Hours later, Oras pushed his way past the wooden plank. His emergence was quickly noticed by the two men holding guard. “OH SHIT!” one yelled. “SOMETHING EMERGED FROM THE RUIN! GET UP!”

  That was not the reaction Oras had hoped.

  The entire camp went into a stir. Arrows were knocked before the Dragonblood could shout. “It’s me! The adventurer from this morning!”

  The assurance caused immediately relief among the watchers and grumbles among those whose sleep had been so suddenly disturbed. “Natures’s Wisdom, man, we thought you were the Ceramic!” one of the men cursed.

  “More accurately, we thought you were minced meat,” another one of the men joked, then looked behind him. “That your partner?”

  Oras looked over his shoulder to see the dark shades of what he knew to be two women disappearing in the nearby underbrush. There was some eye rubbing and mumbling. To distract them, he presented the immediately believable situation. “Yes, she needs… relief time.”

  “Ah, well,” the guard looked away. No one wanted to be the guy that checked on a woman pissing, especially if there was no reason to. “So I take it there is no Ceramic down there?”

  “There is,” Oras was happy to immediately lock onto that topic. That had been his plan anyhow. Approach the guards, regale them with a description of the Ceramic, while making them turn their back to the ruin. He had underestimated how jumpy would be. “Horrific creature. It cut my wife’s back while we ran from it. It stopped chasing us once we reached the fountain room. We spent the last hour in there, making sure her wound sealed up properly.”

  He was turning several hours into one, but otherwise that was close enough to the truth that anyone checking for the signs of activity would find nothing off.

  “There’s a whole complex down there,” Oras continued talking. “Easily fifty metres end to end, with a bunch of side rooms. Two floors, with more steel than I have ever seen and other items of the Precursors… we even found dead Strings.”

  Prayers were muttered for the souls of the ancestors. Oras joined them. He hadn’t had the time or mind to pay his proper respects until that moment.

  All of what he had said were things he was going to report to the Guild anyhow. There was no need to hide it. Indeed, it would be more suspicious if he did. Not like these villagers would run ahead of him.

  “After we had a look around, the Ceramic found us. We got lucky, hid in a corner, and sat it out there for hours. When had the opportunity, we ran for it. Still got sliced, as mentioned.”

  “Well… hope that was worth it for you.”

  Oras made a slow gesture that effectively expressed nothing. “In any case, I will be on my way. We wish to get this to the Guild as soon as possible.”

  “And we’ll send word to the village... Whoever clears out this ruin definitely will want to hire some hands if there’s as much steel down there as you claim.”

  They parted on those words. Oras marched up the Path of the Supernatural Elephant at a brisk pace, with only moonlight as his guide. It was enough. Beyond the view of the camp, far beyond the reach of their torches and campfire, he reunited with Theria and Celia.

  “Can’t believe I almost cocked that up,” she confessed.

  “I think you went just a tad too early.”

  “Yeah, no shit.” Theria bashfully adjusted her ponytail. “I heard them shout and then I was like: ‘definitely distracted!’”

  “They were, in fact, very alert.”

  “Well, it worked, so… all’s well that ends well?”

  They could say that.

  __________________________________________________________________

  Weekdawn, 14th of Octavius, 11th year of the Stringless Era

  They were following the Path back north. Oras had decided they would, both for spiritual reasons and because it allowed Celia to see the greatest marvel of their civilization.

  The compressed coverings on her womanly bits remained in place. Stringless did eat, but they didn’t pass waste, which was just another marvel of Precursor technology. On top of those covers, she wore Theria’s spare set of clothes. They fit her well enough.

  Sadly, she remained mute. By this point, Oras had accepted this fact. He and Theria continued to chat with her regardless, telling her what they knew about everything that grabbed her attention, which was a whole host of things.

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  She had a curious mind. Oras recognized that in her, because she behaved in similar ways to himself. Sometimes she swerved off the path without warning, inspecting some kind of plant or large insect. In this, she always demonstrated a sufficient amount of situational awareness. When she swerved, she did so while in the middle or front of their groups, never when in the back. When she wanted something to be explained, she competently pointed that out with gestures.

  It was an odd mixture, the inquisitiveness of a teenager mixed with the discipline of a seasoned servant. Odder still was that there were many things she did not inquire about. When they had first stepped outside, she had seemed familiar with trees and bushes. Common concepts were ingrained in her mind already.

  ‘I’ll have to buy her a chalkboard or something,’ Oras thought. He really wished to converse with her in more detail. Even if she did not have any intel on the Precursors specifically, her given knowledge could still reveal many things.

  “Think we’ll catch up to Torm at some point?” Theria asked.

  “No.” Oras had that answer ready. “He’s a seasoned walker, I doubt he’d be taking his time. He will also be using the road.”

