Requiem Run

Chapter 17

Katie had been smart enough to clutch to me when we went through the portal, so this time she was able to stay on her feet, though she looked a little green when we got where we were going. Meanwhile, I took a look around, realizing we in a valley between two huge mountains.

"Hey, there's something on the side of that one!" Rhys said, pointing to a series of wooden platforms on the side of one of the mountains, really high up. Just straining my neck to see what was up there was causing me to be a little nauseous.

"Looks like we're going to have to get up there." said Felice, "I hope you guys aren't afraid of heights."

Katie glanced at Felice like she wanted to slap her, but Daniel spoke up before anyone else could say anything.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Daniel said, eyes shooting right over to Felice. I realized we hadn't had the chance to explain anything to him yet, and Felice must have shown herself to him without really thinking.

"Uh, soul-join, she helps Riley fight, she's good. I think that explains it?" Katie said.

"Eh, close enough." said Rhys.

"Not really!" said Daniel, "But, look, we don't have a lot of time for you to explain everything to me. For now, we have to keep moving, the temple might be up there, and we have no idea where the wolf-man will come from."

"Good point, he's probably already sniffed us out." I said, "We should find the way up there, see if we can find that damn temple."

"Let's get moving, then." said Daniel, "Tarron had me join you since I'm more familiar with this region of the island."

"Cool, we have a guide." said Katie. Daniel gave that ghost of a smile again, and then we started trekking forward at the base of the mountain, the only sounds besides our squelching in mud was the raging river besides us that was a little too loud for us to talk through.

"Don't you think Xelsa would be able to sneak up on us?" Felice asked. Somehow, her normal speaking tone was able to be clearly heard over the sound of the river - another thing to add to her ghost powers.

"We should be fine, thanks to the mud!" Daniel shouted, just barely able to be heard over the water rushing, "Xelsa's gonna have trouble sniffing us out thanks to the smell of the mud."

"God, I hope so," said Katie, who I had just realized pulled out the spellbook, a small brown book bound in leather, and was perusing through it, mouthing out words I assumed she didn't understand, since her brow kept furrowing. Rhys kept glancing over at the book as well, occasionally also furrowing her brows, as if she didn't really understand the book either.

"Getting anything useful out of that?" I asked.

"Kinda," said Katie, "When we get a chance, I'd like to try and practice with this stuff. Daniel, did you pack extra mana?"

"Extra what?" Daniel asked, "Oh, you mean Elixir, right? Yes, I packed a few dozen bottles."

"Good, I'm gonna need some of those when you get the chance," said Katie, "Hopefully I can get some of these spells down before Xelsa rears his ugly ass."

Rhys snorted at that. I could swear I even saw a hint of a smile on Daniel's face. It almost felt like things could be normal, like we were just a bunch of friends going on a hike together, not fighting for our lives.

"Here, the way up is over here." said Daniel, motioning to a wooden pathway that started up the mountain and twisted out of sight. The height looked downright terrifying.

"You're not good with heights, are you?" Felice asked me in private.

"Not really, no." I said, "This is gonna suck."