Eventually Bal Vyr came wandering back toward us from some trees. Cloudbreaker Harbinger (goodness this will take some time getting use to I imagine) stood up and the two talked for a moment. I made my way toward them, observing a somewhat remorseful looking Drow. He pointed my way as I caught him saying, “I wanted to keep her safe. However it was foolish of me to have kept trying after you made it clear the lion wasn’t a threat.” It was curious that the Drow was concerned about my well being... especially after feeling like Harbinger was the only person who cared about me.
“No matter Bal Vyr,” the Goliath responded, “You did not understand and you reacted in a way that I cannot fault.”
“How’s the lung?” the Drow asked.
I watched as Harbinger then placed a hand over his wound and muttered a prayer. When he removed his hand, the puncture had healed up. Then he looked to the mountain lion and said ‘thank you’ in Gol-Kaa.
“How did you do that?” I questioned.
“You really are a changed man Cloudbreaker,” Abu said as well.
“Cloudbreaker is dead. Harbinger has always been like this and shall remain so. The past that you speak of Abu is behind me. I look toward to a new dawn now.”
“Wait what?” Bal Vyr asked. Harbinger then went on to explain to the Drow what honorifics were. In essence, Cloudbreaker described who he was, but who he is now did not fit that name. Goliaths change their honorifics as they change.
“So... Bal Vyr was the name my parents and masters gave me... but my true honorific is Lord of Chaos and Darkness?”
“Your true honorific is whatever describes you,” the Goliath responded, “I would say Cur would be more fitting.” The Drow gave Harbinger a stern look before the Goliath gave a soft chuckle. Bal Vyr even shook his head and laughed seeing that Harbinger was teasing.
“Well as long as you’re cool with me screwing your name up as I adjust, then no worries here,” the Drow added. Harbinger acknowledged that it’s not something he’d hold to us considering only his culture changed names. Abu mentioned Gnomes did the same while I withheld my comment of the Angelic and the nicknames they gave. Speaking of which, I have a new nickname for him. Læ Saoer (Lay Say-er).
As we made our way back to town, Bal Vyr inquired about how long Abu would be staying with us. His presence was rather sudden and unexpected, but apparently, the deity he worships (the God of the Roads, Fharlanghn) had lead him there. However, the roads around Lake Town are not safe and so it is his intention to help us resolve the conflict with the Elves so he can once more go on his way, let alone make them safe for others. Harbinger envied the connection Abu has with his God. He doesn’t believe his God is dead, kind of how I don’t really think Heironious is dead, but his God has been silent. Let alone the deities are suppose to be immortal... they are Gods! Unless another God can strip away their magicks, like Heironious did to me, they should be able to live on forever... and now I realize how futile my charge to destroy Erythunl has been. I may despise his vile ways, but... he will always be...
And when I say strip me of my magicks, I mean in the essence of immortality. I doubt I’m aging considering the 1400 years I spent in Hell, but I know I’m susceptible to death by sword or illness or whatever can destroy the body, although this mark certainly has put a kink in that!
We then spent a good portion of our time trying to figure out what to do about the orb. I presented it stating my suspicions. “Looks like you all were able to get the orb from the Goblins?” I pulled it out for everyone to see.
“Yeah,” Bal Vyr drawled, “can I see that actually?” I handed it over. “Let’s see why it is the Mayor wants it so badly.”
“Well it’s clearly deific!” I stated a bit too enthusiastically, “There’s no way the Mayor’s getting that.”
“Yeah, he’s definitely not going to get this," the Drow replied. As Bal Vyr examined the glowing orb I mentioned what I saw.
“When I was observing it earlier, I noticed a similar darkness in the orb like that of our marks.”
“Really?” Abu piped up, “I didn’t see anything when I first came across it.”
Bal Vyr continued to gaze into the orb as we walked. Thinking of the mark, I was also concerned that perhaps Cloudbreaker Harbinger and I would be received poorly. I made mention of it to which Abu and the Goliath stated that Bal Vyr, too, was covered in his mark when he first came out of his demon form. Let alone, they figured people would just assume them to be our weird magical tattoos we lied about them being anyways.
