--Chapter III--
The captain, grinning once more, drew his sword, a long katana. Avery raised his bloodied steel longsword, and with a sigh, engaged the captain in a final duel. Avery swung low, but the captain blocked and countered with a spin and chop to the head, which Avery ducked. The captain tried again with a stab, and that was his mistake. Avery drew his longsword, and thrust it forward while moving slightly to the left, dodging the captain's attack. The sound of steel cutting through armor could be heard, as could a guttural sound from the captain, who fell to his knees.
"Not bad…But don't worry, others will come…" The captain whispered to Avery before dieing. Avery withdrew his sword from his body. He surveyed the deck. It was awash with the blood of over fifty pirates. Leon was calling force the power of waves to wash the scum off the deck. Belwen was retrieving the weapons and blades of her allies. Leon gazed around, but something was wrong.
"Where are Ashtar and Khazura?" He asked. Avery feared the worst, that which they too, fell against a horde of pirates. He however, spied Ashtar crouching over a fallen figure: Khazura.
All three ran over, their boots splashing on the waves Leon had generated, the deck lit by both the moonlight overhead and the burning pirate ship.
Ashtar was crushing herbs with shaking, cut hands over a bowl of water, woaking Khazura's shoulder in it, which received a deep gash, stopping short of her breast. The skin and fur around the cut was turning a sickening greenish color, indicating a heavy poison. Ashtar began slumping over, when Belwen and Leon grabbed him by the shoulders and held him upright. Belwen's face turned a ghastly look when she surveyed his wounds. There were multiple cuts and gashes. They quickly carried him downstairs towards the quarters, where many of his own medicines and Belwen's major healing tomes reside. Avery picked up the lifeless Khazura, his face still as stone. He wasn't sure if either of them would survive. Whatever Ashtar did to that cut, something was happening. The poisonous tinge to her skin was now gone, and she was breathing again. Avery took her inside, laid her down on the bed beside Ashtar. He then retired to his quarters, dropping his bloody pieces of armor on the floor. Although he had not received any wounds himself, he was exhausted from such a long and tedious fight. He sat down on his bed, and laid his head in his hands. Footsteps were heard in the doorway. He parted a finger to see Leon standing there, his purple robe and hat sporting multiple tears.
"Belwen says we're lucky they're alive." Leon said softly.
"I know…I know. It could have been so much worse…so much worse. Why did I bring them into this? Why did I accept such a dangerous task? Why did I risk my companions', and my friends' LIVES in this stupid mission?" He despaired, he can only think of the near lifeless forms of Ashtar and Khazura, and the last words of the pirate captain.
"It wasn't your fault, you didn't forsee this coming." Reasoned he.
"It doesn't matter. We have to turn back."
"We can't, we're too far out now to turn back!" At this, Avery rose with fury and confronted Leon.
"Who says we can't? You're not the boss of me! I will not endanger another companion's life while I am still alive."
"How selfish of you. You'd rather die than live with responsibility?"
"If you were any other man…" Avery snarled, then realized what he was saying, and stopped, his eyes filled with despair once more.
"I'm sorry, Leon, I'm not myself. I didn't want things to go this far…"
"I know old friend, I too, am sorry for my harsh words," Leon patted him on the back. "Now come, let's see what progress Belwen has made on our friends."
The scene was grim. The air had the smell of blood in it. Belwen had worked hard the past few hours of the night, and had retired to her quarters. Leon too had left, leaving Avery, sitting on a chair, loking at his friends, and mulling over the choices he's made. All of the major cuts on Ashtar were now healed by the power of strong herbs and magic, and he was now resting. He hasn't awakened yet, neither has Khazura, who was still suffering from the poison that had already entered the bloodstream. She was running a fever earlier, but Belwen got it down, and now she's recovering. Ash stirred, and began rising, sitting upright. Rubbing his eyes, he began checking for major wounds when he noticed Avery sitting there, observing him.
"I made these choices of my own free will; I knew it could mean death." He whispered through the darkened room, the creaking of the ship punctuating his statement.
Avery said nothing, but rose and patted him on the back, to which Ashtar winced. Not all bruises and wounds had healed completely.
"Rest, friend, you have done great deeds tonight. In fact, you probably saved a friend's life." Avery turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly. Ashtar laid down, realizing that for once, hatred of another just because of what evildoers had done, is senseless and bitter. No sooner had he accepted this fact than he drifted off to a complete and content sleep.
