Hill Top Adventures Chapter 2

Raena turned to look at Sonya and walked to the cupboard and removed the plates. " You know, there's something big down there , I can feel it in my bones." Raena said with a smile. Shadow Wolf began to fry up the veggies in some sweet butter she'd made from Brennan's goats yesterday.

 The old man took a breath and spoke," We will need Nathaniel and Gravon as well for added brute strength." Sonya nodded in agreement and spoke clearly to the dwarf," Could you go out to the stables and tell Nathaniel and Gravon to come up here ? " Veldon smiled and stood up to go out the door," I'd do anything for you Sonya." The old dwarf went out the door and down to the stables where Nathaniel was shoeing the wizard's horse. The black Andalusian began to shift nervously around as Veldon neared the spot. Nathaniel, a bit vexed, tugged on the horse's hoof. "Be still will you Anubis?, I have to finish this last nail.

The Dark stallion nuzzeld Nathaniel's shoulder." Yes, you are a good boy, we're almost done and then I can start on Zaeleena." He said in a crooning voice as Gravon chuckled deeply." You sure have a way them Nathaniel." Turning to see the dwarf coming into the stable just then. " Ah! Veldon, good to see you. What brings you out here?" He asked as the Dwarf held out his hand to shake his. " Nathaniel propped the horses leg on his knee and reached out to shake Veldon's outstretched hand.

" Miss Sonya said for ya both to come up to the house." Nathaniel smiled and said," Good, I'm just about finished with this beast". He said as he tapped the last bit of the nail through the horses hoof ." Gravon, take him to his stall and meet me up at the house." The half human, half orc teenager took the horse down the aisle to his stall and opened the latch.

Opening the door wide he led Anubis through and turned him around and then exited the stall. He closed the door and reached over and unlatched the lead rope from his halter and gently patted his neck. Meanwhile , back at the house.... Nathaniel entered the doorway and smiled at Raena, it had been some time since he'd seen her and went over to take her hand." Lovely as always Raena," He said as he kissed her hand. Raena blushed a bit and went to help Sonya set the table, talking to her friend about Nathaniel. " What did you need me for Miss. Sonya?" he asked.

The young woman looked up and spoke quickly, " Prepare the horses for travel, pack heavy. Have Gravon get the packs ready for the mule , we will be setting out for a long trip in about three hours, come and have something to eat." She said just a Gravon entered the house. Raena went over to Lord Brennan where he sat and helped him load his satchel of herbs. " Chamomile, Catnip, Comfrey, Sage, Hyssop and yes, the vision flower too Raena, there on the chest." Even now, five hundred years after the Moon was fractured in 2025 AD they still used the same names from most of the herbs. 

 She went to the chest and retrieved the pouch of vision flowers and then to his pharmacopeia cabinet to get his herbs for healing. They would be traveling through several villages and Brennan would need his herbs to heal the people who needed it." Now open the Armoire over there in the corner and pull out about twenty of the green vials." he said as she looked him with a weird look on her face. " It looks like goo." The old wizard chuckled , " It will cure what ails you to be sure and give you quite a bit of pep. It tastes like dung though if you drink it, and it burns like fire when applied to wounds."

  After everyone had eaten their fill, Nathaniel and Gravon brought the horses and mule to the house and everyone mounted them and began to follow Brennan and Sonya down to the ferry. They boarded the ferry with no problems and the horses seemed to settle quickly, soon they were at the other side and departing on to dry land. Lord Brennan turned halfway around in his saddle and motioned for Nathaniel to take the furthest point behind Gravon because he was the strongest of them all and could fend off any danger before it got to the rest of the group. Many hot hours went by as they trudged on in the heat of the heat of the day. Soon they came upon a small brook and the wizard motioned for them to stop and rest for a little while. Nathaniel helped him down from his horse then went to help down the dwarf while Gravon took the horses to the brook to drink their fill. Raena and Sonya dismounted and led their horses to the water and left them in Gravon's care and went off to explore the stand of nearby trees. The young women picked herbs as they walked and talked and soon came upon a patch of wild psychedelic mushrooms?." Sonya, is that what I think it is? Cubensis species right? The elf bent down to look and pinched a bit of one of the caps and sniffed the underside and nodded her head. It's the same species Master uses, so they decided to pick a large sack full, leaving just enough to propagate the next years harvest. They had deep purple red caps with white spots on them and Lord Brennan used them for visions and what not.

