It was three days after we had entered the wood, and since then, we had encountered a few more bears and dozens of small wolfish creatures, all of which we dispatched quite easily. I awoke early with the sun glaring in my eyes, and got up from my sleeping mat, noting that Alexandra had already gotten up, and was bathing in the lake we had set up next to. I averted my eyes, instead tying my cloak on and began to pack the bags back onto our horses, leaving the food bag out for breakfast. I heard Alexandra get out of the lake, and waited for her to dry off with one of our blankets and get dressed before turning to her.
"So do you want to cook breakfast, or shall I?" I asked, and she shrugged, tying her hair back into her ponytail.
"You cooked dinner last night, I'll make breakfast." She said, and I sat down on a log, as she crossed to the food bag, pulling out a few slices of bread and the stick of butter Oneiric had given us before we had left. Then she pulled out the small gas stove that we had, setting a small pan on top of it before setting the buttered pieces of bread on it, letting the stove toast them. She crawled over to the log I was sitting on and sat beside me, resting her elbows on her knees as she sighed.
"I hadn't known the trip would take this long." She said, and I looked at her, confused at what she was saying.
"What do you mean?" I asked, mildly confused. "It's only been three days so far."
"I know..." she muttered, hanging her head. "It's just that the last time I had to get through the forest, it felt like we were moving so slowly, and we got through in only a few days."
"Well, maybe you went through on a different path." I said, and she nodded.
"Maybe. Although you can never tell with this forest." She sighed again, and I set a hand on her back.
"Don't worry, we'll be out of here before you know it." I reassured her, and she grinned.
"I doubt it, but thanks anyways."
Alexandra got back up, pulling the pieces of bread off of the stove, grimacing.
"Shit, they're burnt." She groaned, sitting down beside the stove. "And we only have a few pieces left."
"Don't worry, we can still eat them." I said, sitting beside her near the stove. "Here, give me those and then we can cook up some sausage to go with it."
"Fine." She muttered, handing me the pieces of mildly burnt toast, and pulled a sausage out of the bag, pulling her knife out and beginning to slice pieces onto the stove. I took a bite out of one of the pieces, and was surprised that it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. Granted, it was still bad, but I took another bite and swallowed, forgetting about the bad taste as I watched the sausage sizzling on the stove.
When we had finished our breakfast, I got up, lashing the food bag onto the horses as well, before helping Alexandra into her armour, before we finally climbed onto our horses, beginning the day's journey. We rode for an hour or two, shooting a small wolf creature as we rode, leaving its strange body on the road, after pulling our arrows from it. Nothing in the woods was friendly, and only a few things were edible. We passed by another lake, noting strange creatures swimming beneath the surface. I saw a fin surface as we passed by, before the lake passed out of view through the thick woods. We travelled for another hour or two, before seeing another bear, rampaging down the path, headed straight for us. We slung our bows around, sending two arrows into its thick coat, but before we could send off another few to kill the beast, it was upon us, but instead of attacking, or even glancing at us, it kept loping past, travelling down the path, paying us no heed. I quickly glanced at Alexandra, a look of sheer terror upon her face. I drew my sword, as she nocked another arrow. We slowly managed to edge our horses further down the trail, before they stopped, refusing to move another inch. We climbed off, tying the horses to a tree, before continuing on foot. We made it another hundred meter, before we heard an earth-shattering growl, and the trees ahead cracked, as a giant beast lumbered down the past, blood caking its muzzle and matting its fur. It was nearly 15 feet tall, slowly lumbering down the path, with six immense legs shaking the ground. I looked up at it, noting its immense wolfish shape, with fangs as long as my sword. It saw us, growling again, as it picked up its pace, and Alexandra drew back her bowstring, letting loose an arrow right at it, burying itself in the beast's eye, making it scream, before launching itself at us, mouth open, ready to eat us in one gulp. We dove to the side, hiding behind trees, as the beast barrelled past us, tearing saplings straight out of the ground as they got in its way. By the time it had stopped and turned around, Alexandra had nocked another arrow, sending it at the creature. However, this one merely got caught in its fur, seemingly just a small annoyance. It growled again, this time running straight at us. We ducked behind a tree again, but it crashed directly into the tree, uprooting it, sending us flying as the tree was torn directly from the ground and thrown some ten feet. I managed to get up, but saw that Alexandra had hit a tree, and was lying on the ground, moaning. I ran over to her, making sure she was alright. Unfortunately, she looked unconscious, but no blood seemed to be oozing from her, so I got back up, staring down the creature. It growled, and I ran to the side, drawing its gaze away from Alexandra.
