Chapter 350: From the Sky
Time stretched on like a slow crawl.
Ren spent the remainder of the night wide awake, her knees pulled to her chest as she stared out into the misty fog. Every splash, every croak, and every slithering sound echoing across the dark water kept her nerves pulled tighter than a bowstring.
Beside her, Vex slept as peacefully as a baby, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm, completely unbothered by the terrifying environment.
Eventually, the oppressive blackness of the sky began to bleed into a bruised purple. The sun slowly began to rise over the horizon, casting a pale, washed-out morning light through the dense canopy of the swamp.
With a soft, scraping thud, the wooden boat finally drifted to a stop, bumping gently against the twisting roots of a cypress tree.
Vex woke up instantly. He stretched his arms high above his head, letting out a refreshed, energetic sigh. He hopped up, moved to the edge of the boat, and swiftly hack a long branch off the tree. In a matter of minutes, he had carved away the bark and shaped a crude, flat paddle.
It wasn’t perfect, and it certainly wasn’t pretty, but it was functional. Vex dipped the makeshift oar into the water and began to row, getting them back moving in the general direction of the forest.
Ren sat huddled in the bow of the boat. She looked like a swamp zombie. Her eyes were red, puffy, and bloodshot. She had barely gotten any sleep, her mind too busy cycling through fears of swamp monsters and the impending doom of her questline.
After what felt like hours of slow rowing, the thick, murky water began to grow shallow. The twisting, skeletal trees gave way to a wide muddy banking that separated the stagnant swamp from the lush, green edge of the forest.
The boat scraped against the sludge and came to a hard stop.
Ren stood up, stretching her stiff, aching legs. She looked down at the banking and immediately froze.
There, wriggling blindly through the thick, black muck, was her greatest nemesis.
The fat, pink worms.
They were everywhere. Their segmented, squishy bodies pulsing and churning through the mud. This specific part of the terrain was what Ren hated the most about going to Syris’s home.
Vex, meanwhile, stepped off the wooden boat like it was a casual stroll through a park. He hopped down, his bare feet sinking slightly into the mud. He walked a few paces forward, ignoring the squirming pink creatures beneath his toes.
He stopped and looked back when he realized that Ren wasn’t following him.
She was still standing in the boat, her hands gripping the wooden sides, her face pale with revulsion.
Vex raised a brow, an amused smirk pulling at his lips. "Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little worms?"
Ren grimaced, her nose wrinkling in disgust. "They are disgusting! Look at them! They are so fat and wiggly. If I look at them any longer, I will probably throw up."
Vex rolled his eyes. He turned around, intending to trudge back through the mud and carry her across the sludge. But as he took a step, a brilliant idea sparked in his mind.
He stopped, a sly grin spreading across his handsome face.
"Well," Vex suggested smoothly, gesturing toward the sky. "You should call for your birdy husband to help you."
Ren frowned, tearing her gaze away from the worms to glare at the fox. "Altair doesn’t have super hearing. He can’t just hear me from wherever he is in the world."
"Oh, I am sure you wouldn’t have to call too loudly," Vex replied. He casually looked around at the towering trees lining the forest edge, his orange eyes not focusing on any branch in particular, but his tone was laced with a knowing confidence. "I am sure the bird isn’t far away. You should give it a try."
Ren sighed, rubbing her bloodshot eyes. She thought about it for a moment. Altair did have a strange habit of showing up out of nowhere exactly when she needed him the most. Granted, all those times could have just been lucky coincidences.
But she had nothing to lose by giving it a try. Anything was better than stepping on a giant, squishy pink worm.
Ren took a deep breath, tilted her head back, and stared up into the misty morning sky.
"Altair!" Ren called out, her voice echoing into the quiet forest. "Help me, please!"
She waited.
The wind rustled the leaves. A frog croaked in the distance. The worms continued to squelch in the mud.
After a long minute of nothing, Ren dropped her shoulders. She turned back to Vex, preparing to tell him that she told him so. Altair surely had other things going on than following her around everywhere, all the time.
But...
WOOSH.
A gust of wind suddenly battered the trees. Leaves and small twigs rained down on the mud.
Altair descended from the sky. He shot out from the high branches of the forest canopy, his descent powerful and blindingly fast, before he gracefully pulled up at the last second. He landed in the center of the small wooden boat with barely a sound, looking exactly like a fallen angel.
