Chapter 13: death by fire, path by ocean
"Well that's the last time I decided to take a ride on a flying beast" Kaja said dusting herself off after a very hard landing, phi-phi squawked indignantly but to Kajas defense the bird didn't know her own limits, she had taken them a good chunk of the way before running out of energy to carry all of them.
She had plummeted to the ground. Rigran readjusted his nose with a sharp crack, Rayla helped get Ezran and Zym up over the edge of the clip. Both had nearly fallen down but luckily Rayla had caught them.
"I vote we walk from here on out" Rigran said, "probably a good idea" Callum admitted, Bait merrily groaned and turned from green back to his normal color.
Ezran patted Phi-phi and listened to her squawks.
"She's just tired" Ezran explains to everyone, "her power comes from the moon nexus, the further away we are from it, the harder it is to carry everyone", "I'm still having a hard believing you can understand all that" Callum said, his tone wasn't of blame or anything he was stating a fact.
"You did a good job" Ezran said patting the phoenix, the phoenix then turned around and flew off back home
"We should keep moving, our enemies won't be far behind us," Rigran said as they watched the phoenix go.
Kaja tried to stand up but a sudden pain in her side made her stumble and fall over, she gritted her teeth and clutched her side, "Kaja are you okay?" Rigran asked concern creeping into his voice, "yeah just hurt" Kaja replied.
Rigran bent down and undid the fabric bandaging that Kaja had put around the wound in her side, a few black veins appeared around the wound, it had long since stopped bleeding but it didn't look too good for Kaja.
Rigran grim faced, cursed their bad luck, "blade must have been poisoned" he said, "is she going to be okay" Ezran asked concerned, "Will one of your antidotes help her? If you have any" Callum added helpful, "I can still walk, we can't slow down now" Kaja snapped and stood up.
"Here" Rayla said quickly, supporting Kaja by wrapping one arm around her shoulder, "you helped me so I'm going to help you". "Let's find a doctor in the next town, there's a town down there," Callum said, looking down the cliff.
There was indeed a town on the coast of a large ocean, "yeah right on the edge of fluid I both need to survive and hate more than anything in the world." Rayla said dread in her voice, "and what makes matters worse is that Xadia is also that way".
"Guess we are hiring a boat" Kaja said with sarcastic enthusiasm, already aware of Rayla's hate of water due to the story about the river incident "just Lovely."
"We can walk around it," Callum offered.
"No, that's sweet," Rayla blushed, "but walkin's gonna take too long. We need to get that former egg, now an adorable baby dragon, back to Xadia as soon as possible. We've got to go straight across."
"Not much choice" Rigran said.
Border of Xadia
General Amaya frowned as she gazed through her telescope. The smoke from the molten lava made it hard to see. Which made determining the other outpost's secrecy harder to determine. They'd been quiet for some time. What if something happened? Lowering them, she began signing to her lieutenant.
"General Amaya, we've searched everywhere and there's been no sign of the elves," he answered. "I think it's safe to conclude that the outpost on the Xadian side remains secret." Loud hisses came from the magma and the lieutenant smiled pointing, "There look. The signal. The outpost is secure."
Picking up her telescope, she raised it again looking at it. Something wasn't right. Setting it down, she signaled again.
"Yes General, I'll have a party," the man bowed and ran off.
Turning back to the breach she glared out at it, if the elves wanted a fight. They would get one.
Picking up her scope again, she looked towards the outpost trying to see if she could spot any intruders. Only for a flash in the sky to catch her attention. She turned her scope, looking up towards the dark clouds, through them, she could see light. If it were lightning, it would've faded by now, and there hadn't been any dragons on the border since Thunder.
She looked up and she caught a glimpse of something in the sky, but it just as quickly disappeared with a flash of lightning.
Amaya soon joined the party to make sure Xadia didn't have any new weapons to be used against the human kingdoms.
Azazel walked down the dangerous routes of the borders of Xadia, the Lava lands sent steam at them but Azazel not his rider so much as flinched, Hainn stopped Azazel at a certain cave; it was a little larger due to erosion but it was still there non the less.
In it was a worn away gravestone so worn away that it was practically a stump in the earth, "hello old friend, your time will come" Hainn said to the grave as he began rummaging around in the earth it was still lose even after all these years, he found it, the amulet that he had placed there so many winters ago.
"Your souls will do what business it needs completing that I swear" Hainn said to the amulet, his horse snorted outside, Hainn turned, he found a small groups of sun forge elves, glaring at him, hatefully, he met their glare evenly. One elf lunged at him with a sword, Hainn then vanished and the sword slashed mid air, Hainn reappeared with one sword drawn and beheaded the elf in one slashed.
This gave the other elves pause, some even backed away warily, but eager to avenge their comrade they drew their swords as well, Hainn drew his second sword, and I am afraid not a single elf from that group lives to tell of their report to the general.
