Chapter seven

ALICE AND THE GRASSLANDS OF DOOM

ALICE

Alice and Caeda put more effort into their flight from then on. Initially, they tried to run along the shore from time to time. Alice was faster in the water, but it helped Caeda stay warm. After the first time that goblins tried to ambush them, though, they decided to stick to walking in the brook. The monsters wouldn't enter the water, and they were quickly becoming more frequent. By the end of the fourth day, Alice had to push through the night as goblins shadowed them along the bank. They couldn't stop to cook food and were left with only the edible plants that Alice could find for them in the water. None of the bands of goblins could keep up with their movement, but so many of them appeared there wasn't anywhere to stop and rest. For her part, staying in the water kept Alice awake and full of energy. She even felt like she was running downhill with her speed and ease of movement. Unlike any experience she'd had on Earth, walking through water for her had no resistance. The speed of the brook even helped push her along. By the end of the fifth day, the mental exhaustion weighed heavily on Alice. If she were alone, she knew she could have just laid down in the water and slept. But she wasn't alone, so she pushed on. It was the seventh day when one staggering step led them out of the forest. Ahead of them were wide open plains full of tall grass that hid most of their features. The goblins didn't follow them into the field ahead, and after an hour of travel, there were no signs of them at all.

In fact, there were no signs of anything. The grass had to be at least five feet tall, and from where they were in the brook, there was no seeing over it. Alice doubted she'd be able to see much, even if she were walking on the land. The brook continued on but began to be concealed, weaving through the field in a swerving, meandering pattern. It left them with the choice of pushing their way straight across the plains and risking anything that might be hidden in the tall grass or sticking with the brook and taking more time to travel. She wasn't entirely concerned about losing the brook. It flowed slower here, but it was always flowing downhill, even at a very gradual angle – but if that did somehow happen, she still knew which direction the Dragonspine was in. She'd get them home eventually. In the end, they chose to stick with the brook. There had to be a reason the goblins wouldn't follow them into the plains, and they were both nervous to find out what it might be. It was near noon when they found a small island in the center of the broadening brook. It was only a few feet across, mostly a buildup of dirt and debris over time around a single oak tree, but it gave them a place to finally take a break. Caeda climbed up into the tree's lowest branches to rest, where it was at least somewhat sheltered from the rain. Alice just curled up in a nook against the side of the island that was somewhat hidden from the shore but deep enough that she could recline with only her head above water. She intended to just rest her eyes for a moment, but she'd fallen asleep almost immediately.

When Caeda gently shook Alice awake, she was disoriented, unsure of how much time had passed, but the pleading, pained look on the elf's face brought her back to reality. Caeda, who had been half-starved when Alice had rescued her, now looked even worse. Alice, determined to provide them with a proper meal, set about catching small fish and critters from the water and gathering up what edible plants were nearby. Boiling them, she created a simple but satisfying meal, the first hot food they had enjoyed in nearly a week.

Finally feeling a bit more alive, Caeda said, "I think the water levels are rising across the plain. If this rain doesn't stop, I'm afraid it's going to flood."

That gave Alice a moment of pause. For her, more water wasn't exactly a problem, but as she looked around, there were spots where the banks were already becoming difficult to distinguish from the brook. Keeping Caeda out of the water was definitely going to get harder.

"I guess we got one thing to thank those goblins for. If we'd gotten here after it flooded, we'd be stuck like sittin' ducks in the forest. If we get across here, I don't think any more of those bandits will be able to track us." Caeda nodded her agreement. "Well, we better get moving, then. If we're going to avoid that tall grass without me drowning or freezing to death, I don't think we have much time left."

Alice reluctantly stood up and stretched. "I'll try to move faster. I don't wanna find out what the real dangers of this place are. It ain't natural that we haven't seen so much as a mouse or a bird." "If only we could find a raft! I am going to have to find a spell for that."

Alice smirked, "Yes, we'll have to get right on that. Oh. Or maybe we can weave you one out of this grass…" But the levity fell from her face as she glanced around their small island.

All around the edges of the brook, the grass, now easily six feet tall, was leaning at an angle toward them. She turned to look up and down the brook, where the grass had also grown in height but maintained its nearly vertical stance.

Alice quieted her voice as if it'd make a difference to the plants. "Caeda, I don't think there's any monsters hidin' in the grass. We'd best get a move on."

Caeda, seeing her change in attitude, began to look around, and it didn't take her long to see the threat. She nearly scrambled onto Alice's back with a squeak.

"I've never heard of any monstrous plants like this! Where did they come from?!" Her barely whispered words spilled out in a near panic, and Alice could only shake her head.

"Heck if I know. But I don't want to be here if the water gets too deep to see where they're growin'."

