"How dare you!?" Gishia snapped, looking like she was ready to tear into Yaelish. "I'm at a higher rank than you! You shouldn't even think of laying your hand on me without so much as a 'by your leave!'"
"Yeah?" Yaelish asked, as if she couldn't care less about that. "Is that why you did that to Jenn? I mean, you didn't even ask her before you started groping her and she does outrank you here. So, wouldn't what you say also apply there?"
Gishia looked like her eyes were ready to pop out of her head. Jenn suspected that she wasn't used to having someone react with such skill to sidestep her own threats and logic.
"What's going on here?" Tchisa asked, sounding a little bored.
–Gishia started groping me without saying anything and before I could do anything, Yaelish pulled Gishia's hand's off me and Gishia's upset that Yaelish touched her without asking, since she does outrank her. Then Yaelish asked why Gishia was doing that very same thing. That's what happened so far.– Jenn replied with her magic immediately, earning a smirk from Tchisa, who otherwise looked like she hadn't heard anything.
"This girl was attacking me!" Gishia snarled, looking like she wanted to tear Yaelish's throat out. "She showed no regard for me before she came at me for no reason!"
"She was making unwanted advances on our- on the second-in-command!" Yaelish started to say, but stopped herself. Jenn had a feeling she knew full well what it was that she had been about to say. Something that she really hoped that Gishia didn't catch herself, or any of the others who already didn't know that Jenn was the Blue Rose.
Tchisa sighed. She then looked at Gishia levelly. "Look, I can already tell that you're lying to me. That Yaelish was defending your superior officer from you, so you can either drop the hostility, or I can find someone else to be the second-in-command of our security detail," Tchisa said, her words creating a chill that Jenn felt sliding down her own back as if she was the one the words were directed at.
Gishia gaped at Tchisa, looking between Yaelish and Tchisa, as if she had been set up. "H-how could you say I was lying!?" she managed, her trembling voice sounding as if she was being wronged here.
"Look, I can use magic to look into people's minds, alright? I don't most of the time because it's too boring, but when it comes to situations like this, I have to so I can make quick assessments and decide what really happened. In this case, I even peeked at Jenn's mind here, so I know what happened from her perspective," Tchisa returned, her tone telling Gishia to drop the act. It wasn't working.
Gishia stared at Tchisa, like she didn't know how to react to that revelation. As if Tchisa had betrayed them by that fact alone. However, after a few minutes, she dropped her head, looking like she'd been defeated. "Fine, I did touch her without asking," Gishia replied, as if the words were ashes in her mouth she was spitting out. "Though, I knew that it was the only way to convince her."
"It sounded to me like it wasn't working, regardless," Yaelish remarked offhandedly. "I mean, she did try to push you away."
"Aw, that was playing hard-to-get," Gishia gushed, as if Jenn not being interested was inconceivable to her.
Tchisa looked at Gishia, her gaze even making Jenn want to inch away, even though she knew that Tchisa wouldn't attack her like that. That she was one of the people she knew she could count on to have her back the most among those present.
"I don't care if she was batting her eyes at you like a twig showing their interest," Tchisa said flatly. "While we're out here, you better keep your hands to yourself unless it's somehow part of what you need to do to fulfill the duties of what you've been assigned. Am I clear?"
Gishia nodded, looking like she might have lost control of her body for a minute, though Jenn wasn't sure as she really didn't want to look or even smell anything to confirm that theory. Especially since she really just wanted to be done with this situation altogether.
"You're clear," Gishia mumbled, her displeasure on full display.
"Good," Tchisa said, as if the matter was completely settled. "If you're going to do anything like that, you can do it when we're done with this expedition. As long as we're back in the settlement, with nothing assigned, you're free to pursue anyone you want, even if they're playing hard-to-get."
Gishia looked like she was confused for a moment, before the words clicked for her and Jenn was pretty sure she wasn't going to like what would come down the line for her later on. After they were done with this expedition.
"Don't worry about her, I'm sure she'll be to busy with her own harem to bother you when we get back," Yaelish said, putting her hand on Jenn's shoulder.
"I guess," Jenn replied, not fully convinced that it would turn out like that. That Gishia would leave her alone back at the settlement.
The rest of the first day was rather uneventful, although there was a ripple of unease that went through everyone in the expedition, even Tchisa, when they saw a paw print of some kind of canine animal that was about the size of a person's foot near a stream that was next to where they were setting up camp. It wasn't the same size a anyone's but it was rather close. Much closer than Jenn could say that she liked.
Embris announced that she and Gishia couldn't be sure what had left the print or how long ago it had been left, but that they were likely safe where they were. That they'd at least keep the fire going to keep whatever had left that print away from them as much as possible. That each fire they needed would have someone always tending it through the night. Which in turn, meant that there'd be three people on watch at any given time that night.
