The 'Right' Fork

Rushing to the river as fast as their damaged bodies could carry them, the party could see the blue water shine through the foliage.

Roy smiled as he pushed his weary body forward. "Terren, Solus, look around and see if you guys can find any dead logs for us to float with." The two nodded their heads, and looked around the area as they continued forward.

Soon, they both found decent sized logs. Solus dragged hers with her one good arm, while Terren wearily pulled her own.

Roy took Inbellis, and sat the oblivious thing on his shoulder. Afterwards, he pulled himself onto the log that was dropped into the river, before pushing off.

Nocturna sat on Roy's head, while Terren and Solus took the other log.

...

The exhausted group drifted for hours, slowly floating down the river they had worked so hard to trek up.

They were approaching a fork in the river, one side leading towards where Roy had originally come from, while the other led somewhere unknown.

Roy knew that if he took the original path, the party would eventually be put in the same situation, or a worse one.

"Solus, Terren! Take the right fork!" Roy yelled back to the other log, as he began kicking his legs.

The others followed his orders, joining him in the right fork.

...

*Tap*

After endlessly floating, Roy finally hit the side of the river. Opening his weary eyes, he looked around the area.

He had landed in a bank, near a clearing in the thick trees.

Looking upstream, he could see Terren kicking the water, attempting to bring the log to meet up with Roy.

Solus had passed out a while ago, her injuries finally getting the better of her.

Pulling his body up painfully, Roy forced himself to meet up with them to help pull it in.

"...Here let me help you guys." Roy grunted out.

"Okay." Terren looked at him thankfully, as they pushed the log to shore.

"We'll rest here tonight, then look for a safe spot tomorrow. We shouldn't have left any tracks, especially after we took the right fork in the river." Roy collapsed on the small beach, as he almost immediately passed out.

Terren, and Nocturna looked at each other, as they went over to Solus to make sure she could sleep comfortably.

"I'm going to sleep too, goodnight Nocturna... and thank you for saving us." Terren gave a tired smile, as she laid in the sand.

Standing there, slightly surprised, Nocturna's eyes shone. "You're welcome..." She whispered to her new friends, as she too, went to sleep.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Status report!" Ampharn yelled, startling his subordinates.

"Sir! The trail ends at the river, it seems they knew we could track them." The hunter reported, as he stared at the cold trail.

"...Are you telling me we lost them?" Ampharn forced out, staring bullets at the hunter.

"Not exactly sir, we know for sure they couldn't cross the river, or swim up it in their condition. My best guess is that they floated down stream." The hunter, now sweating bullets, gave his opinion. He slowly backed up, bowing his head as he did.

"Hmm... Alright, it's not like they can get far in that condition once they reach shore. Everyone group up, and prepare to give chase." Waving his hand, Ampharn began to follow the flow of the river.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Waking up in the morning, Roy lifted his sore body slowly.

"Ugh..."

"You awake?" Solus asked, looking over at her beaten up brother.

"Yeah... How's your arm?" Roy asked back.

"I can barely move it." Solus closed her eyes, as she took in the morning air. Her pain subsiding slightly.

"We'll need to find a place to take refuge and heal. We can't sit out in the open like this." Roy said, his eyes locked upstream.

"Yeah, but let's let them finish sleeping, they both worked really hard. They deserve their rest." Solus looked at the sleeping faces of Nocturna and Terren, smiling lightly.

...

A few hours later the whole party was awake, groaning in pain as they moved through the forest in search of a new base.

"Roy, we need to take a break..." Solus looked up, her face cringing in pain.

"Alright." Roy pat her head, as he looked over to the others. "We'll rest here for a while, then continue. We can't waste too much time. I don't know if they'll be able to find us again, but I don't want to risk it."

"""Okay.""" All three responded simultaneously, as they enjoyed their well deserved rest.

Roy was sitting off to the side, clutching a Mana Heart. His own, greedily absorbing this one as if it were a black hole.

'Hopefully, I can achieve a tier two Mana Heart before something like that happens again. I felt completely, utterly powerless. I couldn't even get a single hit in!' Roy's face twisted in anger, remembering how close they were to death.

'Thank god Nocturna was there, I need to find a way to get her to stay with us. She fits in great, and her abilities are fantastic. We couldn't ask for a better party member.' Roy, dropping the Mana Heart that was drained completely, checked his condition.

'My body is in tatters, I really wish I could get regeneration or healing magic...' Roy laid back, holding his hand above his face, shielding his eyes from the harsh rays of sunlight.

His shaky arm, struggling just to do this normally trivial movement, caused Roy to think.

'Maybe I should ask Nocturna to teach me runes, she seems to know a lot, based on her magic. Maybe I could even make a healing spell or something with what I learn?' Roy, smiling for the first time today, shot up.

"Ugh!" He grunted in pain, quickly remembering his condition. He tottered back to the group, a sparkle now in his eyes. Nocturna, currently sitting on top of Solus, looked back at Roy as he approached her with a wide smile. 'Time to learn some magic!'