Eventually, they reached a dead end.
Nothing changed. The beautiful path went on and on until the trio were cut off by a steep wall and their only option was to double back. The next tunnel wasn't much better, with a stream too deep to wade through blocking their way next. A third grew too narrow to move through. A fourth looped them back along the main passage.
It wasn't that they had gotten lost so much as it hard to have any sense of direction their first time through such a maze. Eventually, they had to rest. The youths parked themselves in a wide nook with a low ceiling. What seemed to be tree roots snaked down from above before needling back into the cracked earth. It might've given them some hope if it didn't have the same, bioluminescent glow as the rest of the nearby flora.
The close encounter with the avian seemed to put them all on edge. As soon Ferris had comfortably settled down—her injured leg carefully stretched out in front of her—Ciara sat beside her and partially buried her face in her sister's chest. Castellar took his staff from her and looked back at the way they came. Contrary to what he seemed to expect, no one had managed to follow them.
Even as he sat down, he didn't look entirely at ease, "We'll catch our breath here and try to find another way out shortly."
Curious, Ferris poked the hairs of one of the roots with her fingertip. They could only stretch so far, so there had to be an upper level of some sort above them. For all she knew, the caves could stretch on indefinitely… The forager in her wondered how many other plants she could find down her and if any of them were useful, making a promise to herself to explore them thoroughly someday—
The adolescent caught herself… If, if, she had the chance, she wanted to explore them. She wouldn't promise anything.
Ferris sighed through her nose. She couldn't relax or break long-kept habits now, not when everything was still so uncertain. Looking down at her hands, she wished her powers as a seer weren't so random… If she could get actual visions instead of confusing dreams or flashes of warning, maybe she'd feel a little more certain about this trip. Maybe they would assure her that Castellar was truly trustworthy, or give her some kind of hint at what her life would be like at Arnaud's Guild.
It was ironic. The fact that she could catch glimpses of the future should've given her a bit more certainty: Instead, the fact that she had to change course at any given point because of what she learned made her own future feel vague. The only moments when she was completely sure of anything was when she'd already lived through them once.
Ciara began to fiddle around her sister's belt, tugging off the still full bag of candy and holding it up in offering, "Would this help?"
Ferris gave her a kind smile, shaking her head. Just like Castellar mentioned earlier, an HP boost wouldn't much good for her right now. How a person's HP related to their health was easy to understand at the surface level. Typically, having full HP typically meant that a person was in good health. When someone ran out of HP, they died. It really only worked as a general rule.
No everyone had the same amount of it or lost an equal amount to the same wound. People who were fit and well-fed—like knights—often had plenty of HP while the old and sick had less. Even a person's emotional state seemed to affect it, since Ferris once knew a widower in Mollendale whose HP shrank over the months after his wife's passing. All of that still excluded infections, the effects of poisons and curses, prolonged bleeding, and countless other circumstances.
As such, no amount of Monster Candy would help her cheat a twisted ankle. "You can have a piece though," she gently pushed the bag toward her sibling.
Despite this, Ciara refused and tucked the sweets back where she got them. Ferris hid her dismay. Both sisters knew how to be frugal—maybe to a fault, in some cases. When you didn't always know where your next meal would come from, you saved what you could. Clearly, a couple weeks of regular meals wasn't going to break that habit.
It reminded Ferris of the only promise she allowed herself these days: No matter what, she and Ciara were going to survive and, someday, make a stable life for themselves.
She turned to Castellar, "When can I start taking jobs at the guild?"
The skeleton blinked at the unprompted question, but, having gotten used to her fixation on money, it didn't surprise him that she asked, "Usually, not until after your apprenticeship is over—though I suppose it would depend on your master."
Although not unexpected, it was still disappointing. "But the guild would want me to work as soon as possible, wouldn't it? If one of its members makes money, it makes money."
He raised a hand at her dismissively, "I'm not the one you'd have to convince."
"What if I talked to the guildmaster? I'm sure they'd at least like someone who could find rare herbs."
A fire shown in her eyes from the schemes cooking in her head. Ferris might not have had much confidence that she'd learn to control her magic quickly enough, but she'd never doubt her own skill spotting plants. Even then, there were few paying jobs she wouldn't take on.
A fact Castellar seemed to pick up on, "You're rather brazen in your dealmaking, aren't you?"
"I'd haggle with a demon if I had to."
"That's nothing to boast…" The boy leaned back against a flat rock, trying to make himself as comfortable as he could.
Inside, the girl thought he was shamelessly bold himself. For all the people that were after them, he faced their attacks confidently. Even in this situation, despite how many dead ends they'd had to loop back from, he acted as though he had everything under control. So much had gone wrong, and yet he rarely let his concerns show.
Ferris peered at him so intensely that Castellar raised a brow at her in discomfort. She then asked him, "Why did the guild send a boy like you after me anyway? Why not send a master—or at least another seer?"
