Maybe it was the way the forest got denser, shutting out all but a few rays of light. Maybe it was the way Kiah mumbled about how the Skiá enjoyed the shadows, or how they all went quiet for a moment after hearing a snap of a twig. Maybe it was the lack of birdsong—how, instead, it was the rustling of the leaves in a chill wind. Maybe it was the way Lydia told stories, completely oblivious to everything else, with a growing excitement the creepier it became.
No matter what it was, though, one thing was certain: the further they traveled, the more anxious Fauna became.
“It’s about time we stop soon,” Imre mumbled absently. However quiet he was, it was enough to get Lydia to stop talking, at least. “It’s getting dark and the horses could use the rest.”
“But we’re almost there!” Lydia pointed out. “It’ll probably only take another hour or two. We can stop when we’re right at the entrance to the cave.”
“Can’t speak for anyone else here, but I wouldn’t mind stopping,” Domenique remarked. “I got tired of sitting on a horse two hours ago.”
“Unless we’d be leaving the forest soon, it’s better to stop here,” Kiah said. “We can get everything ready before we have to worry too much about what else is out there.”
“At least then it’ll be the morning when you decide to drag us all into whatever cave is there…” Samone grumbled.
Lydia looked ready to argue, but she must’ve ultimately decided against it. “Fine. Then you’ll just spend all night wondering what amazing things could be in the cave…”
They stopped within the next couple of minutes, adopting a similar routine to what they’d done the day before. Fauna found herself staying closer to the others, though—she didn’t feel any better to know that they were now tied to one place for the night. After a little bit, they were all gathered by the campfire, trying to keep the silence from making the surroundings any eerier.
“I guess this is as good of a time as any to ask if we… actually have a plan?” Dimas asked hesitantly. “I mean, we figured that it probably won’t let you—if any of us—in, but… do we really know anything other than that?”
“Nope!” Lydia casually continued, “It would be boring if we figured everything out ahead of time.”
“Maybe… it’ll help to consider what we might find..?” Fauna offered. “We might not know exactly what we’ll come across, but if we can get an idea, at least we could kind of be prepared…”
“It’s a cave,” Samone pointed out. “What else could make things worse than a bear? Or Skiá?”
“Traps,” Lydia said matter-of-factly. “Dad once had a bunch of arrows fly at him at once. And had a bottomless pit almost open up below him. And triggered a giant boulder that he had to run away from. More than once, all at the same place.”
“I think you need to stop believing everything Andrew tells you,” Kiah remarked.
Imre shook his head. “I don’t think it would be a physical danger, at least not if the manticore is the one who set them up.” He looked at Dimas. “Do they have any magical capabilities, or something else they could take advantage of if there’s intruders?”
“I’m not, uh… too sure. Zofie would be a better person to ask that question…” Dimas mumbled. “They’re like the gifted children of Vaso, and they’re known for their wisdom, so maybe they know Earth magic, too?”
Kiah, meanwhile, gave a more effortless answer. “They probably have access to Truth and, maybe, Illusion magic. So if we’re going to face a threat, it’s going to be one of those two things—they wouldn’t need traps in order to steer everyone else away.”
“They’re still both pretty bad, aren’t they?” Domenique asked. “Truth magic’s mostly banned, from what I’ve heard. And it could turn us against each other or something with Illusion magic.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I can dispel illusions.” Samone didn’t say it as an offer, not really—just fact. “It might be magically gifted, but so am I. I could at least stop us all from getting killed, since we’re certainly not going to stop to think about it…”
…
When morning came, Lydia barely allowed them enough time to eat. She had enough excitement for the seven of them; the next closest was probably Domenique who, honestly… seemed more in line with “morbid curiosity” than she was “excitement.”
Fauna still felt it—the foreboding feeling, a sense that something was wrong or definitely going to be. She stayed quiet, mostly, while the others had a half-argument about the kinds of treasures a manticore might be hoarding.
