Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Marches, Monsters & Matrons

We’d set out almost as soon as we had our armor, cloaks and packs on. I don’t know how we were meant to hike for hours with all this weight on our backs. Roxi claimed it would help raise my endurance and strength stats without spending points, but I’d lightened my load when she wasn’t looking by slipping the little  I could into my inventory.

We didn’t notice it at the time, but sometime after Paph’s impromptu lesson, while we had been distracted packing he’d disappeared. For someone, for an npc who had all but clung to my side since I’d first logged in this definitely felt out of character.

Well that was until we reached the village’s edge and found him again, along with the Head Matron, half of the other Sisters and a mixed group of orphans. A few seemed to be balls of energy like Paph, while the shyer members of the pack were hiding behind or clinging to the Sisters legs staring at us with wide eyes as we approached.

“Looks like someone is getting a big send off?” Roxi teased, as she playfully nudged me with an elbow. Her eyes were all crinkled with amusement. She had pretty eyes, especially with that makeup.

“I don’t even know most of them!” I grumbled. Ok so we had hero worshipping hyperactive orphan Paph, the nice sister Amy and overbearing head sister who I wasn’t sure if I thought she was nice or scary. I wasn’t sure which, between her and Janus had more ominous quest flags. Then there was the rest who apparently knew my character, but I didn’t know them.

I wasn’t that enthusiastic about stopping for farewells, I already said the pack was heavy, but have you tried stopping and starting with one. Newton’s first law especially applies to heavy packs. 

That bit about the pack might be an excuse… It wasn’t easy staying in character and approach a large crowd waiting for you when everything was telling you to drop everything and run. Generally speaking when you path was blocked by a groups of people waiting for you it wasn’t a good thing. 

For me it usually meant a gang wanting to mug you or a checkpoint either police or military ready to arrest you for contraband or just rob you themselves.

Roxi was slightly in front of me by the time we came to a stop, without realising it until we were standing there I’d unconsciously positioned her between the me and the group. Not that it helped as I awkwardly engaged in smalltalk with over a dozen npcs who thought we had a history. Thankfully my awkwardness was in character, going by their smiles I think the Aisling they knew was particularly shy. While I was mobbed by the orphans and sisters, the head matron borrowed Roxi pulling her aside to talk, then minutes later she traded a slightly shaken Roxi for me.

My turn was largely a repeat of my first talk with her, minus the bug zapping. The Head Matron who I hadn’t caught the name of yet, again gave me the ‘spreading your wings’ speech as she led me away from the gathering. “I wasn’t expecting you to be ready to leave so soon dear, but… It is time, you’re about ready. The hardest thing to teach an orphan is to get over their fear of abandonment, to reach out risking getting hurt again and trust. Sadly we can’t teach you that-”

Every word she’d just said had felt like a punch to the stomach. 

Because she was right.

I lived by myself in the utility shed partially out of choice. Sure, I couldn’t find or afford anywhere better on my own, but when Ms Mitchelles picked me up off the streets and helped me find my feet after my Moms died she had let me live with her. As grateful as I was, I never really opened up to her and I left as soon as could, before she could abandon me. 

“We can’t teach you that, because the only cure is to open up, trust someone and have that trust proven right. I was so relieved when young Paph told me you’d found a friend Dear, I hope you can in time find it in yourself to open up to them about everything and when you need it ask them for help. After talking to Miss Roxadice I feel I am leaving you in safe hands. Good luck and farewell Dear,” she said with a warm but slightly sad smile.

“Oh and Dear! Don’t forget if you need me I am still with you. Here,” she said tapping my chest and then tapping my head she continued with a wry smile, “and maybe the odd dream or two.”

Rejoining everyone, Roxi instantly seemed to pick up on my post-talk dazed state, “You too huh. She always like this? Actually nevermind that, do you need to talk?”

“...”

“Right, I’ll let you think.”

* * *

Thanks to our busy morning, by the time we finally left we were already far behind schedule. After working out what pace I could comfortably keep all day, Roxi matched it and decided that as for toilet breaks we wouldn’t be able to stop until nightfall. I didn’t take many of those as squatting in the bushes by the side of the road was neither pleasant or easy and having to heft my pack onto my back again and regain momentum made it harder.

The gross factor made me especially thankful we passed a clear running stream with plenty of fine grained river sand with which to clean my hands before we had our walking lunch. Pilfered jerky, dried fruit, bread that tasted of sawdust and enough water to replace all the saliva it took to swallow it all down.

Occasionally we passed open fields or over a stream allowing us to refill our waterskins, but for the most part the dirt road we were on was bordered by the same type of trees as the forest surrounding Spot.

Our pace might have been comfortable enough for us to keep walking without stopping, but it was still hard enough to make talking difficult. Roxi didn’t seem as troubled going by her cheerful attempts at conversation, unfortunately I wasn’t able to manage more than a few words before I had to focus on my breathing again.

Although she didn’t seem troubled, that wasn’t to say our death priestess was immune to our march’s hardship. I’d caught her earlier one handedly tugging at her tunic’s collar, loosening the drawstrings and opening it up to cool down, as she ran her other hand through her dark hair. That and furtive glances her way revealed a faint film of sweat that glistened on her skin in the sunlight.

