She started to take her clothes off before stopping and making awkward eye contact with Midiga. “Um…” she began, and Midiga once again got the hint.
“Oh! Sorry,” she said, spinning around and looking away. “Modesty is just not my thing, but I’ll keep watch!” She planted her feet facing away from the elf, training her ears and eyes toward The Walk.
Alleria smiled at her, looking around one last time before removing her hood from her ears. The wind felt good on their pointed tips. She took off her green cloak, hanging it from a branch, and then took off her bag, leaning it against a tree. She wrenched off her muddy boots, pairing them up beside the trunk of the same tree. Then, she quickly peeled the rest of her nasty clothes off, laying them on the grass. She dipped her foot into the water, cringing at how cold it was.
Reia dipped her nose near the water, taking a long drink upstream from where Alleria was trying to gather the courage to get in. “It’s good drinking water,” said the kitsune, “but I feel bad that you have to swim in it!”
Alleria took the fastest bath of her life, scrubbing her body with her hands as best she could. She dipped her long, brown hair under the waterfall for as long as she could stand it, using her nails to loosen the dirt that had built up on her scalp. After one last rinse, she practically leapt out of the water, though not feeling much warmer in the late spring breeze.
Shivering, she dug through her bag, pulling out her extra pair of pants and a tan cloth shirt that she had taken from home. She only had a few outfits with her and tried to keep them as clean as possible. She used a strip of cloth to wrap her breasts, holding them in place so they wouldn’t hurt if she had to run. Then, she quickly dressed, pulling on her shirt, and stuffing her legs into her pants. Last, she slid on a fresh, clean pair of socks and slipped her boots back on her feet.
Her cloak was the final touch. It was the only one she had, and it wasn’t the freshest, but she couldn’t go without wearing it. She clicked the silver clasp in place around her neck, feeling it with her fingertips for a nostalgic moment. It had been her mother’s, and she had given it to Alleria to wear each time she was in public so her ears would be covered and she would be safe. The clasp was real silver, shaped like two arrowheads with a small chain connecting them. She pulled the hood up over her head.
She took a few minutes to scrub the worst of the dirt out of her other clothes. They didn’t get as clean as she would have liked, but she already felt like she had wasted enough of everyone’s time. She wrung her clothes out before hanging them on the straps of her bag to air dry as they walked.
“Okay, I’m done!” she called to Midiga. She pulled her fingers through her hair, combing it as best she could, before stuffing it into her hood to dry. Her wavy bangs hung in front of her eyes, and she pushed them back behind her ear.
The felid turned and smiled at her. “You look so much better!” purred Midiga. Then, she backtracked. “I mean, you looked good before… I was just saying, now that you’re clean—”
“Thanks,” Alleria said, interrupting her. She reached down and picked up Reia, clutching the fox to her chest. Midiga nodded, grinning, and they turned toward The Walk.
It seemed like they had only just started walking when they finally stopped to make camp the first night. Reia lit the campfire with a show of magical prowess while Laderic and Midiga watched on, impressed by her skill, limited as it was. Reia was quite humble, bowing her head and insisting she still had much to improve upon.
The night was clear, and the moon illuminated much of the woods around them. Alleria was relaxed, unlike how she usually felt. She normally took turns keeping watch with Reia, spending half of the night staring off into the trees and listening for the howl of bloodhungry canidae, and the other half tossing and turning in restless, nightmare saturated sleep. But tonight was not that way, and she soon fell asleep without any problems, feeling protected by the presence of her new friends.
The next day passed just as smoothly. Alleria, becoming more comfortable with her two escorts, overcame her shyness and started asking them questions. It turned out she had quite a few of them. Her curiosity was insatiable. She switched targets between Laderic and Midiga all day, firing question after question their way about everything from elves, magic, the lay of the land, and even their history together.
When she asked Midiga about her and Laderic’s relationship, the felid was amused. She smiled wistfully, eyes glazing over for a moment. “If you mean to suggest that we have a romantic history together, you couldn’t be more wrong.”
