-.- Mood of the day? Bleh.
Magical Mage: Yes, the choker is visible. ^-^ I'm just a dumbass and am continually forgetting to mention it whenever I describe him.
TopVideoGamer: Whoo, let's see how my memory works today. Okay, he got the Thunder Spirit from Haschel, the Darkness after defeating a cultist, the blue-sea from Meru (sorta), the gold from a cultist, the red-eye from another cultist, and I think that's about it.
Dart's POV:
The last traces of sunlight had finally fled the western sky, leaving it to settle deeper into the night. A shroud of the deepest black velvet, pinned up into the heavens by the moon and stars, only slightly marred by the lurid red stain of the firelight from the burning homes in the nameless village below. Fire ate at the thatched rooftops and dry wooden walls, filling the air with smoke and drifting sparks and ash. What precious little glass had been in a few of the windows shattered and were immediately replaced by gouts of flame, licking at the already blazing sides of the house as it fed off of oxygen hungrily. The familiar scene tickled something in the shadows of my mind, but I suppressed it firmly before the memories could start to drift to the surface. I'd seen too many homes burned in the past, and too often by fault of my own. Shaking my head, I turned away as the front porch of the nearest house collapsed and a cloud of ash billowed out over the square. The past was just that, whether it would catch up with me or not. At the moment I had slightly more pressing matters to deal with anyway.
Although they had backed off a few paces, Zion and our new arrival were still eyeing each other like a pair of strange wolves over a piece of meat. The girl gripped the knotted end of the burlap sack she had been dragging about, hefting it without taking her eyes off of Zion as though considering belting him over the head with whatever remained in the bag. On the other hand, Zion, his bastard sword lying on the damp earth near the well, the blade stained dark with Urobolus blood, was armed only with the bit of damp rag he had been treating his leg with. Hardly threatening for the girl, but if they started fighting again I'd probably never be able to get them to stop.
//Careful// Ark said wryly //She might decide to use that sack on you instead of him//
/I hope not/ I grumbled back, but I was careful to keep out of her range as I stepped between them. Her eyebrows rose and her fingers twitched on the bag, but she remained motionless otherwise. The blue-sea spirit, which she clutched in her other hand, seemed to be forgotten for the moment. Although with the way it was flaring, sending narrow beams of brilliant aqua light streaming between her fingers, I found that rather difficult to believe.
"Would you mind putting that sack down?" I asked mildly, running my thumb over the short stubble covering my chin. "Beating someone into the ground isn't exactly considered good form, even if you did just meet them. And stop smirking Zion. You're acting every bit as childish as the lady is."
Zion gave me an insulted look and muttered something under his breath, but his expression was relieved as he turned away to retrieve his sword. Personally, I didn't blame him. Facing off against an angry beast was one thing- an angry woman was something entirely different.
For her part, the woman spat on the ground at my feet before saying "Call me 'lady' again and I'll kick your ass. My name's Kaelin and I'm a thief, not some prissed-up courtress." She added, just a touch sullenly. She did, however, set the sack back down with a small clink. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Ry. And over there-" I nodded in Zion's direction as he plucked up his sword "-his name is Zion."
Across the square the burning houses shuddered as a muffled explosion rocked the foundations of the middle building, causing the rapidly disappearing roof to collapse inward with a groan, sending a fountain of sparks spiraling upwards into the dark sky. For some reason the image of exploding kegs of ale suddenly sprung to mind, and I took a few steps backward, stumbling over the tail end of one of the Urobolus corpses in the process. Fire was not something I minded so much as if some genius had decided to keep a stock of alcohol in his now burning cellar.
Evidently Kaelin was having similar thoughts, because she followed my lead and put some more distance between herself and the leaping flames, carefully lifting the coarse sack after her. Her tousled bangs and short black hair had been treated with dyes at some point so that they were tipped bright crimson, and even dressed in her faded vest and torn trousers I had seen few people who looked less like a thief. Deep brown eyes, so dark that they were almost black were accented by narrow, double slashes of blue tattooed across her cheekbones, the odd designs not quite reaching her nose. Plain silver hoops hung from either earlobe; they reflected the light from the spirit as she looked down at it at last, a small frown furrowing her brows as she held the spirit up for examination. The blinding glare had dimmed at last, settling into a steady pulsating glow.
"What is-?" She started but trailed off, turning the stone over in her fingers, the blue light from the spirit dancing across her face. Curious, she tapped with her fingernails, then held it up to her eye and squinted into it, chewing on her lip. Her frown deepened as she ran her fingers over it again, sniffed it, and then for some strange reason stuck out her little pink tongue and licked it quickly. Her nose wrinkled, and she snorted as she waved the spirit about in front of my face. "What is this supposed to be? It's not a gem!"
"Do you honestly think that anyone would just wander around handing out gemstones?" I asked dryly. "Trust me, this is much more useful."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaelin demanded, but at that moment Zion appeared at my shoulder, sword settled safely in its sheath once more and a slightly anxious expression on his face.
"Ry? I think we're going to have to get out of here if we want to avoid any more trouble." Zion rubbed his shoulder, carefully looking anywhere but directly at Kaelin. Folding her arms, she stared back at him challengingly.
"What do you mean?"
Wordlessly he pointed up at the sky. The plumes of smoke drifting up from the fire were sooty red with sparks and ash, a silent beacon announcing our position to anyone within thirty miles. Somewhere in the back of my head Ragnarok muttered something in dragon tongue that I don't think I was meant to understand.
I felt like doing much the same, but I managed to keep my tongue in check. Instead, I moderated my tone as best I could. Which, given the circumstances, wasn't a whole lot. "We don't have much time, then. The guardsmen will be swarming this place within a couple of hours." But with my luck, it would probably be sooner.
"Guardsmen?" Kaelin took a step back from us, then flinched as another rumble emitted from the flaming buildings. "How the hell did you get guardsmen after you? Wait," she said, eyes snapping down to the spirit in her hand before looking up again, "You stole this thing from them, didn't you!" She said accusingly.
//This coming from a thief?//
/They have strange moralities, sometimes/ I replied. Aloud, "Hardly. They'd love to get their hands on it, though."
Kaelin didn't appear to be listening any longer. She rubbed the stone with her fingertips, lips moving silently while she worked out her thoughts to herself. Her brows creased again, but she glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. When she finally spoke again, her voice was carefully neutral. Rolling the spirit over in her hands again, she gave it a casual glance. "You wouldn't have happened to have been in Tiberoa lately, by any chance."
"No. Why do you ask?"
"You might not have heard about it then, I guess. The High Priest of Tiberoa made an announcement, probably close to a week ago now," She said casually, "Claims that the dragoons of legend are arising again, to aid the Moon Child against the Black Monster and the creation of her utopia. He was even kind enough to introduce one of them during his address. I wasn't there personally to see, but supposedly this dragoon guy went down on one knee and swore an oath of fealty to the Moon Child right then and there." A strand of hair fell across her eyes, and she brushed it away absently. "Now correct me if I'm wrong, but legend states that there were seven different dragoons and their spirits, right? The temples claim that they hold the remainder of them, but unless I'm very much mistaken, I'm holding one right now, aren't I?"
