The Smell of Right, and Wrong - Chapter 5
The edge of the forest was close, Etta and Paul had no choice currently, other than to keep running. The clearing around the base of the giant tree was odd, but the forest was otherworldly.
The Purple Lady Struck Hard.
From near the base of the tree where they had just left, fleeing from the Purple Lady all the way through the field of boulders, then up to the edge of the forest must have been a mile. But it was the slowest mile, that Paul had ever run. The fact that he ran at all is quite a feat in itself, especially when you consider the fact that Paul was just on the ground with some of his ribs shattered and poking through the skin, not even 5 minutes before. Now that they made it about ten paces into the treeline, they ducked behind a tree. Paul had to organize the cluster of crap they were carrying.
He handed Etta the Short sword, and told her to watch behind them using the mirror on the hilt. He took the blanket from the picnic basket, and cut a few 2 inch wide shreds from it that were a few feet long each, then he began cutting off parts of the binoculars case. Etta was even more perplexed when she saw him tear the thin plastic lid from the picnic basket. Watching Paul's process was fascinating, but she missed pieces of it watching the clearing for any purple blurs zipping around, or any other signs of the violet haired violent lady. Luckily they appeared to be safe for the moment. Before Etta realized he finished Paul said “hand me the blade.”
When Etta looked away from the mirror she saw that he fashioned a sling type pouch for the little bit of remaining food from the blanket. He also made a sheath for the sword from the binoculars case, the remainder of the blanket and pieces of the picnic basket. He had the binoculars around his neck from their strap, the hand made sling over his shoulder, and the sheath hanging from his hip. Etta smiled at him and said “give me the food pouch, it doesn't match your shoes” Paul looked at her confused for a second, she said “You look silly and awkward with all of it. Let me carry this.” Paul handed her the bag. Then he scanned the area ahead. He pointed off ahead of them, and a bit to the left into the forest, “We have to go this way, the Oaken throne is in a clearing at the edge of a lake, but first we will pass the woods of many streams, and a misty marsh.”
“Your the captain” Etta replied, and Paul led the way. The woods were thick with many different types, and sizes of unfamiliar trees. There was very little ground foliage though, so it was fairly easy for them to walk through. It had the normal smells that most forests do, of rich undisturbed earth, along with an assortment of plants. But this one also had some strange scents. They weren't constant like the other normal forest smells though, as they were walking Paul was getting on and off whiffs of something far different. It almost reminded him of a wet dog with an additional mustiness to it. They had not traveled 150 yards, when they were already stepping through a small stream. The water was ice cold, but luckily it was only about ankle deep. “These are the streams that I saw in my near death dream, we are heading the right way.” When Paul looked back, Etta was still just standing there on the other bank. She was looking past Paul into the sparsly wooded area behind him. The look on her face instantly let Paul know that something was wrong. He unsheathed the small blade, and began scanning the area behind him with the mirror. He didn't see anything suspicious, so kept the blade out, but flipped it over more like he was wielding a weapon. Then he urged Etta to cross, and to follow him quickly. Once she crossed, Paul looked around for the clearest path. He spotted a game trail, or path of some type that was clear, he looked at Etta and said “RUN” !
She didn't know why, but Paul said RUN, and he began a to do just that, in a limping sprint. With the blade out in front of him, and the binoculars now bouncing at his back, Etta instinctively just followed him. They were running straight into the area, where she just saw two beings of some type creeping around in the shadows. She was scared, and had the feeling they were about to be fighting with some strange creatures. To her surprise, they jogged through that spot, and kept their pace. They continued on like that until they had jumped over the next few small streams. Paul stopped when they got to a much bigger one. Etta was right there behind him, standing on the bank, both of them just looking at how swiftly the water was flowing.
Time to think.
