Month of Damoxte, Day 14:

We stumbled into a vamp hunting camp this morning.  Cyiet seems to know two of the travellers.  The blue one, Gorian, appears to have resentment toward Cyiet.  It's barely noticeable, but I can see it in his eyes.  And I am good at judging people by their eyes.  I'll keep watch over this furre in case I may have to protect my companion.

The other furre, a mixture of brown and green named Mar, is a curious one.  He's very playful, like Gorian, but his eyes look almost haunted.  This furre has seen death, I'm sure of it.  Yet his eyes change dramatically whenever he glances at the green girl, Chloria.  They definitely have a fire between them.  Her brother, Forestwind, looks at Mar like Gorian looks at Cyiet.  I'll have to ask Gelae to keep a watch over that one too.

Predictably, Cyiet asked if we could accompany them to Slen.  They agreed.  We await them to clear camp before we continue.  We should reach Slen by this afternoon.
 
 
 
 

    "What is that smell?" Gorian asked.

    Mar looked around the village gates.  There was indeed a strange odour.  It was almost like the smell of Kaelin's outhouse after Gorian indulged himself with her spicy linde stew.  Not quite though.  It was almost like...

    Mar gulped at his memory.  Rotting corpse.  He was not in Yrdnal long enough to smell those effects, but he had a good imagination.  Only he could be that morbid, he thought.

    "That's the walls of Slen," Cyiet told them, "I'll have to tell you the story behind that."

    "Why do the walls smell so terrible?" Gorian asked.

    "Because they're the remains of a dead beetle," Moraine answered.

    Mar smiled.  He was not the only morbid furre here, it seemed.  Moraine and Gelae rarely spoke during the short journey here from camp.  He did not believe that they were shy, but more reserved about their personal matters.  They did not appear to be thrilled about joining Gorian, Chloria, Forestwind, and himself to this village.

    "The sky is orange..." Gorian noted with wonder.

    "Better than blue any day," Mar quipped with a grin.

    "One day you'll wake up blue, my friend," Gorian smirked.

    Mar barely heard the end of Gorian's comeback.  His friend was almost drowned out by the volume of furres shouting in the centre of the village.  As the furres neared, the reason for the shouting was obvious.  They were approaching a large market square.  Not even Meovanni had a centre like this.

    "Forestwind and I are going to look for supplies," Chloria said loudly.

    Mar looked to her and nodded.  He looked behind him anticipating Moraine and Gelae to still be behind him, but they were already gone.  It was just Cyiet, Gorian, and himself standing at the edge of the square.  Hundreds of tables hosting all sorts of junk littered the village floor.  Merchants were shouting, advertising their goods. Occasionally a customer could be heard haggling a price for something.

    "I've never seen so many furres," Gorian said.

    "Do you hear music?" Cyiet suddenly asked.

    Mar strained to sort out the noise.  There was indeed music.  It sounded like a high-pitched flute he occasionally heard in the streets of Meovanni, but there was an obvious hollowed sound to it.  He looked back at Cyiet, but found the poet in a trance.  The troubadour walked almost in a dream into the crowded square.

    "We'd better follow him," Mar suggested to Gorian.

    "Do we have to?" his friend answered, brushing his paw into his bright teal hair, "I'm sure he's old enough to wander without an instrument on his own."

    Mar watched as the poet gently disappeared into the colourful array of furres.  The music was getting louder and he could swear he was hearing the tapping of a percussion instrument along with it.  The colours danced in chorus, despite the fact that the furres were totally oblivious to it all.  Destiny, Mar thought.  This was destiny.  It was something he could not comprehend, but for some reason, he knew it had to happen.

    "C'mon!" he shouted to Gorian as he raced into the crowd.  Mar did not bother to look behind him to see if his friend was following.  Instead, he was running through the crowd, stumbling into a few furres on the way.  Mar did not allow distraction.  A few angry furres cursed at him, but he had to find the source of that music, that song.

    Mar stopped suddenly.  There was a wall of furres before him, all of whom were engrossing themselves in deep conversation.  If Mar was thinking logically, he would notice it as a family reunion.  But Mar only wanted to see beyond them.  He twisted his neck to see if there was an opening.

