Chapter Forty Two: The Creatures in the Forest.

The next morning, Jason and Freya walked out to the stables. Lord Redran was standing on top of a carriage with a few other knights. He was addressing a crowd of strangers, knights, shopkeepers and villagers.

“If you would like to join our crusade, we are willing to pay with lands and titles. You will be equipped with armour from the Castle of Flowers, we will give you training and a sword.” Lord Redran said to the crowd. “We leave in twenty minutes. Please come and meet me if you would like to claim some glory, and write your own story!”

The crowd cheered but most of them dissipated. Twenty extra men signed up. Lord Redran kitted them with gear and the army began walking away.

Jason and Nathaniel were sitting on a carriage, when a new soldier got onto the carriage beside them.

“Hi, my name is Brock,” he said. He reached out a hand and Nathaniel shook it. Brock was young, about the same age as Jason and Nathaniel. He had messy black hair, brown eyes and some freckles. He was quite athletic, he had a muscular build and a very friendly smile.

“I’m Nathaniel, this is Jason.” Nate said.

“Nice to meet you, Brock.” Jason chimed in.

“What brings you on this journey?” Nate asked.

“A story. I want to make my father, the King of Vallinor, proud.” Brock said. “How about you?”

Jason and Nathaniel looked at each other.

“The dragon burned my village.” Jason responded. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”

“And you, Nathaniel?” Brock asked.

“The dragon burned my city, too.” Nate responded.

“I’m coming along so I can afford to reverse this curse.” A voice behind them said. The three new knights turned around. It was the brown tabby cat. “Don’t date an elf, guys, just don’t. And especially, do not, sleep with that elf’s sister. It ain't worth the hairballs kid.”

Jason and Brock chuckled at the cat’s joke.

“And what’s your name?” Brock asked the feline.

“My name is Dominic, people call me The Don.” The cat replied. “I probably can’t hold a sword, but maybe I can scratch that Dragon to death like, ‘Bow, bow! Bowbowbow!’” The cat imitated swatting a massive fly as he said each “Bow.”

“Do you have any other powers?” Nathaniel asked.

“Powers? Nah, I don’t have any magic. My charisma is my main weapon. My weapon is making people love me. I haven't paid for a meal in five years, and every pretty girl I see I just walk up to her and boom, belly rubs. Unlimited Belly rubs.”

“Are you sure you’re eager to switch back? Maybe you should stay as a cat, it seems to be working out for you.” Brock said.

“I’m too handsome of a human to die cursed as a cat.” The Don said. “I’ll kill your dragon, and earn enough to pay for the potion ingredients, then I’ll be a man again, and a hero. The tale of Dominic Astartes will be remembered for many ages to come. “

“Sure,” Jason said. “Hopefully the Ice Wizards are willing to help us.”

“I’ve never been far north,” Brock said. “My uncles tell me it’s quite beautiful up in the mountains… and cold.”

The army walked for the entire morning. They walked through a forest where the trees changed dramatically. The trees had wider trunks, and long twisting tree roots. The road started getting muddier as they walked further north. They made a stop at lunchtime and decided to stop for a while for lunch.

The camp cooks made some small fires and began to cook for the soldiers. They ate one apple each, and the cooks served a small cup of venison and vegetable stew to every soldier.

The soldiers hungrily ate their meal and then the carriages continued rolling further north.

After another hour, the carriages rolled into a small town. The houses were made of sticks and thatched roofs. The cracks in the walls were filled with dried mud. The entire village was located on a swamp. There were wooden walkways that extended over the water and connected every house in the village. The village was very small.

The locals who lived here looked very distressed and hungry. They looked scared to see the soldiers.

Redran approached an old woman and explained their situation.

“Hi there, we are looking for any young men strong enough to fight. There is a dragon terrorising the lands. We are on a mission to the north, to enlist the help of the Frost Mages. Do you know of anyone in the village who might want to come? We offer lands and titles to any man willing to fight with us.” Redran said.

The old woman stared at him blankly, and then she left without saying a word. She shut the door for her stick hut in Redran’s face.

“Okay.” Redran said to the closed door.

“I fight, I am strong.” A voice said behind Redran.