Khazura awoke from her troubled dreams of a little town under burning fire and death, shortly before dawn. Always the same dream, time after time again. She wonders if she'll ever get over it. But right now, her body was sore. She remembered something. Her hand touched her opposite shoulder. A battle. That's right; a blade had run through her shoulder, with poison that crippled her immideatly. She also remembers someone over her, their bleeding hands shaking, and crushing herbs over her gash. It was Ashtar…But she didn't understand why he would help her when all she had done is refused to even look at him. The pangs of guilt and remorse followed after these thoughts. Her eyes turned to the bed on the other side of the room. There was no one there. Clearly though there had been, there were minor bloodstains on the sheets, which were pulled away fro mthe edges, as though someone had indeed got up. She glanced towards the windows, where the sun was beginning to rise. She'd like to see that. Rising up, she opened the door and turned towards the steps. She had gone almost all the way up them, and opened the door when she saw a lone shirtless figure looking to the east. The creak of the door made him aware of her presence.
"It's okay, there's no need to go away." Ashtar spoke, without turning.
As Khazura drew wordlessly closer, she noticed Khajiit runes on his back, akin to the same ones she has on her arm. A warning of hatred and anger, made out of retribution. She knew he had the same past she did.
"You took care of me…Even though…" Khazura started, but was unable to finish her sentence, holding back tears. She tried again.
"I'm so sorry, I should have regarded you as a friend and ally, rather than a bitter enemy out of hatred."
"I only ever wished to be your friend." He said, smiling at the sunrise. "Yes we have the same pasts, but it does not mean that we both cannot be friends."
"Let us leave our difficulties with each other in the past, and start anew." She smiled at him, and took his hand in hers. As they did so, the curses and seals written on their skin in their moments of darkness towards each other races ceased to exist, their runic glow vanishing forever. They both looked toward the east, where their lands lie, and a sun brings them the new hope of a new day.
Later that morning, the sun was higher in the sky, and the anchor was hauled up. Everyone was doing their best to help out, but Ashtar and Belwen kept Khazura below deck to rest, as not all the poison had left her system yet. She was still not strong enough to lend a hand in the ship operations. She wasn't entirely happy about this verdict, but Avery backed them up on it, so sulking, she went below to rest. It wasn't long after the sails were dropped that the wind picked up under them, and once again they were off into the west. Like Ashtar had said the previous day, the tones of the water were changing. Shore was near. Soon after they realized this they passed a shallow reef. Leon was at the helm, steering in between some small packs of rocks and shoals were becoming increasingly common, luckily both Ashtar and Avery were on lookout for these objects.
"What did the marking mean under the mountain again?" Leon asked, obviously meaning the map.
"Cave of the Argonian King, the Pilgrim's Bane." Ashtar answered. His thoughts too were on that monument, and what it could mean. Leon himself knew the king the marking was referring to. He was pondering the actual meaning of the marking, and who would be there to witness it, when Belwen, in the crow's nest, called out.
"Land ho!" She yelled.
Directly ahead, one could see a seemingly tiny landmass. It was very far away. This is the lost continent they were looking for. As cheers went up in the air, Leon noticed Khazura was standing behind him.
"You should be resting." He said.
"I've had enough rest. I wanted to see the land as well. If you don't get much view other than the sea for what feels like years, you'd want to as well."
Leon nodded at this, agreeing, and said nothing more.
The atmosphere on the ship turned from dreary and worried to as if the emperor himself threw a banquet for each of them. Khazura had later said that there was possibly no happier crew on the face of the world that day. Attention at the moment though turned to preparation to land and set up camp. They had the supplies to set up a few wooden huts, and a small fence around it. By dusk they had passed the outer ring of rocks and reefes, and landed just off shore.Using a barge, they brought many things over, including cooking utensils, food, the camp supplies, their weapons, armor and herbs. Leon had to cast a lightening spell on the barge, so it wouldn't sink with all of that stuff on it. Soon after they hit shore, they lit torches and set out to find a suitable site. Most of the area around them after the beach were plains, with spotted trees here and there. They began setting up the huts. Two of them took turns holding torches, while the other three began placing the wooden planks in the ground and putting up the roofs. It wasn't long until three stable huts, about 20 yards wide in diameter apiece, were built, and standing upright. They lit a short fire afterwards.
