The morning came far sooner than either of the women would have liked, the hole that lead out into the real world doing very little to keep the dawn light from spilling in. The foliage of the forest provided some amount of shade, but eventually light beams streaked across their face, and squinting faces slowly rose to waking forms. Madrona found herself somewhat unable to move, what with Kassadi’s form overlapping her own. The Wizard had at some point in the night shifted and embraced the inferni woman, instinct more than anything, clinging to a source of warmth in the night… Madrona still found it incredibly awkward, and tapped at the hand that rested across her chest. Kassadi mumbled and shifted the hand away… to Madrona’s waist. Madrona’s eyes rolled and she shoved Kassadi gently.
“Wake up, Kassadi.” Madrona said, scrambling to free herself
from the woman’s grasp. Kassadi was unwilling to let a comfortable rest come to
an end and groaned in protest.
“Mmm, I don’t want to.” She said, half mumbled as she buried
her face into the mattress to block out the light. Her hand gripped into a
fist, bunching the fabric of Madrona’s shirt.
“Come on!” Madrona said more forcefully, amazed at this
woman’s level of comfort with awakening in the embrace of someone she barely
knew. “We need to get going and you are…” She sighed. “Snuggling me.” Kassadi’s
eyes fluttered open.
“Oh.” Her hand released the shirt and she lifted herself
away from Madrona. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Madrona said dropping her feet to the ground
and pushing up to a seated position. She shivered gently feeling the phantom
cold of losing an embrace. She paused a moment, eyes glancing back at the
Wizard, who was stretching out in an exaggerated cat like arc, arms lifting
over her head. It drew the nightshirt up considerably along her thighs. Madrona
turned her head and stood up.
“Guess I just…” Kassadi yawned. “got cold in the middle of
the night.” Kassadi rubbed an eye and poshed herself up onto one arm. “I didn’t
mean to make you uncomfortable, Madrona, I am sorry.”
“Didn’t make me uncomfortable, just need to get moving. It’s
fine Kassadi, really.” Madrona stated, she tilted her head, glancing back to Kassadi.
“There are worse ways to wake up than wrapped in gentle arms. Where I’m from an
Inferni would be lucky to have a partner still there in the morning.” Kassadi
scrunched her nose at the implication.
“Oh no I would never do that.” She said. “Breakfast guaranteed
when you spend the night with Kassadi Weaver!” She said, a wry smirk on her
face.
“Very lucky man.” Madrona said with sardonic smile.
“Man, woman.” Kassadi shrugged. “I’m not one for making
distinctions like that. I like people, not genders. Way I figure you miss out
on too much if you start setting limits.”
“Oh, I see. Sorry for assuming.” Madrona said, shifting
towards the hole and inspecting the land outside.
“How about you?” Kassadi asked.
“What about me?” Madrona said distracted.
“What do you go for? Men, women, both? Neither?” She tilted
her head, focusing on the woman in front of her.
“Huh?” Madrona furrowed her brow, turning back to the Wizard.
“Why do you ask?” She quirked a brow.
“Oh no reason.” Kassadi said. “Just looking to distract
myself from the fact we’re gonna be hiking through the woofs barefoot. I was so
amped last night I barely noticed while we were fleeing, then we just fell straight
to sleep. My feet sting, my arm is in agony, and my entire body is sore. You
don’t have to answer if you don’t wanna, I won’t pry.”
“No it’s not prying…” Madrona began. “And to be honest I
would love nothing more than to never have to stomp through the woods without
my boots. But we do have to get going.” Madrona paused, glancing over Kassadi
for a moment, pursed lips. “And the fact is I don’t really go for anyone. More
specifically, I guess, no one goes for me.” She turned and started scrambling
up the hole. Kassadi stared up after, frowning.
“I would.” She said.
The
walk was… not fun. The two women no longer had the adrenaline high fused with
exhaustion of the previous night to numb their pains. Now they felt every stick
and rock as they wandered through the forest floor. They moved away from the
Manor, deciding it was not welcome what with the Hellhounds and axe wielding
Jotuns. They didn’t quite know where they were headed but they knew they needed
to find it fast. Kassadi in particular was struggling, she was cradling her
injured arm which rocked her with agony every time she involuntarily shifted it.
She only released the arm to reach down and yank the hem of her nightshirt down
as it rode upwards along her thighs as she walked in it. She was right, turned
out, and had in fact accidently flashed Madrona no less than three times on
their hike, face flushed with embarrassment now, or maybe that was the shilled
air that stung her cheeks. The both of them shivered, despite the radiant heat
that Madrona seemed to give off naturally even the inferni were susceptible to
cold.
They
walked for the better part of the morning, stumbling as fatigue took them fast.
They huffed and puffed and every time one would suggest a break the other would
push them on, the threat of being found by their hunters keeping them moving
through sheer force of self-preservation. By late morning they started to
notice the forest began to wane. The rocky uneven forest floor began to give
way to soft grass and they saw less and less trees. Eventually they could see
the rolling fields again and to the east a river. As they finally exited the
woods they both collapsed down to the ground in relief. Kassadi made sure to clutch
her shirt and keep it down as she rolled onto her back. Lifting her head she
looked off into the distance at the river.
