Chapter 14: Walk in the Park

The late spring weather kept the breeze cool, but not cold. The sound of the wind and birds through the trees was relaxing. Best of all, she wasn't stuck in a tiny castle room. Although tons of stressful shit had happened since arriving in Utgard and she had been walking all day, Rebecka was enjoying the peaceful trip. Dyr and Rifa had been taking turns riding the cart occasionally requesting a break to tend to Baby the horse. Sigyn, meanwhile had continued to follow them all silently, her hoodie still tied about her waist.

As the day ended, the sun grew low and the trees began to thin out until they were gone. The forest was visible in the distance, but directly in front of the party sat a broad expanse of sand dunes with the fractured remains of an old concrete building at an angle and no signs of the thick trees that one would expect for the area.

Everyone stopped walking.

"This isn't right," Rifa said from next to the wagon.

What do you think, Aetty?

Temporal spacial anomaly detected, Aettartangi said.

Meaning?

This portion of the forest has been transported somewhere else and matter from another world is here in its place, Aettartangi replied mechanically.

"Aetty says this part of your world is missing and this patch of desert was dumped here from somewhere else," Rebecka said as she turned around.

Dyr sat in the cart, the reigns for Baby loose in his hands. Both he and Rifa seemed uneasy, while Sigyn looked just as annoyed as she had when Rebecka bumped into her at the Temple. She glared down at Rebecka then marched around the cart, walking into the mysterious desert with her bare feet. The big dragon woman, her gold and cream colored scales bright in the evening sun, knelt down to scoop some of the sand up and let it run through her scaly fingers. She looked to her right, then her left before letting out a huff as she got back to her feet to walk back to the party.

"We should make camp, but not here," Sigyn growled.

They turned the wagon around on the road, doubling back a little. A nice clearing, sheltered by the forest, served as a space to pull the cart off the road. The knights saw to Baby, while Sigyn cleaned out an old fire pit ringed with scorched stones, and Rebecka gathered dried wood and sticks. By the time the sun set everyone had settled in to rest without much conversation between them. That was, until Dyr decided to try to talk to Sigyn while she set up an iron tripod pot holder over the already lit fire.

"So...you said you've been on a quest before?" The blonde elf asked meekly as he scratched his blond facial hair.

Sigyn replied with a snort. She wordlessly stepped over to the wagon to look for the cooking pot and other utensils.

"I don't think she want's to talk about it," Rebecka warned.

Dyr turned to look at her. Both he and Rifa had removed the upper portions of their armor and stored them by the wagon before taking seats on a fallen log. He glanced down at the fire, watching the flames dance for a moment, before making eye contact again.

"Would you really send us back?" Dyr asked softly.

Rebecka shook her head. "No. Aettartangi thinks you'd get killed or something. I can't let that happen."

They can both use magic which would be an asset to us on this mission, it said flatly.

She nodded then added, "And it says y'all can use magic, so it wants you on the quest."

"I can only use basic healing spells and protection magic," Dyr said. He looked over to Rifa. "What about you?"

Rifa hung her head. "I was on mage track before I became a knight. I can use some offensive and defensive magic as well as healing. I usually fortify my weapons and armor."

Rebecka leaned sideways to get a better look at her. Rifa had no visible signs of the wounds from the day before, but was close to tears. She hunched forward, her long tan ears low, with her hands knotted against one another tight in her lap.

"What's wrong?" Rebecka asked.

Rifa bit her lip as she choked up. "If I had just stuck with it, become a mage, never become a knight, I wouldn't have hurt your friend and wouldn't be here."

"You had no way of knowing what would happen in the future. None of us do. I know it's hard not to dwell on the past. Gods know I've got problems with that, myself. Just do your best and keep moving forward," Rebecka said.

Rifa wiped her tears with the back of her hand as Dyr gently patted her back. "Thank you, again for your mercy."

"No need to thank me. I don't get why the kings were so quick to write you both off," Rebecka said.

Dyr took a deep breath then let it out slowly, hanging his own head. "In my case, it's because I dishonored the kingdom by hurting you, specifically. Rifa hurt your friend, which is the same as hurting you by our laws. No one is to harm the Blade Wielder."

"But I wasn't the Blade Wielder when any of that happened."

"It doesn't matter. The moment you accepted Aettartangi, any harm done to you became a crime against the crown," he explained.

"Wait what?"

"HA! I finally found the fucking pot!" Sigyn shouted loudly from the wagon.