Several hours in I was mentally praying for some form of mount or fast travel. Anything other than this endless hike. By the onset of sunset I was ready to drop and the only thing keeping us going was the need to find a safe spot to stop for then night. Preferably somewhere sheltered with access to freshwater.

Roxi was worried about us getting lost in the dark, but in my opinion it was already too late for that.

The road had disappeared, swallowed by thick green growth that had strangely grown over it. It might not be the most trafficked route, but some of the growth was almost eerie. There were trees that had sprung up in the middle of the road that looked years if not decades old, growth that should have been hacked, chopped or burned clear long before it grew this thick.

Wading our way through the dense undergrowth, we pressed on. Carefully we stepped over the network of thick tripping roots that criss crossed our route until we came upon a stream flowing through the vine engulfed remains of what was once a stone bridge.

With the fading sun setting behind us and our plunge into the dense overgrowth, the forest had become claustrophobicly and starless dark, across the stream was cloaked from our sight and the trees around us loomed over us like people frozen in motion. 

Roxi shrugged off her pack, letting it slide down off her shoulders to forest floor with a heavy thud. “Right, let’s sleep here. We won’t be able to find a better place in this dark, at least here we have freshwater and shelter from any weather.”

I agreed since we lacked better options, but I knew I was going to miss my bed back in the orphanage or even my foam camp bed back outside the game before the night was done. Aside from the creepy vibes I was getting from this strange forest, there wasn’t really anywhere you could lie down without multiple roots in your back.

In the end after a quick dinner of cold rations, Roxi and I settled for sleeping upright wrapped in our blankets with trees at our backs and only our packs to cushion against their rough bark.

Now you might have thought I wouldn’t get any sleep like this, but ultimately I’d slept in worse places and eventually today’s exhaustion won out.

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Eventually my heavy eyelids flickered shut and...

 

* * *

If reading stained fantasy paperbacks or long archived web fiction has taught me anything, it is a mistake to fall asleep in the wild without someone awake to keep watch for threats and danger. Unfortunately for us, there was only two in our party and we were dead tired by the time we made camp. 

The funny thing if we had remembered to place the warding totems we’d brought with us, our lack of a look out wouldn’t be a problem.

So in hindsight, I shouldn’t have been surprised when I was jolted awake by Roxi with her hand cupped over my mouth and a great big filthy lizard that looked like a goanna or komodo dragon lying dead only a foot away.

“Shhh” Roxi hissed as she released my mouth and directed my gaze to the tree across from us. “There are more in the trees, the UI says they’re a herbivorous monster called a Basiphusis. Unfortunately for us the venom they spit turns animals and people into plants and trees. We need to get out of here,” she whispered directly into my fur covered ear, tickling me with her warm breath. 

Thankfully it was dark because thanks to how sensitive my feline ears were, Roxi had set my cheeks ablaze. 

Stupid Aisling, now is not the time to get flustered by your friend gripping your jaw or whispering in your ear, we’re in real danger. Peril even. 

Letting her eyes do the talking, Roxi glanced at her pack, then mine, before turning it towards the ruined bridge fording the stream. I knew what she meant, it was pretty clear.

Grab our packs and run.

An agitated hiss came from the trees as Roxi quietly slipped back to where her pack lay and began carefully lifting it onto her back. Following her lead I heaved my pack up onto my back, as it came up I felt the tug of resistance as it caught on something in the dark.

Snap!

Fuck! That is not good…  A roaring hiss cut through the air like the sound of a ruptured gas line, along with the sound of sharp claws on bark. Our heads whipped back around towards the trees, to catch the fearsome sight of many goanna-like lizards descending from the canopy down tree trunks and out of the undergrowth.

“RUN!” I screamed, pushing off the tree I’d been leaning against and throwing my motion forward towards the ford. I was not a moment too soon either as another basiphusis leapt down at me from the same tree.

Twisting round I threw my blanket at it like a net, sending crashing to the ground in a tangled mess. 

Grabbing me by the hand Roxi pulled me behind her as she crossed the stream, hopping from rock to rock.

Evidently the stream was no barrier to the monsters as they swarmed across, their sideways splayed legs acting almost like paddles.

Wraith-like chains flew over my shoulder wrapping two of the beasts stopping them in their tracks, but the rest not deterred by Roxi’s curses, clambered right over their arrested brethren. “Aisling if you’re going to do something, now would be the time please,” Roxi yelled over her shoulder as she released my hand.

Shit, what to do? What to do? Are they nocturnal? What if… 

“Roxi! Cover your eyes on three! One! Two! Three!” I yelled, before clenching my eyes shut and throwing a ball of explosive light behind me. 

Even with my eyes closed the world flashed white.

Eyes open again we stumbled forward, speeding up as we recovered our vision. With every step the sounds of lizards hissing and claws on rock and rock grew more distant. 

After a few more minutes of running we burst out of the forest and found ourselves in a starlit meadow. And back on the road!  Barely slowing our pace we kept running along the path and over gentle hills, until the forest was out of sight and then some.

Finally we collapsed onto the soft grass beside the road as we gasped for air. Wriggling free of our packs, we rolled off them into a heap against each other.

We made it.

We’re alive! An aria of hysterical laughter escaped us as a flood of relief washed away the tension.

Squirming, I futilely tried to sit up, before my burning muscles gave out and I again fell limply against Roxi. 

“I can’t get up.”

“Me neither.”

Staring up at the stars, I waited for sleep to claim me. 

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