For the thousandth time, Vel pushed away a leaf bigger than she was, following after Sigurd and being mindful not to smack Amalia with any of the foliage she shoved aside. That part was hard. Amalia and Aden weren’t hardly visible at all in the underbrush. In contrast, she stood just barely above it, and Sigurd stuck out like a looming knight amongst priestesses.

  “Do we even know where we’re going?” Aden asked from the back, hopping to even see Sigurd.

  “Southwest,” the hunter answered.

  “So away from all of our progress on the cog?” Aden asked.

  “We just need to find a trail. Even a hunting trail would━”

  “Huntin’ trails?” Aden scoffed. “Man, they don’t hunt this far in.”

  “Yeah, man,” Sigurd mocked. “That’s the idea. A hunting trail means there’s somebody nearby.”

  “Don’t do that,” Amalia said.

  “Do what?” Sigurd asked, ducking under a root that had a sense of character. It arched up high with whimsy, far above the place it belonged━the soil. Yet it buried itself deep into the round on either side of its arch.

  “Make fun of him,” the singer answered. “It’s rude.”

  “Great. You’re rude, I’m rude, he’s rude. Everyone’s rude,” Sigurd huffed.

  “I most certainly am not rude,” Vel retorted.

  “Everyone but Vel,” Sigurd corrected.

  “You need to fix your attitude. You’ve been miffed ever since our argument,” Amalia pointed, not that Sigurd bothered to look. Vel, however, took a leaf to the face because she glanced back. Great. Just great. More arguing; more pain.

  “Me? I’ve always been like this. Deal with it.”

  “Stingy? Untrusting? Toxic to every person you meet? I see that has worked out for you fabulously. Perhaps we should revisit the time we got kidnapped by pirates. Just walked right into their trap! And who was it that had to save your arse?”

  “I’m just trying to get Vel back to Edard,” Sigurd argued. “What are you doing? Taking a free ride away from the church?”

  “As if! I’m fighting for what I believe in!”

  “Maybe we should━” Vel tried, but jolted when Sigurd spun around. He looked over her head, pointing a finger at Amalia.

  “What you believed in put Vel at risk! Had you not encouraged her, maybe she wouldn’t have━”

  “Damn you!” Amalia hissed, crossing her arms. “You’re so out of control! It’s like you never took the time to properly grieve and move on. You’re hell bent on vengeance, and you think Vel’s the key to that, don’t you?”

  “Stop! Both of you!” Vel yelled, the words, coming out much louder than she intended, but by the gods! The lack of manners! Propriety! The absolute . . . “Silliness! You both are aptly, atrociously, ridiculously silly!”

  She looked at Sigurd, who was frozen, blinking, then turned her gaze to Amalia, her hand recoiling along with the rest of her as she stepped back. “I need you two to work together. You did it once before, you can do it again. And maybe, just maybe we can all learn to like each other.”

  Then she sneered, looking at no one in particular as words spilled out of her mouth. “You two were too busy arguing last time that I made my own choice to test my power. That was no one’s fault by my own. My choice. I’m sorry I scared everyone, but I need to make my own mistakes. I need the freedom to be . . . be . . . me. And learned how to be free has been exhilarating as much as it has been exhausting! And running for my life! My life!

  “Ugh! Damn you all!”

  [Insult level 6]

  Vel gasped at her own impropriety, covering her mouth with her hands. But she didn’t stop. “We all have been robbed by the church,” she said, voice smaller as she struggled to get past what she’d already said. No, no limits. Nothing to stop you. No propriety. No one to tell you who to be and how to be. Only you. You make you, she thought, mustering the courage to, at the very least, deliver more organized thoughts.

  Facing Sigurd, his face like stone now. Contemplative stone if she’d ever seen it. “Sigurd,” she said. “You have saved me countless times, and you care for me like the family I never had. I need you to be that family, and I need you to push me like you did back when we first met. I have no idea how the world works, but I need your safety net while I learn.”

  Turning around, she faced Amalia, her heart melting as she looked at the other woman with her hands folded against her chest. The guilt was much more apparent on her face, guilt Vel was certain she would feel very soon after this outburst. “Amalia,” she said, “I need you. You help me feel like my own woman, or to feel like one in general when all I’ve done is fight, and fight, and fight. So please, don’t stop that.”

  “Uh, fighting doesn’t make you unwomanly,” Sandy chided in, Vel leaning to look past Amalia at the healer. “Just sayin’,” he shrugged.

  “Yes, thank you,” Vel said. She looked back at Amalia, then turned to look at Sigurd. Taking a deep breath, she walked past the hunter. “I have [keen eye] and [scent memory],” she said. “Could either of those help find civilization?”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Ya’d need a vantage point for [keen eye],” Aden said.

  “Scent memory might not do much good if it’s a low rank,” Sigurd added. “Besides, you need something to remember to follow.”

  “Hm, so . . .” Vel looked at the trees around. They were much taller, and the time spent climbing one might be too much, but they had no idea where they were going. Direction, in more than one sense, was very much needed for this group. “I’m going to climb. It will take a while, so we should find a good spot to make camp.”

  “You mean, climb a tree?” Amalia asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Vel, we should go over more options first,” Sigurd said.

  “No,” Vel shook her head. I can do this, and . . .” as she thought more about it, she was certain she could do it faster than before. “I have [webshot] this time. I also have an actual [climb] skill too. It will still take time, but I can do it.”

  “Very well,” Amalia said.

