The river's current was a relentless beast, tossing Leonotis and Low like ragdolls. A cluster of tangled branches, almost a makeshift raft, offered a precarious hold but was rapidly disintegrating as the river current quickened. Leonotis gripped his root-sword tightly, but a rogue wave slammed into him, and the weapon was wrenched from his grasp, swallowed by the churning water.
"My sword!" he cried out, watching it disappear downstream.
Just as the roar of a waterfall grew deafening and the two spun violently towards the precipice, the water around them began to behave strangely. It slowed, then shuddered, and finally stilled completely, as if an invisible hand had pressed pause on the river itself. Leonotis and Low found themselves suspended in the motionless water, mere feet from the cascading drop. They instinctively paddled towards the nearest bank, the unnatural silence amplifying their frantic movements.
As they reached the muddy shore and collapsed, gasping for breath, they saw the source of the aquatic miracle. A young girl stood waist-deep in the stilled water, her arms outstretched, her expression one of immense concentration.
"Thank you," Low said, her voice hoarse. "You saved us."
"You're welcome," the girl replied, her voice barely a whisper, her blue eyes shimmering with unshed tears.
Low, ever practical, was about to suggest they move on, but the sheer power the girl had just displayed made her pause. To stop a river, right before a waterfall… it was an astonishing feat of magic. "What are you doing out here?" Low asked, her usual suspicion tinged with awe. "In the middle of the night? What is your name?"
"My name is Jacqueline."
"What are you doing out here by yourself?" Leonotis asked.
"I… I just escaped some bandits," Jacqueline said, her voice trembling slightly. "They… they were awful. I'm on my way North."
"Then we can travel together," Low said, a flicker of relief in her eyes. "There's safety in numbers, especially if bandits already came after you. We can stay in the forests to hide more easily. With any luck, they'll think we fell off the waterfall."
"Okay," Jacqueline said.
Leonotis suddenly felt a tickling sensation against his skin. He reached inside his damp clothes and pulled out a small, purple fish, still wriggling. "Hey, look! Dinner!" he exclaimed, a rare smile gracing his lips.
Before he could even consider cooking it, Low's hand shot out, slapping the fish out of his grasp. It flopped onto the muddy bank. Then, she kicked it back into the water with surprising force.
"What was that for?" Leonotis asked, bewildered.
Low and Jacqueline exchanged dumbfounded glances. "River fish?" Low said, her voice incredulous. "Most of them around here are poisonous! And this river itself isn't good to be in for too long."
Jacqueline nodded in agreement. "It carries… things. Unpleasant things." The memory of her escape seemed to cloud her features again.
As they began to walk along the riverbank, Leonotis found himself falling into a familiar role. He initially walked slightly ahead, his senses on alert, scanning their surroundings. I'm like Gethii now, he thought with a surge of pride. Protecting people. Then, deciding they needed someone to watch their backs, he dropped into the rear guard position. He glanced back at Low and Jacqueline, a sense of responsibility settling over him. His gaze drifted down and he noticed a strange marking on Low's lower back, just visible above the hem of her tattered red shorts. Some kind of birthmark, he thought.
"Is that a birthmark on your back?" Leonotis asked, pointing.
Low's head snapped around, her eyes flashing with anger. "Stop looking at my butt, you little sneak!"
Leonotis's face flushed crimson. "Sorry! I wasn't… I didn't mean to…" He mumbled an embarrassed apology and quickly averted his gaze.
They eventually found a small clearing to make camp. "I'll take the first watch," Leonotis offered, wanting to prove his worth.
Low snorted, unimpressed. "Just… don't do anything stupid while we're sleeping, alright?"
As he sat by the small fire, the image of his lost root-sword flickered in his mind. He doubted he'd ever find another one like it. Then, his gaze fell upon a tangled mess of roots near the edge of the clearing. On a whim, he tugged at one of the thicker strands. It came free easily. He pulled again, and to his astonishment, he unearthed another root, this one even straighter and sturdier than the last, with a natural curve that formed a perfect hilt. A surge of excitement coursed through him.
He stood up and began to practice the simple sword swings Gethii had taught him, the new root-sword feeling surprisingly balanced in his hand. He felt a prickling sensation, the feeling of being watched. He froze, his hand tightening on the hilt, and peered into the dense bushes bordering the clearing. A pair of eyes, glowing faintly in the darkness, stared back at him.
"Low! Jacqueline!" Leonotis stumbled backward, his voice cracking with alarm.
