Chapter 44: Riding Through the Thick of It

The first thing Sammy thought about was Redberry, but any query was ignored, even when she expressed urgency. The nature goddess was just flat-out busy or uninterested, Sammy wasn’t sure. Probably something she should expect, but…

Frustrating! Where’s my Momma Bear when I need her?! She wouldn’t like me using that term for her, would she?

She pinged the mirrors, still getting nothing other than confirmation they were down the trail.

The only other thing there was to do was run intel through mirrors the party had available. She kept an eye on Merril through one, who was ranging ahead and to the southern flank with another scout. Mostly, she wanted to be able to inform or respond if something happened to them, though she knew Merril would mentally ‘speak’ up if there was an issue.

And there was the worry of the greater party getting ambushed. Fortunately, she also had excellent viewpoints in the mask relics which could be completely clandestine as mirrors while worn. Estara had hers rigged on her head, appearing as a kind of bonnet. Dax had hers as what appeared to be a little armor buckler at the front of one shoulder.

Furthermore, she got used to — and got her Wielders used to — channeling into their senses fully. She started with Dax. It was a shock to both of them.

She felt like a ‘rider’ in Dax’s body, with her perspective completely absorbed into the world and translating not just real, 3-dimensional visual data and auditory information, but also touch, smell, spatial orientation, heat/cold, nearly everything. It seemed like pain and bodily discomforts were heavily dulled, and any ‘gut feelings’ or the like were non-existent.

Mental things were another level of access neither of them wanted to delve any deeper than the communicative access already established, so that was not interfaced with.

Meanwhile, her awareness of her Throne Realm body was shunted to the back of her mind. It was simple to flip between while leaving one ‘idle’, but having both focused perspectives at the same time wasn’t in the cards as far as she could tell.

“Holy hell!” Dax exclaimed. “Had one other experience like this, and while this is a lot more pleasant than an actual possession, this gives me the heebies!”

“Well, you agreed to it. Wanna back out?”

“No, no… just takes some getting used to. You… can’t… control… anything, right?”

“Of course I can, Dax, you’re a puppet on my strings, now, muhaha!” Communicated with great wan emphasis. “No, Dax. Just along for the ride. Which is… literally on a horse. I’m riding a horse! Well, you are.” A pause. “You’re sweaty.”

“Of course I’m sweaty, damn it! It’s a sweltering hot bitchass out here! At least there’s some bloody shade.”

Sammy snickered a bit at the reaction, otherwise exultant and giddy in some regard, to actually, really be in Calrenazzod on some level, feel the air of it in lungs and the heat on skin. Not her lungs or skin but it was still nice. It made the place more real and present to her.

The path they were very slowly trampling through in a long, irregular line was saturated with tall, thin trees and endless fallen branches and twigs as well as moss, saplings, and some clusters of weeds or bushes. The trail was fairly obvious, being trampled down by recent travel, but narrow thanks to having to wind around the trees and thicker brush.

Literally the only thing saving anyone from ambush in this mess would be scouting, I imagine. Good thing Carlisle has been doing it extensively.

Withdrawing from the perspective of Dax, Sammy did a ‘knock, knock’ to warn Estara, then popped into her body/perspective, further down the party line. It wasn’t exactly dead last thanks to a rear guard behind the servants and support folk.

Estara had a little jump from the grand entrance, quickly shooting out mentally, “W-welcome within me, Your Majesty!” Anxious yet excited, still riding high on the changes in her life.

I think I should avoid doing this with Bast…

It was much the same experience as with Dax, just with a vague extra weariness and soreness from all the horse riding the servant girl was not greatly accustomed to. Her senses were also slightly more vibrant, somehow. Youthful energy and wakefulness, maybe… or her good mood. But she also had just noticeably better eyesight.

Hmm, I wonder if that means Dax needs glasses? Might not be bad enough for the tech level, though.

As Sammy resided through the journey a bit, Estara was obviously a bit self-conscious, adjusting her blouse, her hat, skirts, fidgeting in general, whistling (which made a soldier tell her to knock it off).

“Estara,” Sammy sent with a bundle of warm assurance, “you’re perfectly fine, you don’t have to be nervous. Just be natural. Seriously. You’re fine. You’re doing great.”

“Th-thank you, Your Majesty! Yes. Ah… this was a good idea! Because it takes time to get comfortable with it, I think…”

“That’s right. Eventually, you’ll be entirely A-okay and cozy with me in-... with this.”

“Absolutely, Your Majesty! You’re always welcome inside, to use my body and senses!”

Sammy mentally facepalmed to herself and even added a little shake. “Mainly just senses, Illumined…” she sent back in exasperation.

Their trip wore on through the day under the great forest canopy, with endless snapping of twigs under hooves and feet. Sometimes the soldiers led their mounts to navigate difficult terrain. The horses definitely didn’t care for the surroundings, likely saturated with the smells of unpleasant-seeming wildlife, and speedy movement wouldn’t be terribly advisable with the usual footing.

Occasionally, after conferring with scouts, Carlisle would check in about the tracked mirrors, and Sammy would give him a heading to verify the information.

Around early afternoon they began to see some rockier terrain here and there, often rises covered by moss, vines, and other growths. Carlisle related that this wasn’t unexpected, but it was not thought so extensive, as scouts were reporting about the path deeper in. Meanwhile, they had not encountered any lookouts, which could be good or bad.

A few hours later, not quite evening, Carlisle reported his scouts had found something. “It’s a bloody cave around extensive rock structures in the middle of the forest. Surely was some creature or another’s home at one time, but judging from the circumstances, it’s probably been commandeered. There may be caverns, as well.”

“So, about the no lookout business… could there have been lookouts, then we were noticed, and now we’re walking into a trap?”

