They passed clearings here and there, followed deer paths, rabbit trails, and crossed over small streams. The woods were moving from slimmer deciduous with sparse evergreens here and there to thicker under-growth with more vibrant colors, larger trunked deciduous, and muddied ground. Nancey began to slow as the floral hues changed from mute yellows and orange and into deep violets and blues. She finally came to a stop when they could no longer make out the sky over head and the muddy swamp was giving way to thick-vined undergrowth.
Nicole noticed the changes as well, but was less certain of their significance. "Why are we stopping?" she panted her question while raising her arms over her head to help prevent cramping. They had been running for over an hour, their water skins were still mostly full, and Nicole estimated that given Nancey's not-terribly-winded condition, she could have continued running.
"Because, my noble apprentice, it's time for a lesson." She gestured towards a blue and violet flowered vine that traced its way up the trunk of a tree, across a branch, into another tree, and back down to the ground. "You see that?"
Nicole started towards it until Nancey interrupted with, "Don't go near it, don't touch, and certainly don't breath in any of its spores."
Nicole paused with concern and looked at Nancey, waiting for more of an explanation. "What is it?" she asked when an answer wasn't immediately forthcoming.
"That's..." Nancey trailed off for a moment, looking for the right terminology. "A variant of Demon's Wreath. You should actually be fine as long as you don't touch it. But we're going to go deeper, and there's another plant that looks like this, but has yellow and blue flowers. If you see it, let me know." She seemed to be considering her words carefully.
Nancey looked around at the ground for a while, "I know I already told you not to draw any sources if you can avoid it, but if you need to draw on a source in here, don't draw from any sources that touch the plants."
Nicole shrugged. "That the extent of the lesson? Care to share how we're going to survive in here? It was my understanding that any variant of Demon's Wreath would turn you into a zombie."
Nancey frowned. "Okay, continuing the lesson, zombies are dead things re-animated by other-worldly forces. They're generally harmless unless you attack them. Demon Wreath, on the other hand, If you get any in your system it will weaken your aura. Then more other-worldly forces can get in while you're still alive. And it's not the passive wraiths that enter and make off with corpses, they're living demons. And then you become a passenger while something else takes over. If you're lucky, you'll think you're still you the entire time until you're quietly replaced and your will is finally snuffed out."
"As opposed to what?" Nicole asked.
"As opposed to waking up one morning, locked in a prison inside your own head, seeing, hearing, feeling everything, riding along while the demon does as it pleases." Nancey seemed to feel what she was describing, to the point where she shuddered visibly. Nicole would have missed if she hadn't chosen that moment to turn away from the plant and look back at Nancey.
"If these things are so dangerous, why did you bring us here?"
"Because not even the most stone-cold Pursuer has the balls follow us in here." Nancey explained.
"So, it's out of the frying pan and into the fire, is it?" Nicole was visibly irritated when she asked the next question. "Then how are we supposed to survive?"
"I'm immune and as long as I pay attention, I can keep you safe."
Nicole looked hard at Nancey, carefully considering what she had just said. No one was immune to Demon's Wreath. The only way that Nicole knew of that someone could be safe from Demon's Wreath was if they were already possessed.
Nicole looked harder before asking her next question, opening herself to see the sources that surrounded them and carefully watched Nancey. When she looked at Nancey, she didn't see any dark or violent hues in her aura, just the regular human colors. Maybe she found a way to mask it? And then she asked, "Are you carrying a demon?"
Nancey met her eyes then, "You have to understand my reluctance to share... certain details. While you're bound by oath, there's a chance that you could still find a way to betray the oath and certain details could find their way into the wrong hands." She looked human. She looked like a regular human, not even a sorcerer.
"What are you hiding?" Nicole became still, she had long since caught her breath from the running, she focused a part of her attention without even thinking about it. A mental exercise that's so heavily practiced that she no longer needed to concentrate.
"Relax, killer, you're not in any danger from me." Nancey could sense that Nicole was battle ready. She wondered if Nicole realized she was doing it, or if it was second nature to her.
"What I'm hiding is information that, if well known, would result in senseless killing and an immediate power grab by the first nation to obtain it."
The gears began turning and Nicole considered that they were standing at the edge of untamed forest. Nancey truly believed she was somehow immune to the demon spores that kept the human populations divided. A division not just among the seven great human nations, but a natural border between many of the subhuman and even stranger creatures that existed.
"I don't know if I want to know." Her breathing returned to normal as she considered the possible implications. "I hope you're not delusional. Our lives are in your hands, just say something to reassure me that you're not either going to eat my soul or feed my soul to someone else and we can call it good."
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"Artwork" is my own.