Paul picked up a rock from the shore, and tossed it out into the middle of the rapidly flowing stream. He wanted to gauge the depth, but the water wasn’t clear enough, and it didn't tell him much. He looked around for a stick, he needed one about 5 feet long to use for checking the depth. Him and Etta had just begun searching the remote area, when Paul spotted something that made his stomach flip. It was a set of footprints, that did not exactly look like normal animal prints. These looked very similar to human footprints, but were also different. They had claws from the looks of it, and also appeared to walk heavily on the front of their foot. He was inspecting the clearest print, when Etta walked up and startled him. “Found one,” is the only thing she said, but Paul jumped when she did. The footprints, and Etta’s voice wasn't the only thing to shock him. When he finally turned to look at her, and the stick, he noticed something odd. Apparently, Etta also noticed the same exact oddity, exactly when Paul did. They stood there staring at each other for what seemed like a year, but in reality couldn't have been more than 15 seconds. “What happened?” Etta asked, knowing that Paul was asking himself the same question, it was really more of a statement, than an actual question. “Somehow we're just old now?” Paul flipped the blade over, and backed the mirrored pommel up so that he could see his whole face. “What the Fuck!” Paul just handed it over to Etta, she checked herself out, and she had visibly aged by about 10 years. Paul had grabbed the stick from Etta, and he was wading into the water poking the bottom in front of him. The current wasn't as strong as it looked, but it was strong enough that if he wasn't careful, and fell down it would definitely wash him a few yards downstream before he could get back on his feet. He backed out onto the shoreline, and told Etta to follow him again. He told her, that he thought it was the area they were in that was aging them. She handed him the blade, and they stepped into the stream. She didn't even question Paul’s hypothesis.
When they reached the other bank, they both just naturally looked back behind them. This time they both saw something there that was creeping away deeper back into the woods. Whatever it was, had been no more than 20 yards behind the bank, just lingering inside the treeline watching them. When they had turned to look back, it had just started to run off. “The footprints I saw wer…” Paul didn't even finish the sentence, he just started sniffing the air mid word. When he turned to Etta and said we have to go, now! She didn't question that either. She knew something was stalking them, and whatever it was, it wasn't the purple lady. When they started to jog into the trees, they kept their eyes on their surroundings tis time, and not so much just on the path ahead of them. It wasn't long before they came to an area where they were heading down a mild sloped terrain. They could see into the valley, and knew that they had reached the second part that Paul mentioned. The mist on the valley floor ahead was obvious. They slowed a bit as they got down to the edge of it. They looked back up the hill behind them, and they didn't see anything following them this time. Paul wasn't limping, or showing any sign of being critically injured an hour or two ago. But now they both had a few seconds to stop, and assess themselves, and their surroundings again. Paul made eye contact with Etta, and he just pulled the mirror out, and showed it to her.
The Stream of Time, and the Marsh of Memories.
Etta knew by just looking at Paul, before she even looked at her own face, that they had aged another 5 years. They were both in there mid to late 20’s now, probably around 28 by her estimate. She simply could not believe what she was seeing. Or really just process it for that matter, believing it was kind of irrelevant at this point. She had tiny crows feet at the corner of her eyes, and frown lines between her brows. This is just crazy Paul, this morning I was a freshman, now I'm my damn moms age. Somehow either half a lifetime, or just a few hours ago, I was looking at bones sticking through your skin. Then I actually felt you healing, all while being chased by some unknown thing or things, and a bipolar purple bitch. I almost don't even want to know what's going to happen next. Me neither, Paul responded instantly. He added that he needed to pee, and there were no good places. “Hold on a minute, a guy in the woods can't find a place to pee?” Etta actually began laughing at that.
Paul seemed frustrated, no Etta it's not like that. I'm afraid I'll turn my back to pee, for just a second and something is just gonna jump out snatch you, and run off. She stopped giggling. Damn, I'm sorry Paul, given what's happened I can understand that. How about this, I'll keep talking so you can hear me while you walk off and find a tree. He handed her the small sword, and just nodded. Do you know any good songs? He asked her only half jokingly. She began singing the Bob Dylan song, “The times they are a changin.” Paul walked over toward a large stone on the lake shore, he looked down at it, then back at Etta who was singing, and watching his process in fascination. It wouldn't work, he felt like he was being watched from the other side of the river. He needed a different spot, so he walked over toward 4 small trees at the edge of the misty marsh. This would work. He looked back again, just to make sure his back was turned to Etta and he wasn't flashing her. She was still singing, but he could hear her giggle at his meticulous “Quest” to drain his bladder. She regained her lyrical prowess after a second or so. She noticed that Paul had started draining, she could see his stream splashing down at the base of the trees between his feet. While he was reaching the point of maximum flow, he started to say something. Etta paused the song, and said “Huh, what was that?” He started to answer her, by repeating himself. “You have an amazing singing vvvv…..” Paul did not even get to complete his word, mid speech he looked down at his stream, and the task at hand, and then He just fell over backwards. Etta was in shock for at least 3 seconds. She didn't think it was, but her mind questioned if it was a joke. Then she realized quickly it wasn't a joke, when she noticed that Paul still had one hand on his drain pipe, and it hadn't stopped. He passed right out while he was pissing, and it was still shooting straight up and raining back down all over him. “Paul! Hey Paul, please wake up!”
