She’d gotten back and began to remove her armor when Alera stood to get a better look. She did not seem pleased. “I think we’re going to need a new strategy if we’re ever going to make it South in one piece.”

Cassidy’s eyes flashed up at Alera as she tried to slide her punctured shoulder out of the jacket.

Alera said, exasperated. “You’re all cut up and it’s only been two days!”

“I’d hardly call this ‘all cut up.’ Maybe a little roughed up—”

“That’s insane! Did you see your armor? It’s shredded.”

“It’s all in one piece. It’ll hold up fine.” Cassidy said as she moved onto getting the rest of her arm out of her jacket and the full armor off. The wound on her cheek made it painful to talk.

“Still, I think running and watching our backs at night is better than killing everything we come across.”

Cassidy just grunted as her hand slipped free. She’d decided against the healing potions. There were just two and should be saved for emergencies. This was no emergency. She could still raise her bow if she needed and that was all that really mattered.

Alera was waiting, arms crossed. Cassidy finally decided she’d go through the pain of an actual answer. “Fine. We’ll try it your way.” At least until my shoulder’s healed, she finished in her thoughts. “I’ll take first watch. It’ll take the poultice a while before it eases the pain enough for me to sleep anyway.”

Alera let out a huff but got ready for bed.

Cassidy had the Koda and Sugarbear guard while she doctored her wounds. The shoulder was difficult. She thought she remembered something about keeping puncture wounds open so they could heal from the inside out. That would involve hunting without her armor and always leaving the smell of blood on her trail, but none of that mentioned magic healing poultices—so she improvised. Scrubbing her hands with soap and the remainder of her flask. She dipped her fingers into a jar of the poultice until they were coated in the stuff before sticking them into her shoulder. Biting back the scream on her lips she twisted her fingers, making sure all sides got some poultice and a good glob made its way to the bottom of the wound. She figured that would heal it from the inside out. She then took their rough-cut bandages and wrapped it up good and tight to keep the wound from seeping down the rest of her body. She doubted it would ever stop aching though.

Her cheek had its own troubles too. The poultice was easy but she could find no effective way to bandage it. She had no medical tape or tape of any kind to hold a bandage over it without wrapping half her face in the stuff. She’d consult with Alera for ideas the next time she woke up, but for now it was just the open air.

Once she was about done, she examined her dagger. This one had held up better than the last but it definitely needed the whetstone to smooth out its edge and there were some chips that were doomed to stay.

She started smoothing out the dagger when she sent her puppies to bed, listening to everything around her. She’d hear something long before she saw it but there was nothing out of the usual. Just the scrap of her metal against stone. When the night was half over, she woke Alera and tried to comfort herself as she fell asleep that the older woman could handle the watch. Alera could stay awake, she’d done well so far.

The next day went smoothly. The next three days in fact. Nothing they ran across followed them and the hardest thing to do was find water. But the brook continued its way south as well and was always at least an hour away from the road. Even her wounds were healing quickly.

Her shoulder was in working order, no seeping, no infection. But the cut on her cheek had already left its mark as an angry red scar. The ache in her side never went away either and she was getting paranoid about broken ribs, but it didn't affect her movement so she did her best to ignore it. She’d managed to advance her Poultice Skill to Level 15 due to all the hassle and had learned to identify the more potent plants to use in her Alchemy. It went a long way to the quick healing of her shoulder and cheek—even if it was leaving its mark. Which was good since everything went to hell on their fourth day, when they’d been on the road less than a week.

The trail had grown eerily silent. Cassidy knew this sign and slowed down. Alera almost passed her as she was caught day dreaming, but Cassidy quickly pulled her back. Her dogs went to the heel position and cast their noses to the wind, trying to identify what was wrong. It took them a moment before they started whining quietly. Alera opened her mouth to speak but Cassidy just covered it before bringing down her bow and holding onto an arrow as she looked at the long shadows of the evening ahead of them. Nothing moved.

Alera stepped off to the side and put her back against a nearby tree to simultaneously give Cassidy room to work and cover her own blind spot as well.

Cassidy was still casting her bow from side to side as her Preternatural Instincts screamed “Run!” Her dogs had actually backed behind her, whimpering. Not for the first time, she wished she could smell what they did till an off-white projectile flew from the trees in front to hit Alera square across the chest. It splattered with the hit, covering her upper body and gluing her to the tree. Cassidy barely glanced back to assess the situation. She was stepping forward to get a better eye on what was spitting at them from the shadows, till she realized in horror, that was no shadow.

It was twice the size of her dogs and utterly black. A Tier 4 above its head. The thing was crouched but scuttled forward as if to meet her with the 400 meters between them. Cassidy froze. Her brain shut down. Spiders did not get that big. As it kept moving forward, her brain began to count all the deep dark shadows around them and her whole body seized in terror. No wonder her dogs had wanted to run. If she could move, she’d be telling them to! Her focus fell back on the walking arachnid coming her way and she was able to take one trembling step back. Her thoughts froze on urging her dogs to flee but her vocals weren’t working and her hands refused to drop their weapons. They’re loyalty kept them at her back.

