Maggie and Jack packed up the campsite and were ready to go when the others woke. Erin complained about the lack of breakfast, but Rory hushed her with a few steaming hot biscuits from Saffron & Sugar, and each of them produced one of the First Fruit and ate it as they walked. Rather than consume his, Jack handed it off to Maggie with a smile. He laughed in surprise as she opened her hand and one of the shining blue fruits appeared there.

“It’s a right pity ah’ve had ta burn me seeds fer the last fifty years,” she sighed.

“I guess orchards of glowing blue trees would be a dead giveaway, wouldn’t they?” Rory grimaced.

“What other surprises do you have in your collection?” Jack asked.

“Ah have the map and the compass, the First Fruit, the Nameless Wanderer, Flesh of Ilani, Nightfather’s Blood, and Children of Ilani,” she replied.

“What do those last three do?” Layla asked her.

The dwarf ticked her fingers off as she recalled the effects of the shrines.

“Ilani’s Flesh gives me immunity ta disease and most o’ the negative effects o’ agin’. Nightfather’s Blood causes creatures o’ darkness ta regard me as one o’ their own. And Children o’ Ilani is the same fer most wild animals an’ natural creatures,” she explained.

“Wow, those seem… really useful,” Erin commented.

“Aye. Is the set Brandon picked out fer me,” she looked down.

“So, you have the map and compass? That means, you know where every shrine is?” Layla asked.

“Aye,” she smiled warmly.

“Can you… Oh! You already told us where the map was, didn’t you? Verdantes, right?” Layla bounced as she recalled.

“Aye, lass,” Maggie replied.

“Are there any other really useful ones you can remember?” Rory asked.

“Aye,” Maggie’s smile faded.

“Oh, that’s not a good reaction, is it?” Layla had been watching the dwarf’s face as her expression changed.

“Nae. Way back when, some o’ the shrines were claimed by creatures, feedin’ on the power there in the air. Often times, powerful creatures. An’ some o’ them are… confusin’, she hedged.

“What do you mean?” Jack asked.

“Just… some o’ the powers… I dinnae know what Ouroboros were thinkin’,” she frowned.

“Like?” Layla prodded.

“Brandon said there were one what allows yeh ta steal a spell a mage knew by drainin’ the knowledge from his corpse, and another what allowed yeh ta increase yer verve by consumin’ the connection ‘tween a vanquished guardian an’ its Heart,” she scowled.

“Those actually seem pretty on point for a death god,” Jack replied.

“Aye,” she whispered.

The dwarf continued walking for a few seconds, then stole a glance at Jack’s face. Her surprised expression elicited a dry laugh from the nightbringer.

“Your face,” he grinned.

“Yeh dinnae seem upset, is all,” she quirked an eyebrow at him.

“I know what Ouroboros is, Maggie. He’s death, and rebirth, in an endless cycle, everything that Could Be,” he smiled.

“Aye. Ah just figured-” she started.

“That I’d be more like Brandon, or Tyler, and be scared or bothered by the dark?” his smile softened.

“Aye,” she answered.

“I’m comfortable with what I am, and who Big Noodle is,” he grinned, and looked up the mountain at the trail.

“Aye,” she smiled at him as they walked.

The trail up the mountain was torturous, even for Jack and Erin. Finally, the steady grade wore even Maggie down, and the five of them stopped for a break, sometime around lunch. They ate trail rations and laid in the grass.

The previous night, while the rearguard and Erin slept, Maggie had collected up the herbs and odd slime she’d gathered while Jack was cooking dinner. She borrowed the skillet from the mess kit and carefully boiled, steeped, rendered, and compounded the substances together into a liniment for “trail feet” as she called it. After she was done, she packed the thick goop into a spare bowl, which she had Rory produce from his storage after they’d settled in.

They each passed the concoction around, pulling their boots off and applying the smelly mixture to their sore feet.

“Oh, wow. That is startlingly fast-acting,” Rory commented.

“Aye. Basic alchemy, laddie. The secret is the kurooyt jelly. The rest o’ the ingredients are mostly ta make the jelly less toxic,” she grinned.

The four looked down at their goop-covered feet.

“Maggie, where does koo-roo-yt come from?” Erin asked, suspicion bare on her face.