Once in town, the group crouched behind some crates near the docks looking at the ships. "Well, we need a boat," Ezran stated, "and a Captain who knows how to make it go."
"Right, specifically a Captain who doesn't hate elves," Callum added, "and one that won't try to kill all of us regardless" Rigran added.
Rayla scoffed at passing Kaja to Rigran, "That won't be a problem. I can just disguise myself as a human again." She leapt up, snatching her cloak from Ezran's bag and pulling it on with a wide grin, "Hello again, fellow humans, human fellows."
"Oh, oh, you're gonna love this Zym!" Ezran exclaimed.
"Let's go judge and criticize things other humans do, and then do the exact same thing ourselves." Rayla said in an elf stereotype of a human.
Kaja began chuckling despite the pain in her side, "Do another!" Ezran laughed.
"Sure thing old buddy, old pal! I'm excited to rapidly eat a plate of unwholesome food in an excessive portion size." Rayla said in another elf stereotype of a human.
"She's right, I'd eat a jelly tart the size of a dog!" Ezran said to Zym.
"Won't it be great to encounter other humans, and talk about which roads and pathways will take us somewhere slightly faster than other roads and pathways?" Rayla mimicked once again.
"It's true! We do like going slightly faster!" Ezran said to Zym, "Hey, sometimes getting somewhere slightly faster is important," Callum interrupted.
"And at the moment the doctor is the most important thing on our list" Kaja said, wincing from the pain in her side. The chuckling hadn't helped the pain, but it definitely helped her mood.
Castle of katalis
Viren watched the elf in the mirror as the elf placed a chest on a table and opened in place, a rock, a bit of cloth, a bit of string, a grounding bowl and took, a glass of wine, and a knife.
The elf gestured to the objects on the table, "you want me to find these objects?" Viren said, guessing, "that I can do". The elf smiled.
Port town
The port town doctor, Doctor Obidia Nook, was dressed exactly like a small town doctor, complete with the suitcase sitting on a desk in his room. Kaja lay on the bed with a cloth cloth in her mouth to bite down on while the doctor fingered inside her wound, Rigran sat in a seat in the room looking concerned at Kaja.
"Clean" the doctor noted, "didn't lose much blood thankfully, though there does seem to be some kind of poison, nothing lethal but it will weaken her might not be able to walk unaided for a while".
"That's good news compared to everything else we are dealing with" Rigran thought gratefully, "anyway of getting it out of her or curing her?" Rigran asked, "fraid not, this poison is new to me in fact I think it might be new to Xadia entirely" the doctor said.
"My advice is don't do much walking and take it easy", "very helpful" Kaja muttered under her breath as she took out the bit of fabric gingerly. "Pardon?" The Doctor asked.
"Nothing we'll just go" Rigran said, helping Kaja up off the bed and supporting her as she stood, "thank you," Rigran added, placing a bag of coins down on a table, "Your welcome and good luck" the Doctor said, they were going to need it.
Outside the two found Ezran, Callum and Rayla running up to them, "hey we found the perfect captain" Callum said, "i'm fine thanks for asking" Kaja said sarcastically, "sorry so what did the doctor say?" Callum then asked, "he said she needs rest, she'll be getting plenty of that on the boat, the poison must just be to slow us down" Rigran replied.
"Well that's good to here, i'm just glad she's okay" Ezran said, "thanks but let's stop wasting time and find this captain of yours" Kaja said.
They began making their way to the docks, Rayla hugged her cloak a little tighter around her, "hey don't worry that won't be a problem with this guy" Callum reassured, "why?" Rayla asked, then added jokingly "is he some kind of enlightened human who can really see the good in elves?", Callum thought about it seriously, "actually i don't think he can see the good in anyone" he admitted, "but then again that is what makes him the perfect candidate".
"Did i hear that right?" Rigran asked Kaja, Kaja shrugged as she herself wasn't sure if she heard right, at the end of a jetty there was a man dressed as a pirate with parrot on his shoulder, as he turned around Callums saying about not seeing the good in anyone took on a whole new meaning.
The man was completely blind, he had an eyepatch over both eyes, "greetings" the man said, "the names captain Villads, the D is silent", "theres a D?" Rayla asked, "Arr" Villads confirmed, "theres a silent R as well?" Rayla asked confused now as pirate or sailer vocabulary wasn't in her humans studies.
"Narr" Villads said, "right so a silent D and no R got it" Kaja said, trying to speed things up, "aya" Villas confirmed, "don't ask Rayla" Rigran said hurriedly before Rayla could ask, "these are our regular human friends Kaja, Rayla and Rigran" Callum introduced, "spelled like it sounds" Rayla quipped.
