35. Sage
Sage
“How long will this take?” I asked Adrian, who was buttoning up his tunic, both of us preparing to leave at the early hour.
“Should only be the day,” he said. “We may need to camp a night, but I’d like to get there and back.”
“Camp?” I asked.
He nodded. “Is that okay?”
“I’ve never been camping,” I said. Sleeping outside with all the bugs and critters… and things that eat the critters. I shivered at the thought.
“It’ll be fun,” he said.
Once he was dressed, he snaked over to where I stood in front of the mirror. I was wearing the black dress he picked out for me at the Pointet Harbor shop.
“You look stunning,” he said, his hands drifting to my hips, head resting on my shoulder.
“You have good taste,” I said, running my hands down the front of my dress. I could see him in the mirror, eyes tracking my movement closely.
“You would look good in a potato sack,” he said, kissing my shoulder.
I thought he’d stop there, but he worked his way up, kissing that line until he was up into my neck. My eyelids fluttered closed, enjoying his touch. He pressed against my back, his much larger body almost encasing mine.
I bowed my neck to give him more access, and he accepted it greedily. His lips moved all the way up the side of my neck, nibbling on my ear gently.
I couldn’t stop the moan that escaped. My cunt was already dripping, craving whatever more he was set on offering.
But then he pulled away, leaving me wanting.
I turned, irritation already on my tongue. “What was that?”
“I think some call it foreplay,” he said with a smug smile I wanted to wipe right off his face. He held his hand out to me. “You almost ready? We have to get going.”
I was stunned as he collected our small travel bags. He was just going to… leave it there? I bit down on my lip. Fine, two of us could play at that game.
After paying for the room and returning the key, we were off. The square was bustling with people, some from the docks, others obviously getting ready to open their shop for the day. Adrian was insistent that we left early, and the sun was only just peeking through the treeline.
“Are we taking a horse?” I asked.
“No, we can reach on foot.”
“Good. I suck at horse riding.”
“You’re telling me,” he said, wiggling his tail.
I laughed. “Oh, right.”
As soon as we were out of town, we hit the barrier to the woods, and the feeling was instantly shifted.
The trees were Postulan trees, common in Quvill.
They were known for having dense, dark green leaves that tended to be fuller towards the top as they reached for more sunlight, and more spindly at the bottom, leaving lots of vines.
Because of that, the woods were dark, the leaves blocking out most of the sunlight.
Different mosses and fungi that didn’t require a lot of light covered the ground.
“It’s… kinda spooky in here,” I said as we walked. The only solace was there was a clearly laid path, and it was cooler, blocking out some of the harsh summer heat.
“It’s not the most inviting,” Adrian agreed, “but it’s still just the woods.”
I nodded, but still couldn’t help but feel unsettled.
“What’s your favorite color?” I asked.
“Blue,” he said.
“That’s such a common answer.”
He scoffed. “Then what’s yours?”
“Carnation pink,” I said with certainty.
“Isn’t pink a common answer too?”
I shook my head. “It’s a very specific color. It’s like… a light pink, with a bit of depth. It’s the best.”
“Specific, but feels basic,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “Well, what shade of blue is your favorite?”
He thought for a moment. “Something that mirrors the ocean. But not the lighter color you see on the shore. More of a… deep blue, the one you can see when you’re hundreds of miles into the middle of the ocean.”
“That was definitely more specific.”
We fell back to silence. But in that silence, it felt like I could hear everything, even things that weren’t there. The cracking of a stick in the distance, or the rustling of leaves to my side.
“You ask me a question now,” I insisted.
He looked confused, but did as I asked.
We went back and forth, asking about favorite childhood games and foods we liked. It was all mundane, but enough to distract from the sounds that did nothing but worry me.
Eventually we met a fork in the road. There was a sign that looked like it’d been there for a very, very long time.
It was wooden and had two planks carved into arrows.
It looked like once upon a time there were words written on them, but it was impossible to make out.
Adrian hardly glanced at it, before leading us right.
“Are you sure it’s the right way?”
“Very,” he said.
I shrugged and followed him along. He seemed to know where everything was, and I trusted him.
My necklace played absently between my fingers.
Though I was excited to remove this curse that’d stayed with me for so long, it was bittersweet.
I’d had it for so long and it shaped so much of my life.
It even brought me here… to Adrian. I guess I had that to thank it for.
Maybe once she took it off, I could keep it.