    "I've heard that song before," he heard Gorian say behind him, "I don't know why, but I definitely heard it before."

    "Same here," Mar answered, "I can't describe it."

    Mar noticed an opening at the far left.  He motioned Gorian to follow and they ran for the small detour.  As they reached the opening they saw Cyiet in front of them.  He was facing a small equine. The golden haired girl danced as she played a vertical wind instrument.  Her blue dress drapped and flowed with a distant rhythm. The child turned and Mar saw her face, pale white with dark eyes, enjoying the song. A larger equine, a male, was tapping on a drum. He looked virtually the same as the girl except he wore blue shorts and a simple shirt.  Just as the song was becoming clear to Mar, the music ceased.

    "Dammit," Gorian cursed, "I know it, but at the same time I don't."

    "I know," Mar agreed.

    Cyiet applauded the golden haired girl.  He knelt down before her and grinned.

    "That was beautiful," he said, "What's your name?"

    "My name is Löe, sir.  Are you interested in buying?  My daddy makes these instruments."

    "Well, perhaps I am," Cyiet said with a chuckle, "Let's talk to your father."
 
 
 
 

    They're in Slen.

    Kaelin relaxed a little.  Her mind was stretched out, trying to pick up the impressions of rivers, dew, and fog to pick up Gorian and Mar.  She could finally concentrate on the dike systems in Slen, where she felt the residue of Gorian.  Mar was no doubt nearby, she thought.

    There was someone else there too, she realized.  She knew that the two were accompanying the furre of seasons, but there was yet another furre with them.  She focused on the body of the new furre and crept into the water inside of him.  His impressions were like rain bouncing in a puddle ... there were ripples.

    But for some reason, Kaelin felt fear.
 
 
 

    "I call it the löe," the large equine with golden hair said, "I named it after the first person to ever master it."

    The father grinned at his daughter, who had been beaming at the obvious reference to her.  He patted her head as she leaned closed to his embrace.  Mar recalled days like that.  He was lucky.  He knew Gorian could barely remember his family.

    Cyiet picked up his new löe and gave it it's first breath.  The hollow tune was off pitch.  The real Löe giggled at the sound while Mar and Gorian winced.  The father chuckled at their reactions.

    "I'll tell you what," the father offered, "If you throw in an extra garnet, my daughter will teach you the basics."

    "That sounds like a good deal," Cyiet smiled, "Doesn't it, Löe?"

    Löe nodded as she giggled some more.

    "Excuse me, sir," Gorian piped up to the father, "What song was she playing?"

    "It's The Ballad of Gorian the Warrior, son," he answered, "It used to be a popular tune years ago, I heard.  I personally picked it up from a musician in Theriopolis."

    "Is that right?" Cyiet inquired, "I got a poem from a musician in Theriopolis too.  It was about soldiers of Liixte."

    "Yeah, that town is a musical place, my friend.  I plan on going back there."

    Mar looked at Gorian.  His friend was staring at the table filled with musical junk.  Mar would give anything to read the blue furre's mind.  Gorian was never very revealing about his family, even though he knew very little to begin with.  Mar wondered about this song.  Why was it that he himself felt a familiar 'ping' when he heard it?

    "Markliam," Gorian whispered hoarsely.

    Mar suddenly watched his friend's mood change.  His face looked as if it was witnessing a ghost.  His eyes were no longer looking at the table, but above it and beyond.  Mar followed his gaze toward a shield and weaponry table.  There, laying against the left front leg, was a large shield with a clear and definite blue 'G' in the centre.  The G was surrounded by rays of yellow against a blueish-white background.

    Mar blinked once and suddenly Gorian was there, standing in front of the shield.  His friend knelt down as Mar strolled toward him.  Gorian did not even look up as the merchant asked if he needed assistance.

    "Who made this shield?" Gorian asked.

    "I dunno, kid," the merchant replied, "I found it in Gillia Bay, near Theriopolis.  It took me a good month to clean it up."

    "You have no idea about it's history?  Who did it belong to?"

    "Like I said, I dunno.  Are you gonna buy it?  It'll cost ya 300 garnets."

