A week later the party was well into the Haflalan Confederation. The landscape had slowly shifted from scrub plains to forests with proper farmland with healthy crops mixed in. The storms changed as well from heavy with dangerously gusting winds to just rain without end. The oddest part was the fact that they hadn't seen any villages or towns, while they hadn't expected any in Oristan lands, but surely there would be some in Haflalan. Even the farms seemed to be uninhabited with the only signs that they were farms being the worked fields. There were no houses, only tall silos in the center of the worked fields. They didn't see any residents of the Haflalan Confederation until they were about a day out of Helgale. They were following a road along the coast of an inland sea when they finally saw a farmer leading a long chain of carts being pulled by beasts of burden also heading towards the capitol.
Late that afternoon as the group was looking for a place to land for the night because the vessel wasn't safe to fly at night. It made sense to Bisha because just like there was a difference in how the winds blew between day and night there was a difference in how majic moved too. Bisha blinked when he saw the farmer and the carts. He'd never seen an animal that looked like what he was seeing, they looked mechanical and not like living animals at all. They looked like they were made of metal not flesh but that was impossible. It had to be an unknown animal of some kind that was pulling the carts. Bisha continued to contemplate what kind of animal that he'd seen as they left the sight behind them and continued on their journey.
Later on, once they had found a place to land and the group got ready for the night. Bisha got the fire started and then helped Devshi with dinner. Nahla and Irene set up the guard rotation including everyone except Devshi and himself. The group had long ago learned that the two of them were no good at guard duty, both of them tended to react to every little sound which meant no one got any sleep when they were on duty. Preparing dinner however was something that the two of them excelled in and even Nahla said their food was good, although she did still add ghost blossom powder to everything she ate. No one minded as long as she didn't add it to their food as well, the one and only time that Nahla had cooked she had put ghost blossom in the food and it was far to spicy for the rest of them.
Everyone except the guard was asleep when the quiet of the night was shattered by the unholy sound of a pig squealing combined with a woman screaming along with the unmistakable sound of Ryah's loud growling punctuated with the sounds of a scuffle. It didn't take more than a moment for Nahla, who was on duty as the guard, to reach Ryah quickly followed by everyone else. By the time everyone reached Ryah the fight was over and who or whatever she'd been fighting with was long gone. Bisha cast a light spell that he had finally mastered and for a wonder nothing exploded or caught fire. Nahla nodded at him gratefully while looking over Ryah to make sure that she hadn't gotten injured during her fight. Fortunately Ryah was physically uninjured although her temper was vile because her opponent had gotten away.
"Did anyone see what Ryah was fighting?" Nahla asked wiping her hands together as she stood back up looking at each of them in turn, everyone else shook their heads negatively Nahla looked at them.
Irene took advantage of the light that Bisha had cast to look at the ground all around them to find any tracks from their invader and it didn't take her long to find them. Irene called everyone over to her as soon as she found the tracks of whatever it was that Ryah had fought. One look at the tracks made it clear that it was a whatever, not whoever that made the tracks. The track had two large toes the same size and what looks like a thumb instead of a heel. The tracks weren't as deep as Irene would have thought for their size. So either the creature had huge feet for their size or weren't very muscular for their size. Irene decided to ask Nahla which it was later when things weren't so hectic.
"Has anyone else ever seen tracks like these?" Irene asked pointing at the tracks she had found.
At Irene's question everyone except Nahla came over to look at what she had found. The orangeish colored blood spore that Irene found with the unusual tracks just added more confusion to the situation. Irene was beginning to think that this was more than just a strange animal getting to close to their camp. Irene decided to follow the tracks for as far as she could. If it was just an animal, it was wounded and she needed to make sure that it would survive or put it out of its misery if the wound was too severe. Just as she was going to suggest just that, Nahla spoke.
"Ryah says that the creature was stalking the camp when she scented it," Nahla stated while she made sure that Ryah really was uninjured. "According to Ryah the intruder smelled like a snake or lizard and tasted terrible, not like anything she'd ever tasted before. And, does anyone have something that would get the taste out of poor Ryah's mouth?"
Irene watched as Bisha pulled one of his favorite snacks out of one of the pouches he carried with him at all times before anyone else could move. She wasn't surprised that Bisha kept snacks as well as odd ingredients of majic in the numerous pouches that he wore at all times. Thankfully Ryah was able to get the bad taste out of her mouth. Irene mentioned wanting to follow the creature and her reasoning for doing so. Ryah immediately agreed to help along with Nahla. Help Irene was happy to take. Ryah's nose was so much better than any tracking skill that either Nahla or herself would ever have.
