Lonkar left the room with a calm demeanour. He was puffing casually on his pipe as he exited the log cabin. The air outside had a distinct smell of charcoal and smoke, it always smelled like that after he had summoned a fire spirit. He leaned back against the cabin, looking up at the dark grey clouds, it looked as if it was going to rain soon. To any passer-by he looked cool and collected, but he was in fact quite shook, and quite worried, the repercussions of Barandir being alive were neither small nor big, but they would certainly send ripples.
Scattered drops of rain were drumming against the similar looking ashen grey wooden cabins that marked the outpost town Ashwood. Lonkar moved with steady steps down the earthen path, most of the time the people avoided him, without so much of a hello, he had gotten a bit of a bad reputation in town as he had been quite the eccentric, not to mention the occasional gigantic fire spirit that he had summoned. Finally he reached a remote corner of the town, here there was larger building depot, and a couple of stables.
A small bell rung when he entered the building. A tall chubby lady with long blonde hair, lifted her head at the sound, and quickly stood up from her chair and moved to greet Lonkar with a sturdy handshake.
"My favourite customer!" she exclaimed gleefully, this was in fact true, Lonkar had been ordering a whole lot of ingredients and other random items through her small depot, and he had been very good for her otherwise stale business "how many I help you today?" she asked, although she had a pretty good idea as to what he wanted, however, she had been in blind denial since she had heard the news.
With his pipe hanging loosely in his mouth he answered gently "I'll be going with the next caravan to Spring-Wall" he put down a couple of coins on the counter "and make sure that my companion can lay in rest" he winked, implying that he knew that she knew about him picking up his nephew, and that the nephew was bedridden.
Her smile faltered "yes of course, they're leaving in three days, you can meet them at the city square at dawn"
Lonkar left the depot with a grin while shaking his head "small towns" he mumbled amusedly.
. . . . .
Luckily for Barandir the uncle had given him a lot of space the last two days, he could understand that they were leaving town in the morning, and that the uncle had been busy fulfilling promises and packing up before they were leaving. Hence Barandir had had a lot of time to mull things over. Although he didn't like it, he had decided to continue deceiving the uncle for now. To his surprise he did feel a strong familial bond with the man, not just based on the scattered memories, but one of blood begets blood, what exactly had happened to the original Barandir's soul he wasn't sure of, but he did consider the fact that the their two souls might have merged, or that he had absorbed the dying soul of Barandir, regardless, the entire thing was quite confusing to him.
Moving his feet and arm slightly he could confirm that the uncle hadn't lied, his injuries had been quite severe. Even with his breathing technique it was a slow-going process, at least for now he would be bed-bound. He looked at the small piece of parchment that lay on his worn blanket, he finally picked it up and unfolded it.
It was a letter that the uncle was going to send ahead, to their family, he had suggested that Barandir read it.
"Dear Crowborne's;
I have heeded your worries and concerns, and I will be arriving at the family manor in a matter of months. I did not succeed in finding the diseased remnants of our beloved Barandir, unfortunately I don't think his body is to be found in the Southern Magnolia Forest at all anymore."
Barandir coughed hard at the first paragraph of the letter! The uncle was pulling quite the stunt on the family, he was surely a prankster? Either way, Barandir continued reading.
"Don't worry Melasindra, I should be able to barely make it for your 15th birthday, and I bring with me quite the surprise! You'll see, it'll be the best present ever!"
'Okay so that's how it is' Barandir thought to himself, he was the present, he shook his head astoundingly at the outrageous behaviour of the uncle.
"As for you Melo, I'm sorry that I missed your 19th birthday, but fear not, the present that I bring your sister is of equal use and wonderment for you as well!
Sincerest,
Uncle & Brother
Crowborne, Lonkar"
The letter was relatively short, but it did inform Barandir of the names and ages of his siblings, which was something at least. He rolled up the parchment again. 'Family, huh?' His biological family in his previous life had been of poor health, and had passed away when he was only 10, he had since then been largely on his own. 'Would you accept it Barandir? If I took your family as my own?.. would I accept it?' His thoughts were serious and carried with them a sense of finality and consequence. Would taking another's family as ones own be that simple? He would do what he could to protect them, as repayment, sure, but that was different from accepting them, and allowing himself to be accepted by them. He scratched his beard in frustration, and then he closed his eyes, his mind becoming clear as it drifted to a restful place.
. . . . .
