Acadian: I think I learned the part about the birds eating clay from a documentary called Wild China. I get a lot of ideas for the setting from nature documentaries like that.
Phereinon is not quite old enough to remember time before history. She's merely 5,000 years old. Just a drop in the bucket really.
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But she has had time to watch, and think, and ponder how the world works. Many of the books and authors I referred to in that part about evolution were taken from Ancient History. The Ancient Greeks were thinking about evolution even back in their day. Darwin was only really special because he spent years traveling and amassing a body of evidence to back it up.
Renee: That was just one more hint about Phereinon's true nature. That will eventually be coming to a head, because the other six mercenaries are all smart and perceptive people.
Chapter 10.5The settlements thinned out as they penetrated deeper into the rainforest. Soon they found that Captain Hesari gave a wide berth to several camps that they passed along the watercourse. Their inhabitants were a mix of humans and Teodon, and all looked dirty, rough, and exceedingly well-armed.
"Bandits," the
Silisce explained to Aela when she asked after the second such occurrence. "These backwoods are infested with outlaws and worse. Some will trade for goods and news. Some will cut your throat as soon as look at you."
In one stretch of river the captain even eschewed their usual break to rest the spirecrowns. Instead he continued on, using spells to restore the flagging stamina of the draft animals. He warned them all to be wary of strangers, and not to let anyone on the boat, even if they found them in the water.
"Why?" Hrafngoelir asked. "What is wrong?"
"Necromancers," the Sea Elf explained. He pointed to a scattering of cave mouths yawning within the bluffs to the west. "Those are Black Bog Caves. Some captains will trade with them. But I'll not have any part of such blackguards."
Aela felt a shiver run along her spine, and she could swear that her breath came out in cloud of frost. A feeling of emptiness came over her, like she was standing in a graveyard that went on forever.
She turned, and saw that Phereinon's eyes literally glowed silver-white, like twin stars shining from her skull. She had produced her sword from the aether, and gripped the long weapon in one hand. Now that Aela was closer to it, she noted that its narrow fuller began at the hilt and ran three quarters of the blade. A hand-span of the blade just above the crossguard was dulled, and Aela imagined that would allow its wielder to safely grasp it there, if they wanted to choke up on their hold of the weapon. This ricasso was etched with the design of an owl, wings outstretched and claws forward, as if it was about to snatch up its prey.
Aela knew that the Rasen believed the owl was a symbol of wisdom. It was often featured in sculpture and artwork within the Ingenium. But that was not the feeling that this inscription created within her. Instead Aela was reminded of the Asokar, who viewed the owl as the messenger of the White Bone Mother. To hear its cry was to know death was near, for they guided the souls of the dead to her in the underworld.
Phereinon's eyes burned at the caves, like such an owl sizing up a lost soul. Aela half-expected her to leap from the boat and race up the cliffs to assault them.
Without really thinking, Aela aesensed the swordswoman. As ever, her aura was bright and strong, that of someone magically adept, but otherwise ordinary. Aela knew it was a mask, but she could still not pierce the disguise. The sword in her hand however, was an entirely different story.
It screeched the name Malediction to her, like a great night bird. Aela felt her heart sink into a yawning black abyss as her perception roved over it. She was reminded of how she felt when she was only a child, and Duty - one of the family dogs - had died. Duty, who had slept in the same bed as her for as long as she could remember. She felt that same wrenching emptiness that had haunted her after his death, that same desperate frustration at the unfairness of it all. She felt cursed, cold, alone, and angry at the unfairness of it all.
The caves fell out of sight, and with a silvery glow, the sword vanished from Phereinon's hand. With it went that terrible feeling of loss and loneliness. Watching in the aether, Aela saw the threads of the weapon's aura likewise fade into nothingness. She imagined that they fell into the weave of the swordswoman's aura. But Aela could sense nothing beyond the carefully maintained facade that Phereinon maintained in the aether.
Clearly, she did not much like necromancers.
Soon they passed another set of caverns on the opposite side of the river, which the captain identified as The Lightless Pit.
"That one has vampires," he said. "I've seen them fighting the necromancers by the river's edge."
Aela looked to see if Phereinon reacted once more. But the white swordswoman made no sign of interest. Aela did see Loria taking mental notes however, weighing the danger versus the possible profit. The Arvern Witch had to admit that she was doing the same herself. Perhaps when their quest for the Agrigentans was finished, they might revisit some of these caves?
In time the Nakdeok turned west, and they came to a stop at the bend of the river. Here stood the ruins of an old Rasen castle. Only the crumbling stones of the outer walls remained, and even half of those were missing, with the gaps filled in by wooden timbers. Sweet wood smoke curled up from within, and a mixture of humans and Teodon could be seen standing guard at the single entrance, as well as around the rest of the site. A wooden pier stretched out into the river from the ersatz fortress, and it was here that Captain Hesari docked The
Nakdeok Queen head on.
"This is the end of the line for you," the Sea Elf declared. "Welcome to Castle Blackwater. From here the river turns into the Stone Forest."
"Aye," Daehyun said. "I have been here many times. The Rasenna abandoned the castle ages ago. Now it's a trading post, inn, smithy, whatever folk need it to be."
"From here we walk," Ranazu added.
As Daehyun had intimated, he knew his way around the trading post. Many of its denizens - a hard and none too clean bunch - greeted him by name. Aela discovered that the bailey was filled with several daub and wattle buildings of much newer construction than the original fortress. Daehyun led them to one of these, which turned out to be the eating house. A meal of fried sausages and tangy onions filled their bellies. While the wine was hardly Alalia's finest, at least it was not served in mugs.
Since it was late in the day, they decided to stay the night. Another daub and wattle building doubled as the inn. They found the accommodations to be nothing more than a space on the floor and a rattan sleeping mat. Aela decided to use her own bedroll instead, as did many of the mercenaries. Still, she was thankful to be inside the walls of a settlement. At least they did not have to put out watches against night dangers.
MaledictionOwl ScreechingOwl Carving