Harnio's eyes opened and he gasped for air. "Blacksmith!" He looked around panting heavily, only relaxing slightly when he saw the firewarrior and the tribes-person. "Blacksmith..." He looked down at his hands in sadness, and turned to look down the tunnel.
"Hey, Harnio is awake... How are you doing?" Harnio turned and looked at the feet of the firewarrior and nodded. "I am fine... What happened? My mind got a little fuzzy when I saw the blacksmith and his family turn to ash..."
"About that..."
He heard footsteps heading to his direction and turned to see the tribes-person kneeling in front of him, he turned to look away. "Are you hurt? Are you all in one piece? Did the big ass here hurt you?"
Harnio shook his head and stood up, looking around the tunnel, while scratching his arm. "We are at the plains entrance... I guess we can't go back if we are here... It is safer for the tower I guess. They also won't be able to follow us if we go through the plains..."
"Harnio..." He turned and looked at the firewarrior's belt. "This is my fault... Sorry." He shook his head. "No firewarrior, not your fault... It was mine. I was not strong enough to keep them safe. It was my duty to look after them, not yours." He felt a tear form and fall to the ground.
"Harnio..." He ignored his name and stared back down the tunnel taking a deep breath. "We need to keep going... We will be caught if we stay here."
"Tap, tap... The reason why we waited here, is that we can't survive on the surface without you... We need your help to get away from the plains and make it to the Capital."
"That's right... Also, I don't think we can take the main roads or transports anymore, so we will have to trek through whatever there is, and go around trading towns, and villages along the way."
"What about the blacksmith and his family... Should we give them some sort of burial?" He nodded. "That is a good idea... Wait a moment." He turned and took a step towards the caved in section of the tunnel instantly feeling the wind push him to the destroyed section and stood staring at it. He turned around, and let out a long sigh as he couldn't hear the other two following him.
He fell onto the ground letting the tears fall. "IIII ammm sorrrry brother... I couldn't protect you and sisters from them... I am not strong enough..." He banged his fists against the rocks blocking the path. "Why? Why am I not strong enough to protect my friends?" He looked at the destruction of the tunnel and his bloody hands. "I need to get stronger if I am going to protect my friends..." He stared at the stones. "I was able to learn to protect my friends in the library, now I need to learn how to protect my friends that are around me."
He sat in the tunnel in silence and looked at the rocks. "Brother... I will carry you and your family with me in my heart. You showed me the art of blacksmithing, and how beautiful the art is." He wiped his face with his torn sleeve. "I will keep the craft, and dedicate it to you and your family. My experiments and my work is for you all."
He stood up and looked at the tunnel in front of him. "To those that fell as my enemy. You brought this upon yourself. The next time you try and take me down, make sure you kill me or I will get stronger, and learn how to take all of you down with one swipe of my hand... That is my promise to the blacksmith and his family."
He turned to the wall of the tunnel and pushed his hand into it. He closed his eyes letting the wind force an indent into the tunnel wall. He took a step back and lifted his arm creating a slicing motion towards the wall.
"BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB..."
He wiped the sweat of his brow as he stared at the writing he had cut into the wall and smiled. "This is my oath right here. Whoever sees this will know my heart, and who fell behind these rocks..."
Harnio wiped the tears from his eyes and took a step away from the wall, and let the wind push him until he was holding the ladder with a surprised firewarrior and tribes-person looking at him. "It is time to go to the capital... If we stay longer, more people will come looking for us... Better to get away before first light." He pulled himself up the ladder and waved his hand at the hatch causing it to open.
"Harnio... We don't have the armor to keep us safe from the wind... We will be torn to shreds up there." Harnio shook his head as he climbed through. "No you won't. Not with me around... Dawn is approaching... shouldn't you both be the ones in the lead pushing me up the ladder, and not the other way around?"
He watched the winds as they raced through the ruins around him as he waited for them to climb up the ladder. When he heard their footsteps behind him he lifted his hand and pushed the air against them. "What's this? It is like a bubble around me."
Harnio nodded. "Yes, a bubble of air. It will keep you safe as we travel. Let's go... I hope we don't run into any of those beasts..."
"I don't think we will, since I turned them all to ash, I will be point..."
"No. I will go point since I have better eyesight than you." Harnio heard the tribes-person's footsteps quicken to lead them. "Fine. I will bring the rear. Harnio... You stay in the middle of us." Harnio nodded, and let them move around him. He smiled as he watched the first rays wash over them as they traveled through the windy plains. He stopped and turned looking back on the tower and bowed. "Thank you professor, and blacksmith. One day I will be strong enough to protect the entire world."
