Alex, it seemed, was a man who knew how to suffer.
Mason ran them all day and into the evening with hardly a pause, and the older man endured all of it. When they finally stopped he was red and drenched in sweat, leaning against a tree with closed eyes before apparently healing himself.
"I'm impressed," Mason said, giving him a good slap on the shoulder. "Now stay here while I hunt something to eat. May as well save our supplies for the tree. Can you make a fire, Phuong?"
The Vietnamese ex-soldier just nodded and got to work, and Mason took off with Streak and his bow. There were plenty of birds like grouse in the forest, which—just as in the real world—were big and slow and not that smart.
With his speed, senses, camouflage and magic bow powers, hunting wasn't particularly difficult. He shot three in less than an hour, as well as a squirrel that happened by, then returned to camp and found the men watching their small fire burn.
"I hope you like chicken," he said, holding up the animals, tossing the squirrel to a whining Streak. "You could have hunted on your own, you know," he said as the animal tore into the little thing. "How come I have to do all the work?"
He tussled the wolf's head but it was far too focused on food and just growled in pleasure as it gnawed and chewed. Then Mason and Phuong butchered the birds in comfortable silence, and the three men sat by the fire as they all cooked on sticks and with a couple pans.
They didn't have anything but salt to season it with, but Mason got the impression that didn't bother any of them much.
"Feels like home," Phuong said with a gap toothed grin. "Like I'm back camping with my sons and grandsons."
Mason smiled, not sure if he should any questions or make the man think about his family much considering how things were.
"My father never took us," Mason said instead. "But I went on my own later in life. Not sure why, but I always loved the woods."
"Then you must be in paradise," Phuong laughed, and Mason grinned. He realized he kind of was. Between his girls and being away from cities and massed civilization, he almost couldn't imagine a better situation, save maybe being even more alone. But he thought of Blake trapped in that god forsaken death trap of a tower and lost some humor.
"I hate woods," Alex said, natural frown curled like an upside down U. "I miss plays and opera and symphonies. I used to go symphony every week."
Mason failed to control his eyebrow raise, and gave Phuong a quick glance to find equal surprise.
"No offence, Alex," Mason cleared his throat. "But you look like a man who drove trucks across Siberia."
Alex squinted, then his frown slowly leveled out, and he laughed loudly from his gut. The sound was almost unnatural, and even startled Streak for long enough to stop chewing. At least for a second.
"I play violin," he said, the humor instantly gone. "Piano. Flute. Private lessons. But, not much money." He grinned. "So I drive trucks, too."
Mason and Phuong laughed together. Then they cooked in silence awhile, and were soon eating the smaller pieces and grunting in pleasure at the taste. Whether it was the hard run (for the others...) or just eating something other than system made produce, it seemed like it was best damn bird they'd all had in ages.
"I'd kill small child for vodka," Alex said with a sigh.
Mason practically choked, but actually kind of wished he'd brought something. A few seconds later Phuong lifted a bottle from his pack.
"Leave the kid alone." He winked, then passed what must have been some of Billy the Brewer's moonshine around the fire.
"Oh, thank you, thank you," Alex took a sip and closed his eyes, practically trembling before he looked at the other men. He went a little pink as Mason and Phuong grinned, then he passed the bottle.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
They damn near finished the thing as they ate, then put out their fire and lay down in their sleeping bags, Mason looking up at a few stars through the canopy as his brain fought sleep.
All he could do was think about Nassau, Blake, the nymphs and the trees and his druid dreams and, well, everything. He wasn't the type to dwell or wrestle with things beyond his control, but then he hadn't been in charge of a settlement before.
It felt like he had a thousand things to do and yet it all took too much time. Just crossing the damn forest took precious days he might have used exploring or patrolling the woods near Nassau, mapping all the grey areas of the world and figuring out what the hell was going on.
So far 'phase 2' hadn't seemed to make much difference. But he knew that was an illusion. Sooner or later he knew threats were going to come, going to challenge them until this damned robot God got whatever it wanted from all this. They had to be ready. He had to be ready.
It was his last thought before the light from the stars faded to black.
