Much to Nimer's disappointment, it took several minutes before the three had made their way back to the main road that lay in the middle forest and began their travels. The day was met with intertwined in a series of twists and tangles while navigating the muddy trail. A thick blanket of clouds still smothered the atmosphere and suffocated the sun's image leaving the air crisp and frigid.
Jex took in the scenery. With the last of the leaves being gone, the only thing to watch was the frost shine in small prisms that clung to the dark needles of the evergreens and brown bark of the oaks. Otherwise, he scanned each bare tree for movement.
"What kinds of things live out here?" he wondered aloud.
"Goblins… tree nymphs… if you're lucky you'll see a wood elf or a pixie of some sort…" Nimer answered as he gnawed away at the end of his pipe. The billows of smoke drifted from the chamber and dispelled behind him.
Ray's nose wrinkled at the smell of Nimer's pipe as the smoke gathered around her. She let out a violent sneeze in response. She scoffed, rubbing her nose, "None of those creatures exist. I still think we're running after a fairy tale."
"Believe what you want," Nimer said in a bored tone and waved the air aimlessly. "They are out there."
"Will we see-"
"If those creatures are out there why haven't we seen one?" Ray spat.
"One… soon…" Jex finished with a sigh.
"Because they're scared of loud noises, and women" Nimer answered, letting out smoke from his nostrils.
Ray glared toward Nimer, "Incredibly inconsiderate!"
"And?" Nimer challenged.
"And annoying," she glowered at him as fire ignited in her eyes.
"Ray, calm down," Jex urged, "He's leading us to the kingdom."
"And whose idea was it to go? Not mine." Ray stopped her horse in the middle of the road.
Jex stopped with her. "But you agreed to come along," Jex stated.
"I never agreed to a guide, Jex."
"Why is it his fault? He's just trying to help."
"I don't want his help!" Ray yelled. "He's rude, inconsiderate, and a lazy pig's arse. I can't believe he's anything but useless and leading us to our graves for money and fame!" She panted heavily, then expressed her displeasure with gestures toward nothing. "I said a week, Jex, and this, THIS is what happens."
Nimer drew to a stop several feet ahead, turning his horse to look back. He leaned on the neck of his black stallion watching the two from afar spit at each other, Ray shooting arrows and Jex trying to block them with a sword and shield. Every word, like disavow ringing in his ears and slipping deep into his conscience. He engraved the wooden pipe deeper with his teeth and growing frustrations.
This is going to be harder than I thought, Nimer thought to himself. His patience was nipping at his heels.
Jex was silent, baffled by Ray's words. "I-I trust him, Ray."
"And I don't," Ray turned her horse around to go back the other way.
Jex panicked and jumped at her, grabbing her reins, "Ray! Please, Don't go. I can't do this without you." He submitted to her anger. "I'm sorry, please, Just…Just stay, will you?"
Ray, overwhelmed by the look of need in his eyes, looked down a moment before giving in.
"Fine," she mumbled and turned around.
The two made their way toward their guide. Nimer watched them, a distant gaze in his eyes as he turned his horse around and led them onward. They traveled only twenty feet till the sound of shuffling among the trees turned all heads to their surroundings. Nimer doused his pipe, letting the ash drift to the ground. Jex glanced around with haste as his horse became restless. It could sense a presence scattered amongst the trees. Jex put a hand on his hunting knife and grasped the leather bound handle. Ray readied her bow.
"What is it?" Jex asked.
Nimer knew this wood. This was not a safe territory to be in because of who it belonged to. "We best keep moving," and pushed forward with haste.
"But what is it?" Jex urged as he and Ray followed.
"Best bet, Lycans," Nimer answered.
"Lycans? What are those?"
"They are the creators of werewolves."
"But we've heard no howling," persisted Jex.
"And legends say werewolves only come out at night and change on the full moon," Ray said.
"Yes, common knowledge," Nimer stated but continued before Ray could protest. "Lycans are different. They shed their human skin and consume it so they may obtain human form once again in a quarter day's time. They are like any wild wolf, dangerous and one hell of a fight," Nimer started with a slight smirk.
