//------------------------------// // Chapter Two - Wish I Could (Not) Be Part of Your World // Story: A Dream in Written Pages // by Mister Meowmerz //------------------------------// "...And you somehow mistook me for a 7-foot tall unicorn that glowed in the sunlight?" "Well, hey! You look... kinda similar. You both have horns!" I grimaced, staring at the grinning buffoon in front of me. Was this guy for real? So, it turns out the monstrous beast that assaulted me was a human, of all things; what Lyra wouldn't give to be here instead of me. After our little altercation, we found ourselves sitting in the middle of the clearing, me up on my haunches while he plopped down cross-legged, chin resting on his hand. The human was tall; a young-looking fellow wearing a raggedy, red cloak over various, mismatched pieces of armor that'd seen better days. He wore his dark, brown mane tied up in spikes in the back - kind of like a samurai from those old Japoneighse movies - with long bangs that swept to the side in front, and his eyes were the same bright green as mine. And although I normally wouldn't think he seemed particularly dangerous, himself, there was a gigantic, double-bladed axe strapped onto his back that looked like it could cleave me in two without much effort; that made me a little nervous. "Anyways, where ya from?" The human continued, "Don't see too many ponies around these parts... at least, not the talking, technicolor kind." "Ponyville." I said, simply, though he must’ve found it pretty amusing, chuckling to himself. It was a bright, goofy laugh that rang throughout the clearing, and I found myself wincing at how loud it was. “Haha, Ponyville? A place full of ponies, huh?” Needless to say, I didn’t see what was so funny. Truth be told, I was still wary of him, especially considering how sore my forelegs were and how out-of-touch he seemed to be. However, I was more worried about the fact that I was speaking to a real, live human; according to most experts on history and geology, humans were extinct. In Equestria, at least... I felt a cold shiver creep up my spine as I realized I might have been thrown a little farther from home than I first thought. "Hm...." The heavily armed human looked me over while I reflected on my situation, as if trying to decide whether I was up to snuff in terms of whatever he was sizing me up for. I just raised my eyebrows, wondering what exactly that could be. The grin he had on his face didn't exactly put me at ease... "Say, you wanna do me a favor?" He asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "...Does it have anything to do with the other unicorn you were chasing?" I asked in return. Before our previous 'encounter', he'd apparently been tracking another unicorn on the request of a certain someone in a nearby town (at least, so he claims), though judging from the way he described it, it wasn't of the 'pony' variety. "Sort of." The human's grin grew wider, his almond-shaped eyes narrowing like a smiling cat's. "The boss-man said he wanted to see a unicorn, right...? Well, you just so happen to be a unicorn. All ya have to do is come with me to the city, it'll be a snap!" "I dunno..." I hesitated, not quite sure of what I should do. True enough, I was out of my element, here, and sticking with this guy could probably save my life, in the long run. Besides, he only said his employer wanted to see a unicorn; it wasn't like I really had to do anything. But, there was this small problem of a strange, unpredictable human, a human who looked like he could very easily slice me in twain if he wanted, asking me to travel with him for what could be a considerably lengthy amount of time. Not that he didn't seem like a nice enough guy, I just... didn't know what I could expect from him. "Come on! I’m gonna go out on a limb here, but just by looking at ya, I can tell that you’re lost, am I right?" "...Right." "And you probably couldn't find your way outta this forest too quick on your own, am I right?" "Right..." "Then it's settled!" He slammed a fist onto his knee in triumph, apparently having proven his point. "I mean, you get a free ticket outta here, and I get to cash in on my contract. It's win-win all around!" Easy for him to say. Well, he was right, and I really didn't have any reason to doubt him or his intentions, but there was still a nagging feeling in the back of my head that told me this might be a bad idea... "...I guess it couldn't hurt." I finally conceded, figuring the potential benefits of going with him outweighed my unreasonable misgivings. His employer's request did sound a little suspicious, but, hey, if things started looking ugly, I could always bail once we left the forest. "How far is it to the city from here?" "’Bout two days travel, more or less." He said, getting up and stretching his legs. "Probably won't get there for a while. C'mon, if we hurry we can make it to shelter before the frost wraiths come out!" And with that, the human bounded off into the forest depths with that uncanny speed of his, barely even waiting for me to respond. I hurriedly leapt to my hooves, myself, and ran in after him, but by the time I'd even reached the treeline he was long out of