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Dearest Readers, may your steps always bring you to worlds of adventures most curious and wondrous.
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THE HIDDEN SWORD
Book One: From the Earth | Chapter 46: Beyond the Woods and the World
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Done with the task of gathering and loading the cargo onto makeshift stretchers, they abandoned the now sadly renamed Moored Minnow and set off for the Gate, young Lord Silvershield and his precious iron and weapons in tow. Double file they marched without stopping and without torches, their only light the full moon casting its beams through the forest canopy. At the front led a veteran Blackmaul with some knowhow navigating the woods while the elf scouted ahead, hand on her sword, eyes on the terrain.
His own katana tucked in his sash and the Kogitsune slung at his waist, the blacksmith hovered alongside the lumbering column should any litter require repairing, occasionally aiding a stumbling bearer. Meanwhile, their dwarven leader took up the rearguard, axe in his hand, eyes unwavering and a tongue ready and quick to lash any laggards.
A good while into their trek, Irse bumped into something unwelcome. Deeply unwelcome. Kagain and the bearers weren't going to be happy about this. The elf shoved and twisted a pinkie in one earhole, readying for the dwarf's expected tirade as if his constant ranting could flatten the forest before them.
Straight ahead of their path lay a steep embankment sloping into a wide gouge in the earth, a channel stretching north to south without apparent end, perhaps an ancient watercourse now dead and dried. Out of the question for sure, taking a roundabout route would lead them further into the Sharp Teeth, or back to the riverbank and its lack of cover. Either way, crossing a ditch twice as deep as a man stood tall seemed the least worrisome choice.
Scratching behind the neck, Irse sighed. Well, better to head back and give them the bad news now rather than have everyone trip and fall into this nasty surprise.
"Ambush from the rear!" Kagain's warning shattered the quiet night air.
Irse whipped around, ducking on instinct at the unmistakable whistle of incoming arrows, a thump and another as they hit a nearby tree echoing the same pounding in her chest and the remembrance of the attack from years ago. Not again, not again. Eyes wide and breath racing, she scrabbled across the underbrush on an elbow and her knees, left hand clutching at the scabbard. Okami, the others. Goaded by the unthinkable, Irse grunted in anger and sprang from the ground and into a sprint. Arrows be damned. She raced back and found the others already fleeing.
"There's a trench up ahead! Take cover there!" Irse shouted at them, pointing out the way, helping up any who stumbled.
"Siamorphe, save me! I'm too important to die!" Eddard shrieked as he passed by in front of the elf, riding on the back of his servant while pounding at the poor man's shoulders.
Irse dryly regarded the sight passing in front of her, a droll parody of the noble knight charging into war on horseback.
Another wave of arrows came at them, aimed wide but felling one and another. Irse and a few rushed to drag the wounded to safety. Having deposited the last of them in the ditch with the others, she turned back and met the dwarf and the blacksmith, each carrying an injured fellow across their shoulders.
"You are all right. Thank the Master of Blades," Okami said, seeing her unharmed, as they skidded down the slope.
And just like a sudden thunderstorm in a summer day, their attackers ceased.
Everyone huddled low and close, a few of them trembling and cupping their mouths as if a peep or sigh would send another hail of arrows upon them. By mercy of whichever gods they cried out to, a quick count proved everyone made it to safety, the wounded still breathing, likely to survive if they all don't die first from another wave of the ambush.
"I cannot believe you cowardly fools just let go of the iron instead of standing your ground to fight," Eddard sputtered.
No one paid him heed, not even Kagain already fiercely whispering his plan to those still fit and able. Climbing up the trench on the other side would surely make easy pickings of them for the enemy archers, the dwarf likening them to lemmings scurrying under the shadow of swooping gyrfalcons. However, staying put also ensured their doom, like lemmings stupidly jumping into a pit to be trapped and picked off at the predators' leisure. Irse frowned, not at their likely fate, but whether the crusty old tightfist had anything against those tiny furry creatures. Maybe found one nesting in his beard, once.
Kagain picked one Blackmaul to search for the end of the channel and warned the rest to ready themselves to move out. The dwarf restlessly hefted his axe, peeved at having to prefer retreat over battle this time, and grumbled at knowing nothing of their pursuers' numbers and strength. For all they knew, their enemies could be marching towards them this instant, or perhaps digging down and waiting for the next foolish soul to poke his head out, like an unlucky mole in the only hole on top of a hill.
