Chapter 24: Chapter 24 – The Whooke Cave

A hand emerged from behind the tree and gripped around the neck of the hiding Whooke. Oddly enough, the creature didn’t shriek until its neck was twisted sideways. But by then, it could only shriek at death.

The hand dropped the Whooke and revealed an expressionless Adrianne, who turned fuming in the next moment.

“Dammit! This isn’t the one either!”

Adrianne didn’t bother skinning the animal. Novus said that even he wouldn’t carry the Whooke’s defenceless hides. She turned to another forest area and wandered off, aggressively chopping through the brush.

Behind her, Novus scouted out with his Divine Sense and gauged Adrianne’s presence-concealing training.

She learns fast. It’s only been an hour, and she’s getting the hang of controlling her emotions enough to blend into her surroundings. If it weren’t for her temper flaring out, I wouldn’t be able to track her with this body’s terrible senses.

“Come out, Whookes!”

Adrianne’s shout made Novus sigh, but he didn’t bother admonishing her since there weren’t any Whookes nearby.

I wonder what they took that made her so furious.

…

Time passed as Novus and Adrianne travelled their way to a rough path of wolf-like making. Upon seeing the grooves in the ground, Adrianne felt a sense of both fear and anger welling inside her.

“Is this from when you went on your rampage?”

Novus questioned the obviously frazzled Adrianne, and she nodded her head with a slow strength.

“Yeah…”

As he traced his finger along the sword marks slashed against the ground and trees, Novus bent down. There were marks of battle everywhere as Adrianne must have fought against all the wolves in the forest.

That’s strange. If we were in the wolves’ area, the whookes wouldn’t have dared to venture near this place. Did the wolves flee after Adrianne passed through here?

Adrianne also knelt beside some sword marks. Unknown to her, a flaming presence sparked in her eyes that just as soon disappeared with a blink. Then, a hand clapped her arm, bringing her up to her feet.

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“Ah!”

“Come on. We have some work to do, remember? No time to be dwelling on something you’ve already overcome.”

Adrianne nodded her head. Novus was right; she had already overcome it. It was time to move on and keep pushing forward so she could get strong enough to stay sane.

“My guess is that we are almost at the den. That should hold all the Whookes and the items they’ve taken.”

Adrianne's stronger resolve shone in her eyes, and she followed Novus’ lead.

…

The pair followed the battle scars and the Whooke’s combined path until they reached a cave opening that led deeper underground.

Something made Adrianne shiver, but with Novus’ reassuring presence, she made her way into the cave. With Novus making sure Adrianne kept her presence hidden, the two remained undetected as they entered deep into the cave.

Where are the Whooke sentries?

The center of the cave answered Novus' question. On a ledge that put them far above any of the gathered whookes below, Novus & Adrianne watched with mixed feelings.

For Adrianne, a memory bubbled up to the surface. The cave center was very familiar. It was the same cave where she fought a life and death battle with a wolf twice her size. With her mind preoccupied, Adrianne nearly let her concealed presence slip as she looked at the group of Whookes all dancing around the center creature of the cave.

Who! Who! Who!

WHO!

Compared to the lithe figures of the common Whookes, the center Whooke in the middle was four times the size and thrice as wide. Its fatty skin bounced along with each dancing movement as the gathered treasures on its skin bounced alongside each beat of messed-up Whooke music.

A Whooke Chieftain? This place hardly has the mana density to support one of these creatures! How did it get here?

Novus’ question was unexpectedly answered.

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