"To fly is to be free. For one meant to touch the stars to be nailed down to the earth, is like locking a bird into a cage. Who would cage the crane, and not let it call the dawn? Who would cage the owl, and let the beasts of the night to reign the night? Who would cage the Fire Feather, and doom us into eternal winter. The fate of the skybound is to fly. Across the age. So rise and fly! Light the sky, and echo up high!" Varma sang calmly while looking into the sky and sitting on a stone by the waterfall.
"Somebody has found some new inspiration." Yilka commented while sitting on a different stone on the other side of the stream.
"I get inspired when I'm excited. Right now I want to say something poetic about that waterfall. There it just sits and watches over the city. The stone at the top of it is like its head, and the falling water like its beard. Like the old father keeping watch. Little does it care about what is happening in the world. He doesn't care who rules over the city ahead of him. Or who built it, or if the city falls. Here he will still keep sitting like he always has been, not caring about what we do. So often we tend to think that we are the lords of the land, but the land itself doesn't care one bit about us. We only exist on it, and it will keep existing under the feet of the coming generations when we return to the earth like those before us did. Hmm. Could I twist a poem about this somehow?" Varma wondered.
"Varma..." Yilka was about to say.
"Not now. I'm trying to think of something." Varma said and rubbed her chin.
"No. You better hide your wings somehow because some folk are coming this way. And lots of them." Yilka warned.
"Hm?" Varma exclaimed and looked at where Yilka was looking.
They saw a flock of curious faces coming their way with no shyness in them at all. They didn't seem to have bad intentions, but on hostile territory, all attention was unwanted.
"How do I hide these things?" Varma asked with slight panic.
"You know better than I do." Yilka replied.
Varma couldn't think of anything other than lying on her back on the ground. When the curious crowd reached them, Varma was on her back on the grass and Yilka was still sitting on his stone. Varma pretended to just be looking at the clouds and Yilka was picking up pebbles from the stream and throwing them back in just to look like he was doing something. The charade didn't last for long, as the grass under Varma was burning. The crowd noticed it, and soon they also noticed the obvious wings that were under Varma. Some girl, not much taller than an adult's knee curiously touched Varma's wing and immediately ran back to her mother when she got her finger burnt by it. Those who saw it gasped. Varma and Yilka couldn't understand any of what the crowd was saying. Some even spoke directly to her, but she couldn't understand a word so all she could do is pretend not to hear. Some old man crouched by Varma's head and showed a gold coin to her and said something to her. Varma knew that at this point everybody knew about her wings. She sat up to accept the coin. She spread her wings that were getting really uncomfortable under her back and the crowd gasped. Folk started getting closer to her but that is when Yilka stood up. He came over and pulled Varma from the ground by her wrist and dragged her away. The gold giving old man then grabbed Varma's other wrist and a tug of war began. Varma was only flapping her wings and trying to fly away, but she still wasn't good enough in taking to flight to actually escape. Yilka pulled the cudgel from his belt and raised it to threaten the old man. The crowd seemed angry at Yilka now. The crowd menacingly approached him and his attempts to threaten them with his cudgel was not very effective. To his relief, he heard galloping coming closer. The crowd made way as Venamo came riding on his mount with Nofa with him. When they had arrived, Venamo and Nofa hopped down. Venamo gave the enchantment to his sword and sliced a stone in half to show the crowd how dangerous it is. Everybody took a step back when they saw that. Venamo then pointed his sword at everybody who was staring at him, which made them take even more steps back. Nofa had also opened a page of her book and was preparing to cast a spell just in case. As Yilka was still looking around, he saw somebody up at the walls of the city. It appeared that whoever it may have been, they were aiming a crossbow. As Yilka looked closer, he saw that a bolt was already flying through the air. He didn't know who the bolt was aimed at, but in the split second that he had to react, he shoved Nofa down and stood with a straight back in front of Varma. He saw the bolt coming towards his chest and closed his eyes before impact. But to his surprise, nothing touched him. When he opened his eyes, he saw the faint traces of a red cloud. When he looked slightly to his right side, he saw the infamous saboteur facing off with the crowd in her black jacket and trousers. The crowd started running away back towards the city, knowing what Bloodmist could do. The woman then turned into a red cloud again and within seconds had flown up to the wall and snatched the crossbow away from whoever was up there. After taking the crossbow, she jumped down from the wall and turned into a red cloud again midair, making the crossbow fall to the ground from up high and shatter. The red cloud flew away and soon disappeared out of sight.
"Out of here. Now. Everybody get mounted. We didn't get what we came for. Did anybody see where that red cloud flew?" Venamo said to everybody and got mounted quickly.
