Shrieking Caves

John was shocked but somewhat delighted. Did I just use fire magic? But when he heard Minerva's voice his hoped immediately dwindled. She had two horses beside her and no wolves were following her. Had she already beaten them then came to help him. This girl, just how powerful was she. He barely had dirt on her clothes. Johns hopes dwindled further as he jumped on his horse.

When the wolves first arrived, Minerva heard them since she was very sensitive to the noises that the horses made. She had not exactly gone to sleep after waking John but floated between consciousness and unconsciousness so when she heard the first horse make a noise she woke up immediately. She had been in this state for quite some time and was quite rested for someone in their situation.

She went to the front of the tent and was quite pissed to see that John was in a stupor. This was the second time she had seen him like this. Like he wasn't quite there. You're supposed to be keeping watch, what are you doing, she thought as she shook him awake. He was dazed but seemed to become aware of the situation quite fast and made to draw his sword.

"What are you doing a time like this?" she heard him whisper. Was he pretending to be aware of the situation.

"Nothing, you were the one in a daze while you were supposed to be keeping watch." She had replied looking at him pensively. She saw him quickly get ready for battle and left. She had watched him train so she knew most of the stances. The horses at the back were making alot of noise. They were agitated and couldn't escape because of two reasons. One was the many flaming staves around the camp and the second was the number of growling wolves outside the makeshift perimeter. Since she had exited the tent, Fireball was darting around the fire exactly how she did when she was keeping watch.

It seemed as though she was playing but in truth the dancing flames were playing their won role in keeping the beasts at bay. She had long since discovered that Fireball was not like the other spirits but was smarter and could take action without command. It was times like this she felt ashamed that she was afraid of her. Fireball was back at her side again hovering around her head like a dragonfly.

Six wolves had followed her to the back and were pacing similar to Johns situation. Ever since she begun training for combat she had discovered something about her spirits. Crowd Control. The camp they were in was in relatively open ground not too many trees for her to use but that didn't mean that she was not prepared for such a situation. Once she started to take interest the old man was not hesitant to point out a few things. He didn't say much, a nudge here and there and his famous statement: Be creative. And she was.

Unlike John she didn't wait for them to attack. She knew they had to get out of there as soon as possible. It was like Fireball read her mind and distracted the wolves as she untied the horses. They couldn't touch her, their paws passed right through her and scorch marks were left and the wolves cried in pain. They were smart and didn't attack again and only glared and growled at her and tried to get behind her. Fireball had resumed to darting around the staves near them.

As soon as she had freed the horses she opened her satchel on her waist and took out some seeds and smiled. She tossed the seed at the and from them grew green spiked poles and took out one wolf. All the others jumped back but two weren't so lucky. Vines had already grabbed them and bonded them. That was three down. Unbeknownst to her one wolf had sneaked away and entered the camp through another entrance. It was smaller than the others about the size of a normal wolf. It was a puppy on its first hunt.

Unfortunately for it the horses were to agitated and one of them kicked it in the head. On its way out of them camp it caught fire atop one of the staves and slammed into a tree. Blood was flowing from where it had been kicked and limped away moaning in pain. Fireball was still distracting the remaining two wolves while Minerva summoned a thorned vine drenched it in oil and held it like a whip.

She swung it at the nearest wolf and though it dodged back this was no normal whip. She extended its length and wrapped it around the wolfs neck and begun to shrink it. The more the wolf pulled the more the thorns dug in. Fireball flew over and ignited the oil. By the time the wolf realized the first trick it was already on fire. and was running. These wolves were big but didn't seem so scar to her. She was very calm.

She had already thrown more seeds behind the remaining wolf. It was approaching through the opening created as the puppy was kicked out. Vines creaped out from behind it's blind spot and grabbed at its hind legs. It was struggling to move forward and a horse hoof welcomed it and neighed as if laughing. But this was a big wolf not easy to get rid of for a horse. However there were two horses and the second one kicked the wolf. Minerva's task was to pull with the vines which was easier now. She pulled it towards the same tree where they puppy had fallen only this time she tied it to the tree.

