Banished Pt. 04

As we walked, I spotted Gisela up ahead, casting furtive glances in my direction, and as she finally spotted me, she quickly came over.

"The princess wishes to speak; to you, Auslander" she said, casting a sideways glance at Casey.

As we walked, she seemed a little nervous.

"That Goddess, Auslander. Is she your mate as well?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"She's more of an advisor," I explained, and Gisela frowned.

"Will I need to make acquaintance?" she asked, and I tilted my head at her in confusion.

"With her? What for?" I asked.

"To discuss; as advisors," she clarified, and I suddenly realized that Gisela also saw herself as my advisor.

"If you wish, but it's not necessary. You can advise me of matters pertaining to the princess; she advises me on dealings with the rest of our kind," I explained, and she nodded.

"I understand."

As we got to the princess, her eyes lit up as she spotted me.

We will arrive at the little trees soon, my sweet. There will be fresh springs for cleansing. Would you desire goddesses, or servants, for your tending?

"She said something about springs?" I asked Gisela, and she nodded.

"Water bubbling to the earth from below. It is good for relaxation," Gisela explained.

"Uh, tell her that the goddesses may prefer to keep to themselves, and that I can tend to myself, so the servants can tend to her instead."

Gisela relayed the message, and the princess began to blush.

None may tend to me but you, my sweet, she replied brushing her fingers against my face, and I would quicker cast myself from a cliff than let mine Götze tend to himself.

Wait, what exactly did she mean by 'tend'? I thought.

Although, Gisela didn't seem too flustered by my use of the word, so maybe it was the princess' use of it that I needed to be wary of?

I took a quick look back to see if I could spot Cameron, since spending some 'alone time' with her in a bath actually seemed like a pretty lucrative idea right now, and it would appease the princess as well... or at the very least, stop her from smothering me with a host of her servant-girls; but unfortunately, she was nowhere in sight.

Looking for someone? Casey's voice spoke into my mind, and I snickered, as I caught sight of her.

I quickly headed over to her side.

"Can you check on Cameron for me?"

She shot me a wary look.

"Are you worried about her?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Not exactly; but I might need her for something."

She nodded, and as she headed off, I spotted Jeannie making her way over to me.

"Hey. Is this pace fine for your group?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding, but there was a concerned look on her face.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Candace is up to something. She keeps wandering off. I asked what was up, and she said she was just 'inspecting the trees'. It's fishy."

"Okay. Let's check it out."

I followed Jeannie back to her group, and as we approached, one of the girls quickly walked over to us.

"She's gone off again," the girl began, and Jeannie nodded.

"Did anyone follow her?" I asked, and the girl nodded.

"Emmy did."

"Show us where," Jeannie said, and we quickly followed the girl.

She led us away from the main group, but as I spotted Candace approaching ahead, I quickly directed the two girls with me, and we ducked behind a tree as she passed.

Jeannie shot me a questioning look, and I gestured to her to hold on until Candace was out of sight.

"There's Emily," Jeannie said, and we quickly signaled to the girl, who appeared to be following Candace back to the main group.

"Did you see what she was doing?" Jeannie asked, and the girl shook her head.

"She stood by the tree, kind of like she was taking a leak," Emily explained.

"Can you show us which tree?" I asked, and she nodded.

We followed her, but as we examined the tree, I couldn't quite spot anything obvious on it.

"Look at this," Emily said.

There was a little 'x' carved into the tree, but the mark was small and not easy to spot.

"Is she signaling to Vanessa?" Jeannie asked, and I rubbed my chin.

"Would be hard for someone following our trail to make that mark out, if they don't know what they're looking for. I'd say she was putting the mark there to follow herself."

"To find her way back if she leaves?" Jeannie asked, and suddenly it clicked.

"Fuck. She's probably trying to steal something, to head back to Vanessa with," I said, and Jeannie nodded. "Emily, was it?" I said, turning to the girl.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure Candace didn't see you following her?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"If she did, she didn't act as if she saw," the girl said.

"Okay. Well, keep a closer eye on her, but let her wander off if she wants to. We're coming up to our first stop soon, so let's wait until then to confront her."