"And these our are cute regular dogs, Bait and Zym" Callum continued, "ahoy Rayla, Ahoy Kaja, Ahoy Rigran and Ahoy Doggos" Villas said, then gestured in the vague direction of his parrot, "this be my first mate Berto!", "im a parrot"Berto squawked, "we can bloody well see that" Rigran said taken aback by the fact the parrot could talk.
Me ship's this way!" Villads jumped, walking through the group of teens. "Welcome to me water home, The Ruthless!" They looked at the ship he waved to and they all shared a look. How on Xadia, could a blind man, control a ship that big alone?! "Named after me dear wife, Ruth, who sadly," he sniffed, "don't enjoy sailing."
"So you said if the wind's on our side we could make it across the bay pretty quickly?" Callum inquired. "Aye! Course, there's a storm comin'." Villads said perking up, "A storm? That could be interesting.", Callum said to himself, "So we have to delay departing for a few days." Villads said, "Uh, we're on a tight schedule," Rayla spoke up. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"Hmm, I suppose if we leave right now, we could race across the bay and beat the storm." Villads answered, "Yes, let's do that.", Callum said "No problem! Unless the storm catches us mid-bay and kills us all!" Villads laughed. They all stared at him as if he was crazy, "well no point hanging around here considering our 'tight schedule'" Rigran said as he helped Kaja aboard.
Sure enough they were sailing smoothly along the waves, a few dolphins swimming beside them making Ezran woop with excitement, at the steering wheel Villads steered the ship, "you may be wondering what happened to me eyes" he said to Callum wh didn't ask as he didn't want to be rude, "well a traitorous seagull took me left one", "wow" Callum said slowly, "and the right one?" Rigran asked he appeared on deck, "don't know something came at me from the left" Villads answered, "where be lovely lady Kaja by the way?", "bellow deck she needs rest, doctor's orders" Rigran said shrugging.
Callum meanwhile was looking up at the sails and he noted that the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, he spread his wings out and yes the wind was definitely blowing in the opposite direction. "Hey how can we be sailing in one direction when the wind is going in the other?" Callum asked, "oh that's how you sail me boy" the blind pirate laughed.
The sail is more like a wing, flying through the wind, pulling the boat against the water currents below us. It's like shooting a willow-melon seed between your fingers! Ya squeeze it on both sides, but the seed shoots straight out," he explained firing a seed and hitting Callum between the eyes.
"I think I get it," Callum said feeding Berto the seed.
A wave came by and newly knocked them off their feet; Villads quickly corrected the ship, losing his hat in the process, but Berto got it back. "When you're in the elements long enough, ya get a feel for where the wind is and how it's about to change. It's like a connection, deep in me bones."
This, unsurprisingly, got Callum's attention. "Hold on, you feel a connection to the wind? How did you get that?"
"What? Just because I'm blind and have narcolepsy you thought I wouldn't have a sailing sense?!" Villads said, "No, no, no! that's not what I meant!" Callum hurriedly said.
"What's Narcolepsy?" Rigran asked, he had heard the word before but he couldn't remember what it meant. Both heads snapped back to the Captain and saw him sleeping at the wheel. Berto, was pecking his companion's ear, repeating, "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up."
Villads startled awake, swatting at the bird as his head wildly swung around. "What happened? The last thing I remember was talking about narcolepsy then falling asleep!" He blurted, "That's about right," Callum nodded.
Rigran shook his head regretfully, they were on a ship, with a storm incoming and with a blind Captain who could fall asleep behind the wheel at any moment while they were literally in the middle of nowhere.
"Well we're doomed" he muttered to himself, "Storm's a comin'. Seems that we won't beat it after all!" the Captain cackled. Could this day get any worse?.
As a matter of fact it could for below the ship, deep deep underwater, in an underwater cave at the bottom of the sea floor, three large tentacles reached out of the black gaping entrance of the cave and a low moan sent every fish in the area swimming wildly for hundreds and hundreds of miles.
Castle of katalis
Viren walked through the castle with the tray of ingredients he was told to find, just as he was making his way down the corridor that led to the dungeons, a vortex of some kind appeared around him, Viren turned around and was surprised to see Hainn standing there, his armor covered in what looked like blood, "Hainn your back" Viren observed, "and you a tray" Hainan replied, evenly "how did you get so bloody might i ask?" Viren asked, "went ot visite the grave of an old friend, some people didn't like me snooping around" Hainn replied.
Well Hainn i found out what the mirror does" Viren said, "you have have you well what does it do?" Hainn asked, "it allows me to communicate with someone on the other side, or rather see him, he asked me to get these ingredients" Viren responded , "well then let's see what he wants" Hainn said.
The two entered the dungeon, "oh yeah armored dude our back" said Gren while Draavan just glared, "hello Gren, Hello Dravaan" Hainn said evenly. Viren placed the tray on a table nearby, as he did this the elf eyes widened in what seemed to be pleasant surprise, Hainn's own surprise he kept concealed behind his helmet and his joy almost made him explode but he was a member of the wild hunt and so he was trained to contain himself and so he did.
