Every bounced on elastic knees, dodging sticks, and twigs just like the rest, even crouching under a branch that Sonne had been so kind as to bend out of their way. Pressing on through the darkness, the lot traveled in their own yellowed cascade. The porcelain girl held small personal bags to her person, light and airy, while Al adjusted the straps on his weighted over-the-shoulder bag, pulling a support around the waist.
“Hey, so I was meaning to ask you Al” Every started, giggling to herself, Al pressed on, his eyes flickering to the left and then back.
“Well, truly I was just curious about some stuff, if you don’t mind that is” the girl asked, “I had/ have some questions about… certain things.” She seemed abashed, perhaps overly shy, but with a tone like someone who was unafraid to ask even the most heinous of questions.
Al was worried for a second, concerned that the girl may ask him a question about something regarding copulation, or things of that nature.
However, Every continued “what exactly do you pea… people do out in the woods all day? I mean, we all come from the city, life looks very different from what we saw back in your village… town.” Sonne cleared her throat towards the younger girl’s remarks, Every looked over Al to the larger woman, “what!?” she asked.
Al looked in at himself partially contemplating, partially confused, yet he smiled at the question, a hint of a grin. It was odd, the boy thought, that people like these would have such questions at all, especially for someone like him. Their elegance clashed with his dirty livelihood, but at least they might find the drastic juxtaposition somewhat interesting. Plus, his life wasn’t all that bad before, well before all this, for all that he knew was all he had ever known, from a young age, the woods and the shadows of the forest itself were his home, his comfort.
“Sure,” Al spoke through a dry and cracked voice, which smoothed out as he raised it over their ambient crunching.
“Well, I don’t know about any other places, but shaded grove, and to a lesser extent the darkened woods.” He took a breath, “but it was mostly all about hunting, fighting, building, protecting.” He paused again gesturing with his hands “see the land had been sick for a long time, well before I was born, the elders had always insisted that it had something to do with extra-humans…” He paused looking over to Sonne, who shifted her eyes for a mere second.
Al trailed off then continued “uh, I don’t know how true that is, but the sickness made farming nearly impossible. So, our food consisted primarily of roots, and mushrooms, gathered from the thick wildness of swamp oaks, and oh, we also hunted all sorts of animals for meat and materials.” He paused yet again, Every nodding idly up and down with a swiftness, as the lot of them ducked under another branch.
“Ah, but when I came of age, life was all about fortifying the village and building the wall, all to protect from twisted animals that eventually made their way towards our town, and eventually the twisted people that came after…” He sighed “so lots of surviving and preparing for surviving, essentially.”
Every’s nodding continued, fueled by half attention, half excitement, after talking with someone who was abstractly different. “Is that where you got all those cute little pink scars from?” Sonne grunted, interrupting the young girl’s musing. “Well then, how do hay roofs work when it rains?” She shot off question after question, some hard-hitting ones mixed in with jabs of mild curiosity.
“Yeah” Al started his eyes widening, his mouth straightening at the girl’s deluge of words. “Animals mostly” he replied, “rarely scars from the twisted… as people usually don’t survive wounds from those things, the hay repels rain surprisingly well, although you do have to change it periodically, what are the roofs made out of where you guys come from?” He asked, “Well the capital is almost completely stone mixed in with some timber, walls, roofs everything, the inner kingdom’s city contains some other elemental masonry, but I don’t know the specifics.” Every beamed as she scratched the back of her head, a face so bright it could almost drown out the dark.
“Can’t wait for you to see it” she continued, cheeks puffed high, “yeah me too” Al replied, casting a sidelong gaze laced with a small smile, he shyly itched at his arm, while adjusting digging straps.
The party walked, and walked, and continued to walk for some time, till trickling bits of telltale light began their burning through the trees. Sparks of light cutting through thick dense foliage, sending little foxes running through the brush. Al did not know how long they had been traveling, why they had left in such a hurry, or when they would all be able to rest again. Obviously, their hasty departure had something to do with a would-be pursuing entity or force, perhaps a deadline, although Al couldn’t quite figure out what exactly they were running from. The boy had just felt the boldness of his heart, and the strength of his bones returning, only for his rest to be dashed away in an instant, Al guessed he still had a few days left in him before Sonne would be forced to drag his unconscious body. Hiking, the group pushed up a small hill, extending out wide on either side, meandering around thickened oak trunks. Morning rays of sun began peaking their brimming heads somewhere off in the distance, flowing trails basking in yellowed morning light.