"Hey!" I yelled, grabbing the creature's attention. "Hey, you stupid beast! Here I am! Come get me!"
As the words left my mouth, I realised how stupid I was. The beast growled, pawing the ground, before lunging forward, jumping some 20 feet before hitting the ground again, running full tilt at me. I realised I couldn't hide again, so I stood my ground, and just as the beast bore down on my, I dropped to the ground, shoving my sword up into it as the beast flew past. Unfortunately, it didn't work as planned, and the sword merely got caught, and I went flying with the beast, getting dragged along the ground before the beast finally stopped, and I regained my feet, shoving the sword deeper into the beast. It gave an ear-piercing scream as the sword was thrust into its flesh, and I rolled out from under it, sword in hand, as the beast sat down, crushing the spot where I had been. However, I grabbed the beast's fur as it stood up again, and I climbed the beast, making it squirm and buck as it tried to fling me off. I released my spring blades, using them to get a better grip on the beast, making it growl as their pierced the beast's thick skin. I finally crawled on top, making the beast buck and kick more than ever, but I still managed to hold on. From up here, I could actually see the wreckage of the beast, noting the dozens of trees it had uprooted as it attacked us. I crawled around to the top of its head, making it yell and scream, pawing the top of its head as it tried to get me off. Finally, I managed to draw my sword again, plunging it deep inside the beast's neck, making it scream, as gallons of blood oozed from the wound. However, I held on as the beast reared up, nearly throwing me off. However, my sword, stuck hilt-deep inside the beast, acted as a handhold, letting me hold on as the beast bucked and reared. Finally, it set back down, and I swung back around, landing atop the beast's skull. I let go of my sword and grabbed the beast's ears, which stuck straight up on its head. It swatted at me, but I still held on as its paw whizzed over my head. I drew my Saxe knife, driving it deep into the beast's ear canal, making it scream as it likely went deaf. I withdrew my knife, stabbing the beast over and over again, making it scream and buck. Finally, it stopped thrashing about, and I stopped stabbing the ear, making it whimper in pain, I crawled through its fur to reach my sword again, now thoroughly caked in blood. I grabbed the sword and twisted, making the beast scream. Finally, I grabbed the sword and pulled, wrenching open a deep slice in the beast's flesh, making it scream. I drove my sword even deeper, thrusting into the beast as my sword went in past the hilt, until my arm was inside the beast's flesh up to my elbow. The beast gave one last scream, as more and more blood gushed from the wound, before it finally collapsed, crashing to the forest floor with a massive crash, the blood now stained bright red from the beast's blood. I withdrew my sword, now absolutely covered in blood, as was most of my suit and armour. I lay down on the beast's back, panting as I lay there, exhausted from the fight with the beast. Finally, I slid down, walking around to in front of the beast, gazing into its open mouth, noticing the blood it had coughed up in its last moments, and even seeing the gash at the back of its throat where my sword had pierced all the way into the beast's mouth. I relaxed, before tromping through the thick snow to where Alexandra lay, still on the ground, moaning in pain. I picked her up, cradling her in my blood-stained arms. She opened her eyes, instantly reaching around to grab her head.