Viren then stepped in front of the mirror with the tray and table and waited for instructions, he followed the to the letter, first he sewed g a rune onto a piece of fabric with the needle and string, and then showed it, "i have not seen this rune before" Viren mused, the elf used his hands to magically form the rune in mid-air, then he turned into a small ball of purple light and shot it into the mirror.
The golden string of both sewn runes glowed, the elf magically placed the fabric around the rock and cracked it in half revealing minerals inside, Viren did the same with the grinding tool, the elf then ground the minerals in the rock and poured them into the glass of wine, Viren did the same.
The elf held his glass up for a toast to Virens confusion, "you expect me to drink this?" Viren asked confused and now slightly suspicious, "don't worry you can trust him" Hainn said reassuringly to Virens surprise, Viren gave a surprised sideways glance then turned back to the elf who drank his own cup to show it was safe.
Viren drank the cup, "hmmm surprising not terrible" he said, placing the cup down the elf brought out the knife and held it over the palm of his hand, Viren did the same about to make a cut, but he stopped and looked at the elf, "why should i trust you?" he asked the elf, "i don't een know who or what you are?".
"I do and i trust him" Hainn said placing a hand reassuringly on his shoulder, "do as he says you won't regret it", "you haven't given me much incentive to trust you either despite our common interests" Viren snapped, he then sighed, "i just need time to think".
He jammed the knife blade into the table and exited the room, Hainn sighed, "don't blame him, not that you do much of that old friend" he said, "he is just unsure of where to go and keeps his options open and questions each one".
Hainn then removed one of his armored gloves revealing the skin, so pale you could see the black veins on it, "but enough talk it is time for me to hear your voice" he then took the knife and cut himself.
The ocean
The storm churned the waves as high as the boat itself, water came splashing over the sides and onto the boat, Rigran and Callum braved the wind ondeck while the others hide underneath the captains quarters, Rayla was looking worse for wear, she was sweating horrible, her face going a green color and her stomach nearly making her chuck up the last thing she ate.
"Your going different colors, is this your moonshadow form?" Ezran asked, "no this is my very good but very rare glow toad impression" Rayla said jokingly covering her mouth to not throw up. In fairness Bait was going the same colors as her and looked just as bad. "How bad is it?" asked Kaja appearing behind them from below deck, "really…" Rayla began but then gagged again, Kaja was using a broom as a crutch, "damn" she cursed as she was thrown against the wall and her side began aching.
"The storms are too strong" Villads shouted over the howling of the wind, "best we moor ,lee side of that island" he pointed to the incorrect spot of where the island was, Berto corrected him by adjusting his hand.
"to the bow berto" Villads ordered his parrot, "aye aye" the bird said as it landed and perched on the bow of the ship, "port hardy to port" the Carrot squawked,
Villads turned the boat in the direction of the island while everyone else held on, "current fast! Drop the sails' ' the bird squawker, Rigran lept into action deciding it was time to help out.
All Witchers need knowledge of how to sail on a boat, and Rigran grabbed a rope and began pulling the sail down, unfortunately they were heading towards some rocks fast, "Starboard starboard" the bird squawker, Villas turned the wheel to a hard starboard.
They moved between two rocks barely avoiding them, "port port" Berto squawker under the deck of the ship, Rayla, Zym, Kaja, Ezran and Bait were thrown about wildly.
The ship turned to port and floated with a single gentle knock of a post at the Jetty of the island. Berto tied the ship to the post, "nailed it squawk" Berto squawker triumphantly.
"Did he just say the word squawk?" Ezran asked, everyone was looking much better now that the wilderness had stopped but they weren't out of the woods, or rather the coming typhoon yet.
Border of Xadia
Amaya led her troops towards where the signal had been, but along the way they had stopped to look at a pile of elven corpses hidden in a cave in the rock face.
The elf's had either been beheaded or stabbed by a large sword, or maybe two as one was two long gashes in an X shape. "We didn't do this" she signed to her troops with the commander translating "but it sure looks like we did".
They began dumping the bodies into the Lava to be never found again, not necessarily an official cremation but they treated the corpse carefully. The dead did deserve respect after all, even the dead of elves.
They continued to make their way to the outpost, it seemed abandoned at first sight, the wheel that spun and allowed lava to flow through the tunnel harmlessly.
But on an upturned barrel someone had left their lunch which must have been recently as the cup of tea was still steaming slightly.
Amaya readied her sword, "where is everyone?" The commander asked, "they should be…"
A figure stepped out of the cavern and readied themselves, it turned out to be a Katalis soldier, who stood to attention quickly, "your signal is late and where is everyone else?" Asked the commander as they all relaxed a little.
