Trek For Survival

Vonn stood with difficulty, and Gia rushed to his side. Everyone turned to look at her, and she stood there, hesitating before telling him she wanted to go with him, but didn"t want to leave her family.

"Go ahead, Gia," said Carla.

"Where"s she going?" asked Mikey, looking up from the mushroom soup Gia had made for them to eat.

"She"s going to make sure Vonn doesn"t get lost," said Tom with a hint of a smile.

"But Vonn shouldn"t get lost with Truffle leading him around," said Mikey in confusion.

"Vonn"s hurt, dear. She"s going to make sure he can make it to the healer," said Carla, winking at Gia.

Gia took Vonn"s arm and they rushed from the shed before Mikey could ask another question.

"Mr. Moral is in the black shroom house," said Truffle, pointing down the road at a mushroom house that was leaning to one side. "I"m going to meet Oyster over by the well."

He gave them a smile, then rushed off to meet the young girl who was peeking at them from the town well. Vonn looked at Gia with a smile on his face.

"Remember when we met?" he asked softly, placing his hand on top of hers.
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"I tend to recall you were a small dirty boy, who couldn"t reach the rope for the water bucket," she said with a laugh.

"I guess that fits me pretty well," he chuckled, ducking his head, then wincing as it pulled on his muscles.

"Why do you ask?" she asked, pulling him along, where he had stopped. The dark mushroom house was just ahead.

"Gia, when we find a place to settle down, would you… would you marry me?" he asked, turning and taking both her hands.

Gia stood rooted to the ground. They were stuck in an underground mushroom village, on their way to a dwarven kingdom. She didn"t even know when they would be able to stop this crazy adventure.

"Vonn, my dad"s blind, my little brother is still a child, and my mother"s legs, while on the mend, are still not good enough for her to take care of them all by herself. I want to marry you… but I can"t leave them either."

He smiled and said, "What if I built a house big enough for all of us?"

"You would live with my parents?" she asked in a hushed voice. "Really?"

"Why not? I will probably still be a wood cutter, where ever we end up, and I would hate for you to be alone all day. They would be able to get along just fine, with you there. As long as our bedroom is far away from theirs."

Gia"s face blushed fiercely red. "Vonn! I can"t believe you would joke about that!"

"It"s true, though. If I get to design the house, would you marry me?"

She looked into his eyes and saw their future together.

"When we find a safe place, I promise!" she whispered, too overcome to say it any louder.

He laughed and grabbed her up in a huge hug. She gasped in surprise, and worry. This probably hurt his shoulders terribly! As she struggled, he set her down and locked his lips onto hers. She froze, too stunned to pull away.

He pulled away with a laugh, and finished pulling her the short distance to the house. When he knocked, Gia was able to pull herself together enough to stand on her own, and to stop leaning on him so much.

"Yes?" asked a very short mushroom man. His reddish-brown cap was so large, it dragged on the floor behind him.

"I was told…" began Vonn, but the mushroom man cleared his throat so loudly, it cut him off.

"I know who you are. You"re the human that"s been hurt in the king"s forest. Come in, come in. I"ll see if I have any more ointment made up."

Vonn glanced at her, before ducking into the small door. Gia hunched down, to see him sit on a tiny stool, while the mushroom, Mr. Moral, puttered around with some small vials on a shelf. There wasn"t room for her to join him inside the house.

"I hear your shoulders hurt?" asked the diminutive man.

"Yes, do I need to take off my shirt?" asked Vonn, his fingers going to his shirt b.u.t.tons.

"That would be best. This stuff doesn"t do too well if it"s not on the skin," chuckled Mr. Morel.

Gia flushed and turned away, spying Truffle by the town well, talking to the cute little mushroom girl. She didn"t want to see him without his shirt, especially after his comment about their bedroom being on the other side of the house from her parents. Looking around for anything to distract her, she spotted Fungee entering the town, with the parts of their broken cart. That girl was nothing but trouble!

Fungee dropped the parts next to another house, and knocked on the door, speaking to the mushroom that answered. Gia crossed her arms angrily, determined to glare at her, for all she was worth, but just then, Vonn let out a soft moan that took her breath away.

Glancing back in the door, before she could help herself, Vonn was having some green slime rubbed onto his shoulders. His muscled chest and abs took her breath away for a completely different reason. As he winced and let out another groan, she straightened up too fast, and b.u.mped her head on the door frame.

"Everything alright?" asked Fungee, raising an eyebrow as Gia turned around, rubbing her head.

"I"m Fine!" she growled, trying to make it clear the mushroom-infested girl wasn"t welcome.

"Is that Vonn? He must be hurt pretty bad to be willing to see Mr. Morel! The guys known for his poison"s just as much as he"s known for his cures. He"s getting to be pretty old! I hope he doesn"t get them mixed up! Good luck!" sang Fungee as she all but skipped away.

Gia scrunched her brow in worry. Fungee was just trying to cause trouble, but she couldn"t help but glance back into the room. After all, with the amulets they were wearing, she couldn"t imagine how Fungee would treat her normally. Vonn was almost laying on the floor, he was leaning forward so much, and his face had a look on it that made her blush even harder, backing up so fast, she fell on her b.u.t.t.

Behind her, she could hear giggling. Standing up, she glanced back to see who was laughing at her, but instead of someone laughing at her, she only saw the young mushroom couple.

"Oh, Truffle! Of course, I"ll go with you to the Sporing!" exclaimed Oyster, giving him a quick peck on the cheek and rushing away, turning as red as an amanita mushroom. Truffle grinned from ear to ear, and turned her way, not even noticing that she was brushing dirt off her backside.

"We need to leave tomorrow, if that"s okay!" he said, glancing in the room where Mr. Moral was finishing up with Vonn. "I have to hurry and get you guys out of the forest, so I can take Oyster to the Sporing!"

"The Sporing!" laughed Mr. Moral. "Are you sure her father is alright with that?"

"He is! He gave his blessing already. We"re going to be wed and have tons of babies!"

Mr. Moral laughed again, and handed Vonn his shirt, off of the ground. "You should be just fine by tomorrow. In fact, you should be better than new. It will make crossing the Mushroom Fumigating Steppes easier."

"The what?" asked Vonn, pulling his shirt on and nodding to himself in appreciation.

"We just call them the Steppes," said Truffle, scratching his nose. "They"re a section of the path, where the mushrooms grow down in creva.s.ses, and provide flat spots for us to travel across. It"s probably a good thing you don"t have the cart anymore, because it would be really hard to pull it across them."

"But, my dad"s blind! How will we guide him across them?" Gia asked, worried all over again.

"Don"t worry, Gia," said Vonn softly. "I"ll help your dad across. I told you I would help, didn"t I?"

Seeing some of the green ointment seeping through his shirt, Gia turned to Mr. Moral. "Will that green stuff stain his shirt, or cause any problems?"

"It might stain, but it should all be soaked up by tomorrow. If any lingers, don"t touch it. His body will absorb it as it"s needed to heal him. It has a little extra something in it, to make it extra potent, but it shouldn"t cause him any harm."

The little mushroom man went to shut his door, then paused to say something else, then shook his head and finished shutting it. Gia was less than rea.s.sured.

"Let"s get back to your parents, and get some rest. We still have a couple days before we"re out of the mushroom forest. I don"t know about you, but I"m ready to have the open sky and the sun above my head again."

She nodded and turned back to the storage house, hesitant to take his offered hand. When he glanced at her, she hurried to take it. She was just being silly, after all.