Then she worked up the nerve to ask: “Are we… really sure, about trying to find the manticore..? What if they just want to be left alone..?”
“Well, we didn’t exactly spend all this time traveling just to turn back around,” Lydia remarked. She stated in a confident tone, “If it wanted to be left alone that bad, it wouldn’t have given us any reason to try to find it.”
“To be fair, to the normal person, what’s there is more than enough…” Kiah mumbled.
“So… am I the only one with a really bad feeling about this..?” Fauna questioned, getting quieter. She did, briefly, glance up at them. They had the same expressions as before, though; if they believed her, they knew it wasn’t to the extent that she felt.
Domenique shrugged, though her tone had care in it. “It’s probably just the situation. You know, a dark, creepy forest, going to find something that may or may not try to kill us. But you’re with all of us. Nothing’s gonna happen if we stick together.”
“I kinda get it,” Dimas offered. “Lydia’s probably the only one used to this kind of stuff. And knowing you have no idea what you’re doing doesn’t really make you feel any better…”
Lydia casually said, “You’ll all get used to it eventually! Fauna’s never gone anywhere outside of Ryobel and Lelishara, right? She’s never been this far from home. That’s probably what it is.”
“I’ve never gone any further than Levi Asari, Lelishara, and the Lake,” Samone muttered. “But I don’t look like a deer surrounded by imaginary wolves. At this point she’s just being paranoid.”
Fauna, defeated and somewhat embarrassed, whispered something that might’ve been an agreement.
But Imre spoke the words she wouldn’t. “There’s nothing wrong with being afraid. I think it’s perfectly reasonable.”
“I’m the youngest out of everyone here and I still think she’s more of a baby than I am…” Samone grumbled.
“Y-you’re probably right…” Fauna said, quietly, in her attempt to stop a potential argument. “Everything is just weird and new. I’m probably just exaggerating it or making it up completely…”
“I don’t think you’re making anything up,” Imre repeated. “There’s a chance you’re right, and those are the kinds of chances that we don’t just ignore. I’ve read that there are some people more capable of sensing Skiá than others are. Maybe you’re like them.”
“It’s not going to do us any favors to always look over our shoulders, either,” Kiah pointed out. “There’s a difference between trying to stay alive and curling up in a ball because you think you’re being hunted.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, we’ll be out of this ‘creepy’ forest soon,” Lydia said. Any comfort her words might have possessed, though, were dashed by the excitement in her voice. “Then we get to go into the cave that might have the manticore in it!”
Imre nodded. “You five can go ahead, Fauna and I will be right behind you.”
“As the one who has to make sure you don’t die, I don’t like the sound of that,” Kiah remarked.
“It’s just going to be for a couple of minutes,” he tried. “And we’ll still be right behind you.”
She didn’t seem to believe it, but she nudged her horse to go a little quicker, and everyone else did the same.
Imre glanced over at Fauna and, casually, asked, “This isn’t new, is it?”
“Pretty much… the entire time we’ve been out here…” she answered with a self-conscious laugh. “It feels like there’s someone watching us—or me. Maybe… maybe like being hunted..? But not in an ‘immediate danger’ kind of way. In a ‘finding the perfect time’ kind of way. If that makes sense. It probably doesn’t…”
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know. But also, I… don’t think it’s Skiá.”
“Be honest—don’t pay any attention to what anyone else said. Do you think we’re in danger staying around here? Even slightly.”
She had an immediate response, but the seriousness in his tone led her to consider it a little more. Eventually, though, she still shook her head—albeit slowly. “I don’t think so. It’s just… watching. I have a bad feeling about all of this, but it’s more like it’s… in general? Instead of anything specific, and not really just related to being watched…”
“I’ll take your word for it, then. But tell me if you ever think differently, even for a moment. I don’t doubt for a minute that there’s some kind of reason you’re feeling like this. I don’t want you to doubt it, either.”
She nodded.