Early the next morning, the little bit of rain that fell overnight still leaving a gleaming reflection in the cobblestones, Cobal made his way to the merchant guild once more, his sealed letter in his pocket. The same man as the night before was still present and hailed Cobal over. “Here’s the boy that’ll be delivering your letter for you,” he said, pointing at the young man standing next to him. The kid couldn’t have been much older than fifteen. “Are you sure you can get all the way to Miranji safely?”
The boy nodded. “I’m pretty sure.”
Cobal handed him the letter and pulled him aside. “Once you’re across the border, if you run into trouble, give this note to someone of importance.” Cobal handed him a secondary note, a written order from him as the prince. “Most soldiers should be able to help you out. But if possible, stick to minding your own.” Cobal also handed him two more gold pieces. “If a reply comes from my friend, I’ll pay well for it.”
The kid nodded. “You can count on me, sir.”
“Very well, safe travels.” He patted the boy on the back and the boy left in a hurry.
Cobal thanked the guild members that helped him out and made his way back to the inn. Arriving there, he found Mana and Eliana waiting outside. They all left their heavy packs inside and told the innkeeper to keep their room reserved for a few days as they would probably be back shortly.
“Ready to set out?” Eliana asked. She stretched out her arms and Cobal could hear her neck crack. She let out a deep breath and watched it evaporate into the cold morning air.
Cobal nodded. “Just had to send a letter to Dionil, asking him about some things we encountered.”
“If there’s anyone that knows what could be happening it’s that old fart.” Eliana said.
Cobal nodded. He did wonder why Dionil sent them to meet up with Eliana. She’d been an interesting personality, but up until now she hadn’t really shown much knowledge of what iis going on with these cultists. Either there’s more information she has that she has been hiding from them, or Dionil just thought her tenacity would be helpful. Either way, Cobal shook off the little bit of worry that came over him and joined the other two as they traveled to the outskirts of town and into the forested area to the north. The gradual change in elevation came with a slow drop in temperature, but the effort it took to keep walking at a decent pace compensated for it and by midday, Cobal was really working up a sweat. The other two were off much worse. Cobal had his training at the palace and although he’d definitely been in better shape in the past, he was at least used to this. Mana was a scholar primarily, incredible with magic for a complete beginner, but far from a soldier. Back in her old world, she’d just take carriages everywhere. Or for long distances they would use what were basically massive metal flying carriages. Cobal wasn’t sure if that one was just her messing with him, metal was way too heavy to fly. Eliana was strong and her arms could probably crush a man to death, but stamina wasn’t her forte. Either way, all three of them were thankful when lunchtime came around. They found a nice place in the forest with a fallen over fir tree where they all sat down to rest. The ground was mostly undisturbed where they’d walked so far, but the bandits weren’t seen this close to town. Their plan was to go quite a bit into the forest and then hopefully find a decent high point to look down from. There was a tall ledge with a good view just two more hours from where they set up camp that was likely a good starting point.
“So what do you think is really going on?” Eliana asked after finishing her bread. “You’re the smart one of the three of us, after all.”
Mana smiled. “Well, I’m not as knowledgeable about the things we can find in your world as you both are, so I don’t know how useful my input is.” She looked off into the distance. “But if I were to guess, the two events here are related. Either the creature is showing up to protect the people from the bandits, it’s working for them, or it does end up being separate. But it started showing up around the same time so I doubt it’s unrelated. And that all is assuming there really is a creature, and it’s not something else. There was a whole lot of folklore in my old world about strange creatures living in secluded areas, like giant hairy humans, but they were never really proven. As interesting as that stuff is, in our old world there was often a much more mundane explanation for strange sightings. Having said that, your world differs from mine quite a bit, and things that were fiction back home – like elves and magic and pirates – are normal here. So I think the best we can do is go out and find something substantial in the forest.”
Cobal nodded. “We do have to be careful. We don’t want to get spotted by the bandits and this creature while we’re going around. I know we’re taking this route so we don’t waltz straight into their perceived territory, but it still doesn’t hurt to stay guarded from here on out.”
The other two agreed and after finishing their lunch, they continued onwards. Only two hours later, a little bit past midday, did they find the ledge they wanted to find.
Cobal stood near the edge, staring over the forest. So far there wasn’t much in sight.
