WWotWW - Chapter 27 - A bad feeling (Patreon)

“Alright, which way?” I asked once we finally made it past the coven’s wards and into the wilderness beyond.

Mary relayed the question, waited for Plays to reply, then turned back to me. “West.”

“I was really hoping for something a little more definitive,” I muttered. “You know, towards the mountain that looks like a fish, then turn north or something.”

“Uh… from what Plays told me while we were trapped at the prison camp, her tribe moves around a lot. They’ll move to more sheltered areas during the winter, and they follow the large herds in the fall to gather enough food to get through the winter. They have a couple of places they like to come back to, but there’s no guarantee they’ll actually be there when we arrive,” Mary explained.

“I really wish I’d known that before we left the village. How are we supposed to find them then? I’ve never been a great tracker; I used to rely upon my magic to locate people, and since I can’t do that anymore…” I said, trailing off as I turned towards Clara.

“I guess I could ask Corrin to look around, once we’re in the right area, but I don’t know any magic that would allow me to survey such a large area,” Clara said before I could ask.

“Then this might take a while,” I muttered. 

Plays looked between Clara and me curiously, before asking Mary something. The two of them conversed for a minute before Mary turned back towards us excitedly. “Plays says that we don’t have to worry about finding her tribe; once we get closer, the Spirit can lead us right to them.”

“It can do that?” Clara asked.

“Well, it did manage to track down Plays. Maybe it has some sort of connection with the people it protects,” I said. “I guess we’ll have to trust it if we don’t want to spend several days wandering blindly around the area looking for any sign of the tribe.”

“True,” Clara muttered as she raised a hand to shade her eyes before glancing towards the horizon. “We should get moving. Even if we don’t know exactly where we’re going, we’ll never get there if we keep burning daylight like this.”

“Right,” I said, nodding. “Is there a good path out that direction? I know about the canyon, but I think we should avoid that area if we can help it.”

“Unfortunately, that’s the easiest, but we can stick to the ridge until we pass that area, then make our way down. The area to the west flattens out just before we need to start navigating the mountain passes; If we stay there, we should have enough travel time tomorrow that we don’t have to stay in any of the passes.”

“Sounds good to me, lead the way,” I replied, wheeling Nightmare about so I could follow her.

The spirit, sensing that we were about to get underway, padded into the woods not that far away. I’m not sure if it understood the fact that it’s very presence spooked some of the horses, or if it was the predatory instincts of wanting to stay hidden, but I was glad that it gave us some room. 

It didn’t go that far; it was always there, lurking in the corner of my vision, but at least it wasn’t right up in our faces.

Clara led our little party down a couple of game trails that ran parallel to the coven’s border, sticking to cover whenever possible. She was constantly scanning the area for any sign of trouble, and every once in a while, Corrin would fly down to converse with her before taking off and circling again.

Although I understood why she was so wary, we did just encounter a bunch of company grunts in this area yesterday- I kind of wanted to tell her to relax a little. While it was always a good idea to keep an eye on the surroundings, I knew that trying to stay on constant guard while travelling would be exhausting. 

I seriously considered riding up next to her and having a word, but in the end decided against it. If the company sent people out to look for their patrol, we’d probably run into them in this area, so a little wariness was justified; however, once we put a little space between us and the battle site, I’d have a word with Clara. 

Even though we didn’t rush through the area, we managed to make fairly good time, and within a couple of hours we’d cleared the rocky ridges that surrounded the coven and moved into a plateau at the other end of the valley, at the base of the nearest mountains. 

The area appeared to be a popular grazing ground for local wildlife, and I could see a small stream running down the side of the mountain before disappearing into the tall grass on the far side.

“Nice place,” I grunted. “Seems like a decent place to stop, but I don’t like how open the area is. Maybe we should move into the woods on the far side? Somewhere closer to the water?”

“Maybe,” Clara muttered as she scanned the area, a frown on her face. 

“Is there something the matter? Something I should be aware of in this area?” I asked when I saw her concerned expression.

“No, nothing that I know of. I’m just being cautious,” she replied.

“You know, now that we’re away from the Coven and where we encountered those thugs, you need to relax a little. You’ll exhaust yourself if you try to be on alert all the time,” I said. “Even if Grimes had access to the government’s best equipment, it would be extremely hard for them to find, or sneak up on us out here, so try to lighten up a little.”

“I know our chances of encountering someone out here are minuscule,” Clara replied. “It’s just… I have a bad feeling…”

She gave me an embarrassed smile, but her eyes never stopped scanning the area. 

“Have you ever felt this way before?” I asked quietly. “Do you find you get hunches, or bad feelings before something happens?” 

“What?” Clara asked, turning and giving me her full attention for the first time since the conversation started. “Well, sometimes. We don’t typically experience that many emergencies at the coven; we really lived a slow life until recently.” She paused for a moment. “Still, I have noticed that I tend to get a bad feeling before someone gets sick or injured.”

“Have you ever tried using Tarot cards, or a crystal ball?” I asked.

“What are you talking about?” Clara scoffed. “Aren’t those just props used by grifters and charlatans?” 

“For the most part, but they’re also tools used by clairvoyants,” I said. “And before you ask, yes, I mean REAL clairvoyants. It’s a rare gift, and most people just ignore the signs, so they never learn to use it. It’s the first time I’ve seen a witch display the signs.”

“You’re joking,” Clara muttered.

“I’m afraid not. One of my friends back east does tarot readings for the government, warning them so they can head off disasters,” I said, shaking my head. “Magic isn’t just the domain of witches; there are plenty of different practitioners out there. I wish I could tell you more, but I’ve never really looked into it much myself.” I wheeled Nightmare around and scanned the area. It looked peaceful enough, but you never knew what could be out there. “If that feeling of unease gets worse, let me know immediately. Until then, try to relax, just a little. The last thing we want is for you to exhaust yourself and then have you fall asleep during your watch.”

“I’ll try,” Clara promised. 

“Good,” I said. “Now let’s try and find a place to camp for the night. Preferably with a little bit of cover. Hopefully your bad feelings are just that, feelings, but better safe than sorry.” 

Clara nodded. “Better safe than sorry,” she repeated in a whisper.