She pulled out her necklace from a pocket and put it on. The chaos within her slowly died, leaving only the dream’s bad aftertaste. She rubbed her eyes and took a second look around her. They were outspread around a fire that flickered. Two rabbits were hanging over the fire being cooked, overseen by several pairs of hungry eyes. The leader noticed she had woken up and walked up to her and sat down.

“How are you feeling?” She thought about it. They hadn’t killed her while she slept and none of them had the intention to do so. She wasn’t exhausted anymore, she wasn’t wounded other than some scrapes she had gotten from the tunnels. She was hungry and thirsty but that was easily solved. She looked for her bag and found it right beside her, seemingly untouched. Being outside she could carve new beads from the wood in the forest. With some preparation she was set to move on.

“I’m fine,” she determined. “Much better than yesterday.” She nodded to confirm her own statement. After making a new string of beads she was very ready to leave them behind. She looked at him, waiting to see if he had anything more to say.

“That’s great. When the rabbits are finished cooking you’re free to take a share. So, you helped us get out of the tunnels, something I doubt we could have done on our own. I and my team like to thank you.” She suppressed her irritation. She would have left them behind if she could have gotten away with it. She knew that wasn’t a thing to say though, but she didn’t want the thanks. Instead of figuring out an answer, that would possibly lead to a longer conversation, or changing the subject she ignored him.

She grabbed her bag and had a look in it. She didn’t see anything missing so she proceeded with digging up her compass. They had been walking for some time and she hadn’t been in a condition to keep track of which direction they were walking in. She wanted to know which way she was heading in. She briefly though about her mother and her threat before she put it out of her mind. They didn’t have the money to hire mercenaries thus there wasn’t anyone coming to look for her. Her mother might ask the villagers for help but they wouldn’t go too far away from home. And she wasn’t sure her mother would even do that when she’d been gone for too long. Her mother should realize this was plenty time to run away.

“Do you want to follow us out of the forest?” The leader hadn’t left yet. The witch shrugged and continued to look for the compass that didn’t want to be found. She hoped it hadn’t been destroyed in the earlier events, luckily it hadn’t.

“I’m looking for something.” She said while pulling up the compass from the bag. She turned it over a few times, trying to look for damages. She wished she could have all her stuff in protective boxes.

“We can help look for it.”

“No need. I’m fine by myself.” Confirming there was no damage on it and it should work as normal she looked where it was pointing. She looked up in the sea of leaves and tried to figure out where the sun was at. “What time is it?”

“Late morning. You sure you don’t need any help?”

“I’m sure.” Late morning, and the sun came from there. She looked at the compass, it wasn’t pointing northeast anymore. It was pointing south, right back into the hole they came from. She frowned. The device pointed in the direction where it could sense concentrations of energy. Energy had plenty of space in the open air so if it really pointed into the tunnels, or simply south, she only needed to take a walk around the opening.

She didn’t want to go down into the tunnels again but if it was there it pointed to, she would do it. It was after all what she came there to do. However, she would prepare herself with two sets of beads, just in case.

The leader left finally left her alone. He was feeling unwilling, but he left anyway. She was relieved, she was getting tired of being so close to a bunch of humans. She preferred some distance that weakened the waves and the endless clutter. Though she had to admit to herself it was better than being in the main hall back at home.

Being close to think about food she noticed her stomach was biting at her, reminding her she was hungry. The rabbits weren’t finished yet, so she fished up her water bottle and drank the last of it. She had forgotten it was nearly empty or she would have filled it up yesterday.

She had her plan: make a lot of wooden beads, then find out where the compass was pointing and go there. She grabbed her knife from her backpack and was about to head into the forest when the scout asked:

“Where are you going?” She felt like exploding. She had tried to not be too rude, but they wouldn’t stop focusing at her. She covered her ears with her hands and kept walking. She knew that it was very bad-mannered of her, she could practically hear her mother scold her in her head, but she really didn’t want to talk to them anymore. She focused on looking for fresh wood suitable to carve into small orbs.

She walked far enough so she couldn’t see them, but close enough so she still would know where they are. She was extremely annoyed that the scout had followed her. He was curious and distrusting and very loud in her opinion. A normal person with normal hearing wouldn’t have noticed but they didn’t have two or three extra senses that made the world a living hell.

