Ch. 2
Friends and Allies
The cry of an eagle soared overhead as Rakiv raced across the open fields. The island breeze whipped over her, lifting her hair as a crimson cape in her wake as she bounded down the hillside. She'd almost forgotten how good it felt to run free across the Plains of Jarin. Along side her, her crocodile companion kept pace, slithering faster than any normal reptile his size ought to have been able to move. Ahead of her loomed the majestic structure of the Sunspear Great Hall, the center and heart of their Order. The ranger had visited the Hall a couple of times before, as a guest of Kormir… a long time ago. But it seemed that the hall had grown since then, and large scaffolds stood against its walls where builders continued busily expanding it. The Sunspear Order had indeed prospered under Kormir's direction, and were it not for so many of their number engaged on the high seas hunting the corsairs, their land based defenses would have been indomitable.
The pretty ranger bounded up the steps and trotted to a stop at the gate, pausing to catch her breath. Her crocodile slithered up and lifted its snout to look at her curiously.
"Stay here Butter," she said, giving his nose a pat, "I'll be back out soon."
The crocodile croaked in affirmation and waddled off, finding a suitable sunning spot on the head of a lion statue. Rakiv turned and strode through the gates, flipping her hair back over her shoulder as she stepped into the hall. The center square contained a moderately busy marketplace, mostly populated by Sunspear guards and new recruits who had yet to receive their assignments. Another set of stairs led up to the base of an enormous monument, built to Sologon, the legendary Spearmarshal of ancient times. At the feet of the statue stood an armored man, wearing officer's garb and shouting orders to the men around him. Rakiv's lips curled in a small smile as she strode towards him.
"Heave on that line!" the officer shouted, "You there, get these crates moved! I need a full contingent of masons on that scaffolding, or it'll be Grenth to pay!"
"Quartermaster Ahkenchu," Rakiv called.
"It's captain now!" he snapped as he turned around and regarded her, "And you're late Sister Maelstrom."
"Just Ranger now, thanks," she smiled, raising a hand to dismiss the comment, "And I'm sorry about that. Had some trouble with the local fauna on the way over."
"Hmph, well you'll be looking for that scholar then," Ahkenchu said, "He's been closed up in the archives ever since he got here. Talk to Shiloh, he'll let you in."
"Thank you Captain," Rakiv nodded.
"On your way Ranger," Ahkenchu grunted as he turned back to his troops.
Quartermaster Shiloh was far more accomodating. The trainer led the ranger through the wide gates that led into the Hall's interior, making small talk along the way. The Great Hall's innards were adorned with large statues, monuments of spears, suns and famous warriors. As they approached the archives, the Hall's monuments changes to specific persons, tall carvings of the great Spearmarshals from the Sunspear's history. At the very end stood a statue of Kormir, which Rakiv thought only bore a passing likeness to her friend. Shiloh stopped, indicating the large doors beyond.
"He's in there somewhere," the man said, "Good luck finding him."
Rakiv arched an eyebrow but nodded and thanked him as she pushed open the doors. The other side was a realm of absolute chaos. Books piled into mountains formed the landscape, while the shelves along the walls were stuffed to overflowing with scrolls and papers. The ranger hesitated, one could get lost in here… for good. From somewhere within the archives there was an exclaimation of triumph, followed quickly by a cry of surprise.
"Oh no! No, no, no, no..!" it shouted, moments before a heavy crash sounded through the room.
Rakiv watched as one of the mountains of literature crumbled and came crashing down, knocking up a good amount of dust and leaving pages fluttering through the air.
"Well that wasn't so hard," she commented to herself as she nimbly picked her way through the debris.
She found her way to the far back end of the room, to where waves of book now lay in dissary all around. The dust had begun to settle for the most part, but there was no sign of the speaker. Treading lightly across the hardbacks, she searched the debris, until a footstep earned a strange grunt from below. In alarm she lept back, blinking curiously as a red gloved hand broke through the surface of pages. She watched as a tall, dark skinned man emerged from the papers, grunting as he pulled himself free and proceeded to dust off his red tunic and brown leather jacket. His braids hung loose around his face and he grumbled to himself as he retrieved his hair tie.
"Thanks for stepping on me," he said, turning to face her, "For a minute I wasn't sure which way was up," he chuckled sheepishly.
The ranger's eyebrow arched as she looked him over. She'd expected an old man, with spectacles and silver hair that was quickly receeding from a bald crown. What she'd got was a young man, with shoulder length braids, piercingly bright hazel eyes and a well groomed gotee adorning his chin. He appeared to be in pretty good shape for an academic as well, more like what one expected from an athlete than from a bookworm.
"I take it you're my contact here?" he asked, causing Rakiv to realize she had not spoken in several minutes.
