Blood & Spores

JP with Winteroak and Omni

Voah was bruised, bloodied, and beaten in body and mind. When Tarmen found her she was singing softly, yet absently in the dark to herself.

Tarmen squatted in front of Voah. She looked up, sullenly. He had managed to relight the torch while she was in a stupor and now he was chewing on something.

As he reached his hand out, she saw the remains of a round of flat bread wrapped around mushrooms. She took it willingly, taking a small bite and looking around.

The mould-woman was gone, she must have crawled away, but it would be at least fifteen minutes before she made it back to that village, and that was if she was running at full speed like they were before.

That meant that if the woman did go for backup, Tarmen and Voah would be at least a half an hour ahead of the mould-folk. They were in no state to run, but they had to keep moving.

Tarmen offered his hand to help her up and together they hobbled back upward into the dark tunnels leaving behind the bloody aftermath of their skirmish.

They traveled for what seemed like an eternity. They paused often in their state of exhaustion and to tend to their many wounds. They cleaned as much of the spores as possible but were plagued by blinding headaches and auditory hallucinations.

One foot after the other they traveled, choosing tunnels and caves that appeared to lead up. They wanted to see the sky again but they were not sure if this would be their final resting place.

Maybe it would have been easier to just give in and go with the mould-folk the first time… Maybe. They might be in better shape now, if they somehow managed to escape. They had come too far to call it quits now and freedom felt so close. Like it was around every turn. Like they could taste it.

They only had to ignore the betraying whispers that told them to give up. They agreed not to speak so they would know for certain that the voices of despair were not their own. Voah was sure that Tarmen was on the edge of tears at one point or another, true or not, it gave her a renewed strength, that of a mother or sister.

This went on between them forever. Voah and Tarmen forged a silent bond. When one was struggling with headaches or fatigue, they reassured the other to keep going only by touch. An assurance that they were tough and could make it through anything together.