I broke away from Jeannie and Emily as the two rejoined the group, and I waited until I spotted Casey before heading over to rejoin the procession.

"How's Cameron?"

"Being carefully watched. Nolan isn't taking his eyes off of her," she responded, and I frowned.

"Fuck. That's not ideal," I muttered, and she smirked.

"What do you want with her, if you don't mind my asking."

"We're coming up to our stop soon; apparently there's springs that we can use to bathe.

"Oh? That'll be nice. I feel fucking filthy," she said.

"Yeah, my dick probably still smells like ass. I was hoping for Cameron's company, though."

"Well, don't bet on it. I doubt Nolan will take his eyes off of her. Guess you'll have to bathe alone," she teased, and as I frowned, she studied me.

"Wow. Are you really that disappointed?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"The princess won't let me bathe alone. Unless I can find another way to appease her, she's probably gonna send me a host of servant-girls," I said, and she snickered.

"Thought you'd love that," she said, and I shook my head.

"I might. But I don't like the precedent it might set; plus, it'll send the wrong message to the other girls."

"What about Francesca?"

"And have no-one wearing armor?" I asked, and she frowned.

"Well, just don't expect me to do it," she said, and I shook my head.

"Your name wasn't even on the list," I replied, but to my surprise, her expression seemed to indicate some annoyance at my statement.

"We might have a bit of a situation, by the way," I said.

I quickly recounted what happened with Candace, and she shook her head.

"You shouldn't have let them come along," she said, and I shrugged.

"Honestly, I knew it was a bad idea; but I didn't invite them because I wanted them to come. I just wanted to send the message to the others that we can be both accommodating, and forgiving."

She sighed.

"Does the manipulation ever end?" she asked, and I frowned.

"You do realize that most people do this anyway, right? I'm just honest about it," I countered, and she studied me, thoughtfully.

We walked for a bit longer, before a little group of trees came into view, with what appeared to be poorly constructed treehouses built around them, and connected by a network of vines.

"This looks good," Casey noted, as she studied the structure, and I snickered at her.

"You're only saying that because you haven't seen the inside of Palancar."

"They're a tree dwelling, primitive, tribe. How much better could Palancar have possibly been?" she asked, and I smirked.

"Oh, you have no idea," I said, and she shrugged.

I headed over to the princess' group, and she seemed to be grimacing, as several Kobalt greeted her, one of whom was an elderly woman, who reminded me much of Matron Lucilla.

As soon as she spotted me, she beckoned for me to join her, and she raised her hands in a grand gesture of introduction.

"Herr Götze," she declared, and to my surprise, the people actually bowed, their heads going right down into the earth.

"They don't need to do that," I quickly said, but as I chanced a glance backwards to Jeannie and the other girls, I quickly saw that the damage was done, as they were studying the exchange with much interest.

It's fine, my sweet. All creatures will prostrate to you in time, she said into my mind, and I suppressed a sigh.

The Kobalt who had travelled with us seemed to be settling down in the area on the forest floor, between the tree houses, while the Princess quickly led me away, along with Gisela, to a path that wound away from the little grove.

"Where are we going?" I asked, and Gisela pointed to a tree in the distance.

"Is that- a grove tree?" I asked, and Gisela nodded.

"This cluster is allowed one tree; but it is stunted and mutilated, so that it can never produce seeds."

"Will we be staying there?" I asked, and Gisela nodded.

"Accommodations will be made for all of the Gods; along with anyone whose company you require."

"I see."

As soon as we got to the tree, a host of Kobalt girls emerged from the entryway, and they crowded around the princess, murmuring excitedly.

They seemed unsure of how to react, but as the princess quickly spoke, her tone, quite upbeat, they quickly swarmed her, and she smiled broadly as she exchanged enthusiastic greetings with the group.

"Who are they?" I asked, and Gisela leaned closer to whisper.

"Sproutlings whose vines can be traced to the Princess' root," she explained, and I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"Family?" I asked, but Gisela did not seem to understand the word.

