Gathering Stormclouds (2)

Unless you marked your course separately — that is, kept some kind of landmark to gauge the direction you'd been traveling — this was the sort of thing that happened.

And it happened surprisingly often.

This was exactly the situation Yona and Alec found themselves in.

They had come all the way across the Medial Plain, and past Lake Cantasia, the Viridia Plain began. To look at it, it was all just one endless stretch of grassland — but the moment you passed the lake, you were in Viridia territory.

And the fact that every bit of it looked exactly the same was the problem.

"It's that way."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

Yona looked Alec dead in the eye and nodded.

It was only after waking up and taking stock of their surroundings that they'd both realized they hadn't marked their heading before sleeping, and in the meantime their sense of direction had gone thoroughly crooked. In this vast plain with no mountain in sight, no matter where you looked, everything looked like everything else.

Which meant here looked like there, there looked like here, and over there also looked like here. And so Yona was boldly pointing her finger at whatever happened to fall within her line of sight.

"Alright. Then let's get moving."

Alec followed her word without question. In situations like this, Yona's intuition was frighteningly accurate.

She called it her crisis-sense — that instinct of hers — and it was so uncannily on the mark that it had never once been wrong.

Shouldering their respective packs, the two set off and looked up at the sky.

"...Rain. Feels like it's coming."

Alec nodded at Yona's words. The sky was overcast from horizon to horizon. The sun ought to have been up there somewhere, but the dark clouds walling it in hung low and heavy, poised to let loose at any moment.

"Ah, damn it..."

Gazing up at the sky, Alec scowled. Before setting out on this leg of the journey, he remembered the general store back in the Wizard Community selling rain cloaks — the kind well-oiled against the wet. Yona had told him to buy one, saying they weren't the sort of thing you found just anywhere, and Alec had been the one to talk her out of it.

Thinking about it now, they absolutely should have bought it. He was in the middle of regretting having stopped her for no reason when—

"Here, Baldy. Hold this."

Thump — a neatly folded bundle of cloth was thrust out in front of Alec.

"Huh, is this...?"

Alec took it and shook it out. A rain cloak. Thick brown fabric soaked through with oil — so much of it that a faint sheen came off on his fingers. When he rubbed it between his hands, no more came away, which meant it had been oiled and then properly sun-dried. Top-shelf goods, no question about it.

"See that, Baldy? I told you to listen to me."

Alec stared at Yona, who was grinning ear to ear, a blank look on his face. He distinctly remembered talking her out of buying this thing — so when on earth had she picked it up?

"While you were picking out field rations, I paid for it before you noticed. The way my shoulders were aching, I figured rain was coming sooner or later. Good thing I bought it, heehee."

Watching her laugh like a mischievous kid, Alec found himself smiling helplessly in return.

"Alright, alright — let's hurry. Even the best-made cloak won't save us if we're caught in a real downpour."

"Right. Let's go."

Tucking the rain cloak into his pack, Alec and Yona quickened their pace. Their destination was Cantatien — a town lying halfway to Lizard Den, and a place to stop for a mid-journey check.

Wherever Alec's new greaves planted a footprint, Yona's leather boots — this pair fitted properly down to the heel — followed in their tracks. Following the road that curved around the lakeshore, the two of them pressed steadily on.

— Crack!

The mace came down on the wild orc's skull. The instant the mace was wrenched free, a spray of blood fanned out — but under the cascading sheets of rain, the blood vanished without a trace almost immediately.

With the dull crunch of splintering bone, the orc's eyes rolled white and it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠crumpled. Alec shoved the next orc charging in from the side with his shield. The orc, carried by its own momentum, floated briefly into the air as the shield pushed it back, and Alec swung his mace into its skull a second time.

Yona dragged the freshly slain orc's corpse away by the ankle, and in that gap Alec deflected an incoming arrow with his shield.

"Apparently that no-monster zone was a Medial Plain thing only."

GRAAAAAAGH!

Watching so many of its kin cut down one after another must have been more than the beast could stomach — the largest of the wild orcs roared, swinging its club overhead. Mixed into the drumming rain, though, the roar was almost comical.

"Looks like it."

Yona roughly wiped the rain streaming down her face with the back of her hand as she agreed. The monster-free stretch Kayak had spoken of had apparently applied only to the Medial Plain. Alec had said as much, and Yona thought so too.

She swept her gaze across the surroundings. A good ten or more orcs had been gathered there at first, but their numbers had thinned to less than half — four, at a glance. The rain made it hard to see clearly, but that was about right.

Four wild orcs. Not a particularly burdensome number — except one of them was that hulking brute, which made it slightly more trouble than it was worth. Still, with the two of them, it was manageable. Alec was moving far better than he used to, and he was reacting nimbly to Yona's calls from her wider vantage point, which lightened the load considerably—

It would have been just perfect, if not for that goddamn voice rumbling through her head. She knew its owner all too well.

So Yona ignored the voice, ignored it again, and moved to support Alec with ruthless thoroughness.