It didn't take long for Irene to know that it was no mere animal that they were following. The tracks quickly disappeared under a large tree. There was a small hollow at the roots of that particular tree but it was far to small for even a rabbit to hide in, nonetheless that was where the tracks ended. No matter what tricks that the threesome used they couldn't find any sign of either tracks or blood spore anywhere. After almost a candle mark of further searching and nothing to be found eventually Irene, Nahla and Ryah went back to the campsite to tell everyone there about their failure.
The next morning Ten Rabbit joined Irene, Nahla and Ryah in looking for where their unpleasant visitor from the night before had gone. But the morning light didn't help any in finding the intruder, all of their efforts lead them right back to where it had last night. Daylight didn't help them figure out how the intruder disappeared either. While Ten Rabbit, Irene, Nahla and Ryah were trying to find the invader Bisha and Devshi were getting breakfast. Fulha was making sure no one left anything behind and the engineer was getting the Atlom's Axe ready to fly. Once breakfast was ready all of the other morning tasks were finished and they left as soon as they were done eating. Just one more day and they'd be at the capitol.
The Capitol
Two days later the Atlom's Axe was landed in a field at the outskirts of Helgale, the capitol of the Haflalan Confederation. They had actually reached the farmlands right outside of Helgale the night before but they had decided to wait until morning before actually entering the city itself. The vessel was parked in one of the untilled fields that were outside of the city walls. It would have been rude to land in a tilled field even if the ship hovered in the air instead of actually touching the ground. The party unloaded the various mounts just like they did every other night. It was healthiest for the mounts and let everyone clean out the stall that each mount used.
Fulha had originally suggested waiting until morning and after some discussion the rest of them agreed. Fulha was right, it would be easier to get rooms at an inn as well as an interview with the leaders of the Haflalan Confederacy, and at the end of the day that was the most important part. So that was what they were doing this morning. Everyone had gotten up before dawn so that they would be ready to go as soon as the gates opened. The engineer was going to be staying with the ship as well as the pack animals so it was only the party and Fulha that were actually entering the city. while they were waiting for the gates to open Fulha suggested to the party that they leave their mounts behind but Nahla had no intention of leaving Usha behind if she could help it. Usha had been very annoyed when she'd been left behind in Tlatlolitzli, the Michocan capitol. Nahla really didn't want to go through that again if she could help it.
Nahla watched as the heavy gates slowly open inward, even she knew that it was easier to bar gates the went inwards rather than outwards. At first Nahla had decided to bring her mount because she didn't want to deal with a grumpy temee but once Fulha explained that Usha would have to stay in the stable at the inn whereas if Usha stayed here she would be free to wander around as long as she stayed out of any tilled fields. Staying out of tilled fields was so obvious that Usha and Nahla were almost insulted, but decided to take it as an innocent comment, Ryah however stayed with Nahla. As soon as the gates were open all the way Fulha stepped forward and informed the guards that they were emissaries of the Mahapratanidhi of Kishnagar and wished to speak to the Besturaad as soon as possible. One of the group of guards took off to inform the Besturaad that envoys from Kishnagar were waiting to speak to them while another guard ran off to get something called a taxi that would carry them to the inn they were supposed to stay in.
The first of many surprises the party saw here in Helgale was when what they learned was a taxi arrived at the now open gate. It was a strange contraption that vaguely resembled a rickshaw, something that Nahla had learned about back in the capitol of Kishnagar. The biggest difference that Nahla noticed was that instead of a person pulling it there was a strange metallic bipedal person that the guard said was called an automaton. The automaton seriously unnerved Nahla because there were no thoughts of any kind from it. That wasn't the last surprise they saw on their way to their inn but it was one of the most surprising. While they were heading towards the inn that the guard was leading them to Fulha explained to everyone that the Besturaad was the leading body of the Haflalan Confederation. An explanation that Nahla at least was grateful for, she hadn't known what the Besturaad was and was fairly certain that the rest of them hadn't known either.
