Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles (41 page)

As the shadow stepped out of the shrubbery, it was clear it was a human being. Raylan’s grip on his sword hilt tightened when a face came into view of the smoldering, dim campfire.

“Now is that any way to treat a friend?” the voice, belonging to Sebastian, said softly.

“Oh!”

“Seb? What are you doing here? You nearly gave me a heart attack,” whispered Raylan.

“Did you come to say goodbye to us after all
?
” asked Galirras.

“No, I’ve not come to say goodbye. If it is all the same with you, I would actually like to come with you…”

“What about the council and the village?”

“They’ll be fine without me, I’m sure. And, to be honest, I couldn’t stay there anymore after they threw y’all out.”

“But how were you even able to find us?” asked Raylan.

“Ha! Well, it’s not that hard to follow Galirras’ tracks once you know what to look for. Although he did throw me off when he suddenly started to cover larger distances without tracks on the ground, until I realized he would want to use his wings after yesterday.”

“Oh, that’s clever!” commented Galirras.

“I shall wake the others,” said Raylan, but Sebastian stopped him.

“If you don’t mind I could do with a bit of sleep, it’s been a long run. I’m sure Gavin and the others will be just as surprised in the morning…”

“Of course. Take my spot by the fire. Galirras and I will finish our watch.”

In the morning, Gavin and the others happily welcomed Sebastian to the group.

“I’m glad you’ll be accompanying us. We can use your knowledge of the area, especially since we have no idea where to go at the moment,” said Gavin.

“I believe I can help you with that, too,” said Sebastian, showing a large smile.

His lower lip showed a bloody crack, he had some scratches on his jaw, and his left eye had a deep blue mark under it.

“After you left, I went around asking people about the Drowned Man’s Fork. I was having little luck, until someone told me to speak to Aanon. He knew of three pillars rising from the sea. He’d only seen them from afar, but reckoned it could only be that what you all were looking for.”

“Did he know how to get there?” said Gavin.

“Aye, we’re to follow the river, which lays some ways to the west, for about ten days southward, until we hit a big lake. From the lake, we move due west toward the coast, which should get us to the cliffs in two or three days. From there, we should see the pillars on a clear day, out in the distance. He estimated it would take another five days, at least, to get there over land; maybe more, depending on the terrain.”

It was the best lead they had in a long time. Gavin decided to send out the bird to Azurna. It was a big gamble. If it really was not the Drowned Man’s Fork, Gavin imagined they would have to look for an alternative way home, perhaps trying to make their way all the way up north again.

They had a long way to go; but even if it would take them twice as long to get there, the timing would still work. They could still meet up with a ship there, as the ship would be ordered to wait for a number of weeks. Gavin did not want to risk having to stay in one place for a long time while the enemy was still looking for them. They all ate a quick meal and prepared to set out again.

“So, what happened to your face?” Raylan asked Sebastian, once they were ready to go on their way.

“This?” he said, pointing at his face. “It’s nothing. Aanon didn’t agree with me leaving. Said I needed to come back or he would not let me leave at all. He believed we have a responsibility toward the settlement. I believed they did not deserve my dedication, anymore…… We ended up…talking it out.”

“Just because of us?”

“Nah, I think it was a long time coming. You being forced to leave…it was just the final straw, I guess.”

“What about Otis, Martin, Twan and Ivar?”

“I had a chance to say goodbye to them. They all have their own reasons for staying, for which I do not fault them. But, my place was not there anymore. I think Galirras and you will have an important place in this world, and I want to be there to witness it firsthand.”

“Well, I—for one—am happy for you to join us,” said Galirras, who had been following their conversation.

“Me too!” added Raylan cheerfully, “Now let’s get moving and find our way home.”

Sebastian was given Xi’Lao’s horse as she joined Gavin on his. As the group set out toward the river, Raylan felt the motivation of renewed hope.

Raylan found himself looking out over a large water body. They had come upon a lake that afternoon and decided to take a rest in one of the more hidden parts on the forest’s edge. It had been a stressful trip, as they ran into multiple patrols. They had to fight their way out of two encounters and were forced to hide in a cave for three days surrounded by enemy movements, without little more than the rations they carried and a small waterfall trickling in from one of the cave walls. Galirras’ appetite eventually forced them to look for prey again. They were finally able to sneak out, when they found an opening in the enemy’s perimeter. All in all, it took them fifteen days to get to the lake; but they managed to avoid their pursuers once again.

Behind him, Galirras splashed in one of the more shallow pools, flinging fish from the water with his claws. He had enjoyed a great bath when they arrived; Raylan had gotten some branches to scrub him down. He was getting so big, it would have ended up quite a task if everyone had not jumped in and helped, at one point.

The dragon had loved the attention. He was not used to taking baths and reveled in the fact that his scales were getting cleaned to the point that sunlight would sparkle off them, showing a deep copper-like yellow color. He now wanted to show his gratitude by catching dinner…and getting the occasional snack himself, at the same time.

The exercise and practice Galirras had accomplished during their days of travel showed clear results in the build of the dragon. His flight muscles had increased dramatically, giving him a more buff look; although it did not seem the dragon would ever lose his lean build. Raylan thought his head had grown a little wider again, and a few ridges of scales now had a more prominent presence on his face.

The scales on Galirras’ back seemed to have hardened, while the sides of his belly still remained reasonably soft. The skin would be tough to damage Raylan expected. His spine hardened skin gave the dragon added protection from head to tail. Raylan would not call them spikes as they did not break the skin, but they looked more like extra thick skin, forming a natural armor without losing its flexibility.

