Breathless, sore, and sweating, Blayre and Caval collapsed under the cover of darkness within a deep recess of the forest.
Blayre had no idea what direction Caval had taken her. She hoped they weren't directly in the path of the clanspeople. Wherever it was they were going - perhaps to the caverns as well.
Blayre felt as though her panted breaths could be heard all the way down the mountain. The two of them sat in the darkness, focusing on catching their breath rather than speaking - though Blayre had hundreds of questions swirling around in her mind.
Caval silently offered Blayre the water flask she had left behind when she went ahead to investigate.
"How much longer before they recover?" Blayre said in a whispered pant.
"I'm not sure." Caval said, putting his head between his knees. He sat up again. "I planted an activated charm on one of their bags. Will you be able to feel it? To track them?"
"Probably..." Blayre said cautiously. "I'm not sure from what range, though."
"Well," Caval sucked in a breath, "It's better than nothing I guess."
"Where are we?"
"I think somewhere northeast of where we were before. Further east than we want to be." Sweat gleamed on the young sorcerer's forehead in the faint starlight that was breaking through the cloud cover and treetops.
Thank the gods for cloudcover.
"So," Caval sighed, leaning back against a shrub, his tunic emitting a rasping noise as the twigs and branches chafed against the fabric. "We should probably rest up briefly, and turn back."
"Turn back?" Blayre asked, disbelief inching into her voice.
"It was risky enough going there before. Now we'll be hunted by the clans. They don't take kindly to trespassing."
"Cav, you mean to say I did all that climbing for nothing? And now I have to climb back down without ever finding or seeing the dragon caverns?" Her tone was only half joking. She hadn't come all this way only to turn back.
Caval looked at her, and she could see the glitter of his eyes against the darkness of the forest. "I have no doubt that you can get past those wards without trouble - that's why I brought you in the first place. That and the fact that I trust you, because like me, you want answers. But we will have to be quick and quiet, and make our observations, come to our conclusions and then leave. If we continue on."
"You never told me the caverns were on clan lands." Blayre blurted out. It had been bothering her that he hadn't.
Caval shifted where he sat, "I thought you knew... you told me you'd been told stories. Wive's tales."
"Yes but... I didn't... that was never mentioned." She huffed a sigh. "My father, despite trading with the clans, kept discussions about them strictly business related."
"Hmm. Did they say something to you? About your mother?"
"Not really, no." Said Blayre. After another moment she added, "But they seemed - taken aback that she would have given up a daughter."
"How would you feel if she didn't give you up?" His upper arm pressed lightly against hers.
Blayre sucked in a breath, "I don't know."
****
They risked only small bits of restless sleep before moving along, painstakingly re-orienting themselves to their location. The pair had traveled quite a bit out of the way during the chaos of their escape, and they were now hiking through dense forest, no longer following a trail. Birds flitted overhead and the chattering of other animals could be heard through the heavily wooded area. It all sounded so serene and so normal that Blayre nearly forgot that they were in so much potential danger.
"I still don't feel that charm of yours." Blayre said, when Caval looked over his shoulder for the tenth time that hour. "I don't know if that's good or bad."
"Probably good. I hope good." The sorcerer said gruffly. "I just ... I wish I hadn't been so determined to bring you into this in the first place." He stopped, taking a swig of water.
"I can take care of myself, Caval." Blayre assured him. "I'm quite capable."
"I know," he said and though he had turned away from her again, she could hear the smile in his voice.. "One of your many endearing qualities."
After another two hours of dizzying hiking, she felt it. A pull that felt so ancient and so powerful it sent her trembling. Caval noticed the change in her and steadied her with a firm grasp on her arm. "What is it? Do you feel the charm? Are they near?"
"No," Blayre shook her head, trying to control herself. "No, it's not them. It's..." she swallowed, her throat dry as a bone. Caval unclasped her water flask and handed it to her. She nodded gratefully, drawing a long sip. She enjoyed the soothing coolness for a moment before continuing, Caval had his eyebrows raised in a look of urgency.
