That night none of us were on watch out.
Rune slept deeply beside my side looking like an angel again.
I laid there and couldn’t drift away at all, she was way too close!
I bit my lip and turned my head away from her, ‘why do her lips have to look so damn beautiful?!
Why did she have to be so…
so Rune…?!’ I tried to breathe, in and out, at least she wasn’t cuddling up like last night.
I shook my head, ‘don’t think about it, she’s just your childhood friend and she’s often told me she would never think about me like that.
Calm down stupid heart.’ Through the open tent came in too much moonlight and not being able to sleep, I went out.
The air was fresh, not cold, and I slowly waddled toward the well to pump myself some fresh water.
I was glad the pump was maintained regularly, not making much noise while pumping water into a wooden bucket.
After gulping down some cold water, I strolled around the camp for a few minutes.
The wind rustled some bushes near the edge of the camp, right behind the wooden palisade that was put up against monsters.
There were barely any clouds now, having had luck the earlier rain didn’t come and instead came down to the west.
The moon was different from earth, it was double the size and bathed everything in its ethereal glow.
I watched the stars for a bit, ‘this world wasn’t so bad wasn’t it?
Sure there are monsters and dragon-like creatures, but I had a loving family and despite her weird antics, with Rune a really good friend.’ Deciding it would be best to at least rest a bit more, I went back into the tent.
It seemed like Rune rolled over in her sleep, as she was now splayed diagonally on the pretty big field bed.
They were made to allow whole groups of 4 to sleep if they had to, but somehow Rune managed to block more than half of it herself.
Her hair was a mess without the pigtails, but it glowed even more turquoise with the moonlight streaming in.
“How can you be so cute sleeping?” I whispered towards her, voice silent enough to not be heard.
I sat down on the side farthest away from her and laid down.
It took ages until sleep finally settled in.
The next morning started with the usual routine, I stopped Rune from attempting to cook breakfast, to which she pouted and we went off to our third day hunting.
‘Three packs three days,’ I chuckled, thinking about an anime about smoking catgirls from my last life.
Today we went down the eastern route inside this dense and lush forest.
I gathered a bit of honey from a bee’s nest to bring home with me, or to maybe make Rune something tasty with it, and some sweet wild berries.
Of course I checked my mother’s notes and those berries seemed to be wild raspberries.
Rune walked in front of me today, hands on her blades the whole way into the forest.
As we reached the deepest depth of the forest from the eastern side, we finally saw the first bigger tracks.
I wasn’t sure if it were Zenrade marks though, but Rune followed them anyways, with me trailing behind.
“Should we really head in so deep?” I asked her, my voice a bit restless.
Since this morning, there were a lot of underbrushes rustling, despite us not even seeing many smaller animals.
“It’s fine, I asked mama Mel and she said the best chances are in the depths and at the cliff towards the alps,” Rune told me, head tilted back with a grin.
‘Yeah let’s say it’s a grin and not the sweetest smile you could imagine.” “And she didn’t say anything else?
I don’t know, but I really got the chills, something doesn’t feel…” Rune made a shush gesture, pressing her slender pointer finger at her lips.
I went silent and slowly moved my left hand towards my sword, not making any sound.
Something rustled, a branch snapped.
Rune continued, her voice unhushed, but her face frighteningly serious, “mom said it’s normal, I bet it’s just some horned rabbit or random insects.” My nerves were tense and by how Rune watched out for every little noise, hers seemed too.
We reached another tree that stood at least 150 meters tall with a massive hole between some roots sticking out of the ground.
In front of the whole were fresh smelling Zenrade droppings and claw marks ran down into the darkness.
Rune pulled out a small round bomb and threw it into the hole.
As it exploded I saw what it was, or rather didn’t see.
She’d thrown a blitz bomb into the hole and I was currently blinking heavily, as it made my vision turn white, ‘you could’ve warned me, Rune!’ I hissed out, “fuuuck.” My eye sight returned after what felt like ages, but as it came back, nothing happened.
The nest was empty.
“I really don’t wanna go in there to check,” I told her.
She ignored me and turned her oil lamp on instead, just to walk right into darkness.
I followed behind, lighting my lamp up too.
The inside of the hole was mostly earth and root work.
There wasn’t much space, the hole was maybe two meters wide and after a quick turn, we reached the end encountering a fresh abandoned nest and nothing else.
We found the pack of Zenrades on our way back towards the camp.
It was still a long walk out of the forest and the weird noises from the underbrush and bushes never stopped.
We got near our prey, there were five of those raptor likes in this pack and this time we got them down faster.
On our way to the camp, Rune’s hands never left her dual blades and I carried all of our materials alone.
The feeling of something’s off stayed with us.
Back at the camp, we got our stored things and Rune blew her whistle to call for the Peco bird that should be grazing somewhere.
‘Wait.
Why haven’t I seen the bird last night on my walk?’ The bird didn’t come.
“Ruby?” She called out the bird’s name, voice nervous.
The sun was too low in the sky already to walk the way home, so we needed that bird.
She called out louder than before, “Rubyyy!
Come here my boy!” We began to check every corner of the base camp, not that there were many places where a bird of his size could be.
“Maybe your mother’s got him while we were in the forest?” I questioned.
“They wouldn’t do that without checking in on us,” she replied matter of factly, “and Ruby’s too well trained to stray out of camp.” “So we have to stay the night?” “Only if you don’t want to walk home in darkness.” Rune sounded truly soured now.
“Maybe it’s grazing nearby?” “Ruby wouldn’t leave the camp though,” she countered, “but fine I’ll check.
You stay here, maybe Ruby comes back on his own.” “Then I’ll make something to eat, okay?” I was similarly worried, but tried to keep calm.
Rune nodded, her face serious, left the camp and I got to work.
It sucked that her Peco was gone, especially as it’d cost as much as a whole day and we’d get scolded for not taking care properly.
I bet I would be just as pissed if Grahm would be gone, as I loved father’s Peco bird dearly, ‘I have to do something to make her feel less shitty.’ I went and started the camp fire and began preparing something to eat.
I retrieved the wild berries and honey, got some water and began cooking.
Tonight I’d make her honey stewed berries we could pair with the hard tack.
I heard Rune’s whistling for her Peco pretty far from the camp now.
The honey stewed berries came out way too sweet and since Rune could still be heard whistling, I moved the deep pan off the fire.
I yelled out to her, my voice too loud to hear the rustling noises, “Rune food’s ready!” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS LynnAlice This one’s a bit on the shorter side, but I had so much fun writing these chapters :3