Valkyrie's Lament

Chapter 19

The Silver Valkyrie

“What? If you don’t like it just say it.” Jasper was grimacing from the loud laughter from Tyler. He wasn’t happy that he was being laughed at.

“Absolutely not. It’s perfect for our group. We should call the guild Valhalla.” Tyler boisterously called the name out loud for everyone to hear. He winked towards Silver and grinned.

Silver didn’t care. She just shrugged it off as if it was nothing.

“Valhalla? Come on. Let’s go with Bloody Rose. I like that.” Rose chimed in and stated proudly. She stuck out her chest, letting her bright red hair flutter in front of her.

“Dear lord, please someone shut her up.” Tyler smacked his forehead. “I’m getting a headache just listening to her.”

“I hope god smite you.” Rose sarcastically stated, glaring at him to the point where she could bore a hole in his head.

“If he did sweetheart, he would have a legitimate reason.” Tyler rolled his eyes at Rose, not taking her sarcasm seriously.

“Um, excuse me.” Salphie softly spoke, her sweet voice caught everyone’s attention. “We got trouble.”

“Ah, damn.” Tyler worded with a sigh. He steadily pulled his dagger and brought it in front of him. “Trouble just loves us, doesn’t it?”

Silver examined her surrounding. Out before them were a total of five Dresden, slinking around with there heads low to the ground. It was as if they were scourging for food and so far hadn’t noticed Silver’s group.

Now, Silver had to think about the new group of people that was probably going to follow them throughout this gate. She gritted her teeth and knew that this battle might be a little difficult, even though they just completely wiped out the Kasha’s it didn’t compare to the Dresdens.

“If anyone of you survive this and even kills one of those you are an automatic in in this group.” Jasper quietly stated, telling them that they weren’t just going to take anyone in without a good reason.

The three glimpse at the Dresden and gulped. They knew that the Kasha’s that Silver’s group fought didn’t compare to the Dresden before them. The animalistic power given off by the Dresden compared to Kasha was large. Not only that but to look like a dragon without wings made the Dresden more terrifying looking.

Jasper didn’t pay attention to either of the three newcomers, instead he paid attention to his teammates. Tyler, Jasper, and even Silver were already low to the ground slowly slinking towards their prey as they broke apart from each other to surround the five. Rose was the only one who stood back, watching on how it was going to play out.

“Are they serious?” Ren shot a look of disbelief at what he was seeing before him. He was having a very difficult time, wondering how they could be so courageous to go ahead and hunt down a terrifying monster like the Dresdens. “Their going to get killed.” He hissed, so only his group and Rose could hear.

“They won’t.” Rose stood still. Her hand pulled out a dagger as she lit up another pine cone with fire.

“But-” Ren suddenly went silent. What he saw next amazed him.

Silver and Jasper went with a pincer attack, each one dashing forward to draw out and break apart the group of five. The group was split into two/; three went towards Silver, and the two with Jasper.

Tyler jumped into battle, picking the closest one on his right where Silver broke away. He willed up a small portion of his earth magic, and the ground underneath one of the Dresden raised up into a bump, causing the Dresden to come crashing down. Following after, vines slithered out from the bushes and wrapped around its legs.

More and more continued to wrap around the Dresden, making one of its legs firmly grounded into the ground. Vigorously, the Dresden snapped down at the vines and pulled, but the vines seemed to continually magically appear and replace the torn vines. Tyler used this chance to run forward and attack. His dagger snacked underneath its chin, disappearing from the Dresden line of sight.

The blade nicked the hard plate, bouncing off the Dresden’s skin. The Dresden snapped towards him, attempting to bite off his head.

“Damn Dragon Scale! I’ll skin you alive and throw you meat over the lake filled with that damnable piranha!” Tyler had to jump back, and attack again. This time the Dresden didn’t focus anymore on its caught leg and attempted to tear into Tyler alive.

The Dresden’s protective scales and its big body made it three times more difficult to fight than any normal monsters that he had fought so far. Every time he strike, the blade would slide off, leaving behind a frustrated Tyler and a annoyed Dresden. He wished that this monster would hurry and fall from his blade, but even still the blade didn’t pierce as deeply as he thought. He had to reinforce the blade even more with Earth Magic in between their fight.

