Chapter 8
Dega woke the next morning to find that his leg was bandaged. He pulled up the bandage, and looking under it to discover that it was well healed. It does, however, look as though it will leave a scar. The others around Dega are still fast asleep, even though it is mid morning.
It must have been a really late night last night…
He started to get up, and test his leg out. Everything seemed to be in good order. He could run, jump, and fight with his leg. There was a weird tingling sensation in it at the moment, but Dega guessed it would wear off.
Dega felt very lucky to have friends to travel with. It had been so long since he had traveled with friends; so long since he had had any friends at all. If it weren't for them, he probably would have died. It wasn't the first time he had ever been wounded in a fight, but he usually kept near the cities so that he could find a healer if need be. While he was in his thoughts, Caleb began to wake.
"Thanks for the help you guys gave me last night, I owe you one," Dega said to the newly awakened elf.
Caleb didn't say anything; he just knowingly nodded his head.
Dega had had a good night sleep, and felt very hungry for some sort of action, so he decided to follow Caleb out on the morning hunt. He had had experience in silencing spells, and in the art of quietness, so he wouldn't get in Caleb's way.
Dega found that Caleb had a very unusual way of hunting. Most people would stay in one spot, and wait for the animal, but Caleb did not do this. He was a very active hunter. He would find a scent and stay on it until he had the animal.
A little way off, in a clearing, Dega spotted the deer that Caleb had been stalking. A single arrow through the heart took it down, and Caleb retrieved both the deer and the arrow.
While Caleb was getting the deer, Dega figured that he'd best get more firewood. They were about out from the night before. The two returned to camp to find that the others had awakened, and were packing their things, getting ready for another day of traveling.
Dega started the fire with a blaze spell, and Caleb began to dress and clean the deer. There was an air of hurry though, due to Xershies being gone. The group wanted to find him, and find him soon. While the group ate, they explained the story of the Glyphs to Y'Ron. Tigo told the story, because he was the one that had known Xershies the longest.
Y'Ron wasn't quite sure what to think about an eccentric old man like the group was describing, nor about the validity of the quest they were on. He decided not to care about it, and just travel with friends. He would leave the group whenever it seemed necessary, and that would be it.
The group finished eating, and Caleb stored the rest of the meet for that evenings meal.
"Let's go. We have a long trek ahead of us. Xershies said that the Glyphs were at the northernmost part of the continent, and I have a feeling that that is where we will find him," Tigo spoke up. A little while later, they were on their horses, and galloping toward the mountains.
The Duvey Mountains were looming ever closer. The snow capped tops were very high up. The path they would have to take could be seen way off in the distance. Caleb called Amoria to him during the trip there. He told it to warn them of any pressing danger by squawking from the sky. The majestic bird flew eastward toward the mountain tops. They had a fortunate journey to the mountains, not being attacked by anything.
Every few minutes, Caleb would fire an arrow into the surrounding woods. Tigo guessed that this was his way of staving off boredom. Caleb soon realized that he only had seventeen of his original fifty arrows.
"At this rate, I'll be out of arrows by the time we leave these woods!" he said with a chuckle.
Near mid morning, they finally came to the edge of the woods. They had been traveling south east most of the journey, so they wound up right in front of the trail through the mountains. Before attempting o scale the mountains, Caleb and the others gathered what they would need for the trip. Caleb gathered wood to carve himself new arrows out of, and Dega and Tigo collected small twigs and branches for firewood. Once they had gathered their things, and when the horses had been packed, they started trotting up to the mountain side. The pathway was littered with rubble, and was almost impassible for the horses. Caleb was the first to try and press on through the pathway.
"When we get up into the mountains, it will be the hardest leg of our journey. The mountains are kilometers of snow and ice. We'll have a bit of a break while we are near the lake, but then we have to pass another trail in the mountains. It won't be very fun, but we've got to do it. Let's go," Caleb explained to the group, before guiding his horse into the cliffs.
The day was a long one. The cold hadn't set in yet, although the temperatures were dropping with every step higher they took. The hours poured by with little activity. Higher up, when they came to snow, the horses started moving a long slower. They weren't used to the high altitudes, and colder temperatures.
Caleb knew that the horses were having a hard time, but decided to push them farther. They would need the horses at the other end of the mountains. The wind began blowing harder than it had before, and snow began to fall. The group was growing weary much faster than at the warmer areas farther down the mountain side. By mid afternoon, they decided to take an early meal and only travel a little farther that day. Caleb guessed that they had two or three days more of this before reaching the lake.
The group ate a hot meal, and fed the horses some of their leftovers. The venison had become considerably dryer and chewier than before.