The monster had crossed half the distance between them when Alera screamed. She’d been holding it in ever since she got hit. It only grew as she realized she was trapped and had to watch Cassidy face what nightmares were made of, but when she saw that girl frozen in her own way, she couldn’t hold it any longer. The sound tore lose from deep inside her lungs, shredding her throat as vocal cords magically tightened to hit a note no human could make.

The spider stopped and shrieked itself before wavering and scuttling away drunkenly like Alera’s voice had disrupted its functions. Cassidy was equally aware of the 17 other shadows that were shrieking and scuttling deeper into the woods. Their own agony drowned out by the noise ripping itself from Alera’s throat. As one, Cassidy became aware of a splitting migraine that nearly brought her to her knees and blood dripping off her face. Her nose was bleeding and she’d bitten through her lip. Her dogs were gone. She only hoped there were no spiders where they ran.

By the time Alera was done, Cassidy had fallen to her knees. That sound dragging her there. It had been a fight to remain conscious. Without the fear and adrenaline from those spiders, it was doubtful she could have made it. However she needed to get Alera free as quickly as possible, out on the road, and to find wherever her dogs had gone.

Alera finished her wail and tasted iron in her mouth but, short of a sore throat, she felt fine. In fact, she was rewarded with another message from the voice.

~Congratulations! You have gained a Skill in Voice: Shattering Scream—Your voice can not only discombobulate those around you, it can shatter weaker substances and even cause pain!.~

Alera let out a few windless laughs.

Cassidy staggered her way to Alera’s tree and got out her unused dagger, free of any chips. The goop around Alera hadn’t hardened fully but it was still difficult to cut through. Cassidy figured she’d have more sharpening to do tonight. If they ever got somewhere safe.

Eventually, Cassidy gave up on cutting through the stuff and went to cutting off whatever it was touching. She chipped away at the bark till it was free of the tree and then had to cut Alera free of her clothes to get it off her. At least it hadn’t touched the woman’s shoes. Cassidy doubted they had an extra set of boots. She didn’t want to think about what would have happened if it had gotten onto Alera’s skin. That is, until she cut away the last sleeve and saw the goop was still clinging to the outside of Alera’s forearm.

Cassidy didn’t spend much time wrapping the wound, but Alera was brave about it. Compared to what she had just seen, the pain was nothing to cry about. She understood the urgency. She even got dressed as they walked the way they came, not asking to spend any time standing still. Speed walked in fact. Cassidy tried whistling for her dogs but it hurt her own ears and she reached up to find blood drying on them. Whatever Alera had unlocked was a real whopper.

Eventually Cassidy had to give up and get Alera and herself out on the road, trusting in her dogs to find them. They could take care of themselves after all. They knew about the spiders long before she did and, most importantly, they knew to run. Once her babies felt safe, they would come searching for her.

Neither Alera nor herself wanted to mention what just happened. But it went without saying, they’d be sleeping on the road that night.

Cassidy held watch, sitting with her bow across her lap, arrows in hand. Alera was too exhausted from her new Skill and Cassidy was still keyed up from walking into a nest of 4-foot spiders. She twitched at every sound, every shadow. There was no way she'd be sleeping this night. It was only after midnight when her dogs returned. Heads hung low, sheepishly walking out of the woods. She saw them and relief washed over her. She always knew they were safe but now she could SEE it.

She let her hand hang out from her side for them and kissed the air in greeting. They sped up a little bit to start licking her hand, her arm, her face, and rubbing themselves all over her like cats. Her body was rocked side to side as they pushed it with their full weight of 250 pounds. She let out little laughs. Quiet enough to not wake Alera, but it felt good all the same. She was alive and her dogs were alive. Whatever horrors this world had to offer her at least she had that.

Alera woke the next day to see Cassidy sitting, staring at the woods, with her two dogs lying around her. “They came back?”

Cassidy just looked over with a smiled. “They came back.” She answered in a hoarse whisper.

Seeing Alera was awake, Cassidy got moving. She took a small sip from her flask before dumping the rest into a bowl for her dogs. They lapped up every last bit. Alera drank from her own flask feeling a bit guilty. It would be a while before they risked the woods to refill, she should probably offer to share. Before she could do anything about this dilemma, Cassidy had already tossed chunks of venison to her dogs and started walking. She turned back to Alera mid-step. “We can eat while we walk.” And continued on her way without waiting for Alera to even get up.

The woman understood though. Cassidy was never chatty and she also wanted to be moving and well away from this place by noon. She scrambled to her feet and started following. Hand going to the bandage on her arm and feeling the stinging ache. It was best to get as far away from here as possible.

It was day 7 and Cassidy finally admitted the road was the better travel option.