"A job well done." Avery congratulated them all.
"I'm glad it's all finished." Ashtar agreed.
"And we're finally here!" said Belwen. This provoked a pause between them all. They weren't exactly sure where 'here' was. Nor where they sure what it was.
"Speaking of 'here', what should we name this land?" Khazura inquired, looking around the fire for suggestions. Leon was busy with a piece of parchment, tracing his wand on it.
"What do you have there, Leon?" Avery asked, leaning over to see.
"The map of course, we're right here," He laid down the map in front of the fire's red glow, everyone saw that a ship and little hut icon had appeared on the map on the coast. "I used magic to find our location on this map. We are indeed here, also look at this, the name of this land is already inscribed on the map!" He jabbed his wand at a small ribbon at the bottom of the map. It read Tindriel.
"So it is!" Khazura exclaimed.
They all took turns looking at the map and discussing the various points of interest on the map, including a river just south of the camp. Avery called for everyone's attention.
"It's getting late, we should all get some rest before we decide what to do tomorrow." He suggested. All agreed. Leon handed him the map, but as Avery took it, Leon held onto it until everyone else had entered the huts.
"We don't know what's out there. I really think we should think this through. For all we know, Mythic Dawn members may already be here as well, not to mention unknown beasts and creatures that may lie here."
"I'm aware of what it means, old friend," Avery smiled weakly, "We have to follow through now, we can't turn back. Don't worry, everything will hold together, and we will reach this cave." Then, patting Leon on the back, he entered his own hut, while Leon extinquished the fire and went into the same one Ashtar resided in. The girls inhabited the third hut. He stopped short of the entrance though, turned around and surveyed the land around them in the moonlight. It was going to be interesting, nonetheless.
Soon after he left, eyes in the shadows watched this encampment, and then departed soon after.
The next morning, the sun was beginning to rise over the sea. Most everyone except Belwen and Avery were awake. Khazura went to go survey the land from a very high hill off to the north, about a couple miles from camp. Ashtar went to go find the river, and bring back water. Leon was making breakfast over a newly kindled campfire when Avery and Belwen awoke.
"Soup?" Avery yawned.
"Yes!" Leon grinned, "You should get used to it, it's what we'll be eating for the next month or two!"
"Haha, and what if we run out of ingredients?"
"Grass soup isn't all that bad you know."
Avery put on a look of mock distaste.
"Now now, that's not too healthy! Anyway, where are the others?"
"Well," Leon put down the ladel, trying to remember, "I do think that Khazura went north to find a hill and look around this place, while Ashtar went south to find that river."
"Hmm, when did they leave?"
"Before dawn."
"They should be back soon, if not now, in that case."
"I wonder if you're a wizard under all that armor, Avery." Leon grinned again.
"Why?"
"Because, here they come now!"
As if on command, both Ashtar and Khazura returned, Khazura with the map, and Ashtar carrying a backpack, which contained canteens filled with water. Khazura approached Avery on seeing him, while Ashtar distributed the canteens, and put the spare ones in the supply area of the campsite.
"The map checks out, everything is accurate as far as I can see. Marshes to the immiedeate north, while forests pocket the rest of the land, and the land far north. Northwest is probably the high point of Tindriel, a ring of mountains. Out far southwest there are lots of plains. If we were to travel I'd say we go by the river, despite the swampy area surrounding it." She explained.
"I see," Avery would have to give this info some thought. So the map was right after all, "Thank you for the information." To which Khazura bowed slightly, and went to help Belwen with crafting arrows.
The sun was casting its warm bright glow over the camp; Khazura and Belwen were crafting arrows and more quivers, while Leon and Ashtar debated over what to add in the soup for breakfast, which wasn't quite done yet. Avery was milling about outside of the camp, taking in the scenery. Everything was quite like what he saw back home. It wasn't radically different, but he noticed that the flowers and trees were different to a degree. The trees all had star-shaped leaves, while the flowers were in many different, very bright colors, including green, purple, red and yellow. Those bright colors aren't seen often unless you went deep into the foresty areas back home. Here, they were everywhere. What herbs were rare before, were abundant and plentiful here. The grass and flowers were up to his knees, and a soft wind blew from the sea. One could hear the gulls from here. The sun was just peeking over the blue horizon as well. It was a fantastic spot. Turning away from the sea, he looked to the northwest, and although a haze obstructed the view of the mountain range, and the huge spire, he knew it was there. Khazura could see these mountains. Most elven-like races can see far more than humans.Looking to the south, he saw the river that was inscribed on the map. From here, it looked like a blue string across the distant plains, yet he knew it was at least a mile wide.
