I had walked behind the garbed person for an hour. I was sweltering under my clothes and panting from the effort, holding in a scream to stop.
"Any chance we take a quick break?" I said when my knees nearly gave out from under me.
She looked back and paused mid stride. Eyeing a not particularly comforting rock, I collapsed upon it.
"You know that arm will only hinder you further." She said.
"No, that's strange, I didn't know that. Think we should just cut it off and move?" I said back, sweetly. I couldn't see it but I could feel the face underneath the cloth frown.
"What I meant is that I can fix that for you." She held out her hand as she talked, motioning for me to move my arm towards her.
How? Where there magical arm fixing powers that I didn't know about. Or had but now couldn't remember.
"Okay... how?" I asked.
"All who live in the hollow know the healing spells. Be they beast or beast-kin." By now she had moved to my side and had her palm on top of the shoulder.
"So how does that-"
"Shh, quiet. This is more complex than I thought. I need silence to concentrate." She said. I saw sweat beading around her eyes on falling onto my shoulder, which was slightly gross. I stopped craning my neck to look at her and slumped into the rock.
--
I opened my eyes and saw her standing over me, looking possibly concerned (not much to tell since I could see make out her eyes).
"Your wound is no ordinary mark. I have stifled the pain but I can do nothing more. I'm sorry." She turned away to peer into the dark forest.
"That's okay, it feel so oh much better." I rolled it around and for once, there was no burning knot pressing into me. There was no twinge in my back telling me my muscles were ripping apart.
"I mean I am sorry about what the mark will do. It will ruin your body if left untreated, eating away until you're just a hollow of what you are now. The process has already begun but it has abated. Let us hope you last until we reach the Sacred Grounds."
Ruined? My body would be ruined by an injury?
"How?" I asked, my mouth dry and sandpaper. "How will it ruin my body?"
"It will turn the right side of your body into waste, paralyzed and shrunken. How? I do not know. There is more unknown magic they say than can be ever learned by any being. But I will try to help, I promise."
"Where is Sacred Ground?"
"Sacred Grounds. And we not far off, I sent out a message to my friends. They will come to our aid when we get closer. It is time to be off, Druin."
I got up and began walking behind her. "Druin?"
"It is an old name for our wounded. A Druin is one whose ship laps at the water of the Ganyx. Let us hope your ship does not cross the might river."
Druin. For a person not knowing their name, I liked this one.
For the second time today, I got up and began walking into the dark forest.
--
This time I had blacked out while walking. Which was truly wonderful because my conscious jolted me back into alertness as we rounded a corner (if forest's have corners?) and met another full clothed person. Their eyes peered out at me, as yellow and catlike as my saviors were.
They fell into step beside the girl and got close to have a hushed conversation, I was not invited to.
We walked at a casual pace, arriving at a boulder situated next to a small stream.
"We'll have to walk in the stream to get to where we're going." The girl explained.
"Which is where?" I asked. They both peered at me, giving no answer.
After a beat, the new person spoke. "Our city. You are an invited guest in our land."
With that, they began walking in the shallow stream. I fell into step behind the girl and in front of the new person. We walked in a line for a while, the splash of the water the only noise in the dimly lit forest. The stream became wider as we walked, becoming a shallow river that was as wide as my arm spam. The water had now come up from being at our ankles to our waists.
Our journey ended at a waterfall and now the river was so strong that there was a strong push from the water to send me cascading down the path I had trudged up on. The two clothed were moving deftly, avoiding the tricky steps under the water and holding onto steady rocks that didn't tumble away. I became the last in line, coping the movements of the other two clumsily until we all stood on the edge of the water.
"From the tides of the moon, to the bowls of our hall, give us way Ægir. We ask for a place in your Ægisdrekka." The girl said softly, murmuring to the water around us.
Nothing seemingly magical happened. There was no great parting on the water, no pause in the water fall. There did seem to be a small opening in the water near where the girl was standing. Like the water was moving aside to allow her to enter the water fall but it was a tiny sliver. But the tiny sliver grew and the water was moving aside.
The waterfall had edged itself away to allow for a small entry hole. The strangest part was, there was a boulder right behind the water. However the entry hole shimmered, as if it signified a portal to another dimension. The girl stepped back so the new person was the first to go through and motioned me to follow.
I took a deep breath. Swallowed some water. And walked in.