"I think it flew above that iron road and flew along it." Varma answered and jumped on the same mount that Venamo was on.
"Then we'll follow her." Venamo said seriously.
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As the journey continued parallel to the railroad and the city was left behind, the black and vast clouds ahead were the destination now. In the dark blue sky the black clouds stuck out, but no trace of Bloodmist remained in the air, raising questions in the heads of the travellers.
"This Bloodmist lady seems to be hard to track. She could have changed directions at any point. We can't know how long she kept following this road." Yilka pointed out from the saddle of his steed.
"We will follow the tracks until we see any sign of settlement. Even a hut by the side of the road or the hills." Venamo insisted.
"Well, I don't have better ideas myself." Yilka admitted.
"So... Varma can fly now. We heard rumours." Nofa commented.
"Maybe little bit. I only just gave it a little go." Varma admitted with shame.
"You shouldn't have done that. We had to leave the city before we intended when the folk saw you." Venamo told her.
"He's right. A crossbow bolt was shot at us because of all the attention. But now we know to stay out of sight more." Yilka seconded.
"It's a little hard to hide these things. But I'll stay on the ground from now on. Yia almost got his heart punctured because of the attention. Who even was that fellow who shot at us? And why? Do the guards over there just shoot at everyone who gets attention on themselves?" Varma wondered.
"Regardless of the reason, we're not going there again unless we find out that Bloodmist has gone back there." Venamo told them all.
"It was an amazing looking city, however. On the surface at least." Nofa said.
"And I wonder whose hands built it." Venamo said with a bitter implication.
"Hmph. Whoever it is, likely didn't get many thanks for it." Yilka added.
"But Yilka should get thanks for what he did back there. Pushing me out of the way and standing in front of Varma bravely when he had a heartbeat's worth of time to think. That is very admirable." Nofa said and squeezed Yilka's body tighter.
"Hold on, everyone. Settlement up ahead." Venamo told everyone when he saw a group of six houses.
Near the six houses was a wooden pole by the railroad with the name of the stop written on a sign. Venamo and Yilka slowed down their mounts and stopped them by the pole. Everybody dismounted and looked at the houses. They didn't appear to be residential houses, since all of them had some sort of a sign hanging above the door. The bare minimum that can be called a road separated the houses, with three on each side of it. While Varma and Blueberry stayed by the mounts, the other travellers got on said road and looked at the buildings.
"That one says Jail. That one says Shop. That one says Inn. Let's check there if we can hear any rumours." Venamo said to the others without fear since nobody else was on the street.
He opened the door to the inn and they all saw a very ordinary looking inn with a counter by one wall, tables spread around and stairs that lead up by the corner of the room. Two men in mail armor and shirts with royal crests were playing a card game by one of the tables. On another table was a woman whose hair was concealed with a tight black hood of a black and baggy robe. A Venomfolk man with a brown vest was sharpening a knife by the counter. Venamo took the lead and approached the men playing their card game.
"You lads know how big is the bounty for the head of Bloodmist?" Venamo asked them.
"You a farm boy? The reward for capturing an enemy of the crown is a seaworthy vessel, or the money equivalent of one." One of the men sarcastically answered.
The other one looked at Nofa and sneered at her.
"Go back to the mountains, witch. You're only looking for Bloodmist to unite with one of your kin, aren't you?" The man said to Nofa.
Nofa couldn't understand what the man said so she only shrugged with her eyes closed.
"Has Bloodmist been seen here lately?" Venamo asked the men.
"If she had been, we'd be after her." One of the men replied.
Right then the woman in the other table stood up and went up the stairs.
"Thank you for your time." Venamo wished the men and went to sit down on of the stools by the counter.
"I'm not ratting out anybody." The keeper said seriously before Venamo could even ask anything.
"What an interesting thing to say. Sounds like you know something." Venamo replied.
"Maybe I do. Maybe I don't. You'll never know." The keeper said.
Venamo gestured to Nofa as if he was holding a coin. Nofa understood and handed her bag of money to Venamo hesitantly.
"I think I can convince you." Venamo said and weighed the bag in his hand.
The keeper looked like he was contemplating. Before he could make a decision, Venamo heard faintly how the mounts were making noises outside. He stood up and handed the bag back to Nofa and left the inn with the others behind him. They saw that their mounts were looking into the top of the pole next to them and making threatening noises. They also saw Varma aiming her bow at the top of the pole where Bloodmist herself was balancing in a crouched position. The travellers ran to the scene and Bloodmist saw them, but didn't escape.
"There you are! We've been looking for you!" Nofa said to Bloodmist in the Wicked people's language.
"What for?" Bloodmist asked Nofa.