my sight. "W-Wait! Wait up!!!" I cried. He didn't actually expect me to keep up with him like that, did he?! Of course, in my increased state of panic, I didn't expect him to actually return, and I jumped back in surprise, landing square on my rump, when he suddenly dropped down from a tree to appear right in front of me. "Yeah, what's up?" The human asked, casually, as if he hadn't just popped out of nowhere and scared me half to death. "...Please don't do that again." I managed to gasp out, shakily getting up to a standing position. When was I gonna get used to that? "Anyways, try and slow down! I'm not that fast, you know." This seemed to give him pause, and he tilted his head to the side in thought before shrugging his shoulders and grinning, once more. "Alright, I guess we can walk." He said. Right as he was about to turn and walk away again, however, he stopped himself, like he'd just remembered something important. "Oh, yeah! Name's Ryker, by the way. Ryker Hartavia. What's yours?" "Scratch Pad. But you can call me Scratch." I said. The human named Ryker nodded happily, patting me on the head in what was his idea of a friendly greeting. "Haha, that's a weird name! Nice meetin' ya, though, Scratch. Now, let's go! We got a lot of ground to cover, and I don't think the nargs'll be too happy if we stick around here any longer..." I rolled my eyes as he walked off into the woods. Ryker was a pretty weird name, too... I was going to ask him what the heck a narg was, but then decided that I didn't really want to know, and once I caught up with him, we began stumbling through the forest proper. I couldn't be sure yet if I could trust him, completely, but there didn't seem to be too many other options, at the moment, and he seemed friendly enough; I just hoped I wouldn't come to regret this... *** "You know, Ryker, I've been wondering..." "Yeah?" "How are we speaking the same language, anyway?" "Hm... I dunno. Magic, I guess!" I grimaced in annoyance at the human's carefree remark, but then again, I didn't see any other likely explanations. By now, it'd been a few hours into our trek, and I was being acutely reminded of why I almost never went walking in the woods; tripping over fallen branches and slipping in piles of who-knows-what wasn't exactly my idea of a good time. Ryker, however, seemed a lot more at home in the outdoors, and he quickly kept up the pace without even tiring in the least as we made our way towards civilization. Oh, and remember that thing I said about this forest being normal? Well… I suppose that wasn’t entirely true. Everything looked to be in order, at a glance, but every now and then we came upon some weird spots in the forest that seemed completely out of place; pure, white snow lay piled in heaps along the ground, and the surrounding trees were stripped bare of their leaves and covered in tiny, blue icicles, like they'd forgotten winter was already past. Then there were the floating islands in the sky that I saw, whenever the trees grew thin enough to see what was up there. Apparently, we were on one of those floating chunks of land, ourselves, and I had no idea how we were supposed to get down. And let's not forget the multitude of strange creatures that looked like they'd be all too happy to just kill you - from wild dogs wreathed in flames and weird plant things with tentacles and thorns, to beautiful, plumed birds of prey with huge beaks that were lined in fangs. Luckily enough, they seemed to be intimidated by Ryker and didn't attack, but that didn't stop them from hissing at us and growling menacingly. And, c'mon, flaming dogs? In a forest? Really? Sadly, though, my cynical musings were interrupted by the impact of me running straight into something rather solid, face-first. "Ouch!" I cried, grabbing onto my snout and rubbing at the spot I'd so carelessly injured. "You alright?" Ryker asked, laughing a little as he walked up beside me. I nodded crossly, still nursing my sore snout. Looking up, I saw a gigantic, fallen log that stood about as tall as Ryker in the way of the path, bugs and moss and lichen crawling all over it. "So, Scratch," Ryker started, easily hopping on top of the giant, decaying log and snapping me fully out of my daydreaming, "There a lot of tiny ponies at this 'Ponyville' place you're from?" "Hey, I'm not tiny! I'll have you know I'm the average-size for a stallion my age!" I shot back, while I struggled to clamber up said giant log. Sure, I only came up to about a little over his knees, but tiny was uncalled for. Ryker just grinned, leaning back down and lowering a hand to help. "Sorry, bro, but you're pretty tiny." He said as he lifted me up effortlessly by my hooves, jumping down to the other side and placing me gently on the ground. I just frowned and muttered a low 'thank you' before we continued walking; it wasn't that I was small, everything here was just too big. Still, despite the unfamiliar landscape and ravenous monsters we ran into from time to time, the trip hadn't been totally miserable. Ryker was fairly easy to get along with (if a little weird, at times), and along the way, we had a nice, long conversation about what exactly was going on, at the moment. If