'Shut up. Even without your power, the two of us are more than enough for this. I haven't fallen far enough to go reaching into the palm of a demon like you.'

She knew her battlefield intimately. She knew her own role, and she knew Alec's. She was not so foolish as to fall for the temptations of a creature like Berbaria — she understood exactly what accepting them would cost.

Deliberately shutting out the voice, she moved to cover Alec, who faced the enemy with a rock at his back for her safety. Every danger that flew at her, Alec intercepted. Every small wound opened in the process, Yona healed.

Out of mutual trust, each became the other's shadow, moving in flawless concert. Even with the rain hammering down around them, the two of them held their rhythm perfectly—

"Yona, you good?"

She caught a glimpse of Alec glancing back over his shoulder, rain cloak thrown over his head. Yona spotted a wound she'd missed in the chaos and hurriedly healed it.

"Nothing's wrong, is it?"

Only then did Alec face forward again, steadying his mace. Yona bit her lip hard.

'Zip it, you damned snake. Before I strangle myself just to shut you up.'

'He's not weak enough to break over something like that. Don't think you can rattle me.'

A low chuckle reverberated through her skull. Yona pressed her hand back ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠against Alec's shoulder.

By then the orcs had been picked off one by one, until only the big one — the obvious leader — remained. It had been shrieking in fury as if it might charge at any moment, but apparently its rage hadn't been quite hot enough to throw itself into the fray, because only after its underlings lay dead in the mud did it start swinging its club, as if to say the stage was finally its.

Big as it was, it was still just a dull-witted wild orc. Club held out front, the orc put its mass behind a headlong charge.

"Yona, here it comes."

Barely had the words left Alec's mouth before Yona's hand left his shoulder and she stepped back two paces to the side. Alec intended to take the charge head-on, and the full force of that collision would travel straight through him to Yona standing behind — so moving aside was textbook.

Alec planted the heel of his greave solidly into the ground and dropped his center of gravity low. The moment he braced, shield tilted at a slight angle, the orc's charge came crashing into it straight from the shoulder.

— SLAM!

Alec's greaves slid back a single step. Had he taken the impact square-on with the shield upright, he'd have been shoved much farther — but because he held it at a slant, it wasn't a head-on collision. The orc's shoulder rode along the shield's face and shot upward, and unable to master its own momentum, the orc ended up mounting the shield with its whole body.

"HRYAAH!"

Alec, timing it perfectly, heaved the shield up and tipped the orc over to the other side. Its momentum still unspent, the orc was practically laid onto the shield and then slammed headfirst into the ground beyond it.

Headfirst it may have gone, but the orc wasn't dead yet.

The mace that had already put down this many orcs glistened, its head soaked dark with blood. Alec regripped it carefully, wary of slipping on the gore running down the handle.

"Yona, stay back. Blood's gonna spray."

Alec flashed her a grin. It was as much as to say he had this well in hand — but something about that smile struck Yona as strangely off, and all she could manage in return was an awkward one.

Only after beating back a couple more waves of monsters like that did the two of them come within sight of Cantatien.

On the map it had looked like nothing more than a small village, but seen up close it had walls raised around it — a proper town, sizable enough that it might even have been a little smaller than Evian.

"So that's Cantatien. We came the right way after all."

"Told you I was right."

"You did. Our Yona's never once been wrong."

"...Ugh."

Yona's face scrunched up. 'What's gotten into this guy?'

For the past few days — really, ever since they'd left the Wizard Community — Alec had been showing an almost alarming amount of affection, and Yona could only feel flustered by it.

"Come on, let's hurry."

"Uh, yeah."

Even as she said it, Yona became newly aware of her hand resting in Alec's. That had started when they left the Wizard Community, too. She'd figured a little hand-holding ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠couldn't hurt and let it be, and somewhere along the way it had simply become the natural thing to do whenever they walked. Too late to tell him to stop now, so she left it — though somehow the whole thing still felt off to her.

"Welcome, you two. Travelers?"

"Yes."

As Alec and Yona drew near the gate, a pair of men who looked to be guards appeared. Clad in rough, clearly handmade leather armor — a bit shabby for proper town watch — they were most likely members of the local militia.

"Adventurers. This is my wife."

Alec now played the married couple routine without the slightest hitch. Yona, whose face had started in alarm, quickly rearranged her expression and smiled sweetly at the militiaman.

"Adventurers and a... ah, forgive me. A healer couple, I see."

"Yes."

"What brings you to Cantatien?"

"We're headed for Lizard Den and wanted to rest at the halfway point."

"Well then, you've come at a fine time."

"Sorry?"

That came out of nowhere, and neither of them understood. As Alec and Yona traded puzzled looks, the militiaman burst into a hearty laugh.

"Cantatien's festival is almost here. It starts the day after tomorrow. We hold it every winter, so everyone's been looking forward to it all year."

"Oh, is that right?"

It wasn't as if their journey had any pressing schedule to keep. Alec decided it was a lucky chance. He didn't know whether Yona felt the same, but either way, he thought, it was a good thing.