After looking around more and finding nothing, Nicolaus and I left the cave to go and find Magister Corvus.
We had no way to communicate with him, so we would need to search the forest again. Before entering the forest, we were instructed to regroup back near the town at sundown.
With that being our only idea to find them, we agreed to try and find where we had entered the forest, which was easier said than done. We had no idea where we were in relation to the clearing where we had fallen.
Exiting the cave, we were greeted by a sun that was getting low in the sky, which we could only barely see through the tree branches.
"We entered the forest from the West," Nicolaus said, pointing towards the sun, "so we should go that way."
I nodded.
Looking back into the cave, I checked the direction the tunnel we had exited was facing. By some miracle, it was East, so we should have been at least somewhat close to the edge of the forest.
Slowly making our way through the forest, we were on careful watch for more ghouls. They were animated by a broodmother, so they wouldn't have died, and we were both low on mana. If possible, we weren't going to risk a fight.
An hour and a half of grueling sneaking around later, we had finally exited the forest line. It seemed like the ghouls had gone into a frenzy now that the broodmother was gone. They were everywhere. Thankfully, we had managed to avoid them with some patience.
We could make out the vague shape of the city to the North, so we had our heading.
It didn't take long before we saw the small group that had assembled. The sun was kissing the horizon by now, so a few had returned.
I handed the broodmother's skull over to Nicolaus. He would tell Magister Corvus what happened.
As we entered the group, we were met with silence. The class didn't seem to be a very social bunch, but they took strong disliking to me, and by extension, Nicolaus.
I could only wonder why.
Nicolaus walked up to Magister Corvus, who was thankfully here waiting, standing and watching the forest line. I was standing a few feet behind him.
Nicolaus held up the broodmother's head.
Magister Corvus gave him a peculiar look before asking, "What is it that you have there?"
Nicolaus spoke with a confidence I don't think I could have mustered under the Magister's stare, "Skull of the broodmother." Plain and simple.
With a look that said he would kill us both if Nicolaus was lying, Magister Corvus said, "You killed the broodmother? You didn't return and tell me about it, no, you decided it would be best to kill it yourself? Explain."
"We were caved in, locked with it underground. We were going to come tell you about a field of bodies we had found, but the floor fell from beneath us." Nicolaus spoke.
I chimed in, handing over the piece of fabric we had looted from the abandoned campsite, "We found this, as well. Don't know what it is."
The magister took the fabric, examined it with a hawk-like look, tucked it into his robes, and spoke, "That would explain the peculiar behavior the other students have reported. Show me."
'Oh, joy. Running back into it.'
It was not nearly as bad this time around. We knew where we were heading, and the Magister seemed to have a repulsive presence to the ghouls. We didn't see a single one.
In short time, we had arrived at the clearing.
Nicolaus explained the situation to the magister. The bodies, the graves, the pitfall. Magister Corvus listened without saying a word.
When Nicolaus got up to the part about the pitfall, the magister jumped down into the cave gracefully, before looking up at as expectantly.
'Well, we survived the fall the first time, and that was unexpected, so we should be fine this time around, right?'
Nicolaus jumped down with no hesitation, so I followed suit. With no injuries, thankfully.
Nicolaus continued with his explanation, which wasn't much more.
We walked through the cave again. It was just as entertaining the second time. This time, there was no need for the use of my flame. The magister had a torch.
When we entered the room with the broodmother, Nicolaus explained the details of the fight.
We then brought him to the campsite, the magister not speaking the whole time.
When we exited the cave, the magister said, "Do not speak a word of this to anyone. Especially not the banner," before returning to his silence.
When we had finally made it back to where the students were gathered, darkness had been covering the area for a while, the sun having set while we were underground.
All of the students had gathered by that point. I wasn't sure if it was impressive that they all survived. Was that an accomplishment? I didn't know. I had nothing to compare it to.
After a short walk, were back in the city, settling into the inn we would be staying at. After we had purchased our rooms, Nicolaus and I went down for something to eat and drink, a little celebration.
Sitting at our dinner table, I started with, "What the hell? How did we survive that?"
A hoarse laugh escaped Nicolaus' mouth, and he said, "Truly? I have no idea."
Greed seeping into my mind, I asked, "Do you think we're going to get like, I don't know, some kind of special reward, or something?"
Nicolaus thought for a moment before saying, "I am not sure. I do not think so, though. The magister told us not to speak of it."
"That's strange, isn't it?" I said. "Why shouldn't we speak of it? It's not like we did something bad."
"I think it may have something to do with that symbol we found. I have not seen anything like it before."
He had a point. There was certainly something strange going on. Something had to have gathered those bodies, and the broodmother would not have been capable of that. It didn't have the intelligence to hoard bodies.
So the factor of some human in the equation could explain how it happened. But who? More importantly, why? Why would someone gather bodies for a broodmother?
Deciding to move away from the topic of our accomplishment, we buried ourselves in our food. I was famished, and he looked like he was as well. My hand still hurt like hell, but I was hoping that I would have the increased recovery speed I had after I fought the bear.
Later in the evening, Nicolaus brought up that Kura sorcerer he had mentioned before. "I found where his building is. I will show it to you when we return."
I had completely forgotten about that.
"Oh, thank you!" I said. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble to find."
"Oh, none at all. Besides, we are friends. Why wouldn't I?"
---
In the morning, we were told to gather our horses. Meeting at the city gates, Magister Corvus told us all, "There will, of course, be no lecture today. When we return to the city, you are free to do as you like. "
That piece of good news too a moment to register in my mind, as I was still incredibly tired.
My night wasn't restless, or anything. I just felt drained. I suspected the culprit was my broken arm. It had healed a great degree overnight. I had almost complete range of motion. I wasn't sure what about my powers gave me such amazing healing abilities, but I would not complain.
The return to the city was not nearly as good as our leave. Rainclouds had starting rolling over us. It was monsoon season.
As the winds started picking up, and heavy rain started to fall, we continued on for as long as we could.
After nearly an hour of this, we found a small grouping of trees, and made camp. The horses would get a bit of shelter from the rain, and we could get warm in our tents.
By the time the rain had died down to a degree we could start walking again, half our day was gone.
Breaking camp and saddling up again, we continued our walk, a slight drizzle lightly pelting us all the while.
It was maybe four hours to sundown when we finally arrived at Theria. Returning my horse to the stables, I made the long walk back to the school grounds.
I stopped in the Eastern Plaza to visit Max and Val, but they weren't at their forge, and they hadn't told my the exact location of where they were staying.
I had left Nicolaus to go and find those two, so I was left to eat my dinner alone. After which, I finally made it back to my dorm.
Interestingly, a letter had been slid under my door while I was away. 'Caius' was written on the front of it, a plain red stamp sealing it shut.