"Shall we take the bridge or cross further upstream?" Asked Sanjaya. "Let's take the bridge," replied Prād. Maybe we can find some herbs on the way. The east bank was mostly clear and the road ran relatively close to the river so there would be little chance of finding anything on that side. Following the west bank, however, would take them into the uncharted outskirts of the forest, and who knew if there was even a path? Still, Sanjaya wasn't overly concerned. He placed a bolt in his crossbow, ready to load. "Lead the way."
The pair crossed over the bridge and made their way along the west bank of the river towards the forest, barren farmland on their left, the morning frost rapidly melting. Soon, they climbed over a low wooden fence and reached the edge of the forest. It was eerily silent with no obvious paths or trails.
"If there are spiders the size of cats, it's no wonder that there are no birds," muttered Sanjaya. Prād placed his finger on his lips to gesture silence and proceeded carefully into the forest. His footsteps made no sound.
Breathe in…. The smells of the forest. Damp, composting leaves, fungus, mold and lichen. Hold… some insects buzzing, the bubbling trickle of the river, Sanjaya's quiet footsteps behind him. Release…
Prād stopped. There was a large branch blocking the way, dangling into the river. It was so full of spider webs that one could barely see past it. In the webs, fist sized spiders could be seen and numerous wrapped up insects. "I don't want to destroy their home," whispered Prād, "lets see if we can go around." With that, he back tracked a bit and took another route around a large boulder, following what looked like a small game trail.
Suddenly, Prād froze. Something wasn't right. A faint smell of rotting flesh lingered in the air. Looking around, he noticed a corpse of some sort of small game. No, two corpses… maybe more. He crouched down and gestured for Sanjaya to come over. Noticing Prād's stance, Sanjaya kept low and crept forward. Prād pointed out the corpses. He had noticed a couple more at various stages of decomposition. Then his eyes lit up as he noticed a blood red stalk with purple leaves. Blood root was growing here! This was something that had great medicinal properties. It only grew in places where there was an abundance of death, but if it was used in a poultice, it could double the healing rate of wounds.
Sanjaya quietly loaded his crossbow. Whatever killed these animals was probably close. Maybe a hunting spider? And why was Prād looking so excited? "I don't like it," he thought, scanning his surroundings.
"That's blood root," whispered Prād excitedly. "I need to…." A flurry of wings burst from a nearby tree. Five bat-like creatures each with a wing span slightly longer than an arm's length and a long, sharp proboscis for a mouth descended on the pair. Stirges. While a mosquito might bite and annoy you, stirges would suck you dry leaving only a withered corpse riddled with holes as the creatures attempted to drain the last drops of bodily fluids.
Prād reacted immediately, as the stirges darted forward, he grabbed the first one by its elongated mouth parts and slammed it into the tree next to him. The creature died instantly, its entire skeleton broken. With the momentum of his swing, Prād's leg whizzed through the air, brushing past the second stirge and knocking it off course. The third one, however, buried its proboscis into the back of Prad's shoulder.
As the stirges swooped, Sanjaya dodged behind a tree, avoiding the two that were targeting him and attempted to bring one down with his crossbow. With no time to use his magic though and such a small, fast target, the shot went wide. Not the best weapon for the job, he thought, drawing his dagger.
Prād slammed his shoulder into the tree crushing the attached stirge, uncaring that he was causing himself further injury. Using the rebound to add momentum, he chopped his hand at the final stirge that was targeting him, completely shattering its spine.
Sanjaya had managed to keep the tree between himself and one of the stirges. The other, however, intercepted from the side and plunged its proboscis into his thigh. Sanjaya thrust down with his dagger, skewering the attached creature, fortunately managing to avoid stabbing himself.
Breathe in… the smell of blood. Pain in the left shoulder. The rush of battle. Time seemed to slow. Another enemy. Hold… two steps. Feel the energy flow from base chakra, up into the chest and down into the palm. "...sssSSAH!" every cell in Prad's body reacted, adding deadly momentum to the wave of energy that he had summoned from within. His palm connected. Pah! The stirge simply exploded, shattered body parts decorating the tree behind which Sanjaya was hiding.
Breathe in. Prād remained fixed in his stance. What had happened?
Sanjaya limped out from behind the tree and looked at Prād. The young man was standing in a wide stance, his head lowered and his eyes closed as if in deep thought. A short distance from Prād's outstretched palm, a splattering of gore covered the tree.
Sanjaya looked at the scene in awe. How was this possible? Was it some sort of magic?
