Chapter 8, Mushrooms and Harpies 

***

"Oh Great Father, I wonder what you are to do with us. Are we to be by your side? Are we meant to be here? Are we meant to exist here as you have put us, or are we meant for something greater. Please, just once look down upon us and see that I am trying. I ask you, please. Grant me yet another day..."

***

Year of Wrath 1231, Season of Harvest, D.34

     "Knoll, Cori, get up. Mother has given us a task." I told them both, I found them playing cards just south of the caves. 

     "Yes Chief" They answered in unison, a smile crawled across my face. They still obeyed me without any hesitation, despite them being some of the first ones to ask to join Ilgor's crew. Soon that won't be an issue. 

     Knoll grabbed his heavy chopping axe, and a small leather shield he had stolen from a passing cart. To be frankly honest we don't really know if it was meant to be a shield or not, as he had stolen it off the cap of a wheel axle. All we ended up doing was fitting a handle to it. His eyes were still bloodshot from our round of drinking last night, he had lost two more bottles in a bet with me. 

     Cori grabbed her new winged spear that Ilgor had the smith make for her. She had taken a real liking to Cori, they practiced together often. Cori tells me that she is able to use that saber I gave her quite effectively against her spear work. Tells me that she is a damn force to be reckoned with in the heat of a fight. The reason she got the spear made for her was because Ilgor had sheared the tip of her old one off in a flourishing blow. 

     Both were ready and set to go in under a minute, Knoll asked "Mission, Sir?" in his usual monotone way.

     "We are hunting a specific mushroom for Mother. Plus we need to see if those birds are getting any closer to the village." I told them. They each grunted and we set off towards the forest with the rocky stream running through it. 

     We edged the road for a while, hoping to see if we could pick off a traveler at all. We saw a few caravans running by, but we'd have to have a full force with us to take down that dwarven troupe they had with them. They were heavily armored in carved white brass plate. Those strange helmets of theirs that covered their whole face, with blue hard glass covering their eyes. 

     They also had something I hadn't seen yet, Cori pointed it out. They were not carrying swords, or axs, or poles like the dwarves preferred. They looked like staffs with a bend at the end. With some sort of notching on one end. I wondered what they were, but then again. That isn't what we were here for. I told Knoll to note the issue, and we continued on toward the tree line. 

     We followed a few of the game trails that had sprung up over this last winter. The deer needed to forge a new path for something, I suppose we would end up finding out what that new thing was. We needed the old path because Mother had said there was a space nearby that used to have the mushrooms growing there at one time. 

     We rounded a bend and immediately hid behind cover at the sound of flapping wings. In the path was a broken section of the canopy, dozens of branches had broken with force. Several of them were sticking straight up from the ground, they had hit the dirt with such force. 

     In the new clearing was a Griffon. It was currently tearing at the carcass of something. Cori poked her head out and whispered "Looks like it dive bombed the clearing to get at a Serpent Beast, Sir, possibly trying to build a nesting site, the breach in the canopy looks old".

     The creature had dark brown plumage, with a white underside. It flapped its wings as it fed, kicking dust up as it did so. Its yellowed beak tinged red, as it continued. Its long tail ending in a tuft of brown fur, whipped around flies starting to gather around it. 

     "Why would It want to hunt those? They put up too much of a fight." Knoll said slightly too loudly, as the Griffon squawked and turned its head in our direction. After a tense moment, it went back to its kill. Tearing a leg off it, as it dug its foot long claws into the shoulder of the reptile.

     "Lets go around it, the spot we are looking for is just down the way. As long as we don't make any noise it shouldn't be an issue." I told them. They nodded, and we went in three separate routes, so that if any of us mis-stepped, it would only find one of us.  

     I made my way down its flank. moving from tree to tree, as it dropped its head to feed. Matching my footsteps when it broke a bone. The birds had gone silent, the insects were still, it had grown unnaturally quiet around the Griffon feeding. Slowly I was finally behind it, it was far too intent on feeding to look too hard at its surroundings. I watched Cori make her way over to my left, she was about fifty paces away from me.

