Chapter 191: Chapter 53 part 2
"Well, it's not so much anything you intentionally did," Laurise chimed in, slapping Embris on her back as she settled down next to Embris. "Apparently what the cat was chasing is sacred to these people. The fact that you saved it meant that these people look at you as a kind of hero. Although, if you'd shot the… uh… oh yeah, the mychiena. If you'd shot that, then we'd have been goners. They wouldn't have spared even the donkeys from what I understand."
Embris wondered if that was the reason her stomach was rather unsettled at the moment. She remembered the grey creature, not sure why her not shooting that animal or not would have resulted in such different reactions from these people. Sacred or not.
She'd barely escaped getting her siblings killed as well as herself just by a sheer fluke. Not anything she had consciously done or anything. Which she felt was what she needed to focus on. That she needed to not worry about what could have happened, but rather be grateful that the alternatives didn't happen.
"What would have happened if I hadn't shot the cat?" Embris asked, not sure if that would have been any better. Although she felt she should have stayed quiet on the matter the moment the words were out of her mouth. For one thing, it felt like she was focusing on what she'd already told herself not to.
"Not really sure, " Laurise admitted. "Though, I'd assume they'd be neutral towards us, since they accept that even those… mychiena get killed by those cats anyway. Though, if you even shot at the cat but didn't hit it, then I think they'd still be rather friendly towards us, since you'd at least have tried to save it. Or at least that's what I think they'd think."
"So… does that mean we weren't killed?" Embris couldn't help but ask quietly. While what she was being told made sense, she still wasn't convinced that they were still alive.
Laurise merely laughed, slapping Embris on her back again. Hard. "Of course we're still alive. From what these people said, we'll have safe travels through these plains. Or at least as safe as it can be, since the wild animals still can be a threat."
Embris sighed. She wished she could believe this as easily as the others around her seemed to, but it felt like she was unable to accept it. Almost like a part of her wanted to die as well so she could be with the rest of her family.
The only thing that made her want to continue living was because she was the only one who could take care of the brother and sister of hers that she knew were still alive.
However, since she wasn't able to embrace what she had been told, she decided to just stay quiet. Even as Nymis fell asleep next to her and Rephis was trying his best to stay awake and listen to the conversation around him, even as his eyes were closing of their own accord.
Embris felt like if nothing else, that things from this point on might actually start to get better. Although, she still wasn't that confident things would work out for her. Especially with how she still mourned the loss of the rest of her family, even as she hoped that her fears were wrong.
"If what I remember hearing is correct," Laurise commented, "you'll be able to travel these plains safely as well as anyone with you."
Embris looked at the older mercenary. She wasn't sure what she meant with that statement. "What're you talking about?"
"Just that these people said that they'll spread the word about how you defended the mychiena and didn't blink when faced with the test of the spear." Laurise slapped Embris on her back, making her wonder if she might develop a series of bruises on her back from all the times she was getting slapped on it tonight.
Embris really didn't understand what they meant by that 'test,' but couldn't help but worry that it might affect her in other ways. However, she was at least starting to feel her stomach complaining about being empty, so she took a bit out of the chunk of meat on the stick. Embris wondered if these people would have used a spit if they had one to cook the cat, but she had a feeling that this might be how they cooked their meals to begin with.
"Just how long until we're out of the plains?" Embris asked after a while, when she was almost done with her piece of the cat.
"I think Nuem estimates maybe a month or two," Taesin replied from the other side of Laurise and Jueniaes. "I think I heard her talking to one of the drivers a few days ago. Although, that's also not counting the other destination she has in mind."
"What's that?" Embris asked, feeling like she should have kept her mouth shut. As just another month of these plains wasn't sitting well with her stomach, let alone two more months.
"Not sure she really knows herself," Laurise commented. "All I know is that she heard about some discovery by the stone mountain, so we'll be keeping close to that for a while, but who knows what that discovery is about." Laurise paused to take another bite out of a chunk of cooked cat. "I mean, I doubt it's an Aluthium deposit, although that would be a real discovery to get us to head out here. Though, I can't say I've heard about any being discovered by the plains before."
Embris nodded, wondering what the discovery could be. Especially with how Nuem had made it clear before that they'd be returning by way of the Forest of the Lost rather than this way, at the start of job. Not that Embris was complaining, since it just meant that she'd likely be able to get more money when they returned to Ferusha.
