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
CAIVANSomething smells great. It's something cooking, yes, but I've not smelt one like it in a long while, one strong enough to waken me from sleep.I swing my legs over the side of the bed, and sigh with relief when the crack of stiff muscles and bones reaches my ear. I sit up sharply, my ears picking up different sounds at once. Fire is burning with loud crackles, steel clashes on steel, men yell in shock and rage and fury…I slip on a shirt at hand and open the door as quietly as I can. The sounds come more clearly now, making me cringe in embarrassment.The strum of strings, banging on wood, laughter and cheers. The bar must have been filled up, as it is night outside and the rain has stopped falling. I just didn't expect them this much, given the tidings they must have heard, and the dark reception they had given us.I pause on my way down the stairs, and (very reluctantly) knock on the door next to mine. Camille opens up almost immediately, her green eyes shiny with must be exp
SAELYNAI can't sleep. I never hoped for it anyway, but it had taken me away without warning immediately I had touched the soft cot laid out for me. Then came the dreams, stabbing leaks of Cyran's consciousness coupled with mine that keep waking me up.The last one had been about Quain. He stood on the knoll, behind our cottage overlooking the village, staring down at me. And he was dead. I knew from the glazed look in his white eyes, and the blood that stained his jaw. But he's still there, like a statue, I'm moving. And then the spear flew in, it struck through his chest like he was no more than a rag doll. He dropped to the ground with an echoing thud, far from my reach, too far. 'You let this happen,' he said, blood dripping down his mouth, staining his clothes and the shaft, 'You let me die. You both did.'I take deep breaths of air as the dream replace in my head. It doesn't do much Quain still stares at me in the darkness of the tent, he's all around me, he's reaching for me wi