Alleria giggled, stealing a glance at Laderic, who, to her surprise, didn’t seem offended in the slightest. In fact, he was grinning. The elf was curious, figuring he would have leapt at the opportunity to defend himself. “Yeah, I can see why he wouldn’t be what you’re looking for, Midiga,” poked Alleria, fishing for a reaction.
Laderic only smiled broader. “I think you’re misunderstanding her reasoning, Alleria.” He and Midiga made mischievous eye contact. “Whether or not I’m good enough isn’t the issue. Let’s just say, I’m not her type.” His emphasis hung deliberately on the last word.
“Oh!” remarked Alleria. “You only like other felids! I guess that makes sense.” But they were both starting to laugh at her, and her face turned red as she was embarrassed and confused. “What?” she asked, glancing back and forth between them. She crossed her arms. “I don’t get what’s so funny.”
Midiga was nearly crying she was laughing so hard. “I don’t mind dating outside of my race. That’s never been an issue, as long as it’s not a canid,” she clarified after she had calmed down a bit, still giggling to herself. “You’re getting warmer… It’s just still not quite right.”
Laderic was wiping tears from his eyes, still smiling hugely. “This is hilarious… No, Alleria, she doesn’t care that I’m a human, just that I’m, well… a man.”
After a brief moment of silence, the pieces fell into place in Alleria’s mind. “Oooohhhh,” she realized. “You don’t like men, not just Laderic!” The other two were both laughing again, finding the exchange hysterical. The elf was giggling along with them now. “I guess I can’t blame you. I’ve never dated anyone before, but having the choice, I’m not sure why anyone would pick men.”
“Hey,” said Laderic, still laughing. “We aren’t that bad. Don’t go looping us all in the same circle now.”
Midiga shoved Laderic playfully as they walked. “I don’t know if you’re the ideal spokesperson for the benefits of dating men. In fact… you might be the opposite,” she teased. Her tail whipped back and forth with amusement.
“Oh, hush.” He groaned, rolling his eyes. “We’ve got our perks. You’ll see.” He winked at Alleria, and she blushed, quickly averting her eyes and struggling to keep from smiling.
They stopped to rest for a late lunch, tearing into the dried jerky and nuts that Midiga had brought along. A thin creek wound its way through the trees, and they drank deeply before setting off once again. Alleria soon picked back up with her questioning, feeling as though each time she got an answer, she came up with twice as many questions to ask.
“I’ve seen so many things since I went out on my own, but I’ve been so scared of people finding out the truth about me, I never stopped to ask anyone questions,” she explained, after interrogating Laderic for over an hour about the different races of the Far Land. He grunted a response, his mouth dry and jaw aching from answering all of her questions as they walked. He almost thought she was going to give it a rest for a bit, but he was wrong. Just a few seconds later, she started back up again, this time asking about swordplay and fighting. A pleasant turn of events for Laderic, since he was quite happy to talk about something he felt he knew much about. They talked until nightfall, making camp in a clearing just off the beaten path.
They rose early the next morning, eager to reach Acrosa, and in particular, to reach a cozy tavern with a warm bed. The Walk divided Acrosa almost exactly in half and was the reason for
the prosperous nature of the town. The people of Acrosa were more diverse than those of Ulandyl whose natives were almost exclusively felidae. Acrosa was a catchall for those who traveled The Walk and was home to humans, canidae, dwarves, felidae, and all other sorts of sensible creatures that inhabited the Far Land.
While most of the people in the Far Land had their own self-proclaimed capital cities where their species almost exclusively made their home, many other small towns were quite varied in nature, and its inhabitants got along accordingly. Ulandyl, for example, being home to mostly felidae, housed those with extreme negative dispositions toward canidae. It was, in fact, possible for the two to coexist in the same environment without conflict, and even to become friends.
Alleria made sure to don her hood before they set off, covering her pointed ears and color-changing eyes. Her eyes were curious to Laderic. He had only ever met one other elf and couldn’t remember if her eyes had changed color or not. He had never heard of elves having that ability. But, then again, he had never heard of elves being able to use elemental magic like a spectral, or of them being able to form alamorphic bonds with animals like humans. Truthfully, he didn’t know much about elves at all. So he let it go, figuring it was probably just a side effect of her being so weird.
