Harnio looked at the cracked ground in thought. "There's been so many eruptions here the ground is just dried lava... How do people survive here, it seems almost impossible."
"You should know by now that nothing is impossible, especially when the fireguard come mainly from the north and from here for those that survive, and are smuggled out... They usually go north and find one of the camps up there to join."
He turned looking at the firewarrior and his unit. "Yes... That's true. I'm sure they've created a means to build using the metals and materials in the lava itself... Its the only way that I can think of at the moment."
"You'll know soon enough little brother." He nodded at Cliffhopper... "Yes, you're right. I'll know the answer soon, however there is nothing wrong with making guesses and doing a little research before hand."
"Harnio... A few earth batterys, and you can build anything with this stuff... There's so much metal and materials in this, its making my eyes water in value..."
"Calm it husband... We'll get to see more treasure and gems soon." Harnio turned away from the monk and Raven and kept walking further into the firelands. He frowned. "Where is the first place that we cause trouble?"
"Let my nose lead us to our first target." Harnio kept looking at the ground. "Cliffhopper, your nose can still work in this environment?"
"It always works... You don't have to worry about that part of me."
"Hahahaha... Yes, brother spends a long time looking at it every morning."
"Don't make fun of your brother husband..." He looked up at the sky as he glimpsed at the monk being punched by Raven. "Wife... Ouch that hurt... Why did you have to hit me so hard?"
"I only tapped you... I'm sure it wasn't that painful."
"See... Look at my arm, there's a bruise there now..."
"Thank you sister in law for looking after your younger brother in law."
He sighed and looked around. "Can we start looking for where we're to go to make trouble? Its getting dark, and soon we won't see anything."
"He has a point... Cliffhopper..." Harnio looked at the cracks under the firewarrior.
"Fine... Give me a moment so I can smell the lay of the land..."
Harnio looked up at the sky glimpsing at Cliffhopper as he started to smell the air around him. "Uhh... Cliffhopper do you smell anything?" He watched as Cliffhopper look at Drummen. "We know a town is that way... I'm just setting the mood for us to go there."
"The whole place smells of drones... The closest place is straight ahead... that way."
Harnio looked around in confusion. "What's strange about this place, is that we haven't seen any guards at all."
"Harnio... They don't need to have guards here... Look at this place, its a natural prison. All they need is some vessels to patrol the waters, but nothing can live here." Harnio nodded at the firewarrior in thought. "You're right... I haven't seen a place like this before... How would people find food here to eat?"
"They find it little brother, and people always find a way to survive." Harnio looked at Cliffhopper. "Are you telling me that here, to survive people will eat each other?"
"I'm sure they don't go to those lengths Harnio... Just ignore what the drunk bear is saying." He turned and looked at the priestess. "He does have a point... People do anything to survive... Here is proof of that..."
"Remember they're not human anymore... They've all become drones, so they're ways of survival are different to ours..." Harnio nodded and looked at Raven's curly hair.
"Lets just go and pull this place apart... Hopefully, we'll find a place to rest when we arrive at the city..." Harnio nodded and took a step arriving on the outskirts of the town. He turned and looked around him frowning. "They said to come here... Where did they go?" He felt his heart start to race and he started to panic. He took a step back and stood in front of the group again. He took a long breath, touching his chest as he felt his heart rate lower. "Harnio... Where did you go?"
He looked down at his shoes, and kicked the ground. "You said lets go, so I thought we all are going and I took a step... Thinking you were all behind me... I appeared in the town ahead of us... It stinks by the way..."
"Hanrio... What do you mean by it stinks? What does it smell like? Death?" He shook his head at the priestess. "No, not death... Its more a smell of suffering... Its hard to describe."
"Doesn't matter we'll be there soon, won't we brother?" He looked at Cliffhopper and in the direction of the town. "Lets just hurry... Husband, move us all so we can go and see this town, and see what the wind walker is talking about."
"Yes wife... Every one come here, and stand near me..." Harnio walked over and stood near the priestess. "Lets go." He blinked his eyes at the speed the ground was moving under them, until it stopped on the outskirts of the town. He looked at the ground in amazement. "That's a nice skill there monk... Its very useful. Pity you didn't use it when we left the beach..."
"Yeah... Harnio's right you drunk monk... It would of saved us a lot of time." He lowered his head as he heard the priestess voice call out to the monk. He looked up and stared at the town. "The buildings are all made of the earth... Just lumps in the ground... How would this protect them from any eruptions in the area?"
"We're not here to solve how they survive Harnio... We're here to cause some trouble for the queen." Harnio watched as the monk walked up to one of the buildings and punched it.
"CRRRACCKKK!"
He looked at the hole the monk had made in the house wall, and felt the smell even stronger. He felt sick and sat on the ground breathing heavily. "Harnio, what is it? Are you feeling the same as you did before?" He shook his head and wiped the sweat of his forehead. "Its just the smell... Its awful... What's making it?"
