New book ideas!
- Book DCCCXLII: "The Seasonal Swords" -- The RAFians must secure the Swords of the Seasons -- the Sword of Summer, the Sword of Autumn, the Sword of Winter, and the Sword of Spring.
- Book DCCCXLIII: "Coattails" -- The RAFians must deal with a spectral doppelganger, who gets in over his head.
- Book DCCCXLIV: "Ghost Riding" -- The RAFians must deal with a ghost called Rider, and another called Malefic.
All titles are subject to change, and are not final. I don't think that I rehashed anything.
New chapter.
CHAPTER SIX:
Recent Realizations
The Rock Biter, or Rock Chewer if you prefer, quietly lumbered out of the city, with only most minimal damage that was only cosmetic in nature, not structural. It didn't seem interested in the stones that made up the concrete, acting as if it thought of them much like a lactose-intolerant person thinks of milk.
It left people in a state of shock, but no one was hurt by pacific, gentle giant. The cosmetic damge was really only nickel-and-dime stuff, nothing real extensive. However, the forest stood between him and the quarry, and the trees were much too closely packed together for him to easily navigate around, and if he barrelled through, he would surely snap many a tree in his path.
It did not want this, so he slowly began to lumber around the forest, in a very sedate, loping gait, much like a Bigfoot. It would take him longer to get to the quarry by this route, but it didn't want to dislodge birds and other critters from their homes and nests, and he would much preferred if all the trees within would stay in one piece. It was a gentle soul with pacifist nature, so out-and-out violence was not something that it desired, if it could help.
***
Raevyn continued to fly away from both Malice and the RAFians. She still cursed her naivete for indulging in that accursed care basket. She was allowing herself to feel despair, which deepened everytime she looked at her petrified foot. Despite the fact that RAF was lrobably the
best place for her right now.
Part of her, that selfish bit that every sentient being possessed (yes, even Realm Walker -- perhaps even
especially Realm Walkers), that part her wondered if she should have taken Malice's offer. If she should have . . .
No. No, she can't allow herself to think that way. She would
never turn traitor against them. Even Rotiart -- though it was his name backwards -- never betrayed them. She wouldn't sink so low. She wasn't Itellsya. She wasn't.
She would have to go somewhere safe. There wasn't anything she could do. She was helpless. She had to just accept the inevitable. Her fate was to be some sort of statuary, where she would eventually cease to be.
"Ugh!" she grunted. Her flight had become harder. Her entire left leg had turned to slate-gray stone. A rocky drumstick. She had to land. And she did, within Cloak's Earthsight radius.
***
The minute Raevyn set down, it send out minute vibrations. It barely activated Earthsight, but Cloak "see" it just the same. Just barely. But this just confused him, as he was unaware of the care package.
"Oh, that thing?" Saffa said, surprised. "Someone actually took it? I thought it might have been dangerous."
"But you still left it out there?" Terenia asked.
"Yeah, I didn't think anyone would actually use it," she explained. "Trojan Horse, and all that."
"I think Raevyn might have," Cloak said. "It's probably still in her thread."
"What makes you say that?" Abby asked.
"I sensed a small stone landing on the ground," Cloak said. "It was shaped, if I'm correct, like a bird's leg."
"Wha--?" GH said. Leatherhead looked invested, as well.
"One of the chemicals in the care package must have been a disguised lithomorphogenic agent," the Realm Walker speculated.
"A what?" Underseen asked.
"A chemical agent that turns things to stone," Cloak said. "Which leaves the obvious perpetrator."
"Malice?" GH asked.
"Who else?" Saffa said, with a shrug.
