Cheep!?

Chapter 107

Trekking through the forest was less entertaining for the group than Niko had initially hoped. That said, his expectations were based on what the forest had been like before the Massacre Hornets had driven everything out, something that he remembered all too clearly in the silence of the dimly lit trees and foliage. He pulled the cart along, glad for the well-oiled hinges if nothing else, and listened to the sounds of their footsteps as they walked onwards.

“This place is just eerie like this,” Niko complained aloud, “I miss all of the random noise there was.” 

“It feels like we’re not supposed to be here,” Mithel replied with a tighter tone than usual, “Like this is the start to a campfire horror story.”

Camille grunted amusedly, “It’s not that bad. Oh, but that’s not a bad idea!”

“Oh dear…” Crowe uttered quietly, but before anyone could question him, Camille was  gushing again.

“I have a lot of horror stories I can share! It’s been forever since we’ve done that around a campfire.” The well muscled woman smiled broadly with a nostalgic expression on her face, “I think the last time was…” She paused and blinked, “Wow, ten years ago?”

“You scared the wits out of a passing adventuring party,” Crowe commented, “You gave two of them a distinct fear of spiders, as I recall.”

“No spider stories.” Mithel immediately stated, “I’m quite alright with anything but that.”

Camille made a hurt face, “But those are the best ones!”

“Absolutely not.” Niko shook his head, “I’m one-hundred percent on board with Mithel on this one.”

Skye chuckled, “Are you afraid of spiders?”

“Do you want the serious answer or the short one?” Niko turned a flat gaze at Skye, “Because I have reasons.” 

“Color me interested,” Dachna happily piped in, “I didn’t think you were afraid of anything that wasn’t scaly.”

The Wyldwalkers momentarily stuttered a step at that, Dachna included, at the reference of the ill-fated poisoned snake that Niko had once consumed. “Only the pre-prepped ones!” Niko answered with a touch of forced cheeriness, “Ain’t met a wild one that did me wr–wait… No, actually the only living one I met tried to eat me and my siblings right out of the nest, come to think of it. Hmm. Alright, maybe I have a snake problem, too, then.” Niko trailed off mumbling, before shaking his head. Honestly, he did feel a brief moment of heart-racing nervousness at the memory, even as distant as it felt now. Still, Niko felt that he was working through it as best as he could, and that burying it would most certainly not help. 

Thankfully, Ronald readily grabbed onto the tangent provided, “You were attacked by a snake when you were still in the nest? That’s a story we haven’t heard.”

Niko trilled proudly at that, “I was still a Red Hawk chick back then, and it didn’t really come up.” 

At that Crowe perked up from a passive listener, “Oh? There are very few accounts of how some species can evolve into other species. Some people would pay exorbitant amounts of money to know your history, especially as you seem to remember it all. That’s not terribly common, either.”

Niko was briefly taken aback at that, “Huh… I guess that makes sense? I mean, I’m pretty awesome–” Skye snorted at that, but Niko continued to roll on “–And having more Phorus running around would be pretty cool. My colors are the best, though.” 

“Yes, yes, you’re a very pretty bird,” Skye chuckled, half joking, but also, Niko thought, genuine in her praise of him, “You were telling us the fortune-making secret of your upbringing, though?” 

“Maybe?” Niko trilled amusedly, “Well, this big snake, I’d say… about as wide as Ronald’s bicep and as long as the cart?” At that, he turned his head and appraised both named items, before nodding, “Yeah, that sounds about right. It slipped in while Mom and Dad were out hunting, black scales and rippling muscle beneath, as silent as a whisper.” Niko took on a dramatic tone of voice as he spoke, “We realized it was there only because it didn’t regard us as a threat, and we weren’t, not really. I remember the hunger in its eyes, and I just knew that I had a choice to make.”

“So, I tackled it off the branch and went down with it in a tumble, all screeching and clawing, and biting!” Niko saw the surprise and concern on Skye’s face at that, but wasn’t sure if it was because he’d willfully thrown himself into what was almost certain death for a chick like he’d been at the time, or something else. “We were both hurt bad by that, my wing was broken from the fall, but he was even more hurt. Still, it’d be able to climb again, but I had his attention.”

“I ran away, dancing between keeping just ahead of it in the underbrush and far enough away from its snapping jaws.” He decidedly did not mention that he’d run simply as fast as he could, without any real regard for trying to bait the snake. “We went on for what was minutes, but felt like hours, and every time I got distance, it would charge forward with an essence leap like a living javelin. All the way until I got near the river, and some fallen trees with sharp, jagged branches and roots. It was beyond angry at that point, I’d pecked out an eye, and it was intent on returning the favor and more. But I moved into position, putting my back to sharp broken branches and gouding it into an attack.” 

