The difficult trek through the woods was exactly what Alnyx needed to focus on; anything that wasn't the the leggy scholar. The uneven ground and constant potential to run into either a low-hanging branch or a monstrous beast meant he couldn't even spare a glance in their direction. Scouting for tracks and listening for movement outside of their own left no time for empty chatter either.
“The clearing we're coming up on is the one the trainee and master hunter were attacked in.”
He had lost track of how long they had been walking for since their last break, a few hours at least judging by the shifting of the sunlight through the branches. The soft sound of Absinthe's voice nearly startled him. He pulled the folded map from his pocket and gave it a glance to confirm. Not that he didn't believe them. With one sharp whistle he called to Fish, who had taken to padding ahead to create a wider perimeter.
Alynx hadn't even realized he wasn't speaking to the Lycine in the common tongue until he could feel Absinthe's eyes on him. Habit when it was just the two of them, and it was as close to a first language that Fish would have. The creature seemed to understand, even giving what looked to be a nod of their fluffy head before briefly settling at the elf's feet.
“Rawan. My clan's native tongue.” He answered the question before Absinthe could ask it.
“It's lovely.”
They may have said something else after, but the elf turned his head sharply towards the opening in the trees not far ahead of them. It wasn't so much as a sight or a sound that pulled his attention. A feeling, of something bleak and dark.
“There.”
An elk, black as pitch, stood a few meters in front of them near the clearing's center. From hoof to horn, it was more shadow than flesh and bone. It rippled like water, bending towards the stream to lap some into a mouth that did not open. The closest thing that Alnyx could think to compare it to in size was the giant moose that lived in the mountains, and it dwarfed even the largest of those that the had seen.
Even this brief glance was enough to know it would be foolish to try and take it by surprise with no plan. Slowly, Alnyx began to take steps backwards, not taking his eyes off the creature. Absinthe was quick to follow the elf's lead, while Fish lay still on the ground with his ears pointed in the beast's direction. The two of them continued to step backwards until the treeline swallowed their shape and Fish was only a dot of white among the leaf litter.
“What now?” Absinthe leaned on one of the nearest tree trunks, seeming short of breath but managing to keep themselves calm.
“Fish will track it to its den. We follow him.” Alnyx explained, walking to a nearby fallen log ans sitting on it and stretching his legs out in front of him as he did. “You said yesterday that it will be vulnerable in whatever its natural state is.”
“In theory, yes” Absinthe nodded. “I've never seen one in the wild. Normally, the territory of these sorts of things are closer to rifts or exposed parts of lines. Neither of those are anywhere near here based on the most recent charts the scholars have of the area.”
“The closest rift is still the one that started in the marshes?” Alnyx asked which got him another nod. “Several days. It shouldn't have been able to get this far unnoticed until now.”
“Honestly? My best guess is a local scholar. A....pet or a toy that ran away from a master.” the word didn't seem to sit well with Alnyx, and it clearly showed on his face judging by Absinthe's quick follow up. “An experiment. Shifters like that and their parts have many uses in ritual magic and alchemy.”
“Their parts.”
“It isn't always pretty work like smokeless fires and reading books.” They shrugged. “But yes. Probably why it was hostile when a human got too close, mage or not. If it was being used for experiments, it would only associate them with pain and fear. Probably panicked. They aren't...Advanced enough to have complex feelings and thoughts. If Fish, for example, is like a teenager because he can understand you somewhat and take orders when he wants, the ley beasts are toddlers.”
Alnyx wouldn't say he fully understood, but the analogy was easy enough to follow. He let out a “hmm” of a grunt before taking the small travel pack off his back. He offered up a chunk of hardened bread from it, which Absinthe took and sat beside him on the nearest fallen log. The way they wrinkled their nose said the dry, crumbly texture disturbed them. But, hunger won out.
“This is the sort of thing you study then? Creatures and their...parts?”
“No. Not directly I mean.” they wiped crumbs off of their fingers with a chuckle. “Ingredients and how they're obtained is sort of like...How I imagine you know if that mushroom over there is poisonous or good to eat. Things you pick up as a part of the job.”
That part Alnyx could understand. When you hunted as a way of life in the way his people were used to, you knew how to use every part of a kill. Guts for this, skin for that. Fussy an impractical as they liked to look, Scholars and magic had to be at least somewhat resourceful.
“How are you going to find Fish? I imagine that he's going to be able to duck and get around better than the two of us. Even if he's white as freshly bleached linen.”
“He is my Watcher, and I am his Guide. We know where one another is at all times.”
“The more you speak, the less I know. You'll have to explain that to me some time.”
“Perhaps.”
They settled back into silence as they ate their miserable excuse for a midday meal, getting what rest they could. Having caught sight of the beast, they would have to move quickly to avoid losing it. After re-securing his pack again once he determined it had been long enough, Alnyx stood and headed back off toward the clearing. Absinthe groaned before scrambling after him.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
There was no sign of the beast left, or of Fish. As they stood beside the stream, there were a confused mess of hoof prints and other markings from the native beasts. Absinthe couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. Alnyx let him try to puzzle it out before he pointed to one spot on the ground.
A single, near perfect, impression of the lycine's paw pad. The toes seemed to point to the north east, where there was a freshly broken tree limb.
“Damn clever beast isn't he.” The mage chuckled, clearly impressed.
“He likes to think so.”
***
Absinthe and Alnyx kept a healthy distance between themselves and the two beasts. A paw print here, a claw mark on a tree there: it was clear this wasn't the first time Lycine and Elf had worked this way. If the silence wasn't absolutely necessary, Absinthe might have even made further mention of how impressive it was.