Tyler fought with his life on the line, his past training as soldier kicked in. Today was one of those days, where he used all of his past skills to battle a Dresden that was way over his league.

The battle between the two was leaning more in favor towards the Dresden. A fatal slam of its tail hit him by the side, leaving behind an ugly bruised arm, covering his slightly injuried side. The Red Crystal that was healing his wounds weren’t enough to completely heal everything, and his wounds opened up again.

Tyler reeled back in pain. He gritted his teeth and fell onto one knee. Pushing through the pain, he summoned more of his magical energy into the surrounding area. Vines and bushes rustled, coming to life.

He willed the vines to wrap around the Dresden body like a mummy. Each time the Dresden attempt to break free, three more appeared from to take its place. The Dresden fought hard, but eventually it couldn't do anything any more. Its movement hindered from the amount of vines covering it’s body, instead it felled over onto its side unable to do but stare through the small opening that the vines provided.

Tyler was completely exhausted. The amount of magical energy poured into his magic was completely exhausted. He never thought that the magical drain would be five times worse than losing out on his stamina. With tired gait, Tyler wobbled over towards the Dresden. He shakily picked up his foot and placed it on its body triumphantly.

“I-I did it.” Tyler called out in tired breath, just barely in an audible voice. “I did it!” He shouted in ecstasy and gasped for air.

While Tyler was fighting the Dresden, Jasper was running in circles with the two that he had snapping at his heels. He ran towards two trees that were closely together. He hopped over a fallen tree, and threw himself through the tight opening of the three. He had to roughly shimmy his way through without getting stuck.

One of the Dresden that was closely following behind him, followed pursuit, getting caught in-between the tree unable to escape. The second, avoided the collision and went around the stucked Dresden. Jasper had to scramble away quickly back on his feet not to get mauled alive by the Dresden teeth.

“Rose now!” Jasper shouted.

Rose, who was watching from afar, had made it up on a tree. Jasper had seen Rose up in the tree in the last minute, allowing him to change his strategy. She jumped down onto its back, riding it like a bucking bull.

“Son-of-a-” Rose words were cut short, and she had to wrap herself around its neck. Her hands burst into fire. The fires started to eat up through the scales like a burning hot coal. A shrill erupted from the Dresden’s mouth, and the smell of burnt meat drifted in the air.

Rose crinkled her nose and pour more energy into her hands. The fire became bigger and more chaotic as it rage all over the Dresden. It thrashed and fell forward, bulking Rose off its back with it. She rolled on the ground, until her back hit her tree. With a groan, she shakily got up with heavy hands.

“Damn bastard!” Rose seethed in annoyed. “Throwing me off like that!” Angrily, she stomped her foot into the ground with twigs in her hair. She then ran up towards the Dresden and stood next to the Dresden with a snarling expression. She then threw flaming pinecones one after another. “Die! Die! Die! Die!”

She manically laughed. Burst of fire sparked off from the ground, enlarging into a bonfire. The Dresden screeched and floundered around, trying to get rid of the fire covering its whole body. Still, the fire continued to grow until it consumed the Dresden completely. Eventually, keeping the flames raging had cost Rose a hefty amount of magic, causing her to collapse onto the the floor exhausted.

Jasper who saw what happened felt a bit uncomfortable around Rose. His eyes twitched at her action and felt that she could possibly become dangerous later if her personality wasn’t kept in check. He then ran back towards the stuck Dresden, and noticed that a bit of tree trunk was being chipped away from its movement and claws.

“Where do you think you are going?” Jasper rushed towards the Dresden that was pulling out its neck. His fist came flying from the side and knocked the Dresden hard, causing it to momentarily stun from the jolting impact. He didn’t stop there, and continually pounded into the Dresden’s head.

Jasper fist were crackling with electricity, each hit sent a shock that made the Dresden’s spaze. His hits were deadly and precise. Every time the Dresden tried to move, its body would lock up as if it was stunned by a taser.

With his fist pulled back, an enormous amount of electricity sparked giving off a firecracker like sound. His hands dove into the side of the Dresden’s face. The force caused the tree to crack, and bend forward into an odd angle. The Dresden’s head exploded, leaving behind trails of black blood and brain pieces splattering across his young face.

With a frown, he wiped away his bloodied hand and face. Not even a second later, he to felt completely exhausted like Rose and Tyler. He stumbled forward, bringing up his hand to catch himself before he fall. With a grunt, he slide down onto the ground exhausted.