“See anything on your end?” He asked Eliana and Mana. Neither of them had much luck initially. They looked around for what felt like an hour but was probably a lot shorter. Eventually Mana was the first one to actually spot movement. “There, do you see the patch of missing trees over there?” She pointed at a small area where the trees were less dense. “I think that’s our destination right there.” The others followed her gaze and saw it as well. Cobal had more trouble than the other two, but maybe his eyes weren’t as good. “Do we want to move there immediately? I don’t think we can get there before night, so it might be good to observe for a little bit, don’t you think?” Mana asked.
Cobal agreed, so they spent two more hours staring down at the movement in the trees. Unfortunately it was too far away and a bit too dense for them to gleam anything important.
“Well, that was a waste of time,” Eliana said.
“Not necessarily,” Cobal replied.
“How come?”
“It’s not much, but if we’d gone to find the place immediately, we wouldn’t have known if whatever was moving down there was just passing through or was staying there. Ideally I’d like to even wait until it gets dark. If there’s a smoke trail coming from it, that means someone is setting up camp there, and it might be their base. The risk is that if it’s just a temporary camp, by the time we arrive it might be gone. So I suggest we use the remaining daylight to move closer and then see what we’re working with early in the morning. Sounds good?”
Mana and Eliana agreed and they packed up camp and traveled for the remainder of the day. After a quick dinner they went to bed before the sun was fully gone. They decided on the watches for the night, spread out their bedrolls and went to sleep.
Cobal took the third watch and was woken up by Mana when it was time. “Nothing happened during your watch?” he asked. The moon was out and although there were some lonely clouds drifting to the sky, it was mostly clear, allowing the stars and moon to be clearly visible beyond the treeline. The fir trees had much less of a canopy than some oak and birch forests did.
Mana nodded. “It’s definitely a bit scary out here in the middle of the night.” She looked off into the distance. “It’s a forest just like when we were at Dionil’s place, but it feels so different. The trees loom much taller and darker and the darkness itself feels colder.” She looked at Cobal. “I don’t even know if the things I’m saying make sense.”
Cobal chuckled. “They do a little bit at least. You’re saying not every forest is the same, which makes perfect sense. You’ve told me before how different your cities are to ours, yet they’re both cities. The same can be said about forests. We’re in a different part of the continent on the other side of the Feral Wildlands. We’re also near the mountains, so the atmosphere is colder.” He paused for a moment. “Do you have any forests and mountains in your world? This might be a stupid question, but I have no idea.”
Mana laughed. “It’s not a stupid question. The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that where I lived there weren’t really any forests or mountains. The forests we do have are much smaller and completely documented. There’s specific trails that people will walk. They’re often short and people do so for fun. Mountains are much more rare where I’m from. We were actually one of, if not the, flattest country in the world.”
“That sounds convenient, traveling must be easier that way.”
“Well, with our modes of transport a forest isn’t going to stop us either, but on another continent there’s massive national parks that are often mountainous and filled with forests. Funnily enough, there’s many rumors of strange creatures there too. There’s something about the untamed wilds and fantastical creatures that just transcends worlds I guess.” Mana chuckled. “I suppose in this world it might not be as fantastical. I wonder what kind of creature could be here?”
Cobal thought for a moment. “There’s many rumors of strange creatures that make their way out of the wildlands from time to time, some have been proven to be real, others might be stories at best.” He yawned. “We’ll find out tomorrow either way, get some rest while you still can.”
Mana nodded. “I will, goodnight.”
After Mana went to bed, the night got quiet. The fire was smoldering, providing a bit of warmth to them. They didn’t want to be too bright in case the bandits or something else spotted them.
In the quiet of the night, sitting next to a fire in a foreign land, Cobal looked back on the past few months. He remembers how disappointed his family was when the hero summoned turned out to not be what they expected. He remembered learning that he was sent on an important mission that let him leave the capital, only to quickly realize he was just being sent to babysit someone. This had caused him some resentment towards Mana early on. That sure was part of his outburst against Dionil when they first met. He chuckled. It all seemed so silly now. A melancholic sadness washed over him. “I wonder where you are, buddy.” He thought of Mirgia and Kimi, both somewhere out there. He then shook his head. “I’m sure you’re fine, you’re much more clever than the two of us.” He sighed and grabbed a piece of dry bread to nibble on while he waited. The cold morning hours passed by slowly as he sat and waited until eventually he woke up the rest of his party. As they made their way down towards the area they spotted the night before, the sun very slowly started to crest the horizon as morning arrived.
Opal Kaharis 