She was had to go check on him, but with as modest as he is, she didn't want to embarrass or upset him. He wasn't responding, what the fuck? What on earth would have caused him to black out? Etta was checking the treeline, she wanted to make sure he didn't get shot with a tranquilizer dart or some crazy shit. When she was a few feet away, she spotted the likely cause. He had a swollen and wiggling leech attached to the base of his pecker, it was kind of on the side of it, right where the base of it met his body. “What the Fuck!” Etta shouted up at the sky. She wasn't exactly having a fun adventure right now, but this was really not Paul's best day. His stream of pee was still going, but had slowed to a trickle. When some of it hit the leech, it started twitching, and spasming. The pee had to be hurting it. He was still out cold, she had to do something fast. She grabbed the wrist of the hand that he still had gripped on his fire hose, and helped him aim it. The last few drops hit the leach directly, and it tried to wiggle its back end into his zipper hole to hide, while still holding its bite on his shaft. Right as he was running out of pee. She grabbed his pants and unbuttoned them, then she yanked them down to about mid thigh, fully exposing the leech again. She grabbed the leech and pulled it a bit, but it was locked on pretty hard, and it was slimy and foamy from the pee. It reminded her of a salted slug the way it was foaming up. She really didn't want to hurt Paul, but she had to get this blood sucker off of his root. If he woke up and saw it again, she had no doubt that he would just black right out again. So, she got a good grip on it and tugged the fat leech once. She saw when she did, that this thing wasn't gonna let go, it was attached to a main vein in his root. She had to pee on it, and luckily for her he was still out cold. She quickly got her pants off of one leg, so they were around one ankle. Then she squatted over him, and tried to get a view of what she was aiming at. Ready, aim, and fire.. her piss hit the leech and it immediately began flopping an twitching. She grabbed it and held it in her stream of pee, and it let go of Paul. She quickly flung it back into the water.
She felt like she won a small victory, as she watched it flip through the air and splash down in the water. She was staring toward the river with a smile on her face, while she was squatting there and finished peeing. “Take that you little shit!” She said as she reached down to put her fingertip on the wound from the leech, just like the last time he was hurt, she could feel every little fiber of his flesh as it was closing back up. Etta realized about only about 3 seconds too late, that she was still squatting there naked from the waist down, and so was Paul. When she heard “Ummm, why what did I do to you?” Paul had woken up. “No silly, not you, just the slimy little thing that I tore off of you and threw in the water.” Paul's Eyes got huge, and he picked his hand up towards his face, she could see him trying to focus his eyes on it. He saw the blood and his eyes shot back down towards his man parts. Etta was just stumbling backwards, and trying to cover herself, as Paul was realizing that he still had his penis attached, and he remembered the leech.
You really need to work on your phrasing Etta. You scared the shit out of me again, right after I had the shit scared out of me by the damned leech. Fair enough, but you mister, need to work on your thank yous, she replied. You are right, that was just awkward for both of us. I'm sorry you had to see that, but thank you for helping me. She shrugged, your welcome. I mean, think about it, I hope you would pee on me if it really needed to happen. Plus, that is not exactly how I planned on, or pictured you seeing me naked for the first time. Etta reached her hand out to help stand him up. I'm sure that's true, Paul replied, and he continued, we need to keep moving. It's not much further. They both gathered up their stuff, and began heading into the misty marsh. They were only a few yards in when Paul suddenly stopped. Etta began looking around, to see what alerted him and caused him to halt. But she didn't see anything. “What is it Paul?” She leaned in and whispered into his ear. He turned his face just a bit toward hers, putting their eyes only inches apart. With a shocked look on his face, he leaned in and whispered into her ear. “You planned on me seeing you naked.” Etta had goosebumps all over from his warm breath on her ear and neck, and from the realization of what she had just blurted out. She turned and kissed him, and not on the cheek. This was a real kiss, with what seemed like lifetimes of anticipation and waiting behind it. Paul was shocked, he saw the fireworks and got got lightheaded when it first happened. He didn't expect it. He quickly felt her style of kissing, and it just felt right to him so he went with it. His first real kiss was happening, and he wasn't screwing it up. This was going way better than he ever imagined, it was just happening in a bad place, and at a bad time. Or was it?
