Ternlei wiped his hands on the cloth that hung over his shoulders and he shook his head free of the spring water. Markku and Ternlei had been making good time, only after a day they had made it more then half way along the path, they would soon be approaching the forest lining the Enbo Lake. It was dawn and they had already risen, they had turned in for the night early when the rain began to fall again. It was only one of the many signs that they were approaching the darkness again. The ground became contorted, and matted with dark matter, unknown mosses patched the area. The darkness was spreading. He clenched his fist as he looked around the, now, unrecognizable area. Soon he would destroy that demoil, that horrid creature.
_______
“Is that so…” A voice echoed. White eyes glinted as he laughed. Things were going exactly as planned, and no one was of the wiser. He had everyone stringed up like puppets, and he played with them for his amusement. Ternlei was no exception, his fate was not looking too bright as Dragli stretched his wings he thought of what awaited him.
It had only been a few days but Ternlei had missed much, nothing was what it was a few days ago, and new beasts roamed. Dragli cocked his head to the side as he sat in a large chair playing with an orb of darkness. He whittled at what would soon be Ternlei’s fate. It was only a matter of time. A large dark bird flew to the top of the headrest on the chair and let out a crackled caw as it begged for attention. Dragli kept still except for his eyes which focused on the bird.
“Soon. Soon we will have someone to play with.” He licked his lips through a wide smile as the darkness began to glow with a sickening swirling motion.
_______
Another relatively smooth day passed for Ternlei, at this rate he’d be able to get to his brother in no time, or so he hoped. Markku had been good company, which made time move by quickly, and he also forced Ternlei to keep a steady pace as he moved quite a bit faster then he was used to.
“I think we’ll be able to spend the night in my hometown tonight Markku.” Instead of being happy he was quite serious and not at all relieved, if the darkness had been this relentless so far, who knows what had become of the town. “It might not be as welcoming as normal, so I advise we keep a watch over night. But it will at least give some shelter, just incase the rains start up again.”
“Aye, that’s good enough I suppose. And we can restock, if there’s anything of use there.” He nodded slightly as the dark forest opened up and the town came into site. Stone buildings still rose over the walls, and things almost looked untouched, but there was no hustle and bustle when they entered the town. Ternlei’s face darkened as they wandered the streets alone and memories flashed unwelcome thoughts, and it only reminded him of why he was doing such a dangerous thing in the first place.
They found Ternlei’s house, with the door wide open, and food that had been laid out for his mother’s and brother’s last meal had rotted with darkness. Even the air was becoming poisonous to anything of small stature. Ternlei closed all the windows and made sure that no light from the torches they had lit leaked out to any unwelcome visitors. It was cold, but Ternlei didn’t dare light the fire place, instead he ran the stove, which let off less smoke. Hopefully nothing would notice. He couldn’t help but tidy up and make the place feel like home again, no matter how dark and depressing it looked. Sadness welled up in such large amounts, Ternlei asked to be excused for a moment to take it easy and get a hold of himself. He just couldn’t understand why this was happening, and why his family had to be in the middle of it all. Destyn especially, he only could hope he was all right and that he still stood defiant to the darkness that followed him like his own shadow. Ternlei cracked open the window slightly and took a deep breathe of the cold air. He looked up and gazed at the moon for a moment.
Markku entered the room. It was evident as his hooves knocked on the wooden floors as he walked around.
“May I take first six hours sleep? I’d like to get an early start tomorrow and search the town.” Ternlei nodded. He would sleep during the early morning and perhaps to lunch, he should at least benefit from his own bed again. Markku departed upstairs. He would have to sleep in Ternlei’s parent’s room, because his brother’s bed wouldn’t be big enough to support him. He didn’t move from the window for a while and he only stared up at the moon. He yawned and then sighed. ‘Good night Destyn.’ Ternlei rose to a bookshelf and looked for a book to help pass the time.
______
Destyn had finally had a restful and peaceful day, and spent the day visiting with Zandra and Dalia again. The fog also didn’t return that night, which Zandra said was a rare thing, so they hiked just a little north of the town and found a ledge to watch the sun set. Dalia flew around getting used to her wings again because she hadn’t used them since she had fallen. She still flew uneasily and watched the ground very carefully. Her arm was still quite injured so she quickly stopped and returned with the Hevanarchon and Jukin though, and Zandra warned her to stay off of it for another couple weeks.