She didn't put much thought into it before because she didn't doubt his skill: It was obvious that Castellar could stand alone against the average magic user just fine. The trouble was that many of their pursuers, like Avalbanshee, were far from average themselves. If her own abilities were so one-of-kind that several powerful people were after it, why even take the gamble of sending someone so young? To gain her trust by using someone closer to her age? Well, she didn't trust anyone, so a lot of good that did. To make them seem less conspicuous as they traveled? So far, Castellar's family ties had made them stand out more than travelling with a full-fledged mage would've.
Even Castellar himself seemed to have a hard time coming up with an answer. At last, he said, "Probably because I'm one of the few who could be trusted to keep you a secret."
Ferris chuffed at the poor answer, "Was there really no one else?"
He grew cross with her, "I didn't ask for my orders: I just follow them."
"And you never thought to ask why you were given them in the first place?"
Since the skeleton didn't appear to know the reason either, by that point, Ferris was teasing him more than prodding for information. She expected him to snap—either fiercely protesting her words or barking some kind of nonsense about how he outclassed other mages and therefore earned this sort of task—but he didn't. He shot her a glare, then turned his back at her.
"Just get some rest."
She balked at him. Of all the things he could upset him… "What? You wouldn't like it if I called you a puppet-soldier?"
He didn't respond, diminishing some of the joy Ferris usually felt when she won one of their squabbles. The girl pouted. She greatly preferred it when he got angry and fired at her with insults of his own. It felt wrong when Castellar went quiet—not because she was worried that she might've taken their bickering too far, but because she didn't know why he suddenly retreated.
Moreover, any admit to question him about it would just reward her with the same, stubborn silence she was getting now. She huffed, twiddling a loose thread at the hem of her tunic out of boredom. Well, his feelings weren't any of her concern anyway. He could get upset at her all he liked…
The trio had barely relaxed when a meek voice shattered the quiet atmosphere, "Are you lost?"
All three of them lurched to attention. Ferris climbed the rocks behind her in order to stand and thumbed the dagger at her hip. Castellar summoned two femur-weapons in his hands like dual scabbards. Ciara, who still held onto the bony staff they'd previously been using as a light source, drew it close to her chest in a clumsy grip.
However, there was no one. Not anyone that they could see, at least. There was only one direction for anyone to enter their nook, and—thanks to the flowers—the tunnel was bright enough that they would've spotted any approaching figure several meters in-advance.
It didn't matter. The voice spoke again, now even closer—and more timid—than the first time, "A-are you hurt…?"
Ferris looked down, realizing that the sound was coming near her feet. Nothing was out of the ordinary: Nothing burrowed up from the ground or appeared from behind the rocks. Seconds later though, she noticed that the rock closest to her injured leg had subtly moved—tapping the edge of her boot. She gasped, instinctively throwing herself away from it only to trip in the process.
Castellar blocked her fall with the crook of his arm. Although the skeleton had been caught off-guard just as badly as herself by the talking stone, he recovered from his surprise much faster. He kept a stern, neutral expression as he replied to it, "Who are you? What business do you have with us?"
"I just thought you could use some help…" the stone mouthlessly mumbled.
It—no, he—seemed to shrink under Castellar's pressuring stare. The rock was another Monster… Ferris had heard of their type, but had never seen them until now. Then again, even if she had, the living geodes camouflaged themselves almost perfectly in any natural environment.
"Where are your allies?" the skeleton pressed, lowering one of his weapons toward him.
"I'm alone!" However, the rock's answer came all-too readily to be true.
Castellar's eyes narrowed. "Your sort are far better at hiding than fighting. You can't expect us to believe you've crossed these empty lands by yourself," he inched his weapon closer, repeating, "Where are they?"
"I-I can't…!"
The stone began to tremble. For Ferris, it was impossible to tell whether or not his timid nature was sincere: Monster or not, a rock didn't have much means of expression. Nevertheless, he didn't have much reason to trick them either. If he was working for Valda or Avalbanshee, he would've snuck away earlier to report their location or have tried to trick them into following him into a trap. Revealing himself did nothing in his favor, and he was too small—not even twice the size of a loaf of barley bread—to be a genuine threat.
If Castellar reached that same conclusion, it didn't make him relent. The only lenience he gave the earth elemental was that he allowed the silence that passed to deal his threats for him: He continued to hold the femur-blade causally, but pointedly, outward at the stone.
Soon enough, the other had to relent, if with a condition, "You have to put that away first…"
It was fair enough. Castellar raised a brow in mild displeasure, but complied. The femurs evaporated in his hands. As if to add assurance, he motioned for the one in Ciara's to break down as well.
Watching the rock drag himself along the ground was strangely fascinating even if they moved at a crawl. They reached a spot along one of nearby tunnels where a depression in the wall was cut into a sharp, rectangular shape. The elemental scooted closer and Ferris heard a faint click from an unseen pressure plate. The wall quaked and then slid away to reveal a hidden passage.
Moments later, the trio found themselves ambushed by two other Monsters and a looming wave of magic bullets.