Dragon Born

Chapter 5

Midnight was a black gelding. After seeing Kramer’s horses, I couldn’t deny that he was from his farm, but I wouldn’t let that change my opinion of the gelding. He was a loyal horse and didn’t give me any resistance when we left the safety of the walls.

I guided him along the border until I found signs of the contamination. It wasn’t hard to find; the horrible patch of decay was visible from the road leading into Istle. Unfortunately, the creek provided a nice and easy path for the contamination to follow. The creek looked like a long, winding serpent of death, slithering along the otherwise untainted plains of Wala for as far as I could see.

Tucking a loose strand behind my ear--and mentally preparing myself for a long ride in the merciless sun--I nudged Midnight to follow the creek. Whatever the cause was for this, it appeared to spread slowly into the surrounding foliage as well as downstream. Some places were denser with the black infection than others, typically where the water slowed down or pooled.

I made markers on a map at points where the foliage was more affected and notes of where I took my soil and water samples. Still no sign of a source.

The creek wove into Four Fang Forest. I halted Midnight at the edge, unsure how far I wanted to travel from Istel with only a few supplies, mostly to deal with this plague, and my sword. There was still several hours of sunlight before I had to worry about the beasts roaming at night, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything dangerous out now. It wasn’t called Four Fang Forest for the bunny population.

If you don’t figure out where this plague is coming from, more animals will die. It would continue to spread until someone else put a stop to it, but it might already be too late for that. All of our livestock could be contaminated by then--then the people who ate our livestock would get sick.

Finding the resolve within myself, I pushed Midnight further. It was a relief on my head and shoulders to finally be out of the sun, to feel the cool air of the forest on my skin. The canopy was thick, barely allowing any light to break through. Couldn’t say I missed it.

What I did miss was being able to see more than a few feet ahead. There were too many ferns and trees to give me a full view of everything around me. There could be a predator hiding in the canopy or within the ferns and I wouldn’t know until it was too late.

With that unsettling thought, I pulled out my sword, keeping it ready.

“Good job, Lyla. Go into the creepy forest alone. Save some animals from a horrible fate. Get eaten while you’re at it.” Dad wouldn’t have approved in the slightest, but I definitely should have hired a bodyguard.

I went a bit further up the creek then stopped. The contaminants touched the moss and a few ferns around it, but it hadn’t reached the trees yet. That was a good sign. Even when I drilled into one, only clear sap leaked. I took a sample of it, just in case it was like the water and didn’t have visible indications of being infected.

I was just straightening up from collecting a contaminated algae sample when I heard voices. But that couldn’t be right. What sane person would willingly go into this forest. . . .

Yet the voices continued. Two males from the sound of it.

“I hate this place, Rin. How long do we have to hide here?”

“As long as Rauner wants us to, so quit complaining and get moving. This shit ain’t gonna move itself.”

“It’s rank. Who did you piss off to get this job?”

Crouching, I crept through the ferns towards the voices to see what they were doing. My instincts told me it had something to do with the condition of the creek. I stopped short at the first glimpse of a pair of heads. One man had long, balding hair, looking as if he could lift a horse on his shoulders with muscles like that. The other man was smaller, with a nasty scar tugging on his mouth and curling up the side of his face. He wore a permanent grimace. Or maybe it was because of the sack that was oozing black goo onto his boots.