“We are willing to take any strong men to battle with us-...” Redran turned around to greet the new voice. He was shocked to be face to face with a mutant.

The mutant had the torso of a strong man, his head and tail were shark-like. He had black eyes, tough grey skin, and very wide hands.

“I am Sharky.” Sharky said to Redran. He held up a fist, for Redran to tap knuckles.

“Hello, gallant Sharky.” Redran said to the fish creature. He knocked his fist against the shark’s hand. “Do you have any experience fighting?”

“No fighting, just winning.” Said Sharky, with a wide sharp grin.

“I’ve never met a Shark-man,” Redran said.

“What is a Shark-man?” Sharky asked.

“That’s what you are.” He said.

“I am a shark-man? Hahaha.” The shark said happily to Lord Redran. His laughter was slow and genuine.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“You will be given lands and a title if you come along and fight with us.”

“Lands, and a title?” Another voice spoke up. Redran turned to see a scrawny old man. He had long silver hair and a short grey beard. He was dressed in some dirty peasant clothes. “Sign me up, young buck.” The old man said, slapping Redran on the back.

“We are leaving soon, go try on some armour.” Redran said to the old man. “Can you fight?”

“I can do this.” The old man used a fireball punch. He aimed at a tree and the tree exploded after being hit by a fiery ball of energy.

Redran was stunned. A fire mage! Jason watched with awe as he potentially found a mentor to teach him magic. Jason got off the cart and wandered to the armoury cart. He looked around for some armour that would fit the old man.

“That… We can work with that.” Redran said, stunned. The old man happily walked over to Jason and got his armour.

“Hey, would you mind teaching me how you did that?” Jason asked the fire mage.

“Sorry kid, I was born with it.” The old man said.

“Me too,” Jason spoke. “Sometimes. I’ve only done it once before.”

“You are a fire mage?” The old man asked.

“Yeah, well, maybe.” Jason said. “I’m a blacksmith, I made an enchanted sword.” He pulled the sword from its sheath and it set on fire. The old man looked at it in awestruck wonder.

“The flaming blade.” The old man said, his eyes sparkled in the flame.

“Well, young man. We can trade. I will tell you my knowledge and you can make me an enchanted blade. “

“I don’t know how to make an enchanted blade.” Jason said. “This was an accident.” He said, holding up the blade. He then put the blade into its scabbard and the fire went out.

“Ah.” The old man said. “Well let’s give it a go anyways. The next blacksmith is north of here, in a village in the frozen north. When we stop there, you can make me a blade. My name is Ogden by the way.

“I’m Jason. Sure I’ll make you a blade and you can teach me how to throw a fireball.” Jason said, he shook the man’s hand and helped him to strap his armour on. Then the old knight jumped onto a carriage and Jason mounted up. The shark minotaur got onto a carriage behind Jason. He was quite heavy.

Lord Redran ordered the men to move and the carriages started rolling away from the town, further north. They wandered for a long time, the sun dipped low on the horizon. They were walking through a swampy forest. Their scenery became eerie, they saw more and more spiderwebs in the treetops. The birds did not sing in this part of the forest. The carriages rolled past the carcass of a large snake. The snake had been ripped open. It must have been a massive beast as the snake was a little larger than a human. They heard very weird footsteps in the leaves around them. When they looked, they could not see anything.

The sun kept getting lower and lower.

“I hope we can make it out of these woods before nightfall.” The old man said under his breath. Jason could tell he was very paranoid.

“Why?” Jason asked the old man.

“These woods have monsters in them.” The man said. “They come out at night.” They both looked up through the trees at the sun dipping lower and lower. They finally came to a shoreline. A massive river stretched out in front of them. They would need to cross it. There was no bridge, just a shallow crossing. The old man got off the carriage and walked to Redran to warn him.

Redran decided to ford the river immediately, based on the old man’s fears of the forest.

The horses and carriages started rolling into the water. The sun kept dipping lower. They slowly walked across the river. It was knee height deep in the lowest points. The horses were getting spooked, and each of the soldiers had goosebumps appearing. Something evil was coming.