"It's nice isn't it?" Rasped a voice behind him. Turning around, Avery saw it was Ashtar.
"Yeah," He sighed. Sitting down in the tall grass, the sun's warmth and wind's breeze made this place feel as if no troubles in the world could reach him, "It's not often I enjoy the countryside back home."
"You're right," Ash said, sitting down next to him, crossing his arms thoughtfully, "I'm not used to trees and floweres, except when I harvest them…But this, this is nice. Makes you think that we have all the time in the world to go face the rest of this land."
Avery wordlessly nodded, his thoughts shared. A bell sounded from down in the camp, Leon calling the others for breakfast. Discussion was hot around the campfire, debating on what to do, but Leon and Ashtar had their own debate, which was amusing the others.
"I still think venison would have made this taste better." Ashtar commented.
"I still think you're wrong!" Leon said through a mouthful of soup.
"Using chicken meat isn't the same though…" Ashtar mumbled as he began eating. The others laughed.
"You silly alchemists and your food ingredients." Belwen teased. Leon threw her a look of sarcasm.
"So, what do we do now that we're here, Avery?" Khazura asked him. To this, Avery sighed.
"I'm not sure yet. Clearly this land exists, but where else to go but northwest, to the mountain," Saying this, Avery watched Ashtar's expression, which seemed to be focusing on his bowl of soup, "the mountain of the Argonian King, the Pilgrim's Bane."
Ash looked up, looked as though he wanted to say something, and then thought the better of it. He gave Belwen a meaningful glance, which she returned. Avery wondered what it meant.
The sun was nearing its highest point in the sky. Ash glanced around the camp. The others were on the other side of it, discussing plans, while Belwen was practicing her aim with some throwing stars on a dartboard, made out of some spare hut planks, and painted with dyes from the local flowers. Ashtar pulled up a seat, sat down, and watched her hit the centermost marks wit hthe throwing stars. He clasped his scaled hands before his face and stared off into the distance, thinking. Soon afterwards, he got up and went to pull some of the throwing stars out of the dartboard.
"What if I miss and hit your hand?" Belwen said blankly, her eyes on the dartboard. Ashtar only smiled.
"You don't miss."
"Are you sure?"
Frowning slightly, he reached toward, and then his other hand shot out, finger pointing outward. A throwing star she had just thrown at his hand was now hooking around his finger. He smiled, and twirled it around in his hand, while taking the others out, and tossing them back into the box where she was picking them up to throw. Her expression changed from slight surprise, to worry. She sat down on the seat by the dartboard, the opposite side of where Ashtar was leaning.
"I don't know about this, Ash, it doesn't feel good."
"I know what you mean," Ashtar said while his gaze drifted to where the others were. Leon and Avery were still there, while Khazura was no where to be seen, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."
"I suspected that," She said, mopping off her sweat with a towel, then paused and looked at him, "But there's something more to it with you…What's really wrong, Ash?"
"It doesn't feel right. The inscripture…The legends say that the tomb of the Argonian King is supposed to be so heavily protected, not even an army can get to it."
"Protected by what?"
"Demons, fairies, beasts, zombies, skeletons, ghosts…Everything you can think of."
"It's only a legend, you know," She began, but Ashtar shot her a look, a look of fear.
"I know Belwen, but something doesn't FEEL right. I can feel it in my soul, in the roots of the earth. I did a spell with a potion. It didn't reveal good things…" He looked away, towards the ground again.
Silence followed between the two. Belwen threw the throwing star she had in her hand, at the dirt below.
"Damnit, Ash, why don't you tell Avery this?" She demanded with a tone of anger rising in her voice.
"…I didn't think that he would listen."
"Why not?"
"Because, he's too gung ho, I don't think he can fully comprehend what could be there."
"That's why you're here, to help and assist in this endeavour!"