When Etta finished and backed up, she didn't want to give him a chance to ruin the moment. So she just grabbed Paul by the hand and said, come on, we have lifetimes to discuss this. Right now we have to reach the Oaken throne. Paul was almost certain that he was stupidly in love, not like it all happened just that fast. But, in small a way it did. What he was feeling right now was different though. Like entire lifetimes really had been shared between them. They had a lot of talking to do, as soon as they really could just stop for a minute. He couldn't wait to get to the Oaken Throne, and he really wasn't even quite sure what would happen once they got there. But whatever it was, it certainly had to be better than them constantly running. They got to a place where they were on the edge of a pretty big bog. They couldn't see exactly how far the muddy ground stretched, because there was a wall of fog running across it. Paul grabbed another stick to check the depth, and began poking his way across. It was only about knee deep so far. They got into the thick fog, and they couldn't see much further than each other. Stay close, Etta said, I don't want to lose you in this fog Paul. He just laughed, I planned on staying close to you from now on Etta, he said serioysly. She giggled, but didn't say anything. She just grabbed his hand, and followed him through the thick, and stinky muck. They had not been slogging through it for too long, when Paul felt like they were getting close to the other side. As they continued going, the mud felt like it was getting shallower and shallower, the further they went. It was, and pretty soon they were stepping up onto a bank that sloped upward and out of the marsh. When they got up to the top of it and walked around a bit, they realized it was a raised island. It was not a very small one either, there was actually a few dozen big oak trees on it. There were those, along with some other plants and stuff they didn't recognize. The oaks gave Paul a feeling being at home, almost comforting him in a way. He seemed to hurry more as they headed into the mist at the far end.
We have to go check this whole little island out. This may be a good place for us to stop, even if it's only for a few minutes. Paul quickly but cautiously made his way into the thickest fog at the end of the island. Once they got into the thick of it, they began to realize where the fog was actually coming from. This island had a hot spring on it, and the pool that it was feeding was crystal clear, and warm like a hot tub. The fog was actually the thick steam rising up from the pool. Etta looked down at her muddy shoes and legs. Then she looked back up at Paul. Are we stopping here for a minute. He just dropped their supplies at the rocky edge to the spring. She smirked, and said “yay,” as she leaned down and started taking her shoes off. I want this mud off of me for a minute. Sound good to me Paul said, and he sat at the edge, and began taking off his shoes also.
We're all Adults here.
Etta looked at him with the most serious look on her face. “I haven't had a proper hot bath since I was a teenager, and I'm nearly 30 now.” Paul laughed, I can't argue with that. He set his shoes down at his side, and dipped his feet in. The water seemed hot without being too hot, so he just slid right in. The mud instantly began floating off of his legs and out of the pockets of his pants. When he looked up to see if he needed to help Etta get down into the water, he saw that she was doing a bit more preparing than him. Her clothes were on the ground at her feet already, her shirt, underwear, and pants, and she was in the process of taking off the last piece. This was something he had never seen done in person. She had slipped the shoulder straps of her bra down and they were hanging under her arms. Then she grabbed the main strap under the cups, and she spun it around so that the hook from the back was in the front. Then she grabbed the hooks and popped it open. There had been so much pressure, that the bra flew a few feet behind her, and she sighed with relief. Paul was dumbfounded. Or perhaps hypnotized was the better term. In that moment, he had a flood of memories, and he remembered seeing her undress for the first time, over and over, but it was all moments from multiple different lifetimes. “My wife, who's beauty still shocks me after a thousand years.” She stepped down into the water, and he stood at the edge to take her hand. As he did he noticed the lines that dug into her skin from how tight her bra was. She looked him in the eyes, and started to speak. What he had said cought him off guard, he had no idea where it came from. Then Etta surprised him even more when she spoke.
“My husband, who's modesty knows no bounds.” She said as she pointed at his shirt and pants. Why are you still wearing these in the bath. He tried to come up with something clever, but her breasts had rendered him incapable. He just shrugged his shoulders. He was at a loss, and he had to do something. His mind started racing. He got it, he just smiled at her and stepped closer. He put his hands on the wet smooth skin at her hips and he ran them up her sides, slowly. Passing his palms up her ribs and almost stopping when he got up to the sides of her heavy breast. But his hands did not stop there, he kept sliding them up until his grip was in her arm pits, and he gently picked her up. Sitting her down gently up on the edge of the smooth stone bank, right in front of him. His estimation was correct, and her legs were going to be right at face level when he was done. He scooted her a bit closer to him, and right up to the edge. Then he picked up his arms, signaling for her to pull his shirt off over his head. As she did, he knelt down, and his shirt slid off, now his face was right where he wanted it to be. They spent the next few hours learning about each other. Paul found two freckles symmetrically placed on either side of what would be her bikini line to be fascinating. He called them his focus points.
