Through the Deep Forest by Russell C. Connor

Author:Russell C. Connor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: journey, dark, war, quest, filament, incarnates
Publisher: Russell C. Connor

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1

Even with the specter of Merise still fresh in his head and the forest once more lording over him on all sides, the next few days on the road turned out to be surprisingly pleasant ones for Korden, as he rushed to put distance between himself and the disintegrating town of Emmet.

His feet—along with the self-inflicted burn on his thigh—healed rapidly, the sores disappearing so fast that Stone relented from their agreement to take a furlough. Each night, Korden rebandaged and rubbed more of the healing salve on the wounds, and, when the tube ran out, he cut the top off and scraped out the dried leavings within, then used some of his water to mix a paste. He wondered if the amazing substance was anything like the artcraft-infused ointments Feegran created.

He couldn’t discount the contribution of his new shoes, either. The flaming red sneakers were a vast improvement over his boots. Even before the blisters made life such a misery, he’d only been able to walk for a solid few hours at a time and then everything below the knee throbbed horribly until he took a rest. Now, he felt like he could walk for the rest of Burning Season and never get tired. He got into a nice rhythm of rising with the sun, faithing and practicing, and then taking to the road until dark fall, even eating his meals as he walked. Stone confirmed that the amount of ground he covered each day had increased by 31.8 percent.

And still there was no end to the forest in sight.

The experience in Emmet weighed on his mind. He found that, with time and distance, his anger at Merise softened once more into pity. She would likely be trapped in the abandoned town until she died or the trees succeeded in knocking it down, no doubt rebuilding her altar and praying for her long dead son to return, too afraid to venture into the forest. If she hadn’t poisoned him, tied him up, and forced him to suckle like a newborn babe, he might’ve attempted to convince her to come with him.

If she even agreed to accompany him, that is. The look of disgust on her face when he revealed his ability (filthy ‘bominations…straight from the Stranger…) wasn’t lost on him. He’d never heard of her ‘Aged Lord,’ but her reaction to artcraft made him think of what Redfen told him about his mother, how some of the townspeople refused to live with her. Korden wished there had been more time to ask the man about this now.

Could Crafters really be so despised? And, if so, why had he never been told? Tash warned him that people might view him differently because he was a child, but not because he was a Crafter.

The old man had been away from the world for a long, long time, Korden realized. Maybe too long.

Merise’s insane ramblings and superstitions swam through his thoughts occasionally. Mostly at night, just before he plunged into sleep.

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