Apparently Bastet’s serious.

You think that going back into the area that almost killed us is the best way to escape creatures that probably want to kill us? My mental tone is incredulous, but who could blame me?

What is disturbing you? Despite seeming to have semi-resigned himself to being caught and killed, my other Bound is curious. That doesn’t mean there isn’t the hint of apprehension to his mental projections. I don’t blame him – I probably don’t seem like I’ve come up with a great plan that’ll get us out of trouble. That’s just as well, because I haven’t. Unfortunately.

Bastet is suggesting we go here, I tell him while sending the same image she’d sent me. I feel him recoil in shock.

The Forest of Death? He sounds as reluctant as I feel.

Precisely, I reply.

We’re not going to do that, surely? He’s as incredulous as I was when she first suggested it. And a lot more fearful, the emotion cutting through even the muffling that’s been in place ever since I caved in the head of that Path-walker. Probably shock, thinking about it.

Bastet is insistent though, sending me the image again along with me holding a torch and then another with a picture of the lizard-folk without. She...has a point. I want to deny it because those trees almost killed us before, but if we can get through them and the lizard-folk can’t… It would take them longer to go around the forest than it would take us to get through, if they even want to pursue us that far. If we avoided being trapped by the trees and stabbed to death…

It’s a big ‘if’, but assuming it’s possible, we’d have a good head-start which should allow us to get back to Kalanthia before the lizard-folk caught up with us. And who knows: they might even give up the chase when they see us disappearing through the ‘Forest of Death’. That’s probably just wishful thinking, though.

Alright, I’ve more than half-convinced myself. While I run, I dare to open my Inventory quickly to check the stocks of torches. I’ve got about two half-burnt ones and one fresh one. If we don’t stop, that should be enough to get us through the forest with more to spare. The cubs aren’t going to be happy, but we’re going to need to hot-foot it through the area. At least we’ve already covered a fair bit of ground with our rapid pace. I’m going to need to stop soon to recoup my stamina a bit, though. Maybe I can do that in the forest – walk for a bit instead of running.

Closing my Inventory, I dodge at the last minute as I almost run into a tree. Amusement comes along the Bond from Bastet. Fine, laugh it up, devil-cat, I think uncharitably at her. Not literally – I don’t try to project it along the Bond. I have a feeling that she catches an echo of the emotion anyway as her amusement just grows. After a moment, I let myself relax, the tension of the last half day and night fading slightly. Sure, we’re not out of the fire yet, heck, may have just jumped out of the pan and into the hottest part, but at least I’m not still in that cage. We’ve got Lathani, I’m with Bastet, and for now we’re free. If it comes down to it, we’ll choose a good position to stop and start swinging.

Actually, maybe, we should do that. Then I look backwards and realise with a frisson of fear that I can now see the lizard-folk chasing me. In the growing morning light, they look even bigger than I’d remembered: five big bastards crashing through the forest. I gulp – if my mouth hadn’t already been dry, it would have quickly become so at that sight. I mean, I’ve faced some steep odds since arriving here, but five muscle-bound crocodilian T-Rexes taller than me, carrying spears and shields made of half a tree trunk….no. Not without a decent trap or some other advantage, at least. They’re still a decent distance away, my view of them often obscured by tree trunks, but not nearly far enough.

Can you direct us to the forest? I ask Bastet, deciding that the ‘Forest of Death’ sounds like a super idea, assuming that we can get there before getting shish-kebabed by our pursuers. I would check my Map, but I have a feeling that I really would ring my bell by colliding with a tree if I did that. Sure, I could stop, but with the lizard-folk already so close, I’d really rather not. Bastet thankfully answers in assent, adjusting her direction just a little.

After a while, River notices the slight change and sends a wary thought at me.

We seem to be heading for a certain place I thought we weren’t going to visit.

Is that a question or a statement? I can’t help poking at him a little, despite the situation. Or maybe because of it – I need to get my laughs where I can find them just like Bastet. Taking pity on the lizard-man who’s already been through a lot today, I continue. We managed to get through safely last time; if we can do that again, we’ll gain a large lead on your kin. If we can get back to Kalanthia before they catch up with us, we’ll have a much better chance of surviving all of this.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

If the trees don’t kill us first, he replies gloomily. I don’t blame him – I’m not a hundred percent sure about this plan either.

After that we just focus on putting one foot in front of the other without tripping. Ever since I gained more points in Dexterity (Agility), I’ve found travelling through the forest a lot easier. I used to catch my feet in roots and misjudge how deep the leaf litter was beneath my toes. I don’t do that any more - in the light, anyway. Despite that, I’m still crashing through the forest like an elephant. Actually, elephants are surprisingly quiet – maybe more like a bull. Stealth would probably help, and so might Fade, but they’re both deactivated. Just as well – I reckon I’m going to need all the stamina I can get.

True to my prediction, the yellow bar in my vision is starting to get pretty low before I start seeing the dreaded, yet also anticipated, shapes of the vine-strangler trees ahead of us. Our pursuers aren’t far away. Their fierce roars coming through the trees sound like they’re almost on our heels; I don’t dare spare the attention to check. Something else is absolutely obligatory before we enter the forest, though.

