Avarice of the Sea | | b o o k 1

18: Arriving at Table Rock

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:  C H A P T E R  E I G H T E E N : 

  Sometime later I was abruptly thrust into the position of walking, and from the feel of my legs, we'd been walking for quite some time. I had no recollection of being able to walk until this point, but my calves burned and the sensation of utter exhaustion swept up through my limbs. I took a moment to stop, and take in my surroundings after being in that zombified state for so long.

The sun was blinding overhead, and I shielded my eyes to keep from seeing spots. All around me the trees rose higher than even the Res'rustica birch forests. The massive leaves blanketed our walkway, but through them I could still see speckled sunlight that made all the brightest greens and yellows pop, and the blue hue of the sky nearly looked white.

I felt a hand press to my back, and I practically doubled over when a bolt of unrecognizable fear lacerated my heart. The environment was nothing like I'd ever seen, and the stench of vegetation was oddly unfamiliar to me. A wave of nausea hit me and nearly knocked me to my knees as I leaned for the nearest tree and bent over next to it to hurl up the contents of my stomach.

"What's happened to her?"

"Give her this, it should help," a man said, and I felt queasy thinking about taking anything else into my system. The last thing I wanted was another dose of the numbing medicine.

"N-No," I stammered, smearing my mouth over my shoulder because no matter what, my arms wouldn't move. Staggering backwards, I nearly tripped if it weren't for the hand on my back. I could barely keep my eyes open now, and my arms felt like useless noodles against the hand that tilted my head back.

"It's just an herb to help yer stomach."

"N-" I shouldn't have opened my mouth. I choked on the plant, but managed to swallow it nonetheless.

I was forced back onto the trail, with the help of an arm keeping me in place. Someone shouted at us to keep up and not fall behind, so a taller man arrived to help carry me up the steep ascent.

I tried to stay in focus, but my mind was all over the place, trying to note everything that happened when I was in my stupor. All I could come up with were the strange faces of native eyes and arguments between the crewmates. I recalled seeing a woman there, among the crowd, but at the moment there didn't seem to be one anywhere.

She had been unique in the way she had long, braided black hair, and a face sharp and unnaturally beautiful in the cruelest of ways. Her skin had been bedazzled with jewels, and painted-on markings elaborately drawn around her neck. Blood red paint had been used on her face, highlighting her cheekbones and creasing her forehead in a symbol surrounded by lines. I couldn't remember what her eyes looked like.

After a few minutes of walking, supported by these two men, I was able to find my footing again and sluggishly returned to my own march. I wanted to know where Cody was, but the solemn stare from Ivan told me I shouldn't ask him. Up ahead, I couldn't see through the line of men to the front.

We came upon flat ground on which everyone gathered together in the clear circle surrounded by trees and the edge of a cliff. A bridge stood between us and the face of a massive slab of rock, and the expanse that it stood over was a massive crevice in the earth. I feared looking down, so I kept away from the ledge and merely observed from afar. On the other side was an opening in the rock that was akin to a tunnel.