Chapter 118 (1/2)

Decklan twitched, his brain recognizing a lot of information at once and combing through it. It was only a split second of frozen indecision, then he continued to creep forward, as though nothing had happened.

When they arrived, there were guards, but they weren’t paying very close attention to the portal so Decklan and Annie’s groups slipped away before they were noticed, joining the strange blue treeline nearby. Annie faded into the foliage, slipping away, while the rest followed Decklan. They found a small clearing, and Decklan sent Tera to scout around, trusting her to remain discreet.

Perhaps it would have been better to just make contact, but the fact that Alana and Devan had disappeared for a day meant that this wasn’t exactly a simple situation. After Tera discovered the general direction of the village, they began to move that way.

But as they did so, Decklan’s instincts abruptly screamed that something very powerful was watching them. His body froze, but his Killer’s Instincts, obtained at Lvl 30 from his class, immediately contradicted that, saying he should continue to walk, pretending not to notice the powerful watcher. After all, if the watcher assumed Decklan had no idea of his presence, he might not view him as a threat.

So Decklan continued to walk, cursing himself inwardly for freezing up, but doing his best to relax the lines of his shoulders. But his worst fears came to pass, or at least a version of them. An anthropomorphic turtle appeared on the path in front of him, bent with age, but clearly the source of that oppressive aura.

The turtle grunted. “Passable. You detected me, and you chose to mask your knowledge rather than act. But your execution was lacking. Follow me.”

The turtle turned away, and the rest of the group just gaped, but Decklan straightened and said. “And if we don’t?”

After pausing for a second, the turtle turned back and gave Decklan a mild glance. Without saying anything, he turned away again and began to slowly hobble forward, arms behind his back.

Grimacing, Decklan signalled his squad, and everyone gathered and followed neatly behind this strange figure. Decklan was frustrated, but after meeting that turtle’s gaze, he had no confidence of resisting him, even if they all worked together.

But it seemed that Annie had escaped the turtle’s notice, so all was not lost. Decklan fervently hoped she wouldn’t do anything stupid.

****

Alana was surprised when Bert returned, leading Decklan and his squad, but said nothing. They all crowded into the low ceiling room, Hess smiling at them all.

“Welcome, welcome. Bert, some more drinks?” Bert nodded calmly and meandered towards that side door once more. “Now, welcome, friends from Donnyton. I am Hess, one of the three elders of this village, Kith Klark. Unfortunately the one with the least influence, but still...”

Decklan’s eyes moved from Alana, to Devan, to the Kiersty and Nathan still sleeping on the cushion in the corner of the room, then to Hess. “...Thank you for your hospitality. My name’s Decklan, one of the leaders of Donnyton’s 3 Speciality Squads. I also am a part of Donnyton’s council. On behalf of all of Donnyton, I thank you for taking such good care of our people while they are visiting your world.”

To Alana’s ears, Decklan’s words sounded very forced, and it seemed Hess heard it too, because the cat woman smiled lightly.

“You are welcome. But we don’t need to act too stuffy; after all, the other elders are using you two to play games with each other.,” Hess said cheerily, “Although their motivations are different. Now, who wants some cider?”

The room around her was filled with a heavy silence.

*****

Later that night, as Decklan leaned against the wall, he felt exactly what he was waiting for; the soft whisper of a ghost in his ear. He listened carefully, then quietly began to explain the situation to Glendel.

*****

In the early hours before dawn, Randidly laboriously created another avatar made of roots, forming the body, the arms, and finally the spear. Then, equally slowly, Randidly had the avatar thrust out with its spear.

Randidly raised his spear and, with his eyes closed, mirrored the action. Noticing the small differences between them, Randidly tried to adjust his form, but after several more thrusts with the avatar, nothing had changed. The spear thrust was just as ungainly.

‘Smaller, then,’ Randidly thought to himself. He thrust again with his own spear. There were so many parts that felt natural, that just happened easily, and those were what he needed to systematically identify and understand if he was to improve.

The avatar thrust forward, with Randidly’s attention focused simply on the way he used the vines to grip the spear. Afterwards, he thrust with his body.

He made a small adjustment to the tightness of the avatar’s grip and tried again.

He thrust with his body.

He made a small adjustment.

Over and over, he pressed and pressed, starting with the grip tightness, moving to the balance of his hands, the distance between his two hands…

Avatar thrust, body thrust.

Tiny adjustments.

Avatar thrust, body thrust.

Several seconds of thinking, followed by no adjustments.

Avatar thrust, body thrust.

Tiny adjustments.

Over and over, until Randidly blinked, opening his eyes to the warm of the dawn’s rays. He grimaced, slightly annoyed that he had lost track of time. But it was important to do this. His training in the Spear needed some organization to it. It was just discouraging that it took so long to make such small gains-