Picking up another stick with a chunk of meat on it, Embris finally started to accept that she hadn't been killed and that Nymis and Rephis were safe. In addition to her having somehow managed to make it so they would likely be safe the rest of this trip on the plains.
She felt herself start to relax as the night wore on and the celebratory mood from the people of the plains carried on around her. Even though she suspected that these people might keep watch for them, she wasn't about to skip her turn at watch. Simply because she knew if she did, then she'd have the other mercenaries get on her about it, which she didn't feel like letting happen.
_
Ralph groaned as he stretched his back. He wasn't sure if it was because they'd been on the road for so long or if he just wasn't able to get a real comfortable place to sleep for the past two weeks, but his back was starting to kill him.
It felt like that the others weren't having similar troubles, but he didn't feel like saying anything about it. Largely because he was trying to not slow them down. He knew his friend would try to work with him to help him ease his back problems if he said something, but he also knew that the longer they took on this, the longer it'd be before they could get back to their other friends and report in.
Besides, they'd already been delayed long enough with the slaves that Beth had rescued. They'd reached the village that one of Beth's new lovers had wanted to go over a week ago, but all that was left was a burned out ruin. Though, Ralph didn't feel like saying anything about the waste of time that heading there had been simply because he knew it'd turn the others against him at being insensitive to Aerbris' feelings. Which he personally didn't really care about.
With how long ago it'd been since they'd been at the village, it'd been two full weeks, if he didn't screw up his tracking of the days, since they set out from the city where the slave auction that Beth attended had been. Ralph wasn't sure if it was accurate or not, since he, Beth, and Wes were taking turns keeping track, but he was mostly confident that he hadn't screwed up his tallies for it.
In addition to that headache, he couldn't help but think that Beth thought she was being successful at keeping the rest of them unaware of her new lovers. Ralph wouldn't have complained if she had announced it, but since she wasn't saying anything about it, he didn't plan on saying anything either. If she wanted to pretend to herself that no one had noticed, he didn't see the point to disabusing her of that notion.
"Come on, Ralph!" Beth snapped at him. "I understand you're tired, but we should be able to see the canyon soon enough once we reach that rise."
Beth didn't have to add in the 'I hope' part, simply because she'd been saying that all day. While he had suggested to see if they could sense a gate earlier, that idea had been shot down, simply because none of them were as good at that as Tim was, and they weren't even sure what their range was, nor could they be certain of where those griffin canyons were.
This would be the first of the three they'd set out to find, but it felt like the map they'd been given had either been rather deceptive on the scale or it really had had no scale to begin with. Which meant that it might not be as accurate as any of them would have liked.
Even the river that supposedly divided into two and each end flowed into the ocean at opposite sides of the continent had been difficult to pin down from where the map had seemed to indicate that it was supposed to be.
Parts of the map looked like their next destination should be closer than it was while other parts turned out to be closer than it had indicated. Which meant that it was possible that they might actually have to pretty much cross the mountains before they'd even get in close to the griffin canyon.
Though, Ralph hoped that they'd be able to see it from a distance, since he really didn't want to risk getting close to a griffin. As while they occasionally saw them flying through the air, he was pretty sure that if he was close enough to really see them, that they'd probably be trying to kill him to eat. He held no illusions that they'd just leave them alone if any of the griffins were that close to them.
While at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder what it was that they ate. After all, they had to eat quite a bit, so there had to be a good amount of creatures for them to hunt. Unless there was something about the griffins that allowed them to survive on less than he'd have otherwise expected. After all, he'd learned a lot about things like that since they'd started out. Things he hadn't known were possible or really even cared to learn in the first place.
Then as they reached 'that rise' Ralph couldn't help but feel unsurprised as the griffin canyon didn't come into view. Although, Beth started to talk about the 'next rise' as if that was the one she'd meant all along. It wasn't annoying, or at least not yet, but it was starting to get a little tiring. If the air around them wasn't starting to get warmer, he'd have thought that the sweat he was putting out was because of a rising body temperature for himself.
As they continued on for a few hours like that, Ralph wasn't sure if he was just tired or if he might be coming down with something, but he was starting to feel like his head was becoming heavier and holding it upright just made it hurt worse. Plus he could feel himself starting to get stuffed up as well as his vision was starting to get a little blurry.
Though, he didn't plan on saying anything, simply because he didn't plan on slowing them down. After all, no matter what it was, he could easily handle it. He kept telling himself 'that they were almost there, that they were almost there' to keep himself moving, even though he really had no idea and was starting to think that they were going to end up camping again before they found the griffin canyon.