“So, you say the Gloren staff is located at the water temple just off the coast?” Destyn brought their discussion from earlier back up to confirm his thoughts, Zandra nodded.
“Yeah, following the river to the mouth of the straight, and it should be along the coast on the Syrain side.” Zandra said with quite a bit of confidence. “It’s just a story, made up after the Nojae war, but I’m almost positive it exists because I’ve seen the water goddess in my travels along there. When we were moving there was an odd current and I glanced over to a cavern. A figure stood there, and ever since then I’m almost positive that was the goddess.” Zandra put her finger over her mouth as she recalled the encounter.
“Was she pretty?” Dalia leaned forward almost bemused as if it was a fairy tale story. The sun was now just a sliver on the horizon and they could make out the river as it disappeared over the hills. It looked like a golden ribbon that lay over the land.
“She was very pretty, especially the way the water churned giving off faint aqua glints of light.” Dalia raised her arms in excitement as she squealed with joy. Destyn chuckled, she may have been sixteen, but she sure acted younger at times, so carefree.
“How far down is the cavern?” Destyn asked as he tried to imagine the water goddess. “And would she even let us through to get the staff?” Zandra thought about both questions for a moment.
“There is a cliff that’s about twenty feet above the water, and in the straight, well, it’s pretty shallow. About fifteen feet maybe? Plus I doubt the goddess is even there anymore, she was probably just checking up on the temple, no one ever goes over there.” Destyn shuddered as she told him.
“Is everything ok?” Zandra made a funny face at Destyn as Dalia jumped around in the distance picking some berries and singing with the birds.
“I- I’m fine, just getting a little chilled that’s all. And I hope you’re right, hopefully she got bored and went elsewhere.” Destyn joked slightly.
“Well, the sun’s gone back down, we can head back now. Having just that vest must be cold. You’ll need something warmer soon.” She smiled as she pointed to his bare arms. “I think we should go find the staff, starting tomorrow. It would be nice to get out and see the coast before winter anyways. We should be able to make it to the mouth of the river by tomorrow evening, if we bring a boat, we can use the river for fast transportation.” Destyn nodded uneasily. As Dalia and Zandra worked their way down the look out Destyn stood there and looked up. The moon wasn’t full anymore, more of a crescent. It still hung high in the sky, and you could see the second moon again. The closer moon traveled around the planet faster so it sometimes overlapped the smaller moon. It was rare though.
“You coming, Crow?” Zandra asked.
“Ah, yeah, sorry, just thinking.” He followed behind her. ‘Good night Ternlei’ he thought as he found himself playing with a bandage on the back of his right arm after Zandra had mentioned the lack of sleeves.
_______
The morning came quickly. Destyn forced his eyes closed as the sun came through a window onto his face. He turned over. There was something warm next to him, something smooth. He moved his arm along it keeping his eye’s closed. He then realized what it was. Skin! He opened his eyes and found himself looking into Dalia’s eyes as she smiled
“Morning Crow.” She said sitting up. Destyn choked and quickly edged himself so close to the edge of the bed he fell off.
“What!? Why are you there?” Destyn stood up and looked around. He was actually sleeping where she was supposed to. He looked over his shoulder to where he had been sleeping. His bed was all messy, so he had gone to bed there, but why was in the bed with her.
“What happened?” Destyn asked as his heart raced with no recollection of the night before.
“Crow always sleeps with me,” She smiled “He always protected me.” Destyn placed his hand on the back of his neck and smiled with unease.
“I said you could call me Crow, that doesn’t make me him still. Besides, how did I get in your bed?” Dalia raised an eyebrow.
“You were having a bad dream and I told you to come sleep with me. Me and Crow used to look out for each other, I was protecting Crow.” Destyn nodded and waved his hand as if brushing off the event.
“Ok… I suppose. I’ll go get Zandra and we’ll get ready to head out for the Temple.” Dalia bounced with joy and excitement.
“No need, you woke me plenty when you screamed, what was all that commotion?” Zandra entered the room wiping her eyes.
“Morning Zandra!” Dalia called out. Zandra just waved as she yawned.
“Ah… nothing, it was nothing Zandra.” Destyn tried to forget what had just happened. She shook her head.
