Chapter 9 Borrowed Clothes and Broken Promises #3
The sun had barely cleared the eastern peaks, painting the world in shades of gold and shadow.
Perfect tracking weather, if one happened to be following a newly reborn Phoenix into potentially cursed hills.
Though I had a feeling this particular adventure would prove far more dangerous than simple tracking.
Two horses waited outside the inn, their breath steaming in the crisp morning air.
I'd acquired them from a suspicious stable master at dawn.
Another transaction requiring more coin than charm.
The dappled grey mare and chestnut gelding stood quietly as I began securing our provisions.
Unlike most animals, who typically shied away from supernatural beings, these two seemed drawn to Adara's presence.
The mare especially kept turning her head to watch her with intelligent eyes, as if recognizing something ancient and powerful in her nature.
Yet when their gazes turned toward the distant hills, both horses shifted uneasily, their ears flicking back and forth at something my diminished senses couldn't quite detect.
"I see you thought of everything," Adara remarked, running her hand along the mare's neck. The horse leaned into her touch, drawn to her innate warmth.
I cinched another bag to the saddle. "One of us had to be practical. Though I notice you didn't exactly pack light." I nodded toward her bulging satchel.
"Essential reading material," she said with a hint of defensiveness, patting the satchel with pride.
"They had a sort of lending library with some histories of the realms which I.
.. temporarily liberated. What? Don't give me that look.
Knowledge is power, and right now, we need all the power we can get. "
"A sort of lending library?" I echoed, not bothering to hide my amusement. "Do elaborate."
She glanced around before lowering her voice.
"The innkeeper has quite the collection hidden away in his private study.
Books about the Great Sundering, treatises on supernatural beings, even some accounts of previous phoenix sightings.
He clearly knows more than he lets on." A small smile played at her lips. "I'll return them. Eventually."
A staunch believer in liberation myself, I'd be the last person to fault her for her choices. "Ah yes, light bedtime reading. Nothing says 'relaxing evening' quite like 'Treatises on the Metaphysical Implications of the Great Sundering' while we're being hunted by corrupted forest creatures."
I offered my linked hands as a stirrup, and she accepted with surprising grace, her borrowed boots pressing momentarily into my palms. As she swung into the saddle, the mare shifted beneath her, and Adara settled into the worn leather with the easy confidence of someone who'd had plenty of time on horseback.
"You can't charm your way out of everything, you know," she said as I mounted my horse.
"No," I agreed, flashing her my most wicked grin.
"But the challenge makes it interesting.
So," I ventured, adjusting the reins, "care to share your actual plan?
Or shall I just continue following blindly into potential doom?
Not that I mind the latter. I've always found that imminent peril adds a certain spark to new friendships. "
She shot me a sideways glance, amusement warring with irritation in those ancient eyes. "You're the one who invited yourself along. Feeling nervous already?"
"Merely curious." I ducked under a low-hanging branch she'd let swing back at my face. Definitely not an accident. "And somewhat concerned about walking into a cursed forest without at least a vague idea of what we're facing."
She glanced back at me, her expression softening slightly.
"The corruption here... it feels familiar.
Like something I've encountered before, but the memory's just out of reach.
" Her fingers brushed against her temple, frustration clear in the gesture.
"It's like trying to recall a nightmare after waking—the details slip away the harder I grasp for them.
But I know it's important. I need to see it firsthand. Maybe then I'll remember."
I nodded, processing this new information. "And if what you remember isn't particularly pleasant?"
"Then at least we'll know what we're dealing with." She paused at the forest's edge, her expression hardening. "Ready to back out?"
I offered her my most rakish grin. "And miss whatever chaos you're about to unleash? Not a chance."
Her answering laugh echoed through the trees, the sound vibrating through me like the first notes of a forgotten yet cherished song.
Something about her called to me on a level I couldn't explain and hadn't wanted to acknowledge.
It wasn't just her beauty or her raw power, but something fundamental that resonated with my own nature in ways both thrilling and terrifying.
The trees closed around us like a living thing, their trunks twisted in unnatural patterns.
The horses’ nervous dancing wasn't just from the shadows now.
Something moved in the deep woods, something that made my fae senses scream in warning.
Each breath carried that sickly-sweet decay—corruption given form—seeping through the forest like poison through veins.
The villagers' tales of corrupted beasts sprang to mind.
Creatures twisted by the curse into mockeries of their natural forms, hunting with unnatural intelligence and savage grace.
I shifted closer to Adara, one hand casually dropping to the blade hidden in my boot.
My diminished powers might fail me, but my poisoned dagger never would.
The path ahead narrowed, forcing us to ride single file through the thickening underbrush.
I stayed close enough to react if needed but gave her the lead she clearly wanted.
Whatever waited in these hills, at least the morning had started off interesting. Though knowing our luck, "interesting" would soon become "disturbing."
I wouldn't have it any other way.