"Oh! Right, yeah I am," she nodded, holding out a gloved hand to shake, "Ranger Rakiv Maelstrom, I'm an old friend of Kormir's."
"Very nice to meet you Ranger Maelstrom," the man smiled as he shook her hand, "Assistant Professorial Scribe Kydar Raelesin, College of Historical Records… at your service."
"Mind if I just call you Kydar?" she chuckled, not bothering with his titles.
"Only if I can call you Rakiv," he smiled.
"Deal," she nodded, releasing his hand and stepping back, "So you're here to talk to Kormir?"
"Yes, I'm here from the Academy," he said with a nod, pulling back his braids and securing them with the tie, "Kormir's excavation into the First City is an event that my superiors would like documented, so I am here to document it. There are, however, other matters that the Records department and I would like to bring to her attention."
"Let's walk n' talk," Rakiv suggested, turning towards the door, "This place is too dusty."
"Agreed," Kydar nodded, as he picked up a thick notebook and slid it into his belt pouch, "My professors would have a fit if they saw an archive like this…"
The pair picked their way carefully past the teetering stacks of books as they exited the dusty archive room.
"So what's this other thing you want to talk to Kormir about?" Rakiv queried.
"Well… how much do you know about Farhanur?" the scribe asked.
"Not much," she shrugged.
"Ah, well," he said, "The First City dates back to the time of the Primeval Kings. It was the founding of civilization in Elona and commanded an empire that spanned the continent. It, as well as the Primeval Era, was destroyed by a terrible epidemic called the Scarab Plague, which originated in Farhanur."
"Yeah but… the Scarab Plague was over six-hundred years ago," Rakiv blinked as they strode down the halls, "You're not afraid of an outbreak right?"
"Oh not at all," Kydar assured, "But the plague was not all. Much knowledge was lost during the period, and more was lost during the following Pretender Wars, but a number of records of the city still exist in bits and pieces. Unfortunately, all of them contain references to stranger and darker occurances than the plague, which forced the abandoning and sealing of the city."
"And… you think it might still be there?" Rakiv asked.
"When the Scarab Plague hit, Istan was abandoned," Kydar explained, "Not that it did much good, since the plague spread to all corners of Elona. However once the plague ended, Elonians moved back into Istan. Now, whatever happened in Farhanur, it was bad enough that the city was abandoned, sealed, and all routes leading to the city were destroyed. When the Elonians resettled Istan, they kept largely to the Eastern parts of the island. There are no settlements anywhere near Farhanur, and only hardened criminals dared move so far as Lahtenda Bog to set up the Blacktide Den. The ancient Istani feared the city, even after the Plague had ended. I think we should know why before Kormir delves any deeper."
"Knowing Kormir, we'll have to find out the hard way," Rakiv muttered, "Anyway, meeting Kormir will have to wait. She's busy in Champions Dawn, and I'm supposed to keep you entertained until she gets back."
"I'd really like to speak to her before her diggings go any further," Kydar said anxiously.
"Well at the moment she's short on diggers," Rakiv chuckled, "So I think you've got some time. One of her tacticians is supposed to be meeting us here for further instructions."
As she spoke, the ranger pushed open the Hall doors, stepping out into daylight. Across the square, Alendra Soleer stood chatting up the skill training Quartermaster. Upon catching sight of them the pretty paragon waved and happily jogged up to them.
"Good morning Ranger Maelstrom!" she smiled.
"And good morning to you Castellan Soleer," Rakiv chuckled.
"Just Alendra is fine," the girl insisted, and then looked up, "My but you're tall!" she exclaimed.
"Assistant Professorial Scribe Kydar Raelesin, College of Historical Records," Kydar nodded with a bow of his head, "A pleasure to meet you."
"First Officer S.S. Castellan Alendra Soleer," the girl snapped to attention and gave a salute, before giving a small curtsy with her short skirt, "A pleasure to meet you as well."
"Right, now that that's done," Rakiv chuckled and shook her head, "What's Kormir want us doing now?"
"Oh! We have a new assignment," Alendra explained, "Kormir's headed back to Kamadan to greet Warmarshal Varesh."
"The Warmarshal is here?" Kydar blinked in surprise.
"She arrived early this morning," Alendra confirmed, "And settled quite nicely into the Consulate. She and Kormir will be discussing trade, as well as the significance of this excavation."
"Then she'll be busy for awhile," Kydar sighed with annoyance.
"But don't worry! We've got bigger problems!" Alendra said.
"Big problems… don't worry?" Rakiv arched an eyebrow at the girl.
