Sekali, "The Sister City"
Chapter 61
The way into the forest was ominous from the very start. At first, all three of them were just thankful to get out of the Veleighen city. It seemed more safe to be in this place. But not even an hour into this vast woodland, they noticed the trees, from which looked as though they were in pain, all twisted and gnarled. Moss hung in long strands off every branch of every tree, and large mushrooms, as big as small bushes, grew as thick as the trees all about them.
The road branched off in many directions, all of which seemed unattended and rarely traveled. Sekali and his companions discussed quietly which path to stay on, and unanimously settled on keeping to the most preserved path they could find; this would keep their progress into this forbidding forest more easy to navigate, if only for a time. But as the day wore to a close, these paths ended.
Mists began to cover a lush, mossy, forest floor, and the sounds of birds ceased altogether, leaving the three in total silence. It was unnatural; there were not even the sounds of the tiny wings of insects, nor the singing of crickets in this dreary place.
Sekali wondered if they should not have hired a guide. But this mission was secret; Sekali and his two companions were lost. Mabuhi had given them no information about these lands. The truth of the matter was they were ignorant of them.
The first night they camped, they ate cold rations directly from their packs. They kept everything in their packs in case they had to move quickly; always being on guard. Sekali whispered, breaking the silence for the first time since they entered the woods.
“Uther, Finyat, we are lost, and this was to be expected. How much food and water do we have to go on?”
They each counted their rations and checked their water supply, coming to the conclusion that they could last one week on the water supply, and almost one moon eating the dried rations. So the concern was water more than food, and the rations, if eaten in halves, would last them two moons. They would have to tighten their belts and bear with that. But they needed to find a water source; that point was crucial.
Finyat shrugged. “We are in a forest where there is much green. We are bound to find a water source in my opinion. In this quiet, a stream will not be hard to find . . . if there is one.”
Both Sekali and Uther nodded grimly, looking around uneasily.
Uther whispered, as best a dwarf can, “I don’t like the quiet. Something’s not right here. I feel as though I am being watched. It could be this place, but I feel it in my bones that something is out there.”
Finyat’s brow creased together and he bit his lip hard. “I don’t like this. Maybe we should go back to the edge of the forest and make our way around it.”
Sekali shook his head, “Finyat, according to your predictions, the Veleighen should be dying or dead as we speak.”
A heavy silence hung in the air about the three at these words, and finally Finyat’s eyes brightened as he snickered quietly, pleased with himself.
They finished eating, packed everything up tight and hoisted their packs onto their backs. Uther could see well enough in the dark to go on, and Sekali had no problems, but Finyat had to walk between them, holding on to Uther’s pack for guidance. He did not like it one bit, but kept his objections to himself. Sekali continued as true to north as possible, but was not completely sure until Finyat informed him that moss always grew on the northern-most areas of trees. Finyat was pretty proud of himself at giving such help as he could.
Slowly they traveled on into the dark hours of the night. Soon they had to stop and rest, and make what camp they could. They agreed not to have fire until they were a few days away from Valurin. The danger would be greatest at this point according to Finyat, for they would, no doubt, be swarming the ship that Finyat had mentioned when they had encountered their first Veleighen Guard. No doubt, they would be “gathering” information from the crew. But this was about to become a secondary concern as they quietly discussed the issue.
Uther decided to make a campfire with the driest of wood and kindling, yet not set it alight. He set his flint and steel close by in case they needed light during their rest. It could be quickly ignited, should they need a fire. It was wise that he had done so, for scarcely had he prepared the flameless campfire, when there arose a clicking sound out in the trees that suddenly grew intensely loud as something approached them. They drew weapons and peered out into the trees, squinting, attempting to spy out what was making the noise. Uther instantly struck his flint with the edge of his axe, sending a shower of sparks into the dry bracken of the campfire, lighting it instantly. As the flame grew, the three could see a pair of huge slanted eyes reflecting the fire’s light out in the trees, closing in on them. They knew it was large, for the large glowing eyes seemed high in the air. As they readied themselves for battle, it raced fully into view, into the light of the growing fire, and screamed.
Sekali cursed it in his Sardakk tongue as Uther bellowed out a challenge and charged. Sekali did not see Finyat anywhere in camp at that point, and it did not surprise him in the least. Sekali joined Uther in the charge, moving around to the left, flanking what looked to him to be a gargantuan-sized praying mantis; the same kind as he once saw in Mabuhi’s forest . . . yet this one looked the size of the green-scaled dragon he’d met there. Great mandibles spread wide as its two great claws raised up, poised to strike down Uther.
But the dwarf was battle-wise, and used his head against this beast, that looked like it could cut a fully armored man in half. Uther used a tree to shield himself as the creature struck, taking out a massive chunk of wood with two great swipes of its powerful forearms. The dwarf began bellowing out something Sekali could not understand. It was a dwarfish war chant that Uther always chanted as he dispatched an enemy.
As it recoiled, getting ready to strike again, Sekali cautiously circled around to its backside, only to be met with one of its six legs in his chest, which sent him hurtling into a tree not three paces behind. Had it not been for his enchanted plate armoring, that would have been it for him. But he did feel it as its foot caught him powerfully in the chest, and felt it even more as the tree stopped him in mid-flight. He slammed into the tree and fell to the ground, managing to hold onto his blade, hissing angrily.
Leaping to his feet, he saw Uther sidestep away from the tree he was using as a shield against those sword-like claws. He raised his axe with both hands and hurled it at his foe. The axe sunk deeply into its chest plate, but its exo-skeletal body armor absorbed most of the damage done by Uther’s attack. Ripping the axe out of its wound, it lunged at Uther who quickly rolled back behind the tree. As he rolled, he began chanting loudly, and actually laughed in his deep booming voice.
This gave Sekali enough time to lunge in with an attack that struck true, directly piercing its underbelly, his blade sinking deeply into the softness of its insides. Again it struck out with a back leg at Sekali, who dropped into kneeling position and ripped his blade from its abdomen and struck again at the leg striking out at him, cutting it off at the very end. Its foot dropped to the mossy ground as it screeched in pain. Whirling about to deal with Sekali, who rose quickly to his feet, it used a giant claw to swipe, catching him in the right shoulder and sending him sprawling across the ground. The moss-covered forest floor cushioned his bouncing rolls as he lost his blade somewhere out in the dark forest. He heard the singing of the blade as it glanced off a tree, but as he tumbled, he could not tell in which direction the blade had landed. Rolling to his feet, he ripped two daggers from his belt and charged again, as the attacker charged him.
Then, from above the giant insect, dropped Finyat, who landed fully upon its upper back. Using all his weight and the velocity of the fall, he plunged his two short swords into the base of its neck so precisely that the massive insect dropped motionless, without a sound, to the ground. Finyat held on to the hilts of his blades as it fell. In the same moment, Uther slammed into the side of it with two daggers, sinking them into its side.
The fight ended quickly, with all three of them breathing hard. Uther got up, as Finyat pulled free his blades and jumped down off the carcass. All three lit torches and searched the woods all about until they found Sekali’s lost blade. This was the first encounter they were to meet as they traveled into what was known as Mistshadow Forest.
They put out the fire and kept burning torches in hand as they moved out of the area, traveling for a bit to get away from the fresh kill, knowing full well that predators and scavengers were attracted to such things. They kept fire on them at all times after this, knowing it was better to be seen, than not to see their enemy, should another like occasion arise.
As they left the area of the fallen insect, Uther looked up at Sekali and grunted. “Elf, you do get knocked about a lot. You had better change your tactics, or you are going to get unlucky one of these days.”
Sekali shook his head, grinned, and traveled on in silence.