     I couldn't see knoll yet. I scanned the trees to watch for movement, I flagged Cori to do the same. The Griffon stomped on the beast's leg and bone crunched so that it could get to the marrow. I saw movement to its right, in the same path Cori had taken. It didn't look like Knoll, the movement looked too quick, too staccato.

     I signaled to go further into the forest, away from the dangerous animal. We both move quietly back, avoiding the fallen branches, and dry twigs. I felt we were finally out of earshot of the overgrown bird. "Where is he?" 

     "Sir, I think he was fighting a Kobold, it seemed that both were only striking when the Griffon broke a bone." She said flatly, but tinged with worry.

     "Bhal dammit all '' I sighed. "I knew those things were going to be an issue. Why do I listen to that girl?" I let a tired breath out, scratching the back of my head.

     "Because she's the best we have," Cori answered without hesitation. I turned to look at her, she met my angry face with one of her own. Before we could start arguing though, Knoll showed up. Face splattered with blood. 

     "Dealt with." Was all he said, and he continued walking toward the stream. His axe swayed as he walked, a few drops of blood dripping off the beard. 

     Cori and I looked back at each other, shrugged and continued walking. Knoll was a phenomenal fighter, he was usually one of the last ones I needed to worry about in a scrap. He had cut his teeth fighting the Dwarven pirates to the south when we were younger. We found the stream with the toppled gnarled oak. Mother said there was a small cave under the oak tree's roots that flooded during any rainstorm. She said this would be a possible space for the mushroom to grow. 

     "Do we know what this rot looks like?" Knoll asked, cleaning his axe by dripping it into the puddle of water by the fallen tree.

     "Sea green, like our skin, with a white stipe, flanged underside, drips white fluid." I told him, closing my eyes, seeing it in my mind. 

     "Never seen a rot like that. But, seems easy enough." Cori said. 

     We looked under all the topped trees in the area, and we found a lot of mushrooms. Only, not the ones we wanted. There were Weeping Angels, Puffballs, a few Death Caps, and an agaricus bunch. Nothing that was green, or at least in its fruiting stage. Knoll grabbed a few polypore mushrooms off a dead birch tree. Big plates of fungus, about twelve inches across.

     "Why are you wasting time grabbing those?" I asked him.

     "Surprise, surprise, Chief. Drinking isn't the only thing I like to do. I like to draw on them." He said flatly as he tucked his find into his pouch. 

     "I didn't know that, why didn't you tell me before?" 

     "You never asked." He shrugged, and walked off to the next location. 

     We set off to the western hillocks before the old forest began. There was a small cave that flooded with the spring thaws, it stayed humid all year round as its hooded rock face pointed away from the windward side of the bay. We got there without incident this time. Though we did have to make way for the biggest basilisk any of us had seen in years. 

     Lumbering giant was a patchwork of emerald green scales and electric blue. Its underside dragged on the ground as it moved on its six colossal legs. Its claws cut deep ruts in the rock as it made its way on. It flicked its tongue out, tracking something, with any luck it would be trying to find that Griffon, and they’d fight for the territory. Get rid of at least one problem. 

     We began hunting for this fabled mushroom, inside this cave. Searched the crannies along the rock wall where a small pool of water was being held in, a small amount of flow disappearing somewhere near the entrance. There were a few green mushrooms in here, but they had black stipes not white.Besides, these had yellow spots on the tops of the caps. Cori cracked her back from the other end of the cave, and turned to me. 

     "Chief, before I forget. Ghet wanted to know if that field of razor shells was still at the old tide pools?" She asked, her voice echoing in the cave. 

