“Our gods were once mortal, they speak to us in dreams and through our prayers. They whisper of ‘Others’, beings beyond the heavens.

Our gods were once mortal, and they shield us from the Nightmares.”

Chapter 43

“May the Goddess bless and protect you” the priestess prayed as she laid her hand on the top of Wil’s head.

He felt a warmth emanate from her hand, through the tips of her fingers and slowly spreading downwards until his entire being was filled with the holy energy.

Wil had been healed in the past, but usually the healing Mana was directed at a single injury or location. When he had arrived at Grand Falls’ Church of Secundus, the priestess had informed him that his injuries required a much higher level of treatment.

She had beseeched the goddess to heal his injuries, and the Blue Sun had responded through the hands of her priestess.

“Thank you, Sister.” Wil said as he stood, bowing his head to the blue robed priestess.

“Think nothing of it, Wilhelm.” The priestess said, gripping his hands with both of hers. “The goddess knows how you received your injuries. She blesses the selfless and protectors of the innocent.” The priestess smiled at him, before making her way towards one of the others in need of her help.

Wil turned around and made his way towards his companions, who were standing towards the back of the Church, near the door. They exited silently, respectful of those around them.

Stepping out into the cold, Wil assessed the town around them. Grand Falls was large for a northern town, with tens of thousands of residents. Made of stones quarried from the mountain, the settlement had been built on a cliff, with access restricted by a wide winding road. From the tall walls, the guards could see visitors for miles ahead of when they arrived.

On a clear day, the waterfall that the town had taken its name from, as well as the bridge they had crossed, would be clearly visible from the high cliff. Unfortunately, the snow had not slowed its descent and the howling winds were still as intense as they had been when the group were on the road.

The entire town had been covered in a thick layer of snow, several feet deep. Despite the best efforts of the citizens, the roads were filled with tightly packed ice and snow. Many residents had given up on trying to clear the walkways, letting the snow build into high drifts.

Quentin, Bell, Mara and Wil were making their way slowly down the main road, careful of the treacherous footing from the icy walkways.

“This is getting out of hand.” Wil remarked, kicking at the thick layer of snow with his thick winter boots.

“Aye, it’s not natural.” Bell agreed. The man had recovered in the short time they had been here. He was no longer unsteady on his feet and his eyes were clear, losing their redness.

“We arrived just in time, they closed the bridge after the attack.” Mara commented.

“About that,” Wil said, turning to look at the smaller woman. “How did you know it was a Drake? It looked just like a Dragon to me.”

“Bell told me.” She said simply, looking at the old man walking beside them. Wil looked at him as well, expecting an explanation.

“Let me guess, ran into one when you were younger?” Wil quipped, teasing Bell.

“When I was a young boy, yes.” Bell said, before seeing the expressions on Mara and Wil’s faces. They both burst out laughing at the anticipated response.

“Gods truth, I did!” Bell sputtered, turning red as the laughter continued. “The mountains were riddled with them, years ago, before the Hunter’s Guild put a bounty out on them.”

“And you were a hunter, young boy with a bow in hand, hunting Drakes for coin?” Quentin teased, joining in on the ribbing.

Bell scoffed. “Course not, my Da was! Took me up north when I was a boy. I stayed in one of the smaller villages while he and his guildmates went hunting. Brought back a Drake skin once. The damned thing was as big as a wagon, twice the size as the one we just saw.”

“So, they were mostly hunted down? Why was there so many around the first place?” Mara asked, tilting her head a Bell in curiosity.

“I heard there used to be a dragon in the mountains. The Guild had warned everyone from going too far up the peaks. They said the Drakes came from the Dragon somehow, never understood it myself. I just know they’re valuable, the guild was paying a lot for materials harvested from them.”

Wil thought about it for a moment, remembering everything he had read about Dragons. “They could be animals that lived on the mountain, changed and mutated by a Dragon’s Mana.” Seeing the confused looks, he explained further.

“Dragons have a lot of Mana coming from them, constantly, like an aura. When they make their lairs, everything in the area gets saturated in it, for miles around it. Easy enough for a creature to twist and change from being in a Dragon’s presence.”

Wil smiled, thinking about something he read once. “Or there’s another explanation. I’ve read books that theorize that Dragons are...lustful. It claimed that they mate with anything and that’s how dragon bloodlines found its way into other races and creatures.”

“Ew” Mara said, making a disgusted face.

“There could be a dragon in the mountain now, causing more of these attacks?” Quentin asked, concerned.

“Doubt it, the drake was probably drawn to whatever is causing this.” Wil said, waving his hand at the falling snow. “It could be from anywhere really, traveling through the storm. If there was a dragon nearby, even you would be able to feel its Mana in the air.” Wil said, laying her fears to rest.

They continued walking through the snow, arriving at the Inn. The group sat in the common room, and Wil ate a large meal, starving after the healing he had received. The common room was packed, filled with refugees and travelers who had arrived at Grand Falls before the snow completely cut the town off.

As they ate, the group swapped stories, entertaining each other and attempting to take their minds off the storm outside.

“Bell had a great big mustache when I was a little girl. Do you remember what happened to it?” Mara asked, grinning at Bell.

“Shaved it off, kept getting food in it.” Bell grumbled, knowing what story Mara was going to tell.

“He came to visit my dad, and so they both were out in the shed out back, absolutely soused on wine that my father had made. I mean they were pickled!” Mara laughed, as she told the story.

Bell nodded “It was pretty good wine.”

“So, Bell decides that he wanted to smoke his pipe and he walks over to the fire, with his pipe in his mouth, and sticks his whole head in there to light the thing!” She demonstrated with her fork in her mouth, making a silly face as she brought her face forward. “And he tumbles headfirst into the flames.” She roared as Wil and Quentin joined her.

“Mom and I see Bell, the front half of his hair burned off and his mustaches gone, come screaming out of the shed and right to the horse trough. Dunked his whole body in there! He scared the horses away for a week!”

“Stupid thing, never liked that mustache.” Bell said, rubbing his clean-shaven lip.

The rest of the evening passed with good natured laughing, each telling stories from their homes. Wil even talked about the Academy, although everyone noticed that he didn’t mention his family at all.

It was late when Wil finally returned to his room, unsteady on his feet. Stripping off his armor and clothing, he climbed gratefully into the clean sheets of his bed. His bruises had healed and although he still couldn’t touch his Mana without causing a sharp pain, he knew that a few days of rest would fix the problem.

As he waited for the cold bed to warm from his body heat, he thought of the current problem they had. He needed to be in Aachen in two weeks, but the roads were impassable. He could only stay here for a week at most, if he had any hope of traveling west in time for Night.

His body heat finally warmed the sheets, and the warmth was lulling him to sleep. His last coherent thoughts were of his mother, and the strange dream he had of her. He couldn’t help but think that her words and the current problems the north were related.

He scoffed at the notion. A dream was just a dream.

Wil drifted off to sleep as the sounds of the howling and blowing snow against the window became faraway and a concern for another day.