Excerpt from Alexan’s Fourth Journal, Tour of the Singing Plains.

Well, that’s the first case of mana burn I’ve suffered for having fun!

Although I’ll maintain that fun wasn’t the only purpose. Traveling by glider has proven incredibly convenient, but the resulting burn means the remaining leg of this journey will be on foot.

Verily has proven familiar with treating the resulting injuries, at least. I don’t regret letting her join us.

Unnamed Talkarn

Tal knelt on the ground, his arms and legs shaking. He rubbed his arm where Nolsa had punched him, just as she’d promised. She didn’t hold anything back when she did it either.

Nolsa huddled next to him. She wasn’t doing much better.

Flying might have been interesting, but holding onto the top of the glider when it had to dip and turn and dive certainly had detracted from the experience somewhat. Now the two of them were more than happy to rest here at the base of the trunk, the roots of the tree extending past them and into the rock.

“What’s wrong?” the old Erlkin asked, not bothering to hide his amusement. “People all over always say they wanna fly, and now you two are shakin’ like leaves! Haha!”

Needled by the old man’s words, Tal stood up and turned to face their rescuer. He blinked as the old man offered him a pair of goggles with crystal lenses.

“For the dark, this will let ya see without worryin’ ‘bout burn.”

“Thank you,” Tal replied, pulling the goggles over his head and blinking as the dim world came into clear view once again. As always, Tal missed the ability to see in colour, but such was the nature of darksight.

The first thing Tal noticed was that old Perkay seemed to have a highly… unusual appearance, compared to the usual Erlkin. Tal was used to Erlkin women and men being attractive. Tal had seen his reflection enough times; the Erlkin just seemed better formed than him. Finer features and impeccable posture made them pleasant to look at. It just wasn’t the same when Tal compared his own rougher features and the slouch he could feel coming on when the whispers of his peers started didn’t help.

But as for Perkay, he looked like someone had hit his face with a big hammer.

His face was blunt and flat with a nose that seemed to have swollen into a bulb. His ears were different as well; most Erlkin had ears much like Tal’s or with a slight point to them. Perkay had ended up with floppy animal-like ears.

What surprised Tal most was that Perkay’s horns only extended a thumb’s length from his forehead. They exuded shadow like any elder Erlkin, seeping darkness like a tiny pair of smokestacks, but they weren’t naturally short. Perkay’s horns were cut off, ending in blunt nubs. He didn’t hide it either, keeping his black hair cut relatively short, which let Tal see some spots of black spreading to his forehead.

The reason Tal was surprised by Perkay’s looks every time he glanced at the old male was the nature of Erlkin children. If he was ugly, it was because his parents made him that way. They would have to have mentioned it in his life story! The idea of it made Tal shake his head.

Perkay tugged his vest straight and ran his hands through his messy hair as he turned back to the glider resting behind him. While not so bad as Tal or Nolsa, the ride down had left Perkay somewhat dishevelled as well. The old Erlkin didn’t come dressed for combat though. Rather than armor, he wore the rough clothes of a craftsman: heavy pants that left his hooves clear and a rough spun long sleeve shirt under his vest. The only unusual things were his gauntlets, the sheathed dagger on his left hip, and a few leather pouches hanging around his right.

The gloves were the most interesting. Made of tough-looking leather with finely carved wood covering his knuckles and the backs of his hands. The wood, carved with reliefs of leafy vines, extended halfway up his forearm. The backs of Perkay’s hands caught Tal’s eyes as he realized what looked like a blank spot was actually an empty socket on each glove.

Perkay reached into the glider and unhooked a pack, slinging it over his back. Next he plucked several glittering gems from sockets in the frame of the glider, tucking them into one of the pouches on his belt.

“What are those gems?” Tal couldn’t help but ask.

“Never seen one of these before?” the old Erlkin asked. He turned and placed one of the gems in Tal’s hand.

“No,” Tal admitted. With the darksight goggles over his eyes, he couldn’t make out the colour of the faceted gem. The cloudy interior of the gem still rippled with different shades as Tal moved it around in his hand. He could only imagine it would look incredible under real light.

“Good!” Perkay snapped. “Only someone who knows what they’re doin’ should open up a gem fruit pit. I refined those myself!” Perkay nabbed the gem out of Tal’s hand and tucked it away.

“Where is the shadow hawk?” Nolsa asked.

“Doin’ a sweep to see if anyone is nearby, it’ll rejoin us before we can get to the tunnels.”

Perkay reached in one last time and pulled out a cane with a long handle carved to look like a mink with bared teeth. The forequarters of the mink were bent over to give Perkay a horizontal handle to lean on. The wood of the cane seemed to be mixed, as if the old Erlkin had twisted multiple types of wood together such that they spiraled right down to the black-capped tip at the end.