She shook her head, she was annoyed, and the world wasn’t that bad. She merely had to use some help to make sure the world wasn’t hurting her too much. She didn’t think the world was at fault for what the “talent” she had been given. She didn’t think the gods had anything to do with it either. She had some bad luck that her personality didn’t match with the ability, that was all. Blaming someone else wasn’t right, even if it was easier.

She did her best to ignore the scout while searching for good branches to use. The forest wasn’t too old, so she could reach some of branches that had grown that summer. After collecting a handful of branches, she dropped them down in a pile and went looking for eatable plants and mushrooms. She had noticed groups of them when she looked for wood. She ate a few of them on the spot but also wanted to save some to eat together with the meat back at the camp.

She had to use her shawl as a temporary bag to be able to carry everything she collected. She made her way around the scout back to the camp, so she could avoid meeting him. When she returned she dropped of her load by her bag and collected her share of the rabbits. Without becoming too unsettled by the interactions with the chef in charge of not burning the meat, she thanked him and went back to her little corner.

The meat wasn’t seasoned but then it wasn’t really a surprise considering they lost all their gear. She thought it was a nice change to all the jerky she had eaten. After she ate she needed to know how many beads she was in need of, so she picked up the compass and confirmed that it really pointed to the entrance. It dampened her mood by a bit, but it didn’t slow her down. She started working by cut up the branches in suitable chunks. Common knowledge dictated that fresh wood should be tough to carve compared to dried wood. Witchcraft made this void by borrowing from the surrounding energy to fuel their tools.

The witch shaped the pieces like they were butter, using both the sharp and flat side of the knife. She worked swiftly and after an hour she had enough beads to make another of the same size she used to have. She didn’t stop there. She needed much more to trick the senses of a monster. The difference between the beasts and the monsters lies in the amount of energy within them. The beasts had about the same amount as any other human or animal. The monsters had an insane amount in comparison. She couldn’t make it as big as possible, but she could make it big enough to trick them at a distance. Or so she hoped.

Meanwhile the group discussed among themselves what they were going to do. They could return immediately to the closest settlement, or they could return to collect their gear that remained. She paid little mind to their discussion. What they chose did not concern her. However, she did observe that the torch she made was still burning within the firepit. She’d have to ask the scout if she could keep his arrows before they left.

Since two of them had lost weapons they decided that going back a settlement was the safest option. The leader informed her of their decision too. She though it was a nice touch even thou his presence annoyed her. Still sitting down, she called out to the scout.

“Scout, do you mind if I keep your arrows I used to make the torch?” She pointed towards the tunnel. “I need it to back in there.” It wasn’t visible her words got their thoughts spinning.

“You’re going back in there?” He said, doubting his ears. She nodded. She could feel a few of them hesitating over something. She couldn’t see a problem with the situation.

“Can I keep the arrows?” She asked again.

“Hold on a minute. Why do you need to go back?” The leader interrupted.

“The compass said what I’m looking for is in there, and therefore, I have to go. Well, I could choose not to go but that means I traveled out here with nothing to show for it.” She sighed inwards, she wondered what made them pause and not be able to answer one simple question. There was nothing special about the cave.

“You do realize if you get lost…” The leader paused, he seemed to remember something. “Have you been there before?” She shook her head.

“But you can navigate inside the tunnels?” She wrinkled her eyebrows. The earlier conversation had been easy, she wasn’t quite sure what he meant with this question though.

“Yes?” Even though her answer were weak it was enough of the leader. He shrugged, putting an end to his case. She looked towards the scout and smiled. “Arrows?”

Seeing how his leader has given up on the subject he agreed to part with them and didn’t ask for anything in return. They set off without further ado, leaving her sitting there listening to them getting further and further away. Until she caught herself and started shaping the wood into beads again.

During the remaining day she made a string of beads that she could wrap two times around her bag, or fifteen times around one of her arms. A smaller string of beads, same size as her last one. She had placed her heat stones close to the fire to soak up the morning’s fire. She went out foraging for some more plants to eat together with her jerky for dinner. She thought about making her way back into the tunnels to get some water but gave up on the idea and used her tools create an energy contraption that collected water from the air. It was easy to make but took time to collect the water. But then again, she wasn’t going anywhere that day.

After the beads was completed and her presence removed, the forest slowly returned to sound like a forest again. She enjoyed the atmosphere. This time she wasn’t going to make the mistake of sleeping without an active charm. The possibility was low. but she didn’t want the event to repeat itself.