Open Chronicles The Wolf and The Bat

[Rose]

She took all this in, an attentive listener for how much she liked to talk.

"I see why you're tired. Too much walking makes me tired too, and I don't even have to hold up one of those." She gave his sword a wary glance.

"Maybe once we're past the Steppe I can gather herbs for a few days and buy us a bed. And you can just rest, I can find a book! It's been a long time since I read a book..."

 

[Ishar Morrad]

If we make it that far The grim thought was not one that he shared out loud. The Steppe was still thousands of miles away, more if he did his math right.

Yet he didn't want to bring her down.

"Perhaps." He mused. "We'll need time to figure out how to cross anyway. It won't be easy, or cheap."

In his experience Boat Captain's were all scam artists, smugglers, and crooks.

 

[Rose]

"Well lucky for you I'm super portable." She winked, skipping a beat before falling back in besides him.

"Maybe you are too. Have you tried? I could only do it after I got sick, maybe you got something like that in you too."

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"Doubtful." Ishar stated plainly. "I was a Templar for more than two decades."

Real Templar. "There is no semblance of magic in me save for this curse. More than a few Sorcerers have checked."

There were stories there, quite a few.

His time among the Templar had been eventful, and although he'd never traveled West Ishar had been all over the Blight and East. Twenty years of serving with the Templar had sent him all over, and during that time he'd met more than one Witch who'd read his soul.

No need to wonder.

 

[Rose]

"Okaaaay, but... Have you checked lately cause..." She waggled her fingers at him. "You can turn into something fuzzy. And you know, I could only get all shadowy once I got bit. Have you triiiiied to turn pocket size? I dunno.... maybe howl at the moon?"

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He shrugged. "I would know."

By now anyway.

Magic was a dangerous thing in the blightland, not only to the wielder, but everyone else. Molthal had a tendency to...harvest mages. They would torture them, break their minds and turn them into slaves of war. It was why he and the other Templar had gone there.

Their duty was a harsh one, but a mage on the run around the blightland was most often a servant of Molthal. Had be been one, he was sure they he would have found out by now.

"I don't need magic." He commented. "I do well enough on my own."

 

[Rose]

Rose whapped his arm. "What am I? Fish liver? Without magic you'd have blood on your hands right now. You could use it. Humor me. Howl." She crossed her arms, walking through the tough incline without so much as a stumble. There was some nice things to what she was now. She had never moved so easily through obstetrical before. She was like a cat.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"No." Ishar said simply in answer.

He has spent forty years in this world, more actually, and not a hint of magic had touched him save for that thrown by sorcerers trying to kill him.

Humoring the girl wasn't something he was interested in.

Ishar had learned to be tolerant of magic over the years, he could recognize it's usefulness, but that didn't meant he wanted to use it himself. Besides, he wasn't interested in making a fool of himself either. Not for any reason.

"You should be focused on the journey." He admonished. "What lays ahead will require more than magic."

 

[Rose]

"Really? Cause all I see are rocks and sticks," she grumbled, a bit of her agitation with the trek finally shining through. She had never utter a complaint, not even a grumble. Rose had been almost positive to a fault. But that did not mean she was entirely enthused about walking for months through this boring vegetation. It would be better if she could get Ishar to howl.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He nodded his head in agreement. The sights wouldn't be changing all that much for the next few days. The slopes of the Spine were hardly all that different no matter what angle you tackled them from.

"Once we get into the mountains you'll be wishing for rocks and sticks." He commented dryly. It was springtime, which meant they were unlikely to encounter any blizzards, but the nights would still be cold and storms were more than likely. "It's better than snow and ice."

He hated the cold.

"Then after that it will be grass and nothingness." He'd never been through the steppes, but that was what he'd heard from peddlers and merchants.

Vast expanses of...absolutely nothing. No mountains, no forests, nothing.

 

[Rose]

She mused over this, sparks of excitement lingering in her chest over the change of scenery. She had been wandering lost in this neck of the woods for a few weeks now. At least there was a way out.

"Maaaaybe we'll get lucky and fuzzy you will run us in the right direction. ...How does that work, anyway?" She asked, casting an uneasey look to the sky, where two moons laid.

"Do you shift to both?"

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He shook his head. "Only Pneria."

Something he had to figure out on his own.

"Once a month on average." Though a few times the moon had not been in position for nearly two. That time had been glorious, if shorter than he would have liked. "I am sure there is some explanation as to why...but I do not know it."

He'd always killed werewolves, not listened to them.

 

[Rose]

She chewed on her lips. "The mages will," she commented, reassuring him offhandedly. She rubbed at her face, sighing in relief as the sun fiiiinally pulled below the mountain up above. She hated the sun. Seriously.


"One day down..." A year more to go? She pushed on a little harder.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He didn't have the heart to say that they might not. Elbion was a center of knowledge, sure, but they were selfish bastards and even then they didn't know everything.

Ishar remembered a ship coming from Elbion to one of the shore-ports. A dozen mages had been aboard, all of them powerful. There had been a small batter nearby, and the Templar had ended up in the same village. He and some of the others had begged the mages to stay, to help fight Molthal.

All of them had said no.

Their reasons had been clear enough, not wanting to interfere in other nations and the like. It had still stung though, the idea that more of his men would die fighting the Blight Orcs when a single mage could have made the difference. "More to go."

He said finally to Rose, smiling briefly.

At least they had a plan.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

---------
​

It had been two weeks now.

The first week hadn't been so bad really, just a lot of walking and climbing. Between the two of them they had managed alright, the afflictions they carried making moving around a little bit more easy than one might have thought it would be.

