Elyar awoke thinking he was going to die. His head was splitting open and rain was pounding all around him. On further inspection he realized his head was not actually being wrent in two. It only felt like it was. He opened his eyes and saw a strange scene. Sitting up while holding his head as it betrayed him, he looked around to see the full scope of things. He sat in a chared circle. The grass around him was completely dead. It was not burned or trampled, but it looked pushed back by a great force.
He smacked his lips noticing how dry they were. Luckily it was raining. Tilting his head back, though not enough to worsen his headache, Elyar opened his mouth to drink in some of the falling water.
Dark storm clouds slowly rolled over the grassy field. Every once in a while a flash of lightning and roll of thunder interupted the peaceful drizzle sound cascading all around him. After one particular loud thunderclap Elyar realized that no one knew where he was. They are going to be furious!
Standing up as quickly as possible, Elyar started slowly walking back toward the camp. Dealing with his world spinning a little and due to the weather change, he was not actually sure which way camp was. He stopped to study the landscape as best he could. After a few minutes he thought he had figured it out. Can’t stand here all day anyway. With that, he started walking. Luckily he had not gone that far. After about ten minutes of walking he stumbled onto where their camp had been. The fire was still smoldering which meant they had not been gone that long. He bag was gone as well. I owe Jereme the biggest apology.
From there he knew which way to go. By now his head was not hurting as bad so he decided to try jogging to catch up with them. The first ten minutes or so went by pretty fast. He was in good shape so running was not a problem. His fatigue, which he figured was from whatever he had done the night before, on the other hand was a problem. He was already tired so running was zapping what little strength he had. He made it another ten minutes before he had to stop running to walk for a bit.
The rain was still pouring making the path slippery. He had already nearly fallen twice and he did not really want to add mud to his soaking wet ensamble.
Walking was easier, but he felt like he would never catch up. Where did they go? They couldn’t have left that long ago. The early morning, at least he was hoping it was still early morning, went by slowly. Eventually the rain let off only lightly drizzling. By noon, again if he had the right time of day, the rain stopped completely. As the silence took its place he could slightly hear someone yelling. He hoped it was someone calling for him, and not someone trying to trick a solo traveler. Either way he started jogging again. Please, Theos, let this be my group. I am in no shape to fight off some murderers.
He heard the yelling getting louder. Not quite able to make it out yet he increased his speed. Then it became clearer. Someone was yelling his name. Multiple people, actually.
“Elyar!”
“Eeeeeeelyar!”
“Elyaaaaaar!”
He waited until he was a bit closer before shouting back, “Here! I am here!” He rounded a small hill and there they were. All spread out shouting for him. He was so happy to see them, but also felt guilty for running off, annoyed at himself for getting worked up over nothing. But all the internal confusion disapeared when he saw Jereme see him. The man raced at him at full speed. Elyar was not sure if he was about to get punched or hugged. He hoped for the later but prepared for the former. Jereme was on top of him. Bracing himself for impact Elyar flinched a little while closing his eyes.
They collided, but Elyar was not assaulted. At least not in a bad way. Jereme bear hugged him lifting him nearly a foot off the ground. Not expecting such a ferocious display of platonic affection Elyar let out a short yell.
“Put me down! Your going to break a rib!”
Quickly setting him down Jereme back up a pace. “I thought you were dead. When we noticed you weren’t at the fire I thought you had
gone to bed early. Especially after our…argument la…”
“I am sorry about that.” Elyar interrupted. “I don’t know why I reacted like that. You were trying to help. I was being a jerk.” He absentmin dedly moved his hand over his torso checking for any bruising.
“Emotions can run high after a fight like at the tower. We are good.” Both smiled though Elyar felt his was a bit forced. By then the others had gotten to them. Ruzur embraced Elyar almost the same way Jereme did. Though he added a nauseating spin to his bear hug. Frem mearly shook Elyar’s hand and nodded. Declan just dipped his head. That made
Elyar really smile. He knew it was a lot for the giant.
