Iris and Whirl continued their slow pace through the woods. They followed a somewhat zigzagged path as Raoul had suggested, but in practice it was more of a jagged, back-and-forth wave. They came across another corpse wrapped in web and cut it open like the last, but this time it was only a giant rat. Iris did feel bad for the animal when she saw its face was frozen in a shriek of terror, but she was glad not to find another dead adventurer so soon after the first.
An hour into their journey they had still yet to find any signs of survivors, and Iris began bouncing ideas off of Whirl, who could only respond with yes, no, or facial expressions which were very animated for a mouse.
"Maybe we should head towards the site of the battle, there could still be people there," Iris offered while her mana recharged after a blip.
A single tap for no, followed by a double-tap and point at the next blip spot.
"We could head towards the Matriarch," she said after the next blip, "maybe the others are going that way--"
Another tap for no.
"Well, I'm all ears if you have any ideas."
Double tap and point.
Iris groaned and blipped again. She froze in place when she landed as her brain took a moment to process what she saw. Up ahead, perched on a branch free of webs, was a woman in silver robes, with black hair pinned in a tight bun atop her head. It was too dark and she was too far for Iris to make out her face, but she knew it was the woman from her dream that night in the temple. The woman motioned for her to follow, then leapt off the branch and out of sight.
Iris instantly blipped to where the woman had been and called out, "hello?"
Whirl double-tapped and pointed up ahead, where Iris caught a glimpse of the woman on another branch before she leapt out of sight again. Iris blipped after her as fast as her mana reserves would allow, only waiting for Whirl's direction when she didn't see a clear spot to blip to.
"Slow down!" Iris called out, followed by a sharp tap from the mouse on her shoulder. She glanced down to see the mouse holding a small paw in front of its mouth, as if shushing her.
They continued in the direction the woman had gone, a sharp deviation from their original path. After several more blips, the mouse tapped Iris four times -- the signal for adventurers -- and pointed to the ground up ahead. Between the trunks and past the webs, Iris saw the tell-tale signs of a flickering fire. They quickly blipped towards it, and a few moments later Iris landed on the ground amongst a group of survivors.
They were crammed in a too-small area cleared of webs, scorch marks on the trees showed where they had been burned away. There were at least a dozen survivors, and at the center was a small campfire shielded from the rain by a large, propped up log. Iris spotted Cameron Cole, and more importantly, the man he was speaking to. She blipped, appearing beside Eli and launching into a hug that nearly tackled him. He stumbled back, arms awkwardly spread out to keep his balance.
"Iris!" he said in shock, "thank the gods."
She pushed him away and wagged a finger at him, "where were you?"
"Whoa, wait," he said, holding his hands in defense before wagging a finger back at her, "where were you?"
"I was fighting, and then everything went to shit, and we had to run--"
"That's about what we went through, as well," Cameron Cole interjected, "Eli was just trying to convince me we should send out a rescue party, but I guess you beat us to it."
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"Not really, it's just the two of us," Iris said, "more of a recon duo than a rescue party. There are others waiting for us, though."
"Two of you?" Cole glanced around, then spotted the mouse on Iris's shoulder.
"Whirl!" He almost shouted, reaching out with one hand and grabbing the mouse to hold up in front of him. Whirl squirmed and beat on his hand with her tiny mouse paws.
"Where's Galt? Is he okay?" Cole asked.
"Wait, you all know each other?" Iris asked.
"We're party-mates," he said, placing the angry mouse down on the ground.
As soon as she was free from his grasp, Whirl transformed back into her normal self. She still looked weary and pale from the blood loss.
"Do not ever pick me up like that again," she said flatly, then added, "Galt's fine, he's back with the others."
"How many are there?" Cole asked, resuming his casual tone.
"Six, counting us and Galt," Whirl answered, "they're huddled under some roots not far from here, but travel without disturbing the webs is slow," she glanced at the fire, "aren't you worried that'll attract spiders?"
"They've developed a healthy fear of fire," Eli said, "if anything, we think it keeps them away."
Whirl looked up and scanned the woods around them wearily. They were surrounded on all sides by thick webs, from the forest floor to the canopy overhead.
"I hope you have scouts watching the webs," she said.
"We do," Cole said, "we're not amateurs."
"Debatable," she said.
"Here!" Iris said suddenly, remembering the sending stones and fishing them out of her bag. She handed one to Cole before explaining, "you can use this to talk to Galt. It can only send five messages though."
Cole took the stone. He was seemingly familiar with the concept as he immediately held it up to his lips and spoke into it, "Galt, this is Cole. Whirl and Iris are here with me. I have a small camp of sixteen survivors not far from your location. Would you like to rendezvous?"
A short moment passed, then Galt's voice returned from the stone, "No. We were attacked a moment ago, we're alive but our mage was bitten and is showing signs of delirium. We can't travel with him in this condition."
A mist wafted up beside them and formed into Victoria, "if you take me to him, I should be able to calm the delirium long enough to get him back here."
"Vic?" Iris asked in surprise. Eli looked annoyed that she called her that.
Cole nodded at Victoria, then looked Whirl up and down to appraise her condition, "can you travel?"
Whirl shook her head, "not unless someone carries me."
"I can't take passengers," Victoria said, apologetically.
Cole turned to Iris, "can you show her the way?" he asked.
She wanted to say yes. She wanted to volunteer to be helpful in any way she could. But she knew better.
"No," Iris said shamefully, "I couldn't have made it here without Whirl."
Cole thought for a moment, then spoke into the stone, "we have someone who can help with the delirium, but Whirl's in no condition to lead her back to you. I need to figure out what to do next, but I'll send someone as soon as I can."
A moment later, Galt's voice came through the stone, noticeably stressed, "the mage keeps saying to use the stone. He's going on about auras and tangled hair. I have no idea what he's talking about but he's insisting."
Cole furrowed his brow at the stone, then Victoria reached for it, "let me see that."
Reluctantly, Cole handed over the stone. Victoria held it for a moment and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, they shot open wide, now slicked over with grey mucus. She turned to pan her gaze around the camp.
"I can see the other stone," she said, stopping and staring at something unseen to the rest of them.
"That's the way," Whirl said, "I wouldn't just point and send you blindly, but I'm confident the others are in that direction."
Victoria released her auravision and her eyes returned to normal, "I'll get moving. It shouldn't take me long to get there, but it'll be slow going to get back."
Iris pulled the third stone from her bag, "I have one more stone, we'll hold onto it here so you can follow the aura back."
"Where's Marc?" Cole asked, looking around the camp.
"Here," said a skinny man clad in dark black armor, standing beside Iris.
Iris yelped and jumped back, "where the fuck--?"
"See!" Eli said gleefully, pointing and laughing at Iris, "sucks doesn't it?"
Cole gave him a confused, critical glance. Eli quickly composed himself and looked down at his feet in shame at his unprofessional outburst.
"Go with Victoria," Cole said to Marc, "get them back safe."
Marc nodded, and Iris looked at him like he was a freak as he stepped around her and into the shadow she cast from the fire. He then sank into the ground like a specter, leaving a shocked and confused Iris trying to step away from her own shadow. At the same time, Victoria faded into mist that drifted off in the direction of the other stone.
"Shouldn't you have briefed him?" Eli asked.
"Marc?" Cole responded, "nah, he's always listening."