Soon enough I found myself wrapped in a blanket and sitting next to Lucie on the driver's seat as she held the reigns to the horse with Larry sitting in the back and Tristan laying down. Just as Lucie had said, she and Larry assisted him in getting into the cart as soon as she fixed up his arm with a splint with no lack of cries of pain. I had helped pack up the tents in the meantime as it was the only thing I could find to do.
I found this entire scenario to be extraordinary as if I had been catapulted into an alternate past with magic and monsters. With what I had seen so far, I found myself no longer dismissing such possibilities and started to worry that I might be a lot further from home and everything I knew than I initially thought.
It simply became harder and harder to accept that what is currently happening would be occurring in the modern world and with magic being real I could not discount anything.
That was when I had an idea of a question I could ask that should not raise any suspicions regardless of what possibility I could think of and could potentially get me answers if I was lucky. I turned to Lucie to ask.
"Do you by any chance have a..." I trailed off as my mind blanked, unable to find a word for a phone in the new language.
Lucie looked at me quizzically, waiting for me to finish and I quickly blurted out the first thing that came to mind as an alternative.
"A spare weapon! Just in case."
"Oh! Right, good idea. Larry, could you..."
Before she could finish her question, Larry already held out a sheathed sword to me with a grin.
"We always carry spares. You can keep it as a thank you. Unfortunately no spare belts but I can sort you out once we are done and back in town."
I gingerly accepted the sword, feeling a little trepidatious now that I was holding one and not fighting for my life. I was tempted to unsheathe it but held myself back, placing it on my lap just as Lucie has with hers.
I was tempted to ask about this town and where exactly it was we were but had to pretend I was from around here else they might start asking me questions, most of which I doubted I would be able to answer. I recognized that I would need to take risks to find out more and decided to ask about the most absurd seeming ability I had seen.
"Mind if I ask how you were able to float around like that? It looked amazing."
"It's not that amazing." I could see an embarrassed smile playing upon her lips as she tried to suppress it. "It's just the air enhancement. Never seen it before? It's not very good."
"Don't be like that. It has its uses that others don't." Larry gave her a hard pat on the back as he reassured her.
"Are you for real? It's not much better than my light enhancement yet you keep making fun of it."
"I'm not making fun of it, I'm making fun of you since ya obviously don't know when or how to use it."
"Get it out of your systems before we enter the forest. We need to keep an eye out. Uhm..." Lucie turns to me. "Is the path clear?"
"Valerie." I give her an apologetic smile. "Sorry for the late introduction. It's clear. The only thing I encountered on the way was a single regular wolf but it left me alone."
"Valerie. It's a nice name. I like it."
"No one cares, jerk." Tristan interrupted.
"As I was going to say," Continued Larry, giving Tristan a death glare. "Or more like ask since we were on the topic of enhancements. Do ya have one?"
"No, I don't," I answered truthfully.
"Then best ya stay back and just conjure rocks up in the air again. I'll call out when. I'm a stone manipulator if ya haven't guessed."
I thought it weird that there were people who so readily accepted I could just magic up rocks, even if I was cheating. I was incredibly confused at this point however as to why none of them have even glanced at Qubit who was floating along the side of the cart next to where I was sitting. More and more questions were building up as time passed, tempting me to just let them all out and at this point, I probably would have if they were not armed and hunting the only other magical creature I have seen.
'Air, light, and stone. Lucie also made water and the werewolf turned to wood. Some form of primal elements?'
Larry also seemed to have some way of creating heat and absorbing blows. The way they were talking about their powers made it seem like they might be stuck with what they have, but I could not make assumptions. It made me want to get magic powers of my own but I, unfortunately, could not ask how as they thought I already had some. I was just burying myself deeper in dishonesty but as long as I can learn more about magic, I could ask the next magician I meet more freely.
"Do you three go after spirits often?" I asked, going for a more personal questioning approach.
"Not as often as I'd like but whenever one is found threatening a nearby settlement," Larry responded. "Used to be four of us but ever since Felix got put in charge here we have been stuck till he finds those willing to bolster our numbers. Thing is, all we get are ones like lighthouse over here who don't even want to be here. To be fair, neither do we."
Tristan seemed to have wanted to interject but stopped when Larry addended his statement, giving a nod instead.
"But we can't just leave. Someone needs to protect the folk living here, and we wouldn't abandon Felix after he brought us together."
"I would if I could. Don't see what's so great about him aside from his elements. The guy's lucky as shit yet squanders his best opportunity."
"Don't you dare. He didn't squander shit, he sacrificed it for us."