After about five minutes, Harbinger asked to see the orb. He had to break Bal Vyr’s concentration before the Drow handed it over. I then observed as Harbinger held the glowing sphere in his large hand. The thing was no bigger than a small melon and so Harbinger covered it completely with his other hand. I then watched him mutter familiar words as he began to examine the auras about it! I almost called out to him to warn him that that would be a foolish idea, but the Goliath held fast to the orb, a soft smile upon his face.
A few minutes passed when Harbinger suddenly furrowed his brow. He released his grip on the orb and simple stated that it’s beautiful. He then passed it back to me thinking I should keep it.
“Can I try something?” Bal Vyr asked.
“What are you wanting to do?” Abu questioned.
“Gonna try and steal a spell from it.” We all raised an eyebrow. Knowing how powerful it was, part of me felt amusement that the Drow would try. So I gladly held it out for him to make an attempt to thieve it’s magicks. I was ready to laugh at him when he became welmed by such great power.
“Do you think that wise?” the cleric questioned.
“Nope, but then again that’s not my strong point now is it? I don’t anticipate getting a spell, rather I’m hoping I’ll be able to learn more about it, like the kinds of magicks it holds within.”
I was a bit impressed that Bal Vyr was being somewhat sensible. It wasn’t just him being chaotic, he actually had a reason behind his potentially foolish action.
The Drow then took the orb and a light shot out of it and around his hand. Bal Vyr dropped the item immediately, cursing under his breath, “It would appear it has an ‘anti theft’ system.” I reached down, picked the orb up, and placed it back in my haversack, a smile on my face.
✻ ✻ ✻ ✻ ✻
As afternoon came upon us, Bal Vyr made an interesting comment as he kept observing Harbinger’s mountain lion.
“You do know Araja's 50% bird right?” I gave the Drow a look. “Hey I’m just saying,” he defended, “I also want to know if my bird is going to be an issue for your cat.”
“No Bal Vyr. Mountain lions hunt much larger game like deer, the occasional rabbit or horse-” Harbinger began to explain before a mischievous smile came upon his face, “or Drow.” A chuckle came out of my mouth to that.
“Or bird human hybrids that fell from heaven?” Bal Vyr countered looking at me. I gave a big smile. I wasn’t a bit afraid of the mountain lion, at least seeing it was under Harbinger's control.
.
✻ ✻ ✻ ✻ ✻
A few more hours passed to which I looked to my hand intertwined in Cloudbreaker’s Harbinger’s. There was something very rough about it. I then wondered what had I become as I examined my own mark. They looked like they were subsiding, the mark not covering as much skin as it was that morning, but perhaps that was wishful thinking.
“Hey guys... so how exactly did you all save me and Harbinger? I know he killed me, but how did you two survive the both of us in our demon form?” I inquired.
“Actually there was something very curious that happened,” Bal Vyr began.
“Yes,” Abu butted in, “you see, the Goblin that had the orb, he used it to cast a searing light into the room where Harbinger’s demon form was. Once the light dissipated, all that was left was Harbinger, well, at the time Cloudbreaker, and you as a glowing Angelic, healing everyone.”
I gave a quizzical look. “I? Healed?”
“Yeah. You had one wing that was pure white and the other wing was pure black,” Bal Vyr stated.
Harbinger squeezed my hand and when I looked I saw a thoughtful man,“I woke up to the sight of you and well, you seemed to return things to the way they were before,” he added.
“Except the ones killed by the fire that I casted,” the Drow interjected.
Everyone’s face was serious and genuine, so much that I couldn’t find a reason to disbelieve. So I withdrew to my thoughts. I traced the mark along my arm and had to wonder, Meryth? She was the only one who could heal in my family. She was the only one who knew how to cure the Boqor. Let alone, why was it I didn’t become murderous like everyone else?
“By the way Araja,” Bal Vyr asked, “serious question. are your bones hollow?”
I smiled warmly. “No actually,“ I extended my right arm toward him, “if you touch me you’ll see I feel like any other person,” the Drow poked at my out stretched limb, “It’s the magicks of my race. We are sturdy like any body of flesh and bone, but our magicks make us light.
“Hey,” I blurted as the thought that the Goblins were still alive jumped into my mind, “So if the Goblins aren't dead, much to the Mayor’s disappointment, you think we will be able to lie our way through this? It was said to be ‘rumored’ that there was an orb-”
“No Araja, that ain’t going to work,” the Drow interrupted, “I think it’s going to come down to fleeing the town or murder.”