"I think, I don't know. It feels old. Whatever it is. And not in a fragile way, but a wise and impending way."
A grin broke out on Caval's face, cracking through the tension that limned his jaw and cheeks. The first grin she'd seen since they had come across the clanspeople.
"That's more like it." She smiled back, rubbing her nose absentmindedly. She hoped she wasn't going to sneeze the entire trip to the caverns now. That would be inconvenient.
The power coming from somewhere northwest of where they were, was a strong hum of magic. So strong that Blayre had to focus all her efforts on tuning it out. It was worse than being in a room full of mages. They painstakingly climbed over rocks and brush, the terrain getting increasingly rugged.
"We should be more careful," Blayre called to Caval. "The wards must be close." She convinced him to allow her to go ahead, but he wasn't happy about it, considering it a risk.
"If I hit one before I realize what it is, it won't do anything to me. I can't say the same for you." She said pointedly. "Isn't that why you brought me?"
"No, I brought you because I enjoy your pleasant company, despite your occasional contrariness."
Blayre stuck her tongue out at the sorcerer.
"That and the fact that I'd likely never find it without a magical bloodhound."
"How endearing." She said, grimacing and continuing up the steady incline, praying to the Moon and Sun that the terrain would level out soon. Her muscles were screaming.
They had almost broken out of the dense tree cover, when Blayre felt something flit across her sense, like a droplet sending a miniscule ripple into the pool of ancient magic. It began to mix with another magic. Clan magic. She recognized the feel of it from objects her father had brought home.
She stuck out her left arm to stop Caval from moving forward, and put a finger to her lips. Caval raised an eyebrow.
"Something - someone, using magic." She whispered as softly as possible. "It's merging with something else. Clan magic." She closed her eyes, focusing. "Clan charms."
Blayre motioned for him to follow as they kept well behind the line of trees, shrouded in darkness. She rubbed her nose again, and determined that the grime on her face was probably enough to keep her well-camouflaged into the trees. I need a bath. She thought. That would be the first order of business when she returned to civilized society.
Once she determined they had moved close enough to the magic in question, Blayre moved closer to the light that signaled the end of the dense forest.
It was as though the flora of the mountainside had simply disappeared and refused to grow back. It had disappeared. What was outside of the treeline were only dirt and rocks and rubble from what looked to be an ancient shrine. Tucked into a part of the mountain shielded by the other mountainous terrain surrounding, them, it couldn't be seen at a distance. Clan magic crackled around it.
"How does an entire area of plant life just get completely wiped out?" Blayre asked, more to herself than Caval.
"Are you talking about the Soltaran Wastelands?" Caval asked.
She looked at him strangely, "No, I'm talking about that." She whispered, pointing at the craggy brown landscape before them.
"What?" Caval said, squinting in the direction she pointed. "I don't see anything."
"Yes, that's the point,"
"I mean all I see are trees and, well, lots of plant life." He clarified.
She stared at him. "You don't see rocks and stones and dirt?"
"No..." He was beginning to look uncomfortable.
"Moon and Sun," She whispered reverently, "Those must be some good wards then."
Caval squinted again. "Wards? Gods. So there's nothing there? No trees? No flowers?"
Blayre huffed a laugh, "No." Her face turned serious, "But I think someone is breaking them down, or pushing through them somehow..." She continued to move carefully through the trees, growing more and more silent, not even risking the softest feather of a whisper.
And then. There they were. Two young men, one reading from some sort of book, the other releasing magic. Both with large, mostly empty packs on their backs.
Blayre looked to Caval, and she saw recognition in his eyes.
This would be a really good time for him to actually be able to read my mind. She thought, hoping that the silent question shown in the look she gave him.
Who were they, and what was their purpose for seeking out the caverns? The packs suggested they were after something. As she looked more closely, she saw that the one performing the magic was gripping an amethyst colored crystal in one hand.
A/N: This ones a little shorter than I imagined it to be. And it took forever to write for whatever reason... but anyway... what do you think these suspicious fellows want with the cavern and where do you think they've come from????