There was a moment of stunned silence, and Zion and I exchanged glances. Zion's hand went to his chest, touching the lump under his shirt that was his spirit. Finally, he stated the obvious.
"She's quick," he admitted grudgingly.
My mind, however, was on different matters. /The temple found one of the bearers?/
//For the moment, at least. You know better than anyone else does how fickle some of the spirits can be about their users. That isn't to say that they won't abandon them the moment they find someone who they think suits their purpose better// Ark didn't seem unduly concerned by the idea.
This did little to quell the wave of anxiety that had risen in the pit of my stomach, but I forced myself to relax, outwardly at least. "I'm impressed. There aren't very many people around nowadays who actually pay attention to the old stories anymore."
Kaelin smiled thinly. "Just because I'm a thief doesn't mean I'm not educated. I've been able to read since I was ten, and one of the first things I ever stole was a book from the library in Deningrad; big fat one about the dragoons by some geezer named Orion Randabralt. It's a little confusing sometimes, but it was my favorite. Now," she said, face hardening once again, "What were you saying about guardsmen?"
This time it was Zion's turn to do the explaining. When he realized that I wasn't about to say anything, he cleared his throat and tugged at the sword belt slung sideways across his chest, though it was already more than tight enough. "Well, uh, in truth they've been looking for us for about a week now. I sort of accidentally set fire to part of Kazas, so they're sort of anxious to get their hands on me." He gave me an odd look. "And him too, for some reason, but I still can't guess why."
I shrugged easily. "Someone very high up in the cult knows that I have the rest of the dragoon spirits. Whatever the temples may say, they only have two of the seven." I grinned. "Hell, I'd probably have most of the world after me if they knew what I was carrying around with me. Fortunately, most ordinary people can't tell a dragoon spirit from an ordinary glass ball." Somewhere in the back of my mind a memory stirred. "Would you believe that I actually bought one off of a merchant in Lohan once?"
Zion gave me an odd look, then returned to his explanation. "Anyway, those burning buildings are going to draw them like moths to a flame, and I really don't feel like having to deal with an entire patrol tonight, dragoon or no. Do you have a horse?"
"No." She raked her fingers through her bangs. "I'm assuming, though, that you want me to come with you for whatever reason?"
"Well, the blue sea spirit did recognize you. That does sort of bind you to us, in a manner of speaking." I replied. "Look, if you don't, then you probably won't have that spirit for very much longer, whether it recognized you or not. The temple wants the spirits, and the patrol has two high ranking dread knights with them." I left it hanging.
Kaelin let her breath out explosively. "Fine, I'll come." She said, tucking her spirit into the inside of her vest. Picking up her sack and slinging it back over her shoulder with a loud rattle, she started towards a gap in the houses opposite the fire. "But only because I feel like it's my best option, okay?"
"Gotchya." Zion grinned quickly before starting to fall into step behind her, but hesitated and glanced back over his shoulder at me. "Uh, what are we going to do about the horse?"
"I'll take care of it." I gestured in the direction of the hills with my good hand. "You two keep going. I'll catch up later."
Zion made a face and said, "You just want to ride again."
"Of course. Now get moving. If memory serves, there's a second road a couple of miles to the north that swings off towards Bale. We can head there next. Oh, and Zion?" I added as the man started to turn away, "Try not to aggravate Kaelin? That was sheer luck finding her, and I don't want her running off because you pissed her off."
"I'll try," he promised dryly. I watched him until he and Kaelin had disappeared through a gap between the houses before hurrying off in the other direction, back out into the long cornfields covering the hillside to the south.
In the hour or so in which we had left him, the gelding had only wandered a short distance from the spot where I had last seen him. Catching him by the loose rein Zion had knotted around his neck, I led him back to the cornrow where we had left our gear. Only using one hand made replacing the tack difficult, but after much fumbling I managed it. The gelding, blessedly calm after pounding along the roads all day, watched me out of one rolled back eye while he snuffled through the weeds covering the ground. Tossing the packs haphazardly over the cantle of the saddle when I had finished, I leaned back against the animal's side for a moment to try to catch my breath. A light breeze stirred the night, sending long cascading waves through the prairie grasses, silver-grey in the moonlight. Aside from that, the night was still.
/Two down/ I murmured. /Do you think we should head for Tiberoa next? The less time their dragoon has the spirit, the better/
//They'll be waiting for you. Besides, Kaelin and Zion are both going to need time to prepare themselves, no matter how promising the boy may seem// Ragnarok mulled things over in his mind and I closed my eyes as the gelding heaved out a sigh at my back and continued grazing. //Bale's not a major seaport or anything// He said at last, //but it does have a docking area on that river that runs out into Illisa Bay. We can hire a ship there and take it as far as Fueno. We'll see what happens next when we arrive//
/Sounds good. But what about the other spirits? I think we can be fairly sure by now that Kazas wasn't just a fluke/
//I wouldn't worry about that too much. Dragoons are drawn to one another by fate. As long as we keep moving, sooner or later we'll come across the rest//
/I guess so/ The wind gusted again, plastering my coat against my legs. Frowning, I opened my eyes. A cloudbank was creeping up on the eastern horizon, moving quickly on the building winds. I glanced back over my shoulder at the leaping flames in the burning village below. Hopefully rain would come with the wind; if not, then pretty soon the fire would spread to the dry plains. Gathering up the reins, I tossed them onto the pommel and set my foot in the stirrup and swung awkwardly up into the saddle. I settled into the seat and then picked up the reins, tugging the gelding's head out of the grass. As I turned him around, however, a flicker of movement out on the heaving grasslands caught my attention.
//Where are you going?// Ark asked as I heeled the horse into a rough jog down the hillside.
I caught sight of the movement again, in a valley about a half-mile to the east. This time there was no mistaking the telltale glint of moonlight on steel. /We've got company/ I replied. Had the dread knights come this far already? Loosening my blade in its sheath, I clipped the animal's side again with my heels, asking for a bit more speed. Really, there was only one way to find out.
I had ridden for perhaps ten minutes when the first sounds of muted conversation reached my ears. Turning toward the voices, I slowed my tired mount to a walk. Sounds carry far in the night air, and presently I was able to catch bits and pieces of the talk.
"-To come all the way out here. It's probably just some idiot caught his barn afire." Someone was saying, his voice young and boyish.
"We're not supposed to ask questions, Roger. The captain barks and we jump. That's just how things go." A gravelly voice answered. "Besides, I'm just as glad to be away from those two. I get all jumpy with the Commander around."
