WWotWW - Chapter 32 - Disturbed ground (Patreon)

“I’m surprised at how easy the ride has been so far,” Clara said once we stopped for a break. “I thought we’d have to ride single file through that pass.” 

“Perspective is one hell of a thing,” I replied. “I’m actually glad that the terrain flattened out so quickly. I was a little worried we might get trapped in the pass with another one of those creatures.”

“Are you really worried there might be more of them out here? This far from civilization?” Clara asked before taking a long draw from her water skin. 

“Do I think there might be more of them? Unlikely. Was I worried? Absolutely. The Restless aren’t exactly the strongest monsters out there, but I really didn’t want to be caught in a situation where something attacked us, and one of us was unable to get past the kids to help fight,” I said. “Now that we’re through the pass, I don’t think we’ll have any problems, even if one does show up.” 

I took the water skin from her and quickly gulped down a couple mouthfuls of the lukewarm water before wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “I don’t suppose you noticed any smoke after we came through the pass, did you?” I asked as I handed the container back to her.

“No… but I admit I was paying more attention to the kids than I was to the surrounding area. It looked like Mary was really starting to get worn out by the pace you set there near the end,” Clara replied.

“Once we get back to the coven, we should give her some trail riding lessons,” I said. “It seems like she’s used to short trips, and if she doesn’t learn to relax, she’s just going to keep wearing herself out.”

“I’ll give her some pointers before we continue,” Clara replied. She turned and slipped the waterskin back into her saddlebag, then looked out over the small mountain valley in front of us. She scanned the area for several seconds before frowning. “I don’t see any smoke out there, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the tribe isn’t out there somewhere. They might just not have lit any campfires.”

“If the tribe is as big as Tallulah said, I’d expect them to maintain a couple cooking fires if nothing else,” I said.

Clara was silent for a minute, her eyes probing the horizon before finally glancing over. “I’ll ask Plays where her people normally settle while in the area, and then send Corrin out to scout the area,” she said. “This Valley isn’t massive, but it’s still large enough that we could bumble about for a couple of days before either finding the tribe or finally determining they’ve moved somewhere else.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I replied. “While you’re doing that, I think I may ride down to the tree line and take a quick look around.”

Clara cocked her head to the side. “Why?” 

“I just figured that Tallulah came this way often enough that the tribe might try and leave her a sign to tell her they left, or better yet, where they went,” I explained. “I know it’s unlikely, but I think it might be worth a quick look.”

“I’m not sure…” Clara muttered. “I’m not comfortable looking after the kids by myself. Maybe you should wait until we’re ready to move on.”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on going too far,” I replied. “I wasn’t even planning on leaving your line of sight. I just wanted to take a quick ride along the tree line and see if I could find anything. If you see anything fishy while I’m gone, you can whistle, or just fire your rifle into the air, and I’ll come running.”

“Well, I guess that’d be alright. I think Mary still needs a couple of minutes to get over her saddle sores, and it wouldn’t hurt for them to have a quick bite in order to keep their energy up. As long as you’re fast and don’t wander too far, I don’t think there’ll be any issues,” Clara said.

“Great. I won’t be long,” I promised as I wandered over to Nightmare and stepping up into her saddle. As I turned her towards the nearby treeline, I glanced over my shoulder at Clara. “Don’t forget, whistle if you need anything.”

“Trust me. If something or someone hostile shows up, you’ll know,” Clara snorted. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“Later,” I replied, before clicking my tongue to encourage Nightmare forward. 

It didn’t take long to travel down the gentle decline between the exit of the pass and the treeline at the base of the mountain. The area was thick with pine trees whose overlapping branches were thick enough to block out the late-day sun, but were high enough that they didn’t really block movement or line of sight at ground level.

With a gentle pull of the reins, I turned Nightmare so she was walking parallel to the trees and squinted into the shadows. I hadn’t expected to ride up to the treeline and just find a message from the tribe sitting right there, so I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t see anything right away. What I didn’t expect was to find a complete lack of animal signs underneath the tree cover. 

The piles of pine needles were completely undisturbed, and I could see both berry bushes and pine cones just sitting on the ground undisturbed. 

“Having the tribe disappear is one thing, but the wildlife?” I muttered. “It would be one thing if the larger animals moved away because of a predator, but the birds and squirrels too? I don’t know what’s going on here, but I don’t like it.”

I tightened my grip on Nightmare’s reins and prepared to head back towards Clara and the girls when I noticed something: a large area where all the forest detritus had been disturbed, sitting just inside the treeline. 

As I rode towards it, I noticed a faint trail leading down from the pass towards the odd area. It was old, partially overgrown, but still recognizable. If I had to guess, around a dozen horses had come through here, along with at least one wagon. 

“A lot of activity for an area that was supposed to be the sole domain of the natives,” I muttered to myself. 

Nightmare came to a halt right next to the tracks without any prompting, so I hopped down to inspect the area. The trail of trampled foliage ended at the edge of the woods, so the group had stopped here. 

But if that was the case, why move into the trees? 

I stared at the disturbed area for several seconds, trying to work out what they were doing. I couldn’t make out much from this distance, just a couple of mounds and piles of rocks. I knew I could have just walked in and taken a closer look; however, something about this whole thing felt wrong. Very wrong. My instincts told me to run and get as far away from this place as possible. 

Despite every fiber in my being screaming to run away, I placed one hand on the pistol on my belt and stepped into the forest. The fear oozing out of this area wasn’t normal; in fact, it was something I’d experienced multiple times before: supernatural terror.

I grit my teeth as I put one foot in front of the other, slowly creeping closer to the cleared area.

I managed to get about halfway when a twisted hand burst out of the ground, groping blindly around the forest floor before scratching at the dirt. Attempting to dig down.

“Hellspawn,” I hissed, whipping out my pistol and releasing a blast at the arm. The bullet ripped the rotted flesh, completely severing the limb at the elbow. It flopped to the ground and lay still for a moment before the hand rose up, like some sort of insect, and started slowly dragging what remained of the forearm around. 

I took one good look at the area from where I was and immediately retreated towards Nightmare. 

Eleven mounds, five areas of disturbed earth; This was a body disposal site, and whoever dropped the corpses here hadn’t even provided the victims with the tiniest bit of respect. Headstones acted as a deterrent, making sure the bodies of the deceased stayed in the ground; everyone knew that, which meant that this was intentional and malicious. 

One zombie wasn’t a huge threat if you knew how to deal with it. A horde, on the other hand… Malicious spirits resonated with each other, empowering each other. They were a serious problem, and if that thing that had wandered into our camp last night came from here, that meant there were at least four more of these things already loose.

I jumped back on Nightmare and turned back towards Clara and the girls. I needed to warn them, and we needed to prepare for the threat, before it was too late.