Her words seemed prophetic. As she ran through the brook as quickly as she could manage, the water levels continued to slowly rise. Caeda, even after moving to her shoulders, was frequently sitting with her boots in the water, and they had only made it to midday. They were waterproof but not quite knee-high. Unsure what else she could do, she cast [Water Shield] on Caeda. Despite leveling the spell up to sixteen, she'd never actually used it before. With its level, she had hoped it would be enough to at least help protect her from being splashed, but its effect was much more pronounced than that. The water of the brook seemed to leap toward Caeda, who threw her arms up to protect her face. Rather than soaking her through, it began a swirling motion around her, keeping her surrounded in a bubble of ever-flowing water. The water that was previously splashing onto her boots was instead grabbed by the shield. Alice could feel a very slight tug at her mana from the shield and knew that she was supporting it as it worked, but the drain was low enough that it was almost being entirely counteracted by her improved regeneration while in the water. It eased her anxiety, but they were still in serious trouble if they didn't find a way to escape the field.

As the water slowly eased up to Alice's neck level and then chin, they were running out of time, but then she stepped into a hole and plunged down nearly a foot. She inhaled a lung full of water and leapt back to the surface in a panic, only to find that she was fine. She spit the water out as she tread water for the few seconds it took the current to carry her to where she could stand again. Treading water, even with Caeda on her shoulders, was surprisingly easy. Being carried into several strands of the murder grass that were waving in the banks was a much less pleasant surprise. The water shield rebuffed several strands that brushed close to Caeda, but several quickly wound around Alice's unprotected right arm. She hadn't even noticed until they tightened as she dragged them to their full extension and was nearly pulled off of her feet as they held her in place against the current. More annoyed than anything, she began trying to unwind them from her arm when the burning began. She yelped in surprise before yanking hard, pulling her arm free but leaving it covered in shallow cuts and spots where she could see small roots sticking out. She quickly flashed her arm to water, letting the deepening brook pull the offending grass away but having a far greater understanding of the danger.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Alice? Hey, are you okay?"

Only then did she realize Caeda had been talking to her for the past few seconds, and finally replied, "Yeah, sorry. I got snatched up by some of that grass. It tried to grow roots right into my arm!"

A shudder ran through Caeda, "Alice… I don't want to die like that."

Alice reached up and gave her friend's leg a squeeze, "Ain't no one dyin' today, Caeda. We gotta be near the end of this mess. The water's pickin' up speed."

And it was. That was the biggest reason she'd lost her footing in the first place. At its current pace, she was more bouncing than running in the water. She was having trouble feeling where the water was running into rocks or swirling into gaps. She'd seen enough cartoons to know where this was going, but there was nowhere to stop and get out of the water. On the bright side, the increased decline was causing the brook to stop winding and begin to narrow as it quickly moved into a straight line. The banks closing in on both sides made her nervous, but the flow of the water was unyielding as it pulled even the grass in the same direction. Then, with no warning, the water was suddenly two feet deeper than she was tall. Alice only vaguely heard Caeda shriek above her as they plunged underwater. She knew the shield was still protecting Caeda because of the incredible increase in its mana draw. She nearly swooned from the drain as they were dragged along. Alice did her best to hold onto Caeda's legs as they were tumbled through the rushing water, but it was nearly impossible. She managed to get her head above water just long enough to see everything tumbling together and disappearing in a white mist. Alice couldn't hold back the yell then. It echoed briefly before being quickly lost in the roar of the water below. The world seemed to slow as they watched the drop-off rush toward them, eyes wide and entirely helpless to stop.

They shot over the edge, and Alice only went a few feet before suddenly jerking to a halt and sending Caeda flying off by herself. Alice slammed back into the rock of the drop-off and sputtered while trying to get her bearing under the punishing weight of the waterfall. The grass covering the drop-off had caught her around the waist and both legs and she felt herself being pulled backward through the water as it wound around her, creeping up like a vine. The shock had muted her to the pain as roots bore throughout her lower body, creeping upward as she became more entangled. The pain was like nothing she'd ever experienced, like fire digging through her entire being. She completely lost control, going into a full panic, trying to fight free. She was hurting herself worse as the roots tore at her flesh with every jerk, and her effort threw her further into the tangle. It was only as a root plunged into one of her eyes and she locked up that her mind began to function at all. She did the only thing she could. She took on her [Water Form]. The pain didn't disappear, but it changed, and the world seemed to explode as she was thrown over the edge.

Soon, she was part of the flow of the water below. The brook poured into a pond that connected to a larger river after only a short trip. It took her several seconds to have the presence of mind to change back to her normal form, and in that time, she'd traveled a significant distance. She felt when she'd jetted past her [Water Shield] spell, and she hoped that meant that Caeda had survived. Carefully, Alice dragged herself to shore, unable to move her legs through the searing pain. It took her several minutes to get a hold of herself again and use [Healing Touch]. The pain slowly receded, and her blood stopped flowing out into the river, but she could feel the damage deep throughout her body. Slowly, she stood, one eye only seeing a blur as she began limping toward where her [Water Shield] spell was struggling to stay in place. She found Caeda sprawled across several rocks. She was bleeding from a wound on the side of her head, and she wasn't moving. Alice wasn't sure how powerful her [Healing Touch] was, but she used it immediately and then again, closing Caeda's wounds. Already breathing hard, Alice could tell something still wasn't right, so she tried again and again feeling her mana and stamina drain away as she kept working at healing the elf. It seemed to take far more attempts to heal her than expected before something seemed to snap into place within her neck, and then Alice gave it one last cast that drove her to her knees with lightheadedness and a pounding headache. Her [Water Shield] immediately failed, and she was left gasping for breath.