A third voice barked a laugh as the ground sloped away from beneath me, revealing three mounted men sitting on their horses in the gully below. "If it's the Commander yeh be worried about, then you be a fool, Bren. Soltrane makes me skin crawl, and that's when he's not even looking in me direction. But I do agree with yeh; if they wants to take the rest of the men off to Seles, then I be that much happier to be rid of them." A curious accent I didn't recognize thickened his speech, making him difficult to understand.
"Amen to that," Roger said fervently, and the other two muttered in agreement.
/What do you think?/ I asked, allowing myself to slump forward in the saddle as my mount began to pick his way down the slope.
//They'll only pick up our trail if we leave them.// Ark's words were calm, but his mind felt like a ball of eager energy against mine. //And besides, we could use the horses//
/Sadist. You just don't want to share them with the others/ Pushing my blade further out of its sheath, I shifted my jacket so that the worn dark cloth covered the wire-bound hilt.
In the bottom of the gully, one of the armored mounts lifted his head and whickered as I approached. My gelding snorted in return, and the soldiers snapped up, tense and alert. The man I guessed was Roger, a husky young man mounted on a thick-bodied animal that looked as though he might have some draft in him, hefted his spear.
"Who goes there?" He called automatically.
As my horse lurched down the last few meters of the slope, the third member of the party brushed past him, readying his spear in his left hand while he guided his horse closer with his right. "I say man, hold off, will yeh, Roger? He do be hurt!" He halted beside me, trying to peer at my face through the darkness. "Who did do this to yeh?"
I tried to rasp out a reply, but the sound got caught in my throat, causing me to go into an extended fit of coughing instead. Damn it, where was Garren when you really needed him? He was the actor, not me. Doubling over, I dropped the reins and took a firm grip on the sword hilt.
Whatever I had intended, the coughing seemed to have an effect on the man. Concern overcoming his unease, he reached out and put a steadying hand on my shoulder. "Hold on there. We'll get yeh fixed up soon enough."
The words sounded strange coming out of the mouth of a guardsman. Doubtless had he known who I was he would have tried to stick his spear between my ribs, but the words had an effect on me all the same. As I swept the sword from the sheath I twisted my arm slightly, so that the flat of the blade smashed square into his face with the crunch of bone and cartilage. He stayed upright in the saddle for a moment, blood streaming over his lips from his crushed nose. Then his eyes slid up under his eyelids and he toppled from his mount with a sigh, unconscious. A strange form of thanks, but he at least would live to see another day. In the back of my head, Ark snarled with disgust.
Driving my heels into my gelding's side, I raised my sword as the other two men rushed to meet me. Knocking aside the first spear, I half- rose out of my stirrups and lashed out with my blade as we swept past one another. It bit into his shoulder guard with a metallic ping, sending a small shock up my arm as I jerked it loose again. My gelding continued on, charging past and careening halfway up the slope before I could get a hold of the reins and pull him up short. Whatever tiredness he'd shown earlier, he seemed to have forgotten. Spinning him around, I raised my sword again as they approached cautiously; long spears tucked into their arms like lances. Vaguely, I found myself hoping that Zion and Kaelin didn't mind waiting around for a bit. /This might take a bit longer than I thought/
Kaelin's POV:
There are certain questions one must ask one's self in life. Sure, there are the standard phrases like: "What is my purpose?" and "Is there such a thing as fate?" But no one ever mentions the important ones, like "What am I going to do today if I plan on actually surviving until tomorrow?" And assuming that I do, "is there anything I have to do today that I can put off until then?" And "if I do put it off until then, when exactly will the consequences come back around to bite me in the ass?"
And of course, the one that I'm fairly certain the universe revolves around: "What the hell is going on?"
This last one described my state of mind to a tee at that moment. Trudging along the hard packed dusty road next to Zion, my mind seemed to swim as I struggled to sort out exactly what had just happened. The dragoon spirit- my mind still reeled at the thought- in my breast pocket was a hard lump of warmth, pulsing against my skin in time with my heart. The glow was clearly visible through the threadbare cloth, just bright enough to get in my eyes and prevent me from seeing any farther than three feet past my own nose. Trying to cover it with my hands, I shot an irritable glance in Zion's direction.
"Does this thing ever turn off?"
He shrugged, and I thought I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. "Sooner or later."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what I said." And then before I could find anything wrong with the bland statement, he asked "So what were you doing in that house anyway?"
The sack I was carrying over my shoulder started to slip, and I paused to hoist it up a little higher. "I thought I already told you?"
"Did you? Sorry, all that screeching you did back there temporarily deafened me, I think." He scratched his neck. "Would you mind running it by me again?"
I briefly considered hauling off and belting him over the head with my sack, but then thought the better of it. "Not if you keep trying to piss me off." When he opened his mouth to protest, I waved a hand at him. "Shut up. I'm a thief, okay? What do you think I was doing, dumbass?" Then I rubbed my chin and sighed. "Okay, the truth? I was supposed to meet with some guy yesterday in Seles, but when I left Bale at the beginning of the week, I, uh, kinda got lost."
In the darkness I couldn't see his face very well, but his voice carried volumes. "Got lost?"
"Do you want me to tell you or not?" I snapped back, stumbling as my toe stubbed against a stone partially uncovered in the middle of the road. "I suck at directions, okay? Those caves messed me up something nasty. I lost my saber in there, and some bastard slime thing made off with the rest of my supplies and- Stop laughing, damn it!" I waved my sack at him threateningly.
Still snickering, Zion backed off. "So how did you manage to end up in that building?" He asked, once he had composed himself.
"I was just getting to that," I growled. "I only found a way out of those caves this morning. That village was the first place I came across, so I was a little more concerned with what people had left behind than why the place was abandoned." I made a face at him. "I'd just found a goodly store of silverware when you came knocking and ruined everything."
He said nothing and I fell into a heated silence, stalking along beside him with the silverware and other trinkets I'd salvaged clinking against one another in the folds of rough burlap.
A wind stirred the long grasses, lifting the dust from the hard road top and sending it whirling and dancing out over the prairie. The persistent buzz of the crickets had lessened some, and bats flitted about overhead, dark shades against the starlit sky. I shivered, wishing that I had one of my hoods along with me. Not that I was cold or anything; its just that being out in the open country unsettles me. I'd spent most of my life inside the walls of Deningrad before I'd relocated south to Bale, hoping to escape the harsh temperatures, so the wilderness is lost on me. Sure, the night sky and the landscape were beautiful, but I'd trade it any day for a mug of mulled wine and a decent bed. Tugging my vest closed, I looked up just in time to avoid bumping into Zion, who had stopped and was staring back at the sooty red stain against the sky that marked the village's location.
He might have been frowning, for the expression was mirrored in his voice. "Where is he? Soa knows it doesn't take that long to catch a horse." Already standing a good hand's span over six feet, he bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, trying to locate the hill that masked the tiny village.