Silver swiveled around a couple of trees, throughout this whole time, she saw majority of her team mates fights. She was highly pleased at how fast they were growing. Even though she was being chased by two Dresden’s she didn’t feel as threatened as before and knew that she could easily deal with them.

“Not bad.” Silver grinned. Then she looked towards the other three that was still huddled together, watching everything transpire. Silver knew that they couldn’t handle such a tough monsters in the first place, and didn’t expect much from them.

All of a sudden, one of the Dresden’s did an unexpected sharp turn. It snapped its jaws to close for comfort and almost got her arm bitten off. Annoyed that she almost lost her arm, she swung her sword in an arch. The Dresden dodged out of harm’s way. Dark energy poured out from her sword as she summoned her magic, giving it a ghastly look made out of mist. Swirl of cold air picked up around the sword. The cold air did not affect her as much as it affected the Dresden and the plants surrounding her.

Ice crystals started to form around the plants as it iced over, leaving behind a white thin film. While the Dresden started to move a bit sluggishly from the cold, giving her the edge. Her sword glowed dangerously black as it was filled with power. Silver moved her sword in one fluid arc through the Dresden’s neck. It sliced without much problems as the dark energy effortlessly cut the scales as its head flew off. With a thump the body fell forward dead with blood spurting outwards like a fountain.

Startled by the unexpected fall, the second Dresden backed off, knowing full well that the opponent before it wasn’t someone that it could take. Turning around, it ran the opposite direction away from Silver.

Silver gripped her sword and raised it above her head. Her hand pulled back, and her muscles tightened, giving her an unexpected boost in power. She then threw her sword like a javelin straight into the Dresden, who was running away.

A streak of black energy trailed behind the sword, leaving a ghostly after image. With a thud, the sword embedded itself into the tree with a crystal heart. A trail of black blood was left behind. The Dresden wavered and fell over dead with a gaping hole. Suddenly, black flame-like energy swarmed around the body. It didn’t take long for the black energy to dissipate.

Even the tree burst into black flames, causing the green leaves to wither and die. The dead tree leaves fluttered to the ground, leaving behind an empty husk.  Silver felt a little bad at the sight of the tree that did nothing except to exist and provide air.

Still, the flames continued to flash outwards. Everywhere the flames touched, it left behind a frozen landscape. Finally, after a few more minutes, the black flames finally disappeared into nothingness, leaving behind an iced crystallized plants.

Silver was shocked at her increase in power. She didn’t expect such a huge burst of magical power that could cause things to freeze over so quickly. A sudden wave of nausea and exhaustion hit her all at once, while needle like pain pelted her all over her body. Her mental energy was exhausted and even her physical body was giving her a lot more trouble than she thought. She didn’t realize that combining two different elements would take so much energy from her to the point where she was weak on her knees. With great difficulties, her hand raised up to her wrist and took out the emergency crystals.

Her hands shook, making consuming difficult. A couple of times she missed entrely and ended up partially in her nose. Finally, she was able to eat it, in which case she felt like the fight with her hand was more difficult battle than the Dresden themselves. A flush of energy sweep through her body relieving some of the stress of fatigue and pain.

She pulled out her dagger and made her way towards the first fallen Dresden. The dismantling took a bit more time than she expected. Even though the battle was not fierce, the energy depletion was enormous. She now knew the extent of combination magic cost her magic, it drained her five times more faster than physical activities. Even still, the problem in the future requires her to use more and more magic and she knew she needed a better grasp on her magic control.

With not too much energy, she summoned her dark magic around her dagger, allowing her to cut through the thick scale. Even though she ate a red crystal, it wasn’t even enough to give her a third of her stamina. The mental fatigue was catching up to her quickly, she had to force herself to concentrate or she would have used more magic than she had planned.

Her hands slipped, causing her dagger to cut an ugly diagonal. She gave out a strained groan at the waste of a good portion of the scaled skin. Finally, she found the crystal that she was looking for and ate the crystal in one gulp. Energy that she desperately needed finally gave her enough to be at least a third full.

Silver was now able to move a little bit more faster, but not to the point of her usual normal self. With her first dismantling done, storing it away, she move towards the second. She didn’t eat the second stone and stored it away like. It had become an essential habit of storing a few crystals behind for emergency use like today.

