Chapter 56: The Path Ahead

I put my gear away, greeted Indolyn and Splendith properly, and went to clean myself up, all with a massive grin on my face. I couldn’t help it, and no, it wasn’t because I had been able to fight two dullahans while distracted, nor because I thought I was finally ready for my rematch with Raven. No, the smile had to do with Olive’s day, not the distraction.

As Olive, I continued to take in the brilliant day. I wore my Grovekeeper uniform, a mud-red tunic over dark brown trousers, with sturdy boots, gloves, a belt carrying the few tools I needed for the trail, and my sword at my hip. The sky was finally clear after the rain of the past week, sunlight breaking through the canopy. No more wet hair, no more tracing the trail with my boots sinking into the mud. Of course, all of that paled in comparison to my distraction. Emma had joined me today, and we were walking the almost-trail hand in hand.

“Is this really all it takes to build a trail?” Emma asked again. The girl really didn’t understand the forest, but she was trying to... for me.

I tried a different approach while holding back my blush. “We aren’t trying to force a trail. We’re simply speeding it up. Every living creature in this forest takes the best route to their destination every day.” I pulled her toward the side of the trail and crouched, using my gloved hand to push a bush aside. Beneath it, the wet leaves had been pressed into a narrow strip no wider than my hand. Little stems bent away from the same opening, and a thin line of dark soil showed through where tiny feet had passed over it again and again. “See? Here’s a path taken by a rootmouse. It didn’t purposely make it. That was just the path it always took.” I followed the tiny trail with my finger until it disappeared beneath another patch of brush. “This teaches the ground where you’re going and makes it easier to get there.”

“But you aren’t just walking through the forest. This is organized. The Grovekeepers have been working on this for weeks,” she said as I pulled her back to her feet and continued walking.

“Yes, but it’s still a natural path. Every day Dad or Eric or someone makes their way toward the dungeon. That path is the natural way, the way they feel is best to get there. Then the rest of us follow in alternating turns.” I stared at her for a moment, trying to see if she was understanding. Her cute face still showed slight confusion, but I decided to push through anyway. “This not only shows the ground the path we want to take, but the animals as well, making it safer for all of us. It’s like... oh!”

I squatted and almost lost my balance since I refused to let go of Emma, but she grabbed me to make sure I didn’t fall, so it worked out. I grabbed a stick with my left hand and scraped away some of the damp leaves until I had a clear patch of dirt to draw on. Then I made a small, slightly curving, faint line. I had wanted to make it straight, but this was actually better. “This is what my dad is doing.” I added another line over the first until about three quarters of the way. “This is what the other Grovekeepers, like Jen, are doing.” Then I traced the first quarter a few more times. “And this first bit is what my brother and I are doing.”

“And Jorren,” Emma mumbled softly.

I chose to ignore that. I traced that first quarter again and looked at the slightly jagged line, then aggressively made another deep one next to it. The stick broke before I could make it as long, but it would do.

I gestured at the first line. “You see how it’s deeper at the start, getting progressively lighter?” Emma leaned in to see, her hair sweeping by my shoulder, as she followed the line from the deep groove near my boot to where it almost vanished into the dirt. “This is what I mean by speeding it up. With the first line, we already technically have a path, and we could all simply walk the entire way to the dungeon, like I did with the second line, which is what most villages would do. But that doesn’t give the animals time to acclimate.” I tapped the deepest part of the first line, then slowly followed it toward the faint end.  “Instead, by having the number of people going farther increase over time, it lets the animals see that human presence is increasing and gives them time to change their own paths.”

***

“My Lord? My Lord!”

I blinked. Indolyn was holding a mirror in front of me. Around us, the demons that had been working on my face and hands were pulling away, taking their brushes, cloths, and little containers with them. Indolyn stood beside me dressed almost entirely in black, dark layers fitted neatly around her with little variation besides the occasional bit of metal and her black lips.

“Y-yes?” I stammered. I had been showing Emma how to drink water from a dewpitcher without getting wet and hadn’t really been paying attention to the whole makeover thing, though my hand had never left the hilt of my sword.

“Is this to your satisfaction?” Indolyn asked.

I finally took a proper look at myself. The black lines on my face and hands were gone, or mostly gone. Covering them completely must not have been possible because faint darker traces still showed beneath the makeup if I looked closely. Instead, they had darkened the rest of my visible skin to match, turning my usual bright red into something deeper and muddier. Strangely enough, it was almost the same red as my Grovekeeper tunic.

My hair had been arranged while I wasn’t paying attention, and my clothing was immaculate, every fold sitting exactly where it was supposed to. Somehow, disguising me had made me look even more important.

I looked more royal than Lirael.

“Yes, but is all this really necessary?” I asked, mainly gesturing toward where the lines had been covered.

“Of course it is,” Indolyn said simply.

Splendith was not so brief. “Tenebros’s Signature is a dead giveaway of your importance, everyone would immediately know you are the Demon Lord, though of course they could assume you are the new Pontiff, but that would also result in disaster, not that people knowing it’s you would be a disaster, it’s just that the generals have agreed, but you know that already, though it is unfortunate we must hide your greatness for this endeavor because you wouldn’t be able to enjoy anything if... mmph!”

Indolyn clapped a hand over Splendith’s mouth. Even while struggling against Indolyn’s hand, Splendith somehow still looked perfectly put together in a crisp blouse beneath a fitted jacket and pleated skirt.

“Shall we get going, my Lord?” Indolyn asked, ignoring Splendith’s struggles.