everything he says is true, then, well, I'm in another world. ...I guess that should've been obvious the moment I met him, but I was kinda hoping that I was just in some strange, hidden part of Equestria that nopony else knew about. Anyways, the world we were on, itself, was a place called Balance, the floating forest we were in is called the Frosthelm, and the city we were heading to, Madeira, was part of a nation that called itself the Jaris Confederation. I had no idea what any of that meant, and he didn't go into too much detail on anything else about this place, but he did say it was 'lots of fun' and 'you never get bored'. Suppose I'll find out soon enough... What really interested me was the sheer amount trouble Ryker seemed to cause wherever he went. When I asked him about himself, he told me he was an adventurer by trade, traveling with his friends and doing the odd job along the way. They had previously split up a few months ago in search of some kind of 'Gate' (well, only one of them was actually 'searching'; the rest of them were just off killing time), and Ryker was visiting with one of his friends in Madeira, right now. And when I asked him about some of his adventures, he told me a story... then another one... and another one... and, well, you get the idea. From conning dragons out of their precious hoards to accidentally destroying the ruins of centuries-old civilizations, there just didn't seem to be an end to all the hijinks he and his friends got up to. Granted, I couldn't tell if any of the tall tales he was spouting off were true or not, but hey, they were funny. And if even half of the things he said actually happened, well, I'd hate to see what it'd be like when you got them all together... "...So I just flipped the table! Which was probably a bad idea, since we were in the middle of a Zenkari war meeting, and all... That's actually how I got this scar, here." Ryker said, reenacting his flipping of the table and pointing to a pale, shallow scar to the side of his right brow. "But, yeah, the moral of the story is don't leave your axe at home, 'cuz you'll probably regret it later!" "Uh-huh..." Of course, it all might be a little more believable if they made any actual sense. Still, I wondered about what else he’d done... Just as I was about to ask, though, I noticed his gaze lingering in the direction of my flank, green eyes full of curiosity. "Is... something the matter?" I asked after few awkward moments, eyebrows raised. "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask..." He trailed off, rubbing his chin in thought. "What's up with the tattoo on your butt?" "Huh? I don't have any... Oh. You mean my cutie mark?" I gestured towards the cutie mark on my flank, to which he nodded vigorously. It was an image of a red feather quill drawing a straight line away from my rump, and though Sis always used to tease me for being the odd one out in a mostly musical family, I was rather proud of it, myself. "These are just what ponies get when they find their special talent. Mine happens to be writing." I explained to him, as he examined my cutie mark (at least, I hope it was just my cutie mark) more closely. Thinking on it, though, I haven't really been using my special talent too often, lately... Ryker just nodded some more as we continued walking, muttering a few 'I see's in understanding. Yeah, humans didn't have cutie marks, did they? His eyes suddenly lit up before I could say anything, though, and he pointed a gloved hand off into the darker depths of the forest, making a beeline in that direction. "Ah, there. Those are the ruins we're staying in tonight!" I squinted to see through the thick layers of foliage, but couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary. However, as we headed towards the area and Ryker ripped down the vines and such in our path, a large, dilapidated structure made of grey, mossed-over stone and stacked in layers like a pyramid suddenly came into view, sitting in the middle of a shady clearing where only the faintest of lights dared to tread. There was a large, door-like opening in one of the pyramid's sides to which Ryker skipped on over, and I followed behind cautiously, gazing in awe of the ruined building. After a few minutes of inspection, I concluded that it looked... normal enough. "Alright, let's set up camp, then!" He exclaimed, poking into the entryway and pulling out a huge, cluttered knapsack of sorts that was hidden inside. I looked at him in curiosity as he began yanking various pieces of equipment from the bag, from cooking pans to sleeping bags to mandolins and a whole mess more. "We're stopping already? There's still plenty of light left." I pointed out as he continued unpacking his pack. Ryker just shrugged, throwing a few logs of firewood over his shoulder. "Probably won't make it to the next checkpoint before night falls. Here should be good!" Thinking on it, I realized traveling in here during the night would be a very bad idea. After what I'd seen of him, though, I couldn't help but think that maybe I was slowing him down... I frowned a bit at the thought, then walked up beside him to peek over his shoulder, determined to not be so much of a