Chapter 9
Zolem offered me a ride on his own horse and so I climbed behind him. And off we went. It was the first time in my entire life that I was travelling like this. There were no guards around me, constantly keeping an eye on me. I felt free as a bird. Even father wasn’t there to lecture me, nor was mother with her confusing talks.
It took a total of twenty minutes to reach the main town of Drannia. It was a small town. There were no great buildings here like there were in Drastak. Most of the houses were built of wood. In five more minutes we had reached the very centre of the town. I saw the big walls that surrounded the woods of Ultur. On the wall were several pictures and symbols that depicted that jumping over the walls out of curiosity might end up costing one’s life.
It was early morning and there were not many people out. I could jump over the wall without needing to face any hindrances.
I climbed down from Zolem’s horse.
“You are sure right?” Zolem asked me.
I nodded.
“No other way round it,” I told him.
It was a high wall, but being a cat, I was able to dash up the wall, my claws providing me a good hold on the uneven surface of the wall. I looked at the other side of the wall. The woods occupied only a small space, not more than a couple of hundred metres in length and breath. It was astonishing that such a small place could be the cause of so much fear. I could even see the wall on the other side of the woods through the gaps in between the trees.
I was acutely aware that once I jumped down the wall the magic of the woods of Ultur would have me.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” I said to the group. My eyes met with Gnaria’s. She was staring fixedly at me. The other members of the group looked quite sober. Zuli was crestfallen and looked like a juicy fruit she was about to eat had fallen into a drain.
I turned and I was about to leap into the other side, when I heard Gnaria’s voice shout.
“I am coming with you as well!”
The sound of her dashing up the wall followed and the next moment she was beside me on the wall.
“Are you crazy?” I asked her. I had a reason to go into the woods, but she didn’t have any.
“What are you doing Gnaria?” the other members of her group asked her. They were as astonished as me if not more.
“It’s important,” Gnaria said. “For the past few days I have been drinking heavily. I cannot stay without rum for more than a few hours. I know all the troubles that I have been causing you all. Even now I am thirsty… for rum. I want to get drunk once more. But I want to fight this. I feel weak, like I do not have any control over myself.”
“What has that got to do with you going into Ultur?” Zuli demanded. She had a severe frown on her forehead. She had obviously been a good friend of Gnaria for long and didn’t want her to be lost forever.
“Well, I am sure there isn’t any rum in Ultur,” Gnaria replied with a meagre smile. I just want to prove to myself that I can control the urge to drink. If I cannot get out the woods, then well… do remember me, as someone who tried her best to win control over herself.”
There was a rather painful silence for a while. Gnaria’s group members looked at her with pleading eyes, begging her not to go. Then Zolem finally spoke up.
“Well then, it’s your decision,” he said, “we will wait for you the whole day today and we expect you to return. Timmy is with you as well and he is a brave cat. Maybe the two of you would find a way to return.”
With a last wave at the group, Gnaria and I leapt from the top of the wall onto the other side of the wall. Even as we were falling, we could feel that something all around us was changing. By the time we had hit the ground and we turned to look at the wall, the wall was completely gone. Instead of it there were miles and miles of thick forest in every direction all around us.
“Whoa,” I said.
“So this is what happens,” Gnaria said and though there was excitement in her voice she sounded rather weak.
“You shouldn’t have come with me,” I told her, “there are other ways to deal with your drinking problem.”
“You are saying that because you do not know how much I am thirsting right now for a drop of rum,” Gnaria said with a meek smile.
Just then a message popped up in my vision, and apparently Gnaria got a similar message as well because she let out an exclamation.
Congratulations!
You have summoned the courage to enter the much feared woods of Ultur.
You receive the Rope Spell!
Just point at any opponent or anything in general and say “Rope”. Immediately ropes would materialise and bind whoever or whatever you point at. Note that the strength of the ropes would depend on the mana you use for the spell. Be wise and do not spend excess mana on something for which you do not need thick ropes.
I couldn’t believe it. Just entering the woods had given me a gift. Who knew what other spells I might receive while being in the woods? Maybe those who entered the woods liked the place so much that they decided to stay here instead of trying to find a way out?
“Did you get a new spell as well?” Gnaria asked me, a sparkle in her eyes even though she looked a bit pale.
I nodded.
“Did you receive one as well?”
Gnaria turned her front paws into knives of steel and hit one of them against a small tree beside her. The knife went through the tree as easily as though it was going through butter. The top of the tree fell to the ground.
“It’s a Knife spell,” Gnaria said.
I couldn’t say anything. It was a cool spell. Way better than the rope spell I had received. Gnaria didn’t require to carry a sword around again in her life.
To demonstrate my own spell to Gnaria, I pointed my paws at a nearby tree and I yelled, “Rope!”
Instantly ropes materialised around the tree, bound tightly around it. I had not spent much mana so the ropes were thin in appearance.
“I think your spell’s better,” I said to Gnaria, “but mine’s not so bad either.”
