With one final heave of effort, Azel pulled himself onto the cliff edge in exasperation. This herb Gryphon wanted was far deeper into the great forest than he had been when the zombie first arrived with Colwyn and Lyra.
In fact, Azel hadn't seen a tree in hours, Instead he was surrounded by sharp cliffs and gravelly roads. Initially the zombie would of wanted to get his bearings a bit more before leaving the city for the rare herb, but after his screw up with Rio, Colwyn "suggested" he left for a while until he could make sure the templar wouldn't try anything.
So taking the opportunity in grace, Azel decided to complete his assignment from Gryphon and recover the "dragon's breath" herb that was so important to the man.
Dusting himself off, Azel turned and looked down at the steep cliff he had just scaled. Just past it he could see the evergreen forest and if he looked even further, the city.
Considering the extreme distances for a moment, Azel wondered how far this island actually stretched on for. The city at its centre was already massive, and the forest that surrounded it like a sea of green probably went on for hundreds of kilometres... And just when he thought that was it Azel now found himself scaling a mountain range that went on for just as long.
Or maybe it just felt like that from all the climbing he was forced to do. After all, the vertical distance he had covered was by no means smaller than the horizontal, his calluses proved that.
Once again Azel had to remind himself that after he had gotten through this whole Sunchaser mess, and then travelled through the southern continent to those mysterious monks, it would all be worth it. Because then, finally, Azel would be from from his plight.
Stretching his arms, the zombie began walking through the mountains with renewed conviction.
<---o--->
"I'm sorry, my lady, but I can't think of anything that comes to mind," Said Lyra, her face screwed up in concentration. "He was an odd character but not suspicious."
Rio nodded and gestured for Lyra to leave, contemplating she eventually smiled and leaned back in her chair. Azel had given her a rather different impression from their brief meeting. He was someone who seemed lost and unaware of the world around him, similar to someone with amnesia.
But unlike an amnesiac, Azel had been missing something even more important, an ego. The boy had seemed bland and distant, but the few bouts of emotion he had shown was incredibly similar to Colwyn and Lyra:
First his general arrogance was inherited from the drake knight, of course. And then Azel had also shown a coldness similar to Lyra.
It was a fairly decent observation, unfortunately Rio had no actual idea what it meant. Was Azel imitating the people around him on purpose? Probable not, he had seemed more surprised than she was when it was pointed out.
The templar was really intrigued, but unfortunately there wasn't much she could do to investigate. After her recent interview with Azel, Colwyn had accused her of trying to intimidate his new initiate because of their personal bad blood.
And now all the other Templars were watching Rio like hawks in case she tried something.
He had not been wrong, of course, Rio had intended to scare off the initiate or maybe recruit him to her side. But once again curiosity had ruined the templars otherwise perfect plans.
Rio was forever wary of Colwyn, to get where she was now the young woman had done many evil things. And unfortunately for her Colwyn ended up on the receiving end for one to many of these deeds.
His hatred ran deep. And Rio knew that if left unchecked she would no doubt die to his hand. Colwyn was much stronger than his rank suggested, he could no doubt kill her in a one on one fight.
Once again Rio had to remind herself that after this she had gotten through this whole Sunchaser mess, it would all be worth it.
<---o--->
Swinging his sword for the thousandth time, Colwyn nodded with appreciation before dismissing the arcane blade.
The drake knight had made sure that Rio wouldn't be able to openly investigate Azel, but he had no doubt that she would find some sort of back door method and if she couldn't do that, then Rio would just do it secretly.
Colwyn had known her since they were both squires and knew just how cunning the young woman was, and even worse, how treacherous she would be. After all, Rio had been the one to kill his master.
His mood suddenly turning very sour, Colwyn marched back into his house and began rustling through the various shelves and cabinets until he found his treasure.
Smiling, Colwyn marvelled the century old bottle of wine. He had gotten it as a reward for saving a town just a few months ago and was intending on saving it for a special occasion.
Did he perhaps feel abit guilty for doing this? After all, his new initiate was somewhere in the wild looking for a practically extinct herb. The answer was of course no. Colwyn didn't even spare Azel a second thought as he poured himself a glass of the wine.
He did, however, think of his good friend Gryphon. Who was no doubt working hard on that big project of his. After all, Colwyn's sudden new motivations had also inspired his old mage friend into working on his goal.
Perhaps he should visit Gryphon and they could share the bottle. Colwyn hadn't really done anything for him in a long while, if he kept going like this the drake knight was going to start loosing allies instead of making them.
On the other hand of course, he knew gryphon would make short work of the bottle before he himself got the chance to finish just one glass, so maybe he'll just get Gryphon a much cheaper drink tomorrow morning. Today Colwyn would just focus on himself.