Edwyr wasn’t sure how he would manage to not involve Feyrith when they finally reached the ruin, but he had always been good at improvising. He would figure that part out once they got there.
With that he walked back towards the muddy street, scowling down at the puddles of dirty water that had formed on it. But at least the rain seemed to be letting up a little now. It didn’t mean that he would be able to make it across without getting soaked further, but at least it was a sign that they might be able to continue their journey soon. Edwyr now felt even more eager to get on the road again.
He made his way back to the inn, trying to avoid the rain as much as he could with limited success. Still, breathing in the fresh air the rain had provided did make him a little more calm and collected. As he reached the main door of the inn, however, he spotted the local stable from the corner of his eye.
He should probably check on their squawkers since he was already wet anyway. He knew the beasts didn’t like loud noises and the thunder was still very much that. Immediately as he thought that lightning flashed above, soon followed by a deafening crack. Edwyr huffed, shaking his head. It wasn’t often, but sometimes he wished he had human ears instead, so his hearing wouldn’t be so sensitive.
He did his best to walk under roofs, and thankfully he was even able to make it most of the way to the stable without having to go out into the rain. He ran the rest of the way and didn’t stop until he was through the large entrance to the wide, wooden structure.
The familiar smell of hay and squawker droppings immediately hit his nose as his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness inside of the stable, though Edwyr didn’t have to even look for Tempest as she chirped and ran up to him, pressing the side of her head against his chest. She truly didn’t like being around other squawkers, it seemed.
Edwyr stroked her head as he looked around the entire stable, noting that while there were at least twenty stalls for squawkers, there were only ten in use, counting Tempest, Aggra, and Stomper. Either the people of Everward didn’t need a lot of them—which wouldn’t make much sense with the size of the stable—or some of their people were away, likely unable to travel due to the storm.
Since Tempest wasn’t moving away and was now also letting out soft coos as Edwyr continued rubbing her forehead, the elf stayed where he was, doing his best to check on Aggra and Stomper as well, even though he was a few feet away from them. They looked fine, however, with only the fact that Aggra’s reins were tied to a hook on the side of his stall, and every so often the squawker pulled on them, letting out a noise of annoyance.
Suddenly, all of the squawkers flinched as thunder boomed again, this time a bit farther away, and Edwyr sighed. He gently pushed Tempest away and walked over to his friends’ squawkers, stroking the feathers on their heads as well. That always seemed to work with squawkers, and Edwyr was relieved to see it work now as well as they both relaxed a bit.
He flinched when he felt something tug on his armor, chuckling when he saw Tempest staring at him with her head titled and one ear flat against her head. The other seven squawkers also seemed to be giving him looks, both distrustful and hopeful, clearly hesitant but also interested in a head rub. But Edwyr understood their trepidation—he was likely the first elf they’d ever seen.
Hearing more thunder and seeing the squawkers shrink back into their stalls, Edwyr sighed. It would still take some time for the storm to pass, and going back to the inn would mean sitting around and doing nothing. He might as well keep the squawkers company for a while.
9
Edwyr was surprised that Lanna and Arbane hadn’t questioned him once he’d gone back to the inn, and not even after the storm passed and they’d left Everward. But he was quickly realizing they were simply avoiding asking him if something had happened, rather than them not thinking anything of it.
Still, Edwyr wasn’t going to be the one to point out the tension, especially since he had a lot to think about. He couldn’t focus on much aside from his encounter with Genrith. If that was even her name, but Edwyr had nothing else to call her.
Edwyr could barely hear the thumping of Tempest’s claws against the road as these thoughts continued swirling around in his mind. He was certain Lanna and Arbane were talking to each other somewhere behind him, but he wasn’t taking any of it in. He just continued staring ahead as he kept thinking over and over about what all of that could have meant.
He only came back to reality when he noticed that Arbane was suddenly riding next to him. Edwyr was already preparing himself for another lecture, but surprisingly there wasn’t concern in Arbane’s eyes.