Finally, his tail had gotten longer as he grew, and the end of it had widened, as a thin membrane stretched from one side of his tail to the other in the shape of a rugged oak leaf. Slowly but surely, Galirras had grown considerably larger than Raylan. When sitting straight up, with his front arms on the ground, Galirras was now a good four heads higher in build and a great deal heavier than Raylan.

The lake was one of the biggest ones Raylan had seen in his life. The distant shore was barely visible from this side. They had not seen any settlements nearby, but still stayed on their guard, just to be careful.

“You’re not going to believe this!” Peadar shouted, as he came running up.

“What is it?” Raylan asked, as he turned around.

“A pool with warm water. It is bubbling up from ground. It’s too hot to even touch!”

That made Raylan curious. While Harwin and Kevhin stayed with Galirras, and made sure the fish he caught were cleaned and prepped, the rest followed Peadar down a small creek to the spot that had excited him so much.

Once there, they saw precisely what Peadar had described. Small pools of water were bubbling on the sides of the riverbed. Some smelled like bad eggs, while others seemed to have no scent at all.

“We have got something like this at home. They are spread out all throughout the Empire. We call them hot pools. Our public bathhouses are built on top of them if possible, providing excellent bathing opportunities,” said Xi’Lao, as she moved along the creek, looking for something.

“This will work,” she said, apparently finding what she was looking for.

She started to move some rocks around.

“Can someone please help me with this,” she asked, to no one in particular.

Raylan hopped over a few stones and helped her drag a bigger stone toward the stream. Before long they had created a natural dam, and the flow of water was partly redirected to one of the deeper bubbling pools. As it overflowed, the mixed water dead-ended in an even deeper pool downstream.

“See, we can use the dam to control the flow of water into the deep pool. With a bit of experimenting, we should have a very comfortable water temperature to bathe in after dinner,” she said with a smile.

In fact, a few of them were already in the warming pool before dinner was half done. The heated water did wonders for their aching muscles. They were exhausted after riding for days, weeks, if not months, without proper moments to relax.

As the sun began to set and the group prepared for the night, Raylan went back to the hot pool to soak in the water for a while longer. As he approached, he heard soft talking from the direction of the bath. A cloudy, dusk sky was making it hard to see where he was going, so he treaded carefully, so as not to lose his footing. As he found himself turning the last corner around a couple of trees, he stumbled upon his brother kissing Xi’Lao intimately in the hot pool. The sight caught him off guard and made him miss a step, almost ending up face forward in one of the other pools.

“Uh…sorry…didn’t mean to…uh…interrupt,” he said, as he quickly straightened himself and then hurried back to the campfire.

“Oh shit…Raylan…wait...” he heard behind him, as his brother got out of the water and moved across the stones to catch up with him.

“Hold on!” he heard his brother say, as he was halfway back to camp. He reluctantly stopped and allowed his brother to catch up with him.

“What? I said I was sorry,” Raylan said, somewhat annoyed.

“It’s not that. I wanted to check if you were alright. I’m sorry you had to find out like this.”

“What do you mean?” said Raylan, puzzled.

“Well…you know…me and Xi…we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well…”

“What about it?” said Raylan.

Raylan had a feeling where this was going, as he waited for his brother to find the words. Normally, Gavin was never so uncertain when speaking.

“Look, I know you’ve been spending quite some time with Xi’Lao, and I just wanted to be sure that us being together doesn’t create a problem.”

“And you ask me this now? After…and not before…” Raylan said, in his most earnest tone.

“I wanted to tell you…but with everything going on, it never seemed like the right…moment,” stammered Gavin. “When you talk about her, you seem very impressed with her...I was afraid you might have similar feelings toward her…which clearly seems to be the case by your response…”

Raylan kept his expression in check for a little while longer, until he could not keep his face from breaking into a big smile.

“Haha…relax, I’m just messing with you brother,” he said, as he placed a hand on Gavin’s shoulder. “I’m not interested in Xi’Lao that way at all. She is an intriguing person who has great knowledge on dragons. Knowledge that I need and appreciate very much, I might add. If I am to gain any insight into how to live with a dragon, I can use all the help I can get. She’s a great friend and comrade…frankly, I think she is a great woman, just…not for me.”

“So…you’re not bothered by it at all?” Gavin said to him with residual disbelief in his voice.

“None whatsoever! In fact, I think you two form a great duo, and I feel great knowing you both have Galirras’ back and mine.”

“You can count on that…but why did you speed off at the hot pool, just now, then?”

“Ha! Well, it’s one thing being okay with my brother’s choice of women, but another to witness that intimacy at work. Besides, falling flat on my face didn’t help much either,” said Raylan.

“So…we’re good?”

“We’re great, no worries. Do me a favor? Let me know when I can take my bath. I’ll be back at the fire…or along the lake, if Galirras wants to practice some more.”

He walked off, letting out a laugh as he heard his brother’s sigh of relief. Heading back to the campfire, he felt Galirras tingle in his head.

“
You did not need to let him sweat like that, did you? You knew almost right away what he was afraid to say to you…did you not?
” said Galirras in Raylan’s head.

“
Hehe, you caught me…but I couldn’t help myself. It’s not every day that I have the upper hand in our conversations…I guess the kid in me just wanted to enjoy it for a brief moment……but you’re right, it wasn’t a very nice thing to do.
”

Coming back to the lake, Raylan saw the sky reflected in the lake’s calm surface. As the clouds broke apart above the lake, stars filled both the sky and the water. The moon was barely a sickle and, if not for the stars, it would have been a very dark night. Along the lake were the outskirts of the ancient forest. The trees had gotten smaller as they moved south, toward the lake, in the last few days. They were still some of the biggest trees Raylan had seen in his life; but were, by far, not as massive as the trees in which the tree settlement had been built.