“Oh, relax, yeh big bebbe. It’s not me urine, or spider brains, or anything gross like that,” she replied.

“But where?” Layla joined Erin in pressing the dwarf for more information.

“Fine. Kurooyt is a type o’ big wormy critter, long as you are tall, bout as thick round as Layla’s arm. Silly poisonous, even ta touch. They come out ta lay their eggs in big clusters amid the forks o’ tree branches durin’ the summer, and they dinnae hatch fer a few years. Ta get the jelly, yeh just tear open the egg sac an’ pop the eggs, bein’ careful nae ta get any on yeh,” she explained.

“That’s… not as horrible as I expected,” Layla went back to massaging the substance into her feet.

“She just told us it’s worm egg jelly,” Erin stared down at the succubus’ hands as she worked her thumbs into the arches of her feet.

“Yeah, it could’ve been made from human spleens, and I’d probably still use it. Stuff is amazing,” Layla shrugged.

“I guess,” Erin scowled, then slowly went back to rubbing the liniment into her tired feet.

Silence fell on the camp for a few minutes, until a cool autumn breeze stirred the leaves and brought a chill. In the distance, a bird sang a complicated song, and the rustle of the leaves crackled along with the sound. Ayrgard’s crystal blue sky, uncorrupted by pollution, seemed to go on forever, dotted with thick clouds that promised cold rain over the distant Astara River during the night.

“Sometimes, being here isn’t so bad,” Rory looked down the mountainside, at the rolling grasslands below them.

Layla leaned against the salesman, and he hugged her tightly.

“Time ta get movin’, tourists,” Maggie grinned.

“But mooooom, five more minutes,” Layla groaned.

“Arright. Five minutes,” Maggie laid back in the grass, staring up at the sky.

“Holy hell, that worked?” the succubus gawked.

“Shh, you’ll ruin it,” Rory laid back, dragging her with him.

They relaxed there in the crisp grass, watching the clouds, for far longer than five minutes, until finally, Jack packed up and pulled Erin up onto her feet. Maggie wordlessly rose and shook the rearguard awake.

“Now, it’s time ta go,” she smiled.

“Five more minutes?” the succubus snuggled against Rory’s arm.

“Not this time, yeh wee scoundrel,” Maggie leaned down and dragged Layla to her feet with the ease of a mother lifting a toddler.

A sprinkle more procrastination and they were off, back to the grueling grade of the mountainside. By nightfall, they reached the cliff face that marked their turn north. They camped there, the fading sun spraying brilliant colors across the clouds. The earlier promise of rain had been fulfilled, and they watched the storm cover the Hollow with autumn rains, lightning occasionally playing across the valley.

“Will it come this way?” Layla asked.

“Nae. It’s movin’ away from us. We’ll be dry tonight,” Maggie responded.

“Get some sleep, Maggie. I’ll be okay on watch,” Jack told her.

“Arright, Jack, but wake me if’n yeh need me,” she replied.

No goblins or beasts bothered them in the shadow of the mountain that night, and when morning came, Jack had already packed their bags. They gathered up their bedrolls and made their way north. This leg of the journey was practically a leisure walk compared to the punishing ascent of the previous day.

“We’re gonna set a hard pace you two. I want to be at the tunnel before we camp,” Jack lectured.

“Isn’t that something like fifty miles?” Rory groaned.

“Yeah, something like that,” he replied.

“We can do it,” Erin shoulder bumped the salesman encouragingly.

“I was so looking forward to a leisurely walk,” he whined.

“Shrine first. Leisure later,” he replied grimly.

-----

The sun set before they made it to the tunnel, but Jack insisted they stay on the move until they reached their goal. Sometime around what the Chosen would consider eight in the evening, Maggie pointed north at a pile of dirt and rubble.

“Here it is,” she walked toward the piles of soil and broken rock.

“Holy hell. You did all this yourself?” Layla looked around, noting how the accumulated detritus had begun to slide down the mountainside.

“How much rock is this?” Rory surveyed the hill of broken rock.

“Nae much, laddie. This is just where ah cleaned up the entrance and widened ‘er up here a bit,” she replied.

“You said this tunnel was fifty leagues long. You dug a tunnel fifty-thousand yards long?” Erin gawked at her.

“Well, ah had a lot o’ spare time, lass,” the dwarf shrugged.