A Soldier's Life - 477 -

Chapter 477:

The next night, we stay in an abandoned town, which was one of the northernmost settlements at the base of the Dragonspine Mountains. Unlike the other towns, there were four defensive towers and a low stone wall. It looked like the eastern wall had been attacked by a large, clawed creature, but it was repelled. Clear signs along the road westward indicated the evacuation was recent.

“This is Shardspire,” Kyrenic said as we circled the town. “There is a dungeon a day’s ride into the mountains. My guess is that it got too dangerous for the adventurers to make the trek. And without a dungeon to support the residents, they left.” The walled town was not very large, and I guessed maybe three or four hundred residents, with the primary structure being an Adventurer’s Hall.

Hours after we left the ghost town, I asked Kyrenic: “How much farther to the border?” Shardspire wasn't on any of my maps, and everything looked the same all day long and the dwarves had no road markers.

“Two days. The dwarves recognize The Maw as the northern terminus of their kingdom,” Kyrenic replied.

“What is The Maw?” Alhar asked from the rear. He had excellent hearing to have overheard, and I turned in my saddle to see him further back than expected.

“A formation of peaks that looks like jagged teeth. Those mountains will be impassable to the east, and there will be a fort—Stone Watch. It is garrisoned by two thousand dwarves, and is where we will find the members of my order helping with patrolling,” Kyrenic said expectantly.

It had been clear that patrols were no longer needed since all the dwarven settlements were being abandoned. The towns were mostly small mining outposts, but when you added them all together, there would be a significant reduction in ore production. I suspected the town the hill giants had attacked was also in the process of leaving. There had been smashed carts in the streets, and the livestock looked like it had been tethered together for a march.

Herds of animals scattered before us as we rode north, with few signs of major predators on our path. Although it was hard to tell since the ground was soft from recent heavy rains, making it more difficult to see tracks. The few roads we crossed only ran west and had no traffic.

We had decided to keep a distance from the mountains as we progressed north. We rode about three miles away, paralleling the range. Evie was still able to spot some dangers by scouting a few miles into the mountains. I had instructed her to check for any more signs of the Nashasari, worried they might be tracking us. What she did find was a nesting pair of wind drakes, an ogre’s cave with bones littered outside, a trio of griffons circling deeper in the mountains over a likely carcass, and a camp of less than a dozen hobgoblins in a ravine.

When Stone Watch finally came into view days later, a series of nine uniform, sharply pointed peaks was clearly to our right. The Maw did look like the jaw of a predator. Atop one of the peaks, silhouetted against the sky miles away, was a dragon sunning itself with its wings wide. At first, we thought it was a drake, but Evie’s scrying mirror quickly disproved that. The creature looked majestic in its posture, its blue scales shining like sapphires in the late-day sun. It was pitifully small compared to the monstrous, ancient red Kyrenic, Blaze, and I witnessed.

“It’s a young blue,” Kyrenic said after we admired it for a time, and Evie got tired of holding the image. “Best guess is thirty feet, and still too young to leave the mountains. It will probably be hunting the plains when the sun sets. We should get within the walls of Stone Watch before then.”

“First true dragon I have ever seen.” Maveith nodded appreciatively toward Evie. “Are they common here?” he asked no one in particular.

“Only the small ones, and they hunt sheep, wild horses, and deer. At that age, they are already more powerful than drakes. It is their intelligence and breath weapons that make them terrifying foes. It will leave our group alone unless we are the only prey in range and it is hungry,” Kyrenic said confidently. “They are smart enough to know if they hunt people, we will hunt it return.”

“What type of breath does a blue-scaled dragon have?” Baelira asked.

I had read enough about dragons to answer her and show off my knowledge before Kyrenic could. “Even at that size, that blue can conjure aetheric lighting from its mouth strong enough to melt metal. The larger the dragon, the further and wider the breath can reach. The dragons actually breed far to the south but come back here to lay their eggs deep in the heart of the Dragonspine Mountains. When they hatch, they must fend for themselves. When they are strong enough, they will join the migration flights going south and spend decades growing before fighting for the right to mate.”

Kyrenic nodded in affirmation of my knowledge but still felt the need to upstage me. “I witnessed one such titanic aerial battle in my youth,” Kyrenic said wistfully.

“South in the Brotherhood lands?” Baelira asked.

“Further, beyond the Brotherhood of Mitzra’s lands. There are fewer active dragons than people think. It used to be said that the only thing that could kill a dragon was another dragon. Many of the older dragons gorge themselves and hibernate for years. We are fortunate that is the case; otherwise, they would dominate every continent,” Kyrenic replied before kicking in his heels to spur his mount toward the fort.

The gates of Stone Watch opened as we approached. The dwarven fort was impressive, for being in the middle of nowhere, easily a hundred yards to a side, and stone walls exceeding thirty feet in height. Dwarven guards walked the walls with crossbows, their race’s favored ranged weapon since their arms lacked the length to draw a bow effectively. Passing through the gates, the walls were thirty feet thick, but most of that thickness was taken up by buildings built into the walls around a large courtyard.

The courtyard was bustling with horses and refugees. A golden-bearded dwarf greeted us. This time, I was mostly certain she was a woman. Her face showed interest in the odd composition of our group since she could not have been alerted to our arrival. It wasn’t even Maveith drawing her attention, but the young Evie that seemed most out of place for the dwarf. “Welcome to Stone Watch, what are ya doing this far north?” She said questioningly.

“We plan to follow the range into the Telhian Empire, Commander. We are a delegation of ambassadors,” Kyrenic answered for us.

“Ambassadors?” she chuckled, looking us over, thinking Kyrenic was stretching the truth. “Even so, not a good time to be traveling, knight,” she replied, regaining formality. “I am Commander Tigra.”