Tal suddenly realized that was probably exactly what Perkay had done.

“Now then!” Perkay closed his eyes and placed the end of his cane on the tip of the glider.

Tal could feel the aether at work, his skin prickling at the cool feel of it in the air. “Am I becoming more sensitive?” Tal wondered to himself.

Then the glider started to rot.

“What- why?” Tal asked as the wing’s fibers sloughed off the spars of the glider and curled up as they fell to the massive root upon which they stood.

“Too big to hide,” Perkay grunted. He said no more, the concentration on his face clear as the spell did its work. Tal could see beads of sweat on Perkay’s head and smoke billowed from the stubs of his horns.

The wooden brackets holding the glider together cracked and split, one puffing into splinters as the struts warped and popped loose.

When the glider was no more than a pile of sticks and splinters Perkay swirled his cane for a heavy gust of wind to scatter the pile into the crevices of the roots.

“Hua! That’s some work, I gotta say.” Perkay turned to face Tal and Nolsa.

Nolsa had watched the whole thing and Perkay’s work had caused her face to light up with interest. “How did you do that?” she asked with a touch of excitement.

“I made it to do that,” Perkay answered dismissively. “We can’t stay here, let’s go.”

“We have to find somewhere to rest, and quick!” Layessa hissed as she popped out of Tal’s pack. “Easil has mana burn! He’s bleeding!”

Warden Seft

“Wardens Hadasa and Nurkan, come forth.”

From their position at the back of the small assembly, the two young wardens moved through the crowd to stand sheepishly in front of Grand Elder Darisen.

While a few of the wardens remained in the boughs, hunting for the escaped chosen, most had reconvened after that disastrous hunt. The only wardens not present were three individuals unfortunate enough to be injured by the pale wyrm. Now they stood before the Grand Elder as he faced them, the presence of the sealing pedestal behind the Grand Elder unmistakable to the wardens.

Seft could see the broken mask hanging about the neck of Nurkan. There was a black bruise on his throat. Seft could almost sympathize with the young male, the broken gear would only put him deeper in trouble.

Seft was quietly thankful for the actions of the short-sighted warden. A sentiment Elder Darisen clearly did not share.

The two wardens cringed under the imposing glare of the Grand Elder.

“What you two fools have failed to realize, is that the exile is under constant observation. I already know without fail when he has departed his home, and I would know if the chosen had found his way there!”

Seft could see Nurkan swallow, his shoulders falling ever so slightly.

“The reason why I had every reserve, such as yourselves, put out for the search, was to prevent what you have caused!” Darisen’s voice echoed up into the high ceiling of the chamber. His next words came low and deep. “And in that endeavor, we were almost successful.”

The dias upon which the pedestal was mounted was barely even noticeable if one wasn’t looking, barely half a step above the floor of the chamber. Still, Hadasa and Nurkan seemed to think Darisen was towering above them, from the way they flinched and shrunk into themselves.

Seth had to control an urge to frown. Hadasa was one of only two Erlkin able to naturally channel fire. She was an asset when attempting to find someone trying to hide. A natural seed was far more powerful than having to use a focus after all. Seft could count on two hands the number of Erlkin under Darisen’s direct control who didn’t just have the usual dark seed of a common Erlkin, Seft included. If she was punished, that would help Tal escape notice.

“Their clever use of the pale wyrm to distract the wardens would have come to nothing. The skill of your peers ensured that no one was lost to the dangerous monster and more wardens were closing in on the lost chosen. Only for the exile to sweep in and carry away your quarry!”

Elder Darisen paused and the silence lay heavy upon the crowd.

“Now a chosen, lost to the shadow that seeks to undermine our duty, is on the loose within the tree with the most dangerous possible companion!” Darisen’s voice thundered. “And they have escaped into the wood itself! There is no one more capable of hiding within the Hollow Home than the exile inside the barrier we must protect!”

“Castellan Marial,” Elder Darisen called.

Marial stepped forward from the center of the crowd, her hooves loud on the wood. Seft could see Nurkan flinch.

“I will trust you to reorganize the search for the chosen. When you have done so, see to the punishment of these two fools.”

“As you command Grand Elder!”

With that, Grand Elder Darisen departed to his chamber in the upper tower.

Marial had already sent the active wardens off on their searches within the trunk and the roots while posting watchers at key points in the boughs to watch for any activity, however unlikely. Seft could see the stress on her face as she made the best of her limited resources.

“I am surprised even you could not hear them,” Marial commented to Seft.