As they ventured deeper and deeper into the Kingswood, it grew darker more quickly than was natural. Even with the dense canopy of the trees, some light should have broken through. The limited sight slowed them to a crawl, almost a stop, until the horned mage used a bit of magic to create a smokeless light source, this time with a palm-sized rock, a pinch of moss from one of the trees, and a few words Alnyx didn't even pretend to understand.
Something was off, both of them were certain. There wasn't any sign of animals, outside the markings they were following. The birdsong from earlier in the wood was long since silent, and even the insects seemed to stop flying at their faces. The stillness of the air was heavy, abrasive. Like dragging a hand the wrong way across velvet, Absinthe thought to themselves.
“A moment.” They put a hand on Alnyx's arm to stop him from moving forward. “I have to....Not a break, don't look at me like that. There is something I have to do.”
“There are plenty of trees to go behind.”
“Trees...Oh no, not that!” They were glad the dim light from their spelled stone wouldn't give enough for the elf to see the color that rose to their cheeks. “A magic thing. You may not be able to use the lines yourself, but even you can feel it..”
Alnyx's grunt was as close to agreement that They would get. The elf scanned across the area, to find somewhere they wouldn't lose the trail, but also wouldn't be directly in the open should the beast be closer than the last few markings said. He pointed to a few large rocks and the remnants of a broken and cracked tree trunk nearby. A flat enough surface for whatever the mage might need, and coverage to duck behind.
“Ah, perfectly serviceable. Good eye.” Absinthe patted Alnyx's shoulder and removed the pack from their back. “It may be nothing. If the beast has been here for as long as the camp's reporting makes it seem, it may be residual energy from it rubbing up on everything.”
“But it may not be nothing.” A statement, not a question. The rumors of the so called “wild elves” being more brawn than brain Absinthe heard from the LeyKissed of the tower were being proven more false every time Alnyx spoke. Blessings on blessings.
“Precisely. Could be whatever brought it to this specific Wood.” They set their bag down on the hip-high stump and began to dig through it. “Better to be safe than to be sorry.”
Another grunt of a response, and the horned mage looked over at Alnyx. The elf stood a short distance away, one hand ever resting on the hilt of a blade. He watched, not with the curiosity or awe that some did when mages prepared reagents, but with caution. Alnyx knew enough about Scholars and the way their mages were taught to not trust it entirely.
Good. Absinthe thought before going back to their bag. Silent distrust is easier than when people hover.
“I'm going to see if I can determine what is around us, if that makes sense.” The silence said it didn't, so they went on. “Different sorts of power will leave different impressions. Like the paw prints Fish is leaving for us. In a place as old as this, I would expect the trees themselves, obviously my own magic and something from the beast as well. So, I'm looking for an outlier. Something that doesn't belong.”
It wasn't clear if explaining it made things better or worse. But, it seemed to be a good enough, as Alnyx turned his back to keep watch on the woods instead of Absinthe. Enough trust that the mage wasn't going to do anything to directly get them killed.
A gray feather, a piece of clear quartz, and a pinch of the dry soil under them. Pausing for a moment, they broke a piece of the bark from the trunk for good measure, setting the stone and feather on top of it. Abstinhe sprinkled the soil over it and spoke words in a tongue nearly as old as the trees of the Kingswood. There was a warming, and a pulse of energy surely even Alnyx would feel from the horned mage's chest. The feeling of a spell properly taking hold and work done well never failed to cause Absinthe's breath to hitch for just a moment, even benign ones like this. They used the feather to clean the dust from the quartz before lifting it, top and bottom points of the crystal between thumb and middle finger. Where the stone was once clear, there were now distinct bands of color across the the largest facet of the prism.
Their own, acid green to match their eyes and veins. Black, the beast that they were tracking. Brown, the bark of the ancient wood. A tiny strip of blue, which nearly startled them. Until they realized it was the very same blue of Fish's eyes. A stripe of color ran perpendicular to all the others, and was a violet. It was frayed, feathered and branching out from the one solid line.
“There is a fissure here.” Absinthe sighed, shaking the crystal back and forth a few times. “An offshoot from one of the main lines most likely. Small enough to not have to be cataloged or dormant until out shape-shifting troublemaker showed up, if I were the betting sort.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Could be. Not one for us, though.” They tucked the crystal and feather back into their pack, kneeling on the ground and digging a small hole in the dirt. “I'll report it to the Alabaster Square when we get back. They'll send someone out to investigate further. It just may make killing the thing more....Difficult even inside a den.”
“That seems like a problem then.”
“If it's been feeding off of an exposed line, it's going to have a greater physical strength. Faster too. But, we're still smarter and more capable.” the piece of bark that served as a tray for the spell went into the hole, and they covered it with a quiet prayer of thanks and a handful of the dirt.
“Don't suppose you could just...take us to it?”
“The spell doesn't work like that, no. I can tell the whats, but not the where.” Absinthe stood, brushing the remaining dirt from their hands and putting their pack back over their shoulders. “For anything like travel, I'd have to have another scholar with me. Or be touching the line directly. And with a broken one-”
“I got it.” Alnyx shook their head, not caring about the why. “Let's move. We're nearly out of the light we do have left.”
Absinthe gestured back towards the path in a clear “lead the way”, the glowing rock still providing light floating above their other hand that was outstretched with palm skyward. While they trusted Alnyx's abilities to do what it is he was hired to do, a broken leyline this close to a settlement should have been noticed. As if he could sense the desire to not linger, Alnyx picked up the pace as they followed the freshest print they had seen.