Fireball was already flying towards John. This was just as he was about to do a release into the ground. She was intent on helping and released its flame as it landed, only it didn't land on the ground but on John. He absorbed this flame and it was release into the ground forming blast that blew the wolves away. This was similar to how the old man had increased Johns magic by blasting him with lightning. The rate at which John absorbed mana from the environment was truly great seeing as how he changed Fireballs flame to magic and to flame again.

"Let's go," Minerva said as she approached him.

He seemed to hesitate but jumped on the horse and kicked it into stride. Minerva had a quick glance at her map and directed their direction. Their original plan was to travel methodically while planting staves in a line to mark their path as they traveled so that they couldn't loose their way. John had said it was like a story he had read before.The shrouded forest was ever foggy. One wolf had escaped and howled in the distance. Reinforcements were coming the question was how far they would have gotten before they arrived.

They were going to wing it. It was in the earliest hours of daylight. The trees were tall and the horizon was gray. Even they seemed to be. The only thing that was in color was Fireball who was flying above them. They kicked their horses into stride and sped off.

"Do I have to save you every time?" she asked almost laughing.

"Ha ha. You can laugh now but the wolves will be upon us soon." He said to change the subject

"And what happened to your clothes, just how intense was the fight? Were those wolves that tough?" she continued ignoring his attempts.

"My magic, blew up."

"Hmm. You need to fight more efficiently." she said after a pause.

"See? I told you. Thank you kind master for the small offering, you should have killed more than one." Noira joined in his head. She was making a gesture with her fingers and made sure John could see it.

TL: This gesture👌.

"I know, I messed up." They didn't taunt him too much since they knew that he was the most critical of himself.

They had turned to go uphill. A cold wind was blowing between the trees and with John as exposed as he was couldn't help but feel the bite from the cold. One howl then two then twenty. The wolves were close only this time they couldn't stop to fight them. Fast footsteps could be heard to their right and left. Occasionally a wolf would appear here and there from the mist but judging from the sound alone, they could tell they were surrounded. No more howling was heard now, the beasts were entirely focused on hunting their prey.

John would occasionally shoot his magic at the wolves that appeared on his side. Fireball was doing the same on Minerva's side. This was not their primary focus. The caves were it. From what the old man had told them the wolves wouldn't follow them in. Have you been to the caves? Minerva had asked at that time but the old man didn't say no and continued to talk.

Shrieking caves made the shrouded Forest and the wolves seem like a controllable situation. While in the forest you were afraid because of your lack of senses such as sight, in the caves however it was scary because of your senses. The sounds you heard, the darkness that surrounded you, the tiny creatures, the smell of death. These were all things that you would have to face. To make it into the caves and back was a feat that was worthy of legends. You had to face the wolves and triumph then face whatever was in the caves. No one knew what kinds of things lurked in there since very few people made it there.

John and Minerva could already see signs of death around them and they weren't even in the caves yet. Animal carcasses and skeletons littered their paths once in a while. Was it the wolves or was it something even deadlier. One human skeleton was even clad in a full set of armor except the stomach part was ripped open and traces of claw marks could be seen. Only the stomach bit wasn't intact.

The trees were becoming fewer, the slope got steeper and the terrain got rockier as they advanced. They couldn't see too far ahead. It was a psychologically daunting task to keep advancing without knowing how far your destination was. Minerva was beginning to wonder whether they had taken the right path, had they made a wrong turn somewhere. But their worries were soon dissuaded.

A dark shadow was ahead of them and they wanted to stop their horses but couldn't. It was then that the cave welcomes them. A loud shriek was heard from within the shadow. It was so sharp you could almost imagine your eardrums being scratched by the noise. This didn't stop them.

They had arrived.