The trail had gone cold. While disappointed, Clyde was surprised to see a trail at all. This meant that their last encounter together had been impactful enough to leave traces. Regardless, the sun was setting, and the woods were no place to be at night. Clyde took a moment to assess his surroundings and closed his eyes. A moment later, he turned to the left and walked for several minutes, approaching a worn-down shack.
'Better than nothing.'
Reaching for the door to the shack, Clyde realized he needed to finish it tomorrow or else it would escape, but there is no need to overthink his process.
Inside the cabin, the air was musty, and dust coated the place as if it hadn't been occupied in a long time. Clyde had dealt with worse places to rest in the past, so he didn't pay too much attention to details one way or another. However, he was annoyed by the draft.
As he laid onto the rotten wood, he laid his sword down next to him, in reach in case something were to happen. Looking at the ceiling of the shack, Clyde wondered if this was all worth it, but as quickly as the thought came to him, it left, and he closed his eyes.
Thirty minutes after dusk, foul noises could be heard that fueled Clyde's restlessness. Despite the growls and screams from various directions, nothing felt out of the ordinary for him, as it was part of his job, after all. That being said Clyde felt something was off and if anyone knew something was off about the forest it would be him considering his time there. Out of all the humans in the village Clyde imagined he spent more time than anyone out here, so what was bothering him so much?
A loud scream pierced the cabin walls followed by what sounded like a women begging for help.
"Please, is anyone out here?! I'm being chased by this thing!"
Clyde sat up and reached for his sword, many thoughts racing through his head.
'Is the Wendigo trying to lure me out? That seems unlikely considering it ran but it's not out of the ordinary.'
Of course there was no way someone was crazy enough to be out in the forest, especially at night. Clyde stayed on edge with his sword at the ready, standing next to the door. After all there was a chance he could head home early in the morning if it came to him instead.
The woman's plea grew closer and closer, followed by absolute silence.
'It gave up, maybe it realized I'm not that stupid.'
Before Clyde took his hand off his blade, the door barged open and what Clyde saw in front of him scared him more than anything he was expecting. It was a girl who looked like she had been through hell with the only clothing on her being a worn leather tunic. Before Clyde could process a thought, the girl looked at him and yet out of a scream. As soon as she made noise Clyde reacted leaping at her and covering her mouth with his hand.
"Be quiet or it will find you and me."
Realizing Clyde was not one of the things outside the girl calmed down and Clyde removed his hand while backing away. Still Clyde knew better than to let his guard down so he kept his hand next to his sword ready at a moments notice.
'What a crazy person, I mean just what is she thinking.'
The girl collected her thoughts and stood up.
"My name is Bell… and you are?"
"Clyde, and you need to stop talking before you get us both killed. We will speak more when daylight comes."
Bell seemed dejected by Clyde's cold shoulder, but he knew more than she did. While it's true he didn't get along with people, it was a necessity to keep the chatting to a minimum.
'I guess I'm not getting any sleep tonight, but if I was guessing, she probably won't either.'
He glanced over at Bell to find she was passed out on the floor which was another shock to him. He could only imagine what she had gone through in the forest, judging by the state of her clothes. Not to mention, her attire itself was that of a peasant or slave. Perhaps she was running from some place and she unfortunately made it here. All Clyde knew was that this girl must have had a bad experience in life and unfortunately for her she made it here.
***
The sun was rising and Clyde was barely awake having stayed up all night being cautious of a potential attack from a monster or Bell.
He stood up and went over toward the door to open it, and as the door made a noise, Bell woke up.
"Are you going to leave me here?"
'Of course, she could sleep through the night terrors of the forest, but this door wakes her up.'
"I was planning to check on something outside. I didn't see a need to wake you up so early."
"Well you did say we would discuss things at daylight."
Clyde shut the door and sat in front of Bell.
"You're right, since it is day time and you are awake I might as well get to questioning. Why were you out in these woods and better yet why would you come at night?"
Seemingly puzzled Bell responded sluggishly.
"I.. was not aware that it was so dangerous outside."
"Outside? You were not aware of the dangers, did your parents not tell you anything?"
"I don't have parents, I grew up alone as a slave to a Lord."
There was an awkward silence as Clyde didn't know how to respond, though he wasn't surprised, given her outfit.
"So you ran away."
"Yes."
He couldn't blame the girl considering he grew up in a similar way. Just like her he would've ran away if he didn't get freed during the revolt. Still he had a problem on his hands and it was on that was not easily solved. She was bleeding.
"Let me see your wounds."
Bell pulled up her arms that had gashes with deep bruising all over. After he gave her a nod, she turned around exposing her back as well as the deep claw marks. It was rather impressive she escaped or even made it this far into the woods in the first place. There was something she wasn't telling him, but that didn't matter right now.
Opening his satchel, Clyde pulled out some bandages to apply. While applying the bandages Clyde was able to inspect her body himself and noticed several scars unrelated to the forest but it gave him insight as to how bad she was treated. After all despite being a slave himself at one point he would have been considered lucky. Once he was done Bell asked him a question.
"You mentioned that the woods are dangerous, so… why are you here then?"
There was a long answer he could have given the girl, but why would he openly tell someone he just met everything about himself? After all, he wasn't even one hundred percent sure of her himself.
"I've taken a request."
"A job request that required you to be out here. There is not an amount of treasure in the world that could convince me. That being said what is it you're trying to do."
'She's certainly pushy.'
"I'm hunting a monster. A monster has been killing animals and a few known humans at this point."
Bell was silent before replying.
"Are you perhaps looking for help?"
Dumbfounded, Clyde knew she was a little uninformed but to blatantly ask such a question especially after what she had been through stunned him.
"I don't know what you're looking for, but it doesn't involve me. The best I can do for you is get you to the nearest village safely, but after that you're on your own."
"You can't just expect me to go out into the world by myself, do you?"
"Honestly, I don't really care what happens as long as you get out of these woods safely."
"You cared enough about me not to sleep last night."
'Well, it's quite the opposite, but I wouldn't let her know that.'
"Listen, we'll go over the final details of our relationship later, because right now, we're wasting time. Time I value, because what I'm looking for is healing and getting away. I can't just leave you here alone so you're coming with me out of these woods."
Bell nodded, and followed Clyde outside of the cabin. Once they were outside, Clyde stopped, and Bell waited for him to move. He closed his eyes, feeling the forest's movement. Despite being deep in the woods, there was a stroke of luck. The area they were in had moved closer to the edge, making the trip about and hour away with the guidance of Clyde. With the mapping out of the way Clyde started to move in a direction.
"I don't want to ask you so many questions, but what did you just do? I mean, you stood still and breathed really weird just to pick a direction."
Clyde didn't even realize he was in the presence of the girl when he used his attunement. This annoyed him, as it's generally a bad idea for information as sensitive as that to get leaked. Luckily for him, she wasn't a threat to this knowledge.
"I was using my senses."
"Your senses? Well as long as we get out of here I don't really care what you used."
'This girl really doesn't know a thing. Or at least she's not letting on that she does.'
Guided by Clyde's magic attunement, the pair navigated the ever-changing forest for thirty minutes until Clyde halted, a serious look on his face.
"What's wrong?"
"The monster I've been looking for... it's following us."