"My god Collin." She moaned, rubbing the knot on her head. "What happened?"
"Well, we were attacked by some giant wolf thing, and you got knocked out, and I killed it."
"What?" she said, sitting up, much more comprehensive. "You killed it?" she asked, incredulous.
"Well, it took a while, but yeah, I did." I said, smirking in pride. "You helped a bit, though. Before you were knocked out, of course."
"How... how did you kill that thing?" she asked, sitting up fully and turning to look at where the corpse of the giant creature lay. "That's... That's a werewolf!"
"A werewolf?" I asked, a bit confused. "I thought werewolves were people that changed into wolves?"
"What?" she asked. "Don't be absurd, you don't honestly think people can change into different things, do you?"
"No, it's just that where I come from, that's what a werewolf is." I explained, and she shook her head.
"You come from a strange place, Collin." She said, before managing to push herself up onto her feet. "By the way, you're covered in blood."
I looked down at myself, noticing for the first time how literally ever piece of my clothing had blood caked onto it. "I knew that." I said, helping her back to where we had left the horses.
The horses were still quite skittish as we saddled them, but we managed to get them to walk past the werewolf, before they gladly galloped away, and we finally stopped at a lake.
"I should wash this blood off." I said, climbing down from my horse. "Let's just hope this lake doesn't have any weird creatures in it."
"Oh, it probably does, but don't worry, they shouldn't bother you." Alexandra said, as she unstrapped the food bag from the horses. "But if you see any fins, get out quickly."
"Thanks for the warning." I said, stripping my armour and clothing off, before wading into the lake. It was remarkably cold, and I shivered as I stepped into it, visibly shaking as the water rose up past my waist. Then, I slipped on the rock I was standing on, and plunged all the way in, panicking as the freezing water closed above my head. The water, completely clear, let me see all the way across the small lake, and I saw a group of what looked like mer-people swimming around, diving into the incredibly deep lake, towards what looked like houses at the bottom. I panicked a bit, rising above the surface, gasping for air.
"Alexandra!" I gasped, yelling her name, as she quickly turned to look at me, slightly panicked. "Alexandra! There are... Mer-people in here!"
Alexandra's face, rather than turning into one of panic, relaxed, and she grinned. "Oh, don't worry about them." She said, grinning at my apparent ignorance. "The mer-people are the only friendly things in these lakes."
"Seriously?" I asked, still a bit shocked. "I didn't even know mer-people existed!"
"Well, why not?" she said, grinning. "They're usually playful. Maybe not as much as the ones in the southern ocean, but they are still quite friendly."
I frowned, still a bit confused, before I dove back down, below the waters of the freezing lake. I watched the mer-people, noticing what looked like a small family, with what obviously looked like a father, who was growing a thick, bluish beard, and two females, which, apart from the flesh-coloured scales that covered them, were astoundingly pretty. I waved, and the younger one blushed, waving back, giggling. Then, she pointed towards me, speaking to what looked like her mother, and I released that I had gotten undressed before coming into the lake, and quickly covered myself, making the younger one blush. I resurfaced, taking another breath of air, taking care to cover myself as I washed myself. I finally finished, climbing out of the freezing lake, noticing that the mer-people had swum up closer to me. Once I was out, I grabbed my clothes, dunking them inside the waters as well, scrubbing the blood off. The mer-people recoiled a bit as they saw the blood fill the water, but quickly returned, and as I lowered my armour into the lake to clean that off as well, the mother mer-person took it from my freezing hands, and when she returned it a minute later, it had been scrubbed completely clean, and I smiled at them, as they smiled back from under the surface of the lake. Finally, I walked back over to Alexandra, wrapped in a thick blanket as I dried off, my soaking wet clothes, now blood-free, draped over my arm. I sat down beside her, as she handed me a sandwich. I lay the clothes over my knee, biting into the warm sandwich. As I took another bite, Alexandra grabbed my clothes.
