Questbound

Chapter 6-1

Kai studied the map that Grandfather Heen had given to them. According to the rough key and faded markings in blue ink, the great River Ehm was only two days’ walk from the northern edge of Earthias. Crossing it would lead them straight to the road going to Xya.

‘Do you suppose this map is accurate?’ Xanna asked him. ‘I mean to say, if it really is as old as Grandfather Heen said?’

‘Well, geographically, the land should not have changed all that much, but we will not know how far the humans have spread until we see for ourselves,’ he said, adjusting his bag and stepping clear of the last trees of Earthias’ border. The view beyond made him stop dead; hillocks covered in small wildflowers and long grasses reaching up to his thighs spread out across the horizon, broken only by the remains of a cobbled path, barely visible through the moss growing on and around it.

He turned to Xanna, who was staring at their surroundings in awe. She stretched out her arms and spun around, smelling the sweet air and savouring the light breeze on her face. ‘The energy here is strong,’ she said, laughing lightly. ‘It is so fresh and lively, not like the calm rhythms of Earthias at all.’

Smiling at her, Kai checked the map again. ‘Look here,’ he said, pointing to several small sketches of huts drawn here and there. ‘These indicate human villages, and the larger ones are towns. The biggest one is Xya itself.’

Xanna looked at it, frowning slightly. ‘Those are human villages? But there is only one between the far side of the River Ehm and the capital city.’

‘Yes, and this map was drawn out over a hundred years ago. There could be ten villages there now, or none at all. I just hope that the boat house on this side of the river is still there, otherwise we will have to go right up to the river’s source to cross, and though I am curious about the waterfalls of Foe"ehm, it would take us two moons to reach it.’

He folded the map back up and put it in the pouch at his belt, next to the sheathed sword also given to him by Grandfather Heen. Like the map, the sword too was made of Dorret, but from the wood instead of the leaves. It was a sure match for any sword crafted from steel, both in strength and durability, and was also edged with Agentae, the hardest mineral ever discovered, to ensure its sharpness would never dull.

According to Grandfather Heen’s story, the sword had once belonged to the Earth Healer warrior Gentunn Dorretblade, who had fought hard in the Last Battle against the demons. Unfortunately, Gentunn had suffered a fatal wound moments before the human mages were able to seal the demons inside the depths of Mal Roch’etchu. His servant (for in those times it was common practice for Earth Healers of importance to have such) braved the battlefield to retrieve his master’s body and sword, with the intent of returning them to Gentunn"s family. They took Gentunn Dorretblade’s body back, but the sword they gave to his servant for aiding him through such dangerous times.

‘And it has been passed down from parent to child as an heirloom ever since,’ Grandfather Heen had said when he’d passed it to Kai. ‘I hope you never have to use it, but as you continually tell everyone, the humans cannot always be trusted, even in times of peace. Not to mention, no Earth Healer other than you knows the correct technique to wield it.’

Then the old man had turned to Xanna. ‘You, my dear, need no such weapon. The strength of your Etherin will suffice to defend you. Now, you must gather your belongings and go; Lady Sia needs you. Oh, and do not worry about your duties as high sage. I will find a way to take care of them while you are away."

Kai glanced up at the sky. It had grown grey and restless, and there was moisture in the air. ‘I think it is going to rain,’ he said.

Xanna looked up at it too. ‘We shall just have to brave it, then,’ she said. ‘Unless we happen to find some shelter along the way. Still,’ she grinned, ‘we are on an adventure. A little rain will not stop us.’

are‘You know this is not an adventure, Xanna. We are here to find a way to break the curse on Lady Sia, not to spend time marvelling at the world,’ he pointed out.

She whirled around sharply, her hair billowing out behind her in the breeze. ‘Kai, do not be so tense! We can take what we are doing seriously and have fun. There is so much knowledge to be learnt while we are out here, and we can take it all back with us once we have found a cure. You know full well that Lady Sia would want us to experience as much as we can.’

and Kai sighed. It was going to be a long journey.

longThey reached the end of the long grasses, moving onto a plain of soggy marshland that made their feet sink and squelch with every step. Fortunately, Grandfather Heen had warned them about this, so they"d managed to make strong, waterproof boots from the leaves of the Wellog tree, a distant cousin of the Dorret. So far, the boots were working well, and would have kept their feet completely dry if Kai hadn"t stepped in a puddle far deeper than it looked. He sank right up to his waist, and when Xanna helped him climb out of it, filthy, stale water poured off him and straight onto her.

‘Still think this is an adventure?’ he asked after they’d squelched away another three hours.