A couple of his peers gave Seft an idle glance

Seft nodded with understanding and explained himself, the lie coming easily to his lips. “Chosen Yekchetal was raised by a Gnome known to be skilled with wind. Warding against my enchantment of hearing would potentially be within Bulbcutter Easil’s capabilities, even more so with Teacher Nolsa’s support. I admit to concern over his state however, a Gnome cannot hold such a spell for long without suffering from mana burn.”

The castellan nodded her agreement. “A solid hypothesis. That would have been promising news for our search, if not for Perkay’s involvement,” Marial replied. She stood with her hand at her chin, a finger tapping on her cheek.

Seft stood with the remaining group of Erlkin, those who would be allowed to rest after the extended search. It didn’t surprise him to have Marial asking him about his supposed inability to track them by sound. He was the only Erlkin with a natural ability to use Wind mana. There were others who had skill with a chime focus, but there was no Erlkin within the barrier as capable as him.

Marial sighed, turning and dropping her head, Seft couldn’t see her expression through the coiled horns framing her face. “It is truly unfortunate, the fate of the chosen. Still, we cannot waver. Get your rest everyone, the search continues when you wake.”

Hooves pounded on wood and hands slapped chest pieces, the wardens all saluting in unison.

Seft filed out with the rest.

He hasn’t been lying about everything he’d said. Easil had done some pretty effective warding. It just wasn’t consistent enough to defeat Seft’s searching. Seft had been able to catch them in moments when Easil couldn’t hold the enchantment.

A mistake Seft would have expected of anyone without the training wardens received.

What Seft wasn’t lying about, was his concern for Easil’s condition.

Unnamed Tal

Tal had a hard time with the creaking and snapping of the wood. He understood the sound wouldn’t extend outside the room thanks to Perkay’s sound barrier, but that didn’t help his ability to hear it happening.

The wood finished growing in, finally sealing the room away but for the smallest of cracks at the ceiling.

Perkay jammed a little spike with another gemstone into the door and the little hole he’d left filled with darkness that would prevent any light from spilling through.

Perkay pulled a glittering gemstone from the back of his left gauntlet and slipped the stone back into one of his pouches. It had shimmered with all the colours of a rainbow when he’d placed it in the gauntlet, but now the colours were muted and dull.

Tal turned his eyes back to the fireball he was maintaining. The pot of water in front of him continued to steam while Nolsa dipped a bloody cloth into the water. The shadow hawk had rejoined them, but while it had looked at Tal and chirped, it hadn’t spoken. Now it sat near Tal’s empty rucksack, eyes closed and feathered puffed out as it slept.

It had been sleeping since rejoining them in the tunnels. Tal had almost screamed when it appeared around a corner, wings flapping as it landed on Perkay’s left arm. The bird had nodded at Tal and then let the old Erlkin tuck it against his side and promptly fallen asleep.

Tal glanced over to where Easil lay on his blanket as Layessa wrapped a strip of boiled and dried bandage around his head. Tal’s stomach clenched as he remembered the sight of Easil’s ears streaming with blood.

Wind mana caused potentially the most dangerous type of mana burn. Like earth or fire mana, it would cause fissures in the flesh, but unlike the others, wind didn’t seal the wounds with crusted skin and blood. It just opened freely bleeding lacerations.

Tal jumped as Nolsa touched the back of his hand. “The water is fine Tal, you can resume your efforts. Just remember to be gentle.”

Letting the fire dim, Tal sighed and released his control of the fire. Nolsa put her hand out and ‘caught’ the fire, keeping it going for the sake of keeping the room lit.

Moving over to Easil, Tal gently placed his hand on Easil’s head. Carefully, slowly, Tal trickled aether through Easil to help purge the wind mana. Until it was fully removed, any pulse of wind mana or too much raw aether that pushed too close to Easil could cause his wounds to open up again.

“Did you have a plan?” Perkay quietly asked of Nolsa.

Nolsa nodded, “Hide until the scattering of the winds, then break into the Tower. Ideally with your help.”

“Well, my help you’ve got. But he’s not gonna be with us when we go,” Perkay said sympathetically. “We’ll have to leave him in the Twist.”

“The Twist?” Layessa looked up from Easil, responding to Perkay, “You know where it is?”

“You don’t?” Perkay asked with surprise.

Layessa shook her head. “They sent me out because I had the potential to fight, but I don’t know all the secrets the old Gnomes are keeping. We were in too much of a rush.”

“What is the Twist?” Tal asked.

“The gnomes have a colony hidden in the roots,” Perkay explained. “They’ll be able to look after your Easil, so that’s where we go next.”

Easil stirred and looked up at Tal with bright blue eyes. “Sorry… Tal…”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Tal whispered back. “We’ll get you looked after.”

End Chapter