Between the Veil and Crown

Kylin 35

Vivienne's face was set in an unsettled expression that Kylin wasn't sure he ever saw on her face before. She hurriedly made her way to the tree, walking so quickly she was several paces away before the rest of the Rangers realized what she was doing. No one said anything, the idea of what was behind the trouble too heavy of a thought to voice.

They came from behind the tree, and upon coming to front where Xane was, they found that he had his bow in hand, arrow already nocked. When he saw who it was, his shoulders relaxed.

"Vivienne, it's pleasure and a surprise to see you here," he said cheerfully. He noticed her expression and asked in a more serious tone, "What happened?"

"Have you heard or seen anything strange around here lately?" she asked. Her question was a bit harsh, and Xane blinked in surprise.

"No, I've seen and heard nothing," he said a little defensively. He glanced at the other Rangers for help in understanding Vivienne's attitude with him, only to be met with grim expressions.

"Nothing at all?" Vivienne pressed. "There's been nothing unusual around here recently?"

"I mean, the cap's been working on keeping the seal on," Xane said. "So he's been here several times. But nothing weird has been occurring. I figured his restoration of the seal had been working."

Vivienne gestured in the direction they just came from. "There's an ankheg tunnel in that direction. An entry point, that is. There is nothing, nothing, in those tunnels to show where they came from."

Xane shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what to tell you. I don't think they've arrived from over here. I feel like I would have noticed that."

It was not an answer that satisfied Vivienne. Scowling, she took several steps away in the opposite direction. Xane turned to Kylin.

"How bad was the infestation?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They raided a village," Kylin told him. "There were several casualties, but I don't know the exact number. We did manage to evacuate a good portion of the village before they really started arriving, and the soldiers actually helped us."

Xane pursed his lips. "Well. That's . . . it could have been worse, I guess," he finished lamely. "Did you get them all?"

"That we know of," Kylin answered. "We've mapped out the tunnels, and beyond a couple of egg piles, we couldn't find anything else. So if there are any more of them, they're running around the forest somewhere."

"And we'll need to get those tunnels covered up in the meantime," Vivienne said, her back still to them. "If there is nothing else that you can tell us, we'll need to head to headquarters and get Rangers on that as soon as possible. And we still need to talk to that dryad clan." Gesturing them to follow her, she took off in the direction of headquarters. They trudged after her, the weariness of being in the tunnels for so long setting in now that they were out in the open for longer than the short breaks they were given.

The path to headquarters was so much longer without the aid of a horse. But with how much distance there was between them, it would be impossible to call out for their horses. So walking it was.

When they stopped for the night, Kylin recognized the area to be the place where Marta got dragged off by the carnivorous flower. Vivienne set up shifts for the night, placing herself as one of the first to stay up and watch. She had Kylin for the shift after her. Knowing how close they were to the place where the flower used to be combined with the knowledge that he was going to have to get up in a little while anyways, Kylin opted to stay awake until then.