‘Yes, just a muddy one. Look on the bright side, the rain has yet to—‘

Before she could finish, a single raindrop splashed onto her head. Unable to help himself, Kai snorted. Then the clouds burst open fully, soaking them in seconds. ‘What was that you said about braving the rain?’ he said sourly.

‘Alright, I admit this is far too heavy to simply keep going. Let us find somewhere to shelter and set up camp. There must be something near here,’ she said, squinting into the distance.

‘Over there.’ Kai nodded to a dense thicket of brambles. His eyes, adept at picking out details in partial light, had spotted them easily. ‘Do you think you could manipulate them into some sort of tunnel with your Etherin?’

‘Perhaps,’ she replied, brushing away the hair plastered to her face so she could see where he"d indicated. ‘Let us go.’

Holding on tightly to their bags, they charged forwards, ignoring the sucking of the mud against their boots and the slapping of Kai’s sword on his thigh. Grasping at the energy she could feel around her, Xanna sang a complex song as she ran, goading the brambles into lifting their thorny branches into an archway. They were resistant, having been undisturbed for years, but eventually they gave way and formed a tight, waterproof shelter.

Dashing inside, the twins threw down their bags and collapsed on the ground, catching their breath.

The rain continued to pour for the next day and a half, and though Xanna had managed to make large woven hats out of the brambles to stop the water soaking through their clothes, both she and Kai were utterly miserable.

There had been no sign of human civilisation at all, and the worries Kai had about the boat house no longer existing were starting to look like a reality. As they came over the top of a small hillock, however, they were greeted with rows and rows of neat plants growing in rich, dark soil.

Kai knelt down by one that had a short stalk with masses of furred, curly leaves. ‘This...looks like Tymetsu,’ he said. ‘And over there – surely that is an Escroe!’

Xanna inspected them for herself. ‘You are right,’ she said, gazing across the whole plantation. ‘They are all winter vegetables like the ones I have been overseeing in Earthias. It seems there are some variations between these ones and ours, but there is no doubt about it. These must be crops grown by the humans. And if they are here, then the boat house could be here after all!’

theyThey carried on, finding a well-used trail that cut straight through the field and into another, filled with slightly different crops. The trail continued diagonally to the right. Following it closely, the sound of rushing water began to fill their ears, growing louder with each step they took.

‘We must be nearly there,’ Kai said, shaking excess water from his woven hat, realising too late that it was a fruitless task against the driving rain. They got to the end of the field, where the path opened up to form a small gravelled road. Beyond it was the River Ehm.

The current was strong, flowing faster than a herd of stampeding horses, and even though the sky was grey, the light reflecting off the water’s surface was like glittering stars.

With relief, the twins caught sight of a simple shelter close to the riverbank, made up of four thick wooden pillars and a thatched roof. As they got closer, they could see a stack of small paddle boats in one corner that, from the dents and scratches on them, had obviously seen better days. An elderly man sat in the centre, carving a fish out of a small block of wood. They raced over, glad to be free of the rain at last, and he glanced up.

‘Come for a boat, eh?’ he said, detailing in the scales of the fish. ‘You’ll want to wait "til this lot stops, else you’ll get swept up in the current. Shouldn’t be long now, judging by "ow fast it"s coming down.’ He finished, putting down the knife, and took a good look at them. ‘I must say, I ain’t ever seen anyone dressed so funny before. Whatta your clothes made of? It ain"t leather, I can tell.’

‘What is leather?’ Xanna asked, looking curiously back at him. She hadn’t known what to expect when meeting her first human, but it certainly wasn’t him. He appeared so, well, normal. His skin was a light brown colour instead of green, and his hair was a dirty yellow, but apart from that he could have been an Earth Healer. The wrinkles on his face even resembled Grandfather Heen’s.

normal‘What’s leather?’ he said, incredulously. ‘Where’ve you been living? In the woods with them forest folk?’ he joked. She removed her hat as the clouds parted slightly, letting the sun brighten the sky, and its rays hit her face to reveal the pigment of her skin. The man dropped his sculpture on the floor with a clunk. ‘You are one of them forest folk,’ he murmured.

are‘Our people do have a name, you know,’ Kai said irritably, taking off his own hat and setting his bag on the ground. ‘You should use it.’

do‘I would, but I’m afraid I don’t know what it is,’ the man admitted. ‘Still, whatta you doing outside the forest? I thought your folk never left?’

‘Usually we do not,’ Xanna replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. ‘But we have been sent out to find a way to...relieve one of our people of a strange illness. We have been told to head to Xya. It is beyond this river, is it not?’

‘Sure is,’ the man said. ‘Though I doubt any of the "ealers there are versed in ailments of you forest, I mean, er…"