Chapter 8 (Part 1)

“What is that?” I jolted the horse to a sudden stop then whirled my head to look behind us but the ominous presence I felt vanished. “Did you guys feel that?”

“What was what?” asked Captain D, tugging the horse’s reigns. “I didn’t feel anything”

“Neither did I,” Noirxus shook his head.

“Well I felt something,” I said. “And it didn’t feel warm and welcoming at all.” But seeing their blank doubting faces, I knew they didn’t understand. “Never mind then. Just keep your eyes peeled.”

D nodded and urged his horse to advance forward, passing the first trees of the forest entrance. We’ve been traveling the whole day yesterday and half of today and at last, we finally reached the forest. As we moved forward, the trees became bigger and taller. After some time, the tree trunks grew so wide that I couldn’t even wrap my arms around them. They were fairly far apart from each other but their large roots twined together creating an unsteady ground which forced us to slow down. And even though it was late in the afternoon, there was sparse sunlight reaching the ground. We were definitely deep in the forest.

Forests are very common in the continent. In fact, one cannot go anywhere without crossing one. They are the indicators of how magically fertile the land is. The thicker they are the better especially when near a water source. Since we are headed towards the largest river in the continent, we are talking about a forest that spans along the river’s length. The forest and river combined creates a border line between the north and the south part of the continent. So that alone tells you that this river is very long.

But I didn’t like the greeting I felt a while ago. It felt dark and threatening. Dark and threatening meant only one thing – an attacker. Thank the heavens my prayer was answered! But why is it that no one but me felt its presence? I can’t be so deprived of action that I began seeing or feeling things like a crazy paranoid…right? In any case, it will be long before we see the river in this thick growth so an attacker would be the spicy entertainment that would keep me from getting bored.

The day was almost over so the captain signaled for a rest. And so my life began falling to a routine – travel, eat, sleep then travel again. I was used to traveling so it wasn’t that bad but I can’t believe my life would fall into an even mundane routine than before. When I was traveling with Master, we would spar every night without fail. But I can’t ask Noirxus to spar every night because that would wear him out even more. It seems like making him the middle watch was giving him inadequate sleep.

“How far are we from the river?” Lady Rascielle asked no one in particular during our regular silent meal.

“Two days more milady,” Noirxus answered politely. Captain D nodded in agreement.

I turned to him. “How did you know that?”

“The air is becoming more saturated with water. It means that we’re close,” he replied lackadaisically. Measuring humidity is one thing but can that tell you how close you are to a body of water with that? If that is indeed a skill, I want to learn it. It could be a lifesaver.

“I see. Thank you, Sir Noirxus,” Rascielle smiled.

Alright what is this? I see sparks flying with that smile. I couldn’t suppress the mischievous smile surfacing on my face. I sat beside Noirxus, leaned close to him and covered my mouth as I whispered to his ear, “You lady killer you. If Rascielle falls for you completely, there will be consequences.”

And then I sat back and watched the show. If Rascielle is truly seeing Noirxus that way then my proximity with Noirxus should bother her. And because I whispered something like that to him, he should be very self-conscious.

And I was right.

Noirxus lowered his head and began blushing. He was so cute and innocent that I couldn’t help but silently convulse to the side with suppressed laughter. Then he tugged on my sleeve and whispered in my ear in the same manner I did, “What should I do?”

His voice sounded sincere, asking for my advice but my eyes for now were focused on Rascielle. She didn’t look pleased at all and her eyes were darting between me and Noirxus suspiciously. This is so amusing.

I was about to whisper ‘act normal’ back when Captain D said in a scolding tone, “What have you been whispering about?”

“Nothing of consequence to you I’m sure,” I reassured with a smile.

“Please refrain from doing that in the future,” he continued. “It can cause misunderstandings among us.”

“I’m sorr—” I was cut short by the sound of fierce growls in the distance. These growls felt unnatural; different from normal wild animals and it was headed towards us in very high speeds. We quickly hid the lady; I even casted a barrier spell around her as she retreated to our middle where it was safest. Then we grabbed each of our own weapons and prepared for battle.  The sound was gradually getting louder and louder until I could finally see the beasts that created it.  

They were wolves. If you could call three large, untamed dogs that are as big as a man while on fours, wolves. They had shiny black fur and savage glowing red eyes. In all my journeys with my Master, this is the first time I’ve seen such wolves. The biggest one, I assumed to be the leader, never took his gaze off of me. He obviously wanted me. So even rabid animals recognize my awesomeness? Oh my, what a compliment! I accept your challenge.