A Hero With/Out Time

Chapter 12: My resolution to act. (Part 3)

It looked like the danger had passed so I reached into my bag to treat my wound. I grit my teeth as I poured the red liquid on top the cut wincing as it hissed and healed. Good thing I had come prepared. The problem was while the wound had mostly healed my pants had not. My parents would kill me if they saw this. Though as strange as it was I was now quite used to the life and death situations. If it were me from a few weeks ago I would have freaked out.

"Ardent how does it look?" I looked towards him.

He huffed, "I lost the trace. I underestimated them, that trap was well placed. Though from what I could tell they entered the border forest."

"I see...." I looked up into the sky. There was still about 3 to 4 hours of sunlight left. "Let's keep moving. Who knows what we could find."

"Is that wise Rain?"

"Probably not." I sighed, "But if Axel is in danger I can't just sit by and wait. Please."

"Why not," Taylor said cheerily. "Come on Ardent it's just for a bit."

He smiled, "I didn't say I wouldn't go, just that perhaps we should be careful."

"Thank you," I bowed my head. Honestly without Ardent I didn't think we stood much of a chance. If Taylor and I got the drop on them maybe, but with Ardent it didn't matter. "We'll only explore the shallower areas. Even I don't know what's further in."

After cleaning up the area as much as we could we headed towards the border forest. There was still a pretty obvious and suspicious circle of dirt but I could chalk that up to having Ardent doing a demonstration. Just in case I also had Ardent search for anymore traps. The last thing I wanted was for an accidental death that could have been avoided.

The border forest in these parts was the same and different to the ones closer to Greytree. Here the trees were more evenly spaced apart and the sun could still shine through the leaves. The atmosphere wasn't as heavy but like before standing beneath the trees gave me a sense of comfort. The wind brushing the tops of the trees releasing a soft howl to us below and the pitter-patter of small creatures moving about the brush, it was a natural feeling.

"At least it's not as spooky as the forest by Greytree," Taylor said and shook herself.

"I actually quite like it in here," I smiled. "The first time I came was when I was eight with Morgan. It's almost like a different world here."

"Astute of you Rain," Ardent agreed. "The border forest stretches many kilometres into demon territory and there are dozens of villages within, some very hard to find. The density of mana here is significantly different than any place among the human territories and is a place of much investigation. It is unfortunate but with the current diplomatic issues spending much time here is not possible."

"Speaking of which we should probably shut up," Taylor looked into the distant trees. "I highly doubt that they wouldn't have their own guards around these parts."

We nodded and from then on stayed as silent as possible. If it weren't for Ardent's occasional clumsy step there was almost no trace of sound coming from Taylor and I. I was used to forests like these and knew how to avoid the tree roots and uneven paths. Taylor didn't have much trouble either. Coming from the clutter of the slums I guess she had to be deft on her feet.

Because we had lost the trail there wasn't much to follow aside from our gut instinct. Occasionally Ardent would look around with magic but nothing turned up. There were signs of creatures passing through but neither Taylor nor I could depict it as anything human. Like this two hours passed.

"Rain I think it best we head back. The sun is setting," Ardent said while wiping the sweat from his brow. Though it was quite cold in the forest we had been moving quite vigorously. For an ordinary magician this amount of exercise was unheard of.