I need to light the torch, I tell my Bound grimly as we reach the edge of the trees which have spread across the forest like a blight. You may have to hold them off or distract them somehow. So saying, I stop abruptly, pull the least-used torch out along with my fire-lighter kit and start creating sparks frantically. I wish that the torches could stay lit in the Inventory, but that’s how this barely-used torch got put out – by slotting it into the Inventory without extinguishing it first.

Bastet crouches by me, growls rumbling in her chest as she keeps a watch out for any attack. River, on the other hand, seems to disappear. I haven’t got the eyes or the attention to spare for him as I desperately attempt to light the torch, feeling almost as under pressure this time around as I had been while in the forest itself.

Finally, a flame leaps up from the dried moss that I’ve used as kindling and I gently nurse it until it catches on the pitch of my torch. I hiss in success and push myself to my feet, looking around to work out where River and our pursuers have gone – I was expecting them to catch up and attack us even as I tried to light the torch. Putting together the pieces of what I can see and hear, I realise that River disappeared to draw the other lizard-folk off.

We’re ready, River, I project to him mentally. Fortunately, he hasn’t gone too far to communicate with him through the Bond, and I feel him turn back towards us. As he breaks into view through a bush a few metres off to the side and runs towards us, I see that the other lizard-folk are really hot on his heels – perhaps only a few tree trunks between them. Up this close they seem even bigger than before, though that’s probably just an illusion because of the difference between them and River: I remember what size they really were when I saw two of them yesterday. I consider sending a couple of arrows their way, but quickly dismiss the idea: it’ll take too long to get my bow out and strung. By the time I’m able to actually shoot an arrow, River will probably have caught up to me.

Instead, I turn tail and start running again, Bastet at my side. Despite all five of the Warriors having spears, they don’t seem to have any ranged weapons. Thus far, fortunately, they haven’t thrown their spears either.

We enter the forest and I hear the roars the group are vocalising kick up a notch. I verified with River earlier just in case, but he confirmed that there’s no real message being conveyed in the sound; no message I hadn’t already understood, anyway. They want us to know that they’re coming, that they’re gaining ever more ground, and that we should be afraid.

Underneath my anger, I am afraid – my time in their village taught me that I can’t hope to take them all on alone, not right now at least. Heck, I doubt the three of us could take on even our pursuers – not with numbers and strength being on their side. That’s why we’re running into the part of the forest which we barely escaped with our lives last time, after all. But I make a promise to myself that I’ll be back – and next time I won’t run. River catches up with us as we go past the third tree into the grove. We run alongside for a few steps before he vanishes from my peripheral vision.

I turn my head to see him collapsed on the ground. Perhaps I was premature in saying that the lizard-folk didn’t have any ranged options: one of them has thrown its spear and got a lucky hit in. Without thinking, I switch directions immediately, running back to my fallen Bound even as the other lizard-folk close in. I yank the spear out and drop it, slamming both my hands onto River and casting an undirected Lay-on-hands. Then, without daring to see how close the other lizard-folk have got, I haul him to his feet. He’s still carrying Lathani draped over his shoulders, so I have to cope with both of their weights at the same time. It’s not beyond my increased Strength, but their weights are extremely awkward to manhandle.

Fortunately, River isn’t fighting me; in fact, he’s clearly motivated to do his best to work with me – I guess that’s confirmation that whatever would await him if he fell into his previous friends’ hands is nothing good. Using my shoulder as a crutch, he limp-hops quickly. I channel another Lay-on-hands, able to do that since he’s in constant connection with me. His gait eases as his wound heals and we pick up speed.

I expect to feel a spear in my back at any moment but it doesn’t come. When I finally dare to glance back, I see our pursuers halted at the edge of the vine-strangler trees. The red in their crests show how angry they are at losing us, but apparently they’re not willing to enter the ‘Forest of Death’. Good. At least that gamble paid off. Now I just have to hope that the forest won’t actually be our death.

*****

So far, so good. We’re deep enough into the forest that we can’t see anything but vine-strangler trees. In fact, we can’t see the forest for the trees, hah. My torch seems to be keeping the spearing roots at bay. For now, at least. We’ve all been looking at every movement in this unnatural place with suspicion. River is the worst, jumping at every sound and flinching at every shift. I don’t blame him, though – at least we’ve actually been here before; he’s only ever heard horror stories. His leg is as good as new – I kept a steady stream of Lay-on-hands until it was healed.

The trees are as ominous as ever, their vines swaying in a breeze that doesn’t ever seem to touch our skin. The vegetation below is incongruously bright, looking more like something that belongs in a jungle than the forest it is actually in. I eye that in suspicion too – although it seemed completely innocuous the last time we came through, I’d rather be too paranoid than dead. At least I’ve managed to recoup a good portion of my stamina while we’ve been walking instead of running.

I hear a cough and there’s an unusual movement from River’s direction. I whip my head around, scanning around and behind him to try to work out what moved. There’s another cough and I see the origin of my alarm. Thankfully, it’s nothing to fear.

“Lathani,” I breathe, indicating for River to stop. He does and we gently shift the nunda cub off his shoulders. Down on the ground, I can see how much she’s changed – she’s got to be at least three times as long, maybe more. “Lathani,” I say again even as Bastet approaches to lick at her head. Even the cubs cradled in a sling against my chest make encouraging sounds as if they want her to wake up too.

Slowly, her eyelids slide open.