Jenn didn't mind getting assigned a watch herself, especially since Gishia seemed to have started to take a different outlook on what she was supposed to be doing when she had seen the paw print herself.
The only consolation that Jenn took in the paw print was that it looked to be a singular creature rather than a pack of them. If there was a pack, she'd have preferred to return until they could ensure the safety of everyone to the best of their ability. Such as acquiring spears to make sure that the creatures would have a harder time reaching them if they appeared and decided to attack.
However, Jenn wasn't ruling that possibility out. There could very well be a pack of those creatures, but that was only a possibility. If there was, she was certain that they'd find out soon enough. Besides, she was pretty sure that it'd be a regular creature rather than a magical one. So, having the fires going through the night should help deter it from attacking them. So long as this world didn't have any illness like rabies for them to worry about.
Despite any worries anyone had in the camp, the night went by rather uneventful. Although, in the morning, that's when the action took place.
There was a rumbling in the distance when Jenn woke up. She wasn't sure what was causing it, but it certainly didn't sound like the kind of rumbling that was a danger to them. In fact, it sounded rather familiar to Jenn, even though she couldn't quite place it.
The rumbling sounded almost rhythmic. Like it was repeating at steady intervals. Jenn wasn't sure what could be causing the sound, as it certainly wouldn't be from a predator, since a predator wouldn't want its presence announced like that at any point.
Then the rumbling started to slow down and in a clearing by the stream, Jenn saw a sight she hadn't expected to see at all. Horses. Lots of horses. Not just the size she was used to either, but rather tall ones.
Jenn wracked her brain trying to think back on what she'd heard Amelia talk about with horse breeds and the closest she could think of with these was the Shire horse. Although, these seemed like they might be even larger.
Their shoulders stood well above Jenn's head, even from a distance. Though, the herd of those horses would occasionally glance towards the camp curiously, but wouldn't get any closer and Jenn suspected it was because of the fires that they'd kept going through the night.
"What are those?" Embris breathed, her voice full of wonder.
"Horses," Jenn replied. "A herd of horses."
"Are they dangerous?" Embris asked, though with her tone keeping the same sense of wonder, it was hard to tell if she was really conscious of what she was saying versus how she sounded.
"Of course," Jenn replied, a wry grin appearing on her face. "I just look how tall they are. I'm sure if they even stepped on us, it could hurt."
Embris rolled her eyes in response. "Yeah, I got that. What I meant was, would they attack us?"
Jenn merely shrugged. "I guess they would if we got to close to their young, but I'm sure they're aware of us already, so as long as we don't try to get too close to them right now, we should be fine."
"Uh, why do you sound like that's a 'for now' sort of thing?" Tchisa asked, sounding like she uneasy about what Jenn might respond with.
"Well, I was thinking that there's many things that having horses like that would help us with," Jenn answered, not caring what the others' reaction would be.
"I admit, it'd be nice to have horses like that for the mercenary band, but that's all they'd be good for. I'm not aware of any other benefit they'd have for us."
Jenn sighed. She hoped she would be able to get support for the idea, but it was clear that they others weren't as imaginative as Jenn was about how the horses would benefit them.
"Well, if we fit them with a collar, we could use them for farming, pulling carts, as well as with the mercenary band."
"Wait, 'collars?' What would collars be able to do?" Tchisa asked, sounding less like a superior officer than she should, but Jenn hoped that given the subject others would overlook that. Especially Embris.
"Well, my mother once read a book to me that described putting a collar on a horse would allow the weight of anything they're pulling to fall to their shoulders, making it easier for them to pull it. Much more than it would take for five people to do the same feat, but they'd still only eat like five times as much as a person."
Tchisa blinked in surprise. "If that works, then that would be helpful, but from what I understand, horses tend to be rather difficult to break. Especially when they're wild."
Jenn merely shrugged. "I wasn't planning on trying to get them now, it was merely something I was thinking about in the future. As we could at least-"
Jenn stopped talking when the horses screamed in panic. Jenn wasn't sure what was going on, but it was clear the horses were bolting away from them. Though, not directly, more across the stream and away from where they'd been coming from, as well as from where they were going.
Yet, while the herd had left, one horse was still screaming in pain maybe a hundred yards away from them. Though, with the herd gone, it was easier to see what was going on: a rather large wolf was attacking the horse. Jenn estimated that the wolf was at least as tall at its shoulder as she was tall. She wasn't sure if the wolf had noticed them, but she was willing to bet that it was more interested in the dying horse in front of it.
