Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 323

Chapter 323: All by myself
Mia continued forward, alone. Her father had told her he’d be right back.

She was growing too tired to care. Trying not to use her power so much, she tried to restrain herself to searching for the best path.

But her mind was not in a wonderful state. Without sleeping well, she began being all too aware of her surroundings. When she heard a noise in the forest, she involuntarily looked for its source.

Her eyes would flicker to a bird or a leaf or something unseen in the branches nearby, where her magic pulled. Forcing herself to concentrate, she would return her attention ahead.

But where was her father?

The pull reversed towards the back of the formation, and Mia sighed, turning her attention to the goal, not her idle wonderings. She hadn’t intentionally decided to look for him, just had the mental question. Was her lack of sleep affecting her this much?

It had been several days since Ford stopped holding her hand at night. She’d stopped talking to him. It was as awkward as it had been when he first joined the group, except that now, he didn’t seem in any hurry to heal the rift between them.

Mia was now too tired to try. What energy she didn’t spend finding the way, she spent hiding her fatigue. Privately, Anaisa expressed worry. Mia assured her it was fine.

It wouldn’t be, forever. And it felt like forever would be spent in this forest. It had seemed so much shorter in her vision, so much briefer. Why weren’t they out of it and to the mountains beyond, by now?

She didn’t want Uncle Trace to wait forever for them to arrive, didn’t want to take so long that it turned to winter and the snowy area became positively impassable.

These worries, and more, she heaped on herself. Why didn’t Ford try to talk to her? Was it because her father threatened him, or because Ford was now totally turned off to the idea of being around her at all?

The silence between them was deafening, and depressed her further. The pull on her soul was a constant reminder of the space between them, but there were more important things to concentrate on.

The road ahead continued. She patted Harper’s neck as the faithful horse continued winding through the trees.

How much further would this forest go? It felt like it hadn’t changed in days, at least.

She turned to look behind. Anaisa smiled at her encouragingly, while Daniel seemed a bit bored. Behind them was a perplexing sight indeed.

Seth, Grandpa, and Ford rode side by side, all with small knives carving small pieces of wood.

Her father had abandoned her to go… whittle? With Ford and Grandpa?

He couldn’t have done that next to her?

Maybe in her exhaustion she was boring, but that was still no excuse. Just because they hadn’t encountered danger in a while didn’t mean there was none ahead. And all three men seemed to be intently concentrating on their little projects!

“What are they doing?” Mia asked her aunt.

Anaisa turned around as well, tilting her head as the men meticulously carved at their small blocks of wood.

Ford paused, examining his creation closely before tossing it over his shoulder.

Reaching into his bag, he drew out another chunk and began the process again.

“I’m… I’m not sure,” Anaisa said. “Um, Seth? What are you three up to back there?”

“Whittling,” Grandpa answered for them all, as if it were stupidly obvious.

Mia had had enough. She reined in her mount and the entire party stopped.

Daniel blinked, drawn from his own musings to pay attention to his surroundings for probably the first time in a while.

All the horses were standing still, but the men did not cease what they were doing. Seth glanced at Mia and gave her a small shrug before he turned his blade to carve at a slightly different angle.

Since the last question Anaisa asked had not given any helpful information, Mia cleared her throat and turned Harper to where she could observe the men more easily.

“What are you making?”

“Sculptures,” Grandpa shrugged. “I don’t suppose it particularly matters what of. I think Ford’s been making little faces. My projects are a little more straightforward.”

He held up a crude carving of a four-legged animal, perhaps a horse, and then tossed it into the forest. His hand shot out, palm up, to Ford as if expecting something.

“I’m out,” Ford sighed. “We’ll have to hunt around for more wood.”

“It’s almost nightfall, isn’t it?” Grandpa looked at the sky… well, he looked up at the branches above them. The sky wasn’t visible through the thick canopy of the trees.

“Not quite,” Seth was still concentrating, “but maybe we should be looking for tonight’s campsite.”

“I have been,” Mia’s eyes narrowed, annoyed. “I start every day after midday, to make sure we get somewhere that’s at least not more dangerous than anywhere else.”

Not that the path ever changed at all. One direction, always.

“Thank you, Mia,” Her father’s words were sincere. “Is this place any more–or less–dangerous than anywhere else?”

“What?”

“We need more wood,” Grandpa advised. “Can we set up camp here, or should we continue on? I can walk for a while, and pick up fallen branches and such as we go.”

“Are you as confused as I am?” Mia turned to her aunt, who nodded.

“Positively befuddled,” Anaisa confirmed. “Would any of you care to explain before I assume you’re under some bizarre enchantment and adjust my behavior accordingly?”

“Ford’s carvings are disappearing,” Grandpa pointed at the younger man. “We’ve been stuck in these woods for ages. I think the creatures like the things, so we’re making them more, in case it helps.”

“In case it helps what, exactly?” Mia felt like she was either being very dense, or her grandfather was explaining things very poorly.

“We haven’t been in danger since Ford started leaving his mistakes behind, but we do seem a bit stuck in these woods. My theory is, if we give them enough of ’em, they’ll help us get where we’re going.”