“It launched itself at me, and I dodged. In an instant, there was a chance for victory snatched from certain death as it impaled itself on a branch. But it wasn’t dead just yet, and I desperately attacked it, driving my talons and beak into it again and again, even as it got ahold of me and started squeezing. In that last war of attrition, I drove my head in deeper into its body, and before I could die, I ate that bastard's heart right out of his chest!” Niko proudly trilled, before letting his tone become more light-hearted, “And then I blacked out, completely spent. When I woke up, I wasn’t a Red Hawk anymore.” 

While Niko wasn’t certain that he was all that great of a story teller, he knew he’d done alright when he saw the gazes of the others transfixed on him, their walk having slowed down as they listened in on what he said. For several seconds no one said anything, until Camille’s booming laugh echoed through the forest.

“Well, damn, Niko! That’s as good as any other guild vet’s story!” Camille grinned widely at the Phorus, “With a start like that, no wonder why you pick up combat so well.”

Dachna cleared his throat, “Wow, uhh… just wow. I mean, I’ve had some close calls, but that’s…”

“Wow,” Mithel finished for him, before awkwardly saying, “Well, I’m glad you came out of that okay.”

Skye chuckled before saying, “What about spiders? Is there a similarly terrifying story for them?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Niko clucked blithely, “They’re just creepy. When you walk into some random web strands and get that sticky feeling–oh, and when they crawl over you it’s just the worst. It’s almost worse when you have feathers, because you don’t always know where they are unless they touch on a particularly sensitive part of the body. That’s not even saying how creepy some of them are with breeding and laying eggs in–” 

“Nope!” Mithel put a hand up in a halting motion, half jokingly, “I’m very good without any more information, thanks.”

“There’s some really pretty spiders out there, actually,” Ronald spoke up, drawing the attention of the group skeptically. With a defensive tone, he held up his hands, “What? I’m just saying that they’re not all bad. There’s some that have very pretty carapaces, and aren’t even hostile. Most aren’t hostile, actually.”

“So long as they aren’t monsters,” Camille mentioned quickly, “Spider monsters are probably some of the most annoying creatures you’ll ever have to deal with.”

Skye tilted her head as she questioned, “Why is that?”

“They are very hard to track at times,” Crowe said, while pointing at the trees and then to the ground, “Finding their general location is easy. Many tend to leave webs incidentally, but those that use them as a primary means of hunting and establishing territory make for very difficult hunting.”

“Unless you burn the forest down,” Mithel answered abruptly.

Camille clapped her hands, “Atta girl!”

“Do not burn a forest down for a spider monster.” Aggrieved, Crowe glared at his sister, “I can say with absolute certainty that arson should be a final option.”

“It worked didn’t it?” Camille huffed, “We got the bastard out of there.”

“And burned several acres of hallowed elven lands to do it,” Crowe rebutted.

“Ouch.” Skye visibly winced, “That… that’s not good.”

“We are still not allowed to go anywhere near that elven community. It was remarkable that they let us leave at all.” Crowe sighed heavily, “Thomas was quite the silver tongue that day…” He trailed off then, glancing at Camille who shared a brief, heavy and wordless communication between them.

There was a momentary silence before Dachna warily spoke up, “Is… this Thomas a sensitive topic?”

Niko watched Crowe and Camille as they both tensed, but at the glance from Crowe to Camille, he had to guess that the issue was on her side and not his. Still, Camille let out a breath that seemed to age her a handful of years at once, “Yes, but… it’s been a long time. We had a large group that we used to adventure with, back in our own pilgrimage days.”

The Wyldwalkers were immediately much more interested, including Stella, Sasha, and Thokk. Ronald said with barely concealed anticipation, “You don’t talk much about when you were on pilgrimage.”

“It’s… mostly just a superstition. It’s considered rude and sometimes even a bad omen for those no longer on pilgrimage to share their stories with those still on one. Not like it’s happened very often, but I’ve seen plenty of green parties hear a vet’s story and try to emulate the exploits of their seniors, only to foul up and get someone killed.” Camille shrugged, “There’s some more pilgrimage-focused stuff, too, but I don’t think that’ll be an issue anymore, now that you guys are moving with us like this.”

“The Pilgrimage is a complicated thing. If you’re given something for free without earning it, your journey gets that much harder to proceed on. If you work for it, or it’s incidental, that’s different.” Camille put a hand out and tilted it side to side, “It’s hard to know where the balance is, so if someone offers you something for free, just keep that in mind. Don’t think too hard about how it all works, though, because then the Pilgrimage gets harder, too.”