Lucie sighed and quietly mouthed 'sorry' to me as their bickering continued. I simply smiled in return. I was actually glad that they were preoccupied with that rather than me and my circumstances, and with Larry being so talkative I felt like I could learn everything I needed just from listening to him ramble on. Unfortunately, all three of them quieted down as we neared the treeline of the forest, with Tristan even forcing himself with a groan to sit up to watch the woods.
I could tell they were all very nervous and on edge, undoubtedly from their lack of dark vision that I possessed. That did not mean I myself was not anxious as the mood was contagious and merely being able to see did not remove the danger of an ambush. This was wholly different from my earlier journey down this same road and I was wondering how I was previously able to take the trek so leisurely. Granted the werewolf was not after me then but it surely was not the only dangers hiding amongst the trees.
I was tempted to check how much time I had left till dawn but I was wholly uneasy with interacting with Qubit with the three nearby. The pace we were going at felt all too slow with the deadline approaching even if it did seem to be around the same speed I had walked.
Hours passed by in silence as all of our eyes were glued to the treeline on either side. Whenever my gaze would start to wander or my mind drift, I was quickly brought back on track from the sheer vigilance my new companions displayed and I felt ashamed every time.
At some point, a fog had rolled in, obscuring vision even more and causing the breaths of the other three to start showing. I quickly became very self-conscious about this fact, adding another layer of anxiety to the trip. I was extremely glad their focus was elsewhere and I began to wonder what else could crop up to be inhuman about me. I did seem to be a lot more tolerant to the cold and would need to be careful about pretending when I feel cold.
'Then again I did know some guys who refused to wear anything but shorts and t-shirts until it dropped to below freezing. Were they secretly vampires?'
The thought amused me as the image played in my mind, giving me a pang of longing for home and normalcy. For my friends and family. For food and sleep and everything else. Knowing magic was real was not worth the price I am paying right now.
'Unless I learn to fly. Then I might reconsider.'
I forced myself to be optimistic as thinking about what I do not have would only make me feel worse. Just the thought of my parents freaking out if they find out I am missing makes my heart ache. I could only hope to get in touch with them before they decide to try and give me a call. If that was even possible wherever or whenever I was.
The forest suddenly ended amidst the growing fog, causing Lucie to yank the horse's reins to a halt.
"Is this the village?" Lucie asked me in a hushed voice and I nodded in response. "This fog is trouble. The cart is too loud when we can't see but we can't leave it and Tristan behind in case it's been following us."
"I can walk." Tristan immediately responded followed by suppressed grunting as he pulled himself to the back of the cart and dropped to his feet before anyone could say anything.
"I'm still worried about Chestnut."
"Bringing him along is a risk we take every time, no different now." This time it was Larry responding, joining Tristan on the ground. "Right now we have to worry about it grabbing one of us, otherwise we are all goners."
Lucie hesitated for a moment before hopping off and I followed suit. She walked up to Chestnut and stroked his neck.
"We'll be back soon."
With her farewell out of the way, she took the lead with the other two following right behind me. We walked slowly and quietly, swords at the ready, as I unsheathed mine as well, giving me an oddly reassuring feeling despite knowing it was not gonna be of much use in my hands. I was thankful for that as well as for being in the center of our formation as walking through the fog was nerve-racking.
Soon enough the first of the houses came into view which Lucie quickly approached, peeking around the corner. As the rest of us neared, she turned back to me.
"The girl. Where was she?" She asked in a quiet voice rather than a whisper.
I was slightly disorientated from the fog as I had never approached from this angle, but was confident in at least getting the general direction correct and pointed. If only I could check Qubit's map but now was not the time to surprise or distract them.
Following my signal, Lucie proceeded onward and I followed close behind. Our slow progress made the village seem much bigger than it actually was and when the house I had once been brought into came into view I tapped on Lucie's shoulder and pointed it out. She gave me a nod and looking back at the other two I could see that they were already fixated on it.
Larry mouthed 'stay' to me while pointing down to make sure I got it and stepped up to take the lead in approaching the doorway. Lucie then followed him and they each stood on either side of the door and listened in. Tristan also approached but stayed further back, watching the other two.
With quick and quiet steps Larry lead the way into the house on his own with his sword at the ready while Lucie poked her head in to look. I could see her expression crumble into disgust as she turned to look back at us and shake her head. Her expression then quickly morphed into one of horror as she looked behind me and I felt a chill run up my spine. I saw her mouth open to shout while pushing herself off the wall and into a sprint but I never heard a sound or got a chance to turn around as everything went dark.