Chapter 029

Failure is not the end.

With the violet muskgrass harvested, there was nothing potent remaining in the cavern or pool. In fact, once it had been packed away, they had almost no light to see by at all. Harker feigned blindness, fumbling forward until Adhira took him by the elbow and led them out.

They made it out of the den without incident. The forest they entered into was far louder than before, filled with birdsong, buzzing insects, and the scurry of small game amid the branches.

“At least we know there aren’t any more Aberrants to deal with out here.” Adhira looked back up the incline and grimaced. “Looks like scavengers got to our meat.”

Harker shrugged. “It wasn’t good anyway. Too many impurities.”

“What? That’s ridiculous.”

With a few pumps of her legs, the girl was atop the ridge, dropping her axe onto the meatiest part of the serpent’s corpse. It sliced right through, and Harker winced. A gaseous belch escaped the organs she’d severed.

“See there.” Harker pointed at the cross section of snake, where the meat was riddled with deep, blackened veining. “Look close enough and you’ll see salt crystals forming too.”

“Black tides,” Adhira muttered, kicking the corpse aside. It jumped about a foot before landing with a jiggling thud. “What a waste. Guess we’ll just have to burn it.”

They did just that, the noble producing a small box. It opened at the top and flared with Water for a brief second before a bright flame hovered above its top corner. Adhira gestured and the flame leapt from the box and onto the corpse, where it caught immediately within the blackened veins.

“What sort of firestarter is that?” he asked.

“Just a normal one.” She flipped it closed and stowed it in her belt. “Shall we move on?”

Harker wanted to ask more questions but Adhira was already striding into the forest. He gave one final glance to the serpent corpse—now merrily burning—and followed after.

That’s not a normal one at all. It was superficially similar, but the flame and its movements were something altogether different.

“Yep, she’s rich alright.”

Harker cut his eyes across the trail to where Stillwater stepped atop a mossy log. He said nothing—Adhira was too close to risk talking to his invisible companion—and the Gilken rubbed his little claws together greedily.

“Heirloom artifacts and a second-grade firestarter. What else do you think she has in that pack of hers?” He bared his teeth. “Think we should find out?”

Harker scowled.

“What? It could be a threat to your life! I’d only be doin’ my due diligence!”

Still not answering, Harker sped up, drawing closer to Adhira’s back and leaving the Eidhrin to hustle behind.

“You’re so boring!”

The trio found the road again in short order, and soon they were trudging uphill once more. Mid-morning turned to afternoon, the sun strengthening all the while above the budding trees. Leaves hadn’t appeared yet, and while they were on the way, they did nothing to stop the heat from beating down on the path. The rise of hills and the forest itself kept the cool breeze from touching them, and soon Harker was sweating heavily under his cloak. He threw it back, tucking it behind his pack to free up his arms and the knives strapped across his waist.

The new dagger was there too, set among the others. It was a pretty thing, made of some sort of blue metal with a crossguard made of a brassy material. The grip was wrapped in blue wire and the pommel was an open ring of that same brass-like metal. It had a good edge, and the blade itself was a touch flexible. Harker wasn’t sure if that was good or not, but another weapon was always useful.

Thankfully, there was no cause to use it. No further Aberrants darkened their path, though they interrupted their fair share of beasts. Child-sized hares, foxes, even some elk legged through the forest nearby, their enormous gait unbothered by the small humans. Strangely, Adhira seemed fascinated by everything.

“Are all the beasts so large?” she asked as a pair of elk twice the size of a racing hound bounded across a rocky cliff and disappeared. “Their antlers could hold a full grown man!”

“Or skewer a whole hunting party.”

She blinked. “Has that happened?”

“Plenty of times. You don’t mess with the elk, not during calving season.” He paused. “Which is now, by the by.”

“I may have grown up in civilization, but I know that much.”

“Hmm.”

Adhira sniffed. “I’ve just never seen a Great Beast, is all.”

“The elk? Those aren’t Great Beasts. You’d have to travel far from here to find one of those.”

“Truly?” Adhira seemed genuinely crestfallen. “Still, remarkable nonetheless.”

Remarkable? Harker stared after the elk, trying to see them through her eyes. All he saw were territorial, defecating behemoths that could feed a whole village for a season. He shrugged.

“Tch. The storm did a number here.”

Harker saw what she meant the moment he returned to the path. Hundreds of trees were laid out across the mountain, some snapped in explosive splinters while most were uprooted entirely. They snarled the path ahead, laying atop one another in an unstable pile.

“Do we go around, or over—” Harker’s words were cut through by Adhira’s axe. She chopped it into the first trunk before them, sinking the double blade almost halfway through the ancient hardwood.

“We go through.”

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Three more chops and she severed the tree into two uneven parts. The bottom, including the vast majority of trunk and the heavy root system, immediately sprang upward the moment it was severed. The weight of dirt and root sent it careening back upright and out of their way. The other half, which was mostly Winter dead branches, Adhira siezed with both hands.

With a sharp grunt, she heaved them from the trail. The heavy trunk and branches crashed to the side, rolling a bit away before coming to rest against the trunks of its brethren.

Adhira advanced, axe lifting again as she approached the next trunk. Harker held out a hand. “Are you clearing the trail for everyone else?”

Adhira stopped, brow furrowed. “Of course. No one maintains this area, so I might as well.”

Without another word, she kept going, steadily gaining distance from Harker with every brutal chop.

“How noble of her,” Stillwater sneered. “Helping people? I doubt it. Sounds like an excuse for training.”

Harker agreed, but wasn’t about to admit that. He looked at the Gilken. “You seem sweaty.”

“And you stink,” Stillwater fired back. “Gilken aren’t made for all this walking. Why don’t you find an Aberrant to kill so I can take a rest?”