He explained what had happened, leaving out some crucial bits like his argument with Jereme and his sword exploding, saying that he had gotten overwhelmed and needed some space. He thought he had laid his head down for a second when he woke up because of the rain. He told them how he had been trailing them since he found the camp earlier that morning. That drew a laugh from the group. Elyar was relieved that no one was angry with him for dissapearing.
Now that he was back with the group they were able to continue their trek. Nyx and Isabel gave slight smiles toward Elyar. He could tell they were starting to warm up to everyone, but he knew it would take more time. He did not know what they had gone through. Sanders, on the other hand, walked up to Elyar and clapped him on the shoulder.
“I’m glade you didn’t run off. I was just starting to like you.” Sander’s said before walking in stride with Elyar.
Surprised by the man’s statement Elyar walked in silence for a bit
before responding. “I see you are better then?”
“Better…but not well. Our talk the other night actually helped. I can feel my memories are there. Cloudy and just out of reach, but it is a comfort knowing that I am slowly retrieving them. That comfort is because of you. So thank you.”
His statement made Elyar smile. He was happy to help the poor man. Jereme and Ruzur started walking close behind the two as everyone pushed through the tall grass. They all started talking about their lives before the journey. Ruzur told a story about a hunt for a strange animal Elyar had never heard of. Ruzur called it a sphynx. He said it had the head of a human and the body of a lion. Catching it alive meant the hunter could be granted a riddle about their future. Killing one gave them a chance to harvest its blood. Ruzur mentioned that there were people who would pay a pretty penny for sphynx blood. He lowered his head when he confessed they never found it.
By the end of his story the sun, which had broken through the clouds, was starting its decent down. Jereme picked up the story from Ruzur. He told another wild story about wooing a fair maiden. Like all of his stories, he was unsuccessful. But Elyar always got a kick out of them. Sanders was riveted by both stories. It was near stopping time when they looked at Elyar to tell one last story. His mind went blank.
“I don’t think I have any stories to compete with those last two.”
“Of course you do. You are the son of a lord. I’m sure you have some thing funny or exciting to tell.” Jereme responded.
Elyar thought about it for a minute more. “Jereme might know this one, he was probably in the crowd, but let me tell you about my triad.” Jereme nodded his head confirming his presence.
“Aye, I was there, but I was not close enough to see anything.”
“Good. Than it should be knew to everyone. You can be the judge if it matches your stories.”
With that he launched into his story. First he explained quickly what the triad was. He figured Sanders definitely did not know what it was. He also was not sure about Ruzur and he did not want to be rude. As he talked he could tell his audience was enraptured. He told them about his obstecle course where he was nearly killed multiple times. He told of the suspense while carving the runes on his sword. Jereme particularly liked the action scene when he dueled the dummy at the end of his first trial. But he kept most of his night in the temple to himself. He told enough to make them think he explained the whole night. But he was not ready to reveal the entire truth yet. Not yet.
By the end of his story they were ready to camp. Everything went up like normal. Now that the three former prisoners had been in the group long enough they were starting to pitch in. Isabel proved herself in firewood collecting. She and Elyar were gone nearly the same amount of time, but when he was walking up to place his bundle down, he saw that hers was twice the size of his. His eyes bulged a little as she cracked a tiny smile.
The group started becoming chatty again as well. Frem began the nightly firelight stories with one about Havol. It was about them hunting a boar that was terrorizing a local village. Havol got himself into a pretty bad situation and his solution was to jump on the back of the pig. Besides the short moment where Frem had to stop to prevent himself from tearing up, it was a pretty funny story. Other stories were told, but pretty soon Elyar had to call it quits. Laughing that he had not slept well the night before, which made everyone else chuckle pretty hard, he excu sed himself from the group.
He was awoken for third watch which went by fast and uneventful. The rest of the day felt like repeat of the day before. The sun rose upon a partly cloudy grassland. They broke camp and started walking. Stories were told, laughs given, and then the sun set. By the end of the day they were near the forest by the foot of the mountains. Somewhere in those woods Elyar hoped Tem would appear. He had said he would, but Elyar was not sure if the man would actually.