"Oh uh they all went out on patrol" the Soldier said, "and sorry about that sir. I missed my cue the next signal will happen exactly on the hour"
The commander scoffed thinking that they had wasted their time on a false alarm and all the soldiers made to leave, however Amaya saw that the soldier looked nervous and circled a thumbs up. Amaya's eyes widened as if it was a soldier's code.
Amaya dashed forward and blocked an arrow that would have killed the soldier, all around them sunforge elves appeared, surrounded them with arrows pointed and swords drawn.
Amaya scowled as she saw a familiar elf walk out of the tunnels and draw a sunforge blade.
Castle of katalis
"Can I ask you a question?" Viren asked Hainn as Hainn tended to his horse, "yes" Hainn responded evenly, "how did you become a wild hunt? Or whatever you are?" Viren asked.
Hainn stopped brushing his horse and turned to Viren, "there used to be 6 of us" Hainn began, each of us chosen to become the Wraiths of Morhogg to hunt for the Alder folk".
"But from my understanding wraiths are restless souls who have unfinished business so is there a reason you are called wraiths?" Viren interrupted. Hainn looked as though he was thinking under his helmet, "well theres a ritual." Hainn began "Each chosen is given a medallion, and when it is time…" "you kill yourselves?" Viren said slowly as he put it together, "yes, it's like a Witcher trail, you've witnessed them correct?" Hainan asked and Viren nodded.
"Well then i suppose you can call it the trail of unrest as only those with restless souls will be granted into the hunt, the medallions act as a source to draw from the material plane", "which one? Fire?, air?, water?, earth?" Viren asked, Hainan looked at Viren seeming only a little surprised, "he didn't tell you did he? About the 5th source" Hainn said, Viren shook his head surprised.
"The 5th source is the most powerful, the astral planes, the place were the power to warp space came from, as well as the horses of the hunt" Hainn patted his horse as he said this then brought out a medallion, "these medallions turn us into the wild hunt, it grants us enough access to become wraiths, they brought us our mounts and they give us our power".
"Such a small thing gave you so much power?" Viren asked in amazement, Hainn placed the medallion around Virens neck, "maybe one day you can join the hunt", "but will the others in the hunt and these Alder folk accept this?" Viren asked, Hainn was silent, "truthly, i'm the only Alder folk left" he said almost sorrowfully, as if a part of him liked the fact while the other half felt a twinge of sadness, "but rest assured, a new order will come, you will be one at the top Viren, if you still have ambitions".
And with that the Wraith walked away, Viren looked at the medallion on his neck for a second, then his face harded in determination, his ambitions will lead human kind to safety, no matter what.
Border of xadia
Down in the river of lava, on a shore a hand burst out from the lava, a hand that was in perfect condition, the figure crawled onto the rock away from the lava, gasping for air, the figure looked elf enough, sunforge elf at that, but he himself new he was not an elf for he had the soul of a long dead man, a man whose soul had been restless, "what is this?" he asked himself as he looked at himself and felt his body, every part of him to make sure he did now have the body of an elf.
He stood up and looked around, he was beginning to remember, he remembered his own death at the hands of a magnatitan, he killed it himself with the help of an elf and Wraith, he then saw something glowing in the lava, it was a sword, red hot from the lava now he drew it out.
Then he felt something buzz at the base of his neck, he looked down, it was a medallion, a medallion that looked oddly familiar, then what happened next he could explain but the answer was perfectly simple, Magic, magic of the Alder folk flowed through and around him.
Armor formed around his naked body, black armor with a bit of white fur, a horned helmet covered his face, the sword in his hand changed and became a very long and broad sword, the entirety of it made of heated metal hot enough to melt through flesh and burn skin to blisters. And a fabric cape flowed from his back becoming a brighter shade of hot orange as it went down.
The new knight looked at himself in satisfaction, "Hainn you old bastard" the man laughed and from a lava fall came a Winny, the whinny of a horse, and from the lava fall, more importantly from the planes of fire, a horse burst out, a horse as black as ash or scorched rock, a horse with a saddle of skulls and spikes, a horse with a mane and tail of fire, it's legs trailing flames as it galloped and eventually slowed to a stop in front of it's rider.
"So Malum is to join the hunt" said the knight named Malum, as he got onto the saddle patting his new steed, "then so it shall be" his horse reared up in excitement and Malum raised his sword in a glorious moment of triumph as a lightning bolt flashed and made everything go white.
Back at the ocean
The gang had had better days, they all sat in the rain, looking miserable, it was one of those storms where you couldn't have gotten any wetter if they had all jumped into the sea, which for reasons would have been a bad idea, "well we didn't beat the storm" said Villads, standing up "we'll have to wait it out bellow deck", "hurra" Rayla said sarcastically, as they all began to head down after Villads, Rigran helped Kaja down, "we are dripping wet and miserable and we have saved no tie at all."
