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Elfin Explorers
Tiatha looked over
the group of Five that would be taking the tour with her. Sudryl would be
the guard this time and she was pleased that he'd been free as she'd never
encountered problems when he'd been on the team. There was something a
little off about the group she'd be taking on the weeklong trek between
Orghinam and Freskyn. Maybe it was the fact that one of the group was a
lot older than the other four. Or that for a group they didn't seem like
they knew each other all that well.
First there was the undisputed leader of the group, Eriel, who was a
proper young lady with her carefully coordinated outfit, her perfect hair
and her elegant air. Maybe the older woman, Daenys, was her servant. The
woman looked al rigid and proper, just the kind of person Tiatha didn't
like. But Daenys didn't seem to be polite enough to be a servant. The
third woman was Ghilanna, who was carefree and easily distracted. She was accompanied
by her wolf and didn't seem like the kind of company the other two would
keep. The two men in the party were equally mysterious. Baralas, the
oldest was clearly well-educated and used to riches but didn't seem like
he appreciated them. Maltathdar on the other hand was very young still and
seemed to be continuously moving, fidgeting and looking around. He was a
ball of energy, another thing Tiatha had a difficult time with.
But the group paid well and the tour was relatively easy. It would be easy
and welcome money for her travel fund. So she shrugged off her musing and
announced:
"Welcome everyone. Please take your bags and remember you'll need to
carry your own luggage for the entire week."
Tiatha continued going over the rules while the others listened. At least
they weren't disrespectful.
Sudryl made his own preparations. Tiatha usually ran a tight expedition
and he knew everything would be in order. But she paid him well to
double-check her work and guard the team. So he checked the supplies, the
tools and the luggage. Tiatha was right, they'd need to carry enough
weight and wouldn't be able to take over luggage from the customers.
When he'd finished his work, he carefully looked over the women. The two
youngest were around his age and were both alluring in a different way.
But Sudryl knew better than to try to go for a fling on this trip. Tiatha
would have his hide. Besides, they might be taken anyway. It was probably
best to assume they were.
Not much later, Tiatha finished her introductory talk and the group of
seven departed for the road.
The first day of
walking had been easy. The path had been well maintained and the tempo
leisurely. The real effort would begin later today as they moved into
sloping terrain and hills. That type of terrain would only get
increasingly difficult until they reached the mountain city of Freskyn.
Eriel had no real interest in Freskyn, but someone sure did. They'd
ordered her to take the tour and report back. Eriel could only assume that
something fishy was going on. Ambitious as she was, she wanted to find out
just what that was and be promoted.
She'd never met her teammates but had been introduced to them just a
couple hours prior of setting out. Ghilanna, Baralas and Maltathdar were a
scout, an archer and a ranger. From their specialities she got the clear
idea that they were indeed looking for some hidden shady deal. Daenys, the
sorceress was probably there to evaluate them. To Eriel this meant that
this probably wasn't an actual mission, but an exam or training. But that
didn't matter. She would show how well she was able to do this and
succeed.
As the day progressed and the terrain grew rockier, Baralas kept an eye
out for unusual things. They'd been sent in blind and he knew better than
to expect that this would be a standard mission. Though Eriel had the
lead, he was probably the one with the most experience. Eriel didn't
recognise him and that suited him just fine. he'd said goodbye to his
noble heritage and felt happier being an anonymous elf. People acted more
natural around him and he could go about his business.
Ghilanna returned, having used an excuse of picking flowers to scout out
the road ahead. A subtle shake of her head told him she hadn't seen
anything out of the unusual. Baralas watched Maltathdar as he was
playing with the dogs, meanwhile travelling quite a lot of distance away
from the group and returning. He gave the same signals. Nothing out of the
ordinary. As Baralas looked up he noticed Tiatha and Sudryl keeping a
close eye on them. They weren't fools but he hoped they would take the
explanations they were handed and that the nice reward would keep their
noses out of their business.
The second night
had gone by about as uneventful as the first. Sudryl and Tiatha took turns
watching and had not taken up Baralas' offer to take over part of the
time. This caused problems for the others as Ghilanna especially had hoped
to wander around at night. Her wolfhound Gaby would keep her plenty safe
and would sniff out any soul within 500 yards. She really wasn't looking
for a promotion like Eriel clearly was, but all the cloak and daggers
stuff was pretty exciting.
Ghilanna figured she wouldn't be able to use the flower excuse today.
Maybe she should give Gaby an order to bolt so she could go after her dog.
Although she'd hardly seen evidence of wildlife. But there had to be some
prey animals around, maybe just some mice but that could be enough of an
excuse.
Maltathdar wanted to experience everything. So when a distant relative had
approached him with an offer to be a kind of secret agent, he'd jumped at
the chance. So far the experience was disappointing. Sure he'd been seeing
a lot of new scenery and their guide, Tiatha, knew a lot of the area. But
after two days he was losing interest. Especially as Ghilanna had taken
the dogs and Maltathdar was left to follow the path.
Just up ahead, Daenys was being her inconspicuous, rigid self. Any moment
now, they would reach the landmark she'd been looking for. And there it
was. A single rock pillar with a triangle dome. An obelisk. It was a place
of power and luckily for her job pretty far out of the way. She readied
her spell and started moving everyone into place.
"Look at that Tiatha, do you know what that is?"
"It's a rock pillar." the old guide shrugged.
"It's such an unusual shape. Would you mind if we take our lunch
break now so I can look at it a bit?"
"Be my guest."
The group settled down and Daenys released her spell. And suddenly the sky
shifted colour and the surrounding terrain changed. Only the obelisk and
the surrounding stone slab remained unchanged. Or at least it appeared it
did. Daenys knew they had just travelled to another place in time and
space, to a twin obelisk. Nobody knew who'd placed them but they always
led to another world.
The sorceress waiting for panic to die out. There was surprising little
panic to be honest. But then the four youngsters were expecting something
to happen and the guide and her guard were not people who would scare
easy.
"People, I have a confession to make." Daenys started, "I
was hired to bring you here, to Danach. But don't worry. I'll return us
once we've reached our goal of bonding dragons."
As if on cue, a dragonrider landed in close proximity and he would take
them to Cathair Kosavon to wait for their destiny.
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[STORY] -'-,-
[BARALAS] [DAENYS] [ERIEL]
[GHILANNA] [MALTATHDAR]
[SUDRYL] [TIATHA]
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Lantessama
Isle
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