"You mean whassisface? Ry, was it?" I squinted off into the darkness, trying to distinguish movement from moonlit shadows. "Wasn't his arm in a sling? That would make things difficult for him, wouldn't it?"
"It doesn't seem to slow him down very much," he replied doubtfully, "And the horse is too tired to have wandered very far." He reached up over his shoulder and tugged the hilt of his massive bastard sword, as though to reassure himself that it was still there. "We should go back and help him."
"You think he hit trouble, or something? Look, he'll catch up when he's done with whatever he's doing, right? Let's just keep going for now." I pulled on his arm until he turned around. "And keep that big knife handy, alright? All I've got is a bag of cutlery, and that's not going to be much good against anything."
Zion followed grudgingly, although he kept shooting glances over his shoulder at the road behind him. If I hadn't have been there, he probably would have turned around and headed back with his blade bared and ready for trouble. Inwardly I sighed. Why is it that whenever you give a man a weapon, he starts to keep his brain in the sheath right next to the sword? It never fails.
We followed the strip of moonlit road for another quarter if an hour before reaching a crossroads of sorts. The grass was short here, trampled down by scores of hooves, and the day-old remains of a campfire drifted ash across the site. An old signpost, bleached and cracked from years of exposure, stood at the center of it all; the spidery script announcing that the road to the north led to Bale whereas the western led overland to Hoax. Dropping my bag and flopping down on the grass to rest, I looked at Zion enquiringly. "Well? See him yet?"
"Maybe. There's something moving off of the road to the south aways, but I can't make it out just yet." Following suit, Zion shrugged out of his sword belt and sat on the ground with a sigh of relief. "Damn, I'm tired."
"I wonder why," I said dryly. "Maybe next time you'll think twice before you go around picking fights with thirty foot long serpents."
His answering chuckle was hollow in the darkness. "It's not just that. I've been through hell this week." He shifted. "Its hard to believe that two weeks ago my biggest worry was whether or not I'd make it into the Hero Competition. Now I've got dread knights after me and a dragoon spirit to boot! Bit of advice for you?"
"What?"
"Ry's going to take your entire world, uproot you from whatever you thought was safe, and then turn whatever's left upside down. Your life is probably about to take a turn for the worse right about now."
"Really?" I lay back on the grass, starring up at the thin clouds drifting across the Moon's surface. "When I was little, I always dreamed of being the hero in a fairy tale. You know, feared, loved, and respected and all that bull."
"Try 'scared', 'confused', and 'hunted', and you might be a little closer." He said dryly. "If we're even allowed to be called heroes, that is. I don't even know what we're supposed to be doing, aside from the fact that the temples are caught up in it somehow."
"That comforting. And he won't tell you anything?"
"I get the feeling that he doesn't want to. I mean, he'll let something slip every now and again, but I think he wants us to find out the reasons for ourselves. He's strange like that."
I sat up and stared at him. "You mean you've been following him around and you don't even know why?" I asked incredulously.
Zion shrugged helplessly. "I don't really have much choice. He knows what's going on, and he knows how to keep out of the temple's sights. Besides, he still has most of the spirits. That's enough reason for me to follow him alone. Well, for now, at least. And personally, I'd rather have him as an ally than an enemy." He fell silent, staring off into the darkness.
I lay back down on the grass, feeling more confused than when we had arrived in the first place. Zion was willing to follow the other man, but he obviously didn't want to put all of his trust in him. Strange. Ry hadn't seemed so bad earlier. But then again, that was an opinion formulated from a few minutes of conversation. Using my arms as a pillow, I closed my eyes. Oh well. Time would yield some answers, hopefully.
I must have dozed off, because the next thing I was aware of was the strong smell of horse and doe-soft lips nuzzling my hair. Opening my eyes groggily, I waved away the curious animal and sat up slowly. The horse snorted softly, disappointed, and moved off into the deeper grasses where it could graze. It was still tacked, and the silver plates in set into the tooled leather saddle glinted in the moonlight. Emblazoned on them in gold was a circle split by a spear- the sign of the temple guardsmen. Confused, I looked around. Two more horses grazed nearby, one in tack similar to the first, while the second bore a plain scuffed leather saddle.
"Hey, watch it! That's my last bottle."
"Shut up. If I don't use it, then it'll just break open and start bleeding again. Now hold still."
Stretching, I turned around. Someone had re-lit the old campfire, and the glowing embers gave off a feeble light in the darkness. Ry was back; he sat next to the coals with his jacket across his knees and his shirt unbuttoned, looking disgruntled. Zion crouched next to him, cautiously dabbing at a wound in his side with a sodden cloth. "He got you pretty good. What the hell were you thinking, taking on two of them like that?"
Ry gave a one sided shrug. "We needed the horses. Anyway, they only would have caused us problems later on."
Hoisting my bag, I got to my feet and moved over into the firelight. "What did you do?" I asked, crouching and starting to rummage through the contents of the sack.
Zion paused to pour the last of the potion over the wound. It was difficult to tell how serious it had been with the mixture knitting the flesh back together, but judging from the dark blood that still stained his side and clothing, it had been a deep one. "He stumbled on some guardsmen while he was bringing back the horse. He decided that we needed their horses too."
"We do." Ry said matter-of-factly. "Too bad one of them got away." Gingerly touching the wound, which had by now faded to a faint scar, he nodded approvingly and set about buttoning up his shirt again. "If you haven't noticed, there's a storm coming in. I'd like to be into the caves before it hits."
Rocking back onto my heels, I pulled a long sheathed knife that I'd pilfered earlier out from the sack. It wasn't a saber, but it would be better than nothing against the creatures that dwelt in the caves. Testing the blade against my thumb, I slid it back into the sheath and stuffed it into my belt. I wasn't much with a knife, but I knew enough to use it without injuring myself.
Zion kicked dirt over the fire, muffling the flames while I fixed my gear to the saddle on the back of one animal that looked dead on his feet. Stroking the gelding's neck, I looked over at Ry who was checking out the contents of a saddlebag hanging from one of the temple animals. "Why do we have to go to Bale?"
"We're going to hire a boat to take us to Fueno. The temple never managed to get any more than a handful of followers there, and in any case it's disputed territory between Mille Seseau and Tiberoa so we'll be more or less out of reach as long as we keep a low profile. That, and many traders come through there from Fletz. I want to learn more about the temple's pet dragoon."
I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
He gave me a rather direct look. "I would have thought that was obvious. If this dragoon of theirs is really as loyal to them as they say, then you and Zion are going to have to fight him to take back the spirit. Letting the cult keep two spirits was a big enough mistake on my part. I am not going to allow them to have another dragoon."
Neheh. And so there were two.
There's going to be a side story coming up within the next couple chapters. Yes, I know I said they were only going to be in part one, but I think I can still find use for them.
I should have the next chapter or two up before Christmas. Please don't quote me on that.