     "It's been a while since I've heard of the tide pools. I'm not sure, I haven't personally been out there in a long time." I told her as I narrowly avoided putting my knee down on a piece of flint that had somehow found its way in here. Would be pretty bad if I needed to be stitched back up because of a rock.

     "Says we ought to take a look. Might be worth fishing there again."

     "It's worth looking into after we are done with this." I told her, it would be nice to have those pools back, just had to keep the crabs there this time. 

     Knoll cussed on the other side of the cave as he waved his hand around. Something had attached itself to his finger. He managed to fling it off and the crayfish made a satisfying crack against the cave wall. Cori was laughing, I just looked at him and cracked a smile. "Oh piss off, it's dark in here." He spat at both of us. 

     There was only one spot we had left to search in the cave, there had been an old moss cavern in the back, after a wall collapsed a few years back. It was filled with strange flora, things that glowed, and hummed with a rhythmic chime. Cori went in first and gave us the all clear, nothing had made its lair in here yet. Though, I thought to myself, it was only a matter of time before something we couldn't deal with thought it to be a perfect home. 

     The cavern was filled with glowing moss that filled the small space with a pale blue light. The spores of the fungi hung heavy in the air, the light from the moss casting rays out through the thick dust. The dense tangled carpets hung from the ceiling and a few strange insects crawled through them. 

     "Those things disturb me, far too long and too many legs" Cori said, slapping one off her shoulder. 

     "Well, the sooner we are done here, the sooner we can leave." Knoll said, still gingerly waving his pinched finger. 

     We scrounged around the crevices, the small trickle of water passing through into the opening causing a faint dribbling noise throughout the small cave, the echo making its sound like a much bigger stream of water than it was. We found a few more plants we had never seen before. A few pale ferns that seemed to hum, a low tenor, that I felt weakly in my chest. A polypore that dripped some fluid off the wall, I put the haft end of my axe under a drop. It hissed wildly, and bubbled with foamy white suds. 

     "I wonder what it is?" I whispered to myself. Cori walked up and watched the bubbles on my haft and cocked her head to one side. She wiped her spear point clean with her vest, then had a drop of fluid land on the metal. It didn't do anything, only sat there and didn't bubble.

     I raised an eyebrow at her, a quizzical look on my face. "I think it's only going to react with things that are alive, or have been alive. Like the wood on your handle, or the grease from your hands. Look how its not doing anything until it rolls into the moss over there?" She pointed, and sure enough, the small stream of fluid was only bubbling when it touched the moss. 

     "Wonder what it is?" Knoll asked as well, walking over to look at the little experiment going on. He produced a small vial and a glass stopper, and held it under the dripping fungi until the vial was full. He stoppered it and put it back in the small pouch he had under his cloak. 

     "What are you doing?" I asked him, rubbing my temples, these two were just surprising me today.

     "I thought Mother would like to experiment with it. Besides, who knows, it might be a useful thing after all." He shrugged and walked out of the cavern and back into the cave. When had he gotten so thoughtful? When had these two grown up? I still remembered when Knoll was my second in command when I was a raid leader. He never did these kinds of things back then, maybe I should pay more attention to my old friend. When had Cori grown so clever? When did these two change?

     We walked back out into the shifting morning sunlight filtering through the tree canopy. The last spot we knew of the mushrooms was in the ancient part of the forest. Trees as wide as a cart, big enough that you carve out the middle and live inside fairly comfortably. There the roots grow in knobby twists and jutted out of the ground at random intervals. Made for easy threat detection though, there was next to no underbrush. The canopy was too dense, too high up to allow seeds to be brought in by the wind. 

     We made our way toward the old growth, following the path made by an old game trail. Crossed the winding rocky stream that fell in countless waterfalls. The old forest was growing on top of an old slate plateau, the trees over the eons having sheared away sections so that the water had to fall into small pools before continuing. Cori was watching the skies, knoll watched our flanks, we knew there were Giant Elk around. 