“Okay I can see the Newcastle Canal, means we probably
traveled all the way to the south east of the forest.” She said, thinking in
her head about the local geography. “That means the road should be like, uuum…”
She squinted, thinking. “Four miles west? But the road might be too obvious? We
could follow the river north and we’ll eventually make it back to the town.”
“That won’t be necessary, Kassadi, look!” Madrona, who had
pushed herself to her knees to take a look around, was pointing off in the
distance towards the east towards the river.
Kassadi let out an audible groan as
she pushed herself up with her good arm, then a gasp. Madrona was right, off in
the distance next to the river was a village! It wasn’t on any maps Kassadi had
seen of this area, but who cared? A village! They could find a place to stay,
clothes, someone to mend her arm. They didn’t have their money on them but that
was a problem for later. At the moment the women pushed themselves to their
feet, reinvigorated, and started marching towards the village. Spirits were higher
now as they moved, and both were smiling. With this swell of good tidings
Kassadi was feeling chatty again, and broached on a subject that she had been
wondering about all morning.
“What’s that?” She asked.
“Hm?” Madrona turned her gaze, tilting her head.
“The book. You brought it with you when we escaped the manor.
I know I asked you to grab my spellbook before we fled but like, that’s my spellbook.
It’s kind of my thing as a Wizard.”
“Oh!” Madrona brought her grimoire up to her chest, clutching
it with both hands now. “Uh well this is…” She struggled to think for a moment.
Say something, anything! “My diary.” Kassadi raised a brow.
“Your being attacked by a hellhound and a half-giant and you
go for your… diary?” Kassadi was struggling to contain a small laugh.
“I don’t need Gild reading up on my private affairs.” She
said flatly.
“Oh, yeah that’s good. Lotta ‘affairs’ in my diary he’ll be
reading about I guess.” She said, a wide and mischievous grin on her face.
“Oh yeah?” Madrona said, rolling her eyes.
“Well, a lot of nonsense about all my old boyfriends and
girlfriends, yeah. Not like I was explicite otr anything.” She said with a bit
of a sway. The conversation was helping her keep her mind off the pain in her
arm.
“You had many?” Madrona asked, not in judgement, but actual
curiosity.
“A few.” She said. “But then some were at the same time so that
might skew it a bit.”
“Same time?” Madrona asked, brow raised, but a sly smirk on
her face.
“Oh.” Kassadi said. “No not like that I never cheated on
people, everyone knew. I mean some of my partners had other partners as well,
sometimes we had the same partner.” Kassadi shrugged. “I don’t really see why
you can’t have feelings for more than one person, long as everyone involved knows
about it and is okay with it.”
“Suppose I can’t argue with that.” Madrona said.
“Like I said I like pretty things.” Kassadi said, a wide
grin on her face.
“Mm.” Madrona responded, shaking her head, but chuckling as
well.
The two
eventually closed the distance to the village and as the buildings grew larger
they felt the urge to start sprinting forward, but their aching forms prevented
such action. They began to see figures in the distance, inhabitants. Then they
noticed the inhabitants had green, olive, and mustard brown colored skin. They glanced
at each other as they realized the buildings were a lot closer than they seemed
because the buildings were much smaller than they had figured. As they broached
the outskirts the two women found themselves in a village of Goblins.
The
inhabitants, once noticing the visitors, became agitated. Many of them began to
shuffle into buildings, some parents grabbed up children and ran into houses. Madrona
and Kassadi walked slowly down a main thoroughfare towards what was apparently
the town square. Madrona spotted with a glance to her side Goblins in hide
armor with spears starting to flank them. The Inferni reached out and took
Kassadi’s hand, ready to turn and flee, dragging Kassadi along with her,
knowing the poor Wizard was already on her last leg. Before she could put this
plan into action a voice called out. Eyes snapping forward Madrona and Kassadi spotted a goblin woman approaching them,
calling out something to the ones in hide armor neither could understand. The
goblin woman was about three and a half feet tall and sported a half shaved
head, a shock of dyed pink hair flowing off to one side. She wore spectacles
and had an air about her that denoted leader. Dressed smartly in a red tunic
under a brown leather vest and hide trousers, she looked over the two visitors,
glancing up and down, side to side. Eventually she nodded.
“Well if you were going to attack us you’re in no shape to
do it.” She said in the collective tongue. “Terribly sorry bout the guards
sneaking up on you. Can’t be too careful these days with the tall folk, they’re
all riled up because of our exiles, so they blame it on us.” She scoffed. “As
if we weren’t the first victims of Maryl and her band. Come now.”
“Uh… Maryl?” Madrona asked, glancing back, the Goblin guards
were all standing down.
“Oh listen to me.” The woman said, waving her hand
dismissively. “Blathering on about that brat again, she gets under my skin so
badly! Sorry, Maryl is the leader of a band of ruffians, took up resident in
that accursed labyrinth north of the forest. Her antics have brought some ire
onto us from the local tall folks.”
“Uh, I see. I’m sorry but my friend here is very injured.”
