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Chapter 6

  Caius made far better time with the benefit of magic. Now that he was much less afraid and uncomfortable, it felt almost like an adventure. Following the course of the stream seemed like a much better bet than the course he had originally set.

  Streams tended to flow into rivers, rivers flowed towards the sea. In a pre-industrial world, almost every human settlement would have to be near a river. It was a decent plan, given the information Caius had available.

  Around noon, he did in fact reach a river and followed its course downstream. It grew slightly with the addition of another stream every so often. Moving generally downhill allowed Caius to make good time, though he was surprised his feet didn't hurt.

  Caius decided to push on in hopes of finding a good campsite. Not his best decision. The sun was almost touching the tops of the nearby mountains when he decided to settle for a relatively sheltered spot. He chose it because he spotted more deadfall near the riverbank.

  As he picked out firewood, he noticed there was most of a tree trunk half-buried at the bottom of the pile. The river must get quite dangerous during the spring thaw, if it swelled enough to deposit such a large piece of wood so far up the bank.

  Far too tired to cook properly, Caius just tossed his pretty rock into the pot along with three of his potatoes and a generous amount of snow to boil them. He grinned tiredly as he realized he could actually make a kind of "rock soup."

  His inner clothes had done a spectacular job that day, and he almost felt clean. Caius just took off his outer garments and climbed into the river for a swim. Back on Earth, such an act might well have given him a lethal case of hypothermia. Wherever he was now, the water just felt pleasantly cool. He ended up spending a lot longer than he intended in the river.

  Within minutes of leaving the water, his clothes had mostly dried. It really was bizarre how water and ice seemed to work here, but he wasn't complaining.

  On his way back to where he left his stuff, Caius tripped and landed flat on his face in the snow. After walking around wearing his magical shoes all day, he had gotten used to being able to step more or less with impunity. His surprise was immense when he planted his foot on a pile of snow and it gave way.

  He was slightly bruised, but more amused at himself than anything else. In fact he paused to chuckle at himself. "Didn't even take me a full day to take magic for granted."

  A hearty meal of boiled potatoes with salt and plenty of butter perked him up quickly. He'd once read that most of the nutrition in a potato was in the peel, and had been happily using that to justify not peeling them ever since.

  The potatoes were somewhat underwhelming, actually. Fairly small, with a noticeable earthy taste and a floury texture. Probably an acquired taste.

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  Without a fire, the night turned dark very quickly. The pot and pretty rock did glow, and there was that odd illumination around him, bit the combined illumination wasn't much more than a candle or two would provide. Caius elected to go to sleep early instead of lighting a fire, since he didn't need the warmth.

  His mental since arriving here had been remarkably good. In fact, it had been years since he had felt this good for this long. Hopefully that was a good omen. He sent up a few silent words of gratitude.

  Dawn woke him. Somewhat surprisingly, there was a bit of birdsong. Only two or three within earshot, but it reminded Caius that he wasn't the only living thing in the forest. Which brought back a small amount of the fear that had been steadily fading.

  Not that Caius had been entirely ignoring the issue. It was one of the things he had been considering as he walked. He thought he had a... request? Seemed as good a name for whatever was happening as any. He thought he had the right Request figured out, he just needed the right object.

  The clasp he was wearing on his sleeve was an acceptable substitute for the bracelet he always wore, but Caius was starting to really miss his necklace. Maybe it was time to improvise a substitute?

  When he had first examined the leather satchel, one of the objects inside was a round wooden amulet. It was still in there, at the bottom. Caius examined it. Perhaps he could carve it into a different shape with his knife? The design looked like a crudely carved stalk of wheat. A keepsake perhaps.

  Come to think of it, the knife was one of the first things Caius had accidentally made a Request of. As he examined the blade more closely, it did seem to be glowing very faintly. Like the rock and unlike his clothes or shoes. Maybe it was only harder materials that kept glowing?

  Very carefully and methodically, Caius tried carving it into a more cruciform shape. The knife cut the wood without too much effort. Unfortunately his lack of skill and general coordination balanced out the advantage of the sharp knife.

  The end result looked more like a plus sign than a cross. And the bit of the original carving left in the center... looked a bit like a wonky skull if he squinted. Caius shrugged. Honestly it was better than he had expected, it was at least mostly symmetrical.

  "Looks like I have my own Crux Terminatus, I guess. Not that anyone I meet here will get the reference."

  Examining it from all angles, he thought he actually liked the end product. Not what he had in mind, but he wasn't going to start over with a random piece of wood. He slipped the leather string over his head and let the new amulet rest on his chest.

  Caius had thought up a dozen different ways to frame the Request, but thought he would start with the broadest. The difference between the extreme usefulness of his shoes and the extremely limited utility of the bowl seemed to indicate that was a good approach.

  "Hey there, little... Crux? Could you try and protect me from harm?"

  The bit of carved wood started glowing. Brightly. Actually it was by far the brightest glow he had seen, even the rock paled in comparison. Even in direct sunlight it shone visibly, looking a bit like shining crystal or gleaming metal.

  With his eyebrows climbing halfway up his forehead in surprise, Caius examined it at length. It was beautiful to look at.

  As he walked that day, he would occasionally stop just to hold up the amulet and admire it. It was the best thing he had ever made in his life.

  In fact he was so taken with his handiwork he almost didn't notice the bridge across the river. A solidly build arch of stone, wide enough for four men abreast if they were pressing their shoulders together.

  His first sign of civilization! There was no way a bridge of this quality would be built in the middle of nowhere, this must be a road that saw regular use. Which was a massive relief, Caius was worried about his food supply.

  Then a man came walking around a turn in the road, and Caius frantically tried to decide how to greet him.

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