     We finally got to the point where the breeze off the bay hit the mountains to the west of the forest. The air stilled even more as we climbed up the last escarpment, the air growing thick and humid. The mossy curtains hanging in heavy shoals off the branches, ivy climbing up the trunks in spidery patterns.

     We had legends of the forest being alive, the trees watching you, like something was always behind you. We called it the V'hiled, the spirit of the forest, we could feel the old magic in the air. Strange things could be seen here, points of light that faded in out that just begged you to follow. Odd bits of fog that sprang up out of the blue, usually in the shape of people we knew. Goblin-like voices could be heard if one really wanted to spend the night out here. 

     As long as you never followed the lights, or got out of your camp and tried to look for the noises, you were fine. We just held a special reverence for this place, we never made a fire here, never cut down any of the trees, never harmed the trees in any way. "Old V'hiled is angry today, '' Knoll said.

     "Why do you say that?" Cori asked, looking about, her long braid whipping around. "I don't see any fog, the birds are still singing too."

     "Because something is following us." He said. 

     I whipped around, and looked. I halted the other two to watch, and waited. We hunkered down and slid into the shadow of a great old oak. All three of us easily hid in a massive crack in the trunk.  I watched every tree I could see for movement, moving to a new patch of cover. Then Cori tapped me on my shoulder and pointed up.

     I couldn't see what she pointed at, but I heard something faint. "Wing beats?" I thought to myself. “But, they sound so far off?” Had that Griffon followed us after all, no this dense canopy hid us too well from the sky. So, what was flying around down here in the leafy halls of the forest? I finally saw it, a small humanoid figure, its owlish wings just holding in, silhouetted against the tree. 

     It was that old harpy hag that we had tried our damnedest to get rid of and her brood a few seasons back. While she had a human face, the wide eaglelike eyes, and the gore stains on her talons told us her true nature. We strayed further into the shadow of the tree, and brought out the slings we had. We each had a knobby piece of flint, that cut deep into skin when it landed its mark. 

     She turned her head back and forth, searching. She was meticulous about it, slowing her gaze turned over each branch, each side of the trees, and watched the shadows of the great trunks around us. Her gaze finally found us, and locked eyes with mine. She took flight and she disappeared.

     "We need to move '' A cold sweat had started to make its way across my face. I told the other two, we started sprinting deeper into the forest. We each kept our small shields behind our necks as we ran, we didn't need that old broad swooping down and ripping our necks open. 

     The only warning we had was the soft rush of air as we hit the ground. I felt the scrape of a long talon across the leather of the shield as it forced me to the ground. A flurry of scattered feathers fell as we got back up in time to see the harpy had landed and faced us. Her long legs put her a foot or two taller than us. 

     She had gray feathers along her entire body, on her arms, legs and torso. Though those were more of a soft down, rather than feathers for flight. She was just bringing her massive wings back behind her as she started walking towards us, a taloned hand raised in a sign of peace we had taught her and her brood. “Well, before our disagreements started anyway”, I thought to myself.

     "Why are you here? You said that if we left the village alone, and didn't go near it, you would stay out of our territory. No?" Her voice pitched up and down, though the sound was still more like a screech trying to form words. 

     "We aren't here for you" I told her, my axe raised in a stance that would let me move quickly raised over my shoulder, haft covering my torso.

     "Then why?" She clucked. 

     "We don't need to tell you anything about what we are doing. We told you last time that this forest should be common use for both of us, we need something here, so now we are here." I clenched my jaw, anticipating the argument to come. I felt two shields come up to either side of me, and Cori's spear made its way out to the side, protecting my flank. Knoll held his axe low behind his shield, so that he could block an upward strike. 

     "But, this is my territory. My brood has been good, no? You did far too much killing last time, I'll remind you. Lost five of my children, I did." She spoke in that avian tone of hers, still pitching each sentence as if it were a question. 

     "I'll remind you, that they swooped down on us first."