Although, she doubted that the wolf would have been following the herd of horses while they were running like they had been, causing the rumbling sound, that it had already been by here and merely saw an opportunity.
As Jenn looked at the horse, she could see that it didn't look like it had been in the best of condition before it had been attacked, and Jenn suspected the wolf had targeted the horse because of its weakened state.
It felt like it took maybe an hour before the wolf had finally killed the horse, but Jenn suspected that it was more a matter of minutes. Though, when the horse did give its last breath, the wolf turned its attention to Jenn and the others.
The wolf snarled at them, clearly letting them know that the horse was the wolf's and they weren't to try and get it from it. Not that Jenn had any plans of that. Even if the others thought of horses as something to eat, she was more interested in staying away from those fangs. Especially with how large the wolf was.
"Uh, maybe we should try moving on?" Jenn suggested, hoping the wolf wouldn't decide to add any of them to the menu with the horse. She hoped that they'd be able to avoid any fight with the wolf.
"Do you think it's alone?" Gishia asked softly, as if she was afraid the wolf would take more interest in them if they talked at a regular volume.
"I've looked around, but I'm not seeing anything else," Embris said, sounding calmer than Jenn herself felt. "If there were more, I'm sure we'd have seen them."
Jenn half expected to see the wolf dragging the horse's body away, but instead the wolf was already going to town on eating it. She wasn't sure if that was normal or not, but she didn't really care at the moment. Watching it eat was sure to cause her to lose her appetite, which she didn't care to do right then. Not when she knew they'd have a full day of walking in these mountains again.
She was pretty sure of the way to where the gate was, but she couldn't be absolutely certain. At least not until they reached where the gate was. Though, Jenn felt like she was forgetting something that would have allowed her to find it much more easily, but she couldn't recall what it was. Instead, she was left trying to hoping that she could remember the exact route she and her friends had taken.
"So, how do we avoid the wolf?" Yaelish asked, sounding rather shaken, which Jenn could certainly relate to. "I mean, I'm surprised it hasn't tried coming for us already."
"Well, if we climb that mountain, or at least partway," Jenn said, pointing to one across the stream that didn't seem too steep, but far enough away that it wasn't going to attract the interest of the wolf, or so she hoped, "then we should be able to get by without the wolf being interested in us. As long as it can eat its fill, I'm sure it won't be interested in us."
"How can you be sure?" Gishia demanded, sounding like she was doing a better job of hiding how scared she was than Yaelish was.
"I can't," Jenn admitted. "I'm just hoping that it'll be more interested in the horse than in us and will be willing to let us go by, as long as we don't get too close to the horse's body."
"Sounds like we're screwed," Gishia commented, though her tone didn't sound as hopeless as her words made it seem. "Guess we should have a good time before it's over."
Jenn was ready to bat away Gishia's wandering hands, but Yaelish beat her to the punch. "If you have a better idea of how to avoid the wolf, we'd be interested listening. Otherwise, you should keep your hands to yourself. She's made it clear to you, she's not interested."
Gishia merely shrugged, as if she didn't care. "I just thought I'd let her end the suspense about what it'd be like."
Jenn wished she could get it through Gishia's thick skull that she really wasn't that interested. In fact, it seemed more like Gishia was the one who was wondering what it'd be like for them to end up in bed together. Which Jenn didn't plan on letting Gishia learn what that'd be like at al.
"Jenn's idea sounds good," Embris decided. "We'll take that route and just hope were not encountering something that the wolf doesn't want us near."
Jenn couldn't help but look at the wolf again as it continued to tear at the flesh of the dead horse. She couldn't see what gender the wolf was at the angle she had, but if it was a mother wolf, or soon-to-be mother wolf, then she couldn't help but wonder if there was anything else that she'd be able to do to help put some distance between them.
"So, what's for breakfast?" Tchisa asked, making Jenn wonder if she'd be able to keep anything down after seeing the wolf eat.
_
Aside from the horses and the wolf, the day was uneventful for Embris. For Jenn, however, she had to put up with five attempts by Gishia to 'persuade' Jenn to see how it would be for both of them to get in bed together.
While others were engaging in that same kind of activity, Embris had to say that Gishia seemed to be the only one who was meeting with resistance. While she felt bad for Jenn having to endure that behavior, she was at least glad that she wasn't the target of Gishia's interest.
As they journeyed on, Embris couldn't help but feel small and insignificant surrounded by the mountains. Sometimes they'd climb one partway, before starting to climb down the slope, but mostly they kept to the valleys and the spaces in-between the mountains. While she could have felt the same with the giant trees of the Forest of the Lost, she felt that the mountains were much more imposing. Especially with some mountains that seemed perpetually surrounded by clouds.