    Gorian winced.  Mar knew that the two of them together did not have that much money.  He knew what Gorian was thinking though.  Perhaps this belonged to his ancestor, Gorian the Warrior.  It would be a most unlikely coincidence, yet there was little known about the fate of the blue warrior.  They could not pass up this chance.

    "300 garnets?" Mar scoffed, "What, you think this is made of blue diamonds or something?"

    "It's made of ice raspberry steel, boy.  I'm practically giving it away at that price!"

    "It's old," Mar argued, "You can tell by the edges.  We'll give you 50 garnets for it."

    "It's very resistant to the elements.  I'll sell it for 200 garnets, final."

    "If it's so resistant, then why did you have to clean it?" Mar took Gorian's arm and helped stand him up, "Come on, Gorian, let's see if Cyiet got anywhere with his new flute."

    "I'll sell it for 100 garnets!" the merchant shouted as the two started to turn away.

    "Sold," Gorian said without hesitation.  Mar winced.  That price was most of the money the two of them had.  He wondered if this was a good idea after all.  They did not even know if this was the real shield of Gorian.  They would need Kaelin to confirm it.  Nonetheless, it was the agreed price.  Mar reached into his backpack for their bag of money.  He and Gorian counted out 100 blood red translucent coins and handed them to the merchant.  He smiled and gestured them to take the shield.

    Gorian bent down again to pick up the large piece of steel.  He grunted as he lifted it a tiny bit, but seconds later he put it back to rest.  He shook his right arm a little as he looked to Mar.  Mar bent to try to lift it himself.  It was too heavy.  He could only lift it as high as Gorian.

    The merchant chuckled, "It's all yours, boy.  If you can't take it with you, I could buy it from you for 5 garnets."

    Gorian gestured Mar to take one end of the shield.  Mar lifted the top as Gorian bent to pick up the bottom.  The two furres struggled with shield in four paws, walking to the edge of the market.  Their grunts and pants were drowned out by the intense crowd and the laughing merchant.
 
 
 
 

    Cyiet played a small melody while sitting at the small watering hole.  It was a tune his mother taught him long ago about a fish being too overconfident with a fishercat.  He smiled as he played, reliving his childhood as the löe took on the voice of his mother.  He watched intently as a high note created a small ripple in the water.

    That was good pitch, he thought.  He decided to play the song at a higher scale.  He gave the water a slow serenade and watched as the water vibrated in unison.  It was as if the water was listening to him.

    Cyiet increased the tempo.  The water vibrated more, as he predicted.  He gazed into the hole as he played.  Suddenly he felt a scream.  It was a strange sensation, very pleasurable.  He kept increasing the speed.  The screams became louder.  Cyiet watched the ripples intently as he felt a presence in the water.  He stared as far as he could into the depths below.  Was somebody there?
 
 
 
 

    Kaelin screamed.

    She could not understand what was happening.  She felt her entire body quake and twitch.  Her eyelids fluttered, she had no control over anything.  She could not see the inside of her hut anymore.  The furre of water felt dry salted tears escape her eyes painfully.

    Was somebody there?

    "Yes!" she screamed, "Please stop!"

    Kaelin started choking.  Her throat was extremely dry and there was a definite build up of bile on the way.  Her body tumbled backward onto her bed, her tail squished between her back and her hay.  She was convulsing when she lost consciousness.
 
 
 
 

    Cyiet stopped.  He took the löe away from his lips as his smile widened.  He hadn't felt this good in a long time.  Cyiet looked down at the now calm water and stared.  His eyes were glazed over as he recalled it all in his head.  He started to laugh at his new-found pleasure.
 
 
 
 

    Kaelin regained consciousness only slightly when her convulsions ceased.  She fell asleep soon after the attempt.  In her dreams she heard the same song, over and over again.  She winced, dreaming herself as a small fish in the water, laughing at the fishercat, poised with the deadly spear.
 
 
 
 
 

    The furre of earth watched attentively from a small distance away.  This was indeed unexpected to him.  Now he knew who the furre of music was and best of all, Kaelin was immobilized.  This was his time to strike.

Chapter 12