Here’s the thing. Timothy was a fast little runt when he had to be. What he wasn’t was a trained, well-fed, healthy runner. The wolf started the sprint on an empty stomach, tired from hours of fruitless foraging and fishing, setting off a huge Flashsear Bomb, and hauling a surprisingly heavy little dragon on his back. Holding the dark limbs together and pumping them took energy, like all magic did, even if the ambient darkness gave him lots to work with. So, what started as a scamper that would put a wild riding bug to shame soon devolved into an exhausted plod… and then a short fall into the shrubbery as he lost his grip on the darkness. He hit the ground in a shower of mud and dirt. What was left of the legs melted into shapeless black, then misted off from his hips. His heart was pounding like it wanted to smash its way out of his chest.
“Ooogh…hate… running.” Timothy wheezed pathetically.
“Gosh…” Meri hopped off of him— thank the darkness, he could breathe!— and stooped down in front of his face. “Are you alright, mister Timothy?”
Timothy was gonna say something about dying here on the ground, but bit it back at the last second. “G-gimme a minute, n’I’ll let you know…" Oh shadows, how did that work? The adrenaline drained out of him, leaving him feeling like he weighed a million tons. For a moment, all he could do was lay there, panting.
“That was so rad.” Meri breathed, and Timothy snapped his head up in confusion. The little dragoness had this adorably gleeful grin just all over her face. “What spell was that? With the explosion?”
“Err… Blazing Light, but as a grenade?” Timothy panted. “Some fire, some light, some force… you know.”
“It was awesome! I had my eyes closed and I could see the blast! And what was that spider leg thingy? Can you teach me? Oh, wait! Are you half kindre half dragon half spider?” Meri hopped up and squealed in delight.
Timothy’s mouth made an O, as his brain strained to try to understand. “What?”
“Like in Campfire Creepies! Hated and feared by the world of the light, he spins death in the shadows!” The little dragoness was practically bouncing. “Oh! And your extra brand keeps your spider side from breaking free, but sometimes your face turns into mandibles when nobody’s looking so you wear a hood! Duh, right?”
“I, uh, what?” Timothy just gaped at the girl. “I don’t think that’s a real thing.”
“But that’s just what a spiderson tryin’ to pass as a kindre would say!”
“I…huh. You have a point— Wait, no! Meri, I’m a kindre!”
“You mean a halfie!”
“Fine, yeah, a half-dragon kindre. But that’s it!”
Meri looked crestfallen. “Not even part bug?”
“Well, I am an honorary spider, if that helps.” He slowly hauled himself to his knees.
Meri raised an eyebrow at him. “How does that work?”
“I’m adopted.” Twice over! “Again, long story.”
“You say that a lot.”
“And I mean it every time.” The wolf slowly hauled himself to his knees. Ouch… The little dragoness looked huffy.
“Well, aren’t you gonna explain?”
“Nope.”
“Well, that’s just rude. And boring.”
The witch stuck his tongue out at her. “Witches are beings of mystery. Now, let’s get moving. It’s not far to my place.” He fumbled around for his staff, before remembering he dramatically hurled it back at the clearing… and forgotten he didn’t have the energy to support the enchantment that should have yanked it back to his hand. Ugh, he’d spent hours on that staff! The witch pouted. “That fight back there prolly woke up half the forest. We’ll hide out and fix your arm, then we can see about getting you home.”
"Okay!" She chirped, and happily fell behind him. "Lead the way!" Well! She’d gotten over his mark fast. Then again, he did just save her life… and was her only hope of getting home… so maybe it was less ‘got over’ and more ‘resigned herself.’ Eh, either way.
Luckily, his house really wasn’t far from there. Timothy got to set a much slower pace this time. His territory was actually fairly safe-- well, as safe the Deepshadow could be, at least. He’d carved out a chunk of turf for his own, over years of living in the forest, and his many neighbors knew to respect it. Either he’d won them over the way he preferred, by making friends and cutting deals, or he’d done it the hard way, by cutting monsters. There was a reason the humoganths knew he was not to be trifled with.
