Nelina woke up to almost everything packed and ready to go. “I never hear you when you wake up.”
“Indeed, one of my more clever tricks I suppose.” He brought over some of the food he had taken out for her. He lowered himself to take a small piece of cheese and fed her a piece. “You my dear must eat. I am going to finish up with our supplies and the horses. Your armor is out for you as well.”
“Okay, but if you need me, I’m happy to help.” Admittedly, she had slept so well that she did not mind the time to shake the grogginess off her.
By the time, she had taken her last bite of food she had only to don her armor and get on her horse. “Thank you, I appreciate the leisurely morning,” She hugged him with a quick kiss. “I am lucky to have a Magus who cares for me the way do you.”
“You’re welcome Sweetling, I take it then that you are ready to start the day?” Ru’ark secured the last strap of the saddle pack on his horse.
“I am.” She slipped into her armor fastening the buckles up the side and then strapped her sword to her waist after Ru’ark helped her tighten the last two straps of her armor. When finished, she mounted her horse and waited until Ru’ark was ready.
“Good,” before getting on his horse Ru’ark went over to the dome and touched it, and in doing so the dome evaporated into nothingness as though it had never been there. He climbed on his horse. “We’re set to ride then.”
The day itself passed much like the one before with the rocky outcroppings almost disappearing by midday and along with it, the ocean breeze. The King’s road took them farther inland and no longer followed the coast. The dunes were no longer with them as they become the dark brown of the flat scrub only interrupted the occasional hill. The road which still lingered on the edge of the waste was not as close as that of Danthamore but its proximity allowed its warmth to keep the road passable even in the dead of winter. She had heard stories as a child of the upper kingdoms of their long summers and little snow, which was unlike anything she had seen growing up in Pinza. Pinza’s harsh winters at times extended past the first days of Leepseed.
It was late in the day when Ru’ark decided that they should make camp. As before, he had found them a spot with some of the lingering soft sand from the dunes.
The dark reds and purples of dusk created a tapestry of color across the sky while he set up the camp. Afterward, Ru’ark leaned back into the makeshift pillows he had fashioned for the two of them from the spare blankets they had brought. He pulled out a small thin kerchief from his sleeve, to act as a plate for the cut bread, meats, and cheeses as they ate their dinner together.
“Out of curiosity are there any members of your family that are decent, or are they all like your brother trying to take things that don’t belong to them, such as me?”
“There isn’t anyone in my family who would display kindness to you if that’s what you’re getting at.” He put the slice of meat he had been holding in his mouth.
“You said they are trapped, but that they need me, and can’t really get here without me, right?” She bit down on a piece of her bread.
“Correct, were they to try to step into the Waste and knew the path Adar took it would not stop the Waste from repelling them.” Ru’ark took a slice of the bread. “The human forms one can see at times walking in the waste is what keeps my people from traversing through it. I don’t know what your name for them is in these lands.”
Nelina answered his question. “We call those Waste Phantoms or Sand Specters, what do your people call them?”
Ru’ark took a sip of his wine, “My people have no name for them. To us, they are the waste. If I were to set foot inside of it, they would be attracted to me similar to how insects are to a flame. The stories of when my people first tried to walk into the waste were horrific. The Waraeu within them were stripped of their life essence leaving behind a hollow corpse.”
He reached over for more of the cut meat. “Adar was able to cross because of the connection he and I have. He has but a single Waraeu within him and the Waste Phantoms, as you call them, are not attracted to him as they would be to me.”
Picking up her own cup she sipped her wine. “Our plan then is for me to have the Waraeu and then use me to barter for what we want?”
He set down his cup. “We will find the Ortus Chamber, and you’ll bond with the Nivecus Waraeu, then together in unison we will be unmatched in power.” He lifted a piece of the meat and put it in his mouth.
Nelina had reservations about what her capabilities with these Waraeu could accomplish. “My concern is that I’m not going to be able to harness these Waraeu as you do,”
He finished chewing his food. “You shouldn’t worry about it you’ll be able to progress at your own pace. My people who have longevity in their life spans can remain waiting until I deem that the time is right to allow them back into these lands.”
She blinked in surprise. “Then we will have a rather long life together?”
“Indeed, and our bodies will age, but it will be a far slower process.” He picked up his cup taking a drink of his wine. “Elian will be old and frail and we won’t appear any older than a couple of years from how we look today. You’ll retain your beauty for years to come Sweetling.”
“What a wonderful thing to know that we will be able to live and see generations of our family.” She was done eating and finished her drink.
“Out of all the things I thought I might attain in my life, you were not it.” Smiling, he set his cup down. “What I mean by that is your love for me is the purest I have known.”