Another night, another dawn broke. They entered the forest and like before, walked most of the day. Before the forest started rising with the mountain they began hearing a thumping sound. They stopped to listen to it better. At first they thought it might be e-horses, but the beat was to rhythmic. Elyar desided to walk a little up the path to see if anything changed. Rounded a corner he saw the source of the sound. There, sitting on a flat rock, was Tem beating on a hollow log with some type of top. Elyar was stunned. The man looked like some wild thing moving his body back and forth while his hands flew around the makeshift instrument.
Elyar moved back in view of the party and waved them over before walking back toward Tem. The closer he got the more comical the scene became. Eventually Elyar noticed that Tem was shirtless. On top of that, he was covered in some type of body paint, at least Elyar hoped it was paint, and his eyes were closed.
Eventually he was right in front of the man. But the man was consumed by his song. One by one everyone else appeared next to Elyar. No one spoke. They were to engrossed in the scene. Tem’s beats intensified as Elyar hoped he was reaching the end. Without any warning Tem’s hands froze. He opened his eyes, blinked a few times, and then shouted a little louder than their distance needed, “Back eh? Tok ye lon enuf! Did ye git de man?”
He hoped off his stump where he had left his bag. Picking it up he flung it on his shoulders before noticing the three new members. “Ho de be?”
Elyar chuckled as Frem replied, “they were prisoners of the Soul
Weaver. We did not kill him, but we were able to free them.”
“Well, can’t git dem all, can we?” Tem replied while starting to walk up the path. Elyar realized that was it. No question about anything else. Crazy man. Shaking his head he fell in line as the group moved to follow the crazy man. Elyar still hoped to find a moment to ask Tem about his trance. But now was definitely not the time.
If Elyar thought walking before was slow, he was very wrong. Between Tem walking to fast and disappearing and the group walking excruciatingly slow, Elyar was not sure which was going to annoy him more. He tried not getting frustrated with the new three. They were doing the best they could. But they had to stop often to catch their breath. And when they were walking, they walked so slow!
Instead of covering miles like they normally did, Elyar felt like they were covering inches. They were not even halfway up the first mountain when they had to break for the night. At this rate it would take over a week for them to reach the village. It would be another five or six days walk back to Val. It would take a miracle for them to reach Val before two weeks were over.
Sighing, he watched Sanders, Isabel, and Nyx work. His frustration disappeared into sympathy. They were doing the best they could. He co uld not get mad at that. At least he should not get made at that.
The night went by like the night before. The dawned broke with brilliant colors. Elyar was beginning to love mornings in the mountains. They were cooling than those in the plains before and he liked seeing the mist swirl around them. The colors caused by the sun were also breathtaking.
After the third day in the mountains everything was beginning to blur. He could tell Isabel, Sanders, and Nyx were getting stronger day by day. Happily that meant they were moving a little faster each day as well. But they were still moving agonizingly slow.
By day five they were beginning their way down the mountain. Now that he had seen both sides, Elyar could tell the southern side was more lush. He figured it rained more on this side. But they were still moving slow. Day six came and passed. Day seven as well. They had now been walking longer than Elyar hoped. But he knew they were almost out. Frem was beginning to look more enthusiastic than he had been the last few days. Elyar figured their speed had been putting Frem in a funk. He knew the man liked his schedules.
“We should be at the village by this afternoon, thank Theos!” Frem declared the eighth morning.
“yeah!” Jereme yelled a little more enthusiastically than Elyar liked that early in the morning.
“Let’s try to keep the enthusiasm at the appropriate decible please. My ears are still waking up.” Elyar grumbled sitting by the morning fire.
Jereme rose from his seat before bowing very low, “yes, mi Lord. I shall not damage your wittle ears.” He yelped a little as the rock Elyar tossed at him smacked his back between his shoulder blades. Jumping up from his bow, Jereme danced away so Elyar could not hit him again.
