Friedrich and Pheston sat outside the inn, watching the mist hang over the Sea of Three Pearls while awaiting Marina and Teleri. The two men had been awake for two hours and already eaten their morning helping of pheasant before making their way into Eldcroft. Pheston thought that both of the women were slow, but Friedrich knew rightly that Teleri would have been awake at a similar time to him and Marina would be the one sleeping in.

“I’m telling you,” said Friedrich. “This happens every single time we sleep in proper beds. If we were out in the wilderness, Marina would be awake and grumbling about the soil being too lumpy.”

“You know them better than I do, son,” shrugged Pheston. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“As you should,” said Teleri, walking through the door with a groggy Marina behind her. “I have spent the past hour trying to awaken this one from her slumber.”

Friedrich turned around and couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the sight before him. Pheston made a confused grunt before also turning around and breaking into a wide grin.

“Rough morning, lass?” he asked Teleri.

“What do you mean by that, old man?” asked the Alauri with a sullen sneer.

“It’s just your…hair.”

Teleri held her hands up to her hair and immediately recoiled in horror. There were large strands of it standing on end, leaving only the heaviest parts of the back and her two braids hanging as they ought to. She turned to Marina and pointed a finger in the sleepy girl’s face.

“You!” she scolded. “This is because you zapped me with your static!”

“Sorry,” said Marina, rubbing one eye and then slinking down the stairs. She took a deep breath of the crisp morning air and her eyes widened. “Alright,” she said pleasantly, “shall we get moving?”

Teleri was affronted, but said nothing as she tried to flatten her hair back down. It proved to be of little use to she pulled her hood up to hold it in place as Friedrich and Pheston chuckled heartily. A stern look from the elf made Friedrich keep his mouth shut, but Pheston continued his laughter as the quarter walked along the road and out of town.

“Wait, have we got a stock of food?” asked Marina, as they left the cobblestones behind.

“Already taken care of,” said Friedrich, thumping his pack. “I’ve taken it upon myself to ensure that I never leave a town unprepared. Everything we need is in here.”

“Rope?” asked Marina.

“Got it.”

“Water?”

“Two filled waterskins.”

“You win this round, Master Gaerfyrd,” she said slyly, “but I will catch you out before long.”

“And that’s supposed to be a bad thing?” asked Friedrich. “If I’ve forgotten something I want to know so I can be more prepared the next time.”

“Well, you’ve got me there,” said Marina, nodding before turning to her newest companion. “And how are you feeling today, Pheston?”

“Good,” said the old man.

Marina waited for him to say more, but he didn’t elaborate. “And?” she asked, giving him a nudge.

“Well-rested.”

“You’re not one to talk about how you’re feeling, are you?”

“I told you how I’m feeling, Marina, but you don’t seem to want to accept it.”

Teleri shook her head and walked on ahead. Not wanting to listen to Marina continue to prod Pheston for a textbook worth of detail about his mood, Friedrich opted to keep up with Teleri instead.

“I do not like this new dynamic,” she said quietly as Friedrich caught up to her.

“I know,” he replied. “I’m aware that you find him abrasive and crude, but he’s a good man.”

“I would prefer that once we get what he has promised us in Corobath that we continue forward as a trio once more.”

“He’s never expressed any interest in travelling with us beyond Corobath, has he?”

“No, but I believe he will grow too comfortable with us and worm his way into a close-knit grip. I can trust that you would go to the edge of the world for Marina and I, while we would do the same for you. Ensuring your release from Keldracht is proof of that, is it not?”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Of course. Did I give you the impression that I believed otherwise?”

“No…” said Teleri quietly.

“Knowing about your past, I know how hard it is for you to trust people. If there’s ever any sign that Pheston would betray us or attempt to harm either you or Marina in any way, no matter the reason, I will see to it that we part ways with him.”

“Thank you.”

“In saying that, I don’t believe that will ever come to pass.”

Teleri looked over her shoulder with concern. “We shall see.”

*

“It’s still here,” said Pheston, marvelling at the overgrown tunnel before him. “After all these years…I can hardly believe it.”

“This looks dangerous,” said Marina, using her staff to move the rigid vines before her just enough to gaze into the darkness.

“Nonsense!” cried Pheston. “This is a shortcut through the mountains. It’ll save us a couple of hours.”

“I feel like I’ve heard this before,” said Marina, giving Friedrich a side-eyed glance while he acted obliviously to her words.

“Let us go through,” said Teleri, drawing her blade and hacking at the vines. “Friedrich, if you would not mind.”

“Sure,” said Friedrich, transforming into a minotaur and ripping a handful of the vines out with such force that a portion of the rockface they clung to fell from above.

With a quick swing of his hammer, Pheston bashed it aside before it could strike Teleri on the head.

