Chapter 31

It was easier for us to get into the southwestern forests than I thought. Though admittedly I’m not sure why I expected it to be difficult in the first place. It’s not like we’re sneaking into someone’s house or anything like that, we’re just two kids exploring outside the city today. After we had some bowls of pottage for breakfast which cost 5 copper each, we headed straight for the forests because I wanted to get there before Alister and his crew. I have no idea when they usually arrive, how long they stay, when they leave, or even where the dungeon is, but I’ll find out. I want to know as much as possible about them, their habits, their behavior, their equipment, any of these details could save our lives. After passing through the southern gatehouse, the southwestern forests are a short walk away. The forests are on the city’s side of the river and you can reach them without needing to cross any bridges. When we arrive, the whole area is devoid of people but I’m not sure whether that’s due to Alister’s influence and the sheer terror his father’s name brings or whether it’s normal for no one to be near here.

All the forests around Midriver are lush with magnificent Cyrendal trees. Each of these trees tower massively toward the sky and if you stand directly under one of them, they’ll blot out the sky for you, providing cool shade under this June sun. The brown bark on each of these trees looks wrinkled like an old person’s skin which is this species of tree's unique trait. I heard there used to be a colony of beast blooded here who reared these trees and these forests before they were forced out by the Nasaar Kingdom during its expansion. The Nasaar Kingdom has an incredibly discriminatory stance toward nonhumans which is why even though we traveled the Alaulin continent for nearly a month before arriving in Midriver, we didn’t come across any beast blooded. Though I did catch a glimpse of an elf near the entertainment district before getting trapped in the tunnel.

The Cyrendals shelter the entire forest floor from sunlight with their expansive branches and leaves but that doesn’t mean the forest floor is dead. Quite the opposite, there’s a thriving ecosystem living under the wrinkled brown giants’ care because many plants and fungi grow directly on the Cyrendals’ above ground roots and feed off of the giants’ nutrients. There’s berries and flowers Wraine’s never seen before all around us. There’s birds chirping from high above who have made these giants their homes. There’s tiny critters scurrying about that draw the eye but you can never get a clear look at them. I like this place. It’s different from the city in many ways but that’s what makes this all beautiful. But now’s not the time.

Wraine and I find some bushes right next to where we arrive and we hop into them, making sure we’re as inconspicuous as possible while still being able to keep an eye on the dirt path for anyone coming from Midriver. We’ve never done this before but I suppose there’s always a first time for everything. We wait and wait and then wait some more. Alright, I’m starting to have second thoughts on this. What if they’re already here and they already have a camp set up next to the dungeon? It’d be easier for them to do that than having to commute every morning and evening. They could have even brought a wagon full of supplies with them to reduce their trips back to the city. Fuck, I didn’t think this through. We already wasted a whole morning doing this too and it’s already noon. Sighing, I’m about to give up and tell Wraine we need to rethink this plan when he clamps his hand over my mouth and points in front of us. Looking towards where he’s pointing, my eyes widen in surprise when I see Alister and his crew walking down the dirt path we were on a few hours ago, fully decked out in leather and carrying swords on their waists and shields on their backs.

There’s eight of them with Alister leading in front and the blond bandit tracing him a few steps behind him. Seeing the easygoing grin on his face and the way he sauntered down the road lazily with both of his hands interlocking behind his head, I can feel my mouth stretching into a hideous grin myself. Yes, this is it. I can feel it. If I kill him, everything will go back to normal. I’ll go back to normal.

Alister’s group passes by us while sticking to the dirt road but they don’t enter the forest and skirt the edge of the treeline instead and keep heading west. We don’t immediately follow them because we want to stay out of both their sight and hearing ranges. When we think there’s enough distance, we start following them while keeping ourselves hidden in the treeline behind trees and bushes. Before long, we come across an open clearing in the forest with a huge hill in the center. The trees start to thin out past the clearing and we’re forced to stop following them otherwise they’ll see us out in the open but we don’t need to keep following anymore. Right in front of where we stopped, past a small stretch of grass and dirt, there’s a little rock valley that leads straight to the side of a mountain and at the base of that mountain is an opening big enough for a fully grown adult to walk through. Alister and his crew stop right before the mountain opening, which I’m assuming is the dungeon entrance, and pull out their swords and strap on their shields. When they’re finished preparing themselves, every single one of them marches into the side of the mountain and disappears into the dark hole. They don’t leave anyone at the entrance? I guess it makes sense, who in their right minds would cross Alira by attacking his adopted son? Alister’s been able to live carefree under Alira’s protection this whole time and that wanton disregard for danger will be the reason for his death.