“Yes. That’s a possibility. But… it took skilled scouting to track here, through some of that. Not all of it was obvious. There are other diversions of the trail, indicating they have journeyed in other directions or made false trails. Your heading information was like a triangulation of signs to lead us here. Which reminds me: are they underground now?”

Sammy blinked. That was not something she immediately ‘felt’ when she was attempting directional tracking. But when she pinged the mirrors, she got the general sense they were indeed ‘down’ to some degree…

“Yes, definitely,” she answered. “Not sure how far, or how long they’ve been. I think they’re stopped — or the loot is. It can’t be too deep.”

“Right. Any cavern is deep enough. And dangerous. I believe we need to make plans to camp out of sight of the entrance, well away. We may need an exploratory party if there are extensive caverns.”

“Why do I feel like that’s a guarantee? This is where the quest really begins and ends, isn’t it?”

“You’re probably right.”

It was not long before there was confirmation about the caverns being extensive and ponderous beyond an initial cave entrance. The veteran scout — Mekias — caught sight of either an errand-goer or a patroller and was almost seen himself, but narrowly avoided it to report back. He said the ways would need some kind of tracking or mapping, as getting lost was very possible.

Carlisle called for a camp as planned, with orders of the majority to make some makeshift fortifications near a rocky outcropping that was well suited for it. And then he began deliberating on who would make up the party going in…

Before he got any further, Sammy insisted on at least one more Follower among those that would go, and the lord acted to complete a choice that had been materializing along the journey: a knight by the name of Finley. He’d noticed a number of little, curious things, including a much different Theron, the insomniac who’d suddenly seemed to have his rougher edges smoothed out.

He wasn’t exactly loud about it but was getting more and more curious, so Carlisle picked him out for swearing to secrecy and into their order. Sammy obliged.

1 FE gained due to user belief/acknowledgment. Note: not yet a Follower.

Follower conversion successful. 1 FE gained. 1 Daily FE gained (total: 20).

Oh, hey, 20, that makes for another bonus from the 10%. 22 on the daily. Noice.

The lord also called for an assembly some distance from the camp, of those he’d chosen to come with him into the caverns and his other important men, several of them knights, including an older captain that would see to the camp in his stead, Sir Talbion. This man was informed about the potential of discreet communication through mirrors… just in case. Carlisle suggested Sammy could use a disguised voice to give warnings or commands.

“And I have an addition I’m not sure you’ll like, Your Majesty,” Carlisle sent, “but it is ultimately the bed you made. I need your Priestess to come along. For her healing and other abilities.”

“No,” she sent immediately, without even thinking. But Carlisle was silent, as though waiting for her to process it fully.

Sammy leaned back in her throne’s seat, eyes sent straight up, sighing. The bed she made. The whole point of raising her: to help. Her embracing the role, wanting to make a difference, wanting to prove herself. The odds of that happening sitting and waiting in a camp seemed fairly unlikely.

But she’s so young… unequipped… she’s just a servant girl…

A servant girl who’d trained to use a damn spear. Who had been expected to defend the lord’s home, if necessary. Well, she’d hid in the closet, but that was probably among the more unusual of invasions.

As though Carlisle sensed her weakening, he sent, “I have an enchanted ring that bestows armor-like toughness to normal clothing for up to a 24-hour period. It fits a dainty woman’s finger. It was one I gifted to my wife, may her new rebirth be blessed. It seems like time I parted with it. I think my wife might’ve approved. She never quite had use for it.”

Sammy sighed again, this time right into Carlisle’s head. “Alright. This is the sort of thing Estara would want. I should honor her wishes.”

“Thank you for understanding, Your Majesty.”

The meeting commenced, twenty-something strong of mostly grizzled warriors. They looked rather dubiously at the servant girl amongst them, who clutched her new staff of so recent procurement quite tightly while holding her chin up proudly. She had quite the bling on her forefinger — a gold, gaudy thing encrusted with little glittering diamonds.

Someone else was not at all happy about the addition when he arrived — Merril. He first looked her over suspiciously, then looked at Carlisle. “She’s just here for discussion, right?”

“Not at all. She’ll be coming. Near the rear, ahead of the rear guard, just as before.”

“Are you kidding me?! That’s completely ridiculous! She’ll be killed for sure!”

A knight took a menacing step toward the feline. “You speak in disrespect to our lord, peasant?! Apologize immediat-”

“It’s alright,” Lord Carlisle called, holding up a staying hand. “It’s a noble heart to worry over a maiden, after all, isn’t it?” He turned to Merril. “But she also has witchery, as you all should’ve heard. It’s just as rumored! She can aid us in this quest with magic. And she has an enchantment of armor to protect her, so rest easy, Merril, scout and raven of the hunt.”

There were murmurs among the gathered as all regarded Estara. Merril was still scowling, face twitching balefully in agitation, but he held his tongue any further.

Estara for her part bore it all with mere cracks in a facade of calm. Her face was rather red as she gave a tight, confirming nod to Carlisle. She did not deign to speak, which was probably wise. She was no actor yet.

“Moving on,” Carlisle continued, “we are taking fourteen souls down as an exploratory mission. I suspect most routes will be tight confines from our scouting. That is a benefit to a smaller group with armor, shields, and spears. We’ll keep an escape route planned, and we’ll scout ahead. That’s why I have four scouts along.”

“We’ll be sketching our route to get back,” the scout Mekias chimed in. “and leaving hidden markers to boot.”

“Our goal is stealth if possible, but if we have to fight, we fight. Regardless, we’re aiming to rescue the marchioness. I think that covers the basics. Questions?”

“Do we bring a lunch?” Bob asked.

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