"Allow me to scout their position," Okami said.
He briefly explained his plan to climb out of the trench at a good distance from their current spot, hopefully far enough that their hunters wouldn't expect to see them, gauge where their enemies might have planted themselves. The dwarf readily agreed, nodding and gesturing for him to move out right then.
"No. You shouldn't be alone. I'll go with-," Irse protested but paused, startled as the blacksmith suddenly untied the Kogitsune from his side, looping the cords around his former apprentice's waist, then securing the knot and testing it with a quick tug.
"What are you doing?"
"So I may move without hindrance."
"Hindrance?"
Okami didn't reply, but beamed her a listless smile, then turned on his heels to sprint south of the gorge. Irse furrowed her brows, stunned for a moment. She grasped Kogitsune's hilt. Hindrance? Had they not taken turns practicing with the tachi? To accustom themselves with a lengthier sword, whether at battojutsu, or running, crawling, climbing an obstacle, or even rapid-drawing while at a sitting-kneel, at all days and hours to move as if the blade was a mere extension of oneself?
Her eyes widened in an angry scowl. The idiot! What in the realms just sprouted in his noggin, going out there by himself and leaving the tachi with her? Without another word to Kagain or the others, Irse bolted after him, catching up just as she sighted the blacksmith climbing over the gorge. Equally silent yet fuming, the elf scrabbled up the slope, in her mind rehearsing a thousand reprimands and a demand for extra servings of stew as amends.
The Kogitsune clanked against an upturned root as if griping against being dragged along. Unthinking, Irse shushed at the sword, then winced in secret embarrassment.
Whether by enhanced elven sight, luck, or the preternatural focus of a hunter for its prey, she managed to follow him through the gloom and thick of the woods. He seemed to be taking a somewhat meandering path, meant to stay clear of their pursuers' expected vista. So far so good, she would be sure to reach him before –
"Hullo!"
Irse jerked in surprise and groaned at the familiar voice before turning around, frantically hushing at the stalker. That rookie girl from Easting - shy and young Easlie, grinned and hunched her shoulders meekly.
"Didn't mean to startle you. I really thought you'd hear me 'cause they say elves got good ears, you know?"
"I, uh… I knew you were on my tail," Irse stammered her fib, eyes darting to the side, then shook a chiding fist. "But you're going to ruin my cover!"
"I'm sorry. I heard Mister Okami wanting to go on lookout for our attackers, then you went after him, and I knew I just had to help, so I followed."
"As did you when you should not have," Okami interjected, the reprimand clearly intended for his former apprentice who flinched at his voice before turning to find him now standing behind her. It didn't take elven eyes to check his twice severe expression in the dark.
"You know I ought to come with you because I see better in the dark," Irse retorted.
"This coming from someone who cannot see a smithing hammer she needed when it was right in front of her all along?"
Irse puffed her cheeks, eyes darting to the side. "Eh, finding stuff is hard. And besides, hunger makes the eyes hurt."
Easlie leaned towards the elf and whispered, "I thought it was the stomach?"
Irse glared and mouthed a dry thanks at the unhelp. Okami remained unconvinced and sternly pointed back to the gorge. Both girls crossed their arms in defiance, to which, outnumbered and choosing to relent, Okami averted his eyes perhaps in a brief prayer for patience, before clutching at his scabbard and beckoning for them to follow close. The three made their way through the undergrowth, keeping low until they sighted a telltale glow, creeping closer and settling themselves among the brushwood.
Near a half-dozen men huddled around a pair of lanterns. Humans, armed, perhaps more not too far. But why weren't they attacking again?
The shortest but oldest tipped on his toes and cuffed a youth in the shoulder. "Dolts! Didn't I tell you to just tail them?"
"Can't help it if that blasted dwarf saw us. Those mud-diggers got good eyes in the dark," the chided one groused, roughly rubbing at the sore spot, while the others nodded and grumbled as well.
"Why're we even stopping? Prolly half of 'em be dead now, arrows sticking out their backs."
"Yeah. But now they're gone, just like a blink. You think those sods ran that fast or they could be in some hole, shaking like dumb sheep."
"Grala's out there, sniffing 'em out. Anyone can find anything in the woods at night, it's the mongrel knife-ear. But for us, orders are to wait for the others, then we swoop in for the lordling and his iron. And don't any of you lackwits forget to let some get away to spread the word or tell the Grand Dukes themselves. They want those pampered parasites screechin' through their breeches. Otherwise the boss will think we got sloppy."