There was a silence about us. Neither option was ideal.
“I’m thinking we’d either get assistance from the Elves or the Sylphsbane Clade-” why was it they were putting such faith in the clade!? “sneak in to save our friends, then murder, or we confront the Mayor which will end in his or our deaths.”
“Well, what about what the blue robed Goblin said?” Abu asked. Our heads all turned to look at him. “He did make mention that there’s a darkness in the town that the orb can destroy. Perhaps if we can figure out what that darkness is, we can destroy it and therefore the war between the two races will resolve.”
I lifted my eyebrows. If there was an evil that could be destroyed by the orb, that sounded like a more hopeful outcome versus killing folk. As I’ve learned, just because I don’t see eye to eye with someone, killing them won’t make it better. No... often it would make it that much worse.
The men talked a little more about their distaste for the Mayor and the robed body guard, when for some reason, I had to wonder if any of the warring had to do with the leader of Lake Town.
“Do we know when the feud between the Elves and the Humans began?” I asked. The guys each thought a moment. “That could tell us, probably, when the evil seeped in.”
“I imagine it would have happened when the logging company began- you know! We should go speak with them,” Bal Vyr responded.
“Hmm,” Harbinger mused, “after much reflection, I desire to speak with the Elves once more.”
“If we do go speak with them, I bet they’ll try and take the orb too,” the Drow added, “In fact, we best just not tell anyone that we have it.”
I involuntarily laughed. “Unless we have a lead box to contain it in, it doesn’t matter if we don’t mention it. Anyone who can detect magical auras will know of it’s where abouts.”
“Right...” the men collectively sighed.
“Well, the orb will be of note no matter what we do, but I definitely believe we need to communicate with the Elves about what we have learned of the Humans and see if we can get to the bottom of what’s going on. I also want to try and see if they’ll compromise with us for a more favorable and peaceable outcome to this war,” Harbinger spoke.
“On that note, I also want to figure out how to chat with the wizards, but I’m not sure how I’ll be able to convince them to come out and talk to me,” Bal Vyr added.
“Why do you need to speak to them?” the Goliath questioned.
“I have some questions about my newfound magical powers,” the Drow replied. I lifted an eyebrow for it would seem he had ulterior motives. What they are, I haven’t a clue.
We did finally settle on a plan of action; our focus is to do research on the town and speak with the Elves.
✻ ✻ ✻ ✻ ✻
A few more hours went by and I finally asked that we rest for the night. My body still hurts from this morning and I don’t know how I managed 10 hours of walking, but alas, we settled down and made camp.
I didn’t pitch my tent tonight. Instead I placed my bed roll next to Harbinger’s. Abu took the first watch, so the Goliath and I went and laid down. I reached a hand out to hold his. Our marks have receded a lot. A few traces of the snake like shapes lingered on his left arm.
As I looked at him, I asked, “So when did you learn magicks?”
His luminescent eyes filled mine, then became thoughtful. Harbinger then let a long breath out as a smile played on his lips.
“When I sat with her this morning-” he suddenly stopped, his mouth searching for the words to say, “oh it’s difficult to describe.”
“There’s no rush,” I encouraged. The smile continued on his face.
“You see, I believe she was sent to guide me. I- I can feel her, even now-” I snickered a little seeing that the lion was laying at the foot of the Goliath’s blanket. “I mean, I can tell she’s half asleep, yet alert. She’s observing the trees and keeping an eye over us.”
Harbinger then gave my hand a gentle squeeze, “Blackwing, as we watched the sun rise, I looked within myself. I feel, with her, I found this gift. Surely it has been within me all along, but I was blind to my own magicks.” He then looked away, toward the lioness, “I think she’s a spirit for she has shown me how to draw the energies from my own spirit to create magic.”
I beamed, unable to say anything. I vaguely remember the feeling when I turned 8 and felt my magicks within myself. And seeing how late Harbinger’s magicks took to manifest, I have to wonder if he’s correct. The mountain lion surely was God sent...
After a moment of pondering his words, I managed to mutter, “Cool,” before wishing him good night. My watch is up now. Bal Vyr's turn to finish the night.
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