Love Shack (1)

They pushed themselves quite hard that day, walking even after the sun had gone down their path lit only by the ghostly silvery-blue light of the full moon. Midori resisted the urge to tell Rune how scared she was, and it took all her restraint not to breath a sigh of relief when he finally decided they had walked far enough.

She collapsed near the fire Rune built for them, and was so tired she could not even marvel at the way he simply snapped his fingers to light their campfire.

Since there was also no time to hunt or forage they were forced to rely on the tacky bars of dried meat and berries held together with animal fat. It wasn’t the worst thing she had eaten, but she suspected it would take some time before she fully acquired the taste.

They talked late into the evening, Rune was eager to answer all the questions he could, not just in an effort to avoid potential miscommunication but so that she could make more informed decisions going forward.

Midori learned that Moana Mau’u was a land of seven separate tribes that had united in order to combat the outside threat which loomed over them all, the kingdom of Luvall. For nearly a hundred years the kingdom had tried to form a beachhead from which they could launch a more profound invasion, and for all that time the peoples of Moana Mau'u had beaten them back.

“So what do you think’s different this time?” Midori asked while chewing on the food in between gulps of water to wash the taste from her mouth.

“I’m not sure, probably some new kind of weapon.” Rune ate the food so easily, she wondered if it was always the case and made sure to ask that later.

“Okay, and what exactly are we going to do against something that can destroy a whole town?”

“We don’t know for sure that it’s destroyed.”

Midori looked at him curiously and saw the worry there, she wanted to reach out and comfort him for her crude comment.

“It could be a situation with the nixies, maybe there’s some kind of outside force affecting things.” Rune’s brow was furrowed in a way Midori could not help but find cute. “If that is the case things could get really dangerous, I barely beat that hag. It might be smarter if you head toward the capital, you could probably find your friends faster that way.”

The idea was definitely tempting as the worry for her friends still chewed at her gut. She wondered what might have happened to them given how inhospitable this world had been to her on the outset, without Rune she would have died and so she hoped they had hopefully found allies of their own to rely on.

But her stomach twisted into knots at the thought of leaving Rune and the village to fend for themselves, she would never forgive herself if she did. Not after they had been so welcoming of her. Not after he had risked so much to save her.

“Rune… you, Gilya, and honestly the entire village has been extremely welcoming to an outsider like me. I mean obviously I don’t want to die, but I don't think I could live with myself if I left now. Not sure how much help I’ll even be but I’ll do all I can.”

He looked at her with shock for only a moment before swapping it for a warm smile.

“You have a warrior’s heart, Midori. It would be my honour to fight and die beside you.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

-----

The next morning they set out before the sun had even risen, and though her brain was still addled by sleep she was still strangely excited.

Before now she had felt directionless, bouncing from one meaningless job to the next like a stone skipping across the water, leaving miniscule ripples but barely any indication she had been there at all. Yet now she felt a purpose driving each step, and even though fear was present in nearly every thought she still felt as if she were moving toward something meaningful.

Their chatter was far less this time as Rune had explained there was a strong likelihood they would encounter soldiers, for they were approaching the area he had stolen the banner from.

And almost as if on cue they came upon what looked to be a campsite. But instead of the small battalion of troops Rune had mentioned it was completely empty.

Several thick, grey canvas tents had been arranged around the remnants of a bonfire, an empty cart nearby though the animal that drew it strangely absent having run off into the woods by the looks of their prints.

Inspecting it further they could see that the entire camp was not just empty but had been vacated in a hurry.

“Do you think they knew we were coming?”

Kneeling near the bonfire remnants, Rune casually moved aside bits of charred wood that still smouldered before shaking his head.

“The fire was built after I stole the banner. They either didn’t notice the theft or, more likely, didn’t care... whatever caused them to flee happened after that.”

It didn’t take them long to scour the entire campsite finding that there were several additional elements of strangeness. Most of the weaponry had been destroyed or were ruined in the fire, a handful of documents were burned, but the barrels of water they’d brought had been left untouched while all their rations were gone.

Footprints went off in two directions, one opposite of the camp—which Midori assumed led back to the city of Nythe—but the others went off the path toward the mountains.

Following those for a few moments there was a sudden sound in the air, it was faint but almost sounded like singing.

"Looking for...getaway"

“Hey Rune?” Midori called, pointing toward what looked to be the mouth of some kind of cave. “What’s this cave here?”

He rushed toward her with the same look of fright that he’d wore when her shadow had been stolen, his hand gripped her arm and he practically threw her back into the abandoned camp before cupping Midori’s face in his hands and looking into her eyes.

“Quickly! Tell me your name!”

She was too confused to notice how close his face was.

“Huh?”

“Your name!”

“Uh…Midori,” the confusion was plain on her face. Why was he so close?

“And me?”

“You’re Rune, and you’re really freaking me out.” She pushed him away, though could barely move him a few inches.

He sighed in relief and let go of her, sitting back with a look of sheer relief.

“That’s the Siren Cave. Those who hear the sound of her voice lose all sense of self and venture in search of it. Of the countless individuals who have gone into that cave, none have returned.”

She blinked in confusion at the statement as the tune she heard still fluttered through her mind. It was familiar somehow, almost like she’d heard it before. Slowly she started humming it and shushed Rune before he got too flustered.

“I know that song,” she said her brow furrowed in frustration.

“You…you know the siren’s song?” It was his turn to look dumbfounded.

“Yeah, I just…I think I need to hear a bit of it again.”

“Midori no,” Rune started shaking his head. He looked so strangely cute when he looked scared. “You could lose your sense of self!”

“I don’t think I will,” she wasn’t entirely sure what gave her that feeling but there was something deep in her gut telling her she would be unaffected.

Staring at her with disbelief Rune sighed in defeat and nodded, however had the stipulation that she needed a line to safety and so had tied a rope around her waist that she was to pull the moment she felt like she was losing control.

Slowly she moved forward, taking each step with caution until she heard it again.

And she could not help but laugh.

Rune clearly thought her laughter was proof of her lose of control and pulled her back with such force it nearly pulled all the air from her lungs, but still she could do nothing but cackle. It was a release of all the insanity that had built up over the past little while, getting brought to another world, nearly dying twice, the dream of the whale man, and now this.

When she had regained her breath Midori sat up and wiped tears of laughter from her eyes before shaking her head, smiling up at Rune who was looking down at her in terror.

“It’s Love Shack baby!”