Prād straightened. He slowly withdrew the crushed stirge from his shoulder and looked at Sanjaya. "We need to stop the bleeding and dress the wounds," he said, opening the small canvas pack tied to his lower back as a red patch of blood spread into his white cloth.
Once their wounds were dressed, Prād set about harvesting the blood root. He had found three plants. For each, he carefully dug around the base and cut off a sizable root. Careful not to damage the plant more than necessary. He then cleared the space around each plant so that they could grow without competition and distributed the stirge corpses.
While Prād was working, Sanjaya contemplated: those creatures were more of a threat than he had initially thought. He had a spell prepared that could have disabled them, but was reluctant to use it, not wanting to reveal his ability to use magic. Instead, they had both been injured. "Prād," he asked, "what do you think about magic?"
Prād stopped digging and thought for a moment. "What is magic?" He asked with an open and innocent expression.
Sanjaya was stumped. How do I answer this? Everybody he had ever met at least had an opinion, some were fearful, some were envious, some worshiped gods or demons and were granted power. Some had it in their blood, their birthright. Some, like Sanjaya, sought to understand it scientifically and studied arcane texts to learn ways to bend it to their will. But what was it really? What is magic? Certainly it was a raw force that could be manipulated and molded, used in various ways, but there were spells that seemed far more subtle than that. He was reminded of the question that his master had left him: What is the nature of magic?
"I'm not really sure," replied Sanjaya honestly, mentally laughing at himself. "But looking at what you did to that," he gestured at the gore dripping from the tree, "there might be magic involved."
Despite their efforts, it was difficult to find or even create a path back towards the river. The thick tangle of brush and rough terrain severely restricted their options. They had seen numerous trails going deeper into the forest but getting back to the river bank was difficult. Still they managed to travel roughly parallel, and could hear the trickle of water.
"Hold a moment," said Sanjaya softly. He was looking up a trail leading deeper into the forest. Webs were everywhere, but a short distance in, he could make out what looked like paved stone, cracked by time and nature. "I don't think we should go down there," whispered Prād. "Me neither," whispered Sanjaya, "but that appears to be a man-made path. I thought this place was newly discovered."
Prey. As the pair left, legs emerged from under a bush, followed by a set of fangs, each the size of a dagger. Eight eyes locked on to the retreating men, as its perfectly camouflaged brown, striped body silently navigated the webbed environment… patiently waiting for an opportunity.
A few paces later, they came across a clear path towards the river bank next to a large, moss covered tree. Prād pointed. Hiding in the tree branches were two spiders, easily the size of cats. Running from the tree to a boulder opposite the path were strands of web, almost invisible, unless one was looking for them.
Sanjaya loaded his crossbow and ran a strand of ether from the bolt to the nearest spider. "We need to go through here," he said in a low voice. The webs were unavoidable.
"I'm sorry," said Prād, looking at the spiders. "We need to go through here and your webs are in the way. Please let us through." With that, he picked up a stick and carefully broke the webs.
The spiders stirred but did not attack. These creatures were larger than them and aware. They could re-spin the webs.
The path that Sanjaya and Prād were on was clearly man made. Although tree roots poked through, the paved stone was unmistakable. Soon, they found traces of fire. The ground was black with burned leaves and partially burned sticks, the tree trunks were all black and the withered leaves in the canopy contained shriveled tatters of webs. A short distance away, the river bank could be clearly seen and a way past that, the warehouse where they had met Jack Slate earlier that morning.
Prād took a deep breath, smelling the burned foliage and taking in his environment. "Lets take a look around," said Sanjaya.
A short distance away, perfectly blended into its environment, a hunting spider waited. Its legs, as long as a man's gripped the boulder before it, ready to launch itself.
"What was that?" Thought Sanjaya, he was pretty sure he had seen movement. Prād was a few meters away, investigating another area. He frowned and loaded his crossbow. At that moment, a dark shape flew out from behind a boulder towards Sanjaya. Fortunately, he had noticed the movement and was able to react. He immediately cast the spell he had prepared, using the ether to enchant the mind of his opponent. The hunting spider landed on top of Sanjaya, completely covering him… and immediately fell asleep, venom dripping from its fangs onto Sanjya's cheek. Its nap did not last long though. A moment later Prad's running kick knocked it rolling. The spider regained its footing, somewhat startled and very confused as Sanjaya's crossbow bolt pierced its brain.
"That was close," said Sanjaya, his attempts to dust off the soot just rubbed it deeper into his clothing.