The Unicorn's Forest

Tim wasn't sure he liked the way things had developed. While he wasn't opposed to the idea of learning the written language of this world, he didn't like having to add in the sensation of returning to school in order to do so.

Hannah was with him being tutored in this written language, and Amelia was supposed to join them when the marquis decided that she could leave the quarantined house, though Tim was pretty sure she'd already been in there a month, but he couldn't really remember. He'd spent a good amount of time closeted in with the maps outside of these tutoring sessions, so sometimes he didn't even realize a day had passed.

Which did make it a little awkward when he accidentally missed one of these sessions because he'd lost track of time. Though, he was surprised when the tutor didn't get upset at him for missing a day. Which brought to mind another issue. The fact that the tutor was Kystia, the marquis' daughter.

She was patient with them and even more cheerful about the situation. Yet, at the same time, Tim was having trouble getting over the fact that she was so much younger than him and Hannah. She was definitely literate in this language, so her knowledge wasn't the issue. It was just that he wasn't sure he liked the way the situation was set up to begin with.

At the moment, they were finishing up the lesson for the day, or night given how dark it was outside the window in the room Kystia had set aside to tutor them, and despite his problems and hang ups on the situation, he could tell that he was making some progress. Such as he was recognizing a few words and was getting used to the way the language was read. Which was from the top of the page to the bottom, like he remembered Japanese is read. Only, rather than reading it from right to left after that, it was read from left to right, just like English otherwise was. It made the process feel a little more weird, but it was still manageable.

It had almost been a week since they'd started these lessons, but Tim wasn't sure how long to expect them to go on for. After all, it wasn't like he knew how intricate this language was. Which just made it more than a little annoying. Especially with how he could see that he was able to understand a little more of what was written on the maps he'd been pouring over.

Enough that he thought he might have an idea of where they should take a look at when Beth, Ralph, and Wes got back.

The location was along the northern border on the country they were in, which was a range of mountains that seemed like a natural barrier. Especially to the point where there wasn't any maps that would showed what lay beyond those mountains, if anything of note.

Time yawned as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He couldn't help but wonder if he was burning himself out with how much he kept trying to do. He knew it wasn't healthy, but at the same time, he figured that the best way through this was to get as much done as he could so that when the rest of his friends returned that they'd be able to discuss what to do next.

A stray thought suddenly occurred to Tim as Kystia finished helping Hannah with the language exercises that she'd developed, or maybe even copied from her own tutor. That thought was how Beth, Wes, and especially Ralph would react to being 'able to learn' the local written language. He could just imagine Ralph's reaction to it and hoped to be able to see it in person rather than merely hearing about it secondhand.

Tim rubbed his eyes as he looked at the words on the parchment in front of him. He could tell how tired he was with how the words swam across the page. One thing he'd been considering, even though he hadn't figured out all the details yet, was to create a clock or something so he could know when it was day or night in the library.

He had wondered why they didn't have a window in there, but he didn't want to complain, since he really didn't know if it was something cultural or not. Though, it was also possible that the library was put there for other reasons, such as it not being considered important or something else like that. There was too many possibilities for Tim to consider that he kept talking himself out of asking if it was possible to get a window in there.

"Tim!" Kystia snapped, hitting his head with a long wooden stick she often would play with as a sword. "Enough daydreaming. You have more to do on your exercises! You won't be done for the day until you complete them!"

Tim sighed. While they were close to being done, Kystia seemed to either be emulating her tutors or she had a stronger force of will than he had suspected. Not that he planned on saying anything about it. Right then, he just wanted to be done with this for the day.

_

Beth closed the door to the inn as she left to take a walk for the night to clear her head. When the others returned from getting Frolla a dress that fit him, they were shocked to see how many people Beth had gotten.

Which Beth had expected. What she hadn't expected was the debate about what to do with them. Though, only Ralph and Wes understood her argument about letting them decide for themselves. Not that Beth had really expected Hesha and Feon themselves.

Still, while Beth's argument seemed to have settled the matter, she still felt the need to clear her head. The debate had caused everyone to have heated emotions, and while nothing was said that could cause problems for them, Beth still didn't want to risk saying something she'd regret the moment it came out of her mouth.