"Well, some group called the Road of Blood need new members and they think you'd be useful." Nofa answered.
"Bah. The Road of Blood are useless. I work better alone. Stop following me." Bloodmist warned.
"What are they saying to each other?" Varma asked in confusion and slight fright while aiming at Bloodmist.
"She doesn't want to join the Road of Blood. So now what?" Nofa said to the others.
"Why do you work for the Road of Blood? Why does a Rarhean want to help the Uhmaks?" Bloodmist asked Nofa.
"Because I live in their land and my favourite person also works for them." Nofa answered and then rested her cheek on Yilka's shoulder.
Yilka was surprised and confused by the move. He didn't understand what was said but didn't complain.
"Why do you sabotage the efforts of the Kingdom?" Nofa asked Bloodmist.
"If no tribe is capable of stopping their endless expansion, somebody has to take matters to their own hands. Eventually they'd gobble up my homeland if I didn't fight back." Bloodmist explained.
Right then, surprisingly to everyone, it suddenly started raining. Bloodmist's reaction seemed oddly worried.
"Damn this. Not again." Bloodmist said.
"It's only rain." Nofa said back.
"I can't turn when I'm in contact with water. It rained all day yesterday and here we go again." Bloodmist said and jumped down from the pole.
"Now! Get her! She's ours!" Came a shout from the direction of the houses.
Five men with black clothes and silver masks came out of the jailhouse armed with metal maces. Once again the one at the head of the group had a chestplate and a mace that were glowing with Holy magic.
"Oh, just great." Bloodmist said and tried to mount one of the beakmounts without permission but Varma dragged her down.
"It's these fellows again! Vena, enchant my weapon!" Yilka said to Venamo who did as asked.
"Perfectly in time! It seems that their familiar stone was very helpful. Our fifty days of waiting were not for nothing. They got control of the waters like they promised and the plan is coming along perfectly. You slippery lady even sleep in mist form and hide between boards at night, but now you have nowhere to go. Five of us. Five of you. A fair fight." The masked man at the front taunted.
Bloodmist pulled out her two daggers and spun them in her hands.
"Just because I can't turn, doesn't mean I can't fight."Bloodmist said to them.
When Nofa pulled out her book of spells and opened a page, the rain started washing away the ink and making it unreadable, so Nofa quickly closed the book.
"I'll have to rely on the spells I've memorised then." Nofa said, being able to tell that a fight was about to start even though she didn't understand what the masked men said.
The travellers stood in a row. Varma was on the left end with her bow drawn and smoke rising from her wings as the water raining on them got evaporated. Bloodmist was next to her with daggers ready. Venamo was in the middle in a defensive stand with his Defiance ready and glowing. Yilka was on Venamo's right side with his Beast Slayer ready and glowing as well after Venamo quickly enchanted it, and Nofa was on the right end mouthing off a spell she intended to rely on. The five masked men charged forward with their maces high. Varma ran to the side and took to flight, and from up high she blindly fired her arrow down. Her metallic arrow whizzed past the mace of one the men and the man grabbed the rope that connects Varma and the arrow, and a vertical tug of war began between them. Venamo charged the man at the front with the glowing weapon and armour and a duel began between them, but nobody could make contact with the other with how much they were dodging. A similar duel began between Bloodmist and one of the men. The masked men agreed that Nofa was not worth the trouble, and that freed two men to fight Yilka. Yilka managed to break one of their maces with his enchanted cudgel but he couldn't avoid the other man hitting him the back with his metal mace. Yilka fell to the mud face first and the man who hit him was ready to bring the killing blow down on him. Before he could do that, Nofa put her hand on the man's back and repeated a spell. The man suddenly became too weak to even hold his weapon up. He dropped his weapon and fell to his knees, unable to even stand up. The disarmed man saw what Nofa did and charged at her with hands intended for strangling. Before the man could reach Nofa, Yilka tripped him and mounted his back and shoved his face into the mud and kept it there. It didn't have the effect that Yilka was hoping for since the man had a metal mask that prevented him from smothering in the mud. Yilka then used his cudgel to choke the man under him. Nofa decided to be brave and pick up the dropped mace from the ground. She went and hit the man who was tugging the rope with Varma. This allowed Varma to get her arrow back and fly to a position where she could shoot her adversary in the back. Then a big blast happened when Venamo struck the tip of his blade into the enchanted armour of his opponent. Those who were still standing got knocked down. Bloodmist got up quickly and struck two daggers into the back of her opponent who was getting up. The man that Yilka was choking broke free because of the blast. He was about to go choke Yilka in return before Bloodmist lethally stopped him with her daggers. The leader of the masked men had gotten back on his feet and picked up his mace, as well as a second mace from the ground. He was defiantly facing off against Venamo and Bloodmist who were standing opposite of him, and above him Varma was aiming at him. Further aside Nofa was helping Yilka get to his feet while his back was in great pain.