* * *
Another full day and they reached rockier ground, then the edge of the forest and the hills and plains that led to Sanctuary and the orc fortress.
From what the nymphs told him, there was another great tree past this and in another, much smaller patch of woods East of the orc towers. But he couldn’t actually see a giant tree rising out of it all, so that was a little confusing…
Was it protected like the nymph tree by some kind of magic illusion? Had it been cut down?
He was tempted to go to the fortress and try the dungeon again, though he suspected it would make no difference at all.
Still, he was here...
"Do you want to try the tower?" Phuong said beside him. "It's not far. We might as well."
Mason smiled gratefully. "If that's alright."
The others nodded, and they walked on without a word, and this time there were no orc scouts or anything else it seemed blocking the way. Mason left them slightly back as he made his way to the gate, and touched the door.
[Error. Please try again in 24 hours.]
He sighed, then walked back to the others and shook his head. "Well. Let's do what we came for. The tree shouldn’t be far." If it’s still there, he thought.
The circled the tower walls and carried on towards the new woods and the giant invisible tree. Mason could sense far less life here, and the soil looked thin and arid. The forest felt like an island being washed away by the sea all around it, and even the smell felt wrong.
Mason took them into the trees cautiously, and the other men clearly sensed his hesitation and stood on their guard. They didn’t have to walk far before the ‘wrong’ scent Mason had smelled became worse and worse.
Then they found the tree. Just as before, there was a clearing all around it, but this one wasn’t shrouded by mist. As Mason and the others got closer, it simple appeared out of nowhere, stretching up above the canopy, jutting like a skyscraper from the landscape.
“My God.” Phuong whistled. “How could we not see it before?”
Mason just shrugged, not sure he could explain. As they got closer, they could see something like mould covered half the trunk, so reddish brown it looked like a gaping wound carved into the wood.
Bark sloughed off like dying skin, covering the ground on the infected side of the tree. The small creek that ran through the valley looked filled with toxic sludge, like it was connected to a factory and not a giant tree.
"What is problem?" said Alex. "Tree looks fine."
Mason gave the man a wry grin, then walked down into the valley clearing. The closer he got, the more unpleasant he felt. It was like he could sense the pain and corruption of the land itself, like the scent and very air itself were poisonous if he lingered too long.
But his discomfort was overcome when he heard noise coming from the opposite side of the giant trunk. It sounded like voices.
"Be ready," he said to the others. "There's something or someone out here besides us."
Phuong's hand sizzled as his blue sword materialized out of nothing. Alex just sort of hunched.
Mason didn't see any kind of obvious 'entrance' to the tree, though he suspected like the nymph tree he might just need to touch the bark. It also occurred to him he might be wrong about Streak, and that the wolf couldn't enter at all. But if so he wasn't that worried about sending the animal home on its own.
And he wanted to investigate the noise first. He touched the ground and activated his Nature's Sleeves, watching his body and even his clothes somewhat shift in color. With bow at the ready, he circled the huge trunk with eyes and ears tuned to their peak, ready to draw and kill at a moment's notice.
The voices increased in volume and became more obvious. They sounded human. At least two male. One female.
Mason held up three fingers, and Phuong nodded, still close behind. Together they crept around several patches of high reeds and grass, then a small outcropping of giant mushrooms, until finally the speakers came into sight.
"It's this place," said what looked like a young East Asian woman, kneeling before a larger Caucasian who sat slumped against the tree. "My healing doesn't work for shit."
The third, a red-headed, mid fortyish Caucasian man was pacing back and forth beside them, hands gripped in his hair.
"Well then let's move him. We can't do this without him. And maybe not even with him. This quest is absolute horse shit."
Mason turned to the others, who both shrugged. He sighed and stepped out.
"Hello there." He showed his bow and hands and walked slowly, making himself obvious. "There's three of us, and a wolf, just so you aren't alarmed. Can we give you a hand?"
The red head stared for a good five seconds. Then he raised his hands, his eyes blazed a deep scarlet, and he started to flow with what looked like flames.
Mason winced, and sighed.
"Figures."