The rest of their journey to the inn was filled with surprises as the guard told them all about the many sights of the city. The guard made a point of telling the party that they would want to tour the city along with telling them that the inn would be able to arrange the tours easily. Nahla wasn't the only member of the party to be amazed by everything that they were seeing. In fact from the look on his face Bisha was completely amazed by the rickshaw alone. Nahla was pretty sure that if he saw any more surprises he was going to fall over in a dead faint. The sights of the city were clearly distracting Devshi from her troubles for the first time since they had found the letter that indicted her mentor and friend of being a member of the Children of Mrtis as well as trying to kill them all. This was an effect that made Nahla happy. Devshi had been very upset and had started retreating further and further into herself, something that Nahla knew was no good for Devshi in the long run. Ten Rabbit had a look of total amazement on his face although he was obviously trying to look like nothing he saw was anything other than normal. Irene didn't show as much of a reaction but Nahla knew her now and could easily tell that Irene was far more surprised by everything they saw so far today. Only Fulha seemed to not be surprised by anything they had seen today.
Everything Nahla saw was amazing and disturbing at the same time. The buildings were much taller than any she'd seen before. Every other building Nahla had seen so far were for the most part one or two stories tall. The buildings here looked to be three to five floors with very high ceilings if the window placement was right. Just the doors to some of these buildings looked to be ten feet tall, which was very strange to her. The Hafla who were four foot tall at best were gathered in throngs that not even the residents Alkhadharam had matched. Every building was built with sharp angles and gave Nahla the impression that they were looming over her, a sensation that Nahla didn't appreciate and had had when she was in Alkhadharam.
The number of Hafla everywhere was the main thing that disturbed Nahla, how did so many live so close together. The crowds of Hafla stayed to walkways built on the edges of the streets. This made sense considering how much traffic of these rickshaw "taxis" there were. There were what looked like hundreds of Hafla riding two wheeled contraptions as well. A long metal cart thing filled with people passed them on the other side of the street. At least it kind of looked like a cart, but it didn't have wheels, it hovered over the street and made a faint humming noise. Nahla wondered if the metal cart thing floated the same way that Atlom's Axe did.
The air itself felt charged the same way it did just before a lightning storm and faintly smelled of lightning. The air made Nahla think of the thunder storms on the mountains of her home in the Bishdan Peaks. It was surprising to Nahla how clean the streets were considering how much traffic and people there were out today. Nahla saw a piece of paper lay out in the street near a little door at the edge of the walkway. When the door opened up Nahla watched as a little metal creature scurried up grabbed the paper and disappeared back into its little door that closed behind it. That explained why the streets were so clean. Helgale was very strange, Nahla decided as she sat back watching the view in front of her.
Hours later Nahla watched as Fulha explained their mission to the leaders of the Haflalan Confederation. So far nothing that Fulha or Bisha said seemed to have any effect. The Besturaad only seemed to be concerned with their own problems. While under normal circumstances Nahla would agree with their decision but these weren't normal times, Mrtis was rising and causing problems all over the place. The Besturaad just kept repeating that today wasn't a good day to talk because they had to get to a memorial service that was being held for two members of the Besturaad that had been assassinated. It was made clear however that even if there hadn't been the memorial to go to the Besturaad wouldn't help them. It wasn't their problem and they had problems of their own to deal with. That was how Fulha and the party ended up following the Besturaad to the public memorial ceremony.
Nahla looked around at the audience from where the party was standing at the edge of the crowd near the platform that the Besturaad was going to be speaking from. Nahla noticed that more of the metal people were placed around the edge of the plaza as well as surrounding the Besturaad itself. At first Nahla had thought that they were just unusual statues but then she saw one of them shift its position a bit when one of Besturaad changed where she was standing. According to one of the residents of Helgale they were currently in the Grunlaager plaza where just about every major ceremony for the city was held. The Hafla around the party reacted differently from the majority of the Hafla people that made up the rest of the audience. Those nearby seemed off to Nahla, more like they were angry at the Besturaad than at whoever it was that had killed one or more member of the leading council. The very training that Nahla had received for knowing what someone was feeling worked on crowds almost as well as it did on individuals. Add to that education the grumbling that Nahla could clearly hear added up to a very upset audience that was waiting for the Besturaad to speak.