     "Yes yes yes, I know. I apologized, didn't I? They didn't do it again, even after your clan continued to encroach on my territory." She seemed like she was trying to chide me, as If I was the one in the wrong?

     "I suppose" I said slowly, "We will leave after we have found what we need."

     "What are you looking for, no? Perhaps I can get you to leave sooner, no?" She offered.

     I looked over to Knoll and Cori, both nodded they agreed that that would probably be a better plan. "A mushroom that grows in humid caves, or crevices. A green cap, with a white stipe, Drips a white fluid in the gills."

     A light dawned in the harpy's yellow eyes. "Damp cave, no? I knew of one that has a pool of foul water in it. Green mushrooms there, yes? Might be what you seek." She said excitedly, she clearly had the idea that this was going to be exactly what we needed.

     "Where is it?" She just turned and took flight. “I guess that settles that, she really did want us out fast.”

     "Follow!" She squawked at us, a few hundred feet in front of us already.

     We had to sprint to keep up with her. She really didn't slow down, we lost sight of her a few times, until we saw her perched in a tree. Breathless we just looked at each other with annoyed expressions. She really was not going to let us rest a moment, she wanted us out of her territory, no exceptions. Either she didn’t know that running was harder than flying, or she didn’t care. Probably the latter of the two options. 

     She always took off again as we approached. We were approaching the mountain's foothills where the trees started to thin out. The great trees turned to aspen forest, as the floor of the forest grew steeper. She rose higher in the air before the tree line fell. The aspens were still cloaked in heavy curtains of moss, a low fog obscuring hazards in our way as we struggled to keep up with the old hag.

     The slate bedrock, giving was to vertical walls of the same material. The dark black stone radiated heat as we neared it. Huffing, we stopped right at the base, looking around. Sweat dripped from our faces, as we gratefully stopped to catch our breaths. "Where is she?" I huffed out, I really wasn't in shape to be running this much, chest burned like someone had dumped a bucket of coals in my lungs. Needed to stop drinking so much with Knoll, this was going to kill me.

     We heard a screech above us, and we looked up to see her staring back down at us. She was perched on top of the cliff ledge. Knoll's mouth dropped open and Cori just looked annoyed. "How are we supposed to get up there? It's a sheer wall!" I yelled up at her, my knuckles going white as I clenched my hands.

     "Carry one of you, I can?" She cocked her head, and bobbed up and down. I guess some things were distinctly avian about her, even her mannerisms. 

     "Can you even carry one of us?" I shouted back up at her, my deep voice echoing off the cliff face.

     "Oh yes, taken bigger prey than you." That did nothing to soothe our nerves whatsoever. Come to think of it, her wings were huge, at least fifteen feet across, each. Now that I got to get a better look at her, the muscles along the base of her wings were considerable. She probably did take larger things than us. 

     "Fine, take me up there." I gritted my teeth, not particularly looking forward to the view I was about to get. Part of me was also starting to realize that I was about to do something no else had ever had the opportunity to do, a ride with a harpy.

     "Stand in the clearing over there" She pointed to an opening in the trees, you could see a small grassy field through the conifers, barely. She looked back down at me, and cocked her head. "Talons sharp, hmm"

     "I could hold my axe in the air for you to grab like this." I grabbed just under the head, and the end of the haft and held it above my head. She nodded. 

     Walking over to the field, choosing a spot in the middle and holding my axe up, I heard the wing beats. Suddenly, before I knew it, I was jerked into the air. Barely able to keep my grip on the axe, as we climbed higher into the air. 

     The view was gorgeous, well would have been in any other circumstance than being hauled to a precarious height by a harpy that could drop me at any time. Regardless, the sight of the old forest, with the clouds rolling through the canopy; a backdrop of the bay, emerald in the noonday sun, was stunning indeed. I could almost forget what we were here for, she had swung wide to angle herself back to the cave. 

