"Stop."

Crete signaled me to stop. It had been a while since we left Ovid and Silija behind us. After our hasty departure, Crete simply didn't want to calm down, and it was already dark, and yet we marched on.

"What's the matter?"

I was amazed at her abrupt stop and asked her.

“We achieved our goal for the day. We will spend our night here and continue tomorrow at the first light."

I looked around, but nothing looked like a hideout or anything like that.

"Where should we sleep?"

Crete turned to me.

"Well, here."

She tapped her hand on a relatively small and thin tree.

"Lady Crete, how can I help you?"

In the middle of the tree trunk, a couple of eyes opened, and then, when the eyes recognized Crete, a mouth too.

"I want to go into the hideout with these two."

She pointed to Viczien and me.

"Very well!"

The tree lit up for a brief moment, and in its place stood an Ent that looked very much like Vond.

“Lady Crete, may I ask where you came from? Or instead by whom?"

“I was with Myrani and Vond until recently. Why? Envious?"

"I won't assume that, Lady Crete."

He made room and pointed to an entrance that hadn't been there until a moment ago. The entrance was a staircase that led underground.

"Come, Eris."

Crete walked slowly down the stairs and I hopped after her.

The staircase led into a single small chamber measuring just under 15m². A single large bed made of roots and leaves stood in the room, and some objects were scattered in the corners.

"Interested?"

Crete noticed that I was looking at the objects near the walls.

"A little. I would like to know what kind of object these are."

"Prisons."

Crete grinned and I couldn't find the right words. After a brief moment of amusement, she continued.

“These vessels are sealed and hold inside creatures that have no physical form. Some are ancient, some are not."

At the word “ancient,” she pointed to a vessel in the far back corner and then to something that resembled an urn, close to me.

"I think that's enough for today, let's sleep."

Crete placed Viczien on the bed before laying down to his right. She waved her left hand and signaled me to lie down to the left of Viczien.

For Crete, this must be commonplace.

I let my gaze wander over the prisons before lying down next to Viczien and Crete.

"Good night."

"Night!"

 

=== Afternoon of the next day

 

"What's this?"

I heard a strange noise, so I stopped immediately and asked Crete.

"What do you mean?"

Crete stopped and looked back at me.

"That sound... it sounds like the cracking of bones."

“Cracking Bones? Bones! Behind you!"

Crete jumped over to me with a slight movement. She pushed me aside and let Viczien fall on my stomach. She, on the other hand, created a giant shield made of leaves.

*Dong*

I heard how a creature slam against the shield.

"Get out!"

Crete waved with her free hand that I should go away with Viczien. I let the wings appear on my back and snapped Viczien with my paws. He reached out and grabbed me too. I flapped my wings and float away three meters off the ground.

It cost me a lot of strength to fly higher, but I managed to put Viczien in the crown of a tree. He was held in a sitting position by the many branches.

I flew up to get an overview. The creature battling Crete looked like the skeleton of a velociraptor. It had no organs, skin, or anything. It was just bones.

What kind of creature is that?

Crete's silhouette suddenly disappeared and I could see a fast figure appearing to the left and right of the raptor and then disappearing again. The whole thing lasted less than 30 seconds when Crete's figure appeared 5 meters away from the raptor and turned her back to it. In the same instant, I saw individual bones burst to dust, and the remaining ones fell to the ground.

I hurried back to Viczien and met him roughly with Crete. Crete lifted Viczien from the treetop when I spoke to her.

"What was that?"

"A curse. Somebody summons dark magic... I suspect nothing good..."

She began to mumble something incomprehensible to herself. We traveled slowly on, but Crete was still mumbling, yet she paid attention to any movement. She used caution instead of speed.

"Can't you locate these skeletons?"

I was amazed because otherwise, she was able to find creatures from far away.

“Creatures, but these skeletons aren't zombies or undead. These are non-living creatures created by a curse. They are like air to me. I can't detect them."

She looked exhausted.

“We should be at Ishina's location in two days. Until then, we have to take good care of ourselves because I have the feeling that we are nearing the source of the curse."

 

===

 

Crete's mood didn't improve later in the evening. She was silent most of the time, and when she said something, it was there to stop me and take out one of the cursed skeletons. After the first, there were three more skeletons, and each one reminded me of another kind of dinosaur. A triceratops followed the raptor, then a stegosaurus and the last one resembled a tyrannosaurus. The intervals between the encounters became shorter and shorter.

"Stop!"

With a soft voice and a wave of the hand, she brought me to stop instantly.

"Again?"

I quietly asked her why.

"Not quite, look!"

She pointed between some trees.

I could see a carriage and some soldiers guarding it and several skeletons. I could also see a person in a black robe standing with his back to us. He was standing behind the line of skeletons, and it looked like he was controlling them.

“I was partly right. My guess was that the Dryade's disappearance had something to do with the curse. But instead, we find a magician devoured by madness and his target.

I have no reason to get involved in this fight, so what would you want to do? Intervene or sneak away?"

Crete's question was serious, so I took it seriously, too.

"How are our risks?"

“Well, the guy himself is weak, so it should be easy for you to beat him. I can turn off the skeletons with no problem. I warn you, these people may attack us. Not everyone is kind towards us.

Sneaking away would be different. We'd be safe, but this guy would keep sneaking around. Maybe next time he'll attack you or other innocent creatures."