There are always ways to make things work. Car runs out of gas? Push it to the side and grab a gas can, if you have one, and make the hike to the nearest gas station. And yes, if you’re in shape and your car light, flinstone that shit to the pump. There are always options, unless you’re a meat slab. – Sergeant Twinkle Toes of the 303rd Chinchillas

  “Those ramps are a godsend. I really wasn’t looking forward to climbing back up the cliff,” Sergeant Twinkle Toes said cheerfully.

  The massive Druid snorted in laughter. “At least you’re not squatching it. I was afraid the ropes would break on the way down.”

  “You know, you’re right. Let me rephrase that: I was really not looking forward to climbing up that cliff below you!”

  It was easy to relax as the two took jabs at each other, but I was feeling a little antsy. We had been waiting for an hour for Sister Emerie to finish making the potion and test it for safety. And I felt myself getting worse. I was well past the point where I couldn’t feel a damn thing and felt a gnawing hunger within me.

  Not that I had a hankering for blood or fresh meat, it was just an odd craving and I didn’t know what for. I tried to ignore it.

  “How are you doing?” Arilyn asked softly.

  “Other than numb and strangely hungry? Not bad.” I replied. I tried for a smile.

  “This is temporary, love. As soon as the Sister has the potion made, you can take it and feel normal again,” she said before grinning mischievously. “It wouldn’t do for you to be unable to—”

  Suddenly, Sister Emerie bustled into the waiting area with a bottle of orange-hued liquid and a sheet of paper. “This potion is fascinating! Where did you say you got the recipe?”

  I stood up carefully. “The Voice gave it to me.”

  “Well, that explains that! I never would have thought to combine all of those together. More than half of those are used in poisons!” she exclaimed with a shake of her head.

  When she just stood there for a moment, I took a step towards her. “May I?”

  She looked at me blankly for a moment before handing the bottle over. “Of course. Do you mind if I make a copy of this recipe? I’ll throw in enough ingredients for a week’s worth of potions, as well as make a couple more for you!”

  “That sounds like a deal!” I replied. Popping the cork, I downed the potion and made a face. “Couldn’t change the flavor, I see.”

  “Sorry, it doesn’t work like that. The flavors of potions are unalterable. Every alchemist tries at some point and runs into the same wall.”

  I sighed. “I guess some things are just the way they are. Thank you,” I said. “And I don’t mind waiting.”

  “Oh, it won’t take me too long!”

  As she happily rushed out of the room, humming to herself, I sat down. Feeling returned to my nerves, and like fire spread through my body. I felt more alive than I had in hours.

  “Well, paint me red and call me Shirley. You no longer look like death warmed over!” Twinkle Toes exclaimed. “I was getting the heebie-jeebies what with your Nosferatu make-over, Mage boy!”

  I raised my eyebrows at the blue-skinned sergeant. “Mage boy, really?”

  He threw up his arms. “Hey, I’m trying some new material here! Give me a break!”

  Sergeant Jeb shook with laughter and shook his head.

  Potions, ingredients, and recipe in hand, we said our goodbyes and headed out to where we were supposed to meet up with Harper and the rest of the soldiers. My hood was thrown back, enjoying the sunlight. I left my sunglasses on, as it was bright. Part of me wondered if I was no longer able to handle as much sunlight, but I pushed that to the back burner for the time being.

  There was a feeling that I had missed something. Nothing that I could put my finger on, yet I couldn’t shake it. With everything going on, I didn’t want to discount the feeling, but I’d need to see if it was triggered by anything.

  The forest had a different feel to it than the night prior. It seemed very safe, and I didn’t feel eyes on me the entire time, as if the entire forest had emptied of monsters.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Hey, where did you go there?” Arilyn asked, bumping into me.

  “Huh? I was just watching for monsters.”

  “Ha, ha! Finn, don’t be a git. The monsters already left the chasm, so you don’t have to worry about them.” Her tone was warm and eased my mind somewhat.

  “You’re right. I just… all this shit has been really stressful. And I haven’t decompressed yet.”

  Arilyn slipped her hand around my waist. “Tell you what. After we settle down for the night, you can tell me all about it. No pressure, I’ll just be there for you, okay?”

  “That sounds, well, nice,” I replied, and slipped my arm around her shoulders. “I could really use a good talk.”

  We walked like that in silence, me feeling more peace than I had all day. And the forest wasn’t really quiet. The birds sang out their little hearts for whatever reason and paid us no mind, as far as I knew. Then again, they might have been scolding us for all the noise we were making on the first sunny day of their brief lives.

  When we arrived at the place we were supposed to meet Harper, the 303rd, and the 125th, it was obvious that we had missed them.

  “Obviously, they found a trail to follow,” Sergeant Jeb remarked slowly. “I mean, why else wouldn’t they be here?”