No sooner had the leader of the Besturaad started to speak when the Hafla around the party started to grumble and move slowly towards the platform that the Besturaad was standing on. While they were moving they were pulling weapons from hiding places in their clothes. For a split second Nahla was confused about why these Hafla were pulling weapons but as soon as one of the disgruntled members of the audience pulled back his arm to throw something at the Besturaad she acted without thought. Before anyone could react on either side Nahla swatted the object with her staff, changing its trajectory from one that would land it on the platform to causing it to land in an alley off to one side.
The object had no sooner arrived in the alley when there was a bright flash of blue light that Nahla saw out of the corner of her eye. No sooner had the first round object explode then there were more flying threw the air, far to many for anyone to deflect. At first Nahla didn't see any damage to anyone but then one of the metal statues fell over apparently dead. Nahla quickly figured out that the round objects were intended to damage the metal statues that the Hafla used as guards. It didn't take long for the rest of the party to catch on to the attack on the Besturaad that Nahla's action had foiled with her initial action. The part of the audience that wasn't attacking screamed and tried to run causing confusion to explode all across the park. The Besturaad for its part also tried to run for it but were blocked by the fleeing audience. Without conversation the party acted as one and placed themselves between the attackers and the Besturaad before they could respond to Nahla fouling their initial attack. The attackers who had thought to have an easy victory were suddenly faced with a concerted opposition.
Irene had taken the lead with Ten Rabbit and Fulha flanking the Hafla that were attacking the Besturaad. Nahla stood a bit behind Irene so she could fully use her staff on the enemy with Ryah at her side. Bisha and Devshi stood closest to the Besturaad mainly as a last line of defense as well as them using distance attacks. For a moment Nahla wondered if the attackers would turn and run but when they all pulled weapons she knew that they were in for a fight. The wicked smiles on the faces of the attackers told Nahla that they had come to the same conclusion.
As the battle began Irene was poetry in motion as she kept the attackers away from her while removing each of them one at a time. Nahla was moving forward to attack as well when one of the aggressors threw an other of the objects that she had batted away at the start of the fight. This time because of the angle Nahla ended up catching it instead of hitting it with her staff like she had previous time. For a moment all Nahla did was stare at the round object in her hand before preparing to throw the object back. When her arm was at its peak for the throw the object exploded in Nahla's hand. For a split second Nahla was concerned that she had been injured, but no, there was nothing wrong, no injury to her hand or any other part of her body.
That was when both Nahla and Bisha both simultaneously noticed that there was a group of Hafla about to attack Irene from behind. Fulha and Ten Rabbit were fully engaged in fighting with their own groups of attackers. Nahla screamed a warning to Irene flinging her hand out with one finger pointing towards the attackers at the same time that Bisha opened his hand and cast a spell. The strangest thing happened when Nahla had gestured, a bolt of lightning shot out of her finger hitting the closest of the attackers sneaking up behind Irene. At the same time the spell that Bisha was casting went off and there was a small glowing ball that shot off of his hand and hit the attacker directly behind the one that Nahla had hit. The glowing ball exploded the very same time as the the lightning had hit causing all of the attackers around the two struck to shake their heads stunned. The distraction was all that Irene, needed to stop the remaining attackers. It didn't take long for the party to capture and detain the remaining attackers.
As soon as the Grunlaager plaza was empty of everyone but the Besturaad, their disabled guards, and the party the head of the Besturaad ran down towards Nahla and her friends. Fulha stepped forward as the Hafla leader started to babble at them about their gratitude for the rescue. It didn't take long for Fulha to take control of the situation so Nahla turned back to Irene and the rest of the party. She was about to compliment Irene on her fighting when Bisha ran up and started his own babbling about the lightning spell that Nahla had apparently cast.
That was when Nahla remembered the lightning that had flown out of her finger when she was warning Irene about the attackers behind her. Nahla could only stare at Bisha as she realized what had just happened. Nahla was completely stunned by the knowledge that she had cast a spell and not just any spell but a nature spell of lightning. She was a shaman not a majic user, there were no Oristani majic users. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with majic users other than them being a bit odd but many people were odd so that was no problem. There just had never been any Oristani majic users. This was going to take some thinking about Nahla decided.
Tour of the City
The next day and the results of the parties rescue of the Besturaad were clear, the party were told that anything they wanted they'd get. The leader of the Besturaad told Fulha that the assassins were members of a break-off faction that had already managed to kill two of the Besturaad. For the first time they had managed to catch any of the assassins alive. In fact they had managed to catch almost all of them alive although many of them were wounded to various degrees.
