The Matriarch's Daughter

Chapter Nine: Finding her Hooves

The journey turned for the worse after their subsequent teleportation and impromptu battle. As the team recovered, Thepa tried to figure out what had happened. Rory theorized that the spell recognized too many entities on the platform, which scattered the team in different locations instead of their intended ones. The incident mixed them up with a group of hobgoblins, and Bidant found himself teleported twenty feet off the ground. Fortunately, he managed to land on his feet thanks to catlike reflexes, but he still twisted his ankle. As it was, Rory had to heal him.

Despite the setback, the team pressed on and made their way through the canyon towards the mountain pass. Frustrations were high, and by nightfall, Thepa noticed it. To ease the tension, she spent two hours alone, dividing the remaining shifts into pairs.

The night was long, settling much earlier than Thepa expected. A low fire cast shadows across the canyon wall that danced along the pass Thepa found herself facing. She let her eyes drift over the jagged rock, her ears straining for any sound beyond the occasional crackle of the firewood, stirred by the wind blowing through the canyon.

Not wind, breath.

Hot and damp against the back of her neck.

She whirled, heart hammering, but the camp remained still. The others lay motionless, breathing deep and steady against the hush of the night.

Around her, the darkness thickened. The fire shrank to little more than embers, stretching the shadows long and thin along the mountain walls. A shiver climbed her spine, settling in her horns. The feeling clung to her, gripping tighter with each passing second. It screamed danger all around them, to act before it was too late.

She turned to wake the others, but they were gone, without a trace.

No bedrolls. No figures. Just emptiness where they had been. Thepa was alone.

But not for long.

Whispers followed, rising against the silence. Two separate voices rumbling just below the surface, eager to meet Thepa's ears. Both spoke in hushed tones, one in confusion, the other in desperation.

"Lockti?"

"Sedrina, I... I need your help." A voice, high and sharp.

Then came the rain.

A downpour crashed around her, drowning the whispers. Thunder split the sky, so close she felt it in her chest. She gasped, spinning toward the voice. But the storm swallowed everything whole, dragging her into a deep sea.

She was drowning.

"Sister, come in before—"

"I can't stay. I must get back."

The storm stretched endlessly in all directions. Wind howled. Water churned as Thepa tumbled, weightless in the chaos. She held her breath, but the storm was relentless. It clawed at her, smothering her body in wave after wave. She fought. Her chest burned. Her limbs ached.

Then the water won.

"How long?"

"I don't know. I don't think...Just...be good to her," the voice pleaded.

Water rushed in, cold and merciless. It filled her lungs, sucking out what little breath she had. Her body convulsed, choking and struggling for life, but the water did not care.

"Shall she know who she is? What shall I call her?"

"When she finds her hooves, she will learn the truth... "Esha will provide the rest. My darling daughter Th—."