Arthur paused, enough time to admire what surrounded them.
The magnificent natural structures forced their way into the ground by destroying it with their roots, no tree looked like the other, it was a spectacle of randomness and infinite creativity. He hardly contained himself.
'I don't even know how to react to the simplest landscape... How would a noble interact with this? Would he? Wait, no. I'm not a noble. I can do whatever I want!' He thought, letting his fingers brush against the steel wood.
He saw his shadow flickering. The exact opposite of the blinding light of thunder perturbed his sight. He touched his stitches and triggered his pain receptors to make the anomaly stop. 'Not now, not now!'
The low buzzing in his ear stopped when one of the thieves pushed his head down.
A woman with curly black hair forced him to kneel for the second time in the day. She pressed one hand on his mouth while pointing at the sky with the other. Only when he saw the astonishing quantity of white in her eyes did he notice the danger above their head.
A gigantic bird, the size of a horse, flew over the forest, it was far above them but its wingspan was incredible. The sound of its coppery feathers splitting air was almost imperceptible among the sizzling winds the steel branches cut.
A whisper entered the boy's ears."It probably saw us already, this bolt bird is waiting for us to part ways to attack. Come next to the fire, watch your steps, kid."
She gave a piece of her mind to the leader as soon as they were safe. "This guide sucks. He's not aware of the risks at all!" She pointed at where Arthur was, but her finger missed him by a few meters, he was already gone to observe a shiny flower from up close.
A mesmerizing red lantern covered in a viscous substance emitted a dim light. It was red and orange, warm colors that reminded him of his mentor's magic. The omnipresent flowery scent overwhelmed him, but when he was about to touch it, to discover it further, someone slapped his arm away.
"Flashlights are a no-go. Those are useful only if you don't do that." Said Bast with a reproachful tone. She left Arthur with a flabbergasted grimace. 'She... She scolded me?'
The more the sun went down, the more light appeared deeper in the woods. With a sharp knife heated over the fire, the wyrmfolk and her guildmates cut branches that separated the flowers from their respective trees. They then used the grounded spears to hang the lantern and avoid mosquito bites or flies on their meaty meal.
Bast's decisions were never taken lightly, the woman with black hair excused herself and chose to adapt to the situation instead of confronting it. She quietly sat next to Arthur who was still osculating the strange plant before introducing herself.
"I'm Jaya, nice to met you."
A few seconds of silence echoed, her rude manners from earlier were being sent back.
"Since it looks like you either want to get blind or discover the wonder of these flowers, I'll help you a little. This is a flashlight, it's a rare plant that can interact with the world's magicules."
With a flick of her wrist, she cut a piece of vegetable from their stock and skewered it on a long stick. "There isn't much use to it once you cut it from its roots, it won't last for the entire night, but it has an edible part."
Her food touched the mucus and a sparky jolt pushed her hand away. The unknown vegetable on her stick was fuming and a thick layer of honey-like liquid covered the smokey bits.
All of the energy accumulated in the flower cooked the vegetable, even the few burnt and pre-digested midges that merged with the mucus looked appetizing, the sad part of the short experiment was the flower's instant wither.
Jaya then gave the skewer to the boy. "You can have this, but don't touch the plant."
A tall silhouette hid the calm flames from the duo, Bast arrived and dismissed her underling. "Time to take care of your bandages."
He hissed to the sole idea of being nursed. Turning toward the four peaks, he intensely stared at the slowly appearing cavity at the top and felt the wound at the back of his head hurting so much he was struck by an incomprehensible vision. The dim source of light in the sky suddenly switched from left to right and so did the shadows of the landscape.
He blinked twice, thrice, and looked around in confusion as he noticed how dry were his eyes and lips.
"You're back a minute too early, Arthur." A calm feminine voice said.
He saw Lancelot's face for an instant, it was distorted with fear, and he almost openly questioned the ghost out of incomprehension.
By the time Arthur realized he had skipped the night in a blink, that his last absent-minded state lasted hours, he was panicked. He turned around to talk about his issue to Bast, but the wyrmfolk had two glistering spheres of highly pressured water ready to explode next to her face.
'A-Arthur?' He thought, nearly doubting it was his name.
Lily stood next to her, wearing her war armor. She was ready to open holes in everyone's head with a few spells, no one but her royal guards were able to rival the mage.
He stumbled his way to his sister, he was dizzy and his balance churned his stomach. He was pitiful.
"I am... No. Lily, you can't do that." His voice died in his throat as he realized how bad the situation could escalate.
"Follow us and no blood will be shed today. It's unnecessary to lose energy." Her tone was flat, her eyes cold and her hand shaking with her spell, as if she was holding an arrow in front of the stretched rope of a bow.
'She can't see. They are all blind...' Arthur's laugh echoed. It was corrupted by his soaring confusion and the denial of his dire state.
Since none of the guildmates were in sight, he prayed for them to not hear anything of their conversation, he came closer to the mage, closer from her spell.