As I studied the girls, however, I quickly noticed that they did in fact seem to share a lot of features with the princess; the slim, slender frames, and silky smooth, olive green skin.

The princess smiled at me, her mood seemingly quite buoyant, until a call came from the entryway into the tree, and everyone froze, the exchanges suddenly coming to a halt.

I followed the series of gazes to the entryway, where a Kobalt girl, seemingly no older than the princess herself, stood, with her hands on her hips, and shooting an angry look in the princess' direction.

The princess spoke, her tone seemingly defiant, but the girl didn't back down; instead she advanced on the princess with such an intimidating stride, that I instinctively moved to the princess' side.

I shot her a warning glare, and the girl responded to the gesture with a menacing look of her own.

Be still, my sweet. She means me no harm, the princess said, and I nodded, relaxing a little; yet something about the girl still irked me considerably.

The two spoke, their discussion seemingly quite confrontational in nature, and the girls who'd surrounded the princess, quickly slipped away.

I felt the urge to request a translation from Gisela, but I quickly decided that discretion was probably the better part of valor here.

I was beginning to feel quite out of place, when the girl turned to me.

"You, Auslander. You must die," she challenged, and I studied her with a confused expression.

I give up. End her miserable life, for all I care, the princess said, before storming off.

I turned to Gisela, but the woman wasn't finished with me.

"Look to me, Auslander! I am your quarry, and I speak your filthy tongue. Or will you hide behind 'frau Schweinchen' before facing me."

Gisela winced at what was apparently an insult, or a name she did not like being called.

"Fine. What is your quarrel with me?" I asked, and she spat at the ground.

"You steal from us, then ask of quarrel?"

"Enough, Eradne. He is not long of this world. He does not understand," Gisela cut in.

"I speak not to you, frau Schweinchen. Seed or stalk, he is to shoulder a forest! Why defend what may bear nothing but rotten fruit!"

"Is skill in combat the mark of one who may shoulder such a load?" I asked, and the girl studied me, as I turned to Gisela.

"How long are we supposed to stay here?" I asked.

"Herr Auslander, she is burdensome, but we must provision..."

"No, I don't mean that I want to leave. How long will the provisions take to gather?"

"At earliest, two day-cycles," she answered, and I nodded, turning to the woman.

"In two, maybe three day-cycles; we leave. If you are not satisfied with me by then, you may test me by combat, or any other manner you see fit," I said, and studied me for a bit.

"So be it," she finally said, before turning, to stalk away.

"Who is she?" I asked, as the girl disappeared into the stunted tree.

"She sprouts from the same seed as the princess," she answered, and I nodded.

Hmm... so sisters, then?

"Are all the gods being gathered here?" I asked, and she nodded. "Good. Is there a room that we can use to have a little meeting?"

"One can be prepared as such," She answered, gesturing to room at the start of the corridor, off of the main hall. "Should I make arrangement?"

I nodded, and as she headed off to prepare for our meeting, the others began to file into the main hall with stupefied expressions on their faces.

"Hey, everyone," I began, trying to gather everyone together.

"Is this what the trees in Palancar were like?" Casey asked, and as I nodded, she frowned.

"Fucking hell... we really dropped the ball on that one."

"Can't be helped now, but... we can grow our own," I reminded her.

She frowned, as I turned to address the gathering.

"A room is being prepared for us to discuss our current situation. As I have mentioned before, joining us is everyone's personal call, and given that our current plans include a lengthy journey before even settling down, I thought it would be best for everyone to spend some time, thinking things over, before making a decision. So, since we'll be staying here for a few days while we gather provisions; this presents the perfect opportunity to do so."

"Nate, those springs outside. Do we get to use them?" one of the girls asked, and as I nodded, a few happy grins broke out amongst the girls.

We waited for a little bit, before Gisela gestured to me, and I led the group into the meeting room.

A few more chairs were brought in as we filed in, and we arranged the chairs in a semi-circle, allowing a speaker to address everyone from the front.

As everyone settled down, all eyes were on me, and I quickly gestured to Casey, who moved to the center of the room.