Soon they were on the road again. Their steps were light as were their spirits. Everyone was happy to be near civilization again. As the climbed over the last peak looking out over the valley below Elyar saw smoke from chimneys. It was a welcoming scene. He was not sure which he was more excited about: being around the hustle and bustle of village life, or sleeping under a roof again. Both sounded delectable. He knew they were to far away to hear anything but the scene was quieter than he expected.
Slowly, they meandured down the last mountain. The sun was already climbing down the sky by the time they reached the end of the pass. They pushed the bush away the blocked the path through the mountains.
Walking through back into Korax Elyar was met with a scene he was not expecting.
Tem’s house was burnt down. There was nothing left of it but broken ruble. Tem was the first to pass through the bush, so when Elyar reached him, he found the man standing silent. Elyar could not tell if he was shocked, angry, or depressed. He only stood there staring at his home.
Or at least the shell of what used to be his home.
Placing his hand on Tem’s shoulder, Elyar said, “I am so sorry Tem.” He did not know what else to say. He could not find words that sounded appropriate for the moment.
“It be fin lit’ laddy. Tem be responsible wil met the sharp end of me nif.” Tem said with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Elyar took a step back. Tem had always been gleeful and a little insane. But a silly insane. That insanity looked like it had turned cold and hard. Elyar had no doubt that Tem could accomplish his threat. But the question remained: who had done it. Also if this house had been hit, was the village also destroyed?
“The village…” Elyar whispered before darting down the last of the mountain.
“Oh no.” Jereme responded as he raced after Elyar. He could hear the rest pick up their pace as well. Dashing down the mountain did not take long. Soon he was within range of seeing his destination. He did not see more smoke than he expected. But that could mean the village had stopped burning.
He reached the first buildings, but they were fine. No signs of damage or attacks. Slowing his pace to a walk he pulled out his sword just in case. His shield was on his back, but he did not want to get it out. His eyes darted back and forth as he kept up his defense. Every building he passed look fine. Why was Tem’s house destroyed while the village is fine?
That is strange.
A short horn blew to Elyar’s right. He snapped in that direction bracing himself for what may come. Approaching him quickly were ten mounted soldiers. he did not know who they were, but he recognized the armor. They were men from Val. The Century is here! His heart leapt a little knowing they had reinforcements. Jereme appeared beside Elyar first with Ruzur right behind him. Soon after Frem walked past right as the soldiers reached them. One man jumped down from his e-steed, handed the reins to another soldier, and approached Frem.
“Frem, we thought you were dead! It is good to see you, friend!” The man shouted while removing his steel helmet. The hair on the plum fell over the man’s arm. He was a fair looking man with a small amount of facial hair. His choppy blond hair looked a mess after taking off the helm.
“Hutner! We are so glad to see you! Where were you all? What happened here?” Frem asked embracing the man. The rest of the soldiers seemed to relax seeing Frem. He was known by most of the Century so his presence assured the men that Elyar and the rest were friendly.
“There is much to tell. come with us. You can speak with Captain Dunnon. He is in the mayor’s house.” Hutner said gesturing for Frem and the group to follow. Pointing at the rest of the men, Hutner shouted, “go tell the captain who is here! He will want to get things ready!” They all placed a flat hand over their heart before turning their mounts around and racing off.
Hutner and Frem took a few steps back before Frem turned around, “someone needs to go tell Declan and the others it is safe. Tem disapea-
red after you all raced off. May Theos give him speed.”
Jereme raised a hand responding, “I’ll go.” Racing off he left Ruzur and Elyar to follow Frem and Hutner.
“Can you at least tell us what took you all so long?” Frem asked as they started walking toward the center of the village. Elyar remembered it was not a big village. Maybe a few dozen houses made of timber.
“I can tell you some. The rest will have to come from the captain.”
Hutner cleared his throat before continuing. “After you all left we continued along the same path. The first three days were uneventful. Then things turned bad. First a storm swept in forcing us to slow our march. It battered us from every direction. The road became muddy and nearly untravellable. So many men fell in the mud it would have been funny if not for the frustration and anger at the elements. The wind made the rain like arrows to the eyes. Then, at the peak of the storm, we were attacked.”