"Yes, but, alright fine, have a look at this," With that, he produced an emerald green bottle from his blue robes. Drawing a circle in the sand, and some runes around the edges, he let five drops fall from the small bottle's tip. Chanting a few well chosen words, images rose up; A tall mountain with clouds surrounding the summet, almost magically; A cave at the foot of the mountain; Moving objects inside; The smoke from the incantion takes the form of a skull, while four undiscernable figures surround it; a huge monster; then four more skulls, at the foot of one more figure. Ashtar rose as the last image faded, and put the emerald bottle back into his robes' pocket. Belwen was staring at the spot where the skulls had been.
"Ash…Could that first skull, with the four figures surrounding it mean…" Her voice trailed off in horror at the thought.
"Yes, it implies a death. One of us, most likely," He replied. A blank look was in his eyes, "I don't like what the last image looks like." He fell silent, and sat back down. His eyes shifted to the left, and his tail twitched.
Belwen looked up just in time to see Ashtar make a throwing gesture towards the side of a hut. The throwing star hit the very edge of the hut, where Khazura walked out, apparently eavesdropping. Belwen regarded her with contempt. Ashtar simply got up and walked off towards the sea. Khazura took a look at Belwen and ran after him.
"Ash, please don't be mad." She pleaded after catching alongside Ashtar, who was now walking fast.
"Why shouldn't I be? If you wanted to know what was going on, there was no need to eavesdrop!" Ashtar's voice had notes of fury in it.
"I'm sorry; it really seemed to me like you were planning something behind our backs!" She stopped dead and crossed her arms. Ashtar walked on a few paces and wheeled around on his heel.
"Yeah, it seemed that way to you." Ash turned and continued walking out along the beach.
Khazura walked back to to the campfire, sat down and put her head in her hands. She didn't want it to be pushed that far. Why didn't she trust them? Why didn't she trust him? He must think I didn't mean what I said before, she thought to herself. When she had finished this thought, Belwen sat down beside her.
"You know, Ash can be mistrusting at times." Belwen said, trying to start a conversation.
"Those images…I don't like the sound of them." Khazura said softly, staring at the embers.
"No, they didn't sound good…Bot good at all."
Khazura didn't reply, only stared at the embers. Belwen got up and left. She later noted to herself that the look she saw on Khazura's face was a look of deep sadness; she probably had felt like she had betrayed her friend's trust. Khazura's thoughts though, were not only that, but the skull image she heard about. Would it come down to hesitation if someone died? Would it be her? What if it actually did happen and it was her fault? These questions plauged her mind and she tried desperately to make sense of everything, and find answers to it all. Frustrated, confused, and sad, she retired to her hut for the remainder of the day.
Later on that evening and night, Ashtar and Belwen had a fight. Belwen and Ashtar were yelling at each other, she was calling him selfish and hurtful towards the others, while he yelled back, telling her to get off his back, that Khazura shouldn't have eavesdropped and betrayed his trust.
Needless to say, this made dinner around the camp a very depressing time, due to the mood of three out of five. Leon and Avery tried to encourage them to make up with each other, and then decided to let things be. Khazura's eyes were like ones of a soulless creature. Belwen and Ashtar wouldn't even look at each other the entire time. It was times like this that made Avery wonder if they're really cut out for this.
Later that night, before everyone went to bed, Avery tried to talk to Khazura about what happened.
"I don't want to talk about it. Let's just get some sleep, okay?" She retorted with some annoyance when Avery asked her. Frustrated with being kept out of the loop, he tried both Belwen and Ashtar next and got basically the same reply. He turned to Leon, who was the only other one awake now.
"What's going on with everyone?" He hissed in the darkness, the camp only illuminated by the burning embers of the campfire and the waxing moon overhead, "It's like they've all seen visions of doom and hate each other now."
"From what I gather, that's pretty much what's happened." Leon replied slowly, watching Avery's expression.
"Whatever," Avery threw his hands up in defeat. Whatever the hell was going on, he had no say in it. Apparently all that was left to do was wait until everyone made up with each other now, "I'm going to bed. Maybe everyone will be in a better mood tomorrow." Turning, he went into his hut, threw down his backpack, and dropped down onto the hanging bed. Truth was, he wasn't sure himself if everyone would be in a better mood. Troubled by talk of skull images, yelling matches, resentment towards each other, and people flat out losing it, he went into a fretful sleep, troubled by dreams of what the next day could be.