“I bring news of the dire workings of the world, general. I am Knight Kyrenic,” he extended his wrist and they shook. “Are there others from my order here?” Kyrenic said, sliding from his saddle.

“They took a group of refugees to Teiros. They should be back in a week to take this group, which will likely be the last,” the dwarf responded earnestly.

“You have a dragon nearby,” Evie said impatiently, pointing at the Maw as the gates closed. The sun was setting, and the silhouette was hard to see now. I think Evie planned to impress with her spell form. I would have to talk to her about keeping your abilities secret.

“We call him Gloomlight,” the dwarf said with a smile at Evie. “If you’re on the wall at night, you can see flashes in the distance where he is hunting. He has flown over Stone Watch many times in the past year, but hasn’t caused us much trouble. Come, your horses will be attended to, and you can eat at my table and share this dire news. I can share some of the horrors we have heard as well,” she said with foreboding.

I let Kyrenic inform the fort’s commander about the demon and Nashasari threat and the hill giants we encountered days ago. It was sad news for Commander Tirga, as she knew Gorim Kargan, the captain of the dwarven cavalry, who had been killed by the hill giants. We toasted his life with a strong, nutty-flavored brew.

Although, General Tirga offered to send two dozen men with us, Kyrenic turned her down. “The orcs would consider it a war party, and it is likely to attract more attention,” Kyrenic explained.

The General nodded in the wisdom of it. “The orc Pathfinders have pulled back from meddling this far south. I suspect the Caliphate is having as much trouble as we all are with a blight of creatures from the Endless Dark. As you progress north, you are unlikely to encounter Pathfinders until you reach their territory. The Brightmantle Kingdom claims the unsettled region a hundred miles north of Stone Watch, but we stopped sending patrols north weeks ago and have been focused on getting people away from the mountains.” The Commander detailed the creatures emerging from the mountains. We had been lucky to only have encountered the hill giants, as larger and more dangerous monstrosities had been seen.

The dinner conversation lightened up eventually as Evie pressed Kyrenic for fantastic tales of his journeys—ones that he had not told her during the long days we spent in the saddle. Sometimes they were too fantastical to be believable. Since it was Kyrenic telling them, I took him at his word. He once chased a merchant across five kingdoms to reclaim an heirloom artifact that a son of a weaver accidentally sold—a pair of artificed scissors. He also settled a hundred-year war between two families by rescuing their sons from slavers. It really was the boys who formed a friendship in captivity that ended the feud, but that would never have been possible without Kyrenic’s rescue. The knight had clearly gotten around in his time and done more selfless good than I ever would.

That evening was the first time we truly felt safe with nearly two thousand dwarven soldiers in the crowded fort. We were given the royal suites, which, although rustic, were comfortable. I had to lie diagonally to fit in my bed, and Maveith probably ended up sleeping on the floor. It allowed me to feel secure enough to use the dreamscape amulet.

I quickly brushed up on my dragon lore, not wanting to be outdone by Kyrenic’s knowledge if we encountered another. I turned to adding maps I had reviewed in Petros to the dreamscape. My current dreamscape maps of the Heptarchy were drawn at the height of the Telhian Empire, a thousand years ago. North of here, the Telhian Empire had driven out the orcs and resettled them with its own people. Those orcs had fled to the protection of the Boutan orcs. Those Telhian settlements on my ancient maps had eroded over time, too far from the Empire's center to be supported by the Legion and army.

Tracing our likely path, we would be traveling near Formica and my first dungeon. That was the dungeon where I had obtained the dreamscape amulet. That dungeon now firmly resided within the control of the Caliphate. I had no plans to return the dreamscape amulet to that dungeon.

There were many uncertainties ahead of us. How would the orcs treat us, and would they let us pass? Once we entered Telhian territory, I wasn’t certain how our two elves would be greeted. Maveith should be accepted, but how Baelira and Alhar would be received would hinge on the Empire's current relationship with Esenhem. If the war had resumed and we were not aware of it, things could get ugly quickly.

We set out in the morning with fresh supplies and received maps marked with landmarks for the best route. This would help us avoid most trouble until we reached the Caliphate lands. The following days were not without encounters.

We unwittingly camped near a lake with a water elemental. The fight was brief, but one of the horses was made lame, and Kyrenic had to give it a healing potion. Only Baelira’s spell craft to slow the elemental prevented further injuries. Because of that, I gave her the major water essence the collector formed.

Since we were camping in the open, I took long watches overnight, using my earth speak to scan our surroundings constantly. While I pulsed the earth aether, my eyes were constantly on the sky. Hopefully, that blue would be the only dragon we would see, but there were other avian threats to be wary of. On a cold night, a monstrous cat larger than Ginger stalked our camp. I had been hoping it would attack the horses, so I could use my space to kill it instantly, but Alhar chased it off without asking me.

The terrain started to turn into hilly scrublands. Almost all the trees were stunted, like they had been diseased. The mountains began to fade and finally turn east. East was the direction I wanted to go; I would finally be making my way toward Raelia and my son.

A day later, we caught our first sight of the orcs. A scout or Pathfinder spotted us on a distant hill and raced away from us toward its settlement or Pathfinder unit. “Evie, follow him,” I commanded. We didn’t need to rush after him, and if we did, we would appear threatening. The rider zig-zagged through the hills, trying to obscure his path, unaware we were watching his progress.

When he pulled up and raced into a small stone structure, Evie followed him inside. Five Pathfinders, clearly marked by their tattoos, were around a table as the rider reported. The sound was muffled as Evie strained at this distance, but I still could understand the words.

The rider was excited in his report, breathing hard. It appeared the group of Pathfinders would come to us as they exited the structure and prepared their mounts.

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