Bisha looked around his room at the inn they were staying in while eating the breakfast that had appeared before he could go down to the common room to eat. At first they had all been staying in one large room designed to sleep a group of travelers but once they had saved the Besturaad the leaders had informed the inn that from now on the party was to be treated as if they were the Besturaad itself. So now they all had individual rooms that would have made the Ashfan Pashanate himself pleased with the luxury. It was all a bit too much as far as Bisha was concerned but no one had asked his opinion. He had more important things to worry about right now, like what the Children of Mrtis were up to now.
Another thing that Bisha was worried about was Devshi. Ever since the the battle at the Grunlaager plaza she had seemed distant and depressed, not her usual bubbly self. Bisha knew that she'd been upset ever since they had found her mentors name signed on a note in one of their attackers pouch. Before the battle she was down but every new place would animate her if only for a bit. But now nothing seemed to make her happy. Not even Ryah could bring a smile to her face. All she wanted to do was hug her tiger that somehow had managed to arrive at the inn, alone. For a moment Bisha was distracted by remembering the tigers arrival last night. The tiger Somnadi had just appeared at the door of Devshi's room. No one had admitted to letting the tiger in but someone must of because how else could she have gotten there.
Bisha could hardly wait for the rest of the party to get to his room so they could all go to the Helgale city library, if there was one thing that Bisha enjoyed it was libraries. The knock at the door startled Bisha from his thoughts about libraries and sent him off to see who it was at the door. The person at the door wasn't one of his friends, it was one of the inn's employee's. The inn staff member was a young Hafla and had a bunch of paper in his hands.
"Sir, Here are pamphlets about various places you and your friends will want to see while you're here in Helgale," the employee said, walking into Bisha's room.
"Thank you?" Bisha answered very confused as the employee nodded to himself and walked back out of the room.
For a long moment Bisha could only stare at the closed door that the young employee had left through almost as soon as he had entered. The papers the the employee had called pamphlets hung loose in Bisha's hands. Shaking his head Bisha wondered to himself about what a pamphlet was and why they'd been given to him. He decided to look through them and was totally surprised apparently a pamphlet was a piece of paper that told people about different places in the city. Why anyone would need these pamphlet things was beyond Bisha but he had long ago learned to not worry about why people did things.
Later that day and low and behold the pamphlets were actually useful to the party. The pamphlets had informed Bisha and company to the best way to get to any place they needed to go especially the libraries here in Helgale. At first everyone planned to go to the Helgale city library but then decided that only Bisha would go and the rest of them would actually look around the city while Bisha searched for information on Mrtis in the city library and the university library. Less than an hour later the whole party was outside the inn waiting for what the Hafla at the front desk of the inn they were staying in called the autobefodring, the automatic rickshaw that they had taken to the inn the day before.
Standing in just inside of the Helgale public library was a shock to Bisha. The building was huge, easily as large as the palace that the Mahapratanidhi lived in. Everywhere that Bisha looked he saw floor to ceiling books and scrolls. A sight that pleased Bisha more than anything else he had seen before except maybe when he'd met the Oristani High Chieftain. Bisha had always loved books and the sight before him was beyond any library he ever seen before. It didn't take long for Bisha to discover where in the huge building the books he wanted were to be found. He gathered everything he wanted at a conveniently placed table and sat down blissfully to study.
Bisha took out the notes he'd taken on his previous visits to other libraries and started adding to them from the books and scrolls he was studying here in Helgale. He wasn't certain but Bisha thought there was a pattern and possibly a way to defend themselves from Mrtis and her Children. The books and scrolls that he'd studied so far, both here and previously, indicated that there was a weapon that had defeated Mrtis the last time she had reared her evil head. Bisha wasn't sure yet but the hints were there if you looked close enough. Bisha just hoped that he wasn't reading too much into what he'd found so far. The next day Bisha went to the library at the Helgale university continuing his studies into Mrtis and what to do about her. The university library wasn't anywhere as large as the city library but like every library so far contained information that wasn't in any of the other libraries. While the various libraries had contained many of the same books, so far each one had boasted books not found in any of the others, which allowed Bisha to continue to make progress on finding out how to beat Mrtis.