He drew to a stop when they reached a fork in the road. "Which way now?" Jex asked, looking both ways. Either way would lead to a path on the mountain it seemed.
"We should go that way," Ray insisted, urging to the right.
"This way," Nimer turned them to the left.
Ray fumed and took in the right view. Some yards out a figure emerged from the thick wood stirring an evergreen branch with its high shoulder and consolidated frame. Ray had seen a wolf, none like this, however. Its paws were the size of a full grown man's hand curled upright into an aspheric shape. Ears the size of fans swiveled in their direction. Its eyes, however, were far from a wolf's amber gold and paralleled a deep blue in need of control. Ray turned with haste as its black lips curled back into a savage snarl. The wolf thrust its frame into an instant whisk, its velocity accumulating fast.
"Hurry!" she yelped.
Jex and Nimer glanced back once before signaling commands to their horses to set their speeds high. They tore down the pathway as the thundering of hooves was heard in an ensemble of sloshing mud. A shear crack of a howl pushed them faster. Their hearts raced as a chorus followed and reverberating claws dug at the ground as several wolves, large and robust, treaded towards the three. The trees whizzed by in a blur of runny fire as rocks and mud sprayed from under the hoof of each horse. Jex glanced over his shoulder to find the savage canines fleeting behind them.
"They're gaining on us!" he yelled at Nimer.
Nimer didn't fancy his yelling, "Keep moving," he demanded and added, "Amateurs."
"Why don't we just fight them off," Jex insisted.
"You want to be wolf chow, be my guest. You'll never win against a pack!" Nimer yelled back to him, pushing them ever faster. The sleek muscles of his black horse hardly strained, however, Jex and Ray's farm horses were no match for his wild stallion. Nimer knew it would pose trouble for them in the long run.
"We at least have to do something!" Ray yelled.
The three curled around a corner as a blanket of fur surrounded them from every side. An ambush was inevitable. Wild snarls of the dogs rose above the thundering hoofbeats, each lycan's paw indenting the soft mud. Plumes of breath drifted through the air like a team of midnight steeds tearing down the road way. Nimer backed away from the two, knowing now was a time to act.
"Run ahead!" he demanded.
Jex threw him a look of confusion, "What?!"
"Do as he says Jex! One of us must use our heads!" Ray shouted over. If there was anyone she wanted to see fall prey to wolves, it was him.
Nimer slowed his horse, cutting between the two and letting them trample forward. He leaped from his steed landing with two feet planted in the soft mud. He whistled loudly and his steed made a quick escape to safer ground, trampling into the woods. He drew the two custom cutlasses with one in each hand. He turned them to the side, the silver metal lined and engraved with characters of unknown origin gleaming in the light of the day.
"Canin, hit me with your worst," he spat at the ground.
He welcomed the lycans as they flocked inward towards an easy target. As they neared, Nimer took flight with a brilliant lunge, his blade slashing the hide of the animal with precision and gashed another wounding it in the side. Both hands with both swords worked in sync. Scarlet paint seeped from their wounds and make-uped the ground with the rich scent of iron like an ink well toppled over on a blank piece of parchment.
A yelp shattered the air and Jex looked back the way they had come. Their guide seemed lost in a frenzy of multicolored fur. He turned to Ray. "We can't just leave him back there!"
"He said he could do it!" Ray yelled back.
"But that's not right! He could get killed! The way to the kingdom getting lost along with it!" Jex insisted.
"Jex, we don't know how to fight lycans! You could get bitten! Let him turn into a monster! You're better than to do-"
"I am better, better than sitting by while someone gets killed or loses themselves to such monsters!" he yelled at her.
"Jex!" she cried, hurt in her eyes.
With a heroic slow of his horse however, the ground beneath them rippled. The sounds of cracking earth clawed chills into each of their pores. The horses stopped rearing in fright. Jex and Ray struggled with their reins and barely held on. Fright plastered on their faces, they looked back to the scene. Both were stunned.
