Eye of the Wind – Ch. 1 – 5: The Elixir

• Posted by Kyrielle Atrinati September 2, 2012 - 422 views

  Before we even crested the first slope, a misty, chilling rain sifted down into the creases of the world.  I shivered, and donned an oilskin hood.  Derkeethus, however, continued to hum some nameless tune with a smile on his face.  "Ah, nothing like cool water between the scales, hmm?"  I shivered and stared at him pointedly.

  At length we reached the top of the ridge running along the northern face of Northwind Mountain, forming the Wall of Eastmarch.  I knew all of Eastmarch as it had been my home for some time, but I had yet to venture beyond the Wall.  We took one last look at the craggy sulfuric lands, watching clouds form on the small rises as cool rain met hot earth.  Then we moved onward, knowing it was all guesswork from here on out.

  As the sun sank beyond the Hrothgar Range, dropping all land east of it into darkling shade, we rounded the eastern edge of Northwind.  The evening deepened as we made our way to a tiny vale surrounded by trees and an icy pond.  The rain gradually faded into snow, and Derkeethus and I felt the chill right into our bones.

  "Not so happy now, are you, lizard boy?" I asked wryly.

  "Hmm?  D-don't know w-what you're t-talking about.  I c-can't f-feel a thing!"  Derk's teeth chattered like summer insects.

  "Here, see if you can get a fire going with this.  Maybe there are some fish in that pond that can serve for a meal," I said, my own lips writhing against the cold, and handed him a wood axe.

  The sound of rough chopping and scraping echoed off the mountain walls while I stood on a broken dock and fished.  After an hour, I managed to pull in a few tiny minnows, but nothing more.  My hands were numb and the rod was slipping from my fingers.  When I got back, Derk had a strong fire going.  We clustered around it like children in the dark.

  "Much better," Derkeethus hissed, standing so close to the fire he was practically stepping into the flames.

  We sat for a while in silence, waiting for our bodies to relax into the warmth and chewing numbly on raw fish from the pond.

  "I'll take the first watch," I said, breaking the silence.  "Why don't you get some rest."  My friend nodded, and crawled into the one bedroll we carried with us.

  I watched the snowflakes glinting merrily in the firelight as the vale became shrouded in complete darkness.  It wasn't long before I heard the Argonian's wheezing snores.

  Looking over at his sleeping form, I wondered what would happen if this "Elixir" was nothing more than a fake.  I supposed it would destroy him as he would be forced to watch the villagers die off from whatever was plaguing them.  Well, whatever happened, it was not worth worrying about too much until we saw this concoction for ourselves.

  So, I contented myself to listening quietly to the sounds of the night birds.  The owls.  Whippoorwills.  Nightingales.  Small creatures shuffling about in the brush.  The crunching footsteps of a larger creat--

  I whipped around and squinted into the dark.  The sound stopped, and eventually, retreated until I could no longer hear it.  Still feeling high strung, I unsheathed a knife and laid it near at hand, and decided I would study the sketches I made earlier in the day.

  It was ancient Nordic, of that I was sure, but I was not terribly versed in their language.  Hours passed while I did little but stare at the page, until, suddenly, I made a connection.  One of the words was "yuvon", which was "golden".  Not that I gained much headway, but it made me feel better to know one word that was on the wall.

  The fire died to barely glowing embers when I finally went to sleep.

  Morning dawned thin and pale as we headed out, and it wasn't long before the basin we climbed out of yesterday was obscured by heavy fog.  Snow still fell, but lighter and here the heather and daisies continued to bloom.  The light snow made them look crystalline in the morning light.

  We journeyed upward, continuing to climb a gentle slope into a deep pine valley between the two mountain ranges.  Jorin trotted gamely along behind us, occasionally snapping at insects and otherwise enjoying the tall trees and long grass.  Northwind was almost at our backs when Nael's ears pricked forward and I heard the distant rumble of a bear.

  There was no turning back.  The valley was extremely narrow and attempting to run down the northern slope we climbed would risk our horses' limbs.  The only way was forward.

  I dismounted and headed for the protection of the trees.  Nael, having considerable intelligence, followed and strayed out of sight downwind.  Eater-of-Burrs, having considerably less intelligence charged the bear with a scream of utter glee.

  "No!  Get back here!" shouted Derkeethus, chasing his steed and drawing his favored pickaxe.

  "Dammit Derk!  Get your horse under control!  I'll shoot it if you don't!"  But I had my bow out and at the ready before he was within ten paces of his horse.  I lodged an obsidian-tipped arrow into the bear's shoulder.  The creature staggered, and the arrow flopped loosely in the wound as the head shattered into pieces.  With a scream, the horse clubbed the bear in the head, sending it reeling about.  

  Slowly, it staggered around, and when it came to its senses, it only had eyes for me.

  I had an arrow ready, and stumbling backwards I unleashed it into the beast's eye.

  It fell with a thud, but the momentum of ts body careened into my legs and I fell onto the path, feeling warm blood seeping under the plates of my greaves.  Grunting, I managed to roll the corpse off of me, while Derkeethus and his horse stood by snickering.  He stopped quickly enough and helped me to my feet.  In minutes I had the body dismantled and left Jorin to scrounge on the offal.  The hide was packed onto Nael, and we started off.

  A few hours later, the snow lifted, the morning warmed, and rich green foliage shifted into golds and browns.

  "Yuvon," I murmured, looking at the scenery.  Was the stone inscription referring to this land?