“Glad to hear it,” Rainbow said with a smile, “we should-” but before he could finish his thought, the green thing was interrupted by the sight of something flying towards them. It was Flower and he was carrying the central crystal! It was smaller than Caleb expected. The gull then flew up and dropped the brown gem, breaking it in the process.

“…well, that makes things easier,” Rainbow stated matter-of-factly, “let’s get out of here.” “Yeah,” Caleb agreed. As they both understood it, the crystal was the only thing that kept the spiders awake, so now they would just sleep and starve to death. As the two were talking, Flower flew to Caleb’s sword, grabbed it, and flew to the boy. Dropping the sword, the bird perched itself on Caleb’s shoulder.

The kid smiled, happy to have his blade back, and petted Flower. “Thank you,” Caleb said with a smile, picking up his sword as he walked out of the chamber with Ribbon and Rainbow.

After a little bit of silence as the group walked through the jungle, Rainbow asked “soooo...kid, there’s something I’ve meant to ask you this whole time. Why exactly are you out in the middle of the ocean by yourself?”

“Well, my village is very sick. A ton of people came down with a disease and I can’t let them die, so I left to find a cure.”

Rainbow recoiled, apparently afraid of catching the sickness. “Oh relax,” Caleb lightly chided, “if I had it, my eyes would be solid black and I’d be in no condition to do much. Anyway, our kingdom’s doctors are busy healing soldiers from the front lines, so they just quarantined Eagletown and hoped for the best. The Elder Eagle said not to go, but I had to. I’m not letting them die!” This last part, he loudly declared with determination that startled his green companion.

Rainbow took a moment to take that in, thinking. Then he finally responded with “I’ve been alive many years and have never heard of that. Really, do you even know where you’re going?”

“Not really,” Caleb sheepishly responded, “I just figured I’d find someone out west who would know what to do.”

“Ugh, why am I not surprised,” Rainbow replied with scorn. But he reflected, adding “but this does give me an idea. I never met the guy, but the crew mentioned having a skeleton doctor back home that they’d go to when they were sick. The Captain said he was the best in the city, and I’d trust him with my life. I need to go back there anyway to give Ribbon back to John’s wife, so maybe if we go to Thorn City this doctor can get you your cure?”

“Skeleton?” Caleb asked with a tone of concern.

“Yeah, he’s undead,” Rainbow said, “but don’t worry, kid, the Captain said that Roger’s one of the nicest guys he’s ever met.”

Caleb considered it as they walked. A plan was better than no plan, Ribbon did need to go home, plus Rainbow had saved his life. And if this didn’t work, there were probably other people there who could help him. “Sounds like a plan!” Caleb said with a smile.

Rainbow smiled back at the boy. “Great! Well, here’s our ride,” the green thing stated as they walked up to a wooden sloop. This boat had enough room for a dozen dwarfs plus their god. Thankfully, it was small enough to be piloted by a boy and his green friend, and the process of getting it into the ocean was surprisingly easy. They had built the thing on logs on top of a hill, so with some pushing the boat was in the ocean. What was even more pleasant was that the ship had plenty of supplies; food, water, tools, and even maps that weren’t used for impromptu ship repairs. This part of the trip would hopefully be more comfortable than the last one was.