"Sloppy? No one's complaining upstairs about the burning wagons and all the dead folks."
And they laughed, hearty in their cold-blooded cheer.
Beside her the others tensed, no doubt feeling the same pit of dread in the stomach. And yet along with the flare of anger, a spark of exhilaration fluttered in her chest – the same coming from uncovering a secret or some hidden clue or piece of the puzzle. It would seem these brigands terrorizing the trade roads were more than ragtag freebooters, perhaps an organized group taking orders from someone with an axe to grind with the Gate or its rulers. If they could listen for much longer, they might even make certain if these were truly working for the Amnians or someone else.
"We're such great spies," Irse whispered eagerly, winking at Easlie who bobbed her head nervously in return.
"Hey! Someone's over there!" a woman cried out.
Everyone stirred, hands flying to their weapons, heads swiveling to one of their fellows who raised the alarm. Evidently the mentioned scout, a half-elf held a lamp as she stood beyond the clearing's edge, pointing at the discovered Blackmauls.
"Oh no! We're terrible spies!" Irse bemoaned, shoulders drooping in disappointment.
"Run," Okami commanded, dragging the girls by the scruff of their necks and pushing them ahead of him.
Swiftly they fled, though Irse paced herself and let Easlie take the lead. Wouldn't do to accidentally leave the rookie behind. Everything else melded into a frantic blur –the branches above and the undergrowth around them, the crunch of leaves beneath their boots, and the shouts of their pursuers.
It'll all be fine just run don't look back, she chanted within herself. So long as they stick together and return to the others in one piece, it will be all right. Irse glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see the blacksmith right on her heels.
Gone.
She skidded to a stop. By Tethrin, where is he? She looked around, bewildered. He was right there, right behind her. Just as he had always been.
And then her gut twisted; so obvious now why Okami let them run ahead of him. Irse shouted at the other girl who promptly scampered back.
"You go on," the elf urged, thumb flicking at the katana guard. "Warn the others."
Easlie swallowed and bobbed her head, a determined look on her face. "Ilmater help you both," she said before turning around and disappearing among the trees.
Irse nodded curtly at the blessing and launched herself in the opposite direction. Ilmater be merciful indeed, or nothing will be left of those scum to scrape off the bottom of her soles!
She came upon the blacksmith just as he drew his blade to meet the three men who had caught up. Sword already out of her sheath, Irse leaped into the fray, deflecting a blow, feigning a strike from above, the other's buckler duped to block high but not the sudden bypass and blade from the side. And then it was an easy matter of them together felling the last foe.
More shouting echoed in the night air. Calls for enemy reinforcements. The pair traded uneasy glances, then moved as one to hasten for the bandits' pitch. There, three of them remained, surprise flaring on their faces. One made the mistake of drawing an arrow from his quiver instead of the sword in the baldric, his last sight in this world of the bowstring snapping and the razor edge coming at his face. The half-elf scout fared better, prolonging her life by seconds as she deftly weaved her own kite shield and deflected Irse's attacks, before losing rhythm when forced to parry off the blacksmith who joined in. Irse saw an opening and finished it.
Two bodies lay at their feet, one missing – the third man who made the wise choice to run and abandon his comrades. The pair paused to catch their breath and wipe their swords.
"You were supposed to return to the others," Okami said sharply.
She remembered a time when such reprimand would have made her shrivel up inside like a pickled plum. Not now, and not anymore.
"Someone has to give you back your tachi," Irse snapped. Wasn't he always harping about picking up after oneself and not counting on anyone else to take care of their things for them?
"I entrusted the Kogitsune to you," he insisted. "And yet you bring it here where I might lose…" He hesitated, blinking furiously as he inhaled deeply and angrily. "… it."
Irse narrowed and rolled her eyes. Why so testy and worried? So what if the Kogitsune was made from a meteorite and good at cutting up stuff and Okami himself named it after some magical creature that was for some reason inspiring to him?
It's just a sword, like any other.
Kerda once said it true - men are such unfathomable, fickle creatures!
Indeed, entrusting his most prized blade to her when he wouldn't even leave her alone with a pot of rice?
Oh dear, not that pot of rice, again. Irse cringed at the sudden unbidden, unwelcome memory. For a bag of those grains ordered from the Aurora Whole Realms catalog survived its journey whether by ship or portal but lasted not even less than an hour of her cooking.