Nimer stood, eyes wild, and not a bite on him. He heaved breaths while staring down a dark brown Lycan. He pointed his sword at its muzzle, the blade dripping with the blood of the wolves he wounded. Blood was smeared on his hands and coat leaving him in a murderous state. Wolves surrounded him in a ring, lying lifeless, unconscious, or bleeding to what Jex and Ray thought was their instantaneous death. Trees had cracked and some bent over along with several broken branches scattering the bare forest. Deep ringlets and cracks were engraved into the mud and dirt.
The wolf snarled at him. "How necessary was your action, to slaughter my kin!"
"Silence," Nimer hissed, "I cannot risk the safety of my fellow travelers. And most are not dead but sleeping, wounded and brought to good health in time. You are lycan's, not creatures of weakness." Nimer slowly lowered his sword. "I do not have time for your games Canin, do you understand? Attacking was unnecessary and I will not let harm come to my travelers."
The wolf lowered his head, a deep glare in his eyes as he peered at Jex and Ray then back to Nimer. "You have no right to tell me who lycan's follow. Lucine is our only true leader for the land's lacking the king and queen needed to sit in the seat of the Kingdom of Lunareth."
"They will rise again," Nimer said. "The time of souls has reached us once more. It is time you embark on your mission again. Seek Lucine and ask for her guidance in simple prayer. Zaniah will be rising again along with Lunareth, and kingdoms certainly do not build themselves now do they. Ravathor seeks a host and you need to be ready. Be off with you."
The wolf raised its massive head. A look of recognition met its blue eyes as they cycled to a deep amber. He gave Nimer a look of recognition. The wolf stepped back, sneaking looks toward Jex and Ray. The wolf bowed to them in a respectful manner before turning and making its way back into the forest.
Jex's eyebrows knitted. Ray stared at Nimer. She could tell he was harboring secrets he dare not tell.
Nimer sheathed his swords at his sides as his faithful stallion trotted back to him with a snort. He placed a hand over its nose, giving him a light pat. "Still scared of lycans, aren't you…" he muttered with a light smile before mounting. He rode up and past Jex and Ray as if nothing had happened, "Let's go," he said.
Jex and Ray watched him ride ahead before following up beside him.
"That was incredible!" Jex exclaimed, "How did you do that?"
"With two swords," Nimer answered.
"And magic," Ray jumped in.
Nimer closed his eyes, "There was no magic involved."
"Then explain the rings in the ground, why don't you."
Jex sighed and watched the scenery and tried to drown the two out while entertaining himself with puffs of condensation clouds through his nose and mouth. "Like a dragon," he thought to himself with childish delight.
Nimer cleared his throat. "The earth's surface moves on its own. I'd think no explanation is needed to explain nature. The gods may have created such beautiful mountains, but not without the resources Talorak has provided. He did that, not me."
"Oh, and you've talked to Talorak I'm assuming. Gods don't walk the mortal plane," Ray doubted him.
Nimer's voice dulled, "Yes, they do and I have. As disgusting as they are and their flaw is thinking they can bash fate, love, and treasure with their power, yet they create beautiful things and allow balance to the land. I'd hate to meet or be one."
"Be one? You might as well be one as self centered as you are. Nimer, the god," She spat at him. She was growing tired of his arrogance.
Nimer dulled further, "Self centered? Did I not just save your hide not too long ago? I apologize but I am a traveler, a story teller and keeper, and gambler. I am nothing but a guide. And here you call me a god? I'd kill a god the first chance I get. Plus I find no worthiness in your action or behavior to have the privilege to meet one. They don't tolerate disrespect."
Ray fumed, "You were showing off. The decency in your prize is blood on your hands."
"There is nothing wrong with displaying skill. It shows strength. I'm sure you've done the same. Why pinpoint me as wrong in doing so?" Nimer asked.
"He has a point," Jex tried to chime in.
A deep frown creased Ray's face, "It's wrong to kill innocent creatures. Were they not men before?"
"Before?" Nimer looked straight into Ray's eyes, "A beast one may become, but a man they will always be. It is their center of civil being. About the only person who would argue is an elf. Arrogant but pure, they think they are above everyone, but their intelligence and know-how of history bypasses that of a human in any occasion. You'll often fall below their social standards."
"Well I'd like to meet with one," Ray said.
"I guarantee your meeting," Nimer grumbled.