“So who is this contact that you have?” asked Midiga. Her footsteps were nearly silent on the path. The morning was sunny and warm, a pleasant day for walking. Sunlight filtered through the gently blowing leaves, speckling the ground with dancing fulgor.
Laderic shrugged, looking side to side as they walked, vigilant, and ready for whatever might try to surprise them. “A friend of mine—we used to work together. His name is Mavark. We’ve been through some tough times together, and he’s requested my specific skillset on a few of his own jobs,” he alluded, referring to his own set of illegal talents. “Over the years, we’ve become good friends. He’s referred me to several other clients as well, helping me make some money.” Laderic backtracked. “It’s actually not him that we need to speak to, though. It’s his wife, Ysmira. I met her through him. She’s a renegade elf—she might know where the city is.”
Midiga nodded, one of her ears flicking with a gust of wind. “Sounds like a good plan. It’s a start, anyway. Even if it is fruitless, this small detour could still help us get some information. Who knows? She might know why our friend here is so… different.”
Alleria smiled, keeping to herself. While over the last couple of days, she had appeared young, almost childlike in her fear and naïvety, but she now seemed more her age. She was confident in her steps—calm, poised, and collected. “How much longer until we reach Acrosa?” she wondered aloud. “We’ve been walking for a few hours now.”
“We should be there before nightfall,” said Laderic, answering her absentmindedly. His mind was still on Mavark.
“You know, I think that’s the first time you’ve addressed me without being sarcastic or rude,” Alleria chided, raising an eyebrow toward Laderic. He hardly paid any attention.
“I should tell you guys about Mavark just so you’re not surprised,” he said cautiously. “He’s an alamorph.”
Alleria clasped her hands together excitedly. “Maybe he could help me out with some advice?” she asked. Reia, who trotted beside them, nodded her tiny head in agreement.
“I’m sure he could...” Laderic glanced at Midiga. “He’s a drake alamorph.”
Midiga blinked, snapping her head toward Laderic. “You’re joking,” she balked, eyes wide. Her tail twitched behind her, fluffed up larger than usual.
Alleria frowned, staring at the two of them in confusion. “What does that mean?” she asked. “What’s going on?”
Midiga looked at her, ears lowered near her skull. “A drake alamorph is an alamorph that is bonded with a dragon,” she said slowly. “This gives them a frightening amount of power. Because dragons are such strong-willed creatures when the bond occurs, the alamorph takes on a lot of dragon-like characteristics, making them a formidable foe, and quite dangerous.” Midiga looked at Laderic, crossing her arms over her chest absentmindedly. She swallowed hard. “Are you sure this guy can be trusted?”
Laderic nodded, unwavering. “Absolutely. He can be a bit hard-headed, but he’s a good friend. Fierce. I can safely say he would bleed for those he trusts—and I would do the same for him.”
Midiga narrowed her eyes, unsure of Laderic’s praise for the drake alamorph. From what she had heard, they were not to be trusted. Drake alamorphs often take on more than just the dragon’s physical features. She had heard of the human partner being driven mad from the dragon’s insatiable craving for gold and jewels. Or how they become sneaky and cruel, acquiring the silver tongue of their partner, knowing nothing but greed and treachery. Then again, these could simply be rumors and old wives’ tales. As Laderic appeared to know Mavark fairly well, she had no choice but to trust his judgment.
Alleria was torn, watching both Laderic and Midiga, unsure of whom to believe. She knew little about alamorphs—only what Laderic had told her, really. Laderic was friends with Mavark, sure, but Midiga’s reaction was unsettling. She made cautious eye contact with Reia, feeling the kitsune’s mind in her own, unsurprised that they were sharing similar feelings about the subject.
The group continued to walk in silence, enjoying the day, each deep in their own thoughts. Warm days like this brought Laderic back to when he was younger, having grown up south of Ulandyl in a small fief just outside of Mariscale, where it was summer nearly all the year. He grew up well protected, the youngest of three boys. His dad was on good terms with the lord who shared his land with them, so they never went without.
