Unfortunately for Priscilla, the next day when she woke up to the sun on her face, there was definitely a painful crick in her neck. She slowly sat up, rolling her neck carefully to try and stretch the sore muscle. Priscilla would probably have to sleep on a flat surface for the next few days to get rid of it fully, so Priscilla resigned herself to the pain accompanying her until they reached Kavil’s village.

The beginning of a headache was throbbing behind her eyes and Priscilla preemptively drained an entire water pouch in the hope that the headache stayed small and wouldn’t bloom into a full blown migraine.

Sulaiman looked peaceful as he slept, his face no longer donning his habitual frown. The peacefulness didn’t last long as he began to stir when Priscilla stood up. He froze when he looked at her and she raised an eyebrow.

“Morning, sleeping beauty,” she said, grabbing her pack and putting it over her shoulder. “I’ll change over there again, so shake yourself awake and get dressed yourself.”

Priscilla got dressed quickly and finally put on the armor, securing it snugly in place. She would have to get used to wearing it before she wore it into battle, Sulaiman’s lecture from yesterday echoing in her ears. Her head throbbed each time she bent at the waist and she hoped it wasn’t an omen of what was to come.

There were still sounds of movement from Sulaiman, so Priscilla pulled out a piece of jerky and began to chew on it as she leaned against the wall. If she could get breakfast out of the way now, then they could get an earlier start on the day.

Priscilla let her thoughts drift back to the bestiary she had been reading with Asha and wondered when she’d get the next chance to read it again. Learning about the different types of creatures in this world was truly fascinating, especially with how in depth the book went, detailing their habitats, food sources, and even their most common predators if available. It was everything that Priscilla wanted in a book and it had the added benefit of the knowledge potentially being useful depending on where her travels took her.

The background sounds paused, and suddenly Sulaiman was there, staring down at her incredulously.

“Are you eating jerky?”

Priscilla gave him a flat look that said she doubted his intelligence if he was asking such an obvious question. She took another big bite of jerky to prove her point and tossed her pack over her back.

“Are you ready to go?” Priscilla asked, less jovial than she was normally with this stupid headache. It took a moment for Sulaiman to respond, his eyes lingering on her armor with a furrowed brow before he nodded.

“Perfect, let’s leave immediately,” Priscilla said, brushing past him. “Get yourself a quick breakfast and I’ll meet you by the stable.”

The noise level in the inn had not lessened overnight and seemed to be packed with even more people in the light of day, making Priscilla’s headache hurt like a bitch. She dodged the other patrons and finally made it to the horses, getting them ready as quickly as her headache allowed.

Sulaiman showed up a few minutes later, a sandwich in hand and a pair of apples shoved under his arm. He glared at her for a moment before tossing an apple at her. Priscilla barely managed to catch it, the damn fruit nearly falling three times before she actually got a steady grip, though that was mostly because she caught it between her arm and chest.

“Thanks,” Priscilla said wryly before taking a big bite out of it. She mounted the horse and they made their way through the chaos around the inn. Her head did not appreciate the sounds of people yelling for their companions to get a move on, nor did it enjoy the sudden stops and starts to avoid other traveler’s preparations to leave.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“We’ll be leaving the forest tonight,” Priscilla said once they were on the trail again and she could hear her own thoughts again, “but we’ll have to keep breaks to a minimum if we want to make it to a town before sundown.”

Sulaiman grunted his acknowledgement and that was that. Priscilla didn’t have the energy to carry a conversation again, her headache aggravated by the horse’s steady cadence. She tried to ignore the pain and just keep focused on the road ahead of them.

She kept herself focused by thinking of the journey they had ahead of them. Once they left the forest, it’d be another hour until they reached the town of Bagely. After Bagely, they’d begin heading in a south-eastern direction towards the city of Gradza, and after Gradza, there’d be no more places to stay until they reached Kavil’s village. Then they’d deal with the bandits and everything would be hunky-dory.

When she was done with the travel plans, Priscilla tried to focus on the types of beasts that might be in the area they should be on the lookout for. They had only gotten through the amphibian section in the book, but Priscilla knew from the original story that Dappled Hyenas could be menaces and tended to use the natural camouflage of their fur to ambush their prey in the forest environments.

Her brain began to throb as she tried to think too hard.

Priscilla rubbed between her eyes to try and alleviate the tension, mourning the world where she could just pop a few Excedrin and be done with it. But, alas, this world relied primarily on magic, potions, and herbal medicine to heal your ailments, and Priscilla was fresh out of any of those remedies.

She glanced at Sulaiman, who kept his gaze on the road ahead of them, as he had done for the few hours they’d been traveling. He didn’t seem to be sore at all, but she wanted to check in with him just in case. Priscilla knew that she had said to minimize breaks, but she could make an exception.

“Hey, Sulaiman,” Priscilla said, “are you sore at all?”

His eyes flickered to her and then back to the road.

“If you can’t ride this long without complaining,” he said sharply, “perhaps you shouldn’t have decided to travel.”

Priscilla’s eye twitched at his sudden combativeness.

“Guess I worried for nothing,” Priscilla muttered, “glad you’re doing so fucking swell.”

They continued in silence and Priscilla didn’t have it in her to attempt anymore conversation. Despite hydrating and keeping her gaze away from bright lights, the headache kept steadily building in intensity and the pain made her frown almost constantly. She had dealt with migraines before, but combining that with trying to ride a horse, made life supremely shitty right now.

“You…”

Priscilla looked at Sulaiman tiredly and only regretted it a little when the pain behind her eyes throbbed. He didn’t follow the word with anything again and she just sighed, wishing Sulaiman would just…

“Spit it out,” she said, the words coming out harsher than she intended.

Sulaiman’s eyes narrowed. “Where are we going? Why travel so far if you’re so uncomfortable?”

Priscilla thought they had left this conversation behind on the first day, but she guessed she wasn’t that lucky.

“You’ll find out when we get there,” she repeated once more, head throbbing.

Sulaiman was unhappy with that answer, glaring at her.

“By your estimate, we’ll be over halfway there by tomorrow,” he said, voice tightly controlled. “Why not just tell me? I’m sure I can think of a better path –”

“I said no,” Priscilla said and Sulaiman recoiled at her tone. “You may not want to believe I know anything, but I do know the most direct route to our destination. I’m not discussing this anymore.”

She turned forward and hoped that he would take the hint and drop it.

“Pris–”

Asha squeezed twice on her hand, panic surging through the bond.

Priscilla pulled the horse to an abrupt halt, making Sulaiman curse as he pulled the reins back roughly as well.

They stopped just in time to miss the giant glob of murky purple liquid hit the ground in front of them that sizzled and burned ominously. A monster came crashing through the trees moments later, skidding to a halt just ten feet away.

A fifteen foot tall toad-like monster with wicked sharp claws digging into the ground in front of it, slicing through the packed dirt like butter. Its focus was entirely on them as it turned to face them head-on, opening its mouth wide. A tongue coated with that very same purple liquid darted out of its mouth, coming straight for Priscilla.