Chapter 3: An Afternoon Stroll

I took a minute to look myself over and check my injuries. I was soaked in blood, but enough of it had stayed on the inside, I reckoned. I wouldn’t bleed out.

I salvaged the net that covered the green-skins’ trap and untied the bark strips. Dislodging the arrow with a twist, a tug, and an undignified whimper, I used the bark as makeshift rope to tie a clump of moss over my thigh, stemming the bleeding somewhat.

I fastened a branch to my leg, a rudimentary splint, and hung the rest of the bark over my shoulder. Every moment of my wounded left arm was a struggle, shoulder tugging, but I forced myself to keep moving.

The green-skin leader had started to stink. Actually, it had always stunk, but it was getting really bad. I suspected that it had shat itself upon death. Regardless, I would need every advantage I could get. I crept over to loot its corpse, breathing through my mouth.

Triumphantly, I pulled out a rusted dagger from within the folds of its putrid garments, clearly made for human hands. The edge was dulled and nicked by frequent use, and old blood had dried into the flat, but I wasn't feeling too picky.

A great find. Exactly what I needed.

I didn’t dare use any of the leader’s clothing for fear of disease. Just the smell of excrement and rot was enough to put me off.

The fallen spear that one of the green-skins had left behind would be of no use. Too thin. Another had left a small knife, however, which I eagerly stuck through my splint along with the dagger. It would make for a decent throwing knife in a pinch.

Putting my rickety splint to the test, I tried to stand. Fell on my ass. Tried again, with similar results. I managed it on the third go, putting most of my weight on the left leg. I hissed through sharp stabs of pain and waited until it faded a little.

“Coming off to a great start,” I muttered. “Already half dead. Seems everything in this godforsaken place wants to kill me.”

With a deep breath, I forced my mind back on the task. To waste time whining was a privilege I couldn’t afford at the moment.

“I’ve got to get out of here, and fast, before those green-skins decide they want revenge.”

With a frown, I realized I didn’t know what they were called. Staring at the dead leader, I tried to put a name to the creature, but was unable to.

Strange. I’d been able to place every other animal I’d seen almost instantly. What made them different?

Later. Priorities.

Holding up my right arm, I inspected the dead crystal imbedded in my forearm. It seemed it was somehow connected to the feat I had performed. Magic. Miracle. Whatever it was.

“Bind!” I said with feigned enthusiasm.

Nothing happened.

The crystal was glowing, but it went dark when I summoned the chain. It was likely the thing providing the energy for that feat. But now it’s gone. Is there any way to get it back?

Upon looking at my forearm, I found that the black mark above the crystal had changed. The very bottom edge of the circle had lit up with a white glow. Touching the skin, I found it felt no different than before.

Yet more things to keep in mind. For now, I’ve got to move.

I limped out of the clearing, eyes darting between the ground and the trees around me as I scanned for traps and green-skins.

A good shelter, that’s what I need. Someplace defensible, like a cave.

I wandered, quickly losing all sense of direction. I contemplated digging grooves into the trees with my dagger to mark my path, but thought better of it. The green-skins could use it to track me.

The blood loss had me woozy, shivering. My skin was slick with blood and cold sweat. Every step jolted my bad leg, making me wince.

I pushed through it. Giving up meant dying. And memories or no, I knew I wasn’t a quitter.

The bland, uniform forest gave way to a burbling stream, wide as two men shoulder to shoulder. The water was clear enough, so I slowly lowered myself next to the stream and scooped a handful to my mouth.

It was mostly flavorless, with only a slight rusty aftertaste. I figured that was as good as I would get, so I drank my fill. I decided to stay close to the stream, both as a landmark, but also because water would be one of my most valuable resources, and I didn’t trust myself to find my way back if I left.

Common sense told me that going downstream would lead me to civilization. I didn’t want to run into any more crazies, though, so I went the opposite direction.

Taking frequent breaks to ease some weight off my injured leg, I made my way through the forest. I saw no green-skins, but I thought I could hear their jabbering at times. Whether they were following me or just happened to be close by, I couldn’t tell.

The sun passed quickly overhead. It was already afternoon. I’d have to find shelter before nightfall, or things could get ugly. I didn’t fancy stumbling around on my bad leg in the black of night. Especially since I didn’t know if the green-skins possessed any degree of night vision.

I didn’t want to find out, either.

Looking down, I found that the crystal on my arm had lit back up.

“Huh,” I said. “Isn’t that something?”

It seemed that the crystal regained its energy after a certain amount of time. I itched to see if I could reproduce the feat with the chain. Settling my gaze on a nearby pine tree, I raised my hand.

“Bind!”

A chain leaped out of my palm and looped around the tree trunk. Tightening seemingly of its own accord, it dug a groove into the outer layer of bark. Just like before, the stone studded into my skin went dark.

Testing the chain’s range, I backed up until the metal links stopped coming. I counted around ten meters. I gave the chain a sharp tug, and it seemed to understand my intent, uncoiling from the tree and sinking limp to the ground. Another tug set it to rest around my arm in tight coils. The metal was pleasantly warm against my skin.

It seems to have a will of its own, this thing. Or rather an extension of my own. It’ll certainly prove useful.

I left the chain around my arm and kept moving, hoping it would stay unless dismissed, but it dissipated after what I estimated to be half an hour.

That little practice session left me defenseless for the moment with the crystal gone dark, but I figured it was worth it, with the knowledge I had gained. If I wanted to stay alive, I would have to use every resource at my disposal, and know them all inside and out.

I found a sharp outcropping near the stream, a few stubborn pines clinging to the top. It was no cave, but it would at least stop the wind and obstruct me from view, so I decided to camp there for the night.

The bare stone provided little warmth for my shivering, bare naked self, and the onsetting afternoon chill was not helping matters. With the last of the energy I had in me, I gathered long strips of moss with my dagger and laid them out like a mattress under the outcropping, then a bit more to bundle myself into. I cut off some fanlike spruce branches and pulled them in front of the entrance to my shelter to trap heat and keep out the wind.

I settled in and laid out my meager supplies next to me. I sat there for a while, dagger in hand, listening for green-skins as evening fell over this strange, new world and all grew dark. With the sun’s descent, however, my eyelids grew heavy, and my head slowly drifted onto the makeshift mattress.

I slept like a baby.

When I woke up, I blinked at sunlight that trickled through the needle-laden branches.

Not dead, I thought. That’s a relief.

For a blissful moment, all was well. Sitting, I was quickly reminded of all that was wrong with the world. My splinted leg protested at any movement, and a clump of moss had stuck to my shoulder with dried blood. The palm of my hand, which had been cut by one of the green-skins, had taken on a funny smell.

“Mornin’, partner,” said a raspy voice.