After their meal, the group mounted their horses, and started traveling farther up the mountain. The cold got worse and the snow fell harder. The horses almost couldn't stand the cold any longer, but hope was in site for the horses. Up ahead was a ravine. In the middle of the ravine was a cliff. The group would have to climb the cliff to continue, and they wouldn't be able to take the horses with them.
"Well, I can come in handy here," said Dega. "I have a jump ability I can use to help us out!" He was excited that he would finally be able to contribute to the quest at hand. The group unsaddled their horses and set them off, back down the mountains. They adjusted the weight of the bags the horses had between them to carry up the cliff face, and started on their way. Dega's jump ability made him the perfect pioneer climber. During their climb, Tigo kept firing his blaze spell at the sparse arctic plant life hanging from the side of the cliff, giving them warmth.
When they finally reached the top of the cliff, they were all exhausted. It was close to dusk, and they decided to turn in early. A few minutes of searching revealed a small cave near the top of the cliff face that would offer some shelter from the elements. The cave was small, but just big enough to fit them, and their fire in there. Dega got the wood he had brought, and made a small fire. The cooking was left, of course, to Caleb and his venison.
After the meal, an order was decided on for keeping watch. Y'Ron would go first.
During his watch, Caleb found that he could not sleep. He was sick of waiting to fall asleep, and decided that he would keep Y'Ron company. Caleb's watch was next, anyway.
They sat there and talked, elf to elf, for a little while. They discussed their origins, and discovered they are both from the same area in South Weilm. They were happy to find that they had even attended the same military academy.
While the two talked, a small band of goblins made their way around the outside of the cave. They saw the fire and walked into the cave.
Caleb and Y'Ron noticed them, and quickly unleashed a slew of arrows towards the goblins. All four of them dropped.
"I wouldn't even really have called that a fight," Caleb said laughing.
Y'Ron and Caleb walked over toward the goblin bodies, and they searched them for anything useful. They got a few items that they could sell at the next town. A few other items, mainly potions and other healing agents, were found. They also found a map of the mountains; a very well made out map.
A few hours later, Tigo was waking up. He needed a drink. Tigo opened his flask, and took a long swig from it. Before he set his flask down, he noticed Y'Ron and Caleb huddled over something, not paying attention to anything.
"Hey! What the heck are you guys doing? You should be keeping watch!" Tigo yelled, slightly angry. His words slurred together a little bit from his still drowsy mouth.
Caleb looked up, rather incredulously, and laughed.
"We are! But we've also found a valuable shortcut," Y'Ron explained.
"One of those goblins," Caleb pointed in the direction of the bodies. "who attacked us earlier had a map of this region! Come over here, and look."
Tigo reluctantly got up from his spot, and made his way over to the other two. He was amazed at the detail that went into the small map.
"Look here," Y'Ron said. "The width of the mountain range spans nearly sixty kilometers. In our current position, it would still take another week to cross both sections of the treacherous mountains, not including the time it would take to cross the area near the lake. However…"
"However, what?" Tigo asked, eyeing the map.
"We're only two kilometers away from a trench that cuts deep into the mountain range. It looks like a small goblin route," Caleb said, tracing the route on the map with his finger.
"Judging from the map, it looks to be a pretty slim trench, but it is passable. Starting there," Y'Ron pointed to a spot on the map. "It goes all the way through to the end of the range. It would only take us about two days to get through, if we go through the shortcut."
"Well, that's certainly convenient. We'll start in the morning," Tigo said, thoroughly satisfied.
"Well… There's only one thing you won't like about it," Caleb said with a look of reservation on his face.
"What's that?"
"Well… We are two kilometers from the shortcut, but the shortcut is back the way we came."
"You mean we have to climb back down that stupid cliff."
"Yup, we do. Sorry."
Tigo gave an irritated grunt, and walked back toward his makeshift bed. The other two chuckled, and began looking over the map again. Morning was quickly approaching.
(crest)
When morning finally did break, Tigo had already been up for a while. He had last watch. It was still snowing heavily outside the cave, and the air was getting colder. Tigo woke the others, and began a small camp fire. Caleb cooked his last bit of venison on the small fire, and made a few of the energy cakes that he had made a few weeks prior. The group ate quietly, and prepared themselves for the trek back down the cliff face. This was going to be a much harder journey than it was going up. They packed their things, and headed outside into the cold.
The snow was much more blinding outside, and the roar of the winds was deafening. They slowly made their way over to the edge of the cliff face, and looked down.
"I can't wait," yelled Tigo over the winds.