Madrona began, the goblin looked over Kassadi, and hasped sharply.
“Oh my dearest what happened to you.” The woman said as she
saw the state of the Wizard. “Come, come follow me. My name is Lidya, I’m the Den
Mother here as it were.” She smiled and let out a chuckle.
“Very nice to meet you Lidya.” Kassadi said and began
following, she glanced at Madrona for a moment, and then back. “I think we may
have met this Maryl…”
“Oh?” Lidya said, not stopping her pace. “Did she attack
you?”
“Uh, yeah. We had to defend ourselves. We may have uh…” Kassadi
glanced at Madrona again, who gritted her teeth and gestured at the woman to shut
up… Kassadi couldn’t help it though. “We may have killed some of them. This did
stop Lidya. She took a sharp inhale and let it out slowly. Kassadi felt her
heart sink. “I’m sorry.
“No.” Lidya said, shaking her head. “Those who followed Maryl
chose their path.” Lidya nodded, as if convincing herself. “I just wish I could
have reached them before it was too late.” Lidya steeled herself and began
walking again.
They
walked for several minutes, Kassadi was honestly getting tired of the walking
and would make a vow to never walk another step for the rest of her life. They
eventually approached a small, thatched hut some hundred yards from the edge of
town, much different from the rest of the buildings which were all made of wood
or stone. Lidya asked the two to wait and approached the house, knocking upon
the door. A moment later it opened a crack, a conversation in the Goblin tongue
proceeded, though even if they could understand it Kassadi and Madrona could
only hear every third word from Lidya and none from the other. Eventually Lidya
waved them on, as they approached the door opened and they could see another
Goblin, male this time, a head completely shaven and covered in thick pelts.
“This is Dulav.” Lidya began. “He’s a druid, knows some
healing magic.”
“He wouldn’t happen to know how to remove curses, would he?”
Madrona offered.
“Madrona…” Kassadi said, shaking her head. At this point the
Wizard was leaning against the Inferni woman, feeling it hard to stay on her feet.
“Right, nevermind.” Madrona stated, helping Kassadi as they
needed to bend over to get into the doorway.
Kassadi
was eventually layed out in a cot, though it ended for her at about mid-thigh
and her legs just hung over and met the ground. She didn’t seem to mind though
and enjoyed the ability to be semi comfortable and laying down. She let out a soft
whimper, however. It was now that Madrona noticed that Kassadi was sweating.
The morning chill had left but it was still a breezy and cool day, she should
not be sweating that much. Madrona’s brow furrowed and she bounced her knee compulsively
from where she sat in the corner of the room. Dulav moved over the human woman,
running a damp cloth over the scratches on her feet and legs. He pulled away
the makeshift bandage over Kassadi’s arm and frowned deeply at what he saw,
pressing his knuckles to the human’s forehead he shook his own head.
“She is fevered and you are lucky to have gotten her to me
now. What happened?” He asked Madrona.
“She was bitten by a Hellhound and spent half the night
fleeing from it half naked and barefoot in a forest, and then all morning
walking from our hideaway to here. I did what I could to cover the wound but I’m
no healer.” Madrona said, Dulav waved his hand reassuringly.
“It’s good, you did good. Not much else could have been
done. The elements did this more than the bite. Your wife will be fine in my
care.”
“Not my wife.” Madrona said.
“Girlfriend, sorry.” Duval said, Madrona frowned but did not
correct him.
The
druid reached over to the wall beside the cot, bringing forth that to Madrona
would be a slightly large stick, but for Duval was a tall staff. It was adorned
the fangs and claws of several predators, all affixed to the staff with thin
vine rope, and atop the staff a large eagle’s feather. He held the staff above
Kassadi and began chanting. He eventually removed his hand from the staff and
it did not fall, instead it hovered above the human woman and even began to
slow. A fain green energy radiated from the staff and washed over Kassadi.
Madrona was anxious, and she realized it wasn’t because she was worried about
the curse. She would lop off her hand right this second, she realized, if
Kassadi could walk out of this hut okay.
The spell
began to do it’s work, Madrona noticed the superficial scrpaes and bruises begin
to vanish first. The tiny slices in her shins from stumbling through a forest
without pants began to seal leaving smooth and supple skin behind. The
discolored yellow and purple bruising from being battered around the bedroom
the previous night faded and became a creamy white again. Madrona even noticed
the faded blisters left from Maryl’s lightning spell washed away in the radiant
green energy leaving no sign that it ever happened. Eventually the severe
injury, the bite, began to stitch itself back together. The blood, bruising,
and gashed skin all vanished leaving a perfectly normal looking arm in it’s
wake. Finally the flush in Kassadi’s cheeks, the fever that had taken her in
the recent hour, passed. Kassadi unclenched, her entire body releasing a
tension she didn’t even realize she had. She sighed in absolute relief. Her
eyes slowly opened and she turned her head towards the Goblin Druid.
“Thank you.” She said, breathily.
“You are very welcome.” Dulav said. “It is my pleasure to
help those in need.”
“You know what would really help?” Kassadi said, turning her
head.
“What is it dear?” Lidya asked.
“Some pants!” Kassadi shouted.
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