Nelina did not let him finish and instead kissed him. “It’s always yours no one can ever take that away, taint it, or corrupt it.”
He kissed her until he elicited a soft moan of pleasure from her. “Not many people have the loveliness you do with just being who you are, we’re going to enjoy our time together as much as we can before we get to the Great Marsh.”
She hugged him. “That sounds magnificent.”
“Good,” Ru’ark studied her face while noting the heaviness of her eyes and how weary she was for their travel. “I think perhaps it’s time you take your rest we covered a good distance today.”
“I’d rather stay awake with you.” Spending time with him was worth being tired tomorrow.
Grinning, he stretched out. “Very well then, come to your Magus so that I may hold you.”
Nelina wasted no time in curling up against him. Try as she might, she was unable to escape the exhaustion of the day as she fell asleep easily while lying in the arms of her Magus.
Much like the previous morning, Ru’ark had awoken before her. Only this time, there was no work to do, and he greeted her with a plate of food and ate his breakfast with her. She liked that more because she enjoyed his company. “We’re going to have another long day I take it?”
“Unfortunately, yes” He could tell she was not used to this sort of journey. “I could make the trip shorter-”
“Yes, By the God of All anything to make go faster would be welcomed.” She did not mean to interrupt him, but the mere idea of a less grueling trip was something she wanted.
“I see, well then,” he chuckled. “It should shorten the trip significantly, we’ll make to Eiffest sometime after nightfall if we don’t take any long breaks.”
It did not take them long to finish their morning meal, and afterward they mounted their horses. It was still early with the morning’s sunrise colors of orange, red and pink illuminating the sky.
“Draw your horse close to mine,” Ru’ark waited while she brought her horse closer. “The weaving I do will go through their muzzle and into their lungs,” he patted the horse’s neck. “This in turn will allow us to cover a lot more ground.”
Nelina loved the prospect of going faster, but she cared about the horses too. “What about the horse, is it safe for it to be run like that?”
He nodded “It’s safe, but you must keep close to me, as you did before with the cloaks. The horse will continue to run with its gifted speed, but will not be able to sustain itself from the Waraeu within me at too great a distance. If you were to divert too far away the horse will not feel it when it became wary and would run until its heart ruptured within its chest.”
“I’ll stay close, then,” Nelina had no intention of letting her horse get hurt.
“Remember, we will be going very fast, make sure your face is angled sideways so the wind won’t hurt your eyes with our speed” With that, his eyes became dark pools of black as dark smoky wisps curled and spun around the muzzles of the horses. Plunging into their nostrils filling its breath with Ru’ark’s smoky wisps, Ru’ark’s eyes cleared and with a whinny from Nelina’s gray mare they were off.
The speed was blinding at first, Nelina not only had to turn her head to prevent her eyes from stinging but also to breathe since she found she could not breath when facing forward with the horse. However, the worst part was enduring the first few hours of squeezing her eyes closed tight to stop her stomach from retching. When she was at last able to open her eyes and push through her queasiness she marveled at their travel. The speed of the horses was unmatched while passing caravans and other travelers which were naught more than a blur going through the morning mist.
Ru’ark glanced back at Nelina to make sure she was not struggling to keep up. Satisfied that she was fine, he resumed the course ahead.
Nelina watched from the side while keeping her face low and pressed close to the horse’s mane as the landscape whizzed past. The low hills flattened out into the flat brown scrub she was seeing. It had changed over from rolling hills to a red and flat rocky desert. It was astonishing as she watched the earth around her change as they rode at a mesmerizing speed. The light sand and darker open earth vanished throughout the day as the small hills seemed to grow into bigger hills and more trees appeared like flowers blooming after a warm spring rain. Soon after a while the trees were left behind. The hills had also disappeared and reverted back to open land with intermittent outcroppings of dark red sandstone. The natural sandstone structures and sheer wall resembled large red tables with stone towers.
Nelina was relieved when her horse slowed to a normal ride.
Ru’ark’s horse trotted close to hers. “Come, the city is right ahead of us.”
The evening was setting in, and yet the King’s road was filled with a mix of travelers, merchants, and slaves. The city itself was burrowed within a nest of natural stone pillars and other small plateaus. It encircled the city, allowing for well-guarded paths which carried the same narrowness of an alleyway. The benefit of it was that it would bottle neck an enemy force trying to attack the city. There were also natural pillars connected by bridges and topped with roofs to act as part of the city’s defense. Unlike Danthamore with its ridged laws and abundance of city guards securing the city, there were less here and the atmosphere gave the feeling more was permitted here than in other places. Archers watched them from their natural watchtowers above as they rode their horses into the city with the other travelers on the road.