It was the second week that hit hard.

A storm had rolled over the mountains. The mixture of snow and sleet had come down on them hard and swift, covering the previously green landscape in a bright pale white. They had been lucky Ishar had insisted on preparation, and thanks to the animal furs they'd purchased neither of them had frozen to death.

It had slowed them though. Their progress had gone from nearly fifty miles a day to a mere twenty, something that Ishar managed to track in his head as they moved through the high trails.

Now they sat around a small campfire within a cavern. It was the first time they'd gotten any semblance of warmth in them for nigh on a week something Ishar was thankful for. They'd stumbled upon it the night before, practically falling into the damn thing as they walked. He was glad it had been there.

Even if something did feel...off about the place.

He couldn't say what, but his sleep had been restless and something within the air of the cavern smelled of...wrongness. Ishar did his best to ignore it though, instead enjoying the heat of the flame.

 

[Rose]

Rose had handled herself surprisingly well for a castle-dweller. Clearly the time she had spent before she had met him had hardened her up. She had kept pace with him, never falling behind even when the snow hit. If anyone had bothered tracking the two it would be the only indication something was off about the pair as they pressed deeper into the unforgiving terrane.

It really would have been a simple matter for Rose to turn into a shadow and follow him along, but she chose not to. It wasn't right, making him walk alone. They would do it together, even if it meant she was shivering closer to the fire across from him.

"Boy would it be useful if you had your own fur right now, huh?" She joked, her spirits unwavering.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"I suppose." It was the first time Ishar had ever admitted out loud there was an upside to his curse.

Perhaps the grinding of the storms had set something off within him, an acknowledgement that suffering was not always better. Even if he did deserve it. A frown touched his face for a moment, head shaking as he took a deep breath and refocused himself on the flames.

"It'll stop soon." That was just a guess. "We'll continue on in the morning."

Ishar was no expert on Blizzards, but he wanted to reassure Rose that they wouldn't be dying any time soon. The cave would make sure they didn't die at least, the fire would provide comfort, perhaps even enough to sle-

The former Templar found his thoughts cut off as a loud rumble echoed through the cave.

In an instant Ishar scooped up his sword, pulling himself to his feet and peering down into the darker depths of the cavern.

 

[Rose]

Rose squeaked, darting up and behind him in an instant. He's feel her small form press against his back, finding protection in an instant. That was a quick jump to fright. Deserved, in her opinion. Nothing good made noises like that!

She peered over his side, eyes wide with terror and curiosity.

"...Whatwasthat," she whispered.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

His lips thinned in an instant, he cast his gaze towards Rose and his head slowly shook. "I don't..."

Another low Rumble.

What was it? A troll? Ogre? Dragon?

Ishar wished that he'd paid more attention to those meetings with the Templar from the Spine, those who dwelled here in the mountains and learned of the creatures that made their home within these ranges. He simply didn't know enough, didn't know what could be found here.

"I don't know." He glanced back out of the cavern, the blizzard still raging behind. "But we can't back out of here."

The Blizzard would kill them as surely as any beast.

 

[Rose]

Rose's finger's dug into fur, tightening in unexpressed stress. She stared down the shadows, her eyes developing an edgy glint to them he might recognize by now.

"...Stay here," she whispered, swallowing hard. With no warning and no chance to respond, she dissipated. The shimmering imprint of her body could be seen creeping deeper in.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar scowled, not because Rose had disappeared but because in the distance he could begin to hear drums. His mind wandered back to a wisp of a thought, some conversation he'd had years ago about the Spine and things that lurked in the depths of the mountains.

His skin began to prickle.

"Careful." He told Rose, unaware if she could even hear him. His movement forward was cautious, it had to be. If what he remembered was right about this they could be in quite a bit of trouble.

More than they could handle.

With no other word Ishar began to creep forward in the tunnel, heading towards the odd rumbling noise and the drums that rang out in the background.

 

[Rose]

Rose gasped silently, a cavern spilling open before her. The dim light made her shadow waver, revealing her face for a spare heartbeat before she moved back enough to be concealed into something small again. And then she near shat herself, turning around and speeding right back the way she came-blind to her movements and thumping into Ishar's chest.

"Oof!" She complained, flat out knocking herself out of the shadows by her attempt to travel through him. Das not how that works...

She rubbed at herself, looking back in nothing short of panic as she scrambled back. "Green things," she explained breathlessly.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"Green?" Orcs?

That didn't make any sense. He knew that most orcs were green in skin tone, though those he was most familiar with were usually gray, the same color as ogres and other monsters that once hailed from the Blightlands. He frowned.

Perhaps something new?

Something he did not yet know to fear. "What do they look like?"

He asked quickly, not quite sure what to make of her simple description.

 

[Rose]

"You know, ugly, bleeeeh--" She demonstrated by contorting her features, her movements no less hasty as she grabbed at his arm and tried to tug him back to the opening of the cave. "Come on," she hissed, desperate to get him moving. "They could come out any moment!"

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He frowned for a moment, resisting her pull with his weight on one foot forward. "Into the Blizzard?"

Ishar didn't want to make her feel stupid, but there was a need to remind her of something.

"I can't turn into a shadow." Could they stick out the night knowing they were in the same cavern as a couple of Ogres...Orcs...whatever the hell it was that she actually saw. "The cold will get me as surely as whatever you saw."

Especially with a blizzard like that. "Be better at describing."

If it was Orcs...maybe they could be reasoned with.