  “No, you idiot!” Seargent Twinkle Toes replied in clear disagreement. “I doubt they found anything, beers to biscuits. If they had, they would have left a note or a sign of some sort for us to follow.”

  “All right, you performance drummer reject. Why don’t we take a look around? Maybe we’ll find something like that.”

  “That’s a good plan, Jeb,” I interjected. “Why don’t we do that?” My tracking ability didn’t need mentioning, but if there was something to find, I’d find it.

  Twinkle Toes nodded. “Alright, Mage Boy,” Twinkle Toes drawled. “Not sure if you have any rank per se, but Harper and the Captain listen to you. Lead the way.”

  I gave him a look, which I hoped told him that if he wasn’t so blue, I’d shove an Ice Bolt so far up his ass that he’d turn that color and cough up ice cubes for a week. I still harbored some irritation over the whole calling me out at the Messenger Base. His still not explaining his nickname also had me a little peeved, but that hadn’t almost gotten me strung up.

  But I focused on the ground where the ogre’s and Juan’s bodies had hit the ground. There were a lot of tracks, both humanoid and of various monsters, all over the place. But I was able to narrow down where the ogre’s body had come to a stop. There was no mark of a human body hitting. There were skid marks, suggesting the ogre had slid into his final resting place, as well as drag marks, pulling it away into the deeper woods. I shuddered to think what could have done that.

  I started walking the path the body took to get there, the sliding skid marks, then the impacts where it had apparently bounced four times. The further I went, the fewer tracks were in the area. Until I came to the initial landing.

  It was in the trees, and three of them that had grown near each other were bent and broken. Fallen branches with dry leaves falling off them littered the ground.

  Vessa, who had been asleep on my shoulders since we left the Temple of Shadows, woke up and looked around with great interest.

  “What happened here?” she asked in my head.

  “I think this is where Juan and the ogre first hit,” I replied. “See those trees and how all the branches on this side are mostly ripped off? And though it’s harder to see with the deadwood, there’s a depression where the ogre struck the ground for the first time.”

  “That’s it, then. Is this the area where we’ll find Juan?”

  “I don’t know for sure, Vessa. For all we know, they separated somewhere above the trees and landed in different spots.”

  Suddenly, I noticed something odd, about fifty feet away, hanging from a tree. A polished length of wood. I took off running toward it, jumping over logs and bushes to get to it. I just stood for a moment, looking at it swing slightly, hanging by its bowstring. The markings on the recurve, massive bow confirmed what I thought: This was one of the bows of Harmon. Juan’s bow.

  Slowly and carefully, I removed it from the tree branch it was hanging from. I’d be damned if I was going to let something so simple cause harm to the bow. Though it struck me that it looked unharmed by the fall. Not even a scratch or a ding.

  “This is big, Vessa. We found the bow he was using! Maybe we’ll find him nearby.”

  I held the bow in my hands, just looking at it for a long minute. I popped it into my inventory to keep it safe and started analyzing the ground nearby. There was a surprising lack of anything related to my dead mentor.

  “Hey, Sergeants! Arilyn! I’ve got something!”

  The three quickly joined me, and I pointed out the depression in the ground and the trees before pulling out the bow. “So here’s the plan: We need to search out from here for anything that might show the location of his impact, and where the body may have ended up after that. Got it?”

  “Yeah, that sounds good. Why don’t we go east and you and the Cleric here head west?” suggested Jeb.

  I nodded, and we headed off on our respective paths. I felt so close to finding him, and it didn’t matter to me who found a trace. Arilyn and I split off a little, and we continued our search for anything. My tracking skill just was not activating at all, picking up nothing about where I looked. Not even a squirrel.

  “Finn! Over here! I think I might have found something.”

  I jogged over to where she was, standing over yet another divot in the ground, only smaller. “Good job! Now to see where it leads,” I said, staring at the drag marks and the footprints of what might have been a predator or scavenger.

  The drag marks were as clear as day to me and headed toward the south side of the chasm. I motioned for Arilyn to follow me, and Vessa clutched onto my shoulders while mentally shaking her head in disbelief. Then something weird happened: the creature dragging the body disappeared. The drag marks disappeared.

  I was stumped.

  “Did someone just pick him up and carry him?” Arilyn asked, startling me.

  “Ahh! I think you are right. I must be getting tired,” I said, eyeing the sets of tracks moving off—likely using a stretcher—toward the area where the ogre had been. It really struck me as odd.

  It didn’t take us too long to get back there following the two sets of tracks. Looking at the mess of foot and paw prints, I just shook my head. “This is going to take a while,” I muttered.

  “And we still have daylight,” Arilyn replied.

  “That we do, and it’s not burning me.”

  Whoever was carrying Juan’s body was doing their best not to be tracked. Their tracks led in what turned out to be a spiral pattern toward the middle of the mess of prints and other spoor.

  Then, somehow, they disappeared.