Part 4: Outta Town
Once they were a couple hours outside the city, Meska brought the buggy to a stop as they were passing through a thick copse of trees.
In the shade of those trees was a man astride a dark elkheart, with five more tied up nearby.
Jed didn’t recognize the man at first, though he got a reminder when Gwen hissed out, “Somnus.”
“At your service,” the man tipped his black hat in their direction.
“What are you doing here?” Gwen demanded, hand on her gun.
“Stuff that attitude,” Metsa said while catching a set of saddlebags tossed down by Sotas. Slinging the bags over her shoulder, she moved towards one of the elkhearts who was bare-backed. “Somnus is here to get you two safely to your boat.”
“Boat?” Jed asked as he eyed the elkhearts warily.
“Best way to get you out of the hex,” Metsa said as she slung the saddlebags into place with the sort of practiced motion that proved it wasn’t her first rodeo.
If they even had rodeos on Tersue Reng.
Sotas did the same with another two sets of saddlebags, though he lowered them in place instead of having to throw them upward. “And out of the hex, this is good.”
“Not sure what sort of trouble you been up to, but I’ll do my part to get you away,” Somnus said, tipping his hat in Jed’s direction. “Ain’t none of us Imp’ sympathizers.”
Gwen let out a huff but otherwise managed to keep her opinions to herself.
Jed was a little more concerned about how long he’d be stuck on elkheart. A short ride hadn’t proven so bad, but days… “So… how far is it to this boat.”
“Few hours over open country,” Metsa said with a grunt as she secured the saddlebag, ducking under the elkheart. “We’ll drive off into the distance, keeping their attention. Make noise at a couple places further out.”
“A parting most unexpected,” Sotas said, hand coming down on Jed’s shoulder. “Much there is we wished to teach, before tossed to the storm you were. I made sure to pack the book.”
Jed looked between the two hunters as he realized they weren’t coming with them. Obviously they weren’t. Neither were they planning to travel the ring alongside him and Mythlyn, as Gwen swore she would, but he hadn’t been prepared to part with them so suddenly. “Was real lucky, dropping in on you two.”
“More luck than many men get,” Sotas said in agreement, pulling Jed into a one-armed hug and thumping him across the back before releasing him. “Do not die. It would upset Metsa.”
“Oh, don’t put your sob feelings on me, big guy,” Metsa said, grabbing Jed’s hand and squeezing. “But he’s right. It would upset me. So don’t do it.”
“I’ll do my best,” Jed said, squeezing back as Metsa ran a hand in front of her face, sweeping the black ringlets to the side.
“Better than your best. And you too, girl,” Metsa said, turning her gaze on Gwen who’d been standing back a couple paces. “We’re not done your training. Long way to go before we call you hunters. Not the first time we’ve had to send our people off to keep them safe for a time.”
“I look forward to when next the turning of the ring brings us to walk side by side,” Gwen said, her voice taking on the practiced cadence of a saying.
“Never trusted the ring to do a blasted thing for me,” Metsa said as she pulled the younger woman into a hug, causing Gwen’s eyes to go wide. “And if you’re smart, you won’t either. Trust Jed, trust yourself and stay alive.”
“Ahem,” Somnus cleared his throat. “And perhaps your guide?”
“I said what I said,” Metsa said, giving him a crooked smile. “Get them on their boat alive, and we’ll call the debt settled.”
“Of course,” Somnus said, tipping his hat. “And on that subject, I do believe you’d best be on your way, if you don’t want to have others wondering why you dallied so long amongst the trees.”
“I know my business, kid,” Metsa grumbled. She shoved a piece of paper in Jed’s hands before turning back to the buggy, patting Sotas on the leg as she passed.
“We shall see you soon,” Sotas said, raising a large hand as he swung up on the back of the buggy.
It almost sounded like he attempted to add more, but Metsa revving the engine cut him off. It also caused the mounts to shy away, glaring at the cause of the offensive noise until it had disappeared down the forest road.
“I’m afraid we should be off as well, if we want to get there before the Eye rests,” Somnus said, gesturing to the two elkhearts with saddles.
Gwen strode forward without hesitation, and Jed followed her lead.
While he’d spent some time riding an elkheart, it had a short ride over a month ago. Certainly not enough to prepare him for the next few hours, as Somnus drove them forward at a much faster pace than Jed was comfortable with. He was bouncing up and down in a timing he was pretty sure wasn’t any more comfortable for the elkheart than it was for him. Honestly, he would’ve preferred to walk.
After ten minutes, Gwen dropped back beside him. “Not much experience on elkback, partner?”
“Not so much, no,” Jed admitted.
“Nor do I have much to offer. They were little more than a meat beast in my day.”
“Never much liked them myself but Grams made sure I had plenty of lessons. Come on, I’ll show you,” Gwen said, gesturing for him to copy her.
And so Jed spent the next hour learning the ins and outs of riding on elkback. He still wasn’t good, but at least he wasn’t slowing them down or breaking the poor animals back, allowing them to make good time.
Part of that was Somnus making them stop and swap elkhearts after a couple hours so they could keep pushing hard. During which point, Jed glanced at the paper Metsa had slipped him. It was a map, showing him an outline of the route he should follow, half the page filled with instructions.
The last of which was to meet her and Sotus at Seven Falls. That little bit was a nice touch of reassurance. The fact she hadn’t mentioned it in front of Somnus kept him from doing the same. Tucking it away again, Jed groaned as Somnus pushed them even harder for the second half of their ride, now that Jed’s performance had improved.
By the time they got to the little dock - tucked into a side bay mostly hidden from the riverside road they’d approached from - Jed wasn’t certain he’d be able to sit for the next week.
