Alkara follows the brain thief’s tracks toward the River West. She’s closing in on the thing, but it’s still proving extremely difficult to pin down. It doesn’t help that she can only meditate with Urdima for short periods of time out here. The earth itself is corrupted. Twisted. Poisoned. Worse than that time with the dryad. If she isn’t careful, the Wastes will kill her far before the creature can.
Arriving at the bank, Alkara gazes longingly at the river. For once, she just wants to take a bath. Wash some of this grime off of her. She bites her lip as she scans the black soil. The tracks had disappeared. Again. Had it gone north, back toward Three Rivers? Or south toward the Deadwood?
The river pulls her attention back toward the possibility of a bath. She would probably feel better. And she desperately needs that. She’d told Chiron and Dreonna that she needed to be alone, but after a week and a half in the Wastes it had become abundantly clear that that had been a terrible mistake. Her thoughts get darker every day. Some scare the shit out of her. Some she welcomes. She’d finally realized that she’s kind of hoping she’ll die out here. She presses her lips together as she drops her pack to the ground. Bath. “Guen. Keep watch.” She strips her armor and clothes off as quickly as she can manage.
She wades into the river, shivering in the cold, when she’s arrested by the site of Chiron, bound and gagged, drowning at the bottom. “Chiron!” He followed me! “No!” Alkara lunges forward, but Guen grabs at her underclothes, whining. Alkara whirls on her closest friend. “Let go of me! He’s drowning!”
Alkara turns back to the river and jerks back, screaming, as a river monster lunges at her. Breathing hard, she wades as quickly as she can back to the riverbank. Guenwyvar snarls and leaps forward, clawing and biting ferociously at the creature that’s now trying to devour Alkara. It is hard for Guen to gain purchase. The creature’s long, slithery blue-grey body is covered in viscous goo. Its mouth is open in a jagged grin full of teeth.
Alkara stumbles onto the bank, reaching for her bow and her quiver. She turns and begins loosing arrows at the creature. Even with plain old iron arrows, it’s not long before it gives up and retreats. The monstrous hide disappears into the water. In a few moments it becomes invisible in the river, its hide blending in with the riverbed as a chameleon. The last of it is the glimmering protuberance which shone with Chiron’s visage. It too shimmers before becoming a mix of blue and grey. Alkara grabs the rest of her things and retreats further away from the river before putting everything back on.
Alkara’s cheeks burn with embarrassment. Guen had noticed that it was a trap. Alkara hadn’t. She’s losing it. It doesn’t help that every now and then she forgets why they’re even out here. She’s starting to wonder if brain thieves eat thoughts. She grimaces as she puts her clothes and armor back on. She’d found a crystal in Caerswe, the capital of the Miesin elves, that would protect her from mental attacks. But it won’t last forever. And she’s already had to use it two or three times. It’s… hard to remember.
Alkara grits her teeth. She has to be careful. She gets the rest of her gear back on and takes a brief moment to meditate on Urdima, opening her senses to the land. She feels the presence of the creature in the river. Nothing to the north of her. Too many aberrants to count in the Deadwood forest that lay about a mile away. But…
“Dammit!” She cries out. The brain thief must have gone into the forest. On the one hand, it might leave more traces to follow. On the other hand, it might mean she has to fight through all those aberrants to get to the one she wants. “Come on Guen,” she growls. She places a hand on Guen’s head as she comes up to her, murmurs a short prayer, and then backs up a little as Guen grows larger. Alkara smiles, but there’s no joy in it. She hops onto Guen’s back and points in the direction of the forest. “That way.”