WWotWW - Chapter 41 - In Over Our Heads (Patreon)

After thinking about it for like... 10 minutes, I probably change that stitchman part to something about abominations. They'd only know the zombies they'd been facing are malformed. I fix later.

“Can you sense those pendants we gave the girls before we left? Do you think you could track them?” I asked Clara.

Clara closed her eyes for a moment and muttered something under her breath. “I can… The miasma is muting the magic, so it's very faint, but thankfully the two of them are together. That helps,” she replied. “Why? I know we just encountered that… thing, but isn’t it safer to wait for them here than to risk passing each other out in the woods?”

“Normally I’d agree with you, but that monster changes things. I think we need to move now, while we have a chance,” I declared.

“Why? What’s the rush?” Clara asked. “While we know that… thing… is armed, it looked like it couldn’t enter the clearing. I could even perform a ritual to create some earthen barricades to stop it from shooting us. Besides, the girls left both their equipment and their horse here, and although we could load up the horse with their gear, without a rider to calm it, there’s a good chance the miasma would cause it to panic and bolt,” Clara said. “We can’t afford to risk losing both a horse and a significant portion of our supplies.”

“We have to,” I said.

Clara threw up her arms. “Give me one good reason why we should leave our shelter, brave the miasma, and risk getting lost looking for the girls instead of waiting for them here,” Clara said, exclaiming.

“Alright,” I replied, kicking dirt onto the fire, which only seemed to irritate Clara. “When we were debating whether we should risk crossing the Miasma, one of the reasons I agreed to give it a try was because I thought that if we ran into any threats, we’d be able to outrun them on our horses. While that’s certainly true when it comes to zombies, we’re going to have a much harder time outrunning a bullet.”

“So? What does that have to do with leaving now? Do you think that monster is just going to disappear if we leave early?” Clara asked sarcastically.

“No… but it DID just empty its magazine into the camp, which means it’ll need to reload before it can try again,” I said. “If we’re correct, and it’s been wandering around the valley causing chaos for a while now, then it must have a way to reload that weapon. It didn’t seem much smarter than a standard undead, and it didn’t try to reload here, so I’m guessing it has to go somewhere to get it done.”

Clara raised an eyebrow. “Do you honestly think it could have someone helping it?”

“I don’t know. Normally I’d say that it was impossible, that no one would be stupid enough to sit around a tainted area and risk getting attacked by all the warped abominations that develop in the area,” I said. “However, I never truely thought anyone was crazy enough to not only create a stitchman, but arm it with a rotary cannon. Not after what happened in europe.”

“Okay, now I have a ton of new questions, like what the heck a stitchman is, and why that’s relevant, but let’s stick to the topic at hand,” Clara said, shaking her head. “Why does the fact that it needs help, help us?”

“Because this will be the only time in the foreseeable future where we know approximately where the creature is, and we know that it won’t be popping out of nowhere to try and hose us down with that brass spitting monstrosity,” I explained. “If we wait, we lose this window.”

“That… makes sense, but it doesn’t change the fact that the miasma is still interfering with the magic, and we risk missing the girls,” Clara said.

“Can you call Corrin, ask her to scout from the air? That would cut down on our chances of missing each other,” I asked.

“I could…” Clara replied hesitantly. “However between the thick tree cover and the miasma she can barely make out anything on the ground. Plus, I just sent her off to hunt outside the miasma cloud, since anything she caught in here would almost certainly be tainted. It’d take her awhile to get back.”

“Damnit,” I hissed. “I should have brought my broom.”

“Wait, you left it behind? Why?” Clara asked. “Don’t you normally store it in your rifle case?” 

“I do, but I took it out since I hadn’t had a chance to inspect it, or perform maintenance on it, after getting it back from you,” I grumbled. “I thought I wouldn’t need it on a simple escort job, and leaving it in the coven would give it time to attune to the local magic. I’m never going to make that mistake again.”

“So, do you still think it’s a better idea to abandon our position, even if we don’t have any aerial assistance?” Clara asked. 

