Spirit Taming

Chapter 49: Crossing

The little stream on the map that Clark had just finished telling them about was anything but little. There had been rain in the area recently making the little steam in to a rough flow of water that they would be unable to swim across safely.

"They should have made us a bridge. How do they expect us to do this without some beast with wings? We all just have one tamed beast anyways." Ralph was not the happiest person in the world.

Clark missed the questioning look that Maria had toward him when Ralph mentioned only having one tamed beast. "I would consider the tactic that you used to get over the small gap in the roots, but this water is too wide and rough. We need to find a thinner part of the stream with some tricks to jump over." Clark turned from Maria toward Ralph.

"Actually, how did you get over the roots at the final test of the entrance exam? Clark couldn't come up with any feasible way that Ralph and his heavy boar would make it over the delicate roots that had been used as the final test in the entrance exam.

"What roots? I just hopped on top of my partner and we charged. Some students tried to get in our way but we broke through. There were even these weird lightning bug things, but they couldn't keep up with us. We are too fast. I thought that the gate would be in a straight line, so we just charged that way.

We needed to stop here and there to handle some things, but that was easy."

Both Maria and Clark stared at Ralph with disbelieving expressions. They had no idea how he had been able to pull that off. "Lucky…you're a child of luck." Maria had made the nickname on the spot. There was no way that Ralph had thought blindly charging ahead was a good plan.

"Agreed, pure luck. Ralph, if I ever need to gamble, I will leave it to you." Somehow, Ralph didn't feel like he was receiving the compliments that he should. The tone was enough to tell him that he was being somewhat insulted.

Crim was nearby the water scouting out the situation. He hadn't seen anything promising and was forced to walk along with the group upstream. "If we are in luck, then we will be nearby this bend in the stream. From there we will be able to hop across the rocks." The map that Clark had gotten from Allen had fairly clear markings as to what the terrain was like.

He could tell that there was a large opening in the semi-dead trees with a great amount of stone. There was a potion that was considered dangerous since it was marked with multiple goblin faces, and there was the portion of the stream that turned and had some jutting rocks drawn on it.

The moment the rocks in the stream came in to sight, Crim gave a soft growl to alert them. He was sure to remain fairly quiet so that he would not attract any goblins in the area. It was something that Clark had not actively taught Crim but something that Crim and naturally learned. Clark took careful note of how Crim was learning much faster than would be expected for a newly hatched beast.

"The water sure is going fast here…" Ralph was looking at the water with a skeptical expression. He knew that he and his steel haired boar would sink like stones if they were to fall in. Just the thought of trying to balance on the rocks was terrifying enough.

"Just follow my lead and keep breathing. We have to cross here where it's more narrow or else we will not make it to the camp.' Clark was determined to cross here and get to the camp by the time the sun set. There was no way for him to handle the battles at night.

"The book you gave me… the goblins get active as the sun sets. We need to be quick." Maria finally spoke back up. Clark was glad that she had remembered this because it was clear that Ralph was not aware of the sort of beasts that goblins were.

Crim took the first leap on the stones. He didn't care so much that the water was rushing around. The main reason was because he just needed to worry about protecting his core. Other than that he could take a lot of damage compared to everyone else.

Some parts of the stone were hit heavily by the rushing water causing it to splash up on Cark who was jumping stone to stone behind Crim knowing that there was solid footing really put him at ease. The rocks were not normally hit with such mist from the strong current, therefore, the water had not caused slippery algae to grow on the stones. All three said silent prayers for this.

"Gah!" Ralph jumped leaving himself just enough room to land with his legs in a near perfect split. Maria and Clark couldn't lose their focus to turn around but knew that Ralph had another lucky moment. They cursed him slightly for the inconceivable luck that he possessed.

"Crim, stay at the edge there to help us across." Clark gave Crim the order and Devi also followed it. Devi held on to Crim's tail when Clark jumped. With a quick grab, Crim had Clark's arm in his mouth to gently pull him forward. "Good catch, now we can get Ralph, his beast, Maria." The only two that had crossed without any worry were Devi and Lit.

they could float easily enough so that it wasn't an issue for them.

Ralph and his boar stood on the edge of the water looking at how fast it was moving. They were slightly shaken after Ralph had ended up in a split. However, they were ready to keep pushing on, which Clark needed from them.

"The camp should just be ahead of us by about twenty minutes-"

"Where is the rest of your group?" Professor Brune came out of the shadows by the nearest trees. He was looking at them with careful eyes. He was looking for anything that could explain what had happened between the start of their trial and the finish.

After a few moments, Professor Brune was able to locate the faith scars on their arms and legs. These had been from fighting the demented hobgoblin, which professor Brune did not know about. "I see that your glow sting jellyfish has done very good work. Now tell me, where are the students from my class and the last student from your class?"

"Goblins…" Ralph let this and only this out. He was sure that Carl was going to jump in but for Ralph, this was all he could say. Maria was also cowering back slightly. She feared that she would be getting in to trouble or that someone was going to jump out for revenge.

"That's all you have to say? I want a full explanation before I do anything else. We will stay here well in to the night if you can not do so." The sharp words from professor Brune were what Clark needed to step forward and open his mouth to tell him the story he had assembled.