When Ed realized that the pirates had secreted themselves away under the group's watchful gaze frustration quickly turned to resolve. Half the group very firmly believed they could ignore the pirates, the other half wanted to at least make sure that the group of them was put out of business. It was up for debate if they really needed to take the time out to basically police the open seas.
The group's final decision was to go ahead and split up and head in two different directions as planned. For'Ten and Morgan believed that the pirates would rear their head again anyway.
The groups were set and agreed upon. The initial arrangement had put Ostrand with Morgan and Loran. He fought the arrangement. He came from a very ground-based group of demi-humans. He eventually talked his way into making the trip back to the Glass Capital. He said he would let Ko'Loss and Priya know what was going on and get them involved if possible.
Ed and For'Ten were going to head north along the trader's route and cross the roads and back-woods the same way that they had traveled so far. The thought was they could travel on the ground fast enough to almost keep up with Morgan in the air. He was going to fly by night to keep their movements as secret as possible. There were only three souls left to collect. They had to go north to find them before the pirates or anyone else could get to them.
A morning was picked and the first two members slipped out of the house they were squatting in quietly after breakfast. They moved through the streets as workers slowly and silently made their way from home to their jobs. The smell of ovens firing up and open-air stalls cooking started to season the air with warm scents.
Ostrand waited till lunch had passed and slipped through the door. He did not attempt to hide his presence. He strutted his huge frame through the streets and walked toward the edge of town. People stopped and looked at him openly. Badger species people were almost as rare as dragon folk, he took advantage of this to act as a distraction while Morgan and Loran walked to the northern gate out of town. If the town was abuzz about him they should be able to escape easily.
The problem was that the big man HATED the attention. And he was garnering the attention of everyone. Especially when no one could figure out how he had gotten into town. Had he come by boat? Had he come in during the night? Had he been there the whole time? Ostrand did his best to strut. He was a mountain boy so he felt like a peacock, which was awkward as hell, to begin with.
As Loran and Morgan finally made it out of town they laughed as they heard more people talking about the man who had shown up mysteriously. "He must be mad as hell!" Loran laughed as she spoke to Morgan.
Morgan didn't really walk as much as stroll anywhere he went. He was a nearly ancient being and ex-royal being. He chuckled to himself. "It is likely he is fuming quietly right now."
Loran laughed and made her best impersonation of Ostrand's gruff voice. "That pointy-eared crazy woman talked me into this..." she said trying to hold her laugher in. "I will drag her back to the woods and make her pay for this."
Morgan laughed. "Do you think he picks on you because he likes you? You know, a child-like teasing?"
Loran stopped walked and looked at Morgan with wide eyes. She bent over and began laughing so heavily she snorted. "Oh, gods no! I am certain he thinks I am an elvish demon here to torment him. Which is fine, I mean am a knight first and foremost. I have no time for romance."
Morgan waved goodbye to the bored-distracted guards as they made their way through the gates. "I thought the stories of old knights were full of them making plans to go back to when the battle is over."
"Yeah and then they die on the battlefield and leaving someone behind, heartbroken. Sorry, that's not my plan in life. Don't get me wrong. I have taken time to find pleasure where I can. I'm not the kind to stop and start a family and raise little half-elf badge kids though. What a horrible mental image..." Loran tried to hold in her laughter at the idea of the children.
The conversation kept a friendly pace as they made their way out of town. They agreed to walk up to the edge of the coast and take off from one of the beaches as the sun started to set. The faint outline of a white dragon would look like a cloud drifting through the sky.
They made their way to the first beach they could get to that would be over the horizon from the city. Morgan had wanted to take off far enough away from the city that they could climb the sky without having to hover close to the ground before heading up into the sky.
The beach they walked up to was covered in glittering golden sands with streaks of bleached white peeking out from under the dunes. Waves would come up on shore and deposit the white lines of crushed shells on the soft sands of the beach. It gave the beach a serene, breath-taking, feast for the eyes. If they hadn't been trying to make their way north, it would have been the ideal place to stop for the day and dig your toes into the sand.
Loran took a few minutes to herself to run through the sand for a moment. She had grown up in the forest and then moved to the city. Sandy beaches by the sea were something she had never seen before. And then to have one lit up with the red and orange glow of the state of sunset was more than she would have seen if she had just stayed in the city. The little girl came out in her as she ran along the beach picking up shells and kicking at waves as they came up on shore.