“Lanna and I have been thinking,” Arbane said, staring off at the jungle in the distance. “If we continue going like this, we might not catch up with that elf before he reaches that ruin.” Then Arbane cleared his throat, muttering. “If he even reaches it, if what you said is true.”
“Yes, that has occurred to me as well.”
Judging by Arbane’s scowl, he had taken that as Edwyr being sarcastic, though that hadn’t been his intention at all. Still, Arbane didn’t allow him to make that clear as he continued.
“Right, so, we’ve been thinking we could, you know, try to cross—”
“The jungle?” Edwyr cut him off, his eyes wide. Yes, he’d thought of it before as well, but they couldn’t do that. Crossing the jungle was far too dangerous, and he would never willingly put them through it. Even if they spent only a few hours in there, it would still be too much. If he had magic, maybe, but even then he would be against the idea.
Edwyr looked back at Lanna, who just grimaced and shrugged as if apologizing for the idea. He shook his head at both of them. He would rather Feyrith died than the two of them. There was no doubt in his heart about that. “No.”
“Just an idea,” Arbane replied, shrugging. He did seem a little relieved though. Edwyr didn’t blame him.
“If we attempted this, we would likely all perish,” Edwyr continued, even though Arbane was clearly not interested in trying to argue his point. Edwyr wasn’t even sure why he felt like he had to say this, but it was important.
“Doubt our abilities?” Arbane wiggled his eyebrows at him, making Edwyr sigh. This was no laughing matter.
“Of course I don’t. But—”
“Don’t worry, I hear you.”
Edwyr had had much more to say, and even though now there was no need to say it, he still felt very unwilling to let the conversation end there. But just as he was trying to figure out what to say, he spotted movement up ahead.
Frowning, he leaned forward, trying to figure out what he’d seen when suddenly a large, black squawker appeared from behind a group of trees. Odd, Edwyr didn’t remember ever seeing a black squawker. Well, aside from back on Aendor….
Before he had the time to fully realize what this really meant, the squawker seemed to notice him and with an upset squawk sprinted towards them. Edwyr cringed as the squawker screeched again, but he was already climbing off Tempest’s back to inspect the creature.
Its eyes were wide, and it looked distressed, to say the least, continuing to shift its weight and look around. Not even Tempest coming over to the other squawker and nuzzling its neck seemed to help, which wasn’t something Edwyr had seen before. Squawkers tended to calm down fairly easily as long as they were in a group.
“Isn’t that….” Arbane trailed off as he joined Edwyr, quickly followed by his wife.
“Feyrith’s squawker. Definitely.”
Edwyr turned to his friends before looking back at the black squawker. Of course it was Feyrith’s. “Something must have gone wrong.”
Lanna reached out to pet the squawker’s head, only to shrink back as the animal snapped its beak at her. She blinked, still shocked while Edwyr cursed at himself for forgetting to warn her. “Whoa, it really is upset.”
“They’re trained not to let humans near them,” Edwyr explained, sighing. As far as he knew, these squawkers were of a purer breed than the ones that grazed
the grassy fields in the human lands, and elves didn’t want humans getting them. Which, even though Edwyr didn’t exactly agree with, made some sense because there would immediately be someone who would try to profit off the situation.
“Of course they are,” Arbane muttered to himself in exasperation. The black squawker scratched at the dirt under its front claw, letting out a softer but impatient sound. It jerked its head to the side, turned around, and then looked back to give Edwyr a look, its ears flat against its head.
“I think it wants us to follow it.”
As if to confirm this, the squawker stomped its hind foot and snorted, shaking its head. They quickly mounted their squawkers after that, Tempest running after the black squawker without Edwyr even directing her to. Edwyr let her be, wondering where the squawker would lead them. And why was it here, anyway?