…Well, that and the fact that good traps make good neighbors. Timothy yelped and all but clotheslined Meri just in time to stop her from stompin’ on one.
“Ack! What the heck, Timothy?”
He pointed at a flat disc of stone carved with a complex knot. “Crushing Vines mine.”
Meri gaped. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. And that’s just the first of many, so, um, maybe you should stay behind me.” Aw, nuts, now she was lookin’ at him like a crazy person. “What? It’s better’n marking my turf like monsters do.”
Air shooters, other spellmines, a few snares and more mundane traps, and a whole pile of others. It took a while to slip through his traps, even knowing the safe paths, when he had a tail who was much clumsier. Not helping was that she couldn't see in the dark like he could, so he had to either lead her by the hand, or risk drawing attention with a dim red light. It was enough to have Timothy glancing over his shoulders constantly. Oh, his poor nerves…
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But he could smell the waters of his home. Ahead, the darkness began to thin, just slightly, and Timothy breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s easy going from here. Just stick close.”
The little dragoness promptly ignored that and ran ahead with a delighted gasp. Then again, he thought with a small smile, he couldn’t really blame her. Ahead was his favorite place in all the forest. Up ahead was a small pond, with glassy, dark waters. Here, the permanent night of the woods faded away to something like the last, blue-black light of a summer evening, thanks to flocks of slowly drifting glowbuzzes all throughout. The little bugs casted a gentle golden light that almost made you forget the rest of the Deepshadow. The soft croaking of Magoron toads broke the quiet, as did he gentle, musical humming of glowbuzz wings and the babble of water entering the eddies of the pond and leaving. Despite his hunger, despite having someone else with him, despite everything, Timothy couldn’t help but relax a little. It felt good to be home.
"You live here?" She marveled.
"Yep. No more traps from here on in, but watch your step-- the ground's a bit muddy."
He led her into the clearing, breathing deeply of the scent of the waters. The pond filled a lot of the clearing, broken up by a few small islands of mud and dirt. Old logs broke the water's surface, home to all sorts of small lives. And on the other side was his house.
His hut was small, squat, and made mostly of rough-cut wood and thatch, but it was his. It sat on the biggest of the small islands, one that he had partially sculpted with the elements. If you squinted, what with the sloped grass-and-twig roof, it kind of looked like a witch's hat. A pair of honey pots sat on the sides of the island, enchanted so only the glowbuzzes could smell or get through to them. A few fragrant herbs grew in patches behind the house. He had a small storage shed built next to his main hut. And set around its perimeter were an array of carved wooden poles, thrust into the dirt. They were his ward nodes, and once they were past them, they'd be as safe as they could get in these woods.
Timothy gestured to some smooth stones scattered across the pond. "Alright, let's just hop across the stones, okay? Take it slow, y'don't wanna take a dip."
"Why? Is there, like, a pond guardian?" Meri asked excitedly.
Timothy chuckled. "That’d be neat, but naw. The water’s just cold, an’ your wound don’t need it."
He took his first hop onto the stones, taking it slow as an example. Meri stopped about halfway across the pond, staring into the water. “Frogbeasts!” There was a symposium(their word, not his) of toad-monsters sitting on a circle of logs. Their heads had a long ribbony tail that flowed from the back, ending in a starburst shape. They were purple, with a faint star pattern along their head-tails. Timothy wasn’t surprised they hadn’t noticed him and Meri— they were having a rather noisy argument about magic, as usual.
“Toadbeasts, actually. They’re called Magorons. Let’s not interrupt them, they’re workin’ on a big theory. Again.”
“A big theory…?”
