Vox Machina Book One: Nobodies to Heroes

Chapter 14: That Damn Book

They continued for hours, taking no rest, not stopping as the others were waiting to arrive in Whitestone. "The Whispered One?" Scanlan mutters.

The wagon rattles at the road were getting bumpier, the mist was concealing the road ahead as the trees almost looked like monsters, and whatever inhabitants that lived in the forest, they were nowhere to be seen.

Percy groans, pressing his fingers to his forehead, tired and exhausted. Vex kept her eyes open for anything following them. Keyleth wakes and pulls herself to the front. "Percy, you need a break," she tells him, as he pulls his hand away, groaning to himself. "Absolutely not. We need to keep moving. The Briarwoods are probably back in Whitestone by now." he tells her.

The wagon bumps again, this time, waking Kyria from her slumber. Jason just looks down at her after she lifted her head from his shoulder. "Sorry, did I wake you?" he asks.

She yawns, shaking her head. "No, I needed to wake up anyway," she mutters, rubbing her eyes, and then sat up. "Are we there yet?" she mutters, stretching a little. "Not yet, almost, maybe," he answers. She groans and rubs the sleep from her eyes. "Okay," she mutters.

Then something rustles through the bushes, catching Vex's attention. "Percy, stop." she tells him, "I'm not that tired," he tells her, keeping his eyes on the road. She sees more shadows running through the brush, "No, I mean stop the damn cart." she says again.

Both locking eyes, "Something's tracking us." she warns him, then Percy pulls back on the reins. "Whoa," he orders, the horses came to a stop. "Why are we stopping?" Kyria mutters, Jason shrugs at her, then a snap catches their attention.

Percy and Vex drew their weapons, "Uh, what was that?" Scanlan asks, holding the book close, and appears next to Keyleth, Grog steps off the Cart, followed by Vax. "Stay here," Jason tells Kyria. She just nods at him and scoots close to the edge, Jason joins the two on the ground as Keyleth stood next to Kyria.

Then something rustles through the bush, alerting the three as they stood ready. Slowly stepping forward, then a shape steps out, almost... looking like a dog. It whimpers turning to them.

The three lowered their weapons, confused. "Oh, poor little pupper!" Keyleth calls out as she steps off the wagon, "Uh... Keyleth." Kyria calls out as she felt skeptical of the dog.

But she kneels in front of the group, looking at the dog. "Are you hurt, little guy?" she asks him, but as soon as the dog steps out, something was... wrong with it. Half of its skin peeled away as blood trickled from it.

The smile on Keyleth's face immediately falls as the dog steps out even more, giving her a good look. She screams, falling back as Vax stood in front of her, holding his arm out.

Vex and Percy turn back and look at the undead dog as it was growling at them. Kyria snarls as her wolf features were appearing. Then more appeared, stepping from the mist. "What the fuck are those?" Grog questions. "A gift from Lady Briarwood," Percy answers.

Then without thinking, Kyria leaps forward, to Grog's shoulder, then leaps again, shifting into a black direwolf and smacking into one of the undead dogs.

Making the others jumps back as they tumble to the ground, "Kyria!" Keyleth calls out to her, but Kyria snarls as she snaps and bites at the undead dog. It lands on its back as she latches onto the throat and with a sharp tug, rips the head right off.

She turns back, growling. Head in her jaw as she glares at the other undead as her eyes slanted burning with fierceness, they almost step back in a sense of fear, even though they're undead. Then the one in front steps forward, getting Percy and Vex's attention, it opens its mouth, and widely screeches at them. "What the fu..." Vex said weakly.