During Bisha's visits to the libraries of Helgale Khomal, his small companion was with him. Much to Bisha's joy Khomal would often land on books or scrolls that would turn out to be useful for Bisha. Khomal would glide over to a book or scroll and tap on it while sitting on the shelf in front of it. The way that Khomal was acting made Bisha smile with joy, something that he hadn't had all that much reason to do lately. Khomal brought Bisha joy everyday but since coming here in Haflalan it had been harder to find things to smile about. The more he learned from his studies the grimmer he felt, but Khomal still brought joy to him and let him laugh freely.
The day after his trips to the two libraries Bisha joined the rest of the party on its visits to the remaining sights that Helgale offered. Much to his surprise Bisha discovered that the various attractions had a lot to teach him even if it didn't apply to his search about Mrtis. The one thing that Bisha loved was learning for its own sake and here was a place that promoted that. Bisha was excited to be touring the city and seeing all of the places that the pamphlets advertised. The only thing that would make him happier would be seeing the various sites with his friends and maybe the High Chieftain of the Oristani.
The Besturaad had decided to support the efforts of the party and their mission with money. According to the aide that the Besturaad had sent to travel with them they wouldn't be paying for anything from now on that was why he was coming along. Bisha wondered if they were going to get a new person at every place they visited.
Away to Grundhorn
Two weeks later the party was ready to leave Haflalan for Heldal, the capitol of the Grundhorn Empire and Irene's home town. Bisha had gotten everything he could from every library in Helgale as well as joining the rest of them in touring the city. The inn they were staying in had sent someone they called a tour guide to take the party to the various tourist locations in Helgale. The party had seen many of the sights that Helgale offered but a couple of them really stood out in Irene's mind. The Kortby Automata Museum had impressed Irene a lot, She had gotten to see all of the different automata that the Haflalan had used over the last five hundred years. As far as Irene could tell there hadn't really been much in the way of change to the various automata but it wasn't her place to say any thing about it. The automata themselves were amazing, all of the different tasks that they had been designed to do had blown her mind.
The second place that Irene would never forget was the Klingen Kontraptions Amusement Park. All of the different rides had amazed Irene. Irene had never seen an amusement park before, she hadn't even know what one was until the party had arrived there. some of the rides had completely baffled Irene. Such as why did people want to bang into each other while riding in little pod like vehicles resting on a metal circle enclosed in a large oblong with low walls. Irene had loved one of the rides more than any other ride. They sat inside something that the guide had called "cars" and then the cars had gone along what the the guide called a "track". The "ride" was all ups, downs and loops and was so exciting that she wanted to do it over and over until everyone else was tired of it.
The third place that will forever live in Irene's mind was the Fluugelduugel Brewery and Museum. It was the first time that Irene had seen a brewery. While drinking beer was a national past time for the Zwergin no matter where they were in the world, but there were no breweries in the Grundhorn Empire. Everyone in Grundhorn brewed their own beer and then they all just traded the bottles back and forth between each other. That way everyone had whatever kind of beer they wanted but because everyone brewed their own beer there was no call for a brewery. The closest the Zwergin had to a brewery was the fact that the various inns brewed more beer and ale than the individual Zwergin brewed in much smaller batches than the inns did. So seeing a brewery had been a new sight for Irene, one that she intended to share with her fellow countrymen.
Before they had left Michocan Irene had been worried when she had first found out that they would be traveling on a boat. She had gotten so seasick the first time she'd sailed but at least the crew of her first ship had given her an herb to chew that had cured her seasickness. Fortunately Irene hadn't needed to use the herb on the Atlom's Axe at all. Nahla and Usha hadn't gotten seasick either so Irene still had her full supply that she had gotten as a just in case when they'd been in Alkhadharam. Irene had asked and had found out that the herb was also available in Michocan so she had added the herb to the supplies they carried on the vessel.
Irene looked around herself at the main deck of the Atlom's Axe. The heavily carved wood was stained a dark brown with trim painted a beautiful golden color. Sails that were used to steer the vessel flowed behind the Atlom's Axe as soon as it was high enough above the ground for them to be deployed. Atlom's Axe was larger than it had initially looked when she had first viewed it from the ground. With a slender appearance that gave the impression that the vessel was slicing through the skies like a fish through water. Even the hastily built animal stalls on the deck looked like they had always been part of the design.