Magical Mage: Yes, the choker is visible. ^-^ I'm just a dumbass and am continually forgetting to mention it whenever I describe him.
TopVideoGamer: Whoo, let's see how my memory works today. Okay, he got the Thunder Spirit from Haschel, the Darkness after defeating a cultist, the blue-sea from Meru (sorta), the gold from a cultist, the red-eye from another cultist, and I think that's about it.
Dart's POV:
The last traces of sunlight had finally fled the western sky, leaving it to settle deeper into the night. A shroud of the deepest black velvet, pinned up into the heavens by the moon and stars, only slightly marred by the lurid red stain of the firelight from the burning homes in the nameless village below. Fire ate at the thatched rooftops and dry wooden walls, filling the air with smoke and drifting sparks and ash. What precious little glass had been in a few of the windows shattered and were immediately replaced by gouts of flame, licking at the already blazing sides of the house as it fed off of oxygen hungrily. The familiar scene tickled something in the shadows of my mind, but I suppressed it firmly before the memories could start to drift to the surface. I'd seen too many homes burned in the past, and too often by fault of my own. Shaking my head, I turned away as the front porch of the nearest house collapsed and a cloud of ash billowed out over the square. The past was just that, whether it would catch up with me or not. At the moment I had slightly more pressing matters to deal with anyway.
Although they had backed off a few paces, Zion and our new arrival were still eyeing each other like a pair of strange wolves over a piece of meat. The girl gripped the knotted end of the burlap sack she had been dragging about, hefting it without taking her eyes off of Zion as though considering belting him over the head with whatever remained in the bag. On the other hand, Zion, his bastard sword lying on the damp earth near the well, the blade stained dark with Urobolus blood, was armed only with the bit of damp rag he had been treating his leg with. Hardly threatening for the girl, but if they started fighting again I'd probably never be able to get them to stop.
//Careful// Ark said wryly //She might decide to use that sack on you instead of him//
/I hope not/ I grumbled back, but I was careful to keep out of her range as I stepped between them. Her eyebrows rose and her fingers twitched on the bag, but she remained motionless otherwise. The blue-sea spirit, which she clutched in her other hand, seemed to be forgotten for the moment. Although with the way it was flaring, sending narrow beams of brilliant aqua light streaming between her fingers, I found that rather difficult to believe.
"Would you mind putting that sack down?" I asked mildly, running my thumb over the short stubble covering my chin. "Beating someone into the ground isn't exactly considered good form, even if you did just meet them. And stop smirking Zion. You're acting every bit as childish as the lady is."
Zion gave me an insulted look and muttered something under his breath, but his expression was relieved as he turned away to retrieve his sword. Personally, I didn't blame him. Facing off against an angry beast was one thing- an angry woman was something entirely different.
For her part, the woman spat on the ground at my feet before saying "Call me 'lady' again and I'll kick your ass. My name's Kaelin and I'm a thief, not some prissed-up courtress." She added, just a touch sullenly. She did, however, set the sack back down with a small clink. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Ry. And over there-" I nodded in Zion's direction as he plucked up his sword "-his name is Zion."
Across the square the burning houses shuddered as a muffled explosion rocked the foundations of the middle building, causing the rapidly disappearing roof to collapse inward with a groan, sending a fountain of sparks spiraling upwards into the dark sky. For some reason the image of exploding kegs of ale suddenly sprung to mind, and I took a few steps backward, stumbling over the tail end of one of the Urobolus corpses in the process. Fire was not something I minded so much as if some genius had decided to keep a stock of alcohol in his now burning cellar.
Evidently Kaelin was having similar thoughts, because she followed my lead and put some more distance between herself and the leaping flames, carefully lifting the coarse sack after her. Her tousled bangs and short black hair had been treated with dyes at some point so that they were tipped bright crimson, and even dressed in her faded vest and torn trousers I had seen few people who looked less like a thief. Deep brown eyes, so dark that they were almost black were accented by narrow, double slashes of blue tattooed across her cheekbones, the odd designs not quite reaching her nose. Plain silver hoops hung from either earlobe; they reflected the light from the spirit as she looked down at it at last, a small frown furrowing her brows as she held the spirit up for examination. The blinding glare had dimmed at last, settling into a steady pulsating glow.
"What is-?" She started but trailed off, turning the stone over in her fingers, the blue light from the spirit dancing across her face. Curious, she tapped with her fingernails, then held it up to her eye and squinted into it, chewing on her lip. Her frown deepened as she ran her fingers over it again, sniffed it, and then for some strange reason stuck out her little pink tongue and licked it quickly. Her nose wrinkled, and she snorted as she waved the spirit about in front of my face. "What is this supposed to be? It's not a gem!"
"Do you honestly think that anyone would just wander around handing out gemstones?" I asked dryly. "Trust me, this is much more useful."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaelin demanded, but at that moment Zion appeared at my shoulder, sword settled safely in its sheath once more and a slightly anxious expression on his face.
"Ry? I think we're going to have to get out of here if we want to avoid any more trouble." Zion rubbed his shoulder, carefully looking anywhere but directly at Kaelin. Folding her arms, she stared back at him challengingly.
"What do you mean?"
Wordlessly he pointed up at the sky. The plumes of smoke drifting up from the fire were sooty red with sparks and ash, a silent beacon announcing our position to anyone within thirty miles. Somewhere in the back of my head Ragnarok muttered something in dragon tongue that I don't think I was meant to understand.
I felt like doing much the same, but I managed to keep my tongue in check. Instead, I moderated my tone as best I could. Which, given the circumstances, wasn't a whole lot. "We don't have much time, then. The guardsmen will be swarming this place within a couple of hours." But with my luck, it would probably be sooner.
"Guardsmen?" Kaelin took a step back from us, then flinched as another rumble emitted from the flaming buildings. "How the hell did you get guardsmen after you? Wait," she said, eyes snapping down to the spirit in her hand before looking up again, "You stole this thing from them, didn't you!" She said accusingly.
//This coming from a thief?//
/They have strange moralities, sometimes/ I replied. Aloud, "Hardly. They'd love to get their hands on it, though."
Kaelin didn't appear to be listening any longer. She rubbed the stone with her fingertips, lips moving silently while she worked out her thoughts to herself. Her brows creased again, but she glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. When she finally spoke again, her voice was carefully neutral. Rolling the spirit over in her hands again, she gave it a casual glance. "You wouldn't have happened to have been in Tiberoa lately, by any chance."
"No. Why do you ask?"
"You might not have heard about it then, I guess. The High Priest of Tiberoa made an announcement, probably close to a week ago now," She said casually, "Claims that the dragoons of legend are arising again, to aid the Moon Child against the Black Monster and the creation of her utopia. He was even kind enough to introduce one of them during his address. I wasn't there personally to see, but supposedly this dragoon guy went down on one knee and swore an oath of fealty to the Moon Child right then and there." A strand of hair fell across her eyes, and she brushed it away absently. "Now correct me if I'm wrong, but legend states that there were seven different dragoons and their spirits, right? The temples claim that they hold the remainder of them, but unless I'm very much mistaken, I'm holding one right now, aren't I?"