She didn't plan on taking long, just a simple walk. Though, she did leave the money she'd had with her earlier. She didn't see the sense in bringing anything that she didn't want to lose.

While she didn't really know the area very well, , she felt at least confident that she'd be able to find her way back to the inn, if only because of the few focuses she had with her things. She had her focus, but she still would use other objects as a focus, if only so she could create items she could use for tracking. Even if it was just to keep tabs on someone, like she'd done in the past with Charlie.

Thinking about her best friend, she couldn't help but sigh. She wasn't sure how Charlie would have reacted to knowing that Beth had bought her, if she'd had anywhere near a hundred and eighty ziks, but since she hadn't been able to it wasn't like it really mattered anyway.

Beth let her thoughts wander and drift from one subject to another as she walked around. Then about the time she had started of thinking about returning to the inn, she came across what she could only call a monument.

It wasn't like a statue or a wall with names on it, but rather it was large and it clearly cost a lot to create. She wasn't sure exactly what it was or why it had been created in the first place, but it was made out of what she could only assume was steel or some other material that would look like it. It was also very polished, to the point its surface had a mirror-like quality to it.

As Beth took a step back to take a better look, she could see that it resembled the altar she could remember from Petal's forest. The one where the Heart of the Forest was supposed to rest. Only, this was at least three times as big, where the other one had barely come up to Beth's waist.

Beth couldn't imagine why that had been built in the first place, but her thoughts fled as she felt something poking her in the back. While she knew she hadn't been walking backwards, it took her a moment to realize what the sensation meant.

"Don't look behind you, just keep your gaze forward," a voice whispered in her ear threateningly.

Beth wasn't sure what this was about, but merely sighed. She hadn't expected something like this to occur, but she was at least happy that she'd left the money she'd had with her earlier back at the inn. She wasn't sure what this guy wanted, but she didn't plan on dying here either.

"What's this about then?" Beth asked, sounding calmer than she actually felt.

"We noticed your interest in that particular slave and wanted to know what it was about," the voice remarked, almost in her ear.

Beth kept her eyes pointing forward, not wanting to test the threat, even through something as simple as looked out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't sure what this person wanted, but she knew she was at their mercy and there wasn't anything she could do about them as a result.

"I thought she might have been a friend of mine," Beth merely stated, not seeing a reason to let them know that she was confident it was her friend.

"Your friend was taken by the lost?" the voice asked, it's raspy sound sounding rather forced to Beth.

"Yeah… so what?"

Beth felt whatever was poking her in the back press closer, making her wonder if it might be already cutting into the fabric of her tunic.

'If you want to mock us you will do it at your own peril."

Beth rolled her eyes, not caring if this mysterious stranger was happy or not. "Look, I wasn't mocking you," Beth stated. "I just didn't see the point of if my friend was taken by the lost or not. So what if she was taken by the lost? You make it sound like that's something significant, but if it was, why would so many people get worried about being taken by them?"

Beth felt a hand get placed on her shoulder before sliding up to her neck before wrapping itself around her throat. At that moment, Beth notices something in the monument in front of her. She could make herself out in the dim lighting and something about the person behind her. Whoever it was, was in the light cast from the window of an inn or residence or something, which showed they were covered by a hooded tunic, cloak, or something.

"You really aren't from around here, are you?" the voice asked, sounding a little surprised. "And here I thought the rumors about you couldn't possibly all be true."

"Wish I could say the same," Beth replied. "I haven't heard anything about you."

The voice chuckled, their amusement clear. "If you had, we wouldn't be doing our job well enough."

"Look, as fascinating as this conversation is, could you either get to the point or just kill me already? You're boring me to death."

Beth felt the person's hand squeeze her throat, although somehow it felt like this person wasn't that upset about Beth's statement. She held her breath as she tried to maintain a completely calm and unconcerned expression on her face despite the fear she could feel building inside She started to focus on regulating her breathing, partly to keep it from starting to get out of control, which she was certain would cause her to lose her entire composure which certainly wouldn't help her here.

"Are you really that eager to die?"

What was with this person? Beth asked herself as she sighed. Out loud she said, "You're just boring me. So, either stop wasting both of our time and get on to the point of here or just finish me off. Either way, it'll keep the suspense away."

