Sorrowvale by Melissa McShane

Author:Melissa McShane [McShane, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Action & Adventure, GameLit & LitRPG
Amazon: B0D5V22HMV
Publisher: Night Harbor Publishing
Published: 2024-08-20T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Aderyn knew from experience that the system was aware of what happened in the world. Dungeons had communicated with her like people. Her Assessments were increasingly chatty and casual, just as if the system was sharing information with a friend. But she wouldn’t have guessed the system paid attention to their conversations and responded to their idle wishes.

On the other hand, their journey to Alcester was peaceful, almost boring, with no monster attacks and no spontaneous quests or mysterious dungeons throwing themselves in the adventurers’ way. The weather was clear and beautiful. Livia’s sleep wand helped them kill two deer without a struggle. No one argued; no one got sick. It was exactly as if the system had heard Owen’s hope for an uneventful trip and decided to grant them an unofficial reward for their hard work and sacrifice.

Rain didn’t threaten until the fifth day, when they came over a final rise to see the town of Alcester lying before them. It was as large as Coralie had said, with hundreds of little thatch-roof buildings, and didn’t look at all as if it was poised on the brink of disaster. A wide river, big enough to require a bridge to cross it, ambled past the town on its way through the Long Plains.

“It ends up in Lake Aristel,” Crillon said as they stood watching it from above. “The Tidecaller from Jackrabbit Dell said it’s only a matter of time before the corruption builds up in the lake to the point of killing everything that lives in it or drinks from it. So it’s not just Alcester in trouble. In case you were wondering how much of a difference this quest makes.”

“Then we should go directly to the source,” Owen said.

They walked northwest until they reached the river, then continued west along its banks. Different trees grew there, fragile-looking willows with their limp, dragging branches, other trees Aderyn didn’t recognize with hand-sized leaves and rich brown bark. The trees didn’t look as if they’d fallen ill with corruption, but Crillon pointed out the brown edges of the leaves, how the willow branches were starting to curl up at the ends. The knowledge made all of them walk faster, though in practice they were hobbled to Coralie’s slower pace.

The trees grew thicker the farther they went until they were walking through a beautiful little forest. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and Aderyn felt spatters of water strike her cheek. She welcomed the rain. Its purity felt symbolic of what they meant to do.

The river narrowed until it was narrow enough to jump. Coralie walked beside it with her head bowed, muttering to herself as Prince Gustavio Strongpaws strolled beside her, meowing occasionally. Finally, she stopped and slung her knapsack off. “This is it.”

The spot Coralie had picked didn’t look different from the rest of the riverbank. If there was corruption, it wasn’t visible, though Aderyn was willing to trust Coralie and Crillon’s word. She certainly wasn’t going to drink from the river there.

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