Soft wind whistled through the air.

  “How do we want to get to that Tower? Do we want to chance it by going through the Tornado Gorge or should we take the long way around and investigate the Hollow Hills?” Witmie asked, looking up from her map. With help from Gai, she had expanded on the contents of the small map which the party purchased previously.

  The party hesitated at the ruins’ exit. Ailgeth’s warning of “we’ll be waiting” remained present in everyone’s minds.

  “Tornados don’t sound like fun. This time of year especially,” Merijest thought aloud. “However, I imagine a team of archers might have more trouble assaulting us in an area with such unpredictable winds.”

  Thesa nodded. She wasn’t really listening. She was trying to focus but she just wanted to kiss Merijest again…

  “Tornados shouldn’t be a huge problem for us seeing as I’ve got a bit of wind-elemental in my blood,” Durn shrugged. Witmie put a hand on one of Durn’s big arms.

  Thesa nodded at this as well, pretending not to be surprised by this information. It made sense, given the [Sorcerer]’s tendency to use wind magic. Still, Thesa hadn’t thought it through enough to make any realization.

  “ItherBeau only recently annexed Tornado Gorge and some other parts of Driskle after that stupid war.” Merijest said. “That could be a good or bad thing. Would they pay more attention to it because of its novelty or would it be easier to pass through because it lacks the level of infrastructure that other portions of the region already have?”

  Thesa shrugged. She had heard something about a war some years ago, but she didn’t know much about it. Something about ‘freeing the oppressed’? That was the Convent’s position. But Thesa didn’t really know much about politics. That kind of thing always seemed so complicated.

  Then Thesa’s hand moved to rub the bruise on her neck and she got distracted thinking about Merijest again. Maybe that was too much… She was caught between one voice in her head saying there was nothing wrong with wanting to kiss someone who wanted to kiss her back and the other voice which told her she wasn’t worthy of her demoness’s affection.

  “Tornado Gorge it is, then,” Merijest resolved and the party set off.

  ***

  The [Hex] was indeed full of tornados. Bits of dust and grass swirled endlessly through the air while occasional hunks of larger debris flew past everyone’s heads. A silver tree stump here, a windswept swarm of CicadaRats there. Durn was on high alert for every broken weapon and animal carcass that nearly took someone’s head off. The Bronze Motif clung to her shoulder, jingling wildly.

  The Foxtapus’s summoned its psychic shields, itself curled in Merijest's arms for protection. But after an hour or two it got tired and fell into an adorable sleep…

  Here and there, the winds died down and the party could rest briefly, but never for more than a few minutes.

  “Is it always like this?” Thesa shouted to nobody in particular. Yabba rested in the [Witch]’s arms in order to keep the creature from being gusted off to nowhere.

  “No, this is definitely not the norm,” Durn said. How she knew was beyond Thesa. “The weather will probably chill out by the evening.”

  The weather did not, in fact, chill out and a few hours later Durn was struggling to keep up. Witmie carried her girlfriend on her back so she wouldn’t have to focus on walking, but still Durn was wearing out. She would nod off for a moment, only to jerk back to wakefulness with barely enough time to stop a small boulder from removing Merijest’s leg or something.

  Yabba seemed largely disinterested. Still in Thesa’s arms, its chicken legs swung back and forth without resistance. When debris hit its body, whether the birdhouse or the legs, it tended to bounce right off. Although a branch got caught on its wind vane and stayed there for a mile or so.

  “All this and the archers haven’t even shown up,” Thesa complained.

  When Durn did eventually fail to catch a hunk of debris on its way to Thesa’s torso, the only saving grace was Thesa’s [Arrow Time] ability which allowed her to slow time and [Dive] out of the way.

  “Maybe if we dig a hole in the ground, we can hide out,” Witmie suggested.

  “Did your rabbit ears come with rabbit instincts?” Thesa pondered. She meant it as a completely neutral curiosity.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “You got a better idea?!” Witmie asked, too concerned to engage in banter.

  “Without any digging related spells it would be difficult,” Merijest replied. “But perhaps we should give it a try. Even a shallow ditch could provide us with some brief respite.

  The main contributors to the digging were Witmie and, strangely enough, Yabba. The Nest Walker revealed an ability to inhale(?) dirt and rocks into the void behind its face-hole.

  Still, they were hardly digging fast enough to fit the whole party in the trench. The winds picked up yet again and Witmie struggled at a dense hunk of dirt. Yabba once again took its turn, inhaling a large stone out from the dirt which promptly whacked the creature in the face because it was too large to fit into its face-hole. Yabba appeared unharmed but it fell on its back and let out some upset creaks while Thesa cooed over her baby.