He turned and looked at the backs of the firewarrior and tribes-person smiling. "They have large backs, they already protect many people in their lives... I can't expect them to carry my own burdens. They are for me alone." He clenched the hammer at his side and kept walking looking at the grass bending in the wind around him.
He stopped and walked over to a burnt section of grass frowning. He heard the footsteps of the others walk up next to him. "This is where we attacked them before... No bodies or signs of their corrosive blood... Very strange indeed. I saw their blood melt through stone as soon as it was cut..."
"Is it possible because of the fire? That it also caused the blood to evaporate?" Harnio scratched his arm and nodded. "That makes sense... Since it wasn't really blood in the first place."
"If it wasn't blood... What was it?" Harnio turned and kept walking towards the edges of the plains he could see in the distance. He heard them catch up and walk alongside him. "Are you going to tell us what it was, since it was not blood?" Harnio nodded. "Dead souls... That green corrosive liquid that leaves their body like blood were souls passed on from the alphas... The person who made them has researched some dangerous work indeed... I wonder what their goal is?"
"You can think about that later. Right now we need to be thinking about the guard ritual, and how we are going to pass with just the three of us." Harnio nodded. "Also, have to get stronger." He turned and looked at the firewarrior. "Firewarrior can you teach me to strengthen my body... As you can see, I only use a hammer, so my body is toned, but is missing a lot of muscle tissue."
"Hahaha... Sure. I can help you with that. We in the north do a lot of exercise and body training. We need to, or we will explode."
"Hahahahaha... Explode. Explode from what? Having to much muscle in your brains?"
"Harnio, what you need is some acrobatic training... Your body is lean, and your skills with the wind help you move... You just need to learn how to jump, and land safely... Let the wind do the rest for you."
"He asked me first... Not you big ears."
"Are you calling me big ears? I should be calling you a big idiot since it was your fault we are in this situation in the first place... If it wasn't for you the blacksmith...."
"Slap! Slap!"
Harnio looked at both of their bodies and looked around them. "Tribes-person and firewarrior, that slap was because the wind was annoyed at your words. It was not the firewarrior's fault... It was mine. The both of you were busy fighting against them in a disadvantageous position... There was no way for the both of you to keep them safe without yourselves dying. You were the ones who said duck when they threw the fireballs... I was the silly one crouching in fear and worry... I could of moved them all to safety in less than a mark... I didn't... It was my fault, and my fault alone..."
Harnio turned and wiped a tear away from his face and kept walking away from them. "Harnio... it was not your fault... It was all of ours... We have never worked together really like that before. Even when we were hunting the beasts, we were working on our own... We need to work together, with specific roles and duties when we are in a battlefield. If we don't than we die... Just like we did."
Harnio stopped walking and turned looking at the firewarrior's belt. "You are right firewarrior. You are indeed right."
"What part is he right about Harnio... Are you telling me he has a tiny brain amongst all those muscles of his?" Harnio nodded. "Yes, when it comes to battle he does have a brain... It seems I need to do some thinking about things... a few experiments and tests we will have to do before we reach the capital."
'Ahh, Harnio, I don't like how you said the experiment part... I am not some tool or something you can do with as you please... I am a priestess of the mountain tribes..." He heard the tribes-person curse.
"You're a priestess?"
"Shut it muscles... I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Harnio... Hey Harnio, are you listening to me? Harnio?"
Harnio smiled. "I do as I please when it comes to research and experiments... Just as the firewarrior said we need to learn how to work together, and identify what we can and can't do." He heard the tribes-person curse loudly. "I don't agree. You better not be planning to cut up anybody." He smiled again and looked at the tribes-person's bow. "Not planning to cut up anybody... We just have to learn how to work together Outrider guard..."
"Fine... I agree."
"I agree too... When it comes to fighting, let me fight. I am a living weapon, and dangerous tasks is where I belong..."
"You already know what I can do with a bow, and my eyes. Scouting and sniping is where I fit in." Harnio nodded. "Me as the armsguard, keeps the teams armor and weapons up to scratch... Also, can be offensive and defensive..." He looked at the sky. "It seems we really need the other two guard to fill in the missing pieces."
"The sun is already at it's highest peak... We should be able to reach the end of the plains by sun fall..."
"What's in the forests around the tower?"
Harnio shrugged his shoulders. "No idea, I have not been far from the tower all my life, maybe our priestess knows more about that."
"Indeed. If it is like the forests I was in before. It will be full of birds, small animals we can hunt to something a little bigger like tusk pigs."
"Food... Sounds good to me."
Harnio nodded. "Than lets hurry and get to the forests, I am starting to feel hungry." He took a step and appeared far ahead of the other two. He turned and waved at them. "HURRY UP... I WANT TO EAT!"
All he heard in reply through the wind was long strings of curses coming from both of them.