They were rounding the corner from playing into more serious notions. She climbed down in the water with him, and reached down into the water, fully grabbing him. He had never been so aroused, the whole experience had him blown away, and his head was spinning. She was getting rough, she slapped him in the face and said “come on Paul.” He was wrapped up in the moment, when she tugged hard on his manhood. Then she slapped him in the face again. “Paul” dammit come on. *Slap! Take it easy Etta, I'm right here. He was admiring her full breasts bouncing as she half straddled him, when his face stung hard from another slap. Hard enough that he saw stars, and shook his head.
He was trying to focus his eyes on Etta, but she was moving around over him too rapidly, and his head was hurting. . “Why did you hit me.” She looks down, and says oh your finally awake, great there is a huge leech stuck in your dick, and you passed out. He realized slowly that he was still laying there flat on his back, right where he had passed out. “Oh shit!” was the only intelligent thing Paul said when he first looked down and saw the leech again. Then some mumbling about fake focus points. The he said “You have to help me Etta, pee on it to get it to let go.” He pulled on the leech, but it was really attached, and when he did, a bit of blood seeped from its bite, he saw the blood and passed out again.
Back to Reality.
“Fucking great.” At least he gave her permission to help, Etta was willing help him, but she was afraid she was going to hurt him. Penises were not exactly something that she had a lot of experience with. She grabbed him and the leech, and pulled them in opposite directions, it didn't let go, and it looked painful. She was about to slap him awake again, when she thought about what he just said, “pee on it.” Maybe it wasn't psycho babbel. Leeches were like slugs and snails right, and pee had both salt and ammonia in it. She dropped her pants and kicked them off one leg, she squatted over him trying to keep an eye on her target. As soon as her pee started to hit the leech it started to spasm and wiggle around, and in doing so it was yanking his penis all around. She had to pin Paul's dick down while she tried to aim better. She lined it up again, and squirted, now her pee was hitting it directly again. It clearly hurt the leech, but it ran right off of it. So she grabbed the leech in her hand and held it right in her stream of pee, it pooled up in her hand and it finally let go. She quickly threw it into the river. “Take that you little shit!” She smiled as it flipped through the air, and splashed down in the water. It was a small victory. She scooted back a waddling step, and finished peeing. While she was, she looked back down at Paul, and noticed the bite wound from the leech was bleeding pretty heavily. She put the tip of her finger on the wound, and almost instantly she could feel every piece of fiber and tissue healing. Then about 3 seconds too late, she realized that she was naked from the waist down, and still squatted over him. “Was it all a dream, or wasn't it?” Paul, looked down and he made eye contact with Etta, as he said it. Then his eyes shifted down and saw all of her, just out in the open. “Holy shit the freckles are real.” When Paul said that, she was confused, but at almost the same time, the reality of her nakedness occurred to her. She turned several shades of red, and jumped up trying to cover herself. “That is NOT how I pictured you seeing me naked for the first time.” Paul laughed “Not my idea of a first date either, but I still appear intact, and for that I truly thank you.” He held his tongue on to the other memory, the good memory, and slid his pants back up. She walked over to help him get up, after she re-fastened the buttons on her pants.
She stood over him with her hand out. Paul reached up and gladly took the help. She got him on his feet, and saw the wound in his head from where he fell. “Come here” she told him. She put her hand on the back of his head, and a second later, heard him sigh in relief. Perfect, my headache is already going away. She whispered in his ear, “You could say thank you.” He hugged her, Thank you Etta, thank you a thousand times, for a thousand reasons. Then he just had to whisper in her ear. “You just said that you pictured me seeing you naked.” Her whole body went rigid, what in the hell did she have to blurt that out for. She let go of his head, and started to blush again, then like normal she pretended it didn't happen. It's okay Etta, you are beautiful when you blush. She tried to shrug it off, and change the subject, “Let's go wize guy.” She grabbed his hand and started walking, they moved forward. Until they came to the Edge of the muddy bog…. Paul's heart started racing.
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