It was unlikely that Feyrith would have lost it. Even with how inexperienced he had seemed, Edwyr doubted he would be quite as incompetent as to lose a squawker the Council had given him. Or Edwyr supposed the squawker could have been Feyrith’s, though he doubted it. Elves who stayed on Aendor had no need for squawkers.
So, assuming Feyrith hadn’t simply lost the squawker, or it hadn’t run away from him, the reason this squawker was here, leading them Goddess knew where, was because something must have gone terribly wrong.
Edwyr’s thoughts were interrupted by Lanna catching up with him and leaning towards him. “You don’t think Feyrith’s…you know.”
Edwyr raised his eyebrow at her and the way she’d whispered that to him, as if directly asking if he thought Feyrith was dead was far too insensitive. And frankly, he had no idea what to say to her. “I don’t know.”
Feyrith had magic. That itself should have increased his chances of survival by many orders of magnitude. It could also definitely make Feyrith feel like there was no threat and underestimate all of the beasts that lived here, but Edwyr doubted that. Elves were all about using logic and rationality. Or at the very least they did their best to pretend their emotions played no part in anything.
Edwyr promptly pushed these thoughts away as he felt all of his anger towards the Council start coming back to the surface. Instead, he focused on the black squawker in front of him, noting the purple sheen where the sun hit its feathers. It kept looking back at them, as if assuming they would stop following it eventually, but to be fair at the speed it was going, it was a little difficult to keep up with it. Edwyr could hear Tempest’s small huffs as she did her best to not lose the other squawker. They’d been traveling for several hours already by this point, so it wasn’t a surprise that she was tired. But Edwyr didn’t have to force her to keep up her pace. In fact, she seemed to be trying to run even faster on her own.
Edwyr was starting to get concerned about Tempest when Feyrith’s squawker finally came to a halt, stopping by a grove of trees, with a mountain wall looking above. The squawker cawed loudly, looking even more upset than before as it stomped again and spun in circles for a moment.
Since they couldn’t comfortably ride their squawkers among the trees, Edwyr jumped off Tempest and led her inside the grove, noticing that it was much bigger than he’d originally thought. It was more like a small forest, actually. Was this where they would find Feyrith, whatever condition he would be in?
The black squawker had gone quiet now and was slowly making its way through the trees, with Edwyr following right after. Tempest seemed to want to go faster than him, but she let herself be led without much protest. Edwyr didn’t think he’d ever seen her this eager to do anything other than eat whatever treat he’d brought for her.
Once they reached a cave-like crack in the rock wall, though, the black squawker stopped and simply gave the entrance a hateful look. It didn’t seem to want to go inside, but this was clearly where the squawker had led them to.
“Well, this looks….” Arbane walked over to the cave entrance, nodding in an exaggerated way. “Just great.”
“Yeah, if Feyrith’s here, what is he even doing here?” Lanna asked, her hands on her hips as she too took the sight in. “He is supposed to be heading to that ruin, right?”
That was a good point. Edwyr hadn’t even thought to question that, but it was true. There would have been no reason for Feyrith to take a detour like this. The only reason he would stop would be to either give his squawker some rest or because of that storm, but there would be no need to use a cave like this for either since the trees offered enough protection by themselves.
There was something going on here, and whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
“So, do we go in?” Arbane asked, but before Edwyr could reply, he heard a female voice from within the cave, fairly far away but getting closer and closer. At that moment Edwyr didn’t care who this was—he just knew they needed to get out of sight while they still had enough time to do so.
He gestured to his friends to go back the way they’d come, grabbing the black squawker’s reins and despite it trying to fight him pulling it away along with Tempest. There was a cluster of trees just a few feet away from them that they could use to hide.
To its credit, Feyrith’s squawker kept quiet, preferring to share its disapproval through glares, and it continued to do so even after Edwyr had led it to cover. The elf ignored that though, first making sure that both Lanna and Arbane were also hidden, and then looking through the branches partially blocking his view at the cave entrance.