Irene was worried about Devshi, ever since the fight at the Grunlaager plaza where they had guarded the Besturaad from insurgents among their own people. Irene had spoken to everyone in the party and they were all worried about Devshi. Irene was thinking about how to help Devshi as she looked over the railing watching as the ground flowed beneath them like the ocean. If she'd been on a boat or ship Irene would have been seasick, the Atlom's Axe however flew through the air so smoothly they might as well have been standing still. Irene was glad that she didn't need to worry about being seasick as well as how Devshi was doing.
When the group had first started to travel together Devshi had been irrepressibly cheerful and bubbly about everything. Nothing had slowed down her chatter or her obvious happiness. Irene had thought that only her formidable patience had kept Nahla from beating Devshi for her chatter because Devshi had followed Nahla around like a puppy. Nahla had not yelled at Devshi at all, in fact Nahla had been nothing but patient and kind to her. Devshi had been quieter than normal ever since they had fought some attackers back before they had spoken to the Great Chieftain of the Oristani. Now her eyes no longer smiled and she had pretty much stopped talking altogether, something that concerned everyone. Irene had decided that she really needed to talk to Nahla. If anyone could get to the bottom of what was wrong with Devshi it was Nahla, or at least she hoped so.
While they'd been in the Michocan capitol Devshi had seemed to bounce back a bit but ever since that blasted battle in the Haflalan capitol Devshi had basically shut down. She only had a semblance of life when she was sitting petting the tiger that had attached itself to the party. There was something about that tiger that Irene couldn't quite put her finger on. The tiger, Somnadi, acted like it had spent its whole life around people. The thing had shown up with a saddle for heavens sake, a saddle who put a saddle on a tiger. The strangest part was the way it was just accepted, even by their mounts, like it hadn't just wandered out of the forest. For reasons she couldn't comprehend the tiger just seemed like a part of the group, like it had always traveled with them. But Somnadi happily followed Devshi and actually got annoyed when Devshi had tried to ride a horse instead. At least Irene assumed the tiger was happy, how did one tell if a tiger is happy or not. It hadn't tried to eat anyone so as far as Irene could tell Somnadi was happy.
Irene was looking forward to being at home. She had learned so much on her travels and the mission she was on was very important. Irene just hoped that her father agreed with her about that. Well, if he didn't then Irene was going to ignore him and continue anyway. Irene had learned that there were things that were more important than making her family happy and stopping Mrtis was at the top of the list. Irene wasn't to worried about her father disagreeing with her though, not with her mother being in charge of the safety of the Twin Emperors. Not that any of the Zwergin people would stand by and let Mrtis regain her foothold on Ardu, at least Irene hoped not.
Beneath the Atlom's Axe they flew over the low hills and farmland that made up the majority of Haflalan. They were heading towards the Drachen forest that separated the fields of Haflalan from the Zwergin lands. Once they hit the forests Irene would be back in her home land. From there the vessel would fly over the forest and on to the coast where Heldal the Zwergin capitol was. The journey would take at least a week with good weather but since they were well into fall and getting close to winter no one was expecting good weather so it was probably going to take more likely to be two weeks if not longer before Irene actually saw her home.
At least we don't have to ride the whole way, Irene thought to herself. Riding would take even longer and be much more uncomfortable most of the way. If it was raining the group could all go to their rooms inside the ship. No one was going to risk flying in a storm again, not after almost crashing last time. It was a miracle that no one had died, actually no one had even gotten a serious injury not even the animals. Irene was very glad for that she knew that it could easily have ended differently, with one or more of the party or their animals being seriously injured or killed. But, gods be thanked, that hadn't happened they had been incredibly lucky on this whole journey and Irene had no intention of thinking that could continue. That was one of the many reasons they needed to find out what was bothering Devshi. Truthfully the main reason was that Devshi, for all of her chatter was a genuinely nice person and everyone liked her. But even if they'd hated her they couldn't allow Devshi to continue to sink into whatever it was that was bothering her. something had to change and the sooner the better.
Irene decided to talk to Nahla and see if they could figure something out. She knew that Nahla tended to stay by Usha even when it was raining. At night everyone disembarked onto the land so the animals could graze and stretch their legs. Irene was fairly certain that if Usha had stayed on board the Atlom's Axe at night Nahla would have as well. Irene wandered over to where Nahla was standing grooming Usha for the thousandth time today and started to talk to her. They very quickly decided that it was time to find out what exactly was bothering Devshi once and for all. Neither of them noticed the tiger get a concerned look on its face and wander below decks, not reappearing until they landed for the night.