Rayla stood up to go down but stopped when she noticed Callum looking at something, "hey you coming?" she asked, "yeah i agree" Callum said absentmindedly, he was peering at something on the island, Rayla sighed, "i know that face" she said, "it's the dumb idea face".
"Out with it" said Rigrans voice, he had reappeared onboard the deck of the ship to listen in and was leaning against the wall, Callum sighed as a bit of lightning struck, "everytime the lightning Strikes, i can feel something" he explained, "yeah it feels good to not be struck by lightning" Rayla said, "i second that now lets get down and hope the ship doesn't catch fire" Rigran said turning to leave, but stopped when Callum continued, "no i mean, it feels like it did when i used the fulminis spell" Callum evaluated, "maybe if i can go into the storm and brave it, i can make the connection to the sky source".
"Or it'll blow you up until your dead" Rayla said light heartedly, Zym meanwhile dashed between Rigrans legs enjoying the storm hugely as a bolt lightning flashed, "see Zym gets it, he feels it as well" Callum said, "he does want to go out there" Ezran said then began stroking the dragon prince, "Don't you?" Zym gave a chirp to say yes.
"What?! Nonononono" Rayla blurted, "it's one thing to be be stupid and risk our human life but we can not risk the life of the future king of the dragons, i am not allowing it", "he is a storm dragon" Ezran said after a moments thought, as the two left Rayla called out to him "if you die out there i will bind myself to kill you" she threatened.
All of a sudden the boat violently shifted beneath them, they were almost thrown off their feet, down below deck were there was a crash ad a cry of pain from Kaja, "oh FUCK!" she cursed, "everything okay down there?" Rigran called out as they all listened, "yeah your lady friend just fell out of bed" Villads called back up, "she alright?" Ezran asked, "no i landed on my injured side, ow fuck!" Kaja yelled back up, "well be down in a second" Rigran said then turned to Rayla.
Only to find se had disappeared, "huh where did she go?" Ezran asked Rigan as if he knew the answer, "Rayla where did you go?" Rigran asked to the empty space around them, what had happened was this.
When Ezran had asked if Kaja was okay a tentacle wrapped around her and before she could say "hey" she was pulled off her feet, off the boat and into the water, luckily she managed to drew her swords and stab the tentacle. Back up above the boys searched the boat, "she's not bellow deck" said Villads as the two hide beneath the stairs and out of the rain, "well where the heck could she be?" Ezran asked.
Just then Rayla's voice was heard as the tentacle had reared out of the water not to far off from the boat, "guy's help!" she called, they all rushed out and say nothing, well some more than others but still nothing, "uh where did she go this time?' Villads asked, Rigran however squinted out to the sea, he leaned over the railing for a better look, than a tentacle of some giant octopus, reared out of the water, threshing and writhing and dropped Ralya on the deck. Unharmed but looking a little shaken.
"That thing dragged me under" she said to frightened to do anything but breath heavily and force the words out, "its a kraken! it's a kraken!" Berto squawked in panic, "A Kraken!? My ship is lost" Villads exclaimed, "not quiet yet" Rigran said taking out a witcher potion called Petri's Philter, this would increase the power in his witcher signs.
Two more tentacles reared out of the water, "get bellow deck" Rigran ordered the others as he drew out his silver sword, the tentacles lunged forward at him, "bring it on" he dared the tentacle.
Callum was meditating on the edge of a cliff while Zym played in the rain, humming a little, "okay it's wet" Callum said, eyes closed, as Zym began catching water droplets in his mouth, "the wind is blowing" a sudden burst of wind nearly blew him back, "it's blowing alot" he added then shivered, "i'm cold, i'm soaked" Callum deflated in defeat then turned to Zym, "is your ski supposed to wrinkle if you understand the sky arcanum?" he asked the dragon who only chittered in reply.
"I don't feel any different" Callum told the dragon then looked up the hill, "maybe i just need to be higher up", he began climbing, he struggled due to the steepness of the slope, Zym being smaller and more suited for the terrain scamped up easily, Callum then slipped and landed on his back, in the same spot he had been meditating, he sighed in defeat as he lay their and looked up at the rain.
Zym climbed onto his chest and chirped, "i don't know how i'm supposed to get this Zym" he told the dragon as he sat up, "your born with magic because your a magical creature, but i'm just a human, sure some have magic but only some, and i'm not one of those some. And theirs no humans in our human kingdoms who can do it. Theres nothing inside of me".
Zym looked at him sympathetically, "i want this so much, when i could do magic i finally felt like myself, and no i have lost that and i'm just trying to find my way back", then a flash of lightning struck behind him, they both looked to see a windmill, and lightning Striking the same place on the windmill, "it's just like the Primal stone" Callum said as he made a circle with his hands and made the connection, hope rose within him "thats where we need to go".