     "You know you could just drop me, so why not? Get rid of the leader of the clan?" I was morbidly curious, I chuckled "Would be pretty easy right about now."

     There was a short pause, "I want you out of my territory, not a war." She said to me, in a flat, matter of fact tone. I was surprised, I suppose these harpies really weren't bird brains, she had a point. Killing me would only provoke a response from the clan, and we'd exterminate her and her brood from the forest. Though, clearly she thought about it for a moment, she did have an excellent answer. 

     She dropped me down on the cave entrance, landing hard on my feet. She flapped her wings to perch on the cliff edge. Walking over, talons clicking on the stone. "The pool is further inside."

     The cave was surprisingly large, though the whole place stunk of algae, and rot. It was dimly lit, but the reflection off the water did do some to help. The shifting light, giving just enough to see the bright green mushrooms. I walked over and inspected a few of them. "Bright green caps, stipes are good, fluids the right color" I muttered to myself.

     I gathered a few of them, I didn't know how many of them Mother would need. Seven in total, cutting them gently so their spores wouldn't puff out. Mother said that I should handle them very gently until they were inside a container, even the spores would induce a mild effect. Opening the pouch at my side, I dumped them in, and closed it back up tight. Synching the drawstring as much as it would.

     "Ready?" The harpy hag asked me. I nodded, but this time she just grabbed me in a bear hug and began flapping her wings. I felt us take off, I couldn't see with my face in the chest feathers of this flapping menace. 

     "You really could have warned me" My muffled voice vibrated against her torso. 

     "Stop that, that feels weird. This was faster than doing it your way, no?" I didn't say anything. Her feathers smelled like old dust and pine needles. I was honestly expecting the smell of carrion, or at least blood. Considering her talons were stained red, I thought it was a safe assumption.

     She dumped me a few feet from the ground, I grunted as I landed on my back. The harpy continued to fly off, and screeched back at us. Voice sounded far too much like a hawk "Now leave."

     We didn't need any encouragement. A few hours later, we were back in the village. Mother had said she needed to dry the mushrooms, then they would begin. 

*** 

Year of Wrath 1231, Season of Harvest, D.36

     It was announced that Ilgor was going to be taken under the wing of the Priestess, and that the ceremony would begin. The clan, many of which having never seen the ceremony were alight with curiosity. Though a select few, seemed more sad about what was about to happen. The Chief had never seen this either, only what he had been told by the Priestess. 

     The night encroached on the village, and a cold wind had started to blow in as Ilgor was prepared. She was instructed to cover herself in a plain white sheet and to eat the mushroom given to her. She seemed excited, she was looking forward to being able to be the guide for the village one day. 

     The waves crashed violently on the shore. The noise drowned out the muttered conversations as Mother led Ilgor to the largest cave, it had been lined with candles so that the entire cave was filled with a soft warm light. A raised platform of wood was erected so that the bedroll placed on it was a few inches off the cool sand. 

     It was ringed with even more candles, taller, with symbols etched into the wax. Old symbols familiar to all in the clan; words of family, strength, and glory written over and over. The Priestess asked everyone to stay out of the cave until they were called, then asked Ilgor to lay down on the bedroll and relax. 

     After she had been situated, the Priestess undid Ilgor's braid and fanned it out under her. She then rubbed flowery scented oils into her hair, and drew the Skullbrood symbol of crossed swords on her forehead in charcoal. The cold wind flowing through the great hanging curtains the clan put back up before each Season of Waiting, threatening to blow out the candles. 

     The priestess grabbed Ilgor's hands and they began to pray before the mushrooms took effect. "From Mother to Daughter, the wisdom passed on from history to history, may Bhal bless us a safe journey back home. May he show us the glory of his power." 

     The Priestess ran her hand along Ilgor's cheek, and smiled. She rose, and sat cross-legged at the foot of the bedroll, and placed her staff off to her side. She began praying softly as Ilgor drifted off.