  “It’s not━” Sigurd started, and Vel looked back at him when he stopped, seeing the glare the singer gave him. He sighed. “Fine, just be careful,” he looked at Vel and she gave a snide smile.

  “When am I not?” she asked sarcastically, the hunter giving her a rather satisfying eye roll.

  “Then we find a place to make camp,” Amalia said. “Any spot with enough space to sleep will do, as gross as all this underbrush is.”

  Vel nodded, still looking at the whimsical trees. She needed one with low hanging branches. “We might need to compromise. I need the right tree,” she said.

  “Pick one, and we’ll take the time to work at creating sleeping space,” Sigurd said.

  “You need a tall tree too,” Aden added.

  Right. That too. It seemed to her that most of the taller trees didn’t have branches so low. Narrowing her eyes, Vel looked over the tallest tree, or the one that looked the tallest, in their immediate surroundings. I can make a webbed rope to get up without super low branches, she thought, also mentally noting that she needed to not push her power. But she was stronger now. That would be harder to do.

  Marching towards the tree, she climbed up onto a thick root with a grunt, finding it to be about waist height. It was thick, and smoother than she expected. Once she was on it, she looked up at the nearest branch. It had to be about fifteen feet up, but it’d certainly be the hardest to reach. Better to do that now than later in the climb.

  Sigurd huffed from behind her, and she turned to see him climb up on the branch. “I can give you a boost,” he said. It wouldn’t take her all the way, but perhaps enough of the way to make it easier.

  She nodded, then flicked her hands towards the branch, webs thicker than she expected extending from her fingers and latching onto the branch above.

  [Create Silk level 37]

  [Sticky Thread level 62]

  [Sticky Thread level 63]

  [Webshot level 62]

  Vel twisted the threads, creating a sturdy rope of sticky silk, not that it stuck to her hands as much as she expected. Strange that it worked like that, almost like she was immune to her own construction.

  Grasping it with both hands, she said, “Okay, I’m ready.”

  Turning around, she found Sigurd interlocking his fingers near her feet. “I’m going to launch you up,” he said. “Jump at the same time.”

  Vel nodded, placing her foot in Sigurd’s hands. She jumped up to put her weight on it, and Sigurd launched her. Keeping her eye on the branch above, Vel let go of her rope to catch it, stomach dropping as she felt herself starting to fall first. Her hands grasped the rope, tight as the rest of her weight pulled on her shoulders from the falling motion.

  [Climb level 3]

  With a groan at the soreness she was already feeling, she struggled to get her feet to latch onto the rope as well. Once she had, between them and her hands, she slowly inched up. Oh, this is so much harder than I imagined! she thought, looking back up. Bit by bit, she pushed on.

  [Climb level 4]

  The branch was so close, yet so far, far enough that she was sweating profusely before she could reach it. Once she had a hand over its strangely smooth surface, Vel heaved, still pushing with her feet to get her other hand up there. Once both hands were on the branch, she heaved a heavy breath once. Twice. Then three times, sucking in quickly then exhaling as she pulled, pushing with her feet still until she got one knee up.

  Finally, she just laid across the branch. “That . . .” she breathed, “was hard. Holy━it’s hot.”

  “Humidity,” Aden called up, “makes ya sweaty.”

  “Right, well, I should be good from here,” Vel said, looking down at the three that watched her, Amalia looking tense while Sigurd crossed his arms. Clearly one of them was more worried than the other. Aden, however, looked hopeful. Maybe he wanted her to fall and break something.

  Pushing herself up, Vel carried on, the following branches significantly easier, save for the humidity. The more she climbed, the more she realized that, much like her first assumption, climbing these trees was harder. Well, in a way. It wasn’t because they actually were harder to climb, but rather that it felt harder to breathe. The air was just so wet. She discarded her overclothes early on, leaving her in a pair of white bloomers and an undershirt, both in good condition thanks to Mama Rosie.

  Upon reaching the zenith with a newly leveled 44 [climb], Vel sat across three small branches, breathing heavily and looking out over the vast jungle around them. This tree certainly was one of the taller ones, the height variations between each tree vast.

  While everything looked like a bright green canopy from this vantage point, it hadn’t felt that way quite so much from the ground. Sunlight had plenty of room to penetrate the canopy, and even more up here to burn Vel’s skin.

  [Iridescent Hide level 2]

  Huh, did that protect against the sun? Marvelous, Vel thought, then scanned over the trees further, narrowing her eyes as she searched for anything. Smoke, clearings, anything.

  [Keen Eye level 9]

  There. Smoke. And . . . a building? Vel leaned forward a bit, latching onto the branches beneath her to keep steady. Yes, there it was, a gray and orange building peeking out above the trees. Could people really build structures so large?

  Of course, Vel, she told herself, reminded of the paintings of castle-like temples back home. Or rather, ex-home. This time she wouldn’t be just looking at paintings of man made marvel, instead, she would see them for herself.

  Looking up at the sky, the sun lowering towards the buildings, she noted the direction they needed to go, then glanced down to begin her descent with the help of [feather fall]. About halfway down, Vel paused, seeing movement in the underbrush around the others. She furrowed her brow, squinting as massive green leaves shifted unnaturally whilst others moved in a gentle breeze.

  Then she saw the glint of metal, a speartip standing at the edge of a long shaft. As shapes became more defined, Vel gasped at the little green head she saw. Wait, not one. Two. Three!

  [Keen Eye level 10]

  [Keen Eye level 11]

  The small humanoid creatures crouched, and Vel screamed as they readied to pounce, “Sigurd!”