"Ahh! You know what I mean!" Alendra protested, "Look, Kormir talked to the Quarrymaster in Champion's about getting more diggers. But it seems Quarrymaster Bohanna's men ran into some trouble. They broke into a Mandragor nest during their mining, and a day later came under attack by Skree harpies. They've been hold up in their camp for days, waiting for help that we don't have the numbers to give. I'm assigned to retrieving and evacuating the miners immediately. Kormir was hoping you would help."
"Sure," Rakiv shrugged, "Beats bumming around a dusty old archive all day. But what am I supposed to do with him?" she asked, jerking a thumb back at Kydar.
"Uhm… he can come too?" Alendra blinked.
"I might as well," Kydar sighed, "I'm sure we'll get a spare moment with Kormir sooner or later."
"You sure?" Rakiv asked, "We can always just barge in on her."
"No I'm sure the Spearmarshal is attending to important matters," the scribe nodded, "And with those diggers trapped, there's no work being done so I can wait for now."
"Alright," the ranger responded with a shrug, "Let's see if the Xunlai can help us out then."
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The Xunlai Travel Agency was an extention of the Canthan based Xunlai Storage Guild, the strongest and most well known bank in the world. The methods of the travel agency were unknown, but they had quickly built a reputation for being able to transport people very quickly across great distances. So it was that mere minutes later, the trio found themselves in the woodland hamlet of Champion's Dawn, a trading post that directed goods from the island interior to the ports on the beach and in Kamadan. The town was still abuzz with activity, a number of persons in Canthan and Tyrian armor tripsing about and looking after the large walls that had been constructed around the town.
"What's with all the commotion?" Rakiv asked curiously.
"A little left over business from the first corsair raids last week," Alendra responded, "They hit the southern beach hardest, and tried to push up through the Dojok woods. But it seems Kormir has friends in far places, called in some favors and pulled together an instant defense."
"Impressive," Kydar nodded, stepping aside as an assassin carrying a load of crates excused himself past the group.
"Where's this Quarrymaster?" Rakiv asked.
"Over there!" Alendra pointed, "And I think that's our contact with her."
Several paces from their position, a dark skinned middle-aged woman stood conversing with another female. The other woman was shorter, and her skin much paler, though not without a tinge of Istani coloring to it. She wore the robes of a Sunspear elementalist, dyed in deep blue and her chocolate locks were cut short to hang just below her ears. Her lips were painted the same icy color as her robes, and a crown of three blue jewels floated about her forehead. Turning from the Quarrymaster, she caught sight of Alendra and gave a small wave as the group approached.
"Castellan Soleer?" she asked as they approached.
"Yes," Alendra nodded, "And you are?"
"S.S Commander Second Class, Anicara Nyrin," she reported, giving a snappy salute, "General Dunkoro has been reassigned and I'm filling his place."
"At ease Commander," Alendra nodded, then blinked and tilted her head, "What was he reassigned to?"
"Spearmarshal Kormir requested that scholars be brought to the diggings to examine the objects brought out of the excavation," Anicara reported, "The general left with a small caravan to escort one to Jokunar."
"Ooooh…" Alendra nodded, "Well we're glad to have you commander."
"Thank you Castellan," the elementalist nodded, relaxing a bit more, "And please, call me Anicara."
"Absolutely," Alendra smiled, "We should get underway immediately. Oh, but before I forget. These are our companions."
"Rakiv Maelstrom," the ranger nodded simply, extending a hand, "I'm here lending Kormir an arrow or two."
"Nice ta meetcha," Anicara responded, shaking hands and turning to the tall male behind them, "And you are?"
"Assistant Professorial Scribe…" he began.
"His name's Kydar," Rakiv interrupted, rolling her eyes.
Alendra giggled and Anicara chuckled as Kydar glanced at the ranger in annoyance.
"Yes, Kydar," he confirmed, as he shook the elementalist's hand, "A pleasure."
"Likewise," she said, a coy smile tugging at her azure lips.
"Sorry we're late Quarrymaster," Alendra had begun saying to Bohanna, "Could you tell us where we're headed?"
"Head to de cliffs," Bohanna instructed, "Mah men were near de quarry camps, at de bottom ov' de chalk face near da beaches. Choo will see der scaffolds an make yer weh down. Be careful doo, choo'll have ta get t'rough de Skree nests at de cliff tops first."
"And then clear the quarry of Mandragor," Alendra responded, "Don't worry Quarrymaster, the Sunspears will save your men."
"Please," Bohanna pleaded, "Hurry."
"We will," Alendra said, as she unhooked a strap across her chest, unslinging her large golden tower shield and drawing her spear from the javelin quiver at her back, "Everyone ready?"
"That we are," Anicara said, picking up her staff and adjusting her focus eye.
"Let's move," Rakiv ordered as she made for the gate.