Could anyone blame her – lacking the confidence to manage the fire in a stove, she attempted to cook rice in the forge. Only a miracle kept the whole place from turning into a dragon's exploding mouth, and another miracle from her being sentenced to an entire year without supper. Or possibly run out of Dearg for burning down an entire village. Now who would ever claim that Tethrin wasn't a merciful patron?
All thoughts of failed rice were interrupted by the faint scrape of steel against wood as Okami broodingly sheathed his katana before striding away. Irse exhaled through her teeth, knuckles on her waist, eyes on the ground.
At least, taking care of this group of scouts bought them more time. Hopefully, the rest have already moved out, thanks to Easlie's warning. Even in the dark and through the woods, it shouldn't be too difficult to catch up with the rest.
About to take a step, Irse raised her eyes in time to see Okami struck in the back by a sphere of energy, crackling and shimmering in rainbow hues. He staggered forward as Irse sheathed her weapon and steadied him. Dazed, he appeared stunned and unable to hear her frantic questions.
"Kill them before they warn the others and escape with the Silvershield lad," someone shouted behind them.
A man in a robe, evidently the trappings of a mage, stepped into the clearing accompanied by the bandit who had escaped them. Along with the wizard, more than a dozen fanned out and advanced, weapons already drawn.
Seeing the mage retreating to prepare another spell, the swords coming at them, Okami still unsteadily drawing his katana – Irse's heart sank in a quick sum of the suddenly unfavorable odds.
Yet something flared within, a small fire kindled at the edge of need and purpose. Spurred, Irse leaned in, freed the blade from its scabbard again and charged.
Vaguely she heard Okami call to her, perhaps an order to flee and save herself, but her own battle cry drowned out everything else as the world tunneled to a point. Only one thing mattered now - take down as many as possible, at the very least slow them down, buy time for the others to escape.
Irse met them head-on, barging through the first line. In wild arcs she swung her blade, calculated to startle and force the unsure to stand back, while only the emboldened but few dared an approach. Everything then dissolved into a flurry of steel and memory and instinct.
Without shield the elf could only duck and dodge, grazed in the arm or at the side, split-second halted by a hit of those magical missiles yet unheeding of the sting, numbed and fueled by the rush of battle. Blocking a downcut from a mercenary bounced his sword away, a single arc of a counterattack slashing at his shoulder. Past him the elf dashed low, tearing deep at a second man's thigh, evading an overeager swing from a bandit woman before lacerating her arm, swiveling in the same motion to hack at another too slow in bringing down their sword, leaving his open belly to burst in a spray of blood and bowels rent by her blade.
Dimly she glimpsed the blacksmith several paces away, holding his own against the others. A man came at her and the elf weaved between his testing hacks with the axe and efforts to bash with the targe. Beyond him, the wizard finished his chant and columns of rock surged from the ground to latch themselves upon his whole person, fragments breaking away and falling to reveal the man now seemingly a living statue. Her foe hid behind the shield as he pulled back for a strike, and the elf took the chance to spring at him, kicking at the buckler's face. As he stumbled back unbalanced, Irse darted past to cleave him from behind before charging at the mage.
However, mere flecks of stone fell away from where steel tried to pierce the wizard's chest, and Irse leaped back from a counter of his staff. But what else could be done other than to continue, even with nothing to show for her efforts other than meager chips upon the wizard's impenetrable armor, and keeping him too busy to cast another spell? One might hack away all night in the hopes of finally getting through, yet time was of the essence – more enemy supports could arrive any moment.
If only Okami had taught how to cut through magical stone with ordinary iron from this world.
Wait, iron from this world… what if it wasn't from this world at all? All the tests they had done with the adamantine tachi on helmets, shields, armor – the dusky steel had sliced with ease through forged iron, wood, and leather. Even on parchment, if only to demonstrate its absurdly keen edge.
Once on a leg of ham for the most important trial of all – through flesh and bone it passed clean. Best not to tell Okami about it, though.
Yet on one particular object, the tachi remained to be proved. Irse grinned.
So it would seem, the Kogitsune's first true test in battle will be to hit a pile of rocks.