The figure shifted and Beth saw a lock of red hair fall out of the hood. "What do you think we want? Or are you just guessing?"

"It's clear you want something, but since I have no idea who you are, how the hell would I know what you want? Unless you tell me, red, there's not way that I could possibly know," Beth snapped, starting to get more annoyed than anything else with this person.

Beth felt her body leaning backward as the object against her back pressed into it more, while her throat was held back by the other person. Beth wasn't sure if this was a tactic this person was using to get its point across or if there was something else going on.

"Why did you call me 'red?'" the voice hissed in her ear, their hand tightening around her throat.

Beth had a brief image in her mind appear of this person kissing her ear, though she couldn't say why that thought showed up in the first place. "Well, your hair is red so I thought, why not?" Beth said as she felt her self-control on her calm appearance starting to crumble.

There was a moment of silence, which made Beth start to wonder if she'd really screwed herself over here and that this person was going to just kill her and be done with it. Which actually made Beth wonder if this might be how Charlie saw her die in her dream, despite knowing some inconsistencies between what she remembered Charlie telling her about that dream and this current situation.

"You really can use wild magic," the person cooed when she finally spoke again.

"I don't need to use magic to see what's in front of me," Beth snapped, feeling like this was becoming a waste of her time, but also starting to feel a little safer even with the hand over her throat and sharp object poking her in the back. She had also starting to think about using her magic to finish this until she heard that comment about her magic. Suddenly she wanted to see if she could elicit any more information from this person.

"What're you talking about? I'm behind you."

Beth did her best to nod against the hand holding her throat. "And I can see your reflection in that thing in front of me," Beth replied, wondering what the result of her statement would be.

The person behind her used a word that Beth wasn't familiar with, but it sounded like it probably was a curse word. They backed away from Beth, releasing her throat and the thing poking her in the back disappeared. As they moved away, Beth kept her eyes on their reflection as they inadvertently gave Beth a brief glimpse of their face. While she couldn't tell what their gender was, she could make out the electric blue color of their eyes. In regards to their gender, their clothing hid anything that would let Beth know if they were male or female. Though, Beth wouldn't be surprised if this world had people who were both genders at the same time.

However, even though the person had moved back, they didn't leave. Nor did Beth try to turn around. What she cared about most was the fact that whatever they had been poking her back with wasn't there anymore. She didn't care if it was a knife, dagger, or any other kind of blade. All she cared about was that if it was plunged into her back, she might not survive to even try to get it treated with her own magic.

"If we told you what we were seeking, would you help us or oppose us?" the person asked, making Beth wonder why they were asking that way.

"It all depends on what it is you're seeking," Beth answered honestly. "I have no idea who you are, but if you're wanting to do something that would hurt those that I care about, then I'd have to oppose you no matter what. However, if it doesn't do that, then I would at least be willing to listen to what it is you're trying to do."

Beth was pretty sure that whatever they wanted was something shady. Quite possibly illegal. Which meant she really should avoid at all costs. She didn't want to deal with it in the first place.

"I'll see what I can tell you," the person said, after being quite for a minute. "Meet me here again tomorrow at this time and I'll either bring someone who can tell you what you want to know or I'll be able to tell you if I've been given permission to tell you myself or if you weren't given permission to be told that information."

Beth nodded, wondering what the answer to that would be. She wasn't sure if she should stay here to find out or if she'd be better off leaving the city with her friends. However, she also had a feeling if she did that, then these people would merely follow her and maybe even put her friends in danger. She couldn't say what these people would do, but she wouldn't put it pass them to kill others indiscriminately.

Especially with how Beth felt like that person wouldn't have bothered to think twice at killing her. While Beth felt like she might have felt a pair of breasts pressing against her back with that sharp object, she couldn't be sure it wasn't just padding or her imagination.

Which also meant that while she'd come out to take a walk to clear her head, now she had more to think through than she did before. Almost like having this happen defeated the purpose of her having come on the walk in the first place.

Though, she figured she'd alt least let Ralph and Wes know what happened. She was confident that they'd like to be made aware of what happened. Even though it wasn't like they'd be able to do anything about it.