But they were already upon them. Four rough-looking men, their faces hardened and cruel, emerged from the surrounding trees. They brandished rusty swords and wicked-looking knives. "Alright, brats," one of them sneered, his eyes glinting in the firelight. "Give it up. Anything of value."
Leonotis knew these weren't just hungry villagers. These were real bandits, the kind who wouldn't hesitate to kill them even after they surrendered. His mind raced. He remembered a complex, ten-strike technique Gethii used to practice alone by the clinic, a fluid dance of parries and thrusts. He hadn't been formally taught it, but he had watched, memorized, and practiced the movements in secret.
He gripped his new root-sword, took a deep breath, and charged. He moved faster than he thought possible, his body remembering the sequence. He knocked out the first bandit with three swift blows to the head before the man even registered his approach. The second bandit lunged with a knife, but Leonotis parried the attack with the root-sword, the impact jarring his arm. The next four strikes flowed seamlessly, a whirlwind of motion, and the second bandit crumpled to the ground with a sharp gasp, clutching his gut.
Now the other two bandits were on him, and Leonotis knew his memorized sequence only had two strikes left. Low, meanwhile, had scrambled to gather her rocks. Just as the largest bandit moved in for the kill, Low hurled a stone. It struck the bandit in the back of the head, throwing him off balance. Leonotis seized the opportunity, thrusting his root-sword towards the bandit's chest, the hard wood connecting solidly and sending the man sprawling with a grunt of pain. He then swung down with all his might, the heavy root connecting with the man's shoulder, further incapacitating him.
The last bandit stared at his fallen comrades, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Unbelievable," he muttered. He drew a throwing knife and flung it at Leonotis. Leonotis dodged the knife, but a second one was already hurtling towards him. Just as it was about to strike, a rock slammed into the knife, deflecting it, but not enough. The knife struck Leonotis's shoulder, a searing pain shooting through him. "Argh!" he cried out, but he still stood his ground, his root-sword held defensively. The last bandit, realizing he was outnumbered and outmatched, decided to cut his losses. "You haven't seen the last of me, brats!" he snarled before disappearing into the darkness.
Jacqueline rushed to Leonotis, who had fallen to his knees, clutching his bleeding shoulder. She gently pulled the knife out. "Argh!" Leonotis yelled again, the pain sharp and immediate. After a quick examination, Jacqueline's brow furrowed with concern, but she seemed to find some relief. She placed her hands over the wound, said a few magic words, and the water in her canteen began to glow with a soft, ethereal light. She poured the glowing water over Leonotis's shoulder. It was strong healing magic; the bleeding immediately slowed and a small scar was all that was left.
"Thank you," Leonotis said surprised this young girl's magic seemed stronger than Chinakah's.
Jacqueline looked at him and then at Low, her blue eyes wide with admiration. "You two… you're amazing fighters. My friends were..." She trailed off, her voice catching.
Low, ever practical, was already stripping the fallen bandits of anything useful. She gathered a few coins, some rough blankets, and a map of the area. "We've got supplies for the road now," she said, her voice matter-of-fact.
Leonotis looked at the still bodies. "Are they… dead?"
Low shook her head. "No. Just… very much out of the fight. Which is why we need to move. Now."
The moon dappled through the leaves as they walked, the initial tension of their near-death experience with the bandits having eased into a weary camaraderie. A comfortable silence stretched between them for a while, broken only by the rustling of leaves underfoot and the distant chirping of unseen insects. Then, Leonotis, squinting up at the towering trees, broke the quiet.
"So… where exactly are you two headed?" he asked, a genuine curiosity in his voice.
Low, ever practical, kept her gaze fixed on the path ahead, her hand resting on her pouch of rocks. "Well, I'm going to the capital." She stated it as a simple fact, the determination in her voice leaving little room for argument.
Leonotis blinked, a flicker of recognition sparking in his eyes. "The capital? That's where I'm going to! Gethii and Chinakah… they went there to see the King." A knot of worry tightened in his chest. He needed to know they were alright. "Yeah, I… I think I need to go to the Capital too. To… make sure they're okay."
Jacqueline, who had been walking silently beside them, her gaze often drifting towards the distant, mist-shrouded peaks, finally spoke, her voice soft but firm. "My path lies elsewhere. I must go to the Ocean Orisha mountain shrine." She tilted her head, her blue eyes holding a distant, almost ethereal quality.
Low stopped abruptly, turning to face Jacqueline with a skeptical frown. "An ocean orisha shrine? Up in those mountains? I've never heard of a shrine up there."
Jacqueline's lips curved into a small smile. "You may be surprised, Low, but it's there. And it is… important. For reasons I cannot fully explain." She glanced at Leonotis, then back at the looming mountains. "It is a journey I must undertake."