Very reluctantly, the group started down the cliff face. They moved at a very slow pace and nearly slipped many times. Dega was the only one that had an advantage. About halfway down the cliff, he used his jump ability to land softly on the ground. His leg of this journey was over, but the others still had half a cliff to climb down.
After a few minutes, the others finally made it all the way down the cliff face. They had several blisters on their unprotected, freezing hands.
"What took you guys?" asked Dega.
The others just looked at him with scowls, and Dega laughed.
Tigo turned, and took one last look up the cliff, and then turned back to the group.
"Shall we head out?" Caleb asked the group.
They nodded. With that, Caleb led the way, holding the map, to the spot that the shortcut was supposed to be. While they traveled quickly, they were now more attentive to their surroundings. No one wanted a repeat of the night before.
After an hour or so of traveling back the way they had come, Caleb stopped dead in his tracks.
"Okay, it's supposed to be right here. Anyone see it?"
Tigo looked around at the cliff walls, and noticed a small notch in the rock about five meters up.
"There's a hole," Tigo said, pointing.
Caleb looked up at the place Tigo was pointing. "Great! That's it! Let's go, guys."
They looked up at the small five meters, but still dreaded having to scale something else. Nonetheless, they scaled the few meters, and made their way into the narrow passageway.
The path was roughly as wide as two people standing side by side. It was barely tall enough for the men to stand upright in. The one advantage, though, was that it was covered at parts, so the snow was not as heavy. Sections in the ceiling had been left out to provide for light in the passage.
They traveled through the small tube in the mountain for the day, staying straight on the path. Many other paths jutted away from the main one, but Caleb kept them on the main path.
"Hopefully, we should be done and out of here within the next day," Caleb said to the group. "We just shaved our journey to find Xershies down by about a week. I'm glad those goblins attacked us!"
The men exchanged cheers, and continued on.
Near nightfall, they decided to stop. Caleb found a small cavern off one of the outlet paths. The cavern was large and completely covered, with the exception of a small hole at the top. Goblins had obviously built the hole into the ceiling to keep the room clear of smoke. It would make a very nice camping spot.
As they reached the room, they noticed that it had already been populated by goblins. Several groups had been surrounding the room. Fires were left going and tents were still set up, but no goblins could be seen.
"Well, maybe we shouldn't stay here tonight," Y'Ron said a little apprehensively. "I don't feel like fighting all these goblins.
The rest of them agreed with Y'Ron, and they decided to go back to the main tunnel, and travel a little farther down it.
After travel for a few more minutes, they discover another cavern that looks almost exactly like the first large cavern. This one, however, did not contain any goblin abodes.
"Shall we take the risk?" asked Caleb.
"Yea, I think we should. We will have to keep watch anyway, and we can take out any of those creatures," said Dega, who was already unpacking. "I'm tired as heck. I'll take the last watch again." With that, he was on the ground, falling asleep.
"Well, I guess I'll take first watch. I'm not really tired anyway," Y'Ron said, finding a suitable seat.
"What about food?" Tigo asked, clearly hungry.
"Well, we ate my last bit of venison this morning. I'll try and hunt a little bit now. I'm not tired either," Caleb said, hearing his stomach rumble.
After the others had gone to sleep, Y'Ron and Caleb talked for a little bit. After their conversation, Caleb decided to scout around the passageways to see if he could find any storehouses of food. He picked up his map from the campsite, and headed into the labyrinth.
Without a map, Caleb would have been lost. He was even somewhat confused with the map. The passages twisted and turned in illogical ways. He wished that the goblins would have labeled the maps so he wouldn't have to search for the food.
After searching several rooms, and finding nothing, Caleb heard what sounded like a huge crow cawing. He hid himself in the shadows, and when nothing came, he poked his head back out. He heard it again, this time, however, it sounded like whatever it was, was in pain. Perplexed, he snuck around the corner. It led to just more passageways, so he followed the sound.
The cawing was coming more quickly now, and it was much louder. Caleb figured he was getting close. As he rounded another corner, a small cavern came into view. Inside the cavern a giant animal had been tied down in the center. It looked to Caleb like a gryphon. It had several cuts and its feathers were matted with blood. When it saw Caleb, its cawing stopped.
Feeling compassion for the hurt animal, Caleb crept close to it, and used a small healing spell. Most of the smaller cuts were gone, but the larger and deeper cuts still remained. He cast it once more, and they too had disappeared. The blood was still matted to the feathers, but Caleb thought he would clean them after the group left the mountains.