There was a moment of stunned silence, and Zion and I exchanged glances. Zion's hand went to his chest, touching the lump under his shirt that was his spirit. Finally, he stated the obvious.
"She's quick," he admitted grudgingly.
My mind, however, was on different matters. /The temple found one of the bearers?/
//For the moment, at least. You know better than anyone else does how fickle some of the spirits can be about their users. That isn't to say that they won't abandon them the moment they find someone who they think suits their purpose better// Ark didn't seem unduly concerned by the idea.
This did little to quell the wave of anxiety that had risen in the pit of my stomach, but I forced myself to relax, outwardly at least. "I'm impressed. There aren't very many people around nowadays who actually pay attention to the old stories anymore."
Kaelin smiled thinly. "Just because I'm a thief doesn't mean I'm not educated. I've been able to read since I was ten, and one of the first things I ever stole was a book from the library in Deningrad; big fat one about the dragoons by some geezer named Orion Randabralt. It's a little confusing sometimes, but it was my favorite. Now," she said, face hardening once again, "What were you saying about guardsmen?"
This time it was Zion's turn to do the explaining. When he realized that I wasn't about to say anything, he cleared his throat and tugged at the sword belt slung sideways across his chest, though it was already more than tight enough. "Well, uh, in truth they've been looking for us for about a week now. I sort of accidentally set fire to part of Kazas, so they're sort of anxious to get their hands on me." He gave me an odd look. "And him too, for some reason, but I still can't guess why."
I shrugged easily. "Someone very high up in the cult knows that I have the rest of the dragoon spirits. Whatever the temples may say, they only have two of the seven." I grinned. "Hell, I'd probably have most of the world after me if they knew what I was carrying around with me. Fortunately, most ordinary people can't tell a dragoon spirit from an ordinary glass ball." Somewhere in the back of my mind a memory stirred. "Would you believe that I actually bought one off of a merchant in Lohan once?"
Zion gave me an odd look, then returned to his explanation. "Anyway, those burning buildings are going to draw them like moths to a flame, and I really don't feel like having to deal with an entire patrol tonight, dragoon or no. Do you have a horse?"
"No." She raked her fingers through her bangs. "I'm assuming, though, that you want me to come with you for whatever reason?"
"Well, the blue sea spirit did recognize you. That does sort of bind you to us, in a manner of speaking." I replied. "Look, if you don't, then you probably won't have that spirit for very much longer, whether it recognized you or not. The temple wants the spirits, and the patrol has two high ranking dread knights with them." I left it hanging.
Kaelin let her breath out explosively. "Fine, I'll come." She said, tucking her spirit into the inside of her vest. Picking up her sack and slinging it back over her shoulder with a loud rattle, she started towards a gap in the houses opposite the fire. "But only because I feel like it's my best option, okay?"
"Gotchya." Zion grinned quickly before starting to fall into step behind her, but hesitated and glanced back over his shoulder at me. "Uh, what are we going to do about the horse?"
"I'll take care of it." I gestured in the direction of the hills with my good hand. "You two keep going. I'll catch up later."
Zion made a face and said, "You just want to ride again."
"Of course. Now get moving. If memory serves, there's a second road a couple of miles to the north that swings off towards Bale. We can head there next. Oh, and Zion?" I added as the man started to turn away, "Try not to aggravate Kaelin? That was sheer luck finding her, and I don't want her running off because you pissed her off."
"I'll try," he promised dryly. I watched him until he and Kaelin had disappeared through a gap between the houses before hurrying off in the other direction, back out into the long cornfields covering the hillside to the south.
In the hour or so in which we had left him, the gelding had only wandered a short distance from the spot where I had last seen him. Catching him by the loose rein Zion had knotted around his neck, I led him back to the cornrow where we had left our gear. Only using one hand made replacing the tack difficult, but after much fumbling I managed it. The gelding, blessedly calm after pounding along the roads all day, watched me out of one rolled back eye while he snuffled through the weeds covering the ground. Tossing the packs haphazardly over the cantle of the saddle when I had finished, I leaned back against the animal's side for a moment to try to catch my breath. A light breeze stirred the night, sending long cascading waves through the prairie grasses, silver-grey in the moonlight. Aside from that, the night was still.
/Two down/ I murmured. /Do you think we should head for Tiberoa next? The less time their dragoon has the spirit, the better/
//They'll be waiting for you. Besides, Kaelin and Zion are both going to need time to prepare themselves, no matter how promising the boy may seem// Ragnarok mulled things over in his mind and I closed my eyes as the gelding heaved out a sigh at my back and continued grazing. //Bale's not a major seaport or anything// He said at last, //but it does have a docking area on that river that runs out into Illisa Bay. We can hire a ship there and take it as far as Fueno. We'll see what happens next when we arrive//
/Sounds good. But what about the other spirits? I think we can be fairly sure by now that Kazas wasn't just a fluke/
//I wouldn't worry about that too much. Dragoons are drawn to one another by fate. As long as we keep moving, sooner or later we'll come across the rest//
/I guess so/ The wind gusted again, plastering my coat against my legs. Frowning, I opened my eyes. A cloudbank was creeping up on the eastern horizon, moving quickly on the building winds. I glanced back over my shoulder at the leaping flames in the burning village below. Hopefully rain would come with the wind; if not, then pretty soon the fire would spread to the dry plains. Gathering up the reins, I tossed them onto the pommel and set my foot in the stirrup and swung awkwardly up into the saddle. I settled into the seat and then picked up the reins, tugging the gelding's head out of the grass. As I turned him around, however, a flicker of movement out on the heaving grasslands caught my attention.
//Where are you going?// Ark asked as I heeled the horse into a rough jog down the hillside.
I caught sight of the movement again, in a valley about a half-mile to the east. This time there was no mistaking the telltale glint of moonlight on steel. /We've got company/ I replied. Had the dread knights come this far already? Loosening my blade in its sheath, I clipped the animal's side again with my heels, asking for a bit more speed. Really, there was only one way to find out.
I had ridden for perhaps ten minutes when the first sounds of muted conversation reached my ears. Turning toward the voices, I slowed my tired mount to a walk. Sounds carry far in the night air, and presently I was able to catch bits and pieces of the talk.
"-To come all the way out here. It's probably just some idiot caught his barn afire." Someone was saying, his voice young and boyish.
"We're not supposed to ask questions, Roger. The captain barks and we jump. That's just how things go." A gravelly voice answered. "Besides, I'm just as glad to be away from those two. I get all jumpy with the Commander around."
