*
“It will do us well to hurry- half of an hour has already passed.” Malice urged his companion forward.
“I don’t think we’re going in the right direction.” Magus said, “We’ve been walking for far longer than we should have been. Maybe we should call the others.”
“No. I do them to try and follow us and then get lost.” Malice answered, “Come, let’s mark our footprints and then try to find where we got off-track.”
Arms full of firewood, they turned and changed directions.
“…how long do you think it will take us to reach the old shrine?” Magus asked.
“No longer than three days if we’re lucky and don’t keep getting lost.” Malice answered.
His companion nodded and they continued down their path.
“Stop!” Magus yelled.
“What is it?”
“There’s something not right here..”
“Are you sure it’s not just your imagination?”
“I’m absolutely sure.”
They placed their firewood down and tensed up, ready to fight.
Above them, the canopy shifted. Uneasily, Malice looked upward to find nothing but empty trees and darkness.
“It must have le-”
No sooner had the warrior begun to speak did he suddenly feel a pull from above. Thinking quickly, Magus grabbed onto the legs of his targeted comrade, and tried to keep him on the ground. Bowing to the might of the wind, the leaves flew about and swirled through the air. Managing to subdue his attacker with the elements, Malice pulled himself back to the ground and nearly landed on his friend.
“What the hell is going on?” he exclaimed as he looked around “There’s nothing here but trees!”
“Come on.” Magus insisted, “Let’s just get out of here and try to find the others. If something happens to us, they’re not going to last.”
Malice nodded in agreement and the two picked up their firewood. Their pace greatly heightened, they made their way back to the meeting place.
*
“I suppose that makes thee just as vengeful.” Glenn said, as he wrung out his drenched hair.
“Sometimes the bitterest people are the ones you least expect.” Titania replied.
“I shall do my best to remember that.”
“…Hmm…” she said, looking at him “I think if you braid your hair it dries nicer.”
“I assure thee that’s the least of mine worries.” Glenn mumbled, “If the others don’t arrive soon, we shall freeze to death.”
“Oh, right.” Titania agreed “I wonder where they are- it must have been an hour by now.”
“An hour and a half.” Came a reply from the woods; fatigued, Malice and Magus came to the clearing.
“Malice, you’re bleeding!” Titania said, running up to him.
“We were attacked in the forest by something invisible.” He answered
Magus dumped his pile of wood on the ground and set it ablaze.
“This forest doesn’t seem too safe. We should retrieve what we need as soon as possible and get back to the airship.” He said, his face aglow with the orange fire.
Seeming to not have heard him, Titania looked at Malice’s bleeding shoulder“…come and sit down.”
“I’ll be fine.” He muttered, but allowed himself to be led to a spot near the fire.
“I can’t repair the wound, but I can try to numb the pain for you.” She said as she placed a hand on the gash.
Malice flinched but said nothing, being content to let her heal him.
“…what happened to you two?” Magus asked, after a silence.
“We were attacked…” Titania answered.
“…by invisible water beasts…” Glenn added on.
“…with fangs…”
“…that were invisible.”
They laughed.
“So did you get the supplies?” Magus asked, a little confused.
“We had nothing to carry it in.” Titania said, removing her hand from Malice’s shoulder, and adjusting his vest so that it covered it once more “We thought we could go back tomorrow and see what all four of us could figure out.”
“That’s a good idea.” Malice said “For now, let’s just stay here and cook what we can without water.”
That said, Magus removed from under his cape a small supply bag, and from that took out some meat. With care, he pierced the objects with sticks and passed them around.
For a while they ate, and conversed. Malice, speaking very little, and Glenn speaking quite a lot.
“…how’s your shoulder?” Titania asked, after some time.
“Better.” He replied, “How’s your clothes?”
“Still soaked.” she muttered “Glenn?”
“Drenched, m’lady.”
Magus smirked “I guess that makes me the best off for tonight. I’ll keep first watch, then.”
There was no argument from the group who began to settle down for the night. Leaving her spot, Titania moved to sit beside Malice, allowing for Magus and Glenn to speak to each other.
“So what really happened?” he asked as she took another look at his wound.
“He splashed me in the eyes and I fell. Then I pulled him in.”
“Sounds like he deserved it.”
Titania laughed and ripped the hem of her dress. Dutifully, she wrapped it around the wound.
“It’s still bleeding, so that means it must be deep. Don’t take this bandage off, alright?”
“I won’t.” he said, watching her as she tied the object.
“Please don’t do this again. You’re scaring me.”
“Hey, I couldn’t help it.” He said, “It’s not my fault I was ambushed.”
“I’m serious. Be more careful next time. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Since when do
you have to look out for
me?”
She smiled and shrugged.
“We all have to look out for each other. If we don’t, then we might as well travel by ourselves.” She said as she adjusted the bandage.
Malice merely smiled and let her finish wrapping his shoulder.