With her second dismantling of the Dresden over, she got up towards her sword. With both hands gripped firmly on her hilt, one leg on the tree, she pulled. With a splintering sound the sword was let loose.

Her hand reached over and pulled off the bloodied crystal heart. She placed both sword and the heart away into her storage space. A wave of self satisfaction of hunting down three of Dresden made her lip curl up into a smile. The harvest was decent, but she knew she needed more.

Silver walked over towards Jasper. Jasper was finishing up his dismantling of the Dresden with a tired expression, but his eyes were sparkling with pure joy of overcoming a tough opponent without anyone’s help. When he heard the snap of branches from the side, he look over Silver with a silly grin plastered on his face.

“You seem quite happy.” Silver couldn’t but smile back.

“I am.” Jasper proudly replied. “I didn’t know magic would be this useful. I’m glad that you have given it to me.. Really, thanks a lot.” He gratefully replied, “Though, you could’ve sold it to others you know.”

Silver waved her hands, shaking her head. “Don’t sweat it. It would’ve have been a while before I could’ve sold it anyways. Instead of sitting in the storage, giving it someone who needs it is better, especially for my little brother.”

“Huh?” Jasper thought he heard wrong as he tilted his cute head. “Brother?”

“Yep.” Silver replied, reassuring he didn’t hear wrong.

“I’m not so sure if I should be jumping for joy or wallowing in despair…” Jasper voice was trailing off in defeat.

Silver was searching around for the others. “You say something?”

Jasper shook his head no and let out a defeated sigh.

“It seems both Tyler and Rose did well.”

“Yea….about her. I think we should be a little careful around her. At the rate she is growing, I’m sure she’s going to be a pyromaniac.”

“That would be a bit much...” Silver frowned. “But it should be fine.”

“You sure?” Jasper asked questioningly.

Silver gaze rested on Rose. She could see that Rose was crying out in tears of happiness next to the Dresden. She even raised up the crystal heart and kissed it in pure joy. “Yea, she’ll be alright.”

“If you say so.” Jasper shrugged his shoulder. His legs wobbled from getting up, until he was finally able to stand.

Silver couldn’t help but chuckle at Jasper. He looked like a newborn lamb that was trying to get on his two feet.

“It’s not funny.” Jasper words seeped out in between his teeth peeved.

“What? I thought it was just cute.”

“Cute is not something you should be carelessly throwing around to a man.”

“Where?” Silver joking stated with a hint of mischief in her eyes. She found it funny that Jasper got bent out of shape when she teased him about his height.

“Where else? Here!” Jasper stomped peeved. He was not liking how she only saw him as some kind of child.

“Eventually.” Silver walked over and then tussled his hair.

“Hey!” Jasper waved his hands above his head, trying to get her to stop.

Silver separated before Jasper hand could knock her hands away. She went towards Tyler who was stomping at the squirming Dresden.

“Die damn it!” Tyler kicked, he stubbed his toe. With a loud yell of pain, he hopped around, holding onto his toe in pain while throwing a few curse words.

“Seems you’re having a bit of trouble.” Jasper came forward, holding back a laugh. Seeing a buff man like Tyler, jumping around like a rabbit, was funny to watch. Even Silver broke out into a grin.

“Don’t laugh at my misfortune! Help me kill this damn monster!” Tyler placed his foot down in anger. He walked over back towards the Dresden wanting desperately to kick the crap out of it, but he stopped himself back.

“Use your magic.” Silver voiced her opinion.

“And do what? Choke it to death? I tried okay.” Tyler was frowning at Silver’s words.

“She meant find a different way to bypass the Dresden’s hide.” Jasper sighed, shaking his head. “There are more than one way to skin a Dresden’s plated skin.”

“That would be?”

“Aren’t you an earth magic user?!” Jasper cried out in outburst. ”Just reinforce your dagger three times stronger than the Dresden’s scales!”

“Ah.”

Jasper sighed.

“I was just in the moment, okay? This is my first time using magic, in which case I have every right be a noob.” Tyler flat out spoke. “It’s been a day, and i’m not a genius like Silver over there who could magically wave it around like its nothing.” He grunted. Closing his eyes, he kneeled to the ground and stabbed it into the Earth.