“Magorons are real smart.” Timothy said, waving her to continue hopping. “They’re always arguin’ some magic thing or another. I’ve picked up a lot from’em, but it’s best not to interrupt when they’re like this.” He pointed at a biggun whose tail was shaking with anger. “When their tail shakes, it means they’re getting’ riled up but good. If you see that, y’better duck, cuz—“ The shouting was drowned out by two of the older toads hurling tiny bolts of lightning at each other. It quickly devolved into a toad free for all, with spells flyin’ everywhere. Meri yelped and nearly fell off the rock, but Timothy caught her ‘round the middle with a shadow tentacle. “Cuz of that!”
“Why are they fighting?”
Timothy smiled sheepishly. “Search me. I’ll probably hear all about it when I have to patch’em up later.”
She looked like she was caught between laughing and not being sure if she should. “Does this happen a lot?”
“Oh, all the time.” Timothy ducked a deflected fireball. “We’d best let them have their fun. Come on.”
Up ahead was the ward line, the very first thing he’d set up when he started building his home. The ward nodes had been the product of all sorts of experiments with carving and enchanting. It’d been a pain and a half to set them up in a place this magical, but they worked well. If you looked between the totems that acted as nodes, you’d see a dense spiderweb of spectral tripwires that could, when set off, project a real shield. He’d even consulted real spiders!
And indeed, his spider buddies had inspired the ward-constructs he’d made up to control the wards. The hand-woven spirits were invisible, much like the web itself unless you were using magic to see’em, but they were always there, skittering along the ward web. Now that he thought about it, it was almost time for a visit to his old friends.
Distracted, he almost missed Meri rushing headling into his web! He yelped and arm-blocked the overeager dragon pup for the second time today. “Wait! I gotta read you into the wards!”
“How much security do you have?” The dragoness scowled.
Timothy grinned sheepishly. “So I’m a little paranoid…” The spider-constructs that ran his wards clicked and clacked up to the pair, and he told them that Meri was clear. They soon went on spidering about. “Alright, there.” With that, he helped her across and onto the island.
"What's in the pots?" She asked.
"Honey. The glowbuzzes like it." He explained. "Having them around makes this whole pond safer, because most of the Deepshadow monsters hate light. So I leave out some treats to encourage them to hang out here. The bees hang out near my garden, and they let me have some honey every season in exchange for growing them lotsa healthy flowers, n' giving them a hand in the winter."
<
One of the glowbuzzes landed on Meri's shoulder. The little bug looked like a black almond, with eyes like blue jewels and a skinny proboscis. It flicked its nose at her shoulder, and she giggled. "They're cute!"
“They are.” Timothy stretched a little tendril of darkness out and scritched the little bug’s back. It glowed with obvious cheer. <
<
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Meri giggled as several lit up in a smiley face pattern. "Don't the magorons eat them?"
"Nah," Timothy grinned. "I helped them cut a deal. This here's neutral ground for both. The glowbuzzes can hang out without getting eaten, and the magorons don't get fried, and can copy their light magic. Everyone wins."
Meri gaped. “You really are a witch!”
The witch’s face all but shone with pride. "Heh, of course! I learned the secrets of listening long ago.”
And to Meri’s glee, the bug fluttered off of her shoulder and whirled around her head in a cheery orbit. It didn’t say real words, but he could feel the thrums of welcome and happiness as it buzzed the little dragoness. The hum of its wings was almost singsongy for a moment, before it flew off to join its friends.
“Wow!” Meri breathed. Her eyes shone with wonder, and it felt surprisingly good. “Did it, like, say something I didn’t understand?”
“Sort of.” Timothy explained. “Monsters don’t talk or think the exact same way we do. Well, not most of’em. Every monster communicates differently, and a witch’s training makes them receptive to all that meaning. It’s subconscious magic, combined with lots of training. It takes years to figure it out, for most folks.”
“Wow…” Meri breathed. “That’s so cool!”
Timothy blushed a little. Still, he managed a shy smile. It'd taken him a long time to get even this good, after all. “Aw, shucks. Well then, let’s get indoors.”