Cursed Forest [Ongoing]

Chapter 12

Three weeks later, Aspen and Sekafi occupied a small hill, overlooking a part of the city. The sun beat down over their heads and dust billowed up with each dry gust of wind. Aspen pulled his hood further up, to hide his face from the sun.

'You melting, pointy-ears?'

Aspen snorted. 'Not so much melting as burning. Can't the rain come soon?'

'In a month or so. Probably,' she replied. 'You need a shower?'

He glanced around. His furry friend sat hunched in the partial shadow of a dry, thorny shrub, though some bright pink flowers still bloomed on the almost bare branches. Her watchful eyes swept over the cityscape, then returned to him. She grinned.

'You look too pleased with yourself.'

'Aren't you happy to be back doing what you do best?' she said, ignoring his comment.

'Hm.' He watched the map in his hands. Buildings, streets, markets. He preferred to draw maps of the land, not of cities. More exciting that way. But he couldn't really work up his earlier enthusiasm about that anymore. It felt safer here, within the confines of the city palisade, surrounded by houses. Only the stiff, straight lines bored him. He sighed.

'Do you think it all went well?'

'With the monster?' Sekafi's tone darkened, serious.

'Yeah.'

'I mean, the goblins said they haven't seen it for a while now. And Lady Hennaja agreed to leave them alone. The city will expand and send outliers in other directions. The land there is too foul to farm or log anyway.'

He nodded. She was right. Still. He watched the city again. The people milled about in the hot and dust like nothing had happened. An uneasy cold squirmed in his stomach. Why wouldn't it go away? Maybe because he hadn't been there to see it banished? That was probably it.

'You nearly done?'

'Yeah.' He pushed the thoughts aside and focused on his task.

'You seem a bit... distant,' Sekafi said after a while. 'Like you're not fully here.'

He finished the last few lines, placed the stylus back in his pocket, and rolled the map and placed it in a scroll-holder before turning back to her. She watched him with a sombre expression. He couldn't keep back a smile. He read her worry clearly in her deep, yellow eyes.

'Listen, fur-ball, I'm fine. Okay? Just a bit tired and...' He shrugged.

'And what? It's been three weeks. What's nagging at you?'

'I...' He sighed in frustration. 'I'm not sure. It's probably nothing.'

She stood and brushed some dust off her legs. 'You usually have a good instinct when it comes to stuff like that though.'

Aaspaelwin grinned. 'Sure I do. I'm a psychic, you know.'

She barked a high-pitched laugh. 'More like psychotic.'

'Hey!' he protested mildly as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. Glancing up to measure the sun's position, he continued more solemnly, 'We should get going if we're to be in time for the meeting with Lady Hennaja.'

'You're the one keeping us back,' Sekafi helpfully pointed out.

'And what about you?' he huffed. 'Sitting and lapping sun rather than working.'

She shrugged and bared her teeth in a wide smile. 'It's literally my job, isn't it?'

'Right.'