Unthinking in her haste, Irse roughly tossed the katana to the side, skirting swipes of the stave as she unsheathed the tachi. Still confident of his magical protection, the wizard drew in too close then floundered with a cry, alabaster-white chest now streaked with blood from his shoulder. Corners of her mouth crooked in early triumph, the elf shifted the newly stained Kogitsune in jodan.
The bandit woman wounded earlier though spirited still, waved her spiked club as she jumped in once more to interrupt the elf's advance. But in a wink, her weapon halved as it were a mere rolled-up straw mat against the tachi. Yet Irse felt generous for once, putting her down with an elbow to the face and a butt of the hilt in the stomach. The elf rounded upon the mage only to find her body suddenly immobilized.
Whitish, ropey, sticky strands now blanketed the ground, covering her from feet to limbs. Irse pulled and yanked to no avail. A mere flick of the wrist should've been enough to sever the cords with the Kogitsune, but with her ingloriously unhelpful luck, she had been caught with sword edge down. Even the slightest muscle tremor summoned more of these dense threads to bind her, tighter and heavier.
Like a bug in a cobweb. To think, she and Imoen used to catch flies with paper, honey, and glue, then with care affix them onto spiderwebs they found in the garden. Tiny desserts for their little friends.
Surprised curses from the others backed her guess.
"Damn you, hedge-mage! Not this soddin' web again!"
"Watch where ye sling yer stupid spells, ya weave-wanker!"
Several paces away, Okami stood likewise disenabled. Still able to move her neck, Irse threw him a distressed look, he returned a firm yet assuring one, somehow bolstering her spirit. After all, everyone else had been entangled and the wizard shouldn't dare cast anything that would also kill his companions. Nothing else to do but wait for the magic to wink out, then score a quick and pointy poke on the mage.
Casually the wizard waved away his compatriots' ingratitude. Pained from his wound, he dragged his staff, taking care to keep from treading on the webbing's border. Unfortunately, with her fabulously nasty fortune, Irse ended up closest to the edge, well within his reach.
"Fools, quit your whining. The others will be here soon," he rasped, then turned to the elf. "As for you."
Her blood went cold at the threat, then her side exploded with arresting agony as the wooden stave whipped and cracked at the shoulder. Irse hissed, hurting, casting him a disdainful defiant glare.
"Craven! Leave her and face me instead!" Okami shouted and strained against his webbed bonds.
But the others' jeers and taunts rose like the bleating of savage animals, drowning out the blacksmith's desperate rebuke.
"That's for what you did to me," the wizard spat, ignoring everyone else. Hefting the staff once more, he brought it close to the side of her head, marking the temple. "Perhaps crude methods better suit the likes of you."
If only she could break free, even by just one step. Her mind raced like the blood within, everything roiling and blaring into one intention – get away, be not here yet here.
Putting everything into this killing blow, the wizard gyred and swung his stave. Right then, as if pulled by the same unseen thread, Irse gathered her entire being and tugged against the web.
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Didn't even blink.
Curious, she raised her sword hand. Free!
Wait. Dead?
Irse checked herself, wincing at the rawness in her shoulder. Still very much alive.
Then her stomach rumbled in a baleful reminder of the last meal being ages ago. And very hungry too.
She gazed around, brows furrowing at her new surroundings. Well, not exactly new. Same trees, same grass. Still here. But where is here? Indeed, the trees stood right where she vaguely remembered them, though this time with colors more vivid, smothered by carpets of shining moss and glowing buds. More towering, ancient. Alive.
Through the underbrush now taller and wilder, glowing wisps of flickering colors darted here and there, leaving dancing trails in their wake. No full moon lit the sky which instead sprawled above the more abundant canopy in swirls of rose and gold in suspended twilight.
Irse sank down to a sitting-kneel. Not again, not another dot of weirdness in her life, why these things kept happening without so much as a warning poke at the ribs will forever escape her. Probably pointless, asking how it happened at all. Even so, whatever this was, at the very least it pulled her out of the wizard's clutches in the nick of time, dumping her in wherever this is.
She let the resignation trickle in, her sigh at its loudest to her ears, followed by the faint chittering of crickets and the rustling of leaves, lulling the senses to a pleasant stillness. So peaceful, so quiet. A heady soothing brume permeated the air, and everything had the feel of a hazy dream. Irse closed her eyes. How nice it must be to lie down in the strangely soft and fragrant grass, catch a spot of rest from all this wearisome toil.