“It’s like an anti-cheat system,” Niko muttered flatly, “So you can’t bend the rules to your advantage.”

“That’s a good way of putting it, yeah,” Camille nodded, “But, anyways, I don’t think this should be an issue. Like I said, we had a group that we were a part of. Me, Crowe, Orson, Thomas, and a few others at the time–don’t ask their names, they’re officially confidential–” she said that part with a little bit more bite, but quickly calmed herself, “But, anyways, we were really good together. And I mean really good together. We stomped anything that got thrown at us. Thomas was great at talking to people, a real natural at it. He was, and still is, the only crazy bastard that I know of who tied his essence patterns to rhyming and singing. Damn was he good at it though.” She chuckled and got a faraway look in her eyes for a moment.

When she didn’t pick up immediately, Crowe continued for her, “He managed to convince the elven enclave that the destruction caused was unavoidable, and expressed his–quite genuine–regret that things had to go the way they did. In retrospect, he was likely correct; that spider was a type that laid eggs deep within trees, so clearing them with fire was the only real certainty in the short term to protect the rest of the forest within.”

“He always covered our asses,” Camille chuckled before murmuring something that Niko didn’t catch.

Ronald nodded understandingly, before saying, “Sounds like he was a great man.” 

Niko nodded, knowing, even though it hadn’t been outright stated, that the man had since passed on.

Camille gratefully nodded at that, “He was.”

“Usually.” Crowe smiled widely, “Whenever he wasn’t gambling our money away.”

“Hah!” Camille barked a laugh, “That’s true. Damned if he didn’t make us wealthy or poor every other day!”

The others smiled at that, before small talk once more took over the group. Niko paid attention lightly to it, contributing bit by bit, while Sasha spoke of her own family, though he’d noted that mentions of her father were few and far between. By the time evening had crept closer, though, Niko had begun to notice signs of life creeping back in at the edges of the forest. Essence gradually seeped back in, and Niko could swear that he felt Vol’s touch on it. It wasn’t something he could tell with his Aether Sight, but rather more like the flavor of it as it touched the surface of his soul within him. 

Idle sounds of crickets were the first new sound to approach, and then the silent trickle in of larger critters. In his vision, he could see them, moving inwards bit by bit past them as Niko and the others moved outwards, away from where the hive had once been and towards the mountains. 

‘It’s healing,’ Niko smiled to himself, ‘A lot faster than I thought, too. Right, Vol?’ 

“There’s a nice spot to camp ahead,” Thokk rumbled, “My kin and I often use it to get out of harsh weather, but there shouldn’t be anyone there now.” 

Niko translated, and Ronald nodded, “Sounds good to me. Unfortunately I’ve only been able to find some edible plants, so we’re going to be eating jerky tonight.”

“Once we’re in the clan lands proper, hunting will be much more possible,” Sasha offered, “Just avoid hunting anything that has a clan emblem on it, like either of us.”

“Will they avoid hunting them, though?” Niko gestured with his beak at his companions.

Sasha opened her mouth to answer before hesitating, “Hmm… Perhaps not. In that case, I can hunt in their stead. You would be able to come with me as well, so long as Thokk remained here with the others to ward off any… accidents.”

Niko trilled at that, “That’s fine with me. I’d like to stretch my legs sooner rather than later. Fighting bugs and Goblins just isn’t the same.” 

Sasha’s expression widened with a long-toothed grin, “I agree completely.”

Thokk, on the other hand, only rumbled, “I’m up for a good fight, but this obsession with hunting is not for me.” 

Niko chuckled at the hind-bear before relaying the update to the rest of the group.

“Fair enough,” Ronald nodded understandingly, “I expected that there’s going to be some more complicated points for this trip.”

As they moved into a wide cave set beneath a rocky outcropping, Niko couldn’t help but note that the space had been considerably hollowed out below. Nondescript pillars of stone ensured that the space stayed stable, and on second glance Niko realized that the raw stone formed something that appeared more like a vaulted ceiling, with just enough of a rustic, natural feel to it that he hadn’t guessed it as being a created space, at first. 

“Huh, this is a lot nicer of a cave than I’d expected to see.” Niko chirped approvingly.

Proudly, Thokk answered, “If you like this, then you’d better see my tribe’s ancestral home. It’s truly a wonder.” 

“Maybe I will, then,” Niko nodded gratefully, before settling the cart into a spot where it wouldn’t roll away and freeing himself of the straps before stretching, “Right then, who's making food?”