It was light inside the tent. Morn heard Acantha and Jade talk outside. The orc closed their eyes again. There had been a dream, but it was gone as soon as they had woken. Morn sighed and got up, taking their axe with them as they left the tent. Their tent stood on the edge of the mountains. Today they would have to venture through them towards the daemon.
“But what ís it?” Acantha asked the elf, who held a bottle in her hand.
Jade didn’t respond to Acantha, probably because she didn’t know the answer. Morn looked at the bottle and saw it was translucent, but sturdy. They realized it was made out of glass. They had never seen glass before in their life. Perhaps one of Morns parents had known about glass. As an orc, Morn was imprinted with memories from their parents. Because of the large accumulation of memories from not only their parents, but also generations before them, recalling knowledge felt like instinctively knowing. They didn’t know why something was, they just knew it was so.
Jade had taken the top off the bottle and was smelling the dark red liquid inside.
“Fruity,” she said, “But there’s some strange smell mixed in.”
Acantha took the bottle from Jade’s hands and frowned when the elf started to warn her to not drink it. Jade grinned apologetically.
“Where did you get that?” Morn asked.
“It was lying here,” Jade pointed close to the tent, “I think someone dropped it during the night.”
Morn frowned, as far as they know, only daemons roamed freely at night.
“Maybe we can use the bottle,” Acantha decided as she gave it back to Jade, who put back the cork.
The three of them cleaned up their camp and Acantha hoisted her folded tent up her back. She picked up the bottle and hesitated for a moment, then she tucked it between the cloth of her makeshift backpack. Morn and Jade had a breakfast consisting of a few berries that they had brought from home. They didn’t bring much food, but Jade expected to find food in the mountains. She would go look before the next meal. Acantha didn’t worry about food, she had been able to gain sustenance from the soil when she had rooted during the night.
Jade looked up towards the mountains. She squinted and mumbled a little bit to herself in thought. Then she nodded. Morn and Acantha looked at Jade expectantly. Ever since Morn had informed the others that they did not know how to get to the daemon, the elf had taken over. She had asked the orc everything that they did know. Morn told them about the cave, the mountains surrounding the cave and the wildlife. Together with the generic direction that Effy had pointed them, Jade decided on their route. Morn trusted the elf. She had proven her worth before in the forest. The elf seemed to have a great sense of direction, as if she had a built in compass. Jade turned to her friends and explained how she thought they should go about climbing the mountains.
“It’s going to be difficult to find water up there,” Jade added to the plan.
Morn shrugged, they’d worry about it when they got there. It would be nice to get going. After a lack of protests, Jade led them up the mountains. She had picked out quite a comfortable path, not too steep, so that they could easily walk up the mountains. Every so often, Jade would pick up speed to gain on them, then stop to look around. Halfway through the day, Morn started to get thirsty. Jade had been right about the water, they hadn’t seen any water at all on their way up. Morn hesitated, but then decided to share their concerns. Jade agreed that they should find water quick. It would probably be hidden, perhaps they could find wildlife that they could follow. After what was another ten minutes, they saw movement. Acantha ran towards it and grabbed hold of it with her vines. It was a large cat, which was now struggling to get free.
“What are you doing?” Jade asked, frustrated, “How is it going to lead us to water if you kill it?”
“Who knows how long it would have taken before it got thirsty,” Acantha sneered and she wrapped one of her vines around the cat’s head to break its neck. “Can I use your knife?” Acantha held out her hand. Jade let out a disapproving sound of disgust, but she gave her knife to the spawn. Acantha started cutting open the animals skull and took out a little lump of brain which she put into her mouth and swallowed without chewing. Acantha closed her eyes made a face, she was not enjoying the experience.
“There’s a little underground lake, not too far from here.” She said, after opening her eyes again.
Jade huffed, still recovering from what she just witnessed.
“Are we taking the animal?” Jade asked her friends.
Acantha shrugged, Morn nodded slowly. Jade took the animal by its four paws and carried it with them as Acantha led the way towards the water. It was nearing the end of the day when they finally reached the cave. When they walked inside, they heard the water before they saw it. They heard a faint but sharp echo of their footsteps inside the cave. The cave was small, but filled mostly with water. Morn and Jade took a few handfuls of water to quench their thirst.
“We better set up camp here,” Jade stated. They did set up camp and even made a small fire to cook the cat.
Morn closed their eyes and looked. Their shadow was hidden in a small corner right next to the cave. Morn could see three large mountaintops surrounding the small valley. A birdlike creature flew through the sky. The sun was setting and soon it would be night. To their right, Morn saw smoke rising. They were close. Morn opened their eyes again. Their shadow, Turnfeather, was not too far away. Tomorrow they would reach the cave that was the destination of their endeavor. Soon they would fight the daemon that had abducted the elf that they had sworn to protect