“Do you hear that?” Beck asked, her compulsion washing over Drake.
Drake looked at her with impatience, but stopped and strained his ears. He heard nothing. The impact of that revelation hit him only a moment before the roar ripped through the forest.
Trees shook, birds took flight and fled, and both Drake and Beck dropped to the ground, covering their ears as best they could. Considering Drake’s injured arm, that wasno’t very well. The noise was deafening as close as they were, and almost sounded like a dragon’s cry. Drake had first-hand knowledge of how loud those could be up close.
The noise rumbled to a halt, and a few moments later the near-constant call of island birds and the monotonous drone of buzzing insects started again. Drake looked over to Beck to find her crouched on the ground with two pistols drawn and a face as white as canvas despite the heat and humidity. Wild eyes peered out from beneath the rim of her hat, darting everywhere as they searched for the threat. Scared only began to cover it, and Drake had to admit he wasn’t feeling much better. Of course, unlike Arbiter Beck, Drake was determined to put on a show of bravado. His fearless reputation would let him show nothing less.
“That way, ya reckon?” Drake whispered, pointing with his good hand.
Beck’s eyes snapped to his, and she nodded.
“Good.” Drake smiled at her. “Let’s go slay this monster.”
He strode away in the direction of the roar, confident the Arbiter wouldn’t let him go alone. Beck counted herself a warrior, and a proud one; there was simply no way she’d allow Drake to appear fearless as she cowered away from the creature, even if it meant her own death.
Never having been one for flights of fantasy, Drake refused to let his imagination run wild. There were any number of beasties that could create a noise like that, and each was as dangerous as the last. If he started listing them all in his head he’d likely find himself paralysed by fear, so instead he forged on through the trees, slapping away flying insects and keeping his footfalls as quiet as possible.
Eventually the trees gave way to a large clearing walled in on the far side by an outcropping of rock with a dark cave that housed an opening as large as a ship. Not much light penetrated the mouth of the cave, and there was no way to tell how deep it went. Beck shuffled up beside Drake at the edge of the clearing, and they crouched behind a giant of a tree, peering around its trunk.
“It must be in the cave,” Beck said, staring towards it. The Arbiter started whispering something under her breath, but soon stopped and shook her head.
Drake looked more closely at the clearing. To one side of the cave was a small steaming pool no larger than a dinghy, and to the other side there appeared to be a hole in the ground much larger than the pool, only with no steam emitting from it. There were also no trees near the hole in the ground, and those that were closest almost seemed to be leaning away from it.
“Have you any idea what it might be?” Beck said in an urgent whisper.
Drake wanted to laugh at the question, but it would have given the game away and he wanted to drag Beck’s vulnerability out a little longer.
“Surely you’d know better than I, Arbiter. It was your Inquisition that hunted all the old monsters into extinction. Far as I know, only dragons, sea beasties, and trolls are left. But I reckon the Inquisition has all sorts of books and shit on all those terrors they wiped out, eh?”
“I was never one for spending much time in the Inquisition libraries,” Beck hissed. “Waste of time. The world is out here, not in a bunch of dusty old tomes.” Drake laughed and stood up. He casually wandered out of his hiding spot and into the clearing.
“Drake! What the fuck are you doing?”
Drake turned, but continued to stroll backwards so he could see the Arbiter’s face. Much to his pleasure, she looked genuinely worried, and that was very much a victory in his book.
“There is no monster, Arbiter Beck. At least not here.”
Beck stood, clearly unsure whether Drake was right or not. Drake couldn’t help but grin at the look on her face; it was almost as if she expected something to reach up out of the hole in the ground and swallow him whole at any moment.
“What about the cave?”
“It’s just a cave.” Drake laughed. “Likely got bats in it and little else, I reckon. See the two holes in the ground?” He pointed first to the pool and then to the much larger hole.
Beck took a few steps into the clearing and nodded.
“This one…” Drake moved closer to the steaming pool and looked into it. He could see a definite bottom only about ten feet down, and warm, clear water coloured green by the rock around it. “Aye, this is a hot spring, warmed by the earth around it to” – he dipped his finger into the water – “a very pleasant temperature.”
Beck moved to stand next to Drake and looked into the pool.
“The other one,” Drake continued, “is much larger. No water, but the rock around it is wet. Well, that one is a geyser.”
“A what?”
“Boiling water from deep underground occasionally rises up and shoots out of it,” Drake clarified. “Makes a hell of a noise too, much like a roaring beastie. And the force of it, if it’s powerful enough, can shake trees. Best not get too close to that one. Those things can be pretty dangerous.”
“There is no monster,” Beck said, echoing Drake’s earlier words.
“No.”
“Did you know this before?”
Drake felt her compulsion and shrugged it off. “No. Wouldn’t very well be out here if I did. Got far better things to be doing with my time. Nice surprise though, eh? Instead of fighting a ferocious beastie we get to have a nice relaxing dip in some warm smelly water.”
Again the look of disbelief. “You can bathe in it?”
Drake nodded.
“You’re sure it’s safe?”
Beck’s compulsion wasn’t just washing over Drake now; it almost felt like a permanent fixture hanging over him. He’d never experienced an Arbiter asking him so many questions in such a short time before. As Arbiter Beck seemed to be reluctant to use her compulsion – most of the time – Drake wondered whether she was enjoying the company of a person she couldn’t dominate so easily.
“Aye, it’s safe.” Drake smiled as he knelt and dragged his good hand through the water. “Folk bathe in these things all the time. Shit, there’s a town in the Wilds that sells time in them, charges a bloody fortune for the privilege too. Folk travel from all over to take a dip in the bitter springs of Bittersprings. And look, we get our own one here for free. Best take advantage of that, I reckon.”
Beck looked at the steaming water, and Drake could see longing written plain on her face. It was likely a good long while since she’d last had a chance to bathe, and there came a point in most civilised folks’ stay in the isles where they just wanted to feel clean. Still, in Drake’s experience, sometimes people needed an extra incentive and a little push.
“I hear it does wonders to stop the itching too,” he lied expertly.
“What?” It was likely Beck hadn’t even realised how badly the insect bites were itching, and now that Drake had mentioned it, he could see her become uncomfortable as all those little irritations made themselves known.
“See how there’s none of those little bastards around the pool?” Drake said. “Seems they don’t like something in the water. Keeps them away and relieves the damned itching.” To drive his point home he scratched at his neck. There was no bite there – he was smart enough to know not to scratch at bites – but it had the desired effect on the Arbiter, and a moment later she was scratching.