  “Oh yeah, he would do that,” Theria agreed. “Guess we gotta- Elephant!”

  The redhead’s excited squeal was followed by her breaking out into a sprint. Chuckling in amusement, Oras gestured for Celia to keep up and jogged after his wife. The doll-woman kept his pace.

  Being far from stealthy creatures, the jungle elephant was easily spotted. The matron of the herd was, as typical, the oldest and one of the largest animals of the bunch, only overtaken by the few nearly adult males in the herd and the bull accompanying them. Judging by the lack of fluid on the sides of his head, he was not in musth, which made being nearby relatively low risk.

  The elephants of the Elephant Peninsula knew that no follower of the Cult of the Supernatural Elephant would ever touch them. The matriarch of the herd acknowledged the trio with a wave of her trunk. She and all the others were magnificent creatures, almost three metres tall, with thick, grey hides and power that was self-evident in every step. Oval ears flapped, dispersing heat and the various flies that followed the holy beasts.

  “So cool!” Theria hopped from one leg to the other, then dared to get a little bit closer. The herd did not mind at all. Their target was one of the many holes that their Precursor-made kin had left behind. A recent, heavy rainfall had filled it to the brim with fresh water. A perfect opportunity for the herd to fill up.

  Theria had now gotten close enough to touch one of the members of the herd. The animal tapped its flank with its trunk, a signal that the redheaded tomboy understood immediately. She started to give the huge, holy beast a good scratch. A satisfied rumble echoed from its mighty lungs.

  Oras and Celia watched from a couple of steps away. “Usually elephants are fine with people standing around. To let you touch them is a bit above the norm,” he explained to the mute woman.

  She nodded to signal her understanding.

  Happy to just watch his wife do a service for her favourite animals, Oras stood aside. The smallest member of the herd had other plans. After smacking the surface of the water with its trunk for a bit, the calf’s attention switched to the humanoids. It bumbled over with all of the grace of a baby, its trunk flopping about. It almost stepped on it in its excitement.

  Oras braced for impact. The calf could not have been more than a few weeks old, but it was still big enough for its head to reach his midsection and it was easily as heavy as he was with all of his equipment and luggage on him.

  Playful as the head bump was, it did knock the wind out of him. He still laughed and pat the head of the calf. He stumbled back, careful to keep his balance. If he wasn’t careful, even the most well-meaning of elephant babies could crush a leg.

  Best to keep a little of distance.

  Oras took two steps backwards, then spread his arms in a ready stance. When the baby elephant bumbled towards him again, he deftly dodged to the side. Stopping only after a few metres, the calf turned around on the spot, then went for another highly telegraphed ‘charge’.

  Celia noticed in time that she was the target that time. Following Oras’ example, she manoeuvred to the side. Mildly annoyed, the baby elephant pushed air through its flopping trunk.

  When next it came towards him, Oras dodged back only until the calf lost most of its momentum, then let it clip him. “You got me!” he exclaimed and threw his arms up.

  There was a mirthful little sound. The young animal was smart enough to catch the basic rules, turned away and ran as best it could. Oras jogged after it, letting it get away until it seemed bored of running. At that point, he tagged it and it got to chase them again.

  Pleasantly adaptive, Celia played along. It was her turn to get caught by the elephant next. She did so after teasing it for a little longer than Oras considered proper, but she ultimately did it. After that, she chased the little elephant about for a little while. A small smile laid on her pink lips as she went.

  This game continued on until the calf had gotten its urge to run out of its system. At that point, it simply fell onto its side and laid in the sun. Celia gave it a couple of head pats, before returning to Oras’ side.

  Theria, meanwhile, had climbed on the back of the matriarch. “Elephants are so cool!” she shouted.

  The herd lingered for another half hour by the watering hole, before the matriarch trumpeted their departure. The animals formed an orderly line and followed their leader back into the jungle.

  Celia stood there, watching them for as long as she could.

  “They’re really cool, right?” Theria whispered to the blonde, who nodded. “I always wanted like… a pet? Elephant?” The redhead crossed her arms. “Pet isn’t quite the right word. Like, a companion kinda thing, ya know? Like a big dog, but it’s an elephant.”

  Throughout the entire monologue, Celia kept on nodding.

  ‘I see a drain on my purse in the future,’ Oras thought.

  The remaining days of travel were eventless. Just their steps bringing them closer and closer to Kumse. They crossed paths with a couple walking the path of the Living Flame. Their torch was burning, small and strong, as they strode past. It was a touching thing to witness.

  Eventually, they ventured off the Path of the Supernatural Elephant and towards the southern gate of Kumse.

  “At current speed, we will be in the city by noon,” Oras stated.

  “Decided what we’ll do once we’re in?” Theria asked.

  His mind had been bouncing between a few options over the past few days.