As a keepsake. Obviously, it was given to me to be kept safe, for whatever reason, so being able to still have it close and do that job felt important.
Maybe deep down, it had always felt important, holding onto this necklace, but I was too clouded by my fear to realize that.
We walked for a while and it felt like we didn’t come upon anything. If anything, everything started to feel like it was melding together. Rocks started looking similar and I swore that tree with the large trunk and twisted roots had been back there a little while ago.
It quickly dawned on me why. As we turned the next bend, we came back upon the sign, the exact beat-up sign with worn down words.
I looked at Adrian, who looked at the sign, seeming to think.
“We went in a circle,” I pointed out the obvious.
He evaluated for a few moments. Evaluating what, I wasn’t sure, it was obvious either path just led back to the other.
“So, we go right again,” he said.
All I could do was blink at him. Had he lost his mind somewhere in this loop?
“Just trust me,” he said. “We’re supposed to go right.”
I huffed. “Fine.” It wasn’t like there was any harm, we’d just end up back here.
And back here we were after our second loop. This one feeling almost a bit longer than the last.
“This is the wrong way,” I insisted.
“It’s not.”
“We’re going in a circle!”
“I know,” he said. “But I think it’s a protection spell.”
“A what?”
“A diversion, to make people go back.”
I crossed my arms. “Okay, but if we can’t get past it, what does it matter?”
“We will,” he assured me. “We just have to keep going right.”
I sighed. “Fine, we can go in another circle if it will make you feel better.”
We didn’t just go on one more loop. We went on two more, and were journeying around to complete our third. My feet were beginning to hurt, and I was close to losing my patience.
When we turned the same bend we had six other times, something was different. There was a purple bush sitting on the corner where a large boulder had previously been. It wasn’t one I’d ever seen before. Standing about to my hip, with smaller lavender-colored leaves sprouting every which way.
I approached it, trying to figure out what kind of plant it was, or even the family it came from, but nothing came to memory. The leaves weren’t quite the right shape to make it a dendrom, but also too colorful to be a podias.
“That’s it,” Adrian said from behind me, making me jump.
“What?”
“Now we’re meant to follow the purple bushes.”
It seemed he was keen on being extra confusing today. “But there’s only one.”
“There will be more,” he said.
He wove around the bush and started off in that direction, moving away from the path.
“Wait,” I said, grabbing his arm before he could get too far. “Where are you going?”
“Following the bushes,” he said, as if I hadn’t heard him the first time.
“But there’s no telling there’s another one,” I pointed out. “And what if we get lost.”
He slithered closer, bending to kiss me. “I promise, I know where we’re going. Everything is okay, and I’ll get us there safely.”
I took a deep, rickety breath. “Fine, but I’m serious, don’t get us lost.”
I stepped off the path, grateful for the boots I bought the day before as we traversed the new terrain. Though the path wasn’t that well cared for, it was an obvious clearing for people to walk in.
Here, there was none of that. Vines came down from everywhere and the entire ground was covered in foliage, making it hard to know exactly where to step. Adrian kept our hands locked the whole time, holding us steady.
My fear that there would be no more bushes began weighing on me more. We were well away from the path, without a single other bush in sight. And I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to get back at this rate either.
I looked to the left and spotted another one of the purple bushes, just as bright as the first.
“Over there,” I said, pulling us towards the bush.
“Good spotting,” Adrian said, as we went that way.
We walked and walked until finally he spotted one veering right this time. This charade continued for what felt like hours. Eventually, the plants got closer and closer together, until we were essentially following a path of them.
“Wait,” I said. I stepped over the newly formed path and started towards the small bit of color I saw.
“Where are you going?” It seemed it was his turn to ask me now.
“These are cynthians,” I said, picking a few that were there. They had a beautiful blue color. “They only grow in magic-rich soil, and I’ve never seen them outside of a book.”
I brought them over to him, passing him one. “They are very pretty,” he sounded distracted, looking at me.
I felt urged to kiss him right then and there, but we were so close. “Sorry I stopped us, we should go.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he said. He took the flower that was still in my hand and tucked it behind my ear. “But yes, we should.”
The path eventually led to a break in the trees that felt unnatural. A cottage sat in the middle of that break. Smoke poured from the chimney, despite the warm season it was.
Those purple bushes lined the entire cobblestone walkway to the entrance.
“Is this it?” I asked.
Adrian nodded, looking the most unsure I’d ever seen him.
I grabbed his hand, figuring we could each lend each other some support.