hindrance. "Is there anything I can help with?" I asked, observing his rummaging with interest. Ryker paused to think for a minute, then turned to me and pushed a few pieces of camping equipment into my hooves, directing me to a small patch of flattened earth. "Sure, just set up the tent, start the fire, lay out the cooking pots..." I listened intently as he explained what needed to be done, and quickly got to work. I'd never actually been camping, before, but with a few minutes of setting up and a little help from Ryker, the small camp site was ready for use, a single, grey tent and crackling fire sitting cheerfully in the middle of the clearing. That was the easy part, though; after that, I helped him set up a few traps in the surrounding forest to ward off any potential intruders, some of them looking magical in nature, others as mundane as a wire-trip can. Then we had to gather food to eat, and though the thought of hunting other animals made me a little queasy, I did volunteer to gather herbs and vegetables, and he gave me a little book that pictured various edible plants common to most forests in the area as I set about foraging. There were a few close calls with a couple of different, dangerous looking creatures, but, fortunately, none of them moved at Ryker-speed, and I was somehow able to outrun them until they lost interest. By the time we were done with that and some other preparations and precautions, it was already sunset, and we were finally ready to sit back and relax, laying around the campfire and chatting while we waited for the various stews and soups Ryker had prepared to finish cooking. The forest glowed a honeyed, golden-orange in the waning rays of sunlight, and I leaned my head back to bask in the soothing atmosphere, the mouth-watering aroma of soups filling the air. This wasn't so bad... My thoughts strayed, though, as I remembered Sis back home; she did always say she wanted to try camping, once. I wonder how she was doing... Probably not well, considering I most likely just up and vanished from her point of view. Actually, how did things look back home? Last thing I remember, I was some kinda ghost that got sucked in by that book, so was my body still back in Ponyville, or something? I could picture Sis coming into my room to wake me up, only to find that she couldn't, and suddenly I was feeling a little guilty for leaving without even saying goodbye. If I could at least contact her and tell her I was okay... I looked down at my hooves, praying for Luna to let her dream well, tonight. "Hey, Scratch, soup's ready!" I blinked a few times in confusion, surprised to find a couple of tears in my eyes that threatened to fall at any moment. I hastily wiped them away, turning to Ryker who had a hot, steaming bowl of soup in his hands that he offered to me, the exquisite smell setting my stomach to rumbling. I grabbed it with my telekinesis, muttering a small word of thanks, and drank a few mouthfuls after blowing on it to cool. It was surprisingly delicious; tender wild carrots and potatoes, plus a plethora of herbs and spices that left a tangy aftertaste in my mouth as the soup filled my belly with warmth. "Mm... this is really good!" I said, before quickly gulping down the rest of the soup in the bowl. I'd forgotten how hot it was, though, and paid for my carelessness with a burnt tongue. "Haha, right?" Ryker let out a goofy laugh, looking thoroughly pleased by the compliment. "Sure you don't wanna try the Vogabeast stew?" "Er, no thanks, I'm not much of a meat-eater..." "Alright, suit yourself!" He slurped up his stewed Vogabeast, finishing it within seconds and refilling his bowl with one of the other soups he'd cooked up. I helped myself to some more of the vegetable-based entrées, eating at a slightly slower pace as I savored the hearty flavor; for such a goofball, he was an unexpectedly good cook. I did, however, take a quick peek into one of the nearby pots of meat stew, watching the chunks of meat float lazily about. The thought of even hunting another animal had made me somewhat queasy, before, but... well, it did smell pretty good... maybe just a bit would be fine...? "So, something up, bro?" I hastily retracted my gaze from the meaty soup as Ryker looked my way, realizing what I was about to do. "Uh, w-what do you mean?" I asked, inconspicuously going back to sipping my vegetable broth. "Well, ya seemed kinda down a minute ago. Something on your mind?" I stared down into my bowl as I thought about what to say. It seemed like I was just getting sentimental, when I thought about it, but I couldn't deny that I was still worried about my situation, and, well, maybe I did feel like talking about it, a little. "Nah, it's just... I was just thinking of home." I answered, truthfully, "I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my Sis before I ended up here, just thought she'd be worried..." Ryker nodded in understanding, chewing thoughtfully on his meal as he listened. "Mm. That sounds rough. You don't know any way back?" He asked. "I don't even know how I got here, honestly. One minute I was looking through this book with weird symbols on the cover, next minute I woke up in that clearing you