What happened next made amazed Silver. The speed of Tyler’s control was extraordinary fast, better her or Jasper. He pulled out black substances from the ground and coating it. The dagger glowed red with heat and smoke. To Silver, it look like some form of liquid that hardened into place.

The black substances started to rapidly cool. A very thin piece of crystal clear substances  formed changing into a clear-looking glass. When the sun hitted the crystal glass, a sparkling radiance shone forth.

“I-is that?” Jasper gasped in a dumbfounded expression.

Tyler eyebrows were knitted as sweat plastered his face. His skin was starting to ashen, he feet wavered falling to his knees exhausted. Before him was a very thin layer of diamond that coated the blade.

“I c-c-an’t believe I w-w-was able to summon up more magic.” Tyler grunted, lying on his back. “It took more….out of me than expected.”

Silver’s mouth twitched a bit amazed at how Tyler used his magic. She had heard about the diamond coating before, but never thought to see one done in right in front of her. Even willing up the natural carbon from 10,000 miles underground was truly an extraordinary feat.

Tyler couldn’t raise his fingers to grasp the dagger’s hilt. Silver walked over, reached down  towards Tyler’s creation. She gracefully picked it up and walked over to the squirming Dresden.

The dagger sparkled with brilliance, causing anyone to stare to shield their eyes. Even Silver had to squint to not get caught up by its light.

Silver got on her knees and took a hold of the Dresden’s head. She placed a good force of her body weight of the squirming Dresden, and with the dagger, she dragged it across the Dresden’s throat without any resistance. The fluidity of the dagger was amazing, making her wish she had one as well for a a split moment. Black blood splattered outwards and the Dresden died quickly.

“It’s quite useful.” Silver examined the blade and couldn’t help but feel like she was holding onto a billion dollar weapon. “I pity you.”

“W-why?” Tyler barely got up.

“You’re going to be hunted down for your diamond dagger even though it’ll become useless later on.”

“What are you saying? Diamonds are the hardest substances in the world!”

“If you say so. That’s Earth Logic. So far, we fought against increasingly difficult monsters. Do you think this will stop something of an colossal level?” Silver twirled the dagger in her hands and slammed it into the Dresden body. It easily cut through the body like butter. Her hands meticulous cut through the hide, she fished out the crystal heart and the crystal. Throwing both of them over towards Tyler, he fumbled and caught it.

Tyler and Jasper gulped when they heard Silver mention something even stronger.

“Colossal level? Y-you really think so?”

“Yes.”

Both of them were dumbfounded by her answer. Even though they didn’t wanted to believe such an existence, all they could do was remember the past two days that had went by. Magic was possible and strange demonic looking beast were popping out like unwanted weeds. The chance of there being a colossal size monster wasn’t impossit.

Silver handed the dagger over, placing it next to Tyler’s tired body. Tyler ate the crystal in hand and grabbed the hilt of the dagger. He brought it up into the sunlight.

“I should just call this Excalibur.” Tyler chuckled. “It’s like the legends where the brilliance of the blade would stun the world, making it impossible to behold.”

“Uh, no. Excalibur is a blade. Yours is a dagger. Compare to those two, there is a huge difference.”

“What, you don’t think I’ll try to make it into a blade?”

“Didn’t you listen to Silver? It’s not going to be useful later on.”

“Who said I’m only going to be using diamonds to reinforce it?” Tyler was staring at the dagger in hand with excitement.

“You have something else in mind?”

“Just watch, you’ll all be amazed at my craftsmanship.” Tyler had a twinkle in his eyes that was hard to refute him.

Rose came up with heavy breathe. She was drenched in sweat.

“Here comes our primadonna.” Tyler excitement was shot down when he saw Rose coming up towards them still alive.

Rose just brushed off his words and leaned on a tree for support. She didn’t say anything else, but stood their tired.

“Cat got your tongue?” Tyler asked as he rested his dagger on his lap. Rose noticed the dagger in his hands and stare at it with interest. He stored his dagger away when he caught Rose’s eyeing at his dagger with interest.

“Not at all.” Rose voice was a bit strained, almost as if she was out of breath.

“Wow, this is the first.” Tyler gave her a hint of smile, stating that he was glad that she didn’t speak anymore than she already did.

A moment later, the group of survivors came up towards them with an astonished face. They all examined the four people with reverence, awe, and excitement.