We stayed there the whole day watching the opening in that mountain. When we were hungry, Wraine would grab something from a nearby bush that he could still recognize. When we were thirsty we took a sip from our waterskins we filled up in the morning. When we had to relieve ourselves, we dug a hole a few steps away from where we were stationed and went. We’re no strangers to boredom and our ability to stay patient is impressive if I do say so myself. It had to be. We spent an entire month on the Basteb peninsula traveling south and Wraine ran out of useful things to teach me two weeks in. We spent another month and a half traveling from Mountain’s Toil to Midriver and the only interesting thing that happened there was we killed someone and that’s not something we wanted to bring up all that often. A day spent in a bush watching a hole in the wall? Easy.

Before the sun started to set, Alister’s crew walked out of the mountain opening and immediately found themselves a place to sit down. A few of them were covered in something red that I can only assume is blood and based on how they walked out and how they’re sitting now, they must be exhausted. Alister and the blond bandit are the last two to walk out and it doesn’t look like they’re happy. All of a sudden, the blond bandit grabs Alister’s shoulder and turns him around, punching him in the face hard enough to knock him onto his ass. Now what is this? The rest of Alister’s crew don’t do anything in response and they don’t even move a step forward as the blond bandit straddles Alister’s chest and continues wailing on him. What am I seeing right now? Isn’t he afraid of Alira skinning him alive? The beating takes two full minutes before the blond bandit’s satisfied and he steps off of Alister, dusting his hands off. Taking the lead, the blond bandit starts heading out of the valley and the whole crew follows behind him, Alister eventually gets himself up on wavering legs and follows suit, his whole face covered in blood. Taking a look at Wraine, his eyes are wide open and he’s blinking rapidly as if after the next good blink, he’ll see something completely different. “What do you think?”

Wraine rubs his eyes this time because he still doesn’t believe what he’s seeing but going by how dirty his hands are, it’s only making it worse. “I don’t know. I really don’t. It doesn’t look like Alister is the leader of his own crew which doesn’t make sense. Maybe he’s being bullied by his own men? But that still doesn’t make sense, a single word to his adopted father and not only the blond one but every single one of them who just sat there and watched all that without helping will get skinned alive. But what did we just watch then?”

“Hmm, does this change anything?”

“Not really? Inner gang turmoil is interesting to watch but it doesn’t really help us or anything, does it? What, are you planning on secretly contacting Alister and asking him if he’s willing to set up the blond bandit?”

“No, I was just seeing what you thought. You’re right, it doesn’t change anything at all. What do you think? Can we do it?”

Sucking in a breath through his teeth, Wraine clicks his tongue a few times in thought. “I mean, probably? The timing will be essential though. We can’t do it too early or too late since we want them deep inside the dungeon when we start the fire. The distance between here and there isn’t much of a problem if we use up all our energy and sprint back and forth. Though your current condition isn’t the best. There’s even a small copse of Bortor on the other side of this clearing. We used those last time and we know how that turned out. Yeah, this is definitely possible. Well, what do you think? Last chance to back out now if you want.”

I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a moment. When I feel fully relaxed, I open my eyes and I’m back in the tunnel, Kayman’s corpse rotting right beside me. My stomach feels full even though I haven’t had anything to eat in gods know how long. A sense of pure revulsion boils up in me and I nearly vomit, but I’m able to stop myself by clamping my hands over my mouth. My head’s pounding and I can hear Kayman screaming right into my ears even though I can still see his motionless body right there. I’m back. I never left in the first place.

I open my eyes that I don’t remember closing and Wraine’s right in front of me, shaking me by my shoulders to wake me up, “What’s wrong Isaac!? You closed your eyes and then your whole body started shaking violently. You were breathing way too quickly and your heart was pounding so fast I thought it was going to explode. Do you need to see a doctor? We can go to Wellock’s clinic right now.”

My mouth is dry. Normally that’d be something I wouldn’t think about but I can’t help but wonder whether it’s dry because I’m panicking right now or whether it’s because I haven't had anything to drink since I took the last sip of my waterskin a few sleeps ago. Grabbing my waterskin and uncorking it, I pour the rest of my water into my mouth and the feeling of my tongue getting wet calms me down. “No. I’m alright. We just have to get this done.”