I removed my shirt and used it and the straps to tourniquet her gushing leg.

She whimpered loudly when I applied pressure. But it seemed she was aware this was the right move as she replaced my hands, freeing me to tie the strap tightly around her bare bloodied thigh.

Soon after finishing the field maintenance Claire turned her attention to my dripping arm. She wiped away some of the blood from my arm and exposed the teeth marks made in my flesh by the massive wolf moment earlier.

The holes were closing.

I'm not sure how I can describe the sight other than that simply.

The gash from the wolf was sealing itself closed rapidly before my eyes. As me and Claire gazed at the final piece of flesh growing back into place we both were somewhat awestruck.

"Good." She finally said after removing her hand from my arm. Had this been her magic somehow? She had barely touched my arm and now it was not even bleeding.

No it can't be due to her magic or she would have used it on herself.

This is entirely different, most likely it was I who had caused this healing. But how?

Even in this world there is no such thing as healing magic.

So how? Whatever it is I hope I can use it on Claire's still heavily gushing leg.  

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"She will be here soon then." A woman wearing a thick overcoat made from plant material said as she deeply inhaled the smoke floating around her face.

Her eyes clouded over again as she gazed into the inky darkness from her mountain top.

"I hope he forgives our dishonesty." She said shaking her head slowly as the clouds began to vanish from her eyes. She set a lid on top of the herbs burning in front of her and sat back down by the fire at the center of her small camp.

Two small sparkles floated around above the fire and she gazed at them until finally relenting and offering the tip of her finger to the two faeries.

"Spoiled brats."