Out came a woman, muttering something to herself loudly enough for Edwyr to catch a few words. She seemed to be complaining about her uncle and his schemes, but that was enough for him to put together what was likely going on here. As far as Edwyr knew, no humans lived out in the wilderness due to how dangerous it was, and if they were it wasn’t by choice, but rather through exile. And while Edwyr should be able to sympathize with that, human exile was practically always only due to murder, theft, or simply not being a good person in general, and therefore not helping their community.
There was a small chance this woman was a defender of her people, much like Edwyr and his friends, but that was unlikely due to how far away this cave was from any village or town.
No, the far more probable option was that this woman was a bandit. And if that was true, Feyrith was either dead or captured.
Simply wonderful.
As the woman stalked away, still grumbling to herself, Edwyr locked eyes with Lanna. From her scowl, he could tell she was thinking the same thing. She proceeded to make her way over to him, staying silent but fast, even though the bandit couldn’t have possibly seen her. Arbane proceeded to do the same a moment later, leading their squawkers along with him.
“Well, this is really not good.”
Edwyr almost laughed, then. Arbane talking about the situation like this was simply too absurd not to find it amusing, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Next to him, the black squawker pulled on its reins, shaking its head and cawing with displeasure.
“We need to hide the squawkers somewhere,” Lanna said, petting Stomper on the head as she took his reins from Arbane. Edwyr and Arbane both nodded at her, leading the beasts away and out of the small forest where they could climb onto their backs again. Edwyr let Lanna take charge, taking Feyrith’s squawker’s reins and dragging it along as he followed behind her. The beast huffed and fought back a bit, looking back every other second, but it let him lead it away anyway.
Lanna led them a bit farther than Edwyr would have thought necessary, but he didn’t comment as they finally reached what she thought was a safe place for the squawkers. It was a cluster of trees and large shrubs a bit away from the road, which would hopefully manage to hide the squawkers fully.
As Edwyr jumped off Tempest’s back and led her and the black squawker among the trees, looking for a thick branch to tie their reins to, Feyrith’s squawker snorted, trying to pull out of Edwyr’s grip again, but Edwyr didn’t let it win, pulling back harder. A loud squawk followed, but the beast stopped fighting him for the momen
t.
Edwyr sighed, tying Tempest’s reins to a thick tree branch and briefly running a hand over her side before turning his full attention to the black squawker.
“You really don’t want to wait here, do you buddy?” Arbane told the beast, which only prompted the squawker to snap its beak at him.
Edwyr shook his head, giving the squawker his best, uncompromising glare. “Stay.”
It snorted, narrowing its eyes at him, but when Edwyr made a move to tie its reins right next to Tempest’s, it didn’t fight. Tempest, who had been eating something on the ground until then, raised her head and nuzzled the black squawker as best as she could with her range of motion limited, but it seemed to be effective in calming the black one down.
Edwyr sighed again. Now they only had the much more difficult task to do—free Feyrith from bandits.
“Are we ready?”
Edwyr only shrugged. He didn’t feel ready—he’d never fought humans—but they had no choice. If they wanted to help Feyrith, the only thing they could do was investigate that cave and find out if he was still alive or not.
And so they started to walk back to the place the black squawker had led them to, all of them silent and tense. How were they going to fight these bandits? It was possible that there were only two—the woman they’d seen and the uncle she’d complained about—but that was unlikely. How would only two humans manage to capture or kill an elf?
And on top of that, Edwyr could tell his friends weren’t in favor of killing the bandits either. There was just something very wrong with the idea of killing humans, especially for Edwyr who had grown up constantly hearing about how it was an elf’s duty to protect them. And humans didn’t kill other humans, even if said humans had killed someone, because they saw it as heresy and completely against what their gods taught them. Edwyr wouldn’t make any comments about the humans’ godly Triad, but he would fully support that idea. Enough people, both humans, and elves alike, had already died to the attacks of beasts as it was.
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