But Gnaria had gone dead silent.
I turned my eyes in the direction she was looking. My insides immediately turned cold.
About a hundred feet from us stood what looked like a human.
Except it wasn’t a human.
It was a humanoid insect. One that had two legs, and two arms. It had antenna on its head and large yellow eyes that were fixed at me and Gnaria. It also held a sword in one hand, and I was pretty sure that its odd mouth parts could tear a good chunk of my flesh in a single bite.
Chapter 10
As if one strange insect being was not enough, more appeared behind the first one. All of them were of around the same height and each carried a sword of what looked like fine steel.
“Should we run?” Gnaria said, her tone shivering.
I didn’t reply, I was so awestruck at the insect beings.
“Come on, use that Long Hands spell of yours and get us out of here,” Gnaria said, sheer panic in her voice.
But still I just stared at the insect beings, Gnaria’s words were at best distant echoes to me.
And then the first insect being raised his sword and let out a shrill cry that made the hair of my body stand on their ends. The countless insect beings came running at us, their swords raised. They were going to kill and eat us, I was sure beyond a doubt.
I pointed my hand at the first insect being and I yelled,
“Rope!”
Immediately ropes appeared around the insect being’s body and he fell to the ground, struggling to get out of the ropes. This only incited the other insect beings more.
Just then I actually thought about what Gnaria had said. There were so many trees around that we could easily get away using my Long Hands spell. I pointed my paw at a branch high up a distant tree and I tired to activate the spell and my paw remained its original size.
Sorry you do not possess enough mana for the Long Hands spell!
> My hear sank. I had put too much mana into the rope spell I had used on the insect being because of my fears and now it would take a good while before my mana would replete enough that I could use the Long Hands spell.
Great, Timmy, excellent thing to do!
“What happened?” Gnaria asked, her eyes wide, the insect beings only a few metres away.
“It’s not activating,” I said.
Barely had I spoken that the insect beings were upon us. One being swung his sword at me. I squatted and the sword flew over my head. The insect being kicked on my head with its leg that was covered by exoskeleton. I fell back. The insect being raised his sword, ready to finish me off.
I pointed my paw at his face in my desperation.
“Rope!” I yelled. I did not put a lot of mana into the spell, yet with the ropes all over the insect being’s face and eyes the insect being was distracted. I used this to my advantage and punched the insect being hard on the face and heard the crack of exoskeleton. The insect being tried to pin me down, but I was able to wriggle free. I grabbed his arm, the one that had the sword and twisted it. The insect being let out a gruesome cry even as he let the sword drop from his hands. I quickly picked up his sword and struck his neck so that his head that was still covered with my ropes flew a good distance and hit one of the other insect beings on the chest. White gooey blood spurted from the neck of the beheaded insect being.
Gnaria…
Immersed in my own struggle I had completely forgotten about her. I turned my head to see that she was dealing with three insect beings on her own. She was using her hand knives to chop whatever insect body part she could. I suddenly realised that all around the place many insect limbs and heads and torsos were strewn about. In the time that I had taken to kill just one insect being, Gnaria had chopped quite a few. The knife spell was obviously superior to the rope spell.
I threw the ropes at another insect being approaching me. I charged at him even as he struggled and I killed him with ease. I was surely getting a better hold of the weapon called sword. Real fights taught you so much more compared to what you learned at training since your entire attention is focussed at a single task.
And just then Gnaria let out a cry, even as I was about to attack a third insect being.
Gnaria’s knives had turned to ordinary paws! She had probably depleted her mana fighting the insect beings.
Shit.
I wasted no time in running to her and fought off the one remaining insect being that she hadn’t yet killed.
But there were many more insect beings approaching.
“We need to get away from here,” Gnaria said, massaging a shoulder where she had received a punch from an insect being.
I nodded.
We fled in the direction opposite to where the insect beings were appearing from. We ran like mad. Many times I would turn around and shoot an air arrow or use the rope spell on our pursuers.
After a while the insect beings probably realised that catching us wasn’t that lucrative after all. Gnaria and I were only two rather skinny cats and the insects beings could better spend their time catching some large game. The insect beings stopped their pursuit. Gnaria and I fell to our knees and for a few moments all we did was pant.
I had never run so fast in my life. My heart thundered in my chest. Still the realisation that we had actually escaped the insect beings made me happy. There had been so many of them. At the same time I cursed myself for not using the proper spell at the proper time. From next time on I would try to not let emotions like fear hinder me from taking the correct decision about which spell to us.
Once we had rested enough we decided to wander the forest.
“Why did you actually want to come to this place?” Gnaria asked me, looking up at the sun through the branches of the trees. The sun had begun its descent. “I don’t feel it was only for the thrills.”
I looked at her and considered if I should tell her the truth. Even though I had met Gnaria only today, I felt in my heart that she was somebody who could be trusted, somebody who wouldn’t try to run away with the map if I told her about the treasure.
“I am after something,” I said to Gnaria.