"Do you need these dried?" she asked, and I nodded, my mouth full of sandwich. She quickly pulled the pan off of the small stove, and then stretched my clothes out, laying them on top of the stove. I panicked, quickly grabbing them off, making her back up, surprised.
"I thought you said you wanted these dried?" she asked, and I swallowed, setting my sandwich to the side.
"I did, but what you're doing will burn them!" I exclaimed, making her sigh, grabbing my clothes again.
"No, it won't" she said, shaking her head at how little I still knew about this world. "This stove doesn't use fire." She explained, setting my clothes on top. "Only primitive stoves still use that, this'll dry your clothes perfectly fine without a squick of flame."
"Fine, but if they burn, I get yours." I said, and she shook her head. Several minutes later, she handed me my clothes back, all perfectly dried, without a single hint of a burn spot.
"See?" I told you so." She said, as I pulled them on, still nice and hot.
"Fine. I've just never seen anything like that before." I explained, and she sighed.
"Obviously." She sighed, standing up, tying the food bag back onto her horse. "No, let's get going, before we run out of daylight."
I stood up, latching the rest of my armour on as well, before finally clipping my cloak on, saddling my horse as she did the same. With that, we resumed our journey for the day, the horse's hooves clicking on the overgrown cobblestone path from beneath the thick snowpack. For the rest of the day, we continued on our way, rarely seeing any more beasts, presumably all having been scared off by the werewolf's path through the forest. When we noticed the sun finally beginning to set, we stopped, tying our horses to a tree, before setting up camp. As I cooked our dinner of steak taken from one of the few edible creatures we had encountered, a small pig-like creature from yesterday, Alexandra set up her bedroll, laying down on it as the smell of meat permeated the air.
"So how much further do you think we have until we finally reach civilization?" I asked her, and she sat up, resting on her elbows.
"I don't know." She said, slightly pissed off. "I already told you, I thought we would've been done already."
"Okay, no need to get angry." I said, raising my hands to let her know I meant no insult. "I was just wondering."
"Well, we could pull out the maps again." She said, getting up and crossing to the horses, pulling out the tube with our maps. She slid out one particularly well-studied map, laying it down on her bedroll to avoid it getting wet from the snow.
"Well, I'd reckon we're here." She said, pointing to a small bend in the trail. "This lake looks a lot like that lake with the mer-people in it, and based on how far we've already travelled, we should be here."
"Well, that means we're nearly out!" I said, grinning, pointing at the short distance separating us from the nearest town, a place called Korfos.
"That is, if we are where I think we are." Alexandra said, drawing her doubt into the discussion again.
"True." I said, sitting back again. "But we can still keep this up for a few more days, right?"
"I suppose so." She said, rubbing her head. "That is, if we don't run into any more werewolves or worse."
"There's something worse than werewolves?" I asked, and she nodded grimly. "The Darkwood is the only place that still has wild wyverns."
"Wyverns?" I asked, incredulous. "You mean those dragon-looking things?"
"Yes, those things." She said, rolling the map back up. "But luckily, those are incredibly rare."
"With our luck, they'll find us." I said, as I turned our steaks.
"I doubt it, actually." Alexandra said, making me turn to look at her. "Wyverns are attracted to large parties. Just the two of us would be barely worth its notice."
"Well that's good." I said, smiling. "We should be out of the woods in no time, then."
"I certainly hope so." Alexandra added, before laying back down on her bedroll. "Let me know when the steaks are done, I'm starving."
Several minutes later, I turned off the stove, and we dug into the steaks, relishing in the soft meat for the first time in several days. Once we were done, I packed the food bag back up, setting it with the rest of our supplies, before finally collapsing on my bedroll next the Alexandra. I turned over to wish her good night, but she was already asleep. I rolled back over onto my own bedroll, pulling my cloak tight around myself. Finally, as I stared up through the tree branches at the glistening stars, I fell asleep.