Scourge Thirty-Four - Camping

I hike up my backpack so that it’s sitting correctly. I’m not used to carrying one of these, but I guess it’s better than having my hands full with all the stuff we’re bringing.

We might have bought too much, actually. Esme is practically bent over by the gear she’s carrying, and Felix has two bags instead of just the one--though she is handling the added weight better than Esme is.

We have blankets and two tents, enough food of the wrapped and salted variety to last us a week or two. We have nuts and some dried fruit too, for snacks and quick meals as we talk. Canteens with plenty of water, some fire-starters, a few camp knives, and even a compass.

The clerk at the supply shop looked pretty eager to load us up, and I was worried that I didn’t know what we really needed. I guess by the end of this trip we’ll find out for sure. In the meantime, better too much than not enough.

“I think that’s all of it,” I say as I adjust my hood. The backpack’s straps are squishing my cloak in a bit.

“Seems like it,” Bianca says. She jumps up and down a couple of times to settle everything. “Are we all ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Felix says.

“I’m looking forward to arriving,” Esme says.

“Maybe we can transfer some things around later,” I say. “Lighten the load for anyone that’s having trouble.” Esme shoots me a grateful look.

We leave the inn after picking up (and repacking) a picnic meal from the kitchens and after telling the innkeep that we’ll be heading out. He wishes us well on our travels.

Crossing Castenada’s Stop for the last time, we walk to the east end of the city.

The guards by the city walls give us strange looks, but we’re obviously ready to leave, and their job is to keep weird things from entering the city, not leaving it.

And so, just like that, we’re out of the city and on the trade road heading eastbound towards the capital and Algecante.

“Oh, this is actually kind of nice,” I say as I spread my arms wide and take in the warm sun. The wind is cool and smells like pine and woodsmoke and mud. It’s a great difference from the stink of the city. Castenada might be one of the nicest cities I’ve ever visited, what with it being nearly entirely new and built well, but it still carries that stench. Too many people crammed too close together, with horses and donkeys and strays leaving their droppings wherever they please. This is much nicer.

“Yeah,” Felix agrees. “How far out are we heading?”

I glance over my shoulder. The city is still right there, barely five minutes away if I were to walk fast. “Let’s head out until we can’t be seen,” I say.

“That’s a ways,” Esme says.

“Come on, it’s not that bad,” I say. “Just think of how much walking we’ll save once we’re in the air.”

We continue along a slight decline, then up a steeper hill on the other side. The view is... actually, it’s not ideal, but it’s not ugly either. Just trees and forests some ways away from the road, with a few brave farms clinging to the roadside where fields are being cared for by their owners.

“I think this is far enough,” I say maybe an hour into our walk. The city is just a thin sliver near the horizon, and the farms stopped a while ago. I stretch my back out, then glance at my friends. Esme’s a sweaty mess, and Bianca looks a bit red in the face, but otherwise everyone’s fine. I’m kind of glad that mom insists on my exercising and practising so much, otherwise I’d be tired too.

“Are we going to take off from here?” Esme asks.

“Of course not. I don’t even know if there are any flying monsters big enough for us around here. We can make some if we find a large enough dark pool and a few errant souls,” I say.

Bianca glances at me, but she doesn't say whatever’s on her mind. I guess it might be a bit weird to someone not close to mom or the average Monster. That, and I think there’s a big taboo around talking about or using souls.

I’ve read a few books that mention how evil and disgusting and cruel it is to even learn to interact with souls freed from their bodies, but Mom says that it's not like the soul’s being useful or anything. Besides, becoming a monster gives them a new lease on life... more or less. They’ll probably just reincarnate into a toad next or whatever. Having the chance to turn into one of my awesome friends is way cooler!

We step off the road and hop over the ditch on the edge of it after tossing our bags over to make the jump easier. Once we’re across, we head into the forest.

It’s an old-growth forest, with huge trees on the edges and only slightly smaller ones within. Maybe this close to Castenada the forest has been explored before, but I can’t help but feel like we’re the first people to ever step foot here in a long, long time.

“How do you find a monster pool?” Bianca asks.

The forest floor is a mess of fallen branches, rotting tree trunks, big bushes and ground covered in roots that are eager to grab at our ankles. I hop onto a thicker root and start looking for a trail deeper into the forest. “We’ll be able to feel it once we’re close enough,” I say. “But we can cheat a little. Let me get my little friends out.”

I reach under my cloak and coax out a few friends. I have butterbutts and stingieboys, of course, but I’m looking for friends that can move around and scout around for us. It’s the zippylads that I’m looking for. Six little wings and one big globular eye, with a long body. They only have three little legs, so they don’t really count as insects, but they’re bug-like enough for me.

I instruct them to find the nearest dark pool, then return to me. The others I send up in search of any nearby monsters.

“That’s that,” I say.

“What kind of beastie are you going to make?” Felix asks.

“We’ll either need something big enough to carry all four of us, or four smaller friends,” I say. “I’m thinking smaller ones. It’s going to be easier to find four medium-sized pools than one huge pool. Besides, we’ll be sneakier with four.”

“How do you figure that?” Esme asks.

“Well, four big birds from a distance is just four big birds. It’s hard to tell how big something is from the ground, you know? There’s nothing to give you a good idea of the scale. But something big enough to carry all four of us and our stuff? That’ll have to be huge. No matter how far off it is, people will notice, I think.”

Esme nods along. “I guess that makes sense. We don’t need to be too stealthy though, do we?”

“I’d rather be on the safe side,” I say. “There’s things out here that might not be monsters that can still cause a lot of trouble for us. And some cultivators won’t have a problem catching us in the air. Even if I make a huge friend, they’ll still be new, low-levelled. It won’t take much to hurt it badly enough that it won’t be able to fly.”

“Meh, I could fight off someone like that,” Felix says. She swings her staff around in a quick sweep that snaps leaves off of the bushes around her. “I’ll keep the rest of you safe!”

“Sure,” I say with a laugh. My friends return, most without any good news, but a few buzz with happy tidings, then flit out ahead and back towards the pool they’ve found. It’s tricky to get there, my little friends are small enough and able to fly, so they take the straight path to the pool. We need to go around all the bushes and over the fallen trunks to follow them.

We meet a few monsters on the way, mostly curious flying monsters that perch on the trees above and keep an eye on us.

Three of the four of us are very clearly not food, and they’re clever enough not to attack Bianca without me asking them too, otherwise it might earn them one nasty scolding.

I’ll have to be careful to make sure the flying monster I create won’t be too bothered by Bianca’s presence.

Maybe I can make smaller friends to carry our bags and things? That’ll lighten the load a little.

“Ah, here it is!” I cheer as I rush ahead. There’s a small depression between two hills where a stream might once have passed. If so, it’s long gone. Instead, the bottom of the depression has a big patch of darkness covered in leaves and brambles and clearly disturbed by a few monsters being birthed recently. “This is perfect,” I say. Good enough for one or two flyers, at least. “Okay, you guys sit back and let me work my magic. This will be over in no time!”

***