The Moon Spawn #1 (Waverly Stump and The 7 Realms)

Chapter Six

Waverly pulled open her tent and found Judson seated calmly in front of the stack of firewood he had set up the previous night. No flames came out it but there was a lantern near him. His face was pale as usual but his mind seemed to have left him.

"Jud?" She called and touched his arm. Judson yelped with a starr then relaxed when he saw it was only Waverly.

"A good morning!" He greeted dryly.

"Are you alright?" Waverly asked and looked about.

She could see that he was unnerved by something. He had mentioned seeing faces the previous night and even though she had not seen them for herself, she wondered if he stayed up all night for fear that those faces would come back. Waverly suddenly felt a fool for leaving him out all night all by himself.

"We have to keep on travelling. Crossing the In Between could possibly take us fifty nine days. . ." Judson caught himself at that point and quietened. He stood up to put out the lantern and carry his bag.

"How do you know that?" Waverly asked with a deep frown.

He gestured that he did not want to talk about it and began to walk away slowly. Waverly folded up her tent and put it back in her Grogana. She kicked away the fireplace and moved the logs that they had sat on then followed him.

For half the day Judson refused to talk or even make gestures like he usually did. He simply kept his eyes on the path. Waverly questioned him several times about whatever might have happened to him the previous night but he gave no replies. Judson was usually always silent but this time, his silence had a strange meaning to it and it worried her greatly.

They quickly left the woods behind and ventured into a much larger forest. Waverly hated that both the forest and Judson were quiet. She felt neither cared to acknowledge her presence and opted to kick stones for luxury as she walked, watching them skitter toward a spot then to an abrupt stop. The sun was out but Waverly could only tell because of the heat. The sunlight was completely blocked out by the trees above. Despite this, the forest was bright enough for travellers to know their path. This time, the red tint of the sky was gone leaving only a swirl of indigo that resembled fast moving clouds.

Waverly thought about what Judson had said. It would take fifty nine days to get across the In Between. She wondered if her mother would still be alive by that time. But then, time worked differently in the realm. Waverly wondered if they had spent only two days inside it or more. Everything in the realm felt different and this was why she guessed that time was also different. The In Between was the only unhabituated realm in all the known realms of power. Waverly knew that much. Lord Edsel had appeared to be no older than eighteen which contributed to the theory that time really was slow in his realm.

Waverly tried to calculate how much fifty nine days in the realm would equal back in her home realm. As she did this, the sound of ruffling leaves made her attention snap.

Judson stopped walking. He looked up at a tree.

Waverly squinted in the direction. "What is that?"

Her reply came in the form of an arrow. It was too fast to comprehend and lodged itself inside her shoulder. She cried out as the unnatural impact of the projectile pushed her way back into a collision with one of the trees.

Another arrow zipped toward Judson but he was quick enough to deflect it with his white wing. The arrow broke against his wing upon contact. All around the trees, leaves began to shuffle noisily.

At first, Judson could only make out fur and very loud chattering but then the creatures became visible. They were wild Alpgetonian Uakari monkeys. They had fur the color of fire brick red. Their furry faces were almost human but they had the body and tail of a monkey. Each creature held a large bow and a quiver full of deadly arrows. They swung from tree to tree so fast that Judson could only see their red fur in a hazy blur.