Chapter 15: Expedition

CHAPTER 15: EXPEDITION

“Your arm healed too fast,” Chris grunts as he manhandles the limb.

“Well it still aches so could you not pull it like that?!” I rip my arm from his grasp.

With a grunt, he waves off my complaint and leaves the longhouse. Letting out a frustrated sigh I head back to my room and grab my gear. As I leave I admire one of the rudimentary beds that Mike, John and I have been working on these last couple days.

They’re a series of sturdy wood slats wrapped with reed, then covered with soft hide. It’s not the most comfortable bed, but it’s a significant upgrade over the ground we’d been sleeping on.

We were so spoiled with modern beds. I internally grumble. After hooking on my quiver, and sheathing my dagger in its reed covering, I make my way outside.

Cody is already waiting for me, his dark skin and bright eyes glinting in the sunlight. He passes me two bracers and a pair of shin guards made from chitin. It took him a long time to sort out how to shape chitin properly, but it seems the effort was worth it. I admire his work as we leave camp and pass by John and Jamie working on the spider silk. The two are currently in the process of trying to turn the strand into fabric.

I catch sight of Jamie spinning the raw silk into strands, as John marks details down onto a piece of bark. The two of them chat quietly between themselves and I can’t help but wonder what about. I’m glad the two are chatting, Jamie really needs a friend. As that thought passes my mind, the guy in question peaks up and the soft smile on his face makes me grin in response. Shaking my head, I focus on the process the two are working on.

I notice that the weave has to be significantly tighter than my baskets, and none of us know how to make a loom. Despite Trevor’s Camp Building skill, it’s been a process of trial and error. Even so, I can’t wait to have proper clothing.

Venturing away from our new home I find myself curious as to our surroundings. Chris and David typically set out for the far river and haven’t mentioned any points of interest nearby. Whatever, the less I have to see of Chris the better.

Cody and I slowly make our way downriver as I attempt to mimic his steps. He’s basically silent as he moves and I wouldn’t call myself jealous, but I have the urge to learn the skill. I track each step, the way in which he puts pressure on the ground, and his slightly crouched posture. My Bow Hunting skill even kicks in and tries to help, but he’s so far beyond me that I’m barking up the wrong tree. Maybe I should ask for some pointers?

As I take in his movements my ears catch the sound of a cracking branch. A solid thunk that echoes over the running water. My eyes shoot across the river where I find-not the expected tree, but three horse sized wolves chewing on bones of an unidentifiable creature. Their grey and brown fur somehow tying them into the background in such a way that I would not have noticed without the sound of cracking bone.

Feeling rather safe on this side of the river, I speak to Cody as the wolves fade into the distance, “It’s rather surprising how few animals are over here. I get that the river moving so quickly prevents them from crossing on this side, but why wouldn’t they come over from the other river?”

The mute man gives me a simple shrug along with a few hand motions I fail to make out. “I know it’s not exactly important, but it’s still weird…” I trail off as the man stiffens. With a pause and a hand motion, I follow his commands and quietly make my way up to him.

In the distance we see a number of large vulture-like birds consuming a kyp corpse. Their ashen feathers and beady red eyes seem to see into my soul. A chill runs up my spine as our eyes meet, and goosebumps run along my skin. One of them has me clutching my ears with its loud piercing shriek as it shoves another with a wing. Cody and I watch as the creatures push and press their jaws into the kyp. My gaze meets Cody’s and fail to see any urge to fight within his eyes.

With his guidance, we make our way through the tree line and deeper into the forest. The terrain here has flattened out into slowly rolling hills with the occasional stone, the ground having lost the thicker underbrush and with the sharp hilly terrain I’ve grown used to.

As the sun passes mid day, the two of us stumble across the waterfall at the end of the river. Looking down reveals a thousand foot drop. My breath catches and stills, but not from the drop. Massive trees that rival the cliff’s height itself dot the land below. Even from a distance I see several flying creatures landing on massive leaves that fill the canopy.

“There’s no way this ‘exchanger’ is down there right?” I ask as we look out over the rocky drop.

Cody gives me a shrug and mimes sleeping, before taking sentry in the shade of a tree.

With a shrug of my own, I drop against the nearby tree and close my eyes. I’ve had practice pulling myself into the dreamscape but being near sleep seems to be a requirement. Minutes pass as my breath evens out and my vision fades from total blackness to a smattering of flashing lights. I ignore them and the shocks in my nerves before finally I drift into the dreamscape. Like flashing into existence I pull myself from the bed and check the mirror only to find we’re about five miles closer than before. I bite my lip while I make for the rough looking bed and lie down. The second my head hits the pillow the dreamscape cracks and I wake up. The whole process only took about thirty to forty minutes.

“It says we’re within fourteen miles. So it could be down there, or it could be perpendicular to us,” I share the news with my friend.

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His head tilts, eyebrows rise, and he fixes his gaze on mine for several seconds before pressing his lips together.

“Okay sure, it’s probably down there. But! It might not be,” I say as we begin walking away from the main river.

After a pause I pipe back up. “So Cody, do you have any family back on earth?”

He follows up with some hand motions I don’t recognize. Then, seeing my expression, shifts to holding out two fingers and measuring head height next to him.

“Is that two siblings?”

His hand wavers in a so-so motion and he nods.

“Close enough then,” I think about my own siblings and father.

“I have a brother and sister. Plus my Dads still around. It’s weird to think we will probably never see them again. At first, I was so focused on everything going on around me that I tried to distract myself from the idea that we’re basically in a new life. I can’t imagine how my fiancé feels right now,” I let out my thoughts. After a few seconds I feel Cody placing his hand on my shoulder.