Halfway across the river, a wheel dislodged from a carriage and the cart stopped. Redran turned his horse around and started running after the wheel. It floated downstream and out of sight. Redran cursed and turned back around. He ordered all of the men except the driver to lift the carriage and walk it to shore. Sharky really helped a lot, as he lifted the carriage easily. They began walking the carriage slowly towards the shoreline.

Jason and the other carriages made it to the other side of the river, but the broken carriage had only made it halfway.

The sun dipped past the horizon, and Jason pulled out his sword to light the way. Other soldiers lit their torches too. On the other side of the shore, creatures began to move in the darkness. Giant thin legs started moving. Jason watched as a paranoid deer was suddenly lifted into the treetops by a massive black object. He thought he hallucinated the whole thing. Slowly, one of the creatures emerged from the cover of the foliage. It was a massive spider.

The spider was taller than the carriages. It started tasting the air with the hairs on its front two legs. It could tell there was a lot of meat nearby. The spider began testing the water in front. It put two legs into the river and started moving forward slowly. It would take each step carefully, it would feel the ground in front of it. Behind that spider, another larger one emerged. It also started feeling the ground in front of it, trying to find the location of that sweet smell of flesh.

The two spiders suddenly were joined by another twenty. They emerged from the trees like a small army. They all started marching faster and faster through the water. The shark man, fearing for his life. Dropped the carriage and started swimming for the shore. The shallows weren’t meant for sharks, but he knew he could swim faster than he ran.

He made it to the shore and jumped out, ready to fight the oncoming spiders.

The men had decided to ditch the carriage and most of them were trying to run through the water. The spiders gained on them. The spiders stood on top of the waterlogged food carriage and then started attacking it with their powerful mouths. They brutally started eating the horses while they were still alive. The sounds of dying horses, men shouting and many footsteps splashing echoed over the river. The spiders lunged forward and they splintered the planks. The carriage crumbled and planks, jars of pickled goods and loose fruit began floating downstream.

The spiders had almost made it to the guards. One of them turned around and pulled out a sword but he was quickly killed by a large spiked leg striking him down. Blood filled the water. The spider quickly started to swallow the man whole. It returned to the other side of the shore dragging the dead man through the water. The spiders started swarming the rest of the men left in the water. Redran ordered his men to wait on the shoreline, and hold a defensive line. The old man started throwing explosive fireballs at the spiders. He was able to take three of them down with ease. The spiders exploded and their legs were launched into the air. Many more spiders emerged from the forest on the other side. Jason tried to use a fireball, but he could not focus.

Redran changed his mind, they were outmatched. Their only hope of survival was to try to outrun the spiders. He commanded everyone to run. The men still wading were unfortunately already lost. They were soon overcome and died to the spider attacks. One of the guards was impaled on a spider’s sharp leg. Redran and the soldiers started sprinting into the forest along the road.

The spiders reached the shore behind them and kept following. Out of the water, the spiders were much quicker than the men on foot. The men running were quickly eaten and lifted into the trees as the spiders stepped off the road. Jason was up the front with Nathaniel, Freya, Redran, the old man, the Shark and Dominic the cat. The horses were freaking out.

They galloped so fast that it was hard to see the carriages following them in the twists and turns of the forest path. Jason’s fiery sword lit the road ahead. They gained speed. The carriage, and the horses exited the forest into a mountain plain. There were wild horses roaming around. Redran and the others refused to stop. They rode on through the darkness. Eventually they looked behind them and the spiders could not be seen. They had lost them.

At the same time, they could not see any of the carriages or soldiers. A few hours later they stopped at the ruins of a temple.

Redran cursed and threw his helmet as far as he could. He had just lost forty men in one night. A few hours after they had started a fire, a single horse galloped towards them. It was one of the Samurai they’d hired a few villages ago. Redran asked him for news. The samurai simply bowed his head in shame.

Redran and the others sat at the fire. They didn’t speak. Nathaniel thought about reviving everyone, but their bodies were all taken by the spiders. It was a total loss.

Redran fell asleep against a destroyed temple statue. Freya and Jason fell asleep against a fallen column. They shared the same blanket. Freya rested her head on Jason’s shoulder and chest. Dominic the cat was curled up next to Nathaniel.