Leonotis, caught between Low's pragmatic skepticism and Jacqueline's mysterious conviction, felt a bit lost himself. "So… the Capital for me, and the Capital for Low, and a water mountain shrine for you?" He gestured vaguely, trying to piece together their disparate destinations. "That's… not exactly straightforward." He amended his earlier thought of "convenient."
Low snorted, resuming her walk. "About as straightforward as finding a spider in your bedroll." She eyed Jacqueline with a hint of suspicion that was quickly becoming her default expression when dealing with the serene girl. "What's so special about this 'Water Mountain Shrine' anyway? Is there some kind of magical fish market up there, or a secret spring that grants wishes?"
Jacqueline smiled softly, a hint of sadness in it this time. "Nothing quite so mundane, nor perhaps so immediately rewarding. It holds something… essential. Something I need to restore." Her gaze drifted to the distant peaks again, as if she could see the shrine itself.
Low still looked unconvinced, kicking at a loose stone. "Essential how? Like, essential for you, or essential for the whole world? Because if it's the latter, maybe we should *all* be heading for this magic mountain." Her tone was dry, but a sliver of genuine, if grudging, curiosity peeked through.
Jacqueline merely shook her head, her enigmatic smile unwavering. "It is a personal matter, for now. But thank you for your… directness, Low."
Leonotis jumped in, sensing Low might press further and not wanting their fragile alliance to shatter. "Right, well, personal matters are personal! Like my personal matter of wanting to find my friends and make sure they haven't been turned into royal paperweights by this King everyone seems so nervous about." He tried for a light tone, but the worry for Gethii and Chinakah was a real ache. Despite his own pressing need to find them, he felt a strange sense of loyalty forming towards these two unlikely companions. "Well," he said, more seriously now, "maybe we can stick together until our paths absolutely have to diverge. The world's a surprisingly small place sometimes, or so I've… vaguely heard." He shrugged, a gesture he'd picked up from Gethii. "Besides, who knows what kind of trouble we'd all get into on our own?" He looked from Low's wary expression to Jacqueline's distant one. He remembered Gethii's lessons on the strength of a well-knit shield-wall versus a lone spear.
Low grumbled under her breath but didn't outright refuse. "Three targets might be better than one, or just three times as clumsy. Depends on the trouble, and who's causing it." She shot a pointed look at Leonotis, then a softer, appraising one at Jacqueline. "You can stop a river. That's… not nothing. And you," she added, glancing at Leonotis, "you swing that stick like you mean it."
Jacqueline inclined her head towards Low. "And you are resourceful, Low. Your instincts are sharp." A faint, genuine smile touched her lips as she looked at Leonotis. "And Leonotis is… surprisingly resilient, and his heart is in the right place."
Leonotis felt a warmth spread in his chest at Jacqueline's words, a small seed of confidence taking root. He was still just a boy with a root for a sword, but maybe, just maybe, he was becoming something more to these new, unexpected friends.
"Come on, it's getting really late and I'm tired. Let's hurry and find somewhere to camp," Leonotis said, the earlier attempt at lightness now replaced by a genuine weariness. The moon was climbing higher, casting long, dancing shadows that made every rustle in the undergrowth sound like a lurking threat.
Low nodded, the practical need for rest overriding her skepticism for the moment. "He's right. Arguing about mystical mountains won't keep the night creatures away, or fill our bellies. Lead on then, 'Captain Leonotis'," she said, with a trace of her usual sarcasm, but it lacked its usual bite, softened perhaps by shared danger and the moonlit path.
They pushed on for another half hour, the forest growing denser, the air cooling against their skin. Finally, Jacqueline, whose quiet gaze seemed to notice things the others missed, pointed to a small, sheltered alcove formed by a tumble of moss-covered boulders, near a stream whose quiet murmur promised fresh water. "This will do," she said softly. "It offers some cover, and the sound of the water will mask our own."
They set about making a rudimentary camp, the shared tasks – gathering dry leaves for bedding, finding fallen branches for a small, smokeless fire that Low expertly coaxed to life – creating a temporary truce between their diverging plans and personalities. Leonotis found a patch of berries that looked identical to ones Gethii had once shown him were safe, and Low confirmed it with a nod. The weariness was a heavy cloak on all of them, but as Leonotis watched Low arrange their meager supplies and Jacqueline hum a soft, almost inaudible tune while she cleaned a few broad leaves to use as plates, he felt a fragile sense of belonging, a small flicker of hope in the vast, dark woods.