Alice let herself fall over into the water and stayed there for several minutes as her mana and stamina replenished enough that she could think straight again. When she was breathing steadily, she sat up, only then realizing that Caeda was soaked. Alice crawled behind her and did her best to pull Caeda away from the water's edge. As soon as she was away, she looked around and took in her surroundings as she worked to pull the water out of her friend's clothing and hair. The cliffside was only about twenty feet above her, but that was a long distance to fall unexpectedly. The ground around them had some small bushes, but mostly, it was hard rock. She spotted a small overhang out of the rain and, with a monumental effort, dragged Caeda under it. She had nothing to make a fire with, so she could only hope that Caeda's clothes were enough to keep her warm. The elf hadn't woken after being healed, and Alice was beginning to worry that the impact to her head had done more damage than she could manage. She used her [Healing Touch] once more on both of them, and with the wave of exhaustion that hit her, she laid down beside Caeda and pulled her close as the darkness closed in.

The next morning, while Alice waited for Caeda to wake up, she caught some fish and managed to gather enough driftwood to create a fire. She hoped the warmth would help Caeda recover. After cleaning and roasting the fish over her small fire, she checked her notifications.

* You have improved your [Swimming] Skill. Level 4. 

* You have improved your [Water Mana Manipulation] Skill. Level 10. 

* You have improved your [Water Shield] Spell. Level 17.

* You have improved your [Healing Touch] Racial Skill. Level 8. 

* You have improved your [Healing Arts] Skill. Level 2. 

* You have improved your [Hydronic Flow] Skill. Level 9. 

Every one of the skill gains was welcome, but after what they had gone through, it seemed anticlimactic. But the notification for [Healing Arts] reminded her of something else. [Healing Touch] wasn't her only healing ability. Even thinking about [Healing Arts] brought several pieces of information to the forefront of her mind about how she could better care for Caeda. But it also reminded her that she had a spell from her class, [Heal Wounds]. She'd never used it, but this seemed like a great time to give it a shot. She knelt down next to Caeda and put her hands on the sides of the elf's head before intoning the spell name, "[Heal Wounds]." As the magic flowed through her hands and into Caeda, it immediately gripped onto something wrong in the elf's head and went to work. It wasn't the same feeling as [Healing Touch], where she could feel the body stitching itself back together as HP was restored. This was more like something had been broken and was piecing itself back together. There was no feeling of restoring HP but more of restoring the potential for HP to recover, and that in itself taught Alice a very important lesson about how healing and recovery worked.

It didn't take long to see some improvement. Caeda's breaths became deeper and more steady, and her face seemed to relax. Alice moved to turn the fish around over the fire, watching it slowly cook. Just as she had decided the food was cooked well enough, Caeda finally began to stir.

As Caeda let out a groan and started to look around, Alice said, "Take it slow. You were banged up pretty bad. I think I put you back together, but better safe than sorry."

Caeda took her advice, lying back flat and raising her hands up to hold her head and cover her eyes. "What happened? My head feels like it's about to split open."

"Oh, no, it did that already. I just magic'd it back together. You feelin' ok otherwise?"

Caeda split her fingers over one eye enough to look at Alice, "No, I'm sore everywhere. And I'm hungry. What's that smell?"

Alice grinned, holding up one of her makeshift skewers, "I made your favorite. Fish on a stick."

Caeda groaned but reached out to take the food. "If we make it back to civilization, I'm going on a no-seafood diet for a month."

"Hey, none of that defeatist talk now! Look at where we are. This is a real river. There's sure to be some sorta traffic on it. We just gotta keep on goin' till we find a boat we can hitch a ride on. Easy peasy."

Caeda took her advice, looking around before saying, "Oh wow, you're right! I wonder what river that is… but it'll go to the shallow sea for sure! And then we can find our way to the Dragonspine!" She turned back to Alice with a grin that immediately fell away, "What happened to your eye?!"

Alice shrugged, taking a bite of her own fish on a stick. "The same thing that happened to the rest of me. It's okay. I will heal it soon. I just needed to save mana to make sure you were okay."

Caeda's face was flooded with conflicting emotions at her words, but she managed a smile. "Thank you, Alice."

Alice just grinned back, "You'd do the same for me. Now, let's finish eatin' and see how far we can get down this river before nightfall."