Right as Al was getting comfortable with his own feet and the rhythm of their movement, Sonne crouched, Argjend suddenly doing the same, instantly falling to knees, Galena copied them with her back still facing, somehow sensing their trepidation, light completely disappearing from her palm. The witch fell to a crouch, trying to preserve her robes, Al looked back at the older man who brought a finger to his lips, meeting the younglings’ gazes.
Two sets of eyes turned to meet Sonne’s, shooting them a remark before turning to address Galena primarily, “Shh, something is coming” the half orc’s nostrils flared, eyes darting all around, practically spinning from their bush bound position at the crest of the hill. Sonne shuffled up towards the witch, everyone gradually following suit, “two maybe three” Argj’s voice came from behind, soft, guttural, a whisper of wind. Blades were silently unsnapped from the old warriors back sheathes, as he prepared himself, Sonne doing the same, with the smaller blade on her hip.
“Definitely three” the orc said, head tilting off to the side, a blank expression moving across the large warrior’s face as she listened like an animal. Al and Every looked at each other, a confused mask plastered across their visages.
“Approaching fast, southeast, quick duck down” Sonne said, lowering her palm to the side, everyone flattening themselves at the signal, barely peeking over the grounded foliage. Shaded, the party lay hidden from the track that ran below, shielded by the sheer breadth of the hill. A second passed, Al barely heard it, placing his own hand on blade, the boy’s brow furrowed, head moving to the side. He felt it more than heard it, a dense rumbling bludgeon of pressure, crushing through the air just a ways off, the force grew stronger, the thing grew closer. Al looked to Every who returned his eyes with a frightened gaze, he didn’t know if she could feel it, but he resumed his hearing nonetheless. A handful of seconds passed this time, the rumbling could be felt by all, reverberating through the firm ground, stampeding sounds growing louder, ever closer.
Seconds more, until the very ground beneath them trembled, a torrent of air bent oaks and uprooted brush, deafening sounds of wind and sky rang the listeners minds. It was overwhelming but for a split second, and only just, the shadows were all visible, visible in a blink, flowing from their cloud of turmoil and flashing speed. Just the middle-up was available to the eye, three midnight carriages topped with thorned crowns made of swirling black metal, pulled by six midnight horses each. They moved faster than anything Al had ever seen in his life, faster than an arrow, the horses’ legs didn’t move but produced thunder in their wake. A burst of darkness, followed by a roar that pushed and bent the forest itself. In the blink of an eye the three shaded forms were already racing away, only a tornado of dust left behind, earth trampled to stone, hoof marks ground into bedrock, the witnessing party looked on stunned, as the forest returned to its natural state. Mending and replacing the silence with its natural bustle.
The group stood once more, brushing themselves off, all looking to one another silently, addressing what they saw in their own ways. “Well, that can’t be good” Argjend laughed, crass and hissed a noise that broke the quiet and grated the nerves.
Boots and shoes turned lightly in the dirt, as they made their way in newfound silence. A group of mildly rattled travelers walking and traversing the forest floor for what felt like hours. Burning eyes rose to watch them as the sun illuminated the forest with shafts of solid gold. Witches, warriors, and orcs, marched a party of five crunching and hissing, stepping down to an overgrown track.
Galena practically floated down to the dusty road, as Al and Every were aided like damsels, grasping Sonne’s outstretched hand for guidance. Argjend appeared below without any rhyme or reason, yet they continued the trek, boots walking to the tune of singing birds, and croaking bog hoppers. Soon the sounds of the wilds were replaced with a different kind of sound, noises of a higher caliber. Snaking, the band of misfits headed down the track, walled in by mudded sheets on either side, held together by sprouting roots and other vegetation. Their path led vaguely in the direction of the outer forests, or so Galena hoped to herself, still heading their journey. Sounds of different kinds grew louder, the surrounding area became cleaner in turn, groomed perhaps, until their boots and shoes were striking cobble instead of squishy earth.
Hustle and bustle of
humanity yet foreign, rang itself out, bursting forth as the group made their
way through a nearly ten-foot tall, cobbled wall, which had conveniently been
obscured by the forests still staunching grasp. Arched, rusted metal of all
different polishes made up their entrance way, stone struts topped with little
barbs and nasty things. Angry looking although the alabaster white of the
masonry patchwork was rather inviting. Walking in, Al’s eyes went wide, jaw
growing slack yet his teeth held firm, still clenched.
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