Into the Wilderness

The day had really just begun for us. We'd only been awake for a few hours, despite the harrowing brush with death at the hands of the townsfolk. We sat there on the hill, examining the plane and watching.

"The mountains are the safest bet," the ranger said, squinting and looking into the distance. "We can probably reach them before nightfall." I gave him a sardonic glance as he said it, and he immediately corrected himself. "I mean, before we get tired enough that we have to stop."

"Then the mountains it is." I said, standing up and scanning the immediate area. I didn't see anything moving out here. Hopefully there was more prey in the mountains; otherwise we were going to get awfully hungry. I shouldered my pack; picked a direction and began walking.

We slunk across the plain, dashing from rock outcropping to stunted trees to more rocks. Twice some large thing flew past us overhead. Twice we stopped, motionless, waiting for whatever it was to pass us by. Once, off in the distance I saw one of those tarry creatures I had seen my first day here. We walked in the other direction, slinking low and hiding behind a huge rock outcropping until it disappeared.

The plain seemed to stretch the longer we walked. The mountains grew no closer, and the thick air made us tire quickly. My water was gone, and Bishop had drunk the last of his a few hours back. Our stomachs were rumbling with hunger, and we were weary to the bone.

A hill, slightly larger than others we'd come across, presented itself in the distance. A quick glance to each other and we confirmed it as our destination. Hopefully the hill had some water and food, but for tonight I'd take simple shelter if that was all that was offered.

Before too much longer, the hill was looming in front of us, larger than we'd thought. We scouted around the base, looking for some type of cave or enclosed rock formation that might be a safe place to lie low for 8 hours or so. We were beginning to give up hope when just such a place beckoned from underneath an overhang of rock.

Bishop, being the scout and tracker, went in first, checking the area out. Then he gestured for me to follow him. Underneath the rock a cave stretched back into darkness. A blissfully cool breeze blew from the back and the smell of moisture was in the air. He lit a torch and cautiously moved towards the back of the cave.

A few moments later I heard, "Come here," in an exited and hushed tone. I joined him to find a deep pool of water in a crevasse of rock. Bishop leaned down to taste it and I grabbed him and pulled him back.

"It could be poisonous. Let me try," I said, leaning down myself to drink. He pulled me back, that time.

"Then it doesn't really matter who drinks it, does it?" he asked. "Besides, if it's poisonous, it'll kill you."

"Aw, Bishop, I didn't know you cared," I said, mockery in my voice. Then I grew serious. "I have a natural resistance to poison and disease. I'll be better equipped to handle bad water than you. Let me drink some, and then we can figure out if it's safe to drink."

He grudgingly nodded and let me go. I leaned over again, inhaling the sweet smell of the water. It smelled good – I could detect no taint with my nose. Carefully I sipped a small amount, rolling the water around in my mouth. It tasted fine too. There was a faint metallic essence, but nothing else that I could detect.

I cupped my hands and drank greedily, filling up my cupped hands again and again before Bishop finally pulled me back. "That's enough," he said, eyeing the pool greedily. "Is it safe?" he asked, licking his lips at the thought of the water.

I felt fine. There had been no unusual tastes or odors in the water. My body wasn't rebelling against it and I didn't feel the soporific effects of any poisons, either. But some things took longer to work than a few minutes. "Wait for an hour. If I'm still fine, drink all you want."

I knew he was thirsty. Part of me felt badly that he had to wait. But part of me relished the fact that my natural resistance had allowed me to be the one to drink first. I smiled a little to myself at the thought. Bishop scowled.

"Fine," he said. "I'll see if I can hunt down some food. You stay here and relax." The last word was filled with a vehemence that made me cringe. "I wouldn't want my princess to strain herself," he said, almost to himself. Then he was gone.

Nothing untoward happened during the time he was gone. I set up the camp and scouted out the rest of the cave. I wasn't hopeful that he'd find any food, though. This place seemed to be the only source of water for kilometers, and I didn't see any evidence of anything else having been in this cave. So I was quite surprised when he returned with a couple of small animals slung over his back.

A little while later we had a small fire and the animals were nicely cooked. I could almost forget where we were and everything that had happened in the past few days. Almost. We sat and ate quietly, completely devouring every edible morsel on the beasts Bishop had brought back. By then we were full and tired, so we crawled into our bedrolls and watched the fire.

Suddenly I remembered something I had wanted to check out. I crawled back out and began digging through my pack. Aha, there it was: my spell book. I grabbed the worn old book out of the pack with a reverence people usually save for historical artifacts.

There had been many new spells and scrolls in the shelves of the library at Crossroad keep. I had dutifully copied many of them into my spell book. I had even tried a few of the spells out, but many of them hadn't seemed useful, at the time. Right now, I was looking for one that would allow me to scout ahead without physically leaving the area. I remembered something about an astral projection type spell that allowed one to leave the body astrally but not actually travel on the astral plane.

And there it was: Limited Astral Projection. I read the particulars of the spell, memorizing the details so I would be able to cast it after resting. I checked through my supplies to make sure I had the requisite spell components. A small piece of moonstone was all it needed, and I had one in my pouch. There were some complicated hand gestures, but I had done things like that before.

I placed my spell book back into my pack, setting my spell components on top of it. I should be able to cast that spell in the morning. I crawled over to Bishop's bedroll.

I knew he wasn't asleep. His breathing hadn't taken on that regular and slow pattern that a sleeping person has. I didn't know what was going through his head. I only knew that he was still here when he'd obviously thought about leaving me again. Whether it was because he was trying to meet the deva's expectations or because he realized he'd survive longer with me than without me I didn't know.

I reached out to touch his face and his eyes flew open. I gave him one of my predatory grins and leaned down to kiss him, making sure he could see my cleavage. He grabbed me and rolled me into his blankets with him. After the day we'd had, it felt good to be encircled by his arms.

Later as we lay there staring into the fire, I could feel that he was struggling with himself, wanting to ask something but not really sure the best way to phrase it. I knew because he kept clearing his throat tensing his body. Finally he gave in and just blurted it out.

"Do you think we can do this?" he said, his breath hot against my neck.

"Leave Carceri? I don't know."

"The deva said it would be difficult. Hardest thing we'd ever do, she said."

"And I'm sure it will be, if we go by what the deva said." I rolled over to face him, my arm snaking around his side. "But there has to be more than one way to skin a cat."

"What do you mean?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I mean that there have to be other portals. Guarded by other creatures. The deva's can't have a monopoly on the portals out of Carceri. We would just have to find another one. Hells, we don't even know where the deva with the portal is. We might stumble across one or be able to buy access to one. What we need right now is information."

He pulled me tight against him, nuzzling his scratchy face in my throat. "And I suppose you already have a plan, don't you?" Then he was kissing my neck and no more words were exchanged that night.