The night is anything but quiet, but most of the din of unseen insects and amphibians is drowned out by the sound of rushing water. I can always tune out the sounds, by virtue of being able to control my perception, but the overall experience is actually quite peaceful. The gentle swaying of the branches overhead, leaves fluttering… if I don’t think about all the man eating horrors that live here, it could be idyllic.

Combine that with the fact that I haven’t slept in… a while, and it’s really hard to keep my eyes open. Part of me wants to pull Kaythe back out and have him keep watch, but I have a dim sensation that he’s been locked in heated guerilla warfare since he went in. Outmatched he may be, but that doesn’t mean he’ll lose.

I focus a little bit on that area within me, not enough to actually be there, but enough to see through Kaythe’s eyes. He’s wrapped around a small tree, entirely still, in an area much like the forest we’re currently in. He seems to be waiting for something to come by, poised to strike at a moment’s notice.

What concerns me, however, is the change of scenery. I had originally assumed that the hills were a scenery choice by me, as I had spent most of my time there. It made a lot of sense. The forest, however, holds no such charm for me. I definitely still feel more connected with the grasslands than I do with this forest. It’s nice, but there’s something to be said for nice, open fields.

But, if it wasn’t I that chose the scenery… was it the Carnines? And now that they’ve decayed away into raw, useful Energy, they no longer hold sway… so this is what the vines and the Salamander wanted. I don’t hear rushing water, so they didn’t manage to recreate the river, nor is this forest as impassable as the one in real life. Is that my influence? Do I even have influence in here?

My ponderings are interrupted by a slow, trundling of steps suddenly entering hearing range. Kaythe doesn’t move, but I can feel him tense even further. Kaythe is entirely confident that the creature will come this way, to this very tree, but I resist asking him directly. I wouldn’t want to risk upsetting whatever plan he has in motion.

Minutes crawl by, and the snuffing, shuffling Salamander finally comes into view. The creature looks around, but not up, keeping it from spotting Kaythe. However, it does spot something that interests it at the base of Kaythe’s tree. Dispatching with its caution, it rushes toward our tree, mouth wide, but Kaythe springs into action the moment it’s within range. The bone spikes pierce an eye and neck, and the beast immediately recoils, gurgling its distress. Kaythe stabs again, trying to crack the bone behind its eye, but the Salamander starts rolling its body, attempting to dislodge him.

The bone plating lining Kaythe’s body keeps him from being crushed, but it was never meant to handle the kind of weight that’s being put on it. I feel it crack in several places, and feel Kaythe’s pain as the bone spike embedded in the Salamander’s neck gets broken off. The beast suddenly screams and stops rolling, giving the wounded Kaythe a moment to get his bearings again. The spike that had been broken of ended up catching on the ground mid roll and tearing a huge hole in its neck.

Kaythe tries to take advantage of the monster’s momentary weakness, but the agonized spasms shake it off onto the leafy floor. In a rage, the Salamander whips around, focussing on Kaythe with its one good eye. Its jaws flash, and I pull my consciousness away, rather than experience getting eaten. I’m dimly aware that Kaythe managed to shove the remaining bone spike into the way of its jaw, so when it bit down and killed him, the spike was force through the roof of its mouth.

[Warning: Minor soul damage detected. - 1 Max Energy.]

“Kaythe? Are you alright?”

“dnnajwknwlPredator, I am sorry. I failed in the task you so graciously bestowed.” Some kind of garbled nonsense came through the mental connection, almost as though I witnessed Kaythe’s consciousness being reconstituted.

“It’s alright! It was a small loss, nothing that can’t be fixed. Try again, and succeed this time.”

“Yes.” He sounds morose, much less of the fiery confidence and excitement from before. “I will try, Predator.”

“I watched your attempt. You almost had it. I don’t know how you baited it like that, but you almost took down a monster many times more powerful than you by outsmarting it. That’s impressive! You should be proud.”

I feel him try to wiggle, despite not having a body. “Y-yes, Predator! You are most correct, as always. I will succeed!” And, with that, he disappeared again into the soul space. I sigh, looking apprehensively at the Other percentage. It went up almost two percentage points, just from that. Though I believe in Kaythe, if he fails again, I’m going to have to go in there myself and deal with it. I refuse to let that counter get above fifty percent.

With that last thought, I let myself fall asleep, sandwiched between a giant hellhound and an immensely cuddly friend.

---

Morning? No. Dark. Too dark. Yet, I’m awake. My eyes flash in the dark, roving the edges of what my Perception allows me to see. The glowing coals of the fire are worth nothing in terms of light, but an old sense is stirring in me. Warning me.

Ah, Combat Proficiency, of course… but there is no combat. It’s so weak, it’s hard to tell what exactly I’m being warned about, but I feel generally uneasy. Wait, there, a bush moves very slightly, but nothing is there. Something leaving. Something that was watching us.

I continue to watch till morning, but nothing returns to spy on us.

I look to Cerberus, finding he is also intently focussed on that area of the bushes on the opposite bank.

“What was it?”

“I could not pierce its veil.”

“Fuck.”

“Indeed.”

“What are you guys talking about?”

“A visitor in the night. We’re being watched. Or, rather, we were.”

Lauren’s face creases in a frown. “Point me to where it was.”

I point generally to the other side, and Lauren only takes enough time to nod before scaling the tree we slept inside and half swinging half jumping to the other side of the river. She surreptitiously looks at the ground at the base of the tree before carefully stepping down and examining the area.

“Ah.” I doubt I would have noticed if I hadn’t been watching her, but her hand suddenly shoots out like a bolt of lightning, grabs something, and spikes it into the river. “Cover your-” is all she manages to get out before the the water roils, and small bits of stone explode out of the water in all directions. “-eyes.” she finishes, moving her own hand away from her face.

“Thanks for the warning.” I doubt my expression is anything approaching pleasant as I dig a sharp chunk of rock out of my face. It wasn’t deeply embedded, and I managed to react fast enough to block any rocks that would have hit sensitive areas, but that doesn’t make the act any more enjoyable.

“Whatever it was,” Lauren says, ignoring me “it was smart. Set a trap where it was standing, probably to either kill any pursuers, or cause enough damage to ruin any tracks it left. Smart, but not smart enough. Wanna follow it?”

I look to Cerberus, and he looks to me.

“If we follow it, there are likely to be more traps.”

“For sure.”

“You’re… fine with that?”

“Beats slogging through rivers and fighting underwater. Do you know how effective poisoned blades are underwater? Not fucking effective. Besides, if we catch it, maybe we can convince it to help us find the moss or whatever you need. It has to be somewhat intelligent.”

“As good an idea as any. Lead the way, huntress.”

She snorts.