Chapter 24: Mangled Monstrosity
Emerius exhaled deeply, sheathing his sword and tapping his other blade to make sure he hadn’t lost it in the fray.
"It is good that my assumption was correct. I had hoped it was, but wasn’t sure."
Charon, happy to have stopped running, put his hands on his knees as he took in air.
"What do you mean? What weren’t you sure about?"
Emerius gestured to the tree.
"This tree is one of the God Marked. Rare, valuable, and incredibly potent in magic. Nothing a Mangled Monstrosity would risk getting near."
Charon shot up in confusion, his lip curling.
"What about hiding in a crack? You told me we would have to keep running!"
His companion gave him a flat look.
"That was also a possibility. I had to make a decision; explain the details of the tree, or prepare you for if I was wrong. The goal was for us to survive."
Charon was still a little hurt, especially as Emerius had plenty of time during their run to fill him in, but he wasn’t in the mood to start a fight.
He glanced back.