“Something that can only be found in Ultur?” Gnaria asked.
Well, not necessarily. While it was the treasure that I was after, there was nothing mentioned in the map that the treasure could be fund in Ultur. I suddenly came to the realisation that I didn’t really know what I was searching in Ultur. This struck a chord of fear in my heart. Ultur was a big forest and I didn’t know if it would be possible to get out of here soon or if ever. I should have paid heed to the group members and thought over everything before entering the forest. I should have gone to the other places located in the map first.
I decided to be transparent to Gnaria and took out the piece of the map and showed it to her and told her everything—except that I was a prince of course.
Gnaria looked at me, her mouth open.
“I have heard about the myth of the goat king too,” Gnaria said, “but I didn’t think it was true. Just another story that is told to children.”
“Apparently it is not so,” I said.
“But are you just going to wander Ultur in search of something that would lead you to the treasure?” Gnaria asked and from the look on her it was evident that she thought I had gone round the bent.
I shrugged and sighed and nodded.
We kept moving. After a couple of hours the weariness began to catch up to us. I managed to stun a bird flying in the sky with my air arrow—out of luck and not out of skill— and we ate the bird raw after removing its feathers. However there was no water anywhere in sight and thirst licked our throats.
Gnaria began to speak of a different thirst, that was not for water.
“I have never gone this long without rum,” she told me.
“Well, wasn’t that the whole point of you coming here?” I asked.
Chapter 11
After a while night fell. I was getting restless with thirst. I had drunk my last drop of water during the break of dawn that day, which was ages ago. And then, as if the gods of Arun had become kind to us, the rustle of a stream reached our ears.
We ran to it, me running faster than Gnaria. When I finally reached the stream I drank the water like mad. Gnaria reached the stream and she too knelt down before it.
“I wish if this was a river of rum,” she said, and as she lowered her mouth to the stream a sudden magical glow took over the waters of the stream. I was scared and immediately spilled out the water that I had not yet gulped and was on my feet at once. Gnaria stood up even without drinking a drop.
“What is happening?” I said. The entire stream was sparkling, casting light onto the trees on the edges of the stream. A music filled the area, one that could have been produced only by some instrument of water. It was delightful music, and I felt my alarm easing. Perhaps the magical light was not related to anything harmful?
And then, even as we watched, the water of the stream right in front of us began to rise and assumed the form of a seductive cat lady. The water lady smiled at us, her smile bright with light. I thought she was very beautiful.
“I am Bruni,” the water lady said, her voice in alignment with the beautiful music that was playing. “I am the goddess of this stream. I make wishes come true. When I heard your wish I revealed myself to you.” Bruni was speaking to Gnaria, whose eyes were large and expectant.
“Can you really turn this stream into one of rum?” Gnaria asked.
“Yes,” Bruni told her. “I will, if that is what you wish for.”
Gnaria exchanged glances with me. I shook my head in warning. It would not be good to get drunk in the forest. Bruni apparently would make any wish come true, even if the wish could possibly get you killed.
Gnaria turned at Bruni and at that moment I knew that Gnaria would pay no heed to me. She was too thirsty for rum. I could see it all in her eyes.
“Yes, please do
it,” Gnaria said, she almost begged.
Bruni smiled and this time I thought her smile wasn’t so bright. I also began to wonder if she had lost a huge portion of her beauty. The music of the stream suddenly became dull. Bruni closed her eyes and a bad feeling stirred in my stomach. Something was not going right. This was the forest of Ultur at the end of the day.
“It has been done,” Bruni said, opening her eyes. The music had entirely died down now, so that an eerie silence had taken over. The stream now smelled strongly of rum.
Gnaria however was unaware of all the other changes taking place. In her moment of utter excitement and extreme weakness she leapt into the stream of rum.
She gulped down the rum like she couldn’t get enough of it. Watching her in no control of herself, I realised why she had been ready to come to the forest if only to get rid of her weakness for rum. I knew that once she was sober she would greatly repent what she was doing. And yet, all I did was stand and watch her. I felt like I was incapable of movement. Was it because of the shock at all the magic that I had witnessed in such a short period of time? Or was it just a strange reluctance to act?
Finally, Gnaria had drunk her full. She closed her eyes. Her stomach bulging, a contended smile on her lips. I realised that if I did not bring her out of the stream she would be there all night. And when the morning came she might drink more of the rum. No, I had to do something.
I leapt into the stream myself, grabbed Gnaria’s arm and pulled her to the edge of the stream, all the while aware of the displeased eyes of Bruni the river goddess.
Gnaria slumped onto the ground. She opened her eyes meekly, and she appeared to have become the drunk girl that I had first come across in the dwelling of the giant rat.
And then Bruni spoke. Her tone was cold.
“And now it is time for payment,” she said to me. “Either you do it or your friend. But since she is not in control of herself right now I would recommend you do it.”
I felt like someone had hit me on the face with a brick.
The Goat King's Wives Online Page 5