He looked up at the plateau above him, not having run into any other creatures like he had been told would be milling about. The only place Norbert could think of going further was up. Obsius wriggling in his pocket to get released, doing the bird's bidding, and realising it from when he was running.
The black and white speckled bird instantly took off, up into the air, making its way to the top of the plateau, where Norbert first picked it up from or where Obsius first picked Norbert up. At this point, it was hard to tell which way it was.
Sighing as he started to climb up the cliff face in front of him, leaping from one spot to the next, smashing his fist into the ledge to make his recesses hold onto it. Not wanting to spend precious daylight carefully navigating up the cliff face.
At the top, Norbert looked around, the sound of water moving off to the waterfall right next to him—the riverbank with the stones scattered about. The trees started to tower around him. The first ones around him looked only slightly larger than usual. However, behind it, Norbert could see the massive trees he remembered being there.
He needed to crane his neck slightly, Norbert sharpening his vision to see if he could look above the canopy, wondering if any birds were flying about. He continued to stare, not getting anything Obsius landing on his head.
Coming out of his gaze, Norbert patted the bird on his head. “Anything out of place?” Norbert asked.
The bird twittered to Norbert. Looking down the river, Norbert saw it, the thing that was out of place here.
In the riverbank a hundred meters away or so, Norbert saw a battle happen, the bodies still left behind as carnage had swept through the riverbank. It was gone as soon as it had come, not even the slightest presence where he was.
Looking at the water, Norbert now sees signs: pieces of fabric caught between rocks and pieces of flesh slowly drifting down.
Norbert cast his eyes back, wondering how soon this battle would happen. Rushing off, Norbert quickly came to the scene of the battle. Obsius was behind him, the bird going up into the air to look around to see if there was anything else she could find.
Skidding to a stop, pebbles flew into the battlefield as Norbert looked about. Spears were positioned in a somewhat defensive perimeter, with their backs to the water, until they couldn’t hold off whatever happened. Some spears were still intact, but most were crushed and snapped in two, the shafts lying around the ground.
Standing there, something hit Norbert. There were no bodies from either side. Leaning his head forward, Norbert breathed in as much as possible, trying to get all the smells he could. Standing there, Norbert could smell nothing of death or men. Only the smell of the forest filled his nose—the smell of dirt, the river, and the trees surrounding him and himself.
Looking to Obsius above him, Norbert was now getting nervous about what he had stumbled across. He shook his head and slapped his cheeks with his hands to focus on the task, trying to work out what happened to the wielders of the equipment that now lay scattered about.
Looking at the pebbles around, trying to get an idea of what happened, Norbert threw his hands up in the air in frustration after several minutes of being bent over after several minutes of being bent over. He was never really meant to be a tracker like this. Norbert was utterly lost in working out what happened on the battlefield. His skills were more in running around until he found something, then running back and telling them.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
He was breathing out, trying to calm himself down as he started to think about what he could do and control. Two ideas came to his head, one being to push forward, the other to go back. Find someone to work out what happened here and go from there.
Indecision clouded his brain as he tapped his hand against his body, trying to work out what to do. He hand-picked something up and flipped it into the air. He caught it with his right hand and palmed it to his left, realising he had a coin in his hand. He had flicked it up into the air without even thinking.
Pausing momentarily, he wondered about the two options; he said, "Well, it's pretty obvious my two choices. Heads to continue forward, tails to go backwards."
With a nod of his head, firm in his thoughts, Norbert lifted his hand from the coin, the heads looking back at him.
Flicking the coin in the air, catching it with his coin pouch and closing it back up, Norbert followed the river more profoundly into the forest.
***
Coming up to where the bank on the right-hand side was higher, he remembered when he was running from wolves all those many moons ago when he didn't understand what was happening to him; the purple energy coursed through his veins. Even before he had a single elixir, those days, trying to live in this forest with his backpack would be ...
Norbert went utterly still, remembering the pendant he still had, the piece of stone he ripped out with a rune he still hadn't found a use for and the goblet. He tried to think if that was just his imagination or if it really was there. He also remembered his backpack full of food and items he used to smash into a wolf that was chasing him.
Curiosity now brimming in his chest as Norbert pushed forward, wondering what could still be there.
Looking up as he ran, the only sound he made was the pebbles crushed and sprayed under his foot. The trees spread to the other side, joining together and making a path as the sunlight was completely swallowed up. Only small rays and green half-light can be used in the forest. The trees here were the proper large size, still giants even compared to the ones he found in the Halls of the Mountain King with the fox.
Norbert wondered how fast it would take him to scale one of these genuinely massive giants, remembering how long it took him to scale down using ropes. He shook his head when he was walking about with nothing way up there, what you do for necessity.
Keeping his earls peeled, trying to hear the sounds of the forest as he flew deeper within it, trying to find out what had caused these people to come here, get attacked, and their bodies disappear.
As Norbert continued running, the hairs on the back of his neck rose. The air had a strange feeling to it as the trees seemed to lean over towards him, and the once-calming rushing water of the river now grated on his nerves.
Coming to a stop, Norbert looked around, changing his vision to magic and grinding his teeth at what he saw. Completely surrounded in pink fog, instantly, Norbert pushed energy around his body, letting it go where it was most needed as he carefully looked around the forest. Breathing slowly so as not to freak himself out, he tried to see if he could locate Obsius above him.
The forest no longer looms as much as it was before. The trees no longer threateningly reaching for him, with scowling faces. The pebbles no longer felt like pins he was walking on. Thankful that he picked it up so quickly, suspicion grew inside of him about what might have happened to the group of people with their broken spears.
Now, seeing the usefulness of the skill he had been given, through the time, he didn’t lose to develop it. He turned his magic vision off as the forest returned to normal like he was expecting.
Looking up again, Norbert looked, seeing Obsius sitting on a branch, staring at him.
The bird chirped down to Norbert. In return, the scout nodded and thumbed up to the bird, a part of him wondering how Obsius was unaffected by it. Before the obvious occurred to him, the bird grew up in this forest.
“Do you have any idea what created the magic fog?” Norbert asked, Obsius flying down to land on his shoulder, pointing off the river path into the forest.
Norbert turned to the bird, making sure he was following it. Receiving a peck on his neck from the bird, Norbert just walked off in the direction indicated to him, wondering what creature he would find.
Just after he could no longer hear the river moving behind him, Norbert saw a bush rustling about. He continued to walk through, wondering what that could be. It was one of the only movements he saw other than a stray bird flying way up high through the canopy above him.
Moving his foot, Norbert felt it snag on something. He looked down; I saw a vine loose on the ground. A moment, wondering what it was when something shot out of his shoulder.