Chapter 42: Forty

“There’s nothing here, just some blood. I’d say she was killed by a predator that was attracted by the smoke bomb.”

 The sound of voices woke me from a deep sleep, and I sat up on my haunches about to let out a soft yip to alert the others to my location, when their words penetrated my sleep fogged brain. 

“Yo, Killian, you owe me two gold. Foxy didn’t last two days,” the boisterous sound of the dwarven fighter called out. 

Shuffling closer to the gap in the rock, I peered out to see the archer crouch down in the spot where the Komodo dragon had been hours earlier. I’d already skinned the lizard and harvested the useable parts, before burying the remains so it didn’t attract any predators. 

Laughing, the archer tossed two coins towards the dwarf who caught them with a grin. 

“I’m surprised she made it through the first night, I thought for sure we’d lose her during the raider ambush.” 

“Nah, Dorian was watching her like a hawk. He bet on three days, so the little bastard was doing his damnedest to keep her alive till then.” 

Slowly, I backed away from the gap in the stone, lowering my head as the pair continued talking. They were betting about how long it would take before I died? 

“Lets head back to the others, she’s probably already revived.” Killian said his voice sounding further away. 

I didn’t move as the sound of the pair riding away grew fainter, my stomach was twisted into knots as the men's words reverberated through my head. Anger and hurt coursed through me, while a small part of me understood their doubts about my survivability. I was weak, I couldn’t fight and knew very little about this world I was living in. 

All I’ve done since I got here is stay in my lab, or follow other people around. The one time I went out alone I got myself killed, and the first thing I did was go running to my brother for help. 

 I can’t always depend on Markion or other people to help me out all the time. 

A soft nudge at my side shook me from my thoughts, and I peered down at the feline lizard who was nuzzling its head against me. The sight of the little creature reminding me of the other animals who’d been left behind at the camp, along with my tent.

 I suppose my tent and bound items will return to me, eventually. The same with Arion, if I revoke permission for the others to interact with him, then Arion should revert to a token, based on what I was told at the bank. I’m sure Zosimos will show up eventually, and Markion will look after my Scorchers or even kill them, so they revert to tokens once enough time passes without me returning. 

I can’t stay here in the middle of the desert, so once it gets darker I’ll need to find a trail marker. It should be easy enough with how bright they glow, from there, I can decide what I’ll do. 

Once the light shining through the crevice faded away, I stood and picked up the newly named Leonidas by the scruff of his neck. When the crevice had been widened enough for me to fit through, I slipped out of my hiding place. Peering around, I searched for any signs of a trail marker and after walking around to the far side of the rock I saw a blurry splotch in the distance which looked like it could be one of the glowing pillars. 

Placing the still unidentified creature on the ground, I gave it a nudge toward the distant pillar.

That's our goal, Leo. I yipped, jogging forward a few steps and glancing back to see if it would follow me. 

I hadn’t bound the creature using a dominance bond as I did with the Scorchers, the spark of intelligence in Leo’s golden eyes made me forgo any attempts at a forced bond. Instead, I wanted to form a mutual bond with the creature, like the one Yuki had with most of her tamed creatures. The first steps had already been taken with my providing it food and a name, now it would be up to Leo to either follow or leave. 

Leo stared at me unmoving for what felt like an eternity, before something seemed to click into place between us and the lizard-like creature bounded forwards to rub its head up under my neck.     

When we reached the pillar, I stared up at the two words etched into it with arrows pointing west to a place called Ain, and north to Hathus.

North or West? I mused, as I knelt next to the pillar and poured some water into a bowl for Leo. 

After giving the lizard-like creature a small chunk of beef jerky, I grabbed an apple for myself, which I ate with quick bites. 

Do I split off completely and go my own way, or do I continue on to Hathus to rejoin the others? No, not the others, Markion. I’ll go to Hathus, and meet up with Markion. After that I’ll go off alone, while they go to the dungeon. I decided as I packed away the empty bowl and shifted back into my four legged form. 

Leo and I ran through the night, encountering no one aside from a rather angry cobra that proved no match for the two of us. Leo had quickly devoured the snake after we’d killed it, though not until after he’d ‘offered’ the prey to me first. I wasn’t so desperate for food that I was willing to eat a snake, and happily left it for my companion. 

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Surprisingly, Leo ate the entire snake, leaving not a single piece behind. Which had worried me at first as I closely monitored him for any signs that the venom from the cobras head which he’d eaten first was affecting him. Just as with the Scorcher venom, the little reptilian cat showed no signs of being affected by the venom. I almost stopped right then, wanting to examine Leo and test his apparent immunity further. 

