Chapter 11 Be wary of the shadows

James pulled closer to the flickering orange light in the distance. Each step pushed him further and faster as his excitement grew. He could smell the smoke! It had to be a fire! It had to be!

However, after practically flying through the forest for a minute, James returned to himself.

"Idiot, calm down. You know how dangerous this forest is." James reprimanded himself. He hadn't survived his old world by blindly rushing towards every smile and handout. Only minutes ago, his lack of caution nearly killed him, and he wasn't about to let his guard down like that again, especially not so soon.

Pulling on his domain, he carefully examined his environment as he continued forward. The chances that it was a trap in this forest were high when he considered the noises he had heard during the night. However, the possibility that it genuinely was people wasn't zero, and he was willing to take those odds.

Eventually, James was close enough to see the tell-tale flicker of the fire light illuminating an entanglement of roots. From within the roots, he could hear rough laughs and the clinking reminiscent of coins exchanging hands.

At this point, he was sure that a group of people was within the roots. However, as he listened to the laughter and conversation, he realized he couldn't understand their words.

At a loss for what to do, James was startled when an arrow shot from the top of the mound of roots and skewered the ground in front of him. Instantly the sounds from within the natural shelter stop and are replaced by the clanking of metal and the shuffling of feet.

Knowing he has already been spotted, James ignores the well-equipped men and women headed in his direction and looks up into the roots for the archer that sent the arrow. Finding the archer is surprisingly tricky without his domain, as he can only grasp a faint shadowy figure crouched between the roots.

Meanwhile, as James was pinpointing the archer's location, the rest of the camp had positioned themselves in a semi-circle in front of him. Observing the group, it would be hard to tell if they were bandits or hunters with all the leather, scars, and medieval weaponry.

Unlike what James imagined, the group is not sneering at him like he is easy prey or anything of the like. Instead, their faces are resolute, a testament to their experience and skills, considering James appears harmless enough from an outside perspective.

Walking to the front through the crowd of warriors appears a tall woman with fiery red hair and a scarred face. Her shoulders are broad and her back straight as she marches past the group and up to James, stopping only when there are only a few feet of distance between them.

"### ### ###### ### ##### ### ###?" The woman demands? Questions? James wasn't sure as he couldn't understand a single thing the woman said. His confusion must have shown on his face as the woman repeats herself more forcefully.

However, again James has no idea what the woman is saying. Though he is relatively sure, she is asking him a question this time. Why is he so positive? No idea. But, to defuse the situation, he decides to try telling her his name.

"I'm James. Sorry, I can't understand you. I don't mean any harm. I'm just looking for a nearby city or town." James says, holding his hands out placatingly.

The gesture and tone of his voice calm the woman down and slightly lower the tension of the interaction. At this time, Rose pops her head out of James's pocket to get a look at the new people.

Immediately, the woman's eyes flash to Rose before quickly looking away. However, she isn't fast enough to avoid James's observation through his domain, so he decides to take note of the look for the future.

"#### ###### ####### #####?" The woman asks a different question, much gentler than earlier but her commanding voice still demands an answer. Again James gets the nagging feeling that she is asking if he understands her.

"No," James says, shaking his head, "I'm assuming you didn't understand what I said earlier either, right?" he asks. Getting no nod or shake of the head, James can only sigh at his situation. Of course, they can't understand each other, why would they? He's from an entirely different dimension or world.

Dropping his shoulders slightly in resignation, James points to himself and says, "James." Then, although hesitant to bring more attention to Rose than was already established, he points to his pocket companion and says, "Rose."

The woman, at first confused, quickly grasps what he is doing and points to herself, and says, "Shara," with a gentle smile that significantly contrasts the brusk personality James imagined she would have.

From there, the conversation devolves into a weird mix of charades, ending with James getting across his intentions to find civilization. Unfortunately, even though his grasp of the language was growing phenomenally, he couldn't understand the directions that Share was trying to give him. For some reason, they seemed a lot more complex than he imagined they should be.

Eventually, Shara directs James to stay put as she returns to the group of mercenaries behind her that, at some point, had lowered their weapons but continued to watch the conversation.

James watches as Shara discusses with her group for a minute before returning to James. With another smile, she directs James to follow behind her.

James hesitates for a moment and then follows her. In the shadows behind him, fifty sone spears melt back into the ground.

Leading him through the tunnel of roots, James gets a good look at the camp that opens up in front of him. Illuminated by a massive bonfire in the center is what James would imagine old war camps would look like.

In the center is one tent obviously more prominent than the others, for Shara, he thinks, and surrounding it completely are various other tents. The shapes and sizes are generally uniform, but their color changes as they go further from the center. Rankings maybe?

Shara walks through the entire encampment until she arrives at the back, nearer to the thicker area of roots. Then she points to the ground and mimics like she is sleeping.

At this point, James has already realized that the group is asking him to stay with them, but he is still apprehensive. He saw the look Shara gave to Rose, and those looks continued to appear anytime someone spotted Rose poking her head out.

However, James is desperate. Three months in the wilderness without real social interaction has already started to impact his sanity, and he is afraid of what would happen if he lost himself. That said, it doesn't mean he isn't going to be cautious.

Nodding to Shara, James takes off his pack. He begins cooking a meal to share with Rose looking like nothing more than a poor traveler making the best of his situation. Shara walks away from this sight, her smile slowly falling away to a hard line.

However, if she had stayed, she would have been shocked to realize that the ground around him had surprisingly flattened out any bumps or stones. In its place was soft soil pleasant to the touch.

Yes, those who thought he was an average traveler would be in for a surprise.