Rebecka looked up in time to see dozens of figures rushing out of the forest behind Sigyn, swords in hand. The dragon woman reacted immediately, using the large round bottomed pot like a boxing glove. Her uppercut sent one of the attackers flying into a somewhat distant tree. She dropped the pot then disarmed another attacker in the most literal way: by tearing their arm out of their socket and knocked a third person out with the severed limb.

"Protect Baby and the supplies," Rebecka shouted as she grabbed her shotgun from nearby. She still had both of her throwing axes in their holsters built into the sides of her pants. It only took her a second to unsheathe both blades with a flick of her thumbs.

Warning: Hostile forces detected, Aettartangi said.

Kinda late with the warning. How many are there?

Approximately twenty humanoids. No magic detected.

You don't know for sure how many there are?

There are twenty humanoids surrounding the camp, four of which are engaged in combat with Sigyn, one of which is lodged in a tree unconscious, Aettartangi clarified with more than a bit of irritation in its voice.

"Surrounding us?!" Rebecka barked.

"Give us your shit!" Someone behind Rebecka shouted.

We're gonna need to talk about why you didn't tell me these shits were here, Aetty, especially since you said they weren't using any magic, Rebecka thought with a scowl.

Magic detected, Aettartangi said.

Rifa and Dyr crouched by Baby and the wagon, a gentle sphere of light surrounding themselves, the horse, and the cart. Rifa nodded to Rebecka. At least the supplies and horse would be safe.

Rebecka was barely able to dodge as another attacker, sans a leg, was thrown by Sigyn over the fire and into several people who had been moving through the darkened woods behind the camp. There was no point in trying to talk it out. These people obviously meant to kill them even if they gave them all the supplies. Still, she wasn't sure where to start in the chaos. She'd fought people before, yes, but never actually taken a life. She'd never killed anyone before.

Use me! Aettartangi screamed.

She did her best to ignore the weapon's shrieking in her head, still unsure of what to do, but certain she didn't want to use Aettartangi against people armed only with makeshift swords.

Then, someone grabbed Rebecka's backpack.

No!

Rebecka lowered her shotgun, grabbed her right axe, and threw it, square into the center of the man's back, dropping him immediately. A glint of light off metal to her right made Rebecka turn, narrowly missing being caught by a homemade sword. She fired into the gut of the swordsman. Chunks of the man's pieced together armor scattered from his body as they did nothing to protect him from the buckshot.

"Fuck this man!" Someone shouted.

"It's not worth it!" Another screamed.

Before she knew it, the remaining attackers were retreating into the shadows. Several tripped over logs and remains of their comrades.

"Get back here you pieces of shit!" Sigyn bellowed.

"I...just...killed...two..." Rebecka stuttered as she stared at the two dead men at her feet.

Why didn't you use me? Aettartangi asked angrily.

She felt her own shock over having killed someone and anger from Aettartangi not warning them in the first place mixing with the blade's anger and annoyance over not being used in the fight. She wanted to scream and throw up at the same time. It was confusing and overwhelming. So much so that she nearly shot Dyr in the face when he touched her shoulder. She dropped the gun to the ground where it, thankfully, didn't discharge.

"Are you alright, Blade Wielder?"

"I just..." She didn't know what to say. She wanted to scream for sure, but wasn't sure how much of that was her own emotions and how much of it was Aettartangi being pissed she hadn't even tried to use it against the attackers.

Sigyn snorted behind them. "I guess this was a shitty camp site, too. I doubt they'll try again but, godsdamn it. They got blood on my jeans. If I find those assholes, I'm tearing the rest of their arms off."

This journey was never going to be a walk in the park, Rebecka. I have killed before. I'm skilled at it. I enjoy it. Why did you not use me? Aettartangi spat.

She shook her head then walked to the dead man who had tried to steal her bag. She had to place her boot on his back in order to free her axe. Then, she rolled him over to get her bag. She put slipped it over her shoulders before picking up the shotgun.

"Blade Wielder?" Dyr asked.

At least let me dispose of the bodies. I can use them as fuel so you can continue to walk without fatigue, Aettartangi said.

No wonder she hadn't felt tired. It had modified her body without asking again. Gods did she hate that. She held in a scream.

"Sigyn, keep watch," Rebecka said.

"You actually want to stay here tonight?" Sigyn asked with an incredulous snort.

"Y'all are staying here. I'm going to have a chat with Aettartangi, alone."