The water bubbles were wonders he had seen and failed to replicate hundreds of times already. He knew the spell by heart.
With his hands, he grabbed the two spheres that immediately expanded and crumbled, giving him the shower he had long been wishing for.
"Lily... You can't negotiate with me, because you can't harm me." He said, confirming his hypothesis with the reluctance of his sister.
New wounds were carved in his skin, the spell wasn't dispelled in time and his blood soon gushed out of the many cuts.
"Now, now. Are you willing to harm the only healer of the group? I know you're not alone, but would you bet on an omnimancer's arrival or my death by blood loss?" He said as a devilish smile slit his face in two, making both women shiver.
His voice became lower as if he was pushing his diaphragm to its limits. It fluctuated like a monster's growl.
"Go back home." Each of his words was infused with hatred. Only Lily could recognize her father's twin voice.
There was no need for Arthur to further press his sister, she was calculating the probabilities of her reinforcements arriving on time, and she was diminishing her chance to succeed in her mission with each passing second.
The earthy shackles that held Bast hostage collapsed as Lily turned around without a word. The wyrmfolk rushed toward the boy and tore apart the sleeve of his cloak to have makeshift bandages at hand. Even though only her stress appeared, she was astonished by the easy triumph and the righteousness of her choice to follow Arthur.
But to her, the boy was insane, putting himself in jeopardy in the middle of nowhere was reckless.
He bit his tongue as hard as he could sustain until he couldn't see the royal mounts anymore, he puked his guts out when the tension in the air dropped.
He hated himself for being so similar to Uther. He hated himself for manipulating his sister to avenge an act whose mastermind was Uther.
The urge he had to do a reality check for the unpredictable scene that unfolded was repressed by a violent slap from the wyrmfolk.
"Idiot! You scared the hell out of me!" She yelled, disgusted by his sickening attitude and the relationship the royals had with each other.
The rest of the group was freed too, nothing else but their pride was wounded. Ardgal and Loke arrived a minute after Jaya. None of them understood what had happened, why their guide was wounded, or why their boss clenched her teeth.
Arthur's cheek was reddening, he accepted the punishment and readjusted his hood before speaking. "We have to depart, right now. They'll come back soon."
The orc's blood was boiling in envy. It was his first time encountering a rival, someone that mattered as much as him to Bast's eyes, he who was the most intriguing of his guildmates, he who let the woman patiently approach him for years, was now looking at a youngling stealing the show effortlessly.
Like his friend Ardgal, he was envious and resentful of his new comrade who had yet to prove his worthiness outside of the city. He was jealous of the newborn that had to be taken care of and looked at Arthur from afar, green-eyed.
They advanced for two more days, they pushed their rides to their limit, and prayed for rain and wind to erase traces of their path.
They stopped until they felt the need to bend their back to keep the horizon as straight as possible. Now at the foot of the mountain, they set camp for another night, all were drained pieces of meat ready to slumber in a deep sleep.
Arthur sat on the ground, to let his sore muscle rest a little, the instant he lifted his head, a drop ran down his cheek. The coldness of the tear shook him, he couldn't stop the second that fell next to the first, and the third.
He stretched to his maximum, sinking his fingers and heels in the rich soil to enjoy the sensation as much as he could.
'Looks like the sky is even sadder than me...' He thought before a familiar face blocked water from pouring on his face.
"Bast, let me savor this instant for a minute... Just a minute..." He breathed out.
"You'll lose the spice that colors your hair if you don't cover it. And you'll catch a cold if you get wet."
She did notice his distress when their eyes met. The first time he could feel rain was stopped after an instant, nonetheless, his short pleasure became another of his cherished memories as the sparkle of plenitude on his face faded.
A sudden crash interrupted them. Their ears were used to the constant rumbling of the sky, but this one was much closer and hadn't landed on one of the steel spears they had set to lure lightning.
A monster, thrice the size of a lizard, had landed with the grace of a meteor on what was now a bloody mess. Only the piece of quiver bag between its claws reminded them it used to be someone.
One of the rides next to the flat corpse failed to run away, it was killed an instant later and the loosening rope that held the other animals anchored to the ground became the least issue when they came back to their senses.
It had a terrific aura, one that reeked like imminent death. The animal had two scaly front hands and two feline hind legs, the tail of a lion, but the head of a bird of prey. Streaks of yellow decorated its upper body and fine bright orange lines went along all of its feathers.
Two frightening wings spread over the monster's body, it was a welcome ceremony, a spectacle before dinner. Even though it was gigantic, every aspect of the creature was attuned to the landscape, bending its traits with the terrible weather. It was a predator able to hide, to live in harmony with the area. Judging from the invisible source of light that lit its body, Arthur assumed the monster in front of him was able to use magic.
Bast inflated her torso and let out a distress call that supposedly reached her group.
"Golden griffin!"