found me in." There was more to it than that, but I figured he wouldn't have known anything more about it, and I couldn't have clearly explained what had happened, anyway. The human just rubbed his chin, before looking through his large camping pack with an earnest smile. "A book, huh? Was it like any of these?" He began throwing a couple of books down to the floor, each of them differing vastly from the others. I looked all of them over carefully, seeing if any of them were familiar... "Ah, that one!" There it was: the strange book from the Library. I hastily picked it up with my magic, studying it more closely; upon further inspection, I noticed some subtle differences in the pattern on the cover, but I was almost dead certain they were at least related, somehow. And, sure enough, when I opened the tome, the same slew of blank pages came up to greet me, ancient, yellow paper crackling as I flipped through them. I looked to Ryker in excitement, and I could practically feel the gears whirring in my head as I pondered over what this could mean. "Well, it's not exactly the same, but it looks really similar! ...Wait a minute, why were you carrying all of these books around, anyway?" "Hey, you never know when you're gonna run into a unicorn from another world, right? Besides, I had a feeling one of 'em might’ve been important!" He said, grinning and laying his arms to rest on top of his head. I just gave him a disbelieving stare. There was really something odd about him, and it wasn’t even his oddly perceptive nature or strange way of thinking, though those might have been a part of it. It just seemed like… like he knew, knew something that I didn’t, like some kind of sixth sense. I wasn’t sure how to describe it, but it had cropped up in our conversations before, too, just enough to start being noticeable. "Okay... Well, what do you know about it? Is it magical?" I asked, flipping the tome in my telekinetic grasp every which way and seeing if I could get it to activate, somehow. I suppose it didn’t really matter, whatever it was about him, though the thought that there was simply something off lingered in the back of my head. Either way, I didn’t have any luck getting the book to work, the pages staying dull and blank in my hooves. "I dunno." Ryker shrugged in answer to my question, finishing what must've been his tenth bowl of soup as he did so, "I was gonna bring it to my friend, Saelus, though; he usually knows what to do with these kinda things." I nodded, putting the book back down on the floor as I contemplated my current situation. With this new piece of information, it looked even more imperative that I stay with Ryker, at least for now; if this Saelus person could shed any light on how these strange books worked, then that just might be my ticket back home. "Haaa, anyways, I think I'm gonna get some shut-eye, bro." My human companion yawned, throwing his bowl in with the now mostly empty soup pots. "You should probably head off to sleep, too. Gonna be another long day of walking, tomorrow!" He rolled over, crawling towards the camping tent and throwing the entrance flap wide open. It was pretty small; were we both supposed to fit in there? "Uh, are we... sharing the tent?" I asked, wondering if it was even big enough for the both of us. Ryker scratched his head, a look of confusion on his face. "Yeah. Why?" "It's just, it doesn't look all that big..." "Aw, c'mon, it'll be fine!" He grinned, motioning for me to come on over. I simply sighed in resignation, trotting up to get into the tent, myself. There wasn't much space, but eventually, I managed to squeeze in and awkwardly lay myself down on one of the sleeping bags, inside. I looked over to see how Ryker was doing, but he was already fast asleep, his soft snoring filling the tent as he settled sprawled out on the floor. "You sure take it easy." I grumbled to myself, fidgeting in place and dropping my head onto the pillow. The tent was cramped and uncomfortable with the two of us in there, but, hey, it wasn't like I was about to go and sleep outside. So, for what seemed like hours, I laid there with eyes wide open as my mind wandered off, simply waiting to slip off into dreams... *** I awoke with a start. The tent was dark, but I could definitely feel something... there was something warm and heavy wrapped around my torso. I slowly rolled over to see Ryker's sleeping face right next to mine, his gauntleted arm wrapped snugly around my chest, drooling into his pillow with a goofy grin. Guh. I grimaced, pushing off his arm and getting up from my bedroll, being careful not to wake the sleeping beast next to me. Wonder what time it was... Getting out of the tent, I saw that it was still the middle of the night, the last, smoldering ashes of the campfire just about to go out. I poked a few twigs into the dying fire out of boredom, trying to get it back to some semblance of a blaze, and after putting in a few logs once the fire became a little bigger, I succeeded in getting a decent campfire going, laying myself down before its radiating warmth. There wasn't exactly much to do, out here, but I knew that I wouldn't be going back to sleep any time soon. Might as well make myself