Chapter 9: 1.7

Jade wished, not for the first time, that at least some of the awfully expensive, debit-inducing, paranoia-acquired tech had survived the fall through realities. She wasn’t even asking for much, just a night vision device and maybe some more clothes.

She also regretted, not for the first time as well, not taking more serious actions to revert her estate of undress. Even if wild plant clothes were out, she still had options. She could have at least tried to ask Chloe nicely, or maybe puppy-eyed her into helping. She could have as well tried to guilt-trip the other woman into taking action to resolve Jade’s state of undress. Even if none of that worked, she could at least pout and pretend she’d done enough.

Her feet and hands hurt, having taken more than once the brunt of Jade’s blind flight. She’d fallen several times and had been entangled in vines more times than she could count. Her calf also hurt. She thought she’d finally seen one of those horned hares that Chloe kept mentioning, even if by seen she meant stepped on it. The vengeful little critter had chased after her and headbutted — horn-butted? — her legs, the pointy horn leaving a gash in her calf.

Worse than vendetta-inclined hares was the… well, she didn’t actually know what they were. She had not yet seen any of them, but the things were fast and almost invisible in the darkness. They would often fly by, sometimes grabbing at her exposed skin with talons or claws, sometimes crashing into her directly sending her sprawling, generally into some nasty patch of vegetation. Or at least they did until in a moment of panic, she thought Wonder Light had left her behind after a nasty fall.

Now, they ran hand in hand. Jade wished she could find it bashful, awkward, or even corny being handled by the other woman, but she was mostly relieved, and a bit guilty. She wasn’t sure if their roles had been reversed, she’d gone back for the other woman.

As the hours passed, the frantic run gave pace to a less chaotic run. The drums continued in the distance, never getting closer or farther. They tried to change directions multiple times, but those flying things that had been delighting in tormenting Jade at every step of the night before Chloe’s intervention descended upon the pair. Clawing, biting, and pushing them in another direction.

That also confirmed that whatever this strange species of bird was, they were being controlled by someone else. That was not normal bird behavior. Unless they were some sort of hive mind or super intelligent social species, and while she was not discounting the possibility, it seemed a bit too far-fetched, even in this situation.

Jade had also lost her spear sometime ago and did not know where the blowgun was. She might have left in their partially abandoned camp.

When night finally turned into day, things turned worse.

Doglike creatures with six legs and long tentacles that ended in rough horny edges. The monsters were large, over four meters each from head to tail, without considering the long dangerous-looking tentacles from their back.

The cunning things would always attack together, one jumping straight at them, while the other circled from behind. Chloe tried to fend them off, but like Jade, the other woman did not know how to use a spear. She tried to stab them, but her form was all wrong, and the creatures easily evaded such attempts.

Like the birds, the monster never hurt them too much. Their preferred method was to whip their tentacles at them, leaving cuts whenever the teeth like horns from the tentacles passed. Jade was sure if the things wanted, they could’ve done far worse than just scratches and thin cuts.

This seemed too elaborate to be a retaliatory attack because of the ambush. Chloe’s theory about the enemy mistaking them for another tribe held some merit, but it felt too elaborate. She had been thinking of blood sport, or someone hunting them for fun, but it did also not make any sense. They saw no one except the monsters keeping them moving. The drums were constant and never approaching. It felt too… ritualistic.

With some additional effort, she tugged at Chloe’s hand.

“Blood spoort. Or ritual.” She said thru pained breaths.

Chloe stared at her for a moment, before nodding slowly, or as slow as running in the forest allowed.

“Pretend weak. Eat. Save strength. Wait chance.” Jade forced out through the pain in her jaw, taking care to enunciate clearly, even if shortening her phrase.

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Chloe just squeezed her hand and nodded.

Frankly, it was a terrible plan. If they could not deal with pursuers here, the chances were that wherever they were being led to would be worse. But Jade could not think of any other plan aside from backtracking, facing the beasts, and trying to find who was hunting them. Without powers, weapons, and no knowledge of how many enemies they were facing.

Like most supers in the entertainment industry, Jade was moderately competent in hand-to-hand combat. She didn’t know any fancy martial style, but the crowd loved when supers, especially females, ditched their powers and brawl out their win. More if in some disgusting environment like mud or a swamp. The crowd’s love meant money, which also meant Jade had done her fair share of punching and being punched while covered in suspicious substances.

Even outside the shows and sports, most supers ditched weapons, unless they were technocrats. Trusting in your special abilities, or just in the might of your physical body was often enough and preferable.

The hours passed, and they ate what little they carried in the pouches. The lack of water was concerning but whoever was leading them, made sure they would not cross water they could drink from.

The pair moved slower as the day wore on, pretending they were more tired than they really were. The attacks continue, and when dusk fell, Jade was a mess of scratches and cuts and bloody fabric. Chloe endured the assault better but consequentially had to deal with more dangerous attacks from the beasts. They would run into her, and bite and claw, tearing parts of her costume that had survived.

When night arrived, the birds returned, but by this point, the pair wasn’t running anymore. The thirst was becoming a real problem. Jade felt weak, and the cold didn’t help. The attacks from the birds while constant were not as dangerous as the day before. Whoever was controlling them wanted them to keep walking, but not die from the many minor injuries.

Dealing with the patches of vegetation became their primary concern. Not being able to see clearly, they ran into every nasty type of vine and creeper. Things that would be dangerous for the local fauna, but to them, it would have been annoying in normal circumstances, not that the current circumstance was anything normal.

The lack of sleep was something else Jade had not considered. Having run an entire night and day, her feet dragged and she could barely keep her eyes open. Chloe wasn’t much better, or maybe the other woman’s acting was good enough to fool even Jade, who had suggested the plan.

Dawn came and took Jade by surprise. Or maybe she’d been sleeping while walking. The night had been a blur, but Jade thought it had been shorter than the night before. They continue to drag themselves, now avoiding the annoying vegetation.

The beasts from the day before stalked them at their side, making sure they didn’t deviate, but they didn’t attack anymore.

When the vegetation ended to reveal stairs made of a dull golden metal covered in vines and vegetation she looked up.

A flight of stairs led ever upwards, and Jade feared they’d go past the canopy. Along the stairs, stood poles forming something akin to spaced balusters without a handrail. On top of each baluster, a different skull bone. She saw many that looked human, but many more that while looked humanoid, clearly weren’t of human origin. The whole thing was old. Some skulls were broken, others missing entirely. Whatever this was, Jade doubted this tribe had created it.

Between each baluster, stood a person. Men and women dressed, or in their case, undressed in similar forms. The pattern covering their body varied, some had circles, other lines. She saw squares and triangles and wavy lines. Some also had bone piercings on their face. The most common placement was around the lips or nose bridge. Some also had huge wooden disks in their ear lobule or lower lips. Bracelets made of colorful pebbles and threads. Tooth necklaces. The women seemed to favor feathers of different colors threaded among their hair and as ornaments above their ears. Men favored headdresses of feathers, some dropping towards their bare chest.

It would have been beautiful if not for the skull path and the obvious lines made from blood running from their mouths to their necks.

The pair looked at each other, and resigned, climbed the stairs.

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