A beautiful fallen angel.
Who was also butt naked.
Ren gasped, her eyes going wide. He stood tall, his magnificent, golden-brown wings stretched wide behind his back. The bright morning sun caught the edges of his feathers, making them glow with a warm, radiant light. His body was a masterpiece of lean, corded muscle and tan skin, looking far too glorious.
Ren was stunned seeing him. A blush instantly exploded across her cheeks, and she forcefully locked her gaze onto his face, desperately refusing to let her eyes wander south.
Altair’s gaze left Ren’s flushed face almost immediately. His expression was a blank mask as he turned his piercing stare directly onto Vex’s smirking face.
Vex’s smile faltered slightly. The Fox Shaman frowned, his eyes darting around the eagle’s empty arms. He noticed that Altair came without the prize.
"Where is the cub?" Vex demanded, his tails bristling in sudden irritation.
Altair only stared at him. The Golden Eagle didn’t blink. He didn’t twitch a feather. He offered the fox a look of such profound, icy indifference that it could have frozen the swamp solid.
Vex let out a loud, frustrated groan. He looked at Ren, gesturing wildly at the silent bird. "What do you see in this guy? He obviously has severe communication issues."
Ren bit her lip, trying not to laugh at the fox’s misery.
"I mean, really," Vex added sarcastically, throwing his hands up. "I would love to sit down with the two of you one evening and just listen to your deep, bonding conversations. It must be riveting."
"Altair only speaks to people he likes," Ren clapped back, a fond smile touching her lips as she looked at the eagle.
Vex hummed, a dry, unamused sound. "Oh. So only himself, then."
"Not everyone is a chatter mouth like you are," Ren rolled her eyes.
She turned back to Altair, doing her best to keep her eyes firmly glued to his jawline and silver eyes. The sheer proximity to his naked glory was making her brain short-circuit again.
"Altair," Ren asked softly, her voice carrying a hint of exhaustion. "Could you please take me out of the boat? I really don’t want to step in the mud."
Altair said nothing in response, but his actions were swift and effortless. He stepped forward and swept her off her feet, cradling her small body securely against his warm, bare chest.
Ren squeaked slightly at the sudden lift, wrapping her arms around his neck for balance.
With a powerful flex of his leg muscles, Altair leaped from the boat. He gently flapped his golden wings, just enough to carry them across the wide expanse of mud, but careful not to flap so hard that the force splashed the filthy swamp water onto Ren.
He cleared the muddy banking easily, landing with a soft thud on the lush, green grass of the forest edge. He slowly, gently set Ren back down on her feet.
Ren released a huge, shaky sigh of relief the moment she felt the soft, dry grass between her bare toes. The air here smelled like pine and damp earth, completely free of the rotting stench of the bog. The swamp always made her appreciate the forest so much more.
She looked up at Altair’s face, her brow furrowing with sudden concern.
"Is Oreo okay?" Ren asked.
Altair tilted his head to the side, his eyes narrowing in confusion.
"The cub," she clarified quickly. "Is the cub okay?"
Altair gave a nod. "Yes, he is sleeping."
"Where is he?!" Vex spoke up loudly, marching through the mud and stepping onto the grass behind them.
Altair turned his head, staring blankly at Vex, ignoring him yet again.
Vex’s irritation was on a rapid rise. His hands balled into fists, his orange eyes flashing with genuine anger. There really was no beastman in the entire world as infuriating as the golden eagle prince. It was like trying to interrogate a stone wall.
"Tell him to answer me," Vex demanded, pointing a finger at Altair but looking at Ren. "Ask him where the cub is!"
Ren looked at Vex. Then she looked at Altair.
A slow smirk spread across Ren’s face. She crossed her arms over her chest, popping her hip out. The tables had finally turned. She had the upper hand here.
"No," Ren said cheerfully.
Vex blinked, his mouth falling open in shock.
"You want to know where the cub is?" Ren challenged, her green eyes sparkling with newfound confidence. "You have to tell me exactly how to help Kael get his beast form back. And, you have to tell me what your grand, secret plan is for the cub. Every single detail."
She tilted her chin up, looking the trickster square in the eye.
"Only then will I consider your request."