comfortable. As I laid there in the peaceful glow of the roaring campfire, my mind couldn't help but wander, and I silently reminisced about home as I basked in its warmth. Do ponies usually get this homesick…? I wondered how they were doing; Sis, Twi, Tavi... and, yes, even Lyra. How were they holding up? Were they worried? Questions like these ran through my head as the fire crackled on, and I realized just how much Ponyville actually meant to me; I guess you never really bother to take stock of your life until fortune decides to throw you a curveball. Waking up in the mornings with Sis, visiting Twi in the Library, even Lyra bugging me about who-really-cares-what didn't sound too bad, right now. What if... what if I could never go back to that? What if this little trip was more permanent than I thought? I don't know how long I sat there, thinking by the fire, but it was long enough for tiny cracks of grey, pre-dawn light to start breaking through the top of the forest canopy, and, eventually, I wiped away the still unshed tears and dragged myself up to my hooves. I suppose there'd be plenty of time to worry, later; I should at least go and get some sleep, before Ryker woke up. Before I could make my way anywhere, however, I heard a rustling of bushes from the edge of the clearing... and I quickly zipped back into the tent, stumbling over Ryker, who had by now taken over the entirety of the floor in his tossing and turning and was laying sprawled out, flat on his back. Say what you want, but rustling was always bad news; my previous encounters in the forest could at least teach me that much. Slowly opening up the entrance flap, I peeked outside of the tent, keeping a sharp lookout for anything that might've caused the noise. I heard some more rustling, this time louder, coming from off to the side of me, but I couldn't pinpoint the exact location of its source. Did the campfire attract some sort of wild animal? A few more minutes of waiting yielded nothing of interest, though, and I turned to Ryker (who was still sleeping peacefully), wondering whether this'd be worth waking him up over. Well... probably not. However, while I didn't wanna go waking him up just 'cause some rustling bushes made me a little skittish, I still had to make sure it wasn't some dangerous beast waiting to sneak up on us. Creeping out of the tent, I carefully looked around, keeping an eye out for any movement within the dark shadows of the forest and more telltale signs of rustling leaves. It didn't look like there was anything out there, but... I dunno, I definitely thought I could feel something. I hesitated for a moment, then quickly picked up a small, nearby stone and threw it out into the forest depths, seeing if it would cause any creature lurking about to either back off or come out of its hiding place. What I didn't expect was to hear a muffled cry of pain, along with several hushed voices speaking words I couldn't quite make out. A wild ripple of movement suddenly broke out among the trees, and, looking closer, I could see the movement was being made by several, shadowy figures within the darkness, all of them shifting around and making a rumbling sound that I guessed was whispering. Several loud 'SHHH' noises rang out from all around me, much like what happens when the teacher is talking and everypony goes to shush each other, and soon the forest was quiet once more, leaving me to stand there in confused apprehension. Okay - we weren't alone. Before I could shout and alert Ryker, though, the stone I'd thrown suddenly came flying straight back at me, thunking me upside the head and drawing a surprised 'Ouch!' from my lips. Some more hushed whispering, these voices sounding more angry than before, and I heard the bushes rustling again before three small creatures suddenly walked out into the clearing, slowly making their way into the light of the fire and stopping to stand in front of me. I looked them over for a while and nodded my head in greeting, to which they nodded in turn, simply standing there in the light of the dying fire. They had arms (short and spindly ones) and stood on two legs, like a human, but that was pretty much where the similarities ended; their skin was a dark, greenish color, instead of Ryker's olive tan, and where the whites of their eyes should have been, they were yellow, bloodshot and strained with a painful-looking intensity. They were also rather short; the tallest of the three barely even made it up to my muzzle with its scarred, bald head, which put me somewhat at ease. There were some rather nasty looking weapons on them, though, and all three of them were wearing very sturdy, hard-leather armor adorned with furs and random bones. Thinking on it, I was just glad they hadn't tried killing me, yet. "Rada. Rada rada?" The tallest one questioned, in some language I couldn't understand. I could see even more pairs of eyes in the bushes behind it, glowing yellow in the darkness of the forest; whatever it was, it brought a lot of friends. "Well, so much for a good night's sleep..." I thought, nervously, and it was all I could do to stop myself from dropping to the ground in exasperation. Of all the gosh darned luck...