A third voice barked a laugh as the ground sloped away from beneath me, revealing three mounted men sitting on their horses in the gully below. "If it's the Commander yeh be worried about, then you be a fool, Bren. Soltrane makes me skin crawl, and that's when he's not even looking in me direction. But I do agree with yeh; if they wants to take the rest of the men off to Seles, then I be that much happier to be rid of them." A curious accent I didn't recognize thickened his speech, making him difficult to understand.
"Amen to that," Roger said fervently, and the other two muttered in agreement.
/What do you think?/ I asked, allowing myself to slump forward in the saddle as my mount began to pick his way down the slope.
//They'll only pick up our trail if we leave them.// Ark's words were calm, but his mind felt like a ball of eager energy against mine. //And besides, we could use the horses//
/Sadist. You just don't want to share them with the others/ Pushing my blade further out of its sheath, I shifted my jacket so that the worn dark cloth covered the wire-bound hilt.
In the bottom of the gully, one of the armored mounts lifted his head and whickered as I approached. My gelding snorted in return, and the soldiers snapped up, tense and alert. The man I guessed was Roger, a husky young man mounted on a thick-bodied animal that looked as though he might have some draft in him, hefted his spear.
"Who goes there?" He called automatically.
As my horse lurched down the last few meters of the slope, the third member of the party brushed past him, readying his spear in his left hand while he guided his horse closer with his right. "I say man, hold off, will yeh, Roger? He do be hurt!" He halted beside me, trying to peer at my face through the darkness. "Who did do this to yeh?"
I tried to rasp out a reply, but the sound got caught in my throat, causing me to go into an extended fit of coughing instead. Damn it, where was Garren when you really needed him? He was the actor, not me. Doubling over, I dropped the reins and took a firm grip on the sword hilt.
Whatever I had intended, the coughing seemed to have an effect on the man. Concern overcoming his unease, he reached out and put a steadying hand on my shoulder. "Hold on there. We'll get yeh fixed up soon enough."
The words sounded strange coming out of the mouth of a guardsman. Doubtless had he known who I was he would have tried to stick his spear between my ribs, but the words had an effect on me all the same. As I swept the sword from the sheath I twisted my arm slightly, so that the flat of the blade smashed square into his face with the crunch of bone and cartilage. He stayed upright in the saddle for a moment, blood streaming over his lips from his crushed nose. Then his eyes slid up under his eyelids and he toppled from his mount with a sigh, unconscious. A strange form of thanks, but he at least would live to see another day. In the back of my head, Ark snarled with disgust.
Driving my heels into my gelding's side, I raised my sword as the other two men rushed to meet me. Knocking aside the first spear, I half- rose out of my stirrups and lashed out with my blade as we swept past one another. It bit into his shoulder guard with a metallic ping, sending a small shock up my arm as I jerked it loose again. My gelding continued on, charging past and careening halfway up the slope before I could get a hold of the reins and pull him up short. Whatever tiredness he'd shown earlier, he seemed to have forgotten. Spinning him around, I raised my sword again as they approached cautiously; long spears tucked into their arms like lances. Vaguely, I found myself hoping that Zion and Kaelin didn't mind waiting around for a bit. /This might take a bit longer than I thought/
Kaelin's POV:
There are certain questions one must ask one's self in life. Sure, there are the standard phrases like: "What is my purpose?" and "Is there such a thing as fate?" But no one ever mentions the important ones, like "What am I going to do today if I plan on actually surviving until tomorrow?" And assuming that I do, "is there anything I have to do today that I can put off until then?" And "if I do put it off until then, when exactly will the consequences come back around to bite me in the ass?"
And of course, the one that I'm fairly certain the universe revolves around: "What the hell is going on?"
This last one described my state of mind to a tee at that moment. Trudging along the hard packed dusty road next to Zion, my mind seemed to swim as I struggled to sort out exactly what had just happened. The dragoon spirit- my mind still reeled at the thought- in my breast pocket was a hard lump of warmth, pulsing against my skin in time with my heart. The glow was clearly visible through the threadbare cloth, just bright enough to get in my eyes and prevent me from seeing any farther than three feet past my own nose. Trying to cover it with my hands, I shot an irritable glance in Zion's direction.
"Does this thing ever turn off?"
He shrugged, and I thought I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. "Sooner or later."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what I said." And then before I could find anything wrong with the bland statement, he asked "So what were you doing in that house anyway?"
The sack I was carrying over my shoulder started to slip, and I paused to hoist it up a little higher. "I thought I already told you?"
"Did you? Sorry, all that screeching you did back there temporarily deafened me, I think." He scratched his neck. "Would you mind running it by me again?"
I briefly considered hauling off and belting him over the head with my sack, but then thought the better of it. "Not if you keep trying to piss me off." When he opened his mouth to protest, I waved a hand at him. "Shut up. I'm a thief, okay? What do you think I was doing, dumbass?" Then I rubbed my chin and sighed. "Okay, the truth? I was supposed to meet with some guy yesterday in Seles, but when I left Bale at the beginning of the week, I, uh, kinda got lost."
In the darkness I couldn't see his face very well, but his voice carried volumes. "Got lost?"
"Do you want me to tell you or not?" I snapped back, stumbling as my toe stubbed against a stone partially uncovered in the middle of the road. "I suck at directions, okay? Those caves messed me up something nasty. I lost my saber in there, and some bastard slime thing made off with the rest of my supplies and- Stop laughing, damn it!" I waved my sack at him threateningly.
Still snickering, Zion backed off. "So how did you manage to end up in that building?" He asked, once he had composed himself.
"I was just getting to that," I growled. "I only found a way out of those caves this morning. That village was the first place I came across, so I was a little more concerned with what people had left behind than why the place was abandoned." I made a face at him. "I'd just found a goodly store of silverware when you came knocking and ruined everything."
He said nothing and I fell into a heated silence, stalking along beside him with the silverware and other trinkets I'd salvaged clinking against one another in the folds of rough burlap.
A wind stirred the long grasses, lifting the dust from the hard road top and sending it whirling and dancing out over the prairie. The persistent buzz of the crickets had lessened some, and bats flitted about overhead, dark shades against the starlit sky. I shivered, wishing that I had one of my hoods along with me. Not that I was cold or anything; its just that being out in the open country unsettles me. I'd spent most of my life inside the walls of Deningrad before I'd relocated south to Bale, hoping to escape the harsh temperatures, so the wilderness is lost on me. Sure, the night sky and the landscape were beautiful, but I'd trade it any day for a mug of mulled wine and a decent bed. Tugging my vest closed, I looked up just in time to avoid bumping into Zion, who had stopped and was staring back at the sooty red stain against the sky that marked the village's location.
He might have been frowning, for the expression was mirrored in his voice. "Where is he? Soa knows it doesn't take that long to catch a horse." Already standing a good hand's span over six feet, he bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, trying to locate the hill that masked the tiny village.