Meanwhile at the castle of Katalis, Viren looked out over the castle as the sun began to set, he felt his hand where he had almost cut it, "considering the offer i hope" said Hainn behind him, "yes" Viren said then the caw of a crow caught their attention, it was a crow carrying a message and heading to the crow's tower.
Viren and Hainn made their way to the tower, "did any messages arrive for me?" Viren asked, "four actually" said the crow master taking four scrolls from the shelf, "and i wasn't told?!" Viren demanded, "a-actually we couldn't find you anywhere" Stuttered the crow master then began laughing "what you hiding in some secret chamber somewhere?" he chortled, Hainn raised an eyebrow as did Viren, "i was in the bathroom" Viren said with no emotion, Hainn facepalmed making a metallic clang as metal met metal sharply.
Viren opened the letters and read them all at once, he gasped in delight as he saw what was on them, "the other four kingdoms have agreed to the summer of the pentarchy" Viren said in delight, "that sounds important" the crow master said, Viren ignored him, "i will rally the four kingdoms and finally crush Xadia and threat it brings to humanity" Viren continued, only now he spoke to the crow master, "you are witnessing history".
"Thats great" the crow master said then changed the subject, "would you rate the service today as excellent?", "sure why not" Hainn shrugged.
Back at the ocean
Rirgan cut the third tentacle tip off as it lunged at him, it quickly retreated as the second tentacle made another lunge, "Igni" Rigran said and a burst of fire hit the tentacle and it raced back underwater.
"Come on show yourself already" Rigran cursed, as he cut into the fifth tentacle, down bellow deck the crew were getting jostled about, "i can't even light a spark to help out even if i could walk" Kaja said in frustration, as she tried forming a fireball but only formed sparks in hand "can't you do something Rayla?".
Rayla couldn't because she was hyperventilating as the sudden trauma of being dragged back under the water of that thing was to much for her to handle, "i think she's too scared" Ezran said, "i'm terrified, petrified, i'm never going near water again after this" she all but managed to squeak as she hugged her legs.
Suddenly there was a loud thunk on deck and the boat dip alarmingly down, "what was that?" Ezran asked, Rayla pulled herself together and braved herself to go up on deck.
On the deck of the ship the Kraken had risen it's large tentacles and was beginning to push the ship downwards dragging it underwater with it, "rigran through fast however and tossed a witcher bomb known as Dragons dream, it realesed a flammable gas over the creature, "Igni" Rigran said again as he burst of fire more powerful than before he had drunk the Witcher potion.
It ignited the gas and caused an explosion, small enough to not do any damage to the ship, but big rough to make the tentacle of the creature let go, "Aard" he then said firing a powerful telekinetic blast at the second large tentacle and loosened its grip, he then, jumped, using the railing as a booster and slashed his silver sword downwards and cut the tentacle in half.
Back up the mountain, Callum found the windmill and figured out why lighting was striking it so often, "it's a lightning rod" he realized, Zym climbed onto his shoulders as Callum climbed the ladder, hopping off as they reached they reached the rod and looked up at it.
Back at the boat The length of it fell to the ground while the stump and what remained of it retreated back into the ocean, "you don't get off that easy" Rigran said as he recklessly dived off the ship.
Back at the windmill Callum continued to looked up at the lightning rod, "maybe it i.." he whispered as he reached for the rod, but then drew it back, "no i can't…" he said then collected himself, "i have to do this, i have to understand the sky primal".
underwater he drew out another bomb and caste the spell Quen over himself. two large yellow eyes appeared out of the dark blue and glared at him hatefully, Rigran returned the glare, "alright you over grown calamari, let's see how much you can stomach"
The 4 remaining tentacles shot forward out of the blue towards rigran.
Callum grabbed the lighting rod Title, Zym began whimpering in fear for Callum's safety.
Rigran cut and slashed at the tentacles with his sword but they just returned to try and make a grab for him.
"Come on, come on" Callum said, willing the lightning to come as he held the rod ever tighter. But the lighting never came.
One tentacle of the Kraken grabbed Rigrans foot while he was distracted, it began dragging him, down down, and he got a good look of the creatures large mouth, full to the brim with layers of teeth, it opened its mouth ever wider and the tentacle catapulted forward and Rigan was thrown into the black of the monsters mouth as the mouth snapped shut.
"Uh Callum your being an idiot" Callum scolded himself as he let the rode go, "you can't simple risk your life to learn magic", he breathed in and out, to calm down, he stood up, he had quiet gotten to his sense, he smiled down reassuringly at the dragon.
Underwater the krakens eyes widened as it felt a burning sensation in it's stomach and it began to expand at a rabid pace.
back at the windmill a lightning bolt descended and hit Zym dead center.