“Ru’ark, look at this!” Her attention was on the magnificent six large stone spires, the pure white arms tipped with gold reaching high into the days fading light.
“Ah yes, those spires mark the arena to your God of All, where people fight to the death.” He was not planning on taking her to see any matches since he did not think she wanted to watch people kill each other for sport.
The dark evening sky was upon them with its clear, crisp, air by the time they had stabled their horses. The city owned several private stables tending to travelers and merchants.
Ru’ark had solicited a young boy to carry their saddle bags. The gold coin had put a wide grin on his young lad’s face, as he followed behind them. Ru’ark led them through the streets where armed Gladiators strode down the packed streets each with their own entourage in tow heading in the direction of the spires and to the Arena for the nighttime games, as she saw others closing their market stalls.
Nelina’s hand went to the tug in her leg from the day’s long ride, she was thankful to be off the horse and walking. “I look forward to getting a better look at the city in the morning.”
“You’ll find a lot of the stone architecture in this city is similar in color to the tall sandstone mesas you saw on our way in. They have a quarry that they mine the stone from.” Ru’ark led Nelina down the last street “We must be out early if we are to be in Kiffet before the setting of the morrow’s sun.” Ru’ark stopped halfway down in front of a sign hanging above the door of an Inn and Tavern proclaiming it to be the ‘Winning Coin.’ “We’re here.”
Nelina was standing at the front the Inn. “I’m hungry, and we get to have real food here right?”
“Real food?” He opened the door. “You mean you don’t want more smoked meat, cheese and bread?”
She laughed. “Um, we can have that again when we leave Eiffest, for tonight we should get a hot meal from the Innkeeper.” Nelina pushed open the door walking in with Ru’ark and then closing it behind them. She stepped to the side to let him go first. The light haired, young stable hand, stood laden down with their packs. With patience, he waited for the command to release him from holding the heavy bags. While from the outside the building appeared small the room inside gave way to a wider tavern area. There were a handful of tables along with a small set of stairs. The room was populated with a few patrons puffing on pipes giving the room the cherry scent from their shag leaf.
Ru’ark walked up to an older dark haired woman. “Serra?”
Serra turned around from the mug she had been wiping out. “Magus Ru’ark, always an honor to see you, is Elian with you?”
“No, but I do have someone else with me, this is Nelina.” He motioned to her.
“A pretty one she is,” remarked Serra while assessing her.
“Good to meet you,” Nelina thought the woman seemed kind.
“You as well, are you two hungry?” Serra knew that the Magus would pay her well for being a good hostess.
“I am,” piped up Nelina.
“We both are,” Ru’ark wanted to settle in for the night. “We’ll take your best room and have food brought up for us if you don’t mind?”
“Yes,” she reached into one of her apron pockets, smiling, “This is for one of our three rooms on the top floor, and the last door is yours.”
Ru’ark took out several gold coins. “Thank you Serra and don’t worry, I’ll give your regards to Elian when I see him next, also send a bird to your brother to have my room prepared for tomorrow evening.”
Serra’s blue eyes lit up at the gold coins which more than covered the Magus and his guest’s stay. She affectionately touched Nelina’s arm. “Your food will be brought up soon, the best we have to offer.”
“Thank you,” Nelina was grateful for the hospitality.
Ru’ark grabbed the bags that the young stable boy had dropped and hefted them with ease over to his shoulder. He and Nelina then headed to the small stairway to the upper floor. Once they were upstairs they found their room where Serra said it would be. It was not comparable to the palace yet it was pleasant and nice. Its décor was tasteful with simple tapestries and a bed with a wooden frame big enough for the both of them.
Nelina did not hesitate to get out of her armor, and into an actual nightdress. “Not wearing breeches and armor is a nice change.”
“I’m sure it is, you’ve done well for doing hard travel,” he set down their packs in a nearby corner of the room save for a case containing his maps, which he put on the table. “I intend on having a good meal with you then letting you get some sleep while I go over the map for our return journey.”
“Okay,” she yawned, she felt worn down from her day, but grateful when she heard a knock at their door. As she had hoped, it was their dinner. She moved to the table a couple of the Inn wenches carried in two bowls of hot stew, cooked quail, and fresh vegetables along with two pieces of a sweet bread and a choice of tea, honey mead, or wine to go with it.
Nelina waited until the servants left and Ru’ark sat down with her. She filled her glass with some of the honey mead, while he had the tea. She lifted her cup towards him before beginning her meal. “We made it, and tomorrow begins the two of us heading for Kiffet, here’s to good travels for us.”
Ru’ark raised his cup. “Indeed, and May we keep with the swiftness we’ve managed so far.”