Chapter 170 – Ways of the Wild (II)

Chapter 170

Ways of the Wild (II)

Rayce ran back inside the cave, his breathing ragged and quick, his heart all but leaping out of his chest. Snapping his fingers, the massive boulder at the entrance shook and trembled for a moment before rolling over, closing the gaping hole and turning the tunnel dark.

Yet another snap of the fingers suddenly sprung the light along the walls, where circles and lines within them began to wiggle like worms.

After catching his breath for a moment, he walked along the tunnel’s walls and deeper into the cave; not too long later, it opened up into a hollowed-out chamber with tall ceilings and jagged crystals jutting out at strange angles, mingling.

“Rayce, what happened?!” A worried voice caused his nervous expression to mellow out as he looked over to the tiny corner.

“Aah, nothing much,” he replied.

“Nothing much?! You look like you’ve been hit with a sledgehammer!”

“… Aray found me.”

“… we need to run,” she said, grabbing his arm and trying to yank it.

“No. We don’t need to run anymore.”

“What?”

“I killed him.”

“That’s even worse!! We absolutely need to run!” she said. “We’ve been meaning to leave anyway, so why not?”

“… I’m tired, Iryan,” he said with a sigh. “I’m tired of running. This place… it isn’t bad.”

“We’re living in a cave, Rayce.”

“It’s better than that torture chamber we used to call home.”

“That may be, but it’s still just a cave,” she said. “You know what woke me up this morning?”

“…”

“A bat.”

“That’s not so bad.”

“It took a shit on me.”

“Oh.”

“If Aray found you,” she said, her voice softening as the two walked over to a makeshift ‘table’ made out of slate and a pair of logs they heaved from the outside. “Then it means we haven’t erased our trace well enough. And since he found you, others can find you too. No, they will find us eventually. There’s only so much that the Bloodsucker’s scent can cover.”

“… what if we asked him for help?” He regretted the question as soon as he said it. Iryan whipped her head toward him and gave him one of the coldest stares in a while.

“Of course. We should also go bend over in front of lions and ask them to lick our necks clean. What could go wrong?”

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“Fine, it’s a stupid idea.”

“No, coming here was a stupid idea,” she continued. “Suggesting we go asking that monster for help? It goes far beyond stupid, Rayce.”

“Fine! So, what’s your brilliant idea, huh? Where are we supposed to run?”

“North,” she said. “We go north.”

“Oh, that’s not vague, and insanely dangerous,” he also felt a bubble of rage erupt from within. “What makes you think we’d be safer with those hapless cretins praying to the Void all day long than we are here?”

“We’re not safe anywhere,” she said. “But at least out there we have a fighting chance. Here? We’re like cornered beasts. How did you kill Aray, anyway? Doesn’t he have four circles?”

“Hm,” he nodded, smiling proudly. “I drew a confusion scroll a few days back and, while testing it, accidentally left it impregnated in a tree. By happenstance, he encountered me while I was going to fetch it; I used the scroll to project a dragon’s head and got him in the moment of confusion.”

“What about his body?”