He walked over to the ropes keeping the gryphon down, and cut them one by one. The majestic animal stood up, and stretched its legs out. Caleb started patting its feathers, and attempting to get the larger blood clots out. The gryphon moved it's head down and gently prodded Caleb's neck. The loving gesture made Caleb smile.
Suddenly, a voice came into his mind.
Hello there. My name is Valex. Thank you for helping me.
Caleb was stunned. He just looked at the creatures face, and studied it for a second.
"And my name is Caleb. You're quite welcome. How is it that I can hear your thoughts?"
Well, I'm guessing you're a wood elf. You wood elves are pretty attuned to hearing animal's thoughts. Plus, I'm a gryphon. I can let anyone I want to hear my thoughts.
"Well, in that case, thank you for letting me hear."
Valex walked over toward the small exit of the cavern, and then back to Caleb.
You came that way, but I'm much too big to fit through there. What are you doing in a goblin hideout anyway?
"Well, I'm part of a group that is traveling north. We had to cross the mountains, and this hideout offered a valuable shortcut."
Valex walked back over toward Caleb, and then up to the ceiling, which had a larger hole in it.
How many are in your group?
"Me and three others."
Well, if you can get your friends here by morning, I'll fly you to the edge of the mountain for helping me. You'll have to give me until morning, so that I can get a few of my brothers.
Caleb was stunned by the request of the gryphon.
"Of course! Thank you! That will shave a lot of time off of our quest."
You're welcome. Thank you again for helping me. I will be back in this room with three others like me at dawn. I'll see you then.
"Okay! Bye!"
With that, Valex lifted his mighty wings, and gave a thrusting blow downward. He was out of the room before Caleb could even turn around.
Caleb ran back through the tunnels, and passageways, back to the camp site in the cavern. Once he's there, he sees several bloodied bodies of goblins. Y'Ron was sitting on his rock, with a smirk on his face.
"Hello there, Caleb. Glad you could make it. You missed a heck of a battle in here. Oh wait, it wasn't even a battle. These goblins aren't even any fun. Oh well. Did you find any food?" Y'Ron stated with a grin crossing his face.
Caleb suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be scouting for food.
"Oh crap. I'm sorry. I forgot about the food. But, I did find something a lot better!"
"And what could be better than food?"
"Well, you'll just have to wait and see. You'll see it at dawn break."
Y'Ron wasn't really interested. He figured it was something stupid. A few more minuets of conversation led to Y'Ron going to sleep, and Caleb being left alone.
The rest of the night was very uneventful. Caleb would have thought more goblins would have come. They were in a goblin hideaway. Dega followed Caleb's watch, and Tigo was last.
At dawn, Caleb woke up. He was very excited, and prompted the others to get ready quickly. IN a few minutes, the group was running through the passageways of the mountains. They weren't even quiet, but no goblins were seen.
"Wow, the lack of goblins is almost unsettling," Tigo observed. He didn't know where the goblins were, but he was sure they were causing mischief.
As the group neared the cavern that Caleb had found Valex in, Caleb warned the group not to attack what was in the room.
The group was slightly frightened by that revelation, and they proceeded with extreme caution.
"Look what I found!" Caleb said joyfully, as they rounded the corner into the cavern.
They walked into the cavern, and saw four giant gryphons. The other three stared in wonder, as a voice came into all of their heads.
Hello. You must be Caleb's friends. My name is Valex, and these are my brothers. Caleb helped me get out of a bind last night, and to show him thanks, I volunteered my brothers and I to fly you to the edge of the mountains.
"Wow! That's awesome, Caleb!" Tigo exclaimed, happy to not have to finish walking the rest of the mountains.
There is a small elf village Marengale at the foot of the mountains. It isn't on any maps, and is very well hidden. I'll take you to the outskirts of that village.
"Okay! Thank you very much, Valex," Caleb said with gladness at getting to see Marengale again.
The group didn't have to ask anymore questions. They hopped on the gryphons' backs, and braced themselves for the flight. The gryphons took off, and flew out of the cavern.
The air was bitter cold, but at least bearable. The flight was a short twenty minutes as the crow flies. As they flew toward the foot of the mountain, they flew closer to the ground. The air got warmer, and the snow disappeared. The group was very happy they were out of that nightmarish place.
The gryphons landed a few feet from the edge of Sestis Woods. Just inside the woods, a small village could be seen.
The group dismounted their gryphons, and said goodbye.
Caleb, I'll check up on you guys and your journey every so often. If you need a flight again, just holler. If I'm near, I'll come.
"Okay. Thank you again for the ride, you helped a lot."
The group turned, and began walking into the village.
Y'Ron walked up toward a sign that was on the outskirts.
"Marengale"