Free Fall - Into Other Worlds

Chapter 11 - The Forest Clan

After crossing the river, the bounty hunters didn't pursue them past their campsite. Eron had covered their tracks, and luckily the men chose not to venture further into the deep forest. So aside from having to run from giant wasps, Mage Wix getting caught in a spider's web, and Kara falling into a worm's burrow – their fourth day of travel within the Living Forest was quite smooth. After witnessing Mage Wix's nudity the other evening, Kara had begun putting more distance between them, especially while in the sleeping pod. Of course that meant she was sleeping closer to Eron, and Wix took that as a sign of affection toward their guide. He didn't know it was actually because she was now aware and a little scared of the snake within his trousers. Eron however had guessed the reason for her actions correctly. What young girl wouldn't keep a distance after witnessing such a sight? Yet he was a little confused as to why Kara had earnestly refused his offer to sleep in the middle.

It was their fifth day of travelling together through the forest, and they'd each found their own rhythm. While Eron led the way and warded off any dangers, Wix studied the forest around them and looked for chances to get closer to Eron, and Kara continued to forget her fears and worries by focusing on getting in Mage Wix's way. The way the grown man and girl behaved behind him made Eron feel he was guiding little children. If they knew the number of times he had to silently stop something from attacking them each day perhaps they would behave better. But the less fear they felt, the faster they would walk, and so he continued to keep them oblivious to the constant assaults on their lives.

Not long after they'd set off after having lunch, Eron stopped dead in his tracks. On a tree up ahead hung a stone the size of a human skull with three curved lines deeply engraved into it.

"What's wrong?" Wix asked as he came and stood beside him.

Eron pointed to the stone. "A marker," he told them. "Once we pass it we'll be in the territory of one of the Forest Clans. There will be traps set for both humans and animals, so I need you both to be vigilant and watch carefully where you step and touch."

"You're worried?" asked Kara with surprise. So far she hadn't seen anything faze him.

"Of course," he replied honestly. "I've never entered Forest Clan territory and have no idea what we'll have to face. Even if it took days, I'd always travelled around their settlements at a distance."

"Shouldn't we just do the same then?" asked Kara.

"Time is an important factor Kara," said Mage Wix. "A few days could double, even triple the number of bounty hunters and other fiends receiving information of our journey. There will still be quite a distance to cover once we leave the forest to reach the safety of my manor, and the less people we need to fight the better."   

"As long as you both stop playing around and focus on your surroundings, then we should be alright," Eron told them in a parental tone.

Neither Wix nor Kara could say anything regarding their behaviour. For both knew they had been fooling around. Still it didn't feel good to be talked to like a child. It made Kara think about her mother, and caused a heaviness to fall upon her chest.

"Stay close and walk where I walk," said Eron before walking on past the marker on the tree.

Kara followed after Wix with a cloud of gloom forming around her. What was her mother doing right now? Was she crying? Had she been eating and sleeping? Although a decade had passed, Kara could still remember her mother's devastation when her father was declared MIA. For weeks she'd seen and heard her mother crying over photographs every morning and night. By the time his death notice finally arrived months later, she'd had no more tears to shed.  Kara could only hope her mother believed she was alive, and was yelling at Detective Kross everyday to hurry and find her.