Snap out of it, she scolded herself, eyes flashing open in determined ire. With Okami still trapped alongside those curs, that scummy mage walking free, no idea of what befell Kagain and the others – nothing mattered now except getting back to them this instant.
The elf rose to her feet but an attempt to move forward only had her entire frame cracking in painful dissent. Still gripping the tachi, she lifted her sword hand to nudge at the other shoulder, heavy and sore, arm perhaps fractured. Only then did her other injuries register - more bruises, more cuts, a spot at her side suspiciously soaked with more blood than it should, a draining weariness. Just as she readied to sheathe the Kogitsune, something stirred among the trees. Alerted, Irse raised the sword in ready seigan just as the underbrush parted.
A woman approached, more fey than any elf she had seen, ears overly elongated and narrower, leaner in stature. Hued from head to toe as the freshest of leaves, antlers crowning a wild mane of hair and blossoms, leather armor and cloak intricately wrought with runes and floral motifs, eyes shining as fireflies, emanating an aura of life. If Spring were a living being, this woman would be it. She cocked her head and regarded the young elf with curiosity, until her eyes traveled down to the blade in Irse's hand.
In an instant her color changed from verdant green to the blazing gold of the summer sun, radiating heat and hostility as she reached for her bow. Alarmed, Irse hastily sheathed the tachi, showing her empty hands.
"Please, I mean no harm," Irse begged. "I don't know how I ended up here, but I need to get back right now. Someone important to me… others… they're in danger and I must help them."
The woman glowered for a moment, hesitant, weighing if this interloper in her forest posed a threat. Then as she looked over the young elf, her eyes softened, taking in Irse's disheveled and bloodied state. Immediately her stance eased, and the once fiery shade abruptly washed to the muted browns and deep reds of a fading tree in autumn.
The fey woman reached out and clasped her shoulders. Irse flinched at the sudden contact yet willed herself to remain still. No sense in angering a magical creature in her own territory. Gently her hands brushed all over the young elf, paying more attention to the injured shoulder and arm, and the gash at the side. Warmth and relief flowed through skin and muscle and bone, welts vanished, wounds closed beneath the tears in her gambeson and clothes. Irse straightened herself, restored and quickened, grinning at the other who undoubtedly appeared pleased with her work.
"I appreciate your help, I truly do," the elf said. "If it isn't too much, maybe you could show me how to return to the Wood of Sharp Teeth?"
At the question, the fey woman suddenly laughed in tinkling tones, her entire hue reverting to the color of a spring meadow.
Irse awkwardly mimicked her laughter in cautious agreement. Not hard to see why her people would find it funny. Probably used to random folk accidentally dropping into their strange world, thinking they had a bag too many of strange mushrooms.
Wiping her eyes, the fey woman waved a hand to dispel the giggles still bubbling in her. Having stilled herself, she locked eyes with Irse and tapped at her temples and ears.
"Think? Hear?"
Could she not simply speak? Even if she knew no Common, at the very least her alien words might hold a clue, be the very spell required to be uttered. Shaking her head slightly, the woman tapped at her ear again, smiling and openly finding this exchange an amusing game.
"Ear? Elf ear?"
The other hummed, signing the nearness of her guess, then walked sideways in a slow and exaggerated pace.
"Step?"
At that one word, the fey woman bobbed excitedly, clapping to laud her answer. And then promptly vanished. Irse glared at the empty air, huffing with fists on her waist.
"What? I'm supposed to just stand here, think about what I am? Or where I was? Fine, I'm an idiot elf who steps into funny places uninvited who's thinking of going back exactly to where I was stuck in the Sharp Teeth. Then what? Take a-," the elf grumbled as she raised a foot and stomped it down before her.
"- step?"
Didn't even blink.
This time, bet her last dented copper, Irse surely stood in the Wood of Sharp Teeth once more. Same trees, same grass, same sky for certain.
But something screamed different and wrong, she realized in dawning horror.
The forest lay quiet and hushed, no other living, standing soul remained besides her.
And it was already daylight.
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Fey Stepping Scribblings:
Yep, in keeping with the Taint manifesting as supernatural random weirdness, that was an accidental yet somehow intentional fey step into the Feywild, and a chance meeting with an eladrin who thought it cute to play charades instead of handing out a Procedure Manual for Planeswalking, dog-eared at Chapter %&*$# - How to Return to Your Home World Without Unpleasant Souvenirs and Side Effects Such as Consequential Time Variances.
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