"You mean whassisface? Ry, was it?" I squinted off into the darkness, trying to distinguish movement from moonlit shadows. "Wasn't his arm in a sling? That would make things difficult for him, wouldn't it?"
"It doesn't seem to slow him down very much," he replied doubtfully, "And the horse is too tired to have wandered very far." He reached up over his shoulder and tugged the hilt of his massive bastard sword, as though to reassure himself that it was still there. "We should go back and help him."
"You think he hit trouble, or something? Look, he'll catch up when he's done with whatever he's doing, right? Let's just keep going for now." I pulled on his arm until he turned around. "And keep that big knife handy, alright? All I've got is a bag of cutlery, and that's not going to be much good against anything."
Zion followed grudgingly, although he kept shooting glances over his shoulder at the road behind him. If I hadn't have been there, he probably would have turned around and headed back with his blade bared and ready for trouble. Inwardly I sighed. Why is it that whenever you give a man a weapon, he starts to keep his brain in the sheath right next to the sword? It never fails.
We followed the strip of moonlit road for another quarter if an hour before reaching a crossroads of sorts. The grass was short here, trampled down by scores of hooves, and the day-old remains of a campfire drifted ash across the site. An old signpost, bleached and cracked from years of exposure, stood at the center of it all; the spidery script announcing that the road to the north led to Bale whereas the western led overland to Hoax. Dropping my bag and flopping down on the grass to rest, I looked at Zion enquiringly. "Well? See him yet?"
"Maybe. There's something moving off of the road to the south aways, but I can't make it out just yet." Following suit, Zion shrugged out of his sword belt and sat on the ground with a sigh of relief. "Damn, I'm tired."
"I wonder why," I said dryly. "Maybe next time you'll think twice before you go around picking fights with thirty foot long serpents."
His answering chuckle was hollow in the darkness. "It's not just that. I've been through hell this week." He shifted. "Its hard to believe that two weeks ago my biggest worry was whether or not I'd make it into the Hero Competition. Now I've got dread knights after me and a dragoon spirit to boot! Bit of advice for you?"
"What?"
"Ry's going to take your entire world, uproot you from whatever you thought was safe, and then turn whatever's left upside down. Your life is probably about to take a turn for the worse right about now."
"Really?" I lay back on the grass, starring up at the thin clouds drifting across the Moon's surface. "When I was little, I always dreamed of being the hero in a fairy tale. You know, feared, loved, and respected and all that bull."
"Try 'scared', 'confused', and 'hunted', and you might be a little closer." He said dryly. "If we're even allowed to be called heroes, that is. I don't even know what we're supposed to be doing, aside from the fact that the temples are caught up in it somehow."
"That comforting. And he won't tell you anything?"
"I get the feeling that he doesn't want to. I mean, he'll let something slip every now and again, but I think he wants us to find out the reasons for ourselves. He's strange like that."
I sat up and stared at him. "You mean you've been following him around and you don't even know why?" I asked incredulously.
Zion shrugged helplessly. "I don't really have much choice. He knows what's going on, and he knows how to keep out of the temple's sights. Besides, he still has most of the spirits. That's enough reason for me to follow him alone. Well, for now, at least. And personally, I'd rather have him as an ally than an enemy." He fell silent, staring off into the darkness.
I lay back down on the grass, feeling more confused than when we had arrived in the first place. Zion was willing to follow the other man, but he obviously didn't want to put all of his trust in him. Strange. Ry hadn't seemed so bad earlier. But then again, that was an opinion formulated from a few minutes of conversation. Using my arms as a pillow, I closed my eyes. Oh well. Time would yield some answers, hopefully.
I must have dozed off, because the next thing I was aware of was the strong smell of horse and doe-soft lips nuzzling my hair. Opening my eyes groggily, I waved away the curious animal and sat up slowly. The horse snorted softly, disappointed, and moved off into the deeper grasses where it could graze. It was still tacked, and the silver plates in set into the tooled leather saddle glinted in the moonlight. Emblazoned on them in gold was a circle split by a spear- the sign of the temple guardsmen. Confused, I looked around. Two more horses grazed nearby, one in tack similar to the first, while the second bore a plain scuffed leather saddle.
"Hey, watch it! That's my last bottle."
"Shut up. If I don't use it, then it'll just break open and start bleeding again. Now hold still."
Stretching, I turned around. Someone had re-lit the old campfire, and the glowing embers gave off a feeble light in the darkness. Ry was back; he sat next to the coals with his jacket across his knees and his shirt unbuttoned, looking disgruntled. Zion crouched next to him, cautiously dabbing at a wound in his side with a sodden cloth. "He got you pretty good. What the hell were you thinking, taking on two of them like that?"
Ry gave a one sided shrug. "We needed the horses. Anyway, they only would have caused us problems later on."
Hoisting my bag, I got to my feet and moved over into the firelight. "What did you do?" I asked, crouching and starting to rummage through the contents of the sack.
Zion paused to pour the last of the potion over the wound. It was difficult to tell how serious it had been with the mixture knitting the flesh back together, but judging from the dark blood that still stained his side and clothing, it had been a deep one. "He stumbled on some guardsmen while he was bringing back the horse. He decided that we needed their horses too."
"We do." Ry said matter-of-factly. "Too bad one of them got away." Gingerly touching the wound, which had by now faded to a faint scar, he nodded approvingly and set about buttoning up his shirt again. "If you haven't noticed, there's a storm coming in. I'd like to be into the caves before it hits."
Rocking back onto my heels, I pulled a long sheathed knife that I'd pilfered earlier out from the sack. It wasn't a saber, but it would be better than nothing against the creatures that dwelt in the caves. Testing the blade against my thumb, I slid it back into the sheath and stuffed it into my belt. I wasn't much with a knife, but I knew enough to use it without injuring myself.
Zion kicked dirt over the fire, muffling the flames while I fixed my gear to the saddle on the back of one animal that looked dead on his feet. Stroking the gelding's neck, I looked over at Ry who was checking out the contents of a saddlebag hanging from one of the temple animals. "Why do we have to go to Bale?"
"We're going to hire a boat to take us to Fueno. The temple never managed to get any more than a handful of followers there, and in any case it's disputed territory between Mille Seseau and Tiberoa so we'll be more or less out of reach as long as we keep a low profile. That, and many traders come through there from Fletz. I want to learn more about the temple's pet dragoon."
I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
He gave me a rather direct look. "I would have thought that was obvious. If this dragoon of theirs is really as loyal to them as they say, then you and Zion are going to have to fight him to take back the spirit. Letting the cult keep two spirits was a big enough mistake on my part. I am not going to allow them to have another dragoon."
Neheh. And so there were two.
There's going to be a side story coming up within the next couple chapters. Yes, I know I said they were only going to be in part one, but I think I can still find use for them.
I should have the next chapter or two up before Christmas. Please don't quote me on that.