“Well, either that or we go after it,” I replied. “Which… now that I think about it might not be a bad idea.”

“It’s a terrible idea!” Clara yelled. “Even though I only got the briefest look at that thing, I know it’s not something you trifle with. You thought it was a troll when we saw it!”

“To be fair, it still could be a troll of some kind,” I said. “However, after seeing how twisted that zombie was a couple days ago I think it’s much less likely than it being some sort of experiment.”

“That doesn’t make things better!” Clara exclaimed. “How can you be so reckless?”

“Well, it helps when I don’t have much to live for,” I replied casually. “Losing both my home and my magic broke me for awhile, and with this new power of mine all I’m really good for is fighting and monster hunting.”  Clara opened her mouth to say something, but I held up a hand. “Before you say anything, I don’t have a deathwish or anything. I truely appreciate what you and the coven have done for me, you’ve brought a little joy back to my life, but I’ve only known you for a few days now,” I said. “And despite how insane the idea sounds, this actually might be our best chance to track that thing down and kill it.”

“You’re right, it does sound insane,” Clara muttered. “Did you see how big that thing was?”

“It’s smaller than the Wendigo was,” I replied. “And besides, it’s size actually works against it. Something that big would definitely leave a trail that even the miasma would have trouble completely covering up. We have a much better chance of taking that thing down while it’s only got that claw to fight with.”

Clara blanched. “If I gave up the argument, and agreed to come with you to meet up with the girls, would you give up that insane idea?” she asked.

“I’m not trying to blackmail you into taking my side here,” I sighed. “I’m just weighing our options here. The truth is, I’d rather not engage that thing again, and even if I did I’d probably want the Spirit at my back as I did, however that would mean giving that thing time to rearm, making it significantly more dangerous.”

“That’s assuming that monster isn’t capable of reloading by itself, or that the theoretical reload point is far enough away that you get to it before it’s rearmed,” Clara pointed out.

“True,” I muttered. “Ugh… I don’t like any of our options. While taking cover here is probably the safest, it does mean that there’s a small chance the girls might catch a stray bullet, even with fortifications. If we go we risk missing the girls, and making the situation worse, and engaging this thing early carries too many risks.”

“Well, I thought leaving was a stupid idea up to the point you started talking about hunting that thing. After hearing you seriously consider that, and thinking about facing that weapon again, I’m not as opposed to leaving as I was before. You’re right in the fact that any time we face that thing there’s a small chance that it could hit the girls, and I want to avoid that, but I’d still prefer to stay here,” Clara said.

“And I’d prefer to go,” I said, glancing around the camp. “So we’re at an impass.”

“And unless you have a way to break the stalemate, we’re staying here by default,” Clara said.

Yeah…” I muttered pacing around for a couple seconds before sticking my hands into my pockets to think. When I did my knuckles smacked something cold and hard in my left pocket. Reaching around I grasped it, pulling out an old, worn out coin I’d forgotten I’d had. 

Flipping it a couple times, I turned to Clara. “I have an idea,” I declared.

“Please tell me your idea isn’t to flip a coin to decide what we do,” she grumbled. 

“It is,” I replied seriously. “Have you ever heard the saying ‘Fate guides you, but luck keeps you alive?’”

Clara frowned. “No… where did you hear that? Sounds like something a gambler might say,” she grumbled.

“You’re close. She’s no gambler, but she does deal in cards; Tarot to be precise. That used to be one of Alina’s favorite sayings,” I said, before frowning. “I admit, she did say it a lot more during the nights where we went out drinking and gambling.”

“Probably just before she lost,” Clara snorted.

“She never lost, Alina is a seer. Not like those charlatans you see setup in some sketchy back alley, a real one,” I said. “And despite being able to see the future, she preferred to flip a coin whenever she had to decide something. I figure if it’s good enough to guide a seer, it’s good enough for us.”

Clara stared at me for a minute, I could tell she was fighting with herself trying to decide if what I said was real or bullshit. Finally, she sighed. “Fine.”

I smiled, placed the coin on my thumb and flicked it as hard as I could. “What do you want? Heads, or tails?”