“Friedrich!” scolded Marina.

“It was an accident,” he said upon transforming back. “Are you alright, Teleri?”

“I am unharmed,” she said and then looking to Pheston. “Thank you.”

“Might as well be useful somehow,” he said nonchalantly before marching inside. “Come on, you turtles, no point in dillydallying.”

The group walked into the cave with Teleri watching the front and Friedrich watching the back in his fox form. There was a trickling of light coming in through the cracks and holes in the ceiling, but to say that the tight tunnel was easy to navigate even with the small beams would have been a lie.

Pheston kept close behind the elf, finding things particularly difficult. He would grunt every now and then as he snagged his arm on a jagged rock. Marina rolled her eyes every time this happened, wondering if he was too proud to admit that this was a foolish idea. Pheston, however, did not think of it that way and believed a few scrapes and cuts were worth another day on the road to pass the border.

The walk continued for several hours in relative silence with only the occasional words being uttered by Marina and Pheston, while Friedrich and Teleri kept their focus on their duties. Despite Pheston insisting that there would be no trouble, that was not enough for them. Teleri didn’t trust him and Friedrich didn’t like how overgrown the entrance was, wondering why it was now so seemingly abandoned.

As they moved along, the humidity grew and the tiny lights grew dimmer as evening reached its peak. Friedrich was wondering whether or not it was time to stop, but he said nothing, choosing to let Pheston prove his reliability to Marina and Teleri. Him constantly questioning the old man would do nothing for their confidence, especially Teleri’s.

“What was this tunnel used for?” asked Marina, voicing one of Friedrich’s pressing questions for him.

“Smuggling,” replied Pheston. “Normally, the guards at the outpost would stop you if you were carrying anything more than a wallet of kupons. These tunnels made it easy to move things back and forth, but it looks like it’s been forgotten to time. Amazing what can change in a few decades, ain’t it?”

“Quiet,” said Teleri, pausing for a few seconds before starting to move again.

“What?” asked Marina, looking panicked. “What was it? Don’t just not say anything!”

“I heard droplets of water on stone, that is all.”

“Ah,” said Pheston. “We’re almost at the underground lake then. That’ll be us at the halfway point. I’d say that’s a good place to rest for the night, if you ladies don’t mind sleeping on stone.”

“We have bedrolls,” said Teleri. “We will sleep where we must.”

No more than a minute after, the constricting tunnel opened up into a large cavern. The rough surface of the cave floor was broken by a handful of larger rocks that were much smoother, but probably not that much more comfortable. The walls were damp and shiny, even in the faint the moonlight that filtered in from above.

And not only was moonlight creeping through the holes in the ceiling, there were five visible trees that could be seen perched on the mountain path outside with roots longer than they ought to have been, hanging down forty feet and nestling themselves comfortably into the large pond that sat in the centre of the cavern.

“Most unusual,” said Marina, looking at the roots.

“You called this a lake,” said Friedrich, turning back into a human.

Pheston slapped him on the back of the head. “Well, forgive me for misremembering the size of a body of water I’ve seen three times in my life, lad. If I’ve oversold it a little, it wasn’t on purpose.”

“Sorry,” said Friedrich.

“These roots are troubling me,” said Teleri.

“Likewise,” said Marina.

“I say that we keep moving.”

“Not likewise.”

“What’s the problem?” asked Friedrich. “They’re just long roots.”

“Longer than the trunk they spawn from,” said Teleri. “There is something unnatural about them.”

“There are many oddities in the world, little elf,” said Pheston, poking Teleri in the shoulder. “Being from such a vibrant homeland, I thought you would have known as much.”

“Should I not be troubled by something I am unfamiliar with?” she asked him, brushing his finger aside.

“I see where this is going,” said Pheston. “I know you have a problem with me, but finding some half-baked excuse in the form of tree roots to—”

“It moved!” squeaked Marina.

“What did?” asked Friedrich, not having seen anything.

“The roots!”

“It looks still to me.”

“If Marina said that it moved, I choose to believe her,” said Teleri, walking towards the tunnel at the far side of the cavern. “Let us be gone.”

Pheston sighed and retrieved his hammer. He waded into the water, which stopped around his naval. “Alright, I want you all to watch closely,” he called out.

The beast of a man swung his hammer with great vigour and shattered a chunk from one of the roots before giving the trio at the shore a wink. The length of wood floated in the water for a couple of seconds before slowly falling beneath the surface and fading away into the darkness below.

“What did I tell you?” guffawed Pheston. “I’m sure you all feel very silly right about—”

The old smith was cut off by the swing of one of the roots that struck him across the chest. He plunged into the water, only to be dragged out a moment later by root that had wrapped itself around the ankle without his hammer in-hand.