  Whatever Yabba had done had really loosened up the next few inches of dirt, though. Witmie wondered why it was starting to get easier to dig…

  …then she broke through the roof of a tunnel. The sudden rupture disrupted the structural integrity of the ground. The immediate area and the whole party fell as the ground beneath their feet descended.

  Foxtapus still asleep, Merijest descended slowly by means of her wings. Thesa ducked into a roll as she hit the ground.

  Bricks lined the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel. It was full of moist and dusty air.

  Having been caught the most exhausted, Witmie, Durn, and the Bronze Motif tumbled down in an unceremonious pile.

  Finally, Yabba happened down with a loud clunk. The ground where it landed took the impact poorly, forming an uneven indent, but the Nest Walker itself appeared unfazed.

  Above their heads, the winds raged. Small bits of debris fell in after them.

  “Well that was unexpected,” Merijest said.

  “Thesa, how heavy is Yabba exactly?” Witmie asked. She had sat up with Durn completely asleep in her lap.

  “I guess I never thought about it,” Thesa shrugged. Up until now she hadn't realized that the only reason she could carry Yabba around so easily was due to her impressive [Strength].

  “As much as I'd love to rest,” Merijest interrupted, “we should get further from that opening to avoid falling debris.”

  The party followed the tunnel around the nearest bend. Thesa carried Durn on her back and Merijest held Witmie in her arms. Both were beyond exhausted. The Foxtapus, having awoken from its nap, trotted alongside.

  They made camp. Durn went immediately to bed. Witmie sat beside the fire with Thesa and Merijest. Her eyes were sunken ever-so-slightly, but she seemed reluctant to sleep just yet.

  “Is she going to be ok?” Thesa asked. “That was some intense magical focus out there.”

  “Oh yeah,” Witmie nodded. “Just needs some rest.” Then the half-elf sighed with a grin on her tired face. “She’s so powerful.”

  “Do we have any idea where these tunnels are from?” Thesa asked. The Foxtapus, being the only non-sapient [Familiar] awake at this point, sat with its paws on Thesa's leg, twitching its many tentacle tails in request of some activity.

  “Possibly merchant tunnels,” Merijest offered, but she trailed off before completing her thought.

  She had plucked a few of her own feathers which were already about to fall out and tied them to a free piece of string in Thesa's bag. This she was tying to the collapsable 10 foot pole. Then she handed the tool to Thesa and with a flick of the [Witch]’s wrist the Foxtapus was entranced by its new prey.

  Merijest continued, “in which case it could just be a mostly-empty series of shortcuts.”

  The Foxtapus pounced, barely missing the bundle of feathers.

  Witmie shrugged while scribbling a note about the tunnels onto her map. “Doesn’t seem like we’re in a proper [Dungeon] but that still leaves a lot unanswered. I should probably get to sleep soon though.”

  Inside Merijest and Thesa’s shared tent, the two lay face-to-face.

  “Maybe we should just hide out here,” Thesa joked. “We could build a whole network of tunnels and not have to worry about the Knights or Beautuk or anything.”

  Merijest smiled softly. “That’s a fun flight of fancy, kitten.” She kissed her [Witch]. “But it's not just about us.”

  “I know,” Thesa said. Her face got more serious. “I haven’t stopped thinking about it all. I just think it would be nice to not be worried about surviving every day.”

  Bonus Vignette

  “What exactly makes a [Hex] a [Hex]?” Thesa asked. Her head rested in Merijest’s lap.

  Merijest twirled a lock of her [Witch] hair. “It’s hard to explain, but the [System] uses Hexleagues on a fixed grid as a measurement for large scale magical effects and the like. So regardless of how off-center we are in the Tornado Gorge [Hex], a large-scale spell will usually only affect that specific [Hex] unless it's powerful enough to impact multiple [Hexes].”

  Thesa stared up at Merijest’s jaw as she spoke.

  “Are you even listening?” Merijest asked with a devilish smile.

  Thesa brought her hands to her face. “What, no, I mean yes. I heard what you said about magic effects and all that. I wasn’t– Umm–”

  Merijest’s cold hand gently touched Thesa’s cheek. “It’s alright, kitten. I’m only teasing.”

  Thesa lowered her hands. Her cheeks glowed red.

  Merijest continued, “of course, if I did hold it against you, I can think of a few ways you might make it up to me.”

  Merijest’s eyes narrowed as Thesa’s widened.

  Thanks for reading!

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