When they finally did see it, the sun was getting ready to set, and Ralph was feeling like he was running out of breath, like he'd just finished running a hundred yard dash at full speed or something. He knew he wasn't exactly in shape, but it wasn't like he was putting on the pounds either.
"So, are we going to go into that?" Hesha asked, her expression skeptical as even Ralph could make out a number of griffins flying around.
"I'm not picking up any gates in that direction," Wes remarked. "Though, there is one coming from that way."
Ralph looked in the direction Wes was pointing, which wasn't exactly the direction they'd come in, but close enough. He couldn't help but wonder if they should take a look at it anyway. It wasn't like it'd hurt them to look while they were in the area at least. Assuming, of course, that it didn't take them too far out of the way of the next griffin canyon at least.
"Ralph what do you thi- shit!" Beth started to ask, but jumped as she turned to look at him. "Ralph, what the hell happened to you?"
"What?" Ralph asked, feeling like he was missing something. "Is there something on my face?"
Ralph wasn't sure what Beth's problem was, but he couldn't feel anything wrong about him. Though, he wasn't sure if that was good or not, since he really couldn't feel himself touching his face, either. Or at least not with his face, that was.
"You're turning blue," Feon said, her voice sounding like she was partly fascinated and partly uneasy at the sight.
"Uh, I'm guessing that's probably not a good thing, right?" Ralph asked, not sure what to expect from this.
"I think he might have caught a case of 'skirt dropper,'" Aerbris commented.
"What's 'skirt dropper?' Is it a condition or an illness?" Beth asked, sounding like she was getting ready to start working on an essay about the subject.
Or maybe a news article, Ralph mused to himself, recalling Beth's old interest in being a journalist.
"I just remember hearing the adults talking about it once when I was maybe… four?" Aerbris answered, sounding quieter than usual. "I think my father had it, but there might have been others who had it as well, but I didn't really understand what they were talking about then."
"Well, let me take a look and we can figure out if you might have caught something," Beth said walking over to Ralph. "Though, if you did catch something, I'm not sure if we should move until you're better."
"Uh, is that safe this close to the griffin canyon?" Feon asked, sounding nervous about the very idea. "Shouldn't we maybe move away a little?"
"By the way, why's it called 'skirt dropper?'" Wes asked.
Aerbris shrugged. "I don't know. I just remember hearing my mother calling it that to the other women in the village, but I don't know if that was what it was supposed to be called or not."
"Doesn't matter anyway," Beth said as she put her hands on Ralph's face, though he couldn't really feel anything other than the pressure of her hand on him. "All that matters is that we need to figure out what the problem with Ralph is. If he's sick, we can try to use magic to speed his recovery along. If we can't then we need to stop moving and see if there's anything that we can do to help him get better faster."
"You know, maybe it's called that because it might only affect men," Wes commented.
Always the thinker, Ralph thought in his mind as Beth had Ralph open his mouth to look inside, put her hand on his forehead, used Amelia's trick with her magic to turn the tip of her finger into a small flashlight, and checking his pulse. Though, Ralph couldn't think of why she felt the need to do all that. He apparently might not look the best, but he hardly felt like he was sick.
Then as he thought that Beth might be done with looking at him, he felt her begin to do something with his magic and suddenly found himself looking up at the stars appearing in the sky above him.
"What…?" Ralph breathed, feeling rather confused. He was certain that he had been just listening to the others talk about whatever he 'had' and that the sun still hadn't set. Which should still make it the afternoon and not evening when the stars were starting to come out.
"I think he's awake," Raeys said from nearby.
"Ralph, you okay?" Wes asked, as Ralph felt, more than saw, movement around him. For some reason he didn't really feel like he had much energy and so didn't really care to turn his head to where he sensed the movement coming from.
Ralph didn't say anything right away, but waited until his world started to make sense. Not that it happened. All that occurred was that he saw Beth and Wes' faces appear above him with a bit of firelight reflecting off their faces.
He wasn't sure what was going on and felt like his world was almost turning upside down with how little things made sense to him. Like he might in fact be coming down with something just because of how confused he was getting.
"Ralph, do you feel that?" Beth asked, and Ralph wondered what she was talking about.
He tried looking around, but couldn't. He wasn't sure what the problem was, but it was almost like his head was in some kind of hold or vise. All he could say was that it was almost like he didn't have any real control over his body. Which merely made him wonder if this was some sort of dream. If nothing else, it would help explain the time shift as well as why he couldn't move at all.