"You are losing this war! The sparks of rebellion will turn into flames, and the fools who try to play gods will cower away back to their corner of the continent." Venamo threatened.
"Nothing stays the same forever. A new era is inevitable, and you are standing in the way of the unstoppable march or change. And you will be trampled." The man with the glowing mace warned back and charged at Venamo.
Venamo merely thrust his sword forward too suddenly to see, and the man ran neck first into the blade. Venamo pulled his sword out of the man and let the rain wash it clean. Varma returned to the ground with the rest and they were all together now. The only one of the masked men still showing signs of life was the one who was weak on his knees in the mud. Venamo crouched by him and took off the man's mask.
"Smart idea." Venamo said to the man.
"I can't stand up. Just finish me here!" The young man with a hairless face begged.
"He truly can't. I made him that way. Let him stay there and wallow in shame." Nofa said.
"You've made bad decisions, boy." Venamo said to the man and stood up.
"If they find me like this they'll end me! They'll feed me to the..." The man was beginning to beg.
"You knew that when you agreed to join them." Venamo coldly told the man and checked on Yilka who Nofa was helping keep upright.
"Are you alright?" He asked Yilka.
"Got quite the heavy hit in the back. Laying down would be nice but... we should get out of here quickly." Yilka answered in pain.
"You're right. These men had stayed here for fifty days, waiting for the perfect moment to get their hands on Bloodmist. They obviously have a presence here." Venamo said.
He then turned to Bloodmist.
"You spoke Vastusarian to them. So you can speak it. So can I. This'll make things easier. Thank you for the help there." Venamo told her.
"Thank you as well. I didn't know they knew that this is where I stay. I couldn't have fought them off alone. I owe you a favour." Bloodmist replied to him.
"Your favour can be joining the Road of Blood and coming with us." Venamo suggested.
"Hmph. Fine. I'll join. But I won't take their orders if I they clash with my own plans." Bloodmist argued.
"You can settle that with The Fifth." Venamo told her.
He then put the blade of his sword on the ear of the kneeling scared man.
"You lot knew about what the Crown's men did to the Father of waters. Where are they headed next?" Venamo interrogated.
"I'm not telling you anything. No matter what you threaten me with!" The young man defied.
Venamo then ever so slightly sawed the man's ear with the blade and the man immediately cried out in pain.
"I'm sorry, mother. I'm sorry, father. I should have listened. I should have stayed." He talked to himself.
"You can return to mother and father if you tell us where the Crown's men or your jester friends are going next." Venamo threatened.
"Will you actually let me go if I tell?" The man asked.
Venamo then put his hand on the man's head and used his ability of enchantment on the man. The body enchantment was strong enough to counter the curse that Nofa put on him.
"Tell us where they are going, and we will all put down our weapons." Venamo promised.
"And you'll actually believe me?" The man asked.
"I've seen your face. And I have a very good memory. If we find out that you lied, Bloodmist here will scour the land and find you. So I trust that you'll be truthful." Venamo assured.
"Th-they're going after the Stormress in Kyrasar. The deserted land down south. Where the Venomfolk live. Now please let me run off before I'm found like this." The man revealed and begged.
Venamo sheathed his sword and told Yilka and Varma to put down their weapons as well. The man ran off into the grassy hills without looking back. Right then the two armoured men who were at the inn playing cards came out of there and saw four slain men at the feet of the travellers. The travellers noticed the men but didn't react. Only looked at them back. The men thought better of it and went back inside.
Yilka then grabbed Venamo's shoulder and forced Venamo to look at him.
"That bastard that you spared, he tried to execute me when I was on the ground. And you let him go without a punishment?" Yilka complained.
"I'm never killing someone who is defenseless." Venamo replied.
"Could have at least cut an ear as a reminder." Yilka bitterly said.
"Shows how much you care about your brother." Nofa said to Venamo
"And what would that have accomplished? And Varma! You shot your arrow into a man's back. Very dishonourable." Venamo said to his family.
"Who cares about honour when they attacked us?" Varma wondered.
Venamo then looked at Yilka.
"Are you able to ride, Yilka?" Venamo asked his brother.
"I'd be able to ride Yilka." Nofa commented nonchalantly.
Venamo, Yilka and Varma looked at her and processed what they just heard.
"I think I can ride. The back is not that bad." Yilka answered Venamo's question.
"Great. Let's not waste time. We need to head south. Forget about the Road of Blood for now. We have to save the Stormress from these men now." Venamo said and went to mount his steed.
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