Even after dawn bathed the desert in a soft warm glow, we continued to run through the desert, until the heat became too much to endure. Stopping beside one of the large stone pillars, I stared down at the ground intently pushing the rock hardened earth aside, creating a tunnel that went down with a slight incline. I continued tunneling down under the earth until I felt the ground under my paws begin to cool. After taking a brief break to recover my depleted power, I continued tunneling downwards, planning to dig a little deeper before widening the tunnel to create a space where Leo and I could nap. 

As I burrowed deeper into the earth with my magic, the ground beneath my paws started to crumble and shift. Panic filled me as the floor of my tunnel fell away, and I tried to scramble backwards, but was impeded by Leo who’d been following behind me as I dug out the tunnel. 

With a high-pitched yelp, I fell through the air several feet before landing with a hard thud, and was then crushed by Leo who landed on top of me. Letting out a low whine of pain, I staggered to my feet, knocking the lizard off my back as I did so. Darkness surrounded me, and even with my current forms natural dark vision I could not see anything in the surrounding space. 

Conjuring a ball of flame which I held in place over my head, I scanned my surroundings and, after turning in a slow circle concluded I’d fallen into a much larger tunnel than the one I’d been digging. The tunnel was big enough for my human form to stand up in, and possibly even my brother as well. The sides of the tunnel were smooth, and shaped in a half circle, with the bottom of the tunnel flat out. 

It looks like a subway tunnel, just without the tracks. 

A low clattering noise echoing down the tunnel, sent me rushing to a prone Leo’s side where I grabbed him by the scruff and darted to the side wall. Pushing at the earth, I created a hole just large enough for the two of us to hide in and put out the flames I was using for light, as a glow appeared somewhere further in the tunnel to our right. As the light drew closer, I worked franticly to close the opening to our hiding place. 

The clattering sound grew louder, and soon the sound of hooves clomping rhythmically along the ground accompanied it. Peering out of the small hole I left in the wall, I watched as several pairs of horse legs trotted past, followed by wooden wheels. 

One, two, three… six… nine, twenty three. I counted as each wagon passed our hiding place, and concluded I must be inside a tunnel used to transport goods through the desert. 

I’d been curious why we didn’t see more people traveling through the desert, and now I knew why. 

We didn’t see people traveling through the desert, because they were traveling under it. The question I have now though, is why didn’t we use the tunnel? Is there some restriction on who can enter them? 

Once the sound of the wagon faded, I crept out from my hiding spot and recalled my flame. Leo still looked a little disoriented, but appeared to be recovering as he trudged after me. Those wagons were headed in the direction I came from, so I’m guessing they must be going to Valonia if those were wagons carrying trade goods. 

Should I try to dig my way back up to the surface, or do I see where this tunnel leads? I pondered, turning in the direction the wagon had come from. 

“Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?” I declared with a false sense of brevity as I once more picked up Leo by his scruff and began running down the tunnel. 

I soon discovered the wagons weren’t the only travelers in the tunnel, and I was forced into hiding three more times as groups of horses rode by at a fast pace. On one occasion, I’d come to a section of the tunnel that opened out in a large chamber, which appeared to be a resting area of sorts where a group of people had stopped to give their mounts water. After I carefully passed by the resting chamber, I came across a group of people who were walking through the tunnel. Seeing the group I decided to stop hiding and simply passed them to see how they would react. When they walked past with only a joking comment about wishing they had four legs to speed up their own journey, I concluded that the tunnel must be for public use. 

Reaching a second large chamber that was empty of occupants, I retook my human form and checked my pouch to see if Arion’s token was there. Seeing that my horse was indeed present, along with my tent and other items, I breathed a sigh of relief. The only thing that appeared to be missing were my Scorchers, which I hoped Markion was looking after. 

After reforming Arion, and his tack, I made a startling discovery. All the items I’d had packed in the saddle bags were gone, with the exception of the items that were bound to me. I’d lost all my extra food, wagasa and most of my alchemy supplies along with all the other items I’d kept in the bags. 

“Hopefully the saddle bag just spat it all out, and the others were able to pick it up.” I mumbled as I slung the saddle bags over Arion’s back and secured them. 

Leaning down, I scooped up Leonidas and held him up for Arion to see. 

“Arion, meet Leo,” I said to the horse, who let out a loud snort in response. 

Introductions finished, I placed Leo on top of the saddle bags, before mounting the horse myself. Once I was settled, I reached back and grabbed the little reptilian feline, depositing him on my lap. 

“Now, let's see where this tunnel leads shall we?” 

 

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