Chapter 11: A bright night.

King Of The Forest

Chapter 11: A bright night.

At a familiar part of the snowy woodland during the day.

"Sir, the human found the Queen here. Her scent also resurfaces at this spot." Says Vivi.

"She must be unable to use air magic to hide it." Says Marrda

"..."

"Or maybe she feels safe enough with the human that she doesn't need to hide her scent…." Says the black centaur Captain. 'This could also be a trap set by the human. I know most of the Queen's friends who are knights but like Vivi said, it might be a dark attribute mage but the queen doesn't meddle with humankind.Black hand? No…. Maybe it's an..'

"Vivi," the Captain calls out, "are you sure that the tracks belong to a human and not another race."

"Sir, the tracks belong to a human, I'm sure of that. If anything else it might be half breed but… that's unlikely." Responds Vivi.

"Hmmm," says the Captain, hoof (doing thing) as he thinks.

"Are they still going to the river?" He asks.

"It would seem so sir"

"Hmmm…."

'I thought he would double back after getting the queen and we'd meet him on the way, but it seems he has other plans….' Thinks the black centaur.

'How could he possibly get out of the talos region from the South….unless'

"Everyone, we need to hurry! NOW!" The Captain shouts out giving a jolt to everyone's back, even the scouts far away that could surprisingly hear him.

"We need to get to the river before they leave." He continued, this time looking at Vivi, signalling her to take the lead.

'Shit, those fucking mermaids. I knew they couldn't be trusted.' The captain curses in his head as the company begins to move.

The scouts are in the lead, because they were farther away and they keep it because of their lean bodies. The vanguard division follows behind with the Captain and Marrda in the lead.

Hooves dig through the snow at a frightening pace…

****

'I guess I'm not crazy.' I think as I look at a dark blue reflective mass of water roaring as it moves left to right, burbling as it hits the rocks creeping out of it.

'I've never seen a river this big in my life. I can't even see where it leads to.' The river is around a couple hundred meters wide and moving fast. Looking to my right, 'I wonder where it leads to. The sea, a waterfall? But damn it's loud. It took me a whole night to get here and I could hear from that distance.'

I turn to look back at a tree where I set the woman down. 'She's still out huh.' Turning back, I sigh at the thought that I have to deal with this on my own.

I get closer to the river bank. The moving water butchers my reflection but the water is surprisingly clear. Not enough for me to trust consuming it. 'What was…nevermind.'

"Do I have to cross it?..yeah there's no way I can do that." I ask myself out loud while looking at the wide body of water. 'Maybe there's a bridge or something.' Looking left and right along the river I speak to myself again, "I know rivers lead to the sea or a lake so….which way is it…?"

"Fuck it, I'll think about it later. For now…" I grab my stomach looking straight into the water, waiting for something. 'There it is. I knew I wasn't seeing things.'

In the water, a small creature similar to a koi fish swims skilfully and fast in its blue body. I saw it move in the water when I first stared at it. "I hope it's not some monster fish…uaaaaagh" I yawn.

"I'll do this at night. Yeah, I'm sure even fish sleep at night."

'Wait…I have to do something first.'

****

"Hah…ha..shit. one more time." I curse in the dark whilst in the river. I'm still quite close to the bank but the water is already up to my thighs.

I'm shivering in the water, I'm shirtless and barefoot with my pants uselessly rolled up to my knees holding the bar with my only hand, ready to strike at the fish. I've made some adjustments to the bar to help me in hunting. At one end of the bar, I've made an arrow tip with solid dark mana to pierce the fish. This idea came after I hit the fish twice and nothing more than it being disoriented for a split second happened, making me realise that it a tough fucker.

Stopping to catch my breath. 'I wish using mana was easier in this world. Trying to fish and keep together the solid state dark mana is like writing Japanese kanji with two hands while watching anim..fuck. I lost it again.' This time referring to my hold on keeping the mana solid.

Looking at the circular black blob gaining size on the end of my bar I sigh. Facing it, I concentrate on making the arrow tip again…

A long while later…

"Yess!! fuck yes!" I cheer while holding up my makeshift spear with a bloody royal blue fish on its end. The arrow quickly deforms into a blob before turning into smog and the fish slides off and falls back towards the water.

I let go of the bar and rush to catch it but the fish slips from my grasp and drops into the water with a small splash. I quickly dive in for it.

The fast moving water pushes against me.

The moonlight helps me see it. Its twitching and furious convulsions freaks me out but only for a second, which after, I grab it. This time with a firm hand. I emerge from the water, taking deep breaths. I throw the fish on to the bank before heading there myself.

Climbing on to the bank, I stumble to the wet ground and start shivering again with steam emanating from my body.

A stinging pain reminds me of the wounds I have from the prison. "Shit." I heave up and down from the pain and lay on the ground waiting for the pain to numb out.

After some time of shivering on the ground, I pathetically stand back up, brushing off any dirt I can off me. Walking to the fish, I pick it up then head to a mound of sticks and leaves a few steps away.

'Glad I prepared dry wood in the morning. Now I just have to start it.'

I arrange the wood to resemble a small campfire from my memories. Ripping a piece from my shirt's right sleeve, I place some of it into the campfire. 'I don't need it anyway.' I think while loosely putting the shirt on.

Grabbing a relatively large block of wood with a flat surface, and some sticks. I fashion a primitive tool that looks like a bow using a bendy stick and the laces on the woman's boots which she 'kindly' offered without complaint.

I take some tinder which is a piece of my shirt and some crushed dried leaves and put it in a small hole on the large piece of wood. I take a strong stick and place it on the bow such that the string loops around it with the stick being perpendicular to the string looking like a cross.

'This would have been easier with 2 hands. Or a helper.' I complain inwardly, taking a glance at the woman who seems not to be in pain anymore.

Still shivering, I place one end of the tied stick in the small hole with the tinder and put a stone on the other end holding it up straight to stop it falling with my forehead. I looked idiotic.

'This should cause friction in the small hole, heating up the tinder and possibly making a little amber that I can use to light the fire.' I think while my teeth chatter. 'There's no point in conjuring the dark cloak, I can't focus on it while doing this next step.'

Holding the stick part of the bow with my only hand, I pull and push, causing the stick on the string to spin in its position but suddenly, a very cold wind from the river causes me to freeze and shiver so much that I add and reduce forces in different places that causes everything to fall apart.

"Fuck." Waiting for the wind to pass, I conjure the dark cloak covering my chest, legs and arm.

I warm up a little before dissipating the magic and trying again.

"Come on, come on." I say with my forehead on the stone in the same position as before. I move the bow faster but at a steady pace and after at least two minutes I see smoke.

"Haha, yes." I cheer while continuing to spin the stick with the bow.

Small crackles sound and I immediately stop throwing the bow and stick aside to grab the wood with the tinder. Looking at the tinder, I see small red glowing spots. 'Yess it worked. Okay okay..'

I quickly approach the small unlit campfire. I use a small stick to put the smoking tinder at the bottom where a piece of my shirt is along with some dry twigs and leaves.

I gently blow into the space causing the smoke to increase. 'Come on please come on..'— I beg in my head, continuing to blow.

The smoke increases and I can see the glowing spots increase too. I stop blowing for a while to let the smoke clear before going at it again.

*Whoosh* A small flame emerges at the bottom, slowly burning the wood on top of it. I've succeeded.

Backing off, I cheer. "Haha fuck yeah!!! Yesss. I fucking love youtube, fuck!"

The fire slowly grows bigger and the already bright night seems brighter.