“I think we’re here. It’s just a little further.” She scrambled down the tree, her feet hitting the ground with barely a sound.
“What did you see?” Aloisia asked.
“Standing stones. There’s a clearing up ahead. It’s not too much further.” Kaja wrapped an arm around her waist. “We can stop a little while once we’re there, all right?” she uttered, passing her a skin of water.
“Standing stones,” Inari repeated. “That makes sense, I suppose. ‘Giant’s Teeth’.
The trees parted on a clearing, as Kaja had told them. A formation of nine enormous stones stood at its centre, jutting up from the earth like teeth. The hawk landed upon one, letting out a cry.
“For all the times we’ve been in this forest,” Aloisia said, “I had no idea this was here.”
Kaja helped her over to one stone and propped her against it.
Oda’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Likely because we are nearing the mountains. I don’t like this. We’re bordering on the land of the mountain clans. We shouldn’t go much further.”
“I hope our next destination is not much further,” Inari said, eyeing Aloisia. “The Vale of Poppies? Familiar to anyone?”
Oda shook her head. “We go back now.”
“Why?” Kaja asked. “We’ve come all this way. We can’t turn back now.”
“The Vale of Poppies is the mountain pass. It goes directly through the mountain clans’ territories.”
“This isn’t a treasure hunt.” Kaja marched back to the guard. “We need to find what is at the end of this map, not just for Fynn, not even just for Littlewatch. If these monsters aren’t stopped, they could pose a threat to all of Teneria. The mountain clans ought to be concerned with them too.”
“I don’t think they will see it that way.” Oda folded her arms. “They cannot be reasoned with.”
“We have to keep going,” Aloisia said. “Feel free to go back, Oda. But, with or without you, I will follow this map.”
Oda sneered. “And how will you do that without your shaman?”
“Who said he would go back with you?”
“You would directly disobey the magistrate so?”
“The magistrate wants answers as much as I do. Without answers, more people will die. By turning back, by returning with no further information, you are disobeying him too.”
Oda looked at Ludin, uncertainty fleeting across her face.
“True enough,” Ludin said, “however, there is a pact higher than us, higher than Magistrate Vester as well. The Mountain Clans keep to the Lavald Hills, and the people of Teneria do not trespass. We cannot break the pact, no matter the reason. Not without permission from above.”
Aloisia puffed out a sigh. “It isn’t as if we are invading their land. We wish to find something, nothing more. Something, most likely, linked to the monsters plaguing our land. Something which could pose a threat to the mountain clans should it be left undiscovered.”
“You’ve no proof of that,” Oda snapped.
“I cannot prove it if we do not go.”
“Not going to happen. We head back now.” Oda dusted her hands off, clearly done with the conversation, and turned back the way they had come. Ludin followed, taking Inari with him. The shaman tugged on the chains, trying to stand his ground.
“Let me go ahead.” Aloisia stood, pushing off from the standing stone she’d rested against.
Oda spun to face her. “What?”
“Let me go ahead,” she repeated. “I will ask for entry. Best case scenario, they grant us permission to enter their territory and find whatever lies in the Vale of Poppies. Worst case scenario, I don’t come back.”
Inari was already shaking his head before she finished her plea.
“Lis, no.” Kaja grabbed Aloisia’s arm as if to root her there. “That’s beyond insane.”