Morgan watched her and wondered if this was what it was like to have children. Dragons lived such long lives that having children like humans was unheard of. Normally one dragon would lay eggs and raise the dragons until they could fly or transform. If he had sired any young ones they were all dead now and he had no memory of it.
"Hey, Morgan!" Loran's voice broke his thoughts about the past. "You want to rest in this cave back here?" She pointed towards a cliff face to their left, in the direction of the city they just came from.
"Why not." He yelled up the beach toward the smiling half-elf. She smiled and shook the sand from her pants and boots and headed towards the cave.
As Morgan got closer to the cave the breeze blew through the opening. You could hear the breeze as it whistled past the cave opening and into the darkness beyond. Morgan caught a brief scent in the air as it blew past. He couldn't tell if the smell was coming from the city they had just left or some other source. He held his hand up to warn Loran that something was off.
"What's up?" She stopped bouncing through the sand behind him and slowly trudged her way up to him.
"It smells like a fire..." Morgan stood and took a deep breath. He looked around as he turned his head. He was scenting the air to see where it was strongest. No matter which way he turned, it was always strongest near the cave. It wasn't a strong smell, more like the smell of day or two old fire.
He slowly started walked towards the opening of the cave. "Let me go in Morgan." Loran tried to shoulder her way past. "With your wings, you are not as good in a cave as I could be."
Morgan shrugged and pushed his desire to investigate back. He didn't believe she was right but he wasn't going to fight with her on it. He nodded to her and watched as she walked into the opening of the cave. She put one hand behind her back onto the hilt of her knife. He watched her disappear into the darkness and waited for a few minutes.
"Find anything?" Morgan spoke into the cave.
Loran reappeared in the opening and looked at Morgan. "Oh yeah, signs of at least five other people were in here. There are fancy chairs and a fire pit. Two glasses and a wine bottle in the middle of the room on a table. If I had a light I am sure it is set up like a damn fancy ladies parlor room."
"A parlor?" Morgan didn't believe what she was telling him. It wasn't impossible, just unlikely to find that here in this cave. And if they had, it was incredibly suspicious. "Let me see." He walked into the cave, his eyes had a slightly better ability to pick up all spectrums of light than even the half-elf.
She was absolutely correct. The inside of the cave was setup garishly. There were tables and chairs all around the outside wall, two chairs had been dragged into the middle of the room. A fire had been set in the middle of the room. He walked around the room and looked at each chair before going into the middle of the room.
"You smell the salt right?" Loran broke the silence as Morgan stalked the room. He smelled it but he was trying to make sure it wasn't just saltwater working its way in through the walls.
"Yes, I do." He said over his shoulder as he began smelling everything. He could get the scent of 5 different people. "This smell, it's familiar. I think the pirate was here."
Morgan stood over the table and looked at the chair that was placed with its back towards the cave opening. Faint smells of the man he had fought were on this chair. They were diluted like he had tried to wash off. No, it was like he had bathed in the ocean, they smelled like fish.
Loran walked over and looked at the chair. "So if he was here, who were the other people?"
Morgan turned his head to look at the other chair. "I don't know. He is pure human, probably obese, I smell the wine, and smelled like expensive smoked meats, or incense, or both. Someone else has put their piece on the playing field."
"Great," Loran said. "Do we keep heading north?"
Morgan headed towards the cave opening and stood at his full height as soon as he got into the sunlight. "Can you send this information to Ed via the map?"
She nodded and walked back towards her bag that had been left sitting on the beach. "What do we want to tell him?"
Morgan stared at the sunset as he thought for a minute. "Just tell him the pirate made friends, possibly the church."
"The church?" Loran looked up from the map for a second, surprise on her face.
"Yes, the smoke I smell was a type of wood that is used for incense. You can use it for cooking but only for the very rich or very fatty foods. Either way, it is an interesting turn of events."
Loran began to write on the map. She wrote furiously as she dashed it all down on the map. "What the hell does the church want with pirates?"
Morgan turned from the falling sun and shrugged. "Who knows, it can't be good for us though." He walked towards her and away from the cave. It was time for them to take off They could discuss it while in flight.