With a small smile I carry on, dodging the few roots and fallen branches on my path.

After about an hour we check the distance again to find no visible change. Confirming that the exchanger is down the ridge. We continue on to the shallow river.

As we approach I realize that the other river has really blown up my expectations for this one. This is basically a wide stream. It’s only a few hundred feet across with water that clearly shows the depths. There isn’t even a noticeable pull of the water flow. It still has the deep edges of the other river, but they aren’t as steep nor do they have the same depth. With little effort, the two of us cross the water and begin looking for a place to set up camp.

Following trail etiquette from earth, I make sure we’re at least a hundred feet away from the river. My wet sandals squelch in the dirt while I clear the tree line of any threats. As I search the surroundings in the evening light, Cody gathers the longest branches he can find. Working together, we line the branches up and tie a reed rope around the top. The makeshift shelter isn't quite as large as the one in the clearing, but will suffice.

Lying under the stars with a small fire next to me, I listen to the woods. Cricket-like buzzing fills my ears while the rustle of leaves provides a soft melody. As the night draws on and I keep watch alone, everything seems fine. It isn't until the fire cracks that I realize all the forest’s sounds have stopped. Slowly, I rise, standing into a crouch. My heart pounds as the silence deafens me, and even Cody’s rhythmic breathing has seemingly disappeared. For an eternal moment I sit there, spear in hand as I wait for something to change. Then, the sound returns.

Switching off with Cody, I fall into a fitful slumber and find morning greeting us too soon and not soon enough. Drowsy from the night’s watch, the two of us cross back over the river and follow the cliff to the far side. I take in the view of the sun peaking over the horizon and enjoy the wind that blows down from the not so distant mountains. The two of us walk in silence, and soon I forget the night and feel refreshed with the morning air. Before I know it, Cody and I are walking into the lodge.

“So good news and bad news,” I say, pausing to get everyone’s attention. “Good news being that we found the correct direction on our first try. Bad news is that it’s down the thousand plus foot drop past the waterfall. We set up a teepee across the other river, but I think it’ll take at least two to three days just to get to the quest location,” I explain our trip

“Still going on about that ‘quest’,” Chris says, signing quotation marks around the word.

“Leave it, Chris,” John says before turning his attention towards me. “Do you have a plan for getting down there? From what David said, that cliff is pretty sheer.”

“I think we’re going to have to go around until we can find a path down. I don’t see our group working the stone into a path any time soon,” I respond.

“When do you plan on going?” He asks.

“I don’t know…” I glance at Cody. “…when we’re ready I suppose. In order to launch an expedition down there, we’ll need ropes, tools, and supplies at the minimum. Hopefully we can get armor made before then.”

“Are you certain this quest will even be helpful? From what you’ve told us, we know that it’ll increase system access, but we don’t know what that means,” he argues.

Trevor enters the conversation, “It at least gives us a goal, right now we have no information. This is a chance to learn more, maybe even why we were summoned here.”

“Right? We’ve been here for weeks now and we haven’t done anything but the bare basics of surviving. I need more than just to survive,” I speak up. “The more of us willing to go, the safer we will be, but I’m going no matter what. So you guys figure out what you’re doing, I’m going to go practice.” I step away from the men, grabbing my spear and bow and make my way to a little archery range Cody and I set up.

I’ve improved by leaps and bounds since I first picked up the bow. I have good balance, and accuracy that wasn’t well developed before, while my stance and shooting has fallen into a good rhythm. Other than the odd nudge from my bow hunting skill, I think I’ve gotten about as good as I can get without a teacher. Maybe I’ll have to level up the skill with points to get more ‘nudges’.

On the other hand, I’m no natural spearman, but Big Mike thinks I’ll be fine with continued effort. If I use the spear more during hunts I might notice where I’m lacking rather than just going based off of what little I know. Not having a skill definitely makes a difference with applying knowledge.

While the guys talk I practice my archery, focusing on the fluttering of the bowstring and the thuds of the arrows. The makeshift archery target quickly becomes stuffed full of arrows as I practice my form. Letting loose my last arrow, I take up my spear and begin going through Mike’s motions. As I'm practicing, Trevor approaches. “Did you guys figure out what you’re going to do?” I ask between spear thrusts.

“It seems John, Cody, and Mike are willing to go with you. But, John has a caveat and I have a request,” he says, receiving a nod from me to continue. “Yes, well John would like to practice with his spear and learn the basics of archery from you before he’s willing to go on this expedition. While I was hoping you would delay long enough for Mike to help build some additional structures,” his concerned tone eating at me.

I fucked up, didn’t I? “Umm yeah I can wait until your current projects are done. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your plans,” I concede as I put my spear down.

He waves me off. “It’s not the end of the world, I just really want to finish a few out-buildings like a proper smoke shack, toilets, and such. Only Mike is strong enough to reliably move large trunks without injury. Frankly, I’m not even going to try performing his feats,” the skinny man says. Although he’s developed some wiry muscle, he’s nowhere near the beefcake that is Big Mike.

“Speaking of Mike, how is he maintaining all that muscle?No way he eats enough for it,” I ask, glancing at the muscle bound man in the distance.

“I swear it’s gotta be that skill of his, everyone else has been dropping weight like crazy, but he looks even more muscular than when he arrived.”

I shake my head. “Maybe there is proper magic in this world,” I let out a light chuckle.

Trevor grins before stepping away. “At least we have a plan now. Also, if you find the time, maybe we should all train with bows.”

“I’ll consider it,” I finish as he steps away and I return to practicing my spear use.