The Twice-Enchanted Blade: Part 19

The other party’s account of their adventures was presented in a more chaotic manner.

Iocasta: “Before we even reached the forest, we had to muscle our way through a large thicket of thorn bushes. Couldn’t have been more than a couple leagues, I reckon, but it took us nearly two days to get through”.

Civet: “Not all was bad. The terrain was unsuitable for any large predators, so we were safe on that front. There were probably some venomous snakes around, sure, but with all the racket we were making –“

Spiridon: “I don’t recall you making any racket. After a couple hours of cutting your way through that thicket, you would be yearning to replace it with a hungry pack of hellhounds, believe me”.

Civet: “In any case, I had ample time to observe the fascinating local ecosystem. Sure, you see only the hostile thorn bushes from above, but for various local rodents and other small critters, it is a safe haven from birds of prey. This, in turn, attracted snakes and predatory toads, who are the apex predators of this microcosm. Oh, don’t worry, I won’t go into too much detail now, and if you do want to know more, you’ll be able to read the treatise eventually”.

Iocasta: “Back on topic, the thorns gave way to forest eventually. I thought the woodlands back in the Ptolomeiac mountains were rough and hostile, but what we were facing made them look like the Royal Park in Hieropolis in comparison. The underbrush, thankfully, wasn’t as bad as the thorny thicket we had just left, since the leaves blocked most of the sunlight, but finding a route through the dense forest, avoiding vines and rotting fallen trees, not falling into holes masked by ferns, all while keeping track of our general position and direction, truly put my pathfinding skills to the test”.

Spiridon: “She did not disappoint, I must remark. During the return journey in particular, she retraced our steps almost perfectly. Anyone else I know would’ve led us in circles for days”.

Iocasta: “During the day, I spotted multiple sets of glowing eyes observing us from a distance. I decided we would sleep in a tree, believing anything large and dangerous would be likely to live on the ground. To that end, we created an improvised platform out of branches and thick vines, making the spot where a particularly large tree was splitting into three impressively thick branches somewhat more secure.

Spiridon: “We climbed up, helped Civet join us, and decided on watch order. I got the first watch, so the other two went to sleep. For a while, nothing happened. There were weird noises all around, sure, but nothing came within sight but a couple of large fluorescent moths”.

Civet: “I’m still disappointed they never showed up for any of my watches”.

Spiridon: “Anyway, while I was focused on the outside of our little platform, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Civet apparently got restless in his sleep and tumbled to the ground. I heard no thud, but assumed his fall was broken by the soft undergrowth. Cursing under my breath, I descended down the rope we had tied around one of the branches and went looking for him, but he was nowhere to be found. Puzzled, I searched some more until I heard a faint sound from up above. Looking up, I saw Civet hanging upside down from a vine, which was slowly but surely lifting him up to the treetops. I pulled my rifle from my shoulder and made a few shots in the general direction of where I assumed the source of the vine was. The only thing this accomplished was waking Iocasta up”.

Iocasta: “Waking me up was what needed to be done anyway. I jumped to my feet, looked for the source of gunfire, and then Spiridon pointed me towards where Civet was hanging. His position was unenviable. I didn’t have a clear shot at whatever was pulling him up shooting or cutting the vine was, in the former case, unlikely, and in the latter, physically impossible due to distance; in either case, the fall was likely to break his neck. So I did the one thing that seemed feasible at the moment: jumped at the vine and grabbed it in midair. For a moment, it seemed like the thing wouldn’t hold both our weights, and we would both plunge to our deaths. But it quickly stabilized, although we weren’t getting pulled up anymore”.

“In a minute, I was finishing my climb and found myself face-to-face with a panther-like creature. Its fur was dark green, and its eyes were glowing. Luckily for me, its claws were plunged deep in the branch, trying to prevent our combined weight from pulling it down. Out of its back, a vine seemed to be growing, coiling up between its shoulders as it reeled its prey in. I climbed onto the branch, positioned myself behind it so I could attack more easily, but while I was pulling myself up, the panther, no longer burdened by my weight, turned around. It still couldn’t pounce at me, as Civet was still hanging on its vine, but I was armed only with a knife at the moment, and engaging a big cat in melee is nothing short of suicide. The panther’s movement was hampered, so I had time to look around for anything helpful while it snarled at me. I eventually set my sights on a branch of optimal length and thickness for my purposes. Breaking it off, I sprang into action.

“From where the panther couldn’t reach me, I started poking it with the stick. As I predicted, this annoyed it greatly, but in its present condition, it couldn’t do much but snarl even louder and knock it away with its paws. I kept at this until I figured it was agitated enough, then prepared my knife, breathing deeply. There would be only one chance, and if it failed, Civet was as good as dead, and my prospects wouldn’t be much better if the animal decided to bear a grudge. While the panther was fully focused on the infuriating stick, I threw the knife with my other hand, and it hit true, right in the neck. The panther roared and was soon dead.

“To my horror, with its death, the vine started unraveling. With no time to lose, I pushed the panther to the other side, where it would act as a counterweight, pulling Civet back up. The vine was somewhat longer than the branch’s height, so he ended up hanging slightly below me. I lifted him next to me, then broke into laughter. He was still asleep”.

Civet: “In reality, I’m sure this is one of the creature’s abilities. After all, it lifted me up so slowly that I’m sure any struggling prey would manage to break free. Without an ability to sedate its victims, this strange symbiosis between plant and animal’s hunting strategy would be useless”.

Iocasta: “Anyway, we were stuck up there until Civet woke up, so I shouted to Nixon we were all right, spent the night up there, and continued our journey tomorrow”.

Spiridon: “Our next breakthrough came two days later, when our academic noticed some interesting rocks”.

Civet: “It was a volcanic basalt rock, cut into a uniform hexagonal shape. I was certain it didn’t show up here naturally, so I asked Iocasta and Spiridon to keep an eye out for more. Sure enough, we were seeing the last remains of what must’ve been a road back in the day. We followed this breadcrumb trail south and, within a day, we found our temple”.