"I mailed the letter this morning" the uncle spoke casually while his body rocked back and forth inside the wooden wagon, he was reading a small book, and his eyes didn't leave the pages while he spoke. The wagon had two more people in it, and it was open in the front and back, but the roof consisted of a white oiled canvas material.
It was cloudy and raining outside, so it was quite dark inside the wagon, yet the uncle could still somehow read the book just fine.
Barandir was calmly listening to the drops of the rain splashing on the canvas, how long had it been since he didn't have to fear every resting moment? He closed his eyes, allowing the gentle sound of the rain to calm his mind "Thank you... uncle" he responded, still struggling with using the word ,uncle, to a man who appeared younger than he himself had been when he had died. The rain brought with it the fresh smell of dirt and grass, it was comforting "...Uncle?"
Lonkar's eyes left the book to look at his nephew, the young man had not initiated a conversation since he found him, so what prompted him now? "Yes my boy?" he asked curiously.
"Why didn't you let the family know about my returning?" although he had initially thought it to be simply a prank, he had since realised that no matter how much of a prankster the uncle might be, the news of someone's brother or son surviving an ordeal was hardly something to be kept hidden in this manner.
Lonkar stared silently at Barandir, his nephew had asked the right question, but he wasn't sure if he should answer it..."the situation in the family is not so simple nephew, news of your return, although good, might also bring with it a certain amount of trouble" he looked at the other people in the carriage, although they would hardly be able to snitch or know who to snitch to, family affairs were best discussed privately "when we have boarded the runic-zeppelin, we can discuss this issue further".
Barandir wasn't a fool and saw that his uncle's eyes had darted to the other passengers "of course uncle" he replied with a soft smile.
It was the second time that the uncle had mentioned 'runic-zeppelin', he knew that runic usually referred to something magical, whereas zeppelin was a completely new word to him, but he could hardly ask the man what it was, as it might appear suspicious. One thing had become apparent to him, the world he was in now was certainly more advanced than the one he had left behind. Even though he had seen animals and beasts that he had recognised, the majority he didn't, which begged the question, was this the same world, but many years later? Or was it a different world entirely with certain similarities?
A cool wind blew through the wagon, shaking the canvas tent and bringing with it several droplets of rain. Barandir smiled at the cooling feeling, at least he was alive.
. . . . .
They had been on the road for almost a full week, the only times that Barandir had seen the outside was when it was night time. His uncle had used magic to carry him out, much to Barandir's chagrin. Initially there was still a fair amount of forest when they were camping, but on the third day they had left the forest behind entirely, and aside from a few scattered trees, it was mostly wheat fields and farms. Barandir almost forgot about his uncle's magic when he saw this, such open land stretches, it was certainly a welcome change.
On the sixth day they arrived at their destination, the only way that Barandir knew that they were getting closer to the town was the change in the bumping of the wagon, it became much softer. When they finally did enter the town, he only knew because of the increase in noise, so many people talking, it was quite overwhelming to him after he had spend such an amount of time by himself. The other passengers departed at what he assumed was the entrance of the town, but his uncle and him stayed behind, and soon the wagon began moving again.
At some point it stopped. During the trip through town, he had been able to glance bits and pieces from his position, and the people wore strange clothes, and from what he could see from the buildings they looked strange too.
Lonkar got up and left the wagon, only to return a moment later with a couple of sturdy looking men, Barandir could feel the natural energy running in them, although they only appeared to be initiates, this proved to him that there were certainly warriors, but then why could he himself not retain this energy? The men unloaded the wagon, and then they began moving the stretcher that Barandir lay on.
It had been a sunny earlier in the day, but it was late at the point of arrival, so the outside was quite dim. Yet the first thing that Barandir noticed was the lampposts, although they didn't bring much light, he could still see a small flame flickering inside the lantern at the top of each one of them. These posts were quite far away from one another however. Barandir's gaze quickly flitted to the buildings, they were largely wood, too, but he saw some with rough stone and, there was one in particular that stood out which was constructed of small similar sized rocks. Most of all however was the large ship-like building affront, on top of which was a light grey canvas in the oblong in its shape, runes were glittering on it.
The men carried their luggage and Barandir towards the brick building, the road covered in evenly laid stones as well. Lonkar asked them to wait for him for a moment as he went inside. When he exited he held two pieces of paper in his hands.
"Okay guys you can carry our luggage up now, and the injured too of course" His smile was broad and warm, he then followed along Barandir's stretcher, his hand on his shoulder. The entire time Barandir was shocked and surprised at how different everything looked, but also in a corner of his mind he couldn't help but think 'mages are cowards and traitors...right?'.