RONNI turn the map around again, this time upside down. The blue lines seem to mock my efforts, remaining prickly, little puzzles. I still can't place where a village might be, or the waterways, for a quick drink of water at least, or a hand in the right direction. 'Fuck you!' I toss it down the path with a snarl, and Sirgil gives me a look of disapproval. 'Right. You don't give a hoot anyway'. I take a look at the road behind us. Taking the main road might have been a bad idea, as it's just one straight, unstopping stretch of hard sand and gridstones. Now and then, I'd see mirages in the distance, perhaps owing to the heat; at sometime past noon, the sun had taken a brutal turn for worse. A positive prelude to rain. I'd feared the possibility, but that was a long while ago. Now I spot the lining of dark clouds in the horizon, I'm definitely uneasy.Something brushes past and sits next to me quietly. He growls once, swishing his tail against me. 'Of course I'm sad, we're in the midd
RONNHe slowly lowers the crossbow when I finish talking, but that hard glint does not leave his eyes. Grey, like stone, like clouds before it rains. Like mine. 'Say you ain't one of them freaks, eh?' he asks in a funny, clipped accent. I can only guess where he's from, and it's not this far south. 'No, sir, I am not,' I reply with as much honesty as I can muster. He grunts. 'Well, I suppose there's room for one more,' he says, 'But I ain't going as far as the city. Gotta drop stuff off at Patrain. Still got a little way ahead, but then, these beasts are the best I seen'. He reaches down and pats them fondly. Great black geldings that seem to listen or respond to his touch only. I've never liked horses, and these ones are no exception. They snort or sway their great heads whenever they cross eyes with Sirgil. I turn back to their master as he speaks. 'Come along, master Rolenn. I reckon them clouds'll be upon us in a mo, and there's only so much we can cover in a few minutes'. I gri
GYLENIt patters down slowly at first. Drop by drop, until it increases to a steady beat, hitting down hard without remorse or stopping. It doesn’t usually rain this hard, this early in the fall. Maybe a bad omen.As the thunder rumbles, I recall something someone had once told me all those years ago. Something about thunder indicating the wrath of the gods. Well, if anyone should be furious, it should be us, their supposed creation who are always at the receiving end.I wrap the blanket around myself more tightly, as the wind threatens to rip it off my shoulders. I’m as safe as I can be here, in the hollow of the diwan tree, in the thick of the forest, but not from the howling gale that threatens to rip off the trees. For the nth time, I send a shiver down my body, turning out the cold and shaking off the waters.As a wolven, its relatively easy to turn out our fur, as insulation against the cold. Even so, we would be required to curl up properly….or wind up in a tree hollow, like me
SAELYNAIt's not exactly a village. Neither is it a hamlet. It certainly doesn't look like one. We climbed the slope when we found the pines, just when the first drops of rain came down on us. Sure enough, there were tendrils of smoke in the distance, and that's where we headed, while Dell insisted one keeping Elwyn in front.He was right. Sort of. It turned out to be a camp. And not just any camp.Outside the tent where we now eat, thunder utters its last threats as the rain reduces to nothing more than soft patters. Ryon hands me another piece of bread with a soft smile that I can't help returning. He looks to be an elder, I think, well into his mid-forties. His hair is a dark shade of blue that catches the light from the fireflies that hang above us, on every inch of the tent's roof. He has deep set blue eyes that are welcoming at most, above a straight nose and a small mouth, all placed in the middle of a perfectly round face. It's hard to feel uncomfortable around him.He had wel
CAIVANAnother bar. Since Gilford, I've not been especially keen to step into one. But we have very little option; not when we've been turned away thrice.The hamlet is a certainly quiet one. And the few folks we've seen seem very cautious, so I can only assume they've had their share of the creatures that now plague the south.The bar is even quieter. Perhaps because it had rained, or something had happened before the rain. Either way, the place is dark, and the only people inside are a cloaked person in the corner and the bartender.Of the three of us, I'm the one who's gotten the worse sting of the rain, given that Daena and Camille conveniently had coats suited for the purpose. Lian and Ima could handle the cold. Not me, I couldn't risk transforming for insulation. Couldn't risk transforming at all.The bartender throws a glance at us, but it's Ima she really sees. She frowns when she says, 'No animals in here'. Camille raises her brows in something similar to despair. 'But she's
CYRANThe air he exudes is quite contagious. I can tell it's gotten to Saelyna, but I don't think I like him. I want to. He has a natural coolness to him, his deliberate footsteps makes it look like he could literally flutter away any moment he so chooses.His words flash through my head again. "Your bond….allows you channel, not just your thoughts or magic, but your feelings; unknowingly or otherwise". I take a glance at Sawlyna. That must be it. I'm channeling her feelings, and not mine.Aren't I?Presently, a couple of children looking to be in their tweens take away the plates, and replace them with two large bowls of fruits. I sniff at the smell of ripe wixars and pelavias, but I don't make a move.Ryon, giving me an amused glance, takes a bite of fruit from each bowl, and then gestures for us to follow. Dell snatches a particularly large wixar, and bites into its green back. 'Eat, Cyran. You are at home with the Children of Miela,' Ryon invites in that soft tone.The others take
He’s standing right in front of me, with a murderous glint in his eyes, staring straight at me. It is the sort that possesses wolvens after a kill, the “curse” that manifests itself as bloodlust under the full moon. He snarls once, and in that moment; that sight of his claws dripping blood of his last victim, the fur that falls from his body in half-transformation, his fangs bared in a grim smile; in that flash of time, I see myself. I see a wolven brother.Then he’s there all of a sudden, a ravener, snow white fur flashing like lightning, claws digging into Allos’ chest, spurting blood in my way of sight…I jerk awake to the sharp sound of slapping ropes that stab at my ears without mercy. I wince, wondering why the hell it sounds so painful, until I realize that I can also hear the clip and clips of the horses' hooves like they are next to my ears, the sound of Sirgil's breathing, and my own tbh ping heart, I see through the woods clear as day. That only happens when I switch those
SAELYNASigrid is the girl's name, though she doesn't exactly introduce herself. I found out when Ryon asked her to show us to our accommodations. Her face was blank when she led us away, each of us as reluctant as the other to leave. 'Fear not, my friends. You are safe here,' Ryon had said. He looked like something out of one of the books about the Seven, like Aranon on the edge of the world, watching over his flock. 'Rest up. We'll talk in the morning.'Presently, Sigrid leads us back through the camp, with that dark air of silence wrapping itself around her being. Up close, I notice the long lashes that lies hooded over dark brown or hazel eyes; I can tell when with the glow of lights around us.I'm distracted when someone bumps into me. A child, about six years of age, with long blue hair and eyes that sparkle much like Ryon's. He grins up at me, with the same charm that makes me smile as well, then he bolts away, laughing wholeheartedly as another child gives chase.Something cat