 Raena tied them to her belt and began to look for more herbs and found some wild carrots and pulled some up for them and the horses. Sonya smiled and they began to head back to the brook where the old man was sitting on a large rock resting his weary bones, " Master? Are you ok? " Sonya asked with concern as the wizard looked up at her and smiled. " You have dirt across your forehead child." Sonya wiped quickly and showed him the sack from Raena's belt. The old man smiled and put it next to his satchel of herbs and medicines. " Come now, we must make another ten miles at least before we rest. There is another entrance to the labyrinth than the one you took Raena, that's where we will stop for the night.

 So everyone mounted their steeds and began the tedious journey to the mouth of the labyrinth. Old Veldon began to sing dwarfish tunes while Gravon tried to lend a tune but ended up scaring the mule. The day wore on and they soon reached the spot where the wizard wanted to be and he raised his hand up for them to stop. " Gravon take care of the horses and Nathaniel , you get the wood, Raena you and Sonya go hunt some rabbit for dinner while I rest now. " Everyone left to do the old man's bidding and looked forward to the meal ahead. Raena and Sonya went scouting for food and soon came upon a small cave that allowed them to walk into upright. Sonya motioned that there were rabbits in the back of the cave and Raena drew her bow silently. In an instant, Sonya let out a wolf howl that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up and rabbits began to run everywhere. Raena released the arrow and it shattered on the back wall of the cave, cursing as Sonya reached out to grab one as it passed her, breaking it's neck quickly. Raena sleeved another arrow and pulled back the string, aiming a bit low as she released. The arrow found it's mark right through the torso of a large rabbit who's reflexes were making it jerk a bit but it soon died.

The young women grabbed their prey and went back to the campsite." You know that cave was big enough for all of us to sleep in ? " Raena said as she tossed the rabbit to Gravon to skin and skewer over the fire. " There is a stream close by Miss. Raena you can wash your hands." He said, looking down at the ground. Looking around for some herbs to cook the rabbit with Gravon spotted the bag of mushrooms and the wild carrots and decided to make a nice stew. For some reason the night had brought on a chill and the wind began to pick up some allowing the fire to burn brightly in the night. A stew would warm them nicely. Raena was sharpening her kriss blades on a wet stone between her feet. Firelight played along the blade as she ground them to a sharpened point. Looking at Nathaniel grooming the horses she smiled and spoke," Be careful with Mystic, her right foreleg seems to be a bit tender, she's been favoring it a bit today." Sonya smiled and went to her bag and got some of her camphor rub and went over to the young man." She began to croon in a sing song voice soothing the horse and assuring it that she would not hurt it. Handing the box to Nathaniel she gently moved between him and the horse and ran her hand down the right leg slowly until the mare flinched. Leaning down a bit she gently pulled the leg up and propped it on her knee. Leaning forward, Nathaniel held out the open box so she could reach the medicine within. Not even turning her head ,she reached out and grasped three fingers worth of the camphor out and began to rub the sore spot and work her healing magic. Mystic looked down to see what the elf was doing to her and snorted softly in her ear. Smiling, Shadow Wolf placed her hoof back on the ground and patted her shoulder," That should help you feel better girl."

The Rabbit stew began to bubble and smell wonderful as they all sat around the roaring fire. " Smells great Gravon, when will it be done?" The dwarf asked as he came near to the pot. " Soon old man, soon." He replied as he began to pull the bowls from the pack on the ground near him. Ladling the stew into the bowls, he handed one to the wizard first and then to the girls nearby and finally to himself and Nathaniel. As they ate , everyone laughed and talked with ease when suddenly twenty minutes later, Lord Brennan sat back a little stunned and asked," Gravon? What did you use for the stew?" " Master, I used the mushrooms from the bag near your satchel sir." Both ladies stopped laughing and became serious , they had all consumed enough of the stew for the effects of the psilocybin cubensis mushrooms to effect them all. " Oh Gravon, are you serious?" She asked him with apparent distress." Yes, Miss. Raena I did. I thought they were eating mushrooms." He replied softly. Brennan chuckled softly and looked at the girls and spoke. " Well, you wanted to learn to vision quest, didn't you?" said the wizard as he came towards Raena. " Up you get now, come stand by the fire and do what I tell you too when the world begins to fade away. Do not struggle or try to fight it off because it will come on strong when it comes. You have had a dose strong enough to stun even me." Raena sat her bowl down and rose slowly, feeling a bit out of balance and so did Sonya. Raena came forward and stood before the Magus and looked him in the eyes, " Now just breathe deeply and listen to my voice. Look into the flame and focus." Looking into the flames of the fire, her vision seem to slip slightly out of focus and an ethereal glow seemed to form around her. The world began to fade away, all but Brennan's voice, that sounded so far away.