His mother had died when he was still quite young of a plague that ravaged the lands in the south. His oldest brother also passed with the same illness. So he entered his adolescence with his father and his next oldest brother, who had stepped up as the eldest son early on in life. After the death of his mother, his father started running with a rough crowd, often abandoning the house for ‘work,’ leaving the boys to manage their small farm by themselves.
When Laderic was just approaching manhood, his father left for a long time, much longer than ever before. When he returned, he’d been beaten up, his body scraped and bloody. He said hardly a word, but something was horribly wrong. He moved with urgency, his eyes sunken into his skull, flinching at every sudden movement and shadow. He ordered his sons to pack their things immediately, for they were leaving the farm and not to return.
Not even an hour after his arrival, however, a thick, black fog, almost like smoke, draped itself over their farmland. A dozen nightwalker spectrals, trained in the art of dark magic, appeared from the fog and surrounded their home. One of them, in a cloak paler than moonlight, stood watch as his clan formed a circle around the old building. Laderic had run to their storehouse to stash what little food they had left in a bag just before the fog had arrived. He watched from a distance, as the nightwalker spectrals burned his home to the ground with evil, black fire, his father and brother inside.
The days after were a blur to Laderic. Nightwalkers were merely a myth in the Far Land, as any spectral chosen by dark magic at birth was cast out of their society immediately, left to fate and nature. Whispered of and spoken about around campfires late at night, or mentioned in scary stories told to children to frighten them into behaving, these stories were widely accepted as just that—stories with no truth behind them. This is what Laderic had always believed… until that night. However, each time he spoke about this, he was laughed at and quickly hushed. Talking about nightwalkers was a bad omen. It didn’t take long for Laderic to learn to keep his mouth shut about what had happened that night. But he knew.
He knew.
Many nights, he would dream of the nightwalker in the white cloak—the day that they would meet once more, and he would wrench a sword through his still-beating heart.
“Laderic!” shouted Alleria, waving her hand in front of his face. He flinched, blinking
, shaking his head back and forth to clear his thoughts. He narrowed his eyes, glaring at her. He didn’t speak.
“I was just wondering how you met your alamorph friend?” she asked, frowning. “But you ignored me. Twice.”
“It’s a long story,” he said flatly, gloomy thoughts killing his mood. He normally tried his best to avoid thinking of home around other people.
Alleria huffed, looking away into the distance as she walked. “I was just asking,” she muttered.
“I’ll tell you eventually,” he grunted, closing the subject. They walked in silence a while longer.
Midiga kept her ears on alert for anything suspicious in the surrounding sparse woods, but, as it was daylight, and this road was well traveled, it was unlikely they were going to have any surprise visitors. She didn’t mind the quiet walk, basking in the sunlight as any cat would. She grinned to herself, as her thoughts drifted to a humorous subject.
“So,” she began, “Laderic, when do I get my payback for Padstow?” Her tail flicked with amusement as she bared her sharp teeth in a mischievous grin.
“Please, Midiga, not now,” groaned Laderic, preferring to keep quiet and mull his emotions. He was not in the mood to talk.
“What are you talking about?” asked Alleria, eyes widening in anticipation of the story that was to come. Midiga chuckled.
“It’s not a big deal, really,” she said, though glancing at Laderic to make sure he wouldn’t mind her telling the story. He didn’t say a word, wrapped up in his own little world again. She shrugged and continued. “Laderic and I have known each other almost four years now. We traveled together a lot, and we share tips on jobs whenever we happen to run into each other.
“Well, one summer—last year I believe—we had a lead on a thief hiding out in Padstow, a city southwest of here on the Servatio River. A lord of the kingdom of Rokswing owned land to the north of the city, and some petty thief had broken into his house and stolen a bust of his late wife. Well, long story short, we caught the guy, took the bust back from him—well, maybe a bit more than that too—and then we hung him by his hood from a three-story window.” She sighed, closing her eyes in wistful nostalgia. “Ah, those were the days...” Alleria smiled, amused by the image in her head.
Ember: Echoes of Ashes - Book 1 Page 5