It was going to be enough of a challenge just slipping off the back of the elkheart.
Despite the late hour, the plan was to keep going. He’d been hoping to sleep on the boat, yet when he spotted the man and his vessel, that thought sailed away into the dark, as they were about to. It was little more than a wide canoe to Jed’s eyes. Barely big enough for three people to sit in, and certainly not large enough to lay down in.
“And this is where we part,” Somnus said, tossing a package to the waiting man, who pulled at a corner, sniffing at it before nodding. Turning to them, Somnus tipped his hat. “Best of luck to the both of you.”
Jed nodded back, offering his thanks while slipping free of the tyranny of the saddle.
Being on his feet was both a relief and a sharp contrast to having been in the saddle. Jed pulled the saddlebags Metsa had brought free while Gwen started on those Sotas had secured. By the time they’d loaded them into the canoe, Somnus had left, elkhearts in tow.
The man in the canoe didn’t respond to Jed’s greeting, simply grunting and waving at them to get in.
“Not how I thought our trip would start,” Gwen said as she took the seat at the front of the canoe.
“No? Were you imagining something a little less exciting?”
“More,” Gwen said, turning to look out over the small secluded bay. “This is too peaceful.”
“Just pretend the journey began when we spent the night shooting warp-demons. Leave out the quiet part in between,” Jed said as he took the middle seat at the man’s silent insistence.
“That was fun,” Gwen said, hand resting on her revolver. “Think I’ve killed more demons in the last week than in the last ten years before that.”
“Is that how long you’ve been a hunter? Thought it was less than that,” Jed said as the man climbed in, setting a heavy looking device on the back of the canoe.
Gwen’s response was swallowed in the screeching noise of the device as it came to life. Thankfully, the screeching was short lived. When the man noticed both Jed and Gwen staring at him, he just grunted, holding up the package he’d gotten from Somnus and sniffing at it again. Then after wiggling his nose, we waved them off.
By the time Jed had straightened out, the little canoe was pulling away from the dock, the little engine growing quieter with every meter that slid past. As they passed beneath the low-hanging branches shielding the small bay from the river the noise cut out entirely.
For a second, Jed had feared it had died, yet it continued pushing them forward.
Jed was thankful to have a moment to rest, though he was unfortunately correct about the aftereffects of the elkheart riding. Sitting wasn’t nearly as comfortable as it had been that morning.
“You ever seen a Grotcha?” Gwen asked from where she’d leaned forward and was trailing a hand in the mostly smooth river water.
“Don’t think I know that one,” Jed said. Metsa had covered a few of the more common types of warp-demons, and provided him books full of others, which he’d scanned with his cell phone, but there were hundreds, if not thousands, of different types of warp-demons.
Some were common, like the Screachers, but most were more like the grizzly he’d spotted, so rare they might as well be unique.
“Grotcha’s are these water-based demons that look kinda like a log, right?” Gwen said, gesturing to the side of the river where several logs were piled together.
In a sign that showed the man was listening, even if he remained unwilling to speak, the canoe drifted to the far shore. One that was free of any sort of logs.
“Anyway. They’re contrary to what most people think of as warp-demons, ‘cause they’re not aggressive. You leave them alone, they leave you alone,” Gwen continued. “Right up until you wander too close, then they’ll open up so fast you’ll think the log exploded into shrapnel. Only thing is, all that shrapnel is still connected to a very angry demon.”
“You think we’ll run into one?”
“Nah. Not here. Maybe if we make it far enough downstream. Heard the waterways of six-oh-five have plenty. Never been that far myself, obviously, but that’s what I heard,” Gwen said, sitting up and pulling her hand from the water. “Just got demons on the brain, I guess.”
Right as Jed was about to respond, the man behind him took a much longer, louder sniff from the package. Really, it almost sounded like he was snorting the stuff.
When he glanced over his shoulder, he caught the man wiping orange residue off the side of his nose. Jed was glad the little canoe didn’t take much in the way of skill, because he was suddenly much less confident in their pilot’s abilities.
He hadn’t been the only one to notice, Gwen meeting his gaze as he looked forward once more, eyebrow raised.
Figuring there wasn’t much they could do about it, Jed shrugged, though his hand trailed over the hilt where Mythlyn rested. The man barely registered to Jed’s warp-sense, but hopefully Mythlyn would have an easier time keeping an eye on him.
Soon it slipped to the back of his mind as he and Gwen chatted softly, the smooth journey down the river seeming to discourage loud noise.
Until the river itself started to get louder.
At first Jed thought another boat was coming upriver, with an engine that rumbled a bit like the buggy’s. Except it was too smooth and consistent. Eying the cliffs that rose up to either side, Jed worked his jaw.
“Hey, uh, what’s the plan for…” Jed trailed off as he looked back over his shoulder.
Their pilot’s gaze had gone blank, eyes rolled back in his skull, orange drool drifting down his chin.
“You know, I don’t wanna cast doubt on Metsa’s people management skills, but seriously?” Jed complained as he tugged at the man, who was a lot lighter than he expected, apparently all bone underneath his baggy clothing.
“Can’t believe she trusted Somnus,” Gwen said, hands reaching past Jed to steady the thin man. “You know how to pilot this thing?”
Jed looked down at the simple wooden rod attached to the now-silent engine. Then to the water around them.
Just ahead, he saw the white foamed caps of rapids, the roar louder than ever.
While fear clutched at his heart, Jed still found a smile slipping onto his face as he took the seat, wrapping his hand around the steering rod as he looked towards the quickly approaching rapids. “Don’t think I have much choice other than to figure it out, eh?”