A Chance At Redemption -- Varian x Fem! reader Book 2

Chapter 10 - The forest of no return

“Eh, anybody who's spent time in the woods knows that slayer wolves have extremely sensitive hearing, right (__)?”

“Mhm,” you reply, lost in your own world.

Varian wraps his arms around your waist and leans his chin on your shoulder. He sighs dreamily, gazing at you.

You come back to reality and lean your head against his, making him smile.

“See that teamwork? I pretended to cry while you two chased them off.” Lance laughs.

Sophie rolls her eyes, “Sure you did.”

"Thank you!!" Lance whispers.

Eugene was soaking these compliments in like there was no tomorrow, “We just did what had to be done! Now c’mon I'll show you how to extract drinking water from a tree trunk!”

All the horses come to a sudden halt.

A huge swamp was right ahead.

“Okay, so the black rocks have led us to a swamp.” You sigh.

“But on the bright side!” Eugene waits for a moment, “Uh, I was hoping someone would finish that sentence for me. This place is terrible.”

Everyone hops down to the swamp except you and Varian, you glance behind to see a snoring alchemist using you as a snuggle pillow.

Shorty goes over to the bog water and fills up his flask.

“Uh, I don't think you want to drink that…” Eugene grimaces.

“You know what they say, one man's swamp water is another man's… I'ma drink this water.”

“So, king of the wild, any suggestions on how to cross this thing?” Cass smirks.

You carefully get off Sebastian so you don't wake up Varian and go down to the swamp waters.

Eugene takes a twig to discover how deep it is when a tentacle wraps around his wrist.

“Eugene!” Rapunzel shouts.

You grab onto him to help pull him away.

Varian suddenly wakes up from the yelling and yells himself.

Eventually, the tentacle lets go, making you both fall backwards.

“Looks like it's too deep. Haha! So I think we will have to backtrack to get through this, though it would add a day to this journey but it's the only way.”

“I had no idea people from Corona were such quitters.” a tree splits in half, and it makes a bridge over the swamp.

“You know I always say, if you can't go through something, go over it.” Adira smiles.

“Wow, I guess chivalry's not dead.” Lance smiles.

“I told you our paths would cross. And well, here I am, your new guide.”

Varian hops down off Sebastian and tilts his head at the woman, it bothered him how he couldn't figure out where he had seen this woman before.