6 - New Tools

I mentioned digging a toilet pit, and Juliana helped me find some vines to wrap my hand and protect myself from the edge of the claw. They weren't hard to find, we just had to look up. They were smooth and tough, but almost rope-like in flexibility. They were thin, though.

The distant voice called again.

I chose a spot hidden by a large cluster of trees within shouting distance of camp, and dug a trench about two feet deep. It took me an hour, but I wanteded to expand it. Katie brought me some warm water and crab-snake tail, which is why I stopped. It was awkward eating in front of her, let alone the fact that she was staring at me. I tried to ignore it, but that didn't stop the awkward feeling. I finished my breakfast and got up.

Katie didn't move, except to watch me better.

"Digging a toilet can't be that interesting," I eventually said.

"Juliana said that Silence is the only one who should be alone. So I'm just keeping you company."

"If you say so. There's a lot of busy work, though." I gestured to some vines, "I'm sure if you braided some of those vines, the rope would be useful."

She looked where I was pointing. "I guess I can do that."

Katie finally stood up and started pulling vines down.

"Thank you." I said as I went back to shoveling.

We went at it for another two hours, the call to "come" occurring regularly. By the end of those hours, I was satisfied with the toilet ditch.

I jumped out, and brushed the dirt off my worn trousers. "You ready to go back to camp?" I asked Katie.

She looked up at me and nodded. I gave her my hand, and pulled her to her feet. She grabbed the vine rope she had been working on. It was braided like how a person would braid their hair, and there was about 30 feet, if I had to guess.

We went back to camp. The snakeskin hung over our shelter, drying on the stone pillar. Thomas sat next to Juliana near the now-dead fire. He was pounding the claw pieces I had split to take the shape of a knife. He had traced a rough shape with charcoal, and was meticulously smashing the edges of the claw piece off. Silence was again nowhere to be seen.

"She's carving the way to the voices," Thomas said before I could ask. He held the claw piece up to the light, just to set it back down and smash at it again. Juliana was weaving vines together into satchels. She was working on her second.

They invited us to help, and we all worked in the shade of the edge of the forest. By noon, we had the heads or blades of all the tools on our list except the mallet. We also had four completed satchels, woven like baskets.

We ate a quick lunch, each person taking a strip of bland snake meat. While we ate, Silence returned. She took her own piece of meat and ate. When we had finished, Silence pointed in the direction of the voices that kept calling.

"Did you find where they came from?" I asked.

She shook her head, rubbing her stomach. No, I came back before I found it because I was hungry. I interpreted.

More than a few hours out... Well, that might make it a bit more inconvenient than I had expected. But who was I to expect everything to be within half a day's travel from us? This was a whole world, after all.

I may have ended up leader, but I wasn't going to be a dictator. "Do we go?" I asked the others, "or do we wait until we've settled in more?"

"I can say I'm pretty darn tired of hearin' that mysterious voice. If goin' means knowin' at least what it is, I say we go." Thomas said.

"I'm fine with whatever," Katie answered, pushing back a stray lock of blond hair.

"Thomas brings up a good point. It would be nice to know what even is speaking to us." Juliana agreed.

"Then let's go. I guess it's a ways out there."

Juliana and Katie packed our snake meat into the baskets, and used the rope Katie had braided as shoulder straps to carry it all. We left the unfinished tools - all but Xor's sword.

We left, following the north-east path that Silence had marked with arrow-shaped slashes. The forest was thick, the ground sloped into hills and valleys. Our path was relatively straight, something I confirmed by looking back at the slashed trees occasionally. The others fell into idle chatter. Favorite foods, colors, hobbies. I pitched in occasionally, but my mind was consumed with wondering what we were going to meet when we arrived.

Whatever it was most likely couldn't move itself. Ghosts or other spirits crossed my mind frequently, especially if they were sworn guardians or sealed and bound. While I couldn't entirely rule out them being hostile, the way they called us didn't seem aggressive or impatient. Was there a seer with them? Someone who could predict our arrival?

More than half an hour passed, us following Silence, and still hearing the telepathic voices from the direction we were going. But our ears heard something else.

"Is that running water?" I asked, interrupting a conversation about Facebook feed.

Silence nodded. We saw it after going a few more feet. The river was probably less than ten feet across, and running south, chasing after something off to our right. Only large rocks dared try to impede its progress.

"I know we haven't been traveling long, but we should hydrate ourselves." I suggested.

"I am kinda thirsty," Katie admitted.

Silence nodded and disappeared into the trees. We had seen another few of the pink spiny plants on our way. With them being hard as rock, and barely lighter, we hadn't brought the one from camp. The rest of us gathered firewood together.

Silence returned while we were scattered and shaped a rough firepit, brushing away leaves and needles. Katie brought her wood back first, and Silence used it to light a fire. The rest of our loads fueled the fire, so after we filled the spiny pink plant's hollow innards with water, we set it on the fire and let it boil.

Eventually, we should find a way to reduce the process, but we had what we had. The last thing we wanted was one of us getting sick.