“I have something for you. I’ll give it to you after we eat.” Zandra said disappearing back into her room to get dressed.
Destyn shoveled down his breakfast and gathered his things. Zandra and Dalia cleaned from the meal, and Destyn made his bed, and Dalia’s.
“Here.” Zandra handed some cloth to Destyn just before they left. Opening the folded clothes he smiled. She had given him a new vest and a shirt, with long sleeves. “You didn’t think I’d let you freeze like last night, would you? I don’t want you getting sick.” Destyn pulled the shirt over his head and then put the vest on. The shirt was a dark green, and with large cuffs. And the vest was red, with diagonal stitching. It also had what appeared to be a crow placed on the bottom left side of the vest.
“Har Har, thanks a lot.” Destyn laughed.
“I think it suits you, besides, it’s a nice name. Destyn almost sounds like a girl’s name.” She giggled. Destyn thought for a moment then looked back down at the crow. “There’s also a black feather stitched on the back of your shirt, that way you’ll always be able to tell if it’s yours.” She laughed.
“Thanks.” Destyn said as he turned to Dalia. “How do I look?” he asked.
“It looks so good!” She laughed as she ran up and hugged him. She looked up and smiled. “Now you really are Crow.”
“I have something for you to Dalia.” She handed her a pair of boots. They had been laced with colorful strings. The boots themselves were light red, almost a tan color. “Their old, but since I don’t think you’ll be flying around for awhile you might want them.” Dalia jumped with glee and hugged Zandra.
“Thank you very much!” She put on the boots and they were ready to go.
“The boat is out back, you mind helping me carry it Crow? We’ll only need to carry it for about an hour or so.”
“I suppose so, I want to get as far as we can today.” Destyn walked with her behind the house and they dragged out an old looking craft, it would barely be able to fit all three of them but it looked like it would.
_____
Destyn dodged mud puddles as best as he could as they walked down a narrow path. He couldn’t see where they were walking, and nor could Zandra, they had Dalia in the lead giving directions. She was also reporting how close the sounds of the river were getting. Destyn didn’t need to be told though, his ears twitched as he could hear the crashes of the water. He got bored of not having a view, only the boat and Zandra’s back. He sighed as he examined the serrated spear she hung on her back. She had also changed out of her robes and into some lighter clothes, better suited for traveling. Her tail whipped around curiously, and she would occasionally accidentally hit Destyn in the knees. He rolled his shoulders to adjust the belt that held his cross bow and bolts. It was getting uncomfortably hot under the boat and he was starting to get a headache from the sounds of the water as it echoed through the insides of the boat.
“We’re here!” Dalia danced about as they approached the bank. The river wasn’t quite as rapid as the boat had made it sound, but it was still enough to make Destyn feel uneasy. He peered over the bank and looked into the water. He couldn’t see the bottom of the river. He swallowed hard and backed up slightly.
“Let’s rest some, and have a bite to eat.” Zandra suggested. Destyn’s stomach agreed and they ate some rations they had packed early in the morning. “The river should be able to pull us out to the straight in a few hours, and it’s a lot easier then walking the whole way.” Destyn nodded as he nibbled on some dried meat and thought about what Zandra had said earlier. Did his name really sound like a girls? As he played it through in his mind he began to dislike his own name. He decided he would start calling himself Crow as well. With a snort of agreement he swallowed the rest of his meal and stood up.
They walked down the river a bit more to find a less turbulent section to set the boat. Shortly after, they were on their way down the river. Crow clenched to the sides. He felt uneasy with the motion of the boat, and Dalia’s restlessness wasn’t helping.
“Dalia, could you please not move so much?” Crow’s eye’s widening as he tried to keep focus inside the boat.
“Is Crow afraid the boat is going to tip over?” She laughed as she rocked some more on purpose.
“P-Please don’t,” Crow begged as he looked over the edge of the boat into the water. “I just don’t feel so hot.” Zandra laughed.
“What, isn’t that shirt warm enough for you? Maybe I should have made a parka. But then I’d be at that all day, and we wouldn’t be on this trip.” Crow moaned. He almost thought it better off that they weren’t, water, or at least the rapids weren’t exactly the most thrilling feeling.
“Be brave Crow!” Dalia cooed as they went over a small dip. ‘Easier said then done’ Crow thought to himself.