Hiking the Wilds 4

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The rocky area radiated outwards, becoming a wide plateau with deep fissures running through it. To their left, the stretch of tall trees suddenly parted, revealing patch of bushes. Like a patchwork over the forest, the region stood out in it incongruity.

The bright yellow soil, the black stems and grey leaves, were all so glaringly alien. This was first time a Wild had appeared to their left of their route. Everything so far had been across the stream, to their right beyond the stretch of rocky land they tread.

Everyone except Fatty halted, amazement in their eyes.

"Holy..."

"Hhut... so much. We are rich."

"It is a gorgeous place."

As they neared, bundles of red and white berries became clearer. Each plant had tiny balls all over, like sleeping a ladybugs, an equal amount piled on the ground.

"Rhaegar-berries?"

"Good memory, mage. Healers love these."

"Wow, they can heal wounds?"

"Ah, no.. not like that. For making ointments. The extract it constricts skin and relaxes the muscles.

"And perfumes. There's easily a score of gold talents here."

"Of course, Lust-er. You would know."

"Hey!!"

"Such a wild bloom. It's weird." Dagger added, ignoring their antiques.

"I thought so too. How do we even take this back?"

"Atleast 10 times."

"Let's take a break. I have an idea. We can explore the whole patch and discuss while eating."

As they went around, the estimate kept rising. Lester finally explained his plans.

"We will take the non-perishables and hide them. The emptied pack should be good enough for most of this yield, if we carefully clear the berries of the stalks."

"What do you mean, hide the food?"

"Actually, we've discussed this. For longer quests, we'll need to stay out overnight, possibly two days and there are always emergencies. We need to make a cache of food somewhere on the route. It really just occurred to me while exchanging the rabbit skins that we could start today. So I went for it."

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"Sounds good."

"I agree as well. There's hardly anything to hunt in the canyon."

"Right. So I had planned to talk on the way and bury the stuff near the end. It seems we'll have to do it here instead."

"Here? What if someone else finds it?"

"No. Dagger and I will head to the forest. Fatty, do you remember that twisted tree with sharp curves?"

"The sexy one."

"Stop calling it that... but yes, we'll bury it there. No one else but us goes there."

"What about wild beasts, Leader?"

"The packets are dried and sealed. No smell. We are rich anyway, let's make more caches later."

"Great. Then, the mage and I will collect the berries. Chop chop." Fatty said, already next to a bush and dropping dozens of berries.

They separated. Time blurred. Tommy was handed a pair of rough gloves, and shown how to pinch the stalk and slide down to harvest the berries. The two worked on their own plants. Small mounds of red and white graced the yellow soil, the sweet herbal smell making the work pleasant.

The harvest was halfway done when Dagger and Lester rushed back.

"Let's pack and get going." Lester commanded, his voice serious, a hint of panic on his face.

The four busied themselves moving around the field, dropping handfuls of berries into the empty bag. Meanwhile, Lester explained.

"While I was digging, she scouted the region. Dagger?"

"There was a fight. Dried blood and fur, a few days or weeks old. Wolves I think."

She showed them a bundle of white fur.

"Also, this." Next, she was carefully took out two orange feathers. "Some bird maybe."

Fatty moved to take it.

"Careful-"

"Ouch."

"- it is really sharp."

His finger was cut. Blood welling out.

"Yeah, those are insanely sharp. And hard. Definitely not Tier 2." Lester added.

"We need to report this. Do you think the berries are also a sign?" Fatty asked

The other two had grim looks, which scared Tommy. They sped up, eyeing the surroudings warily."