“Is this how strong you guys really are?” Salphie asked excitedly, glancing towards everyone as if they were some kind of heroes. She was especially staring at Silver as if she was an idol.

“Something like that.” Jasper was embarrassed at their stares. “If you want to get stronger you have to challenge yourself.”

“I see.” Ren spoke softly. He was amazed at the strength of the four, especially Jasper and Silver.

“Next time, I suggest you to take part in the fight to gain some battle experience.”

“How are you so sure?” Ronald asked. “Isn’t this all there is too it? We got until the end of the week, until we have to go through another one of those crazy game. This is just a subjugation request.”

Jasper shook his head. “Our last quest was a lot harder than this one. We believe there are different scenarios for different games. We won the last mini-game with half the forces that entered. This subjugation request is the same level, but a bit lower. Luckily, there no weird obstacles for this game. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised if the chance of coming out of this place alive is less than fifty percent.”

Alarmed, all three was shocked when they heard Jasper’s word.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Ronald asked flabbergasted.

Jasper shook his head. “It’s the truth.”

“I-”

“Just accept it.” Rose huffed, getting tired of their disbelief. “You saw what we can do. We weren’t all not like this in the beginning. We were all like you guys who had nothing but our daggers to survive. This game is going to put your through hell, and it’s best that you learn now before it’s too late.”

“This is a bit too much.” Ronald was trying his best to soak in everything as best as he could.

“What have you guys even been doing these past few days? Didn’t any of you got any Angel coins?”

Ronald was ashamed when Jasper asked. He sighed. “We stayed outside near the inn. None of us did a single subjugation request until now. We didn’t expect anything else to happen and didn’t think much of these so called subjugation request. We heard about someone bringing in large amount of items to trade in for Angel coins, so we did think about going to to do some ourselves. Following after that, we heard that people were dieing, doing the request. There are  people out there trading the Angel Coins for other activities....”

Silence was followed.

“What activity?” Jasper asked.

“He means prostitution.” Tyler bluntly stated. “Though, I have to wonder how they are able to go behind the Angels. Do they even do anything about it?”

Ronald shook his head. “The ‘Safe’ Zone is inside the inn and its their jurisdiction, but outside they’re no law stating that you can’t trade the Angel coins.”

Jasper, Tyler, and Rose was appalled that this was even possible. On the other hand, Silver knew this was going to happen.

“This is quite unexpected.” Jasper couldn’t help but feel a bit upset. “The currency that has the most value is the Angel Coins. Wait, who exactly did you hear this from?”

Ronald eye wandered to the side where Ren was standing.

Ren scowled when Jasper’s eyes landed on him. “What? There is nothing wrong with sex little boy. You should try it once. You're missing out a huge part in life.”

“I didn’t say anything like that.” Jasper cheeks twitched. “I respect my body, thank you very much. I would save it for someone I love.” He spoke proudly.

“You sound like a little girl” Ren shrugged his shoulder.

“Please, don’t think bad of my brother.” Salphie spoke out with sadness. “He only did it so we can buy a tent. I told him not to in the beginning.” She was ashamed that such topic was even brought up and her face brighten red. Her head casted down onto the ground without even looking up once.

“With your money now, you can even buy the most beautiful women to sleep with you as many times in one night. Three Angel Coins the base price and the extra is up to the person.” Ren spoke.

Jasper cheeks turned warm when he heard such transaction. “Look,  Let’s just get off this topic.”

“Little boy is turning bright red. Pathetic. If you ask me, if I had that kind of money, I’ll be enjoying every day with a women in my arms.” Ren smacked his lips. His gaze fixed on Rose’s body.

Rose smirked and winked back at him.

“This just sounds way to weird. The thought of Angel’s coins used for such purpose. What would they think if they knew it was being used in such a way.” Tyler had a funny expression.

“They already know.” Ren spoke with uncaring tone. “And they don’t care what we do with it.”

“Enough Ren.” Ronald cut into the conversation. “What are we going to do next?”

Silver thought over his question, but she could already feel the heaviness of sleep that was invading into her body. “Rest.” She spoke out and glanced around. Everyone was tired and fatigued, especially Silver’s group who had just battled and use magic.

“Where though?”

“Just follow.” Silver spoke and people started to follow. They eventually made it towards the large hill that she saw a good distance away from where they were. Eventually, they arrived and begun to set up their tent.