At the exact same time, at the exact same moment, the two exploded.
Meanwhile at the border
Neither side had one this fight, Amaya woke up to find the outpost in ruins, the elves were beginning to retreat, but a retreating pair couldn't get out of the way of the monsters path, it slashed it's flaming sword and beheaded the both of them, it's steed trampling a human soldier that was also in its path, whether it was accident or not mattered not, the elves were fleeing from this thing that looked like on of their own, then it was probably best they fled as well.
Amaya turned to her general who was ordering the troops to retreat as fast as they could, "how many troops remain?" she asked in sign language, "i don't know we'll have to count on our way back" said the commander. However the elf Amaya had been fighting lept from the rooftop and swung her sunforge blade down onto the rider, the man, no not the man, the monster swung its own sunforge sword, it must have been the hooter blade because upon contact it melted though the elf's blade
The elf roared as her body began to glow with lava like veins, she then lunged at the man who merely backhanded her aside like she was a bug, the man charged on his horse right at her hoping to Trample her. Amaya's honor would not have this happen even if she was an elf, she tackled the elf out of the way just as the burning hooves left their imprint on the spot where they had been, the elf looked at her in astonishment, a human just saved her life, the elf pointed to the tunnels, the meaning was clear, run while you still can.
Amaya turned herself and followed her remaining troops back out of the outpost, the elves ran as fast as there legs could carry them, the rider walked his horse to the tunnels then stopped, watching them as they disappeared. Outside the outpost, Amaya got on her horse but looked back to make sure they weren't being followed before trotting after her remaining troops. Neither elf nor human had won the outpost, but Malum had won and so by default the wild hunt had won.
Back at the boat
Kaja and Villads were peering over the sides of the ship where in the water the remains of the Kraken float above the water the blood polluting the waters around them, a couple of fish began nibbling at the smaller bits of fleshy tentacle and suction cups, it wouldn't be long till it was a feeding frenzy, "i fear we may have lost him" Villads said solemnly taking his hat off and putting it to his chest, "a true hero" Berto added in the same way.
Witchers were anything but heroes they were professional and so Kaja knew in her gut that Rigran had to be alive.
Tears formed in Kaja's eyes as she looked down, Rayla caste Kaja a sympathetic look as she turned back to looking for any sign of Callum, they saw Callum ealing towards them, head down, holding the prone form of the dragon prince, Rayla and Ezran rushed over, "Callum what happened?" Ezran asked, "we went into the heart of the storm" Callum said, "and zym…"he trailed off, and Zym sat up and burped ot a bit of lightning to everyone hug relief.
Ezran laughed as he took his friend in his arms, Callum looked down feeling a little bit stupid, he even said as much, "you were right" he said to Rayla, "i could have gotten Zym killed. I put us both in danger and worst of all. When we were right there in the center of the storm, i thought i wanted it badly enough but i just didn't have the guts in the end".
Rayla placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly, "good" Rayla said hugging Callum, Callum hugged her back "your not the only one who nearly got himself killed for being an idiot" Kaja said as she limped over using a broom as a crutch, "Rigrans alive" Ezran added relieved but with urgency in his voice.
Rigran had had a rougher time of it than Callum, Callum was intact, Rigran on the other hand had several tears in his armor, small but tears non the less, ot to mention his hand looked burnt as the glove was blackened, indeed when they took off the glove they found it was blistered with burns, the rest of him was covered in slime and bits of kraken flesh. It smelled horrible but no one noticed in their worry and the urgency of the situation
Villads hurriedly placed him in the wooden bed Kaja had been in when she was resting, "he's not breathing" Villads said examining the boy as the others gathered around worriedly, "good news is i have a remedy for that" he added and swiftly punched Rigran directly in the stomach.
The younger Witcher coughed and gagged, as he fell off the bed and began vomiting onto the floor horrible, he then rolled onto his back and took great lungfuls of air, "Rigran your okay" Callum said as Kaja hugged him, Zim and bait gave the boy a lick each, for Rigran it hurt to breath but he managed to gasp out, "you should be resting" to Kaja.
Kaja scowled and smacked him on the head lightly, "i'm fine compared to you your bastard idiot" she hissed then hugged him again, "next time you do something heroic please don't" Ezran begged, Rigran nodded, he would not be doing that in a hurry anytime soon.
Villads helped get Rigran back onto the table, "rest my boy, otherwise you might reach your limit of pain tolerance" Villads told him. A little later they were sailing away, and Callum stood next to Kaja as the sun sat, "i wished i had Rigrans guts and heroics sometimes" Callum told her, "then maybe i can have…" Kaja placed a hand on his shoulder stopping him, "you don't have to have guts to be like Rigran" Kaja said, "just be yourself"
Callum gave a reassured smile as they continued their journey over seas.