"I don't think you want to know little brother." He looked up at Cliffhopper who had walked out of the strange house with a sour look. "Priestess... I told you people would do extreme things to survive... Little brother I wouldn't look in there if I were you." Harnio nodded and kept his eyes focused on the ground in front of him.
"Fire eaters... Move out and check all the places around here... There's bound to be some life around here somewhere."
"Sir. Yes, sir." Harnio felt his body start shaking, and he couldn't stop as the smell was causing his head to spin. He closed his eyes. "Harnio..."
"..."
"Harnio... wake up... Come on... Quick get Stannir... He's starting to wake up." Harnio looked around and sat up in a cot he was in. He looked at the uniform of the fire eater medic. "Ttthhhannnkk youuuu."
"We did nothing... It was Stannir... He carried you here... Don't worry. Cliffhopper removed the things that were giving off that terrible smell. Its gone now, you can relax."
Harnio nodded and saw the firewarrior standing in the doorway of one of the houses they came across. "Ahh, good you're awake... We got worried for a moment... One thing we learnt about these places is that when you turn have a light on the inside, no one can see the light from the outside."
He nodded and scratched his head. "That means these materials that are inside this earth can absorb light... The only reason is to hide from others at night... What's out there at night?"
"Good questions to ask... In the past it would make sense for a need to hide from bandits, and people trying to survive, however now since everyone is a drone here, there isn't a need anymore." Harnio nodded. "That makes a lot of sense."
He looked around the empty space in thought. "How long have these places been empty for?"
"The others have made guesses for at least a few full moons... Can't give an exact time frame, but we can't make trouble here, since no one is here." He nodded. "We need to find where the queen took her drones too, and than we'll be able to make trouble there."
"Firewarrior... I found a map of the firelands... Its a complete hell, but I can guess where Agnia would be." He looked up as the priestess's head looked through the door way. "Move out of the way ass. Harnio... Your awake, great... Take it easy in the future, and don't leave my side... Understand?"
Harnio shook his head. "I don't understand... I thought we talked about that before... I'm my own person, and I don't need people looking after me." He watched as she waved her hands at him. "Fine... I won't say again... I'm not the type of person like Raven is, using ropes to tie people up." Harnio smiled. "Ahh, there's a smile... Come we need to show the others this map, and make plans how we get there."
Harnio stood up and followed the firewarrior and priestess through the dark town until they stood in front of a large dome shaped building. "See... You can't see any light from the outside." Harnio, walked in through the front door, and shielded his eyes from the bright lights. "Little brother... He's awake... Good. Don't worry, I got rid of all the stuff that made that terrible smell... It made me sick too, but I didn't faint."
"Shut it Cliffhopper... Ignore him... We're just glad you're safe and not losing your mind or anything." Harnio nodded at Drummen and leaned against the wall, while picking up a mug of water to drink.
"The priestess found a map... We can guess where the queen and her drones are..." Harnio looked at the map as it was being unrolled. He walked up and looked over the map of the firelands. "Not all the volcanoes are active, and this one here has a large building built on the side of it... It has a view of a huge area between these active volcanoes... That's where she is, and that's where we have to start causing trouble." Harnio frowned. "That's going to take time for us to get there... Is there a way that we can move faster or something?"
"If we move faster, or even fly they'll see us, and prepare for a counter... For the time being its better we move on foot slowly there." Harnio looked back down at the map. "What if we used the monk's moving earth trick to move under the ground or above the ground faster?"
"We need to assume that the queen has drones out, looking around for people to turn into new drones... We already took down some at the beach... Its a pity, but we need to be patient as we move through the firelands..." Harnio nodded. "It makes sense... We'll take down the drone scouts that we find as we come across." Harnio smiled. "Also, it'll be a trail that Mouse will be able to follow, so by the time we reach there he'll be back with us."
"Good thinking Harnio... But we didn't even tell where we were going to be... How will he be able to find us?"
"Because I'm here... He's with my parents, and they're able to find their children anywhere on Athlos... As long as he's with them, he'll know where to go." Harnio looked at Raven, nodding. "That's good... Than we just have to travel by day until we reach there... What if we traveled at night?"
"You saw what it's like out there at night. The ash clouds hide everything, you have no idea the direction that you're heading... We might end up walking in circles and getting lost before we know it." Harnio nodded. "That's true... Do we have enough supplies to last us until we get there?"
"We have enough... It'll be a tight march and rations, but we'll be able to get there. "This town had some water and dried food, so we were able to stock up... We just have to hope each place we find and visit has stores that haven't gone bad yet..." He looked at the firewarrior and the priestess before nodding. He looked outside for a moment, and than looked at the monk. "Do you feel that?"
"I do... We have company... Its a small group of drones..."