"Hi, everyone. For anyone who doesn't know, my name is Casey. Like everyone else, I was sent here as part of project Kepler, but unlike everyone else, my memories are mostly intact, and... I also used to work for the company that sent us here."

"What? How could you do that?" someone asked, and I raised a hand, as some voices within the group began to murmur with discontent.

"I had no idea that any of this was real. I was hired with a team that did biological research on what I believed at the time to be a simulation of life on an alien planet... all of the people here, as far as I knew, were theoretical. Made up, even. And when I stumbled across the truth... I was silenced, by being sent here myself."

"Wait; they sent you here to die? Does that mean we're all gonna die?"

Casey swallowed uncomfortably, and as panic seemed to begin spreading, I moved to the front of the room to speak:

"To answer your question bluntly; yes, this world is designed to kill us... but if we stick together, I think we stand a chance at turning the odds in our favor. And Casey's knowledge, in my opinion, is the key that will turn things for us."

Everyone quieted down at this, and I gestured to Casey to continue.

"Right. So, the town we started out at is called Saker, and it's part of a much larger community of native-human towns that extend all the way to the coast east of here, and to the south. There's roughly forty or so towns in that expanse, and amongst those towns are starter halls, like the one in Saker, which hunters like Raul frequent in search of new arrivals like us."

"Starting halls?" someone asked.

"That's what we call guild halls where new arrivals appear," she explained. "Now there's a good bit of distance between them, and new arrivals come in at irregular times, and in randomly chosen starter halls; which is why it's usually dangerous for otherworlders to stay for too long in any one of these locations. So, most of the time, they travel between towns, making up credits along the way by hunting the monsters which roam between these towns, and collecting the cores, along with bounties that the towns offer for them."

"So, if we decide to head back to Saker, this system is basically what we would have to expect to fit into?" Jeanie asked, and as Casey nodded, I noted with relief that the girls seemed quite worried by that prospect.

So far so good, I thought.

"Based on the information that Casey just shared with you, we decided it would be best to settle down inside of the forest," I explained.

"So... how often do the otherworlders come in here?" Jeannie asked.

"Based on the information provided by Casey, as well what we've gotten out of Raul; we believe that they never come into the forest. Period," I answered.

"Why, though?" Jeannie asked, rubbing her chin, as she considered the development.

"Well, tracking monsters inside of the forest is difficult, because its huge," Casey explained. "Most of them can't even navigate something like this because they never invest credits in the tools required to do so, or bother learning the required skills... besides, the yields from hunting newbies are much higher than hunting monsters. A single otherworlder with their credits unspent is worth as much as ten to fifteen medium to large sized monsters."

"So, how do they survive in the towns? Do they just never run into each other?" someone else asked, and Casey shook her head.

"They move from town to town constantly, avoiding each other where possible, because when they do run into each other, someone usually dies. I think the company set this system up intentionally, so that they would remain in a perpetual loop of self-cannibalism."

"So that's it then? They just do that until they die? No one ever makes the fifty-five hundred credits and buys their ticket home?"

Casey bit her lip.

"Very rarely, they do make up the credits, but... there are conflicting opinions on what actually happens when they cash in."

"What do you mean?" Jordan asked.

"So, I can't tell you for certain what happens when you purchase a return ticket, because it's all speculative; all I can tell you is what I know for certain. When the otherworlders buy a ticket and use it, they vanish from this world..."

"So, they go home then!" someone declared, and Casey frowned, shaking her head.

"No person who was sent here has ever been seen on earth, ever again," Casey said, and murmurs began to break out.

"So where do they go? What happens to them?" Jordan asked.

"I have no idea," Casey admitted, and the group fell silent.

I cleared my throat, as I moved to speak.

"I understand that most of you want to return home, but I think we need to consider the possibility that the means through which we might do so, aren't within the scope of what we can accomplish as we are now, or what we might even be capable of in the near future. For that reason, my suggestion is that we find a way to settle down, and create a sustainable means through which to survive on this planet. Whether we intend to return home, or live here; I think that this is the best way forward, regardless."

The faces around me were grim, but I could see that the group, particularly the new recruits, were beginning to come around to the idea.

Nolan raised a hand at this, before speaking.