Fire fairies danced at her feet and sang a haunting melody, as they jumped in and out of the fire's edge. Turning her head towards a stand of trees the young woman saw the wood nymphs' beginning to move and flex their slender limbs. " Focus!" She heard the wizard tell her sternly, snapping her head back quickly to look into the fire. "Place your palms together, now see the energy form between your hands." he said and she looked down at her palms and saw a bright purple orb of energy forming there as she rubbed furiously. " Now pull it with both of your hands into a larger ball with just the fingertips." Taking a deep breath she began to pull outwards and just then her focus slipped and the orb bounced out of her hand, shattering into a million shards of light against the trunk of a nearby tree." " Damn, Woman! I told you to focus, Now do it again and this time do not miscast." He said sternly as he touched her arm softly. Taking a few deep breaths as a wave of the drug passed over her. " Clear your mind and do as I say," She could hear somewhere in the back of her mind she closed her eyes for a moment and allowed the mushrooms to fill her senses and then opened her eyes and rubbed her hands together before the fire and saw the purple orb forming in her palms. She flicked her right hand and fingers in a clockwise motion and called to it, crooned to it and sang to it.

 " Grow , grow , grow for me. Help me to see what I must see." Then she put her hands together with the orb between and began to manipulate the flow of energy until she could get the feel of what she wanted to do. To her right, Shadow Wolf began to do the same to keep her senses focused and aware. They both began to pull their orbs outwards at the same time and turned towards each other so they could look into each other's eyes as they focused on the power. From deep behind them Nathaniel had begun to Hallucinate and was flapping his arms around like he was a chicken and Gravon was sniffing around the horses feet for a bit of carrot he knew they'd dropped there." Here little carrot, I know you're down here somewhere." he said as he rooted around in the dirt. " Now Ladies, look into the orbs and let your focus slip a little, tell me what you see as it happens. You are connected and will see the same vision. You are not alone." Smoke began to fill the orbs then clear away to show them below the ground in the labyrinth and Raena standing at a podium reading from an ancient tome too heavy to carry.

 Dust and cobwebs hung heavily in the corners of the room with large spiders hanging in them. Nathaniel and Gravon fought off the beasts that tried to enter the room as the wizard tried to make her keep her focus. Mildewed strands of slime hung from over head and they could see books that covered the whole of one wall and part of the next. Green light emanated from a crystal that hung around her neck that shone brightly in the dark of the room. As suddenly as it came, it left, and the women pulled back sharply breaking their concentration and falling backwards on to the ground with a thud. Sonya and Raena began to laugh as they rubbed their butts. " Ow, that hurt! Raena said as Sonya flipped up quickly and helped her to her feet. " Ok now let's go have some fun , we've done enough work old man." She said as she rubbed Brennan's arm as she passed by him. Everything seemed heightened to her wolf senses and she could hear Gravon rolling in the dirt like a horse . Nathaniel completely snockered ,sat in a stupor on one of the saddles holding on for dear life saying, " No not that way, this way, there are mermaids over there. Hmm, mermaids, maybe we should go that way." And began to bounce as if he were riding the back of a horse. "Ok Raena, let's go find the nymphs and satyrs and have a little fun." She said as she pulled her into the edge of the woods. The chill of the evening cooling their skin as they walked deeper into the stand of trees. Unable to see much Raena followed behind the elf assured that she would not be led astray. a few moments more and the wood opened into large meadow with a huge Willow tree in the center, clearly a place of power. Raena smiling began to spin around with her arms outstretched and singing a song that just came forth from her soul. Sonya began to howl at the waxing moon and roll upon the ground and sniff, trying to get to an itch that she couldn't scratch. As the moments passed by a nymph came into view and another, slowly they gathered around them and joined in Raena's song in a haunting flute-like melodies. Just then the clouds came in ,and it began to rain lightly.

Lightening flashed and thunder clapped scaring the horses and made them dance in fear. Gravon and Nathaniel, totally gone, because they had both eaten two bowls of stew before the wizard had realized what the simple minded bloke had done to their food, were of no use. The Wizard came forward and grabbed his horses halter and soothed him quickly. Sonya and Raena ran through the forest back to the campsite to help just as the sky opened and began to rain in a drenching down pour. When Sonya said, " Raena," The cave! Let's go to the cave."