69th of Zi'da.
It felt like a terrible idea. The Stormwastes were incredibly dangerous, nobody denied it. Nothing good came out of a place that had the word 'waste' in its name. Beasts and monsters roamed the blasted hellscape and preyed on whatever meat they could catch. Those few that traveled it willingly were either mad or desperate, likely bandits and lowlifes preying on the Stormlands with raiding parties and caravan heists, or worse still, dangerous mages and loons working dark machinations from beyond the eyes of law and civilization. Yes, he'd heard those stories. But that just made it even more enticing. Just what could be waiting down there for him to find? Besides, Xithyria had let slip that a good deal of wannabe Justiciars were being sent out into the Stormwastes as proof of their abilities. Well, that meant that all he needed to do was to spend a few trials out there alone, and then when the time came, he'd be ready to join. Simple, really.
Plus, nobody was going to miss him for that long. Xithyria had once again tossed responsibility onto the next available knight in favour of joining an expedition of his own, and he'd met the woman exactly once. He wasn't even entirely sure if she knew his name. "She does," Archailist butted in. "And she knows that you're utterly hopeless so you need rigorous training and preparation, and that you'll probably try to find any way out of it that you can." Hold on a second, what?
"How do you know this?" Nir'wei snapped.
The scolding level stare he got in return as the squirrel manifested itself standing atop Traveller's skull was equal parts provoking and amusing. "While you were busy ogling the weapons rack, I listened in on Xithyria's conversation with her, where he outlined exactly how strict and merciless she should be with you, and how an inch of disobedience would instantly give her unrestricted access to any range of punishments she deemed fit for the crime." Well, they'd already passed Storm's Edge. As far as he was concerned, there was no turning back now. They'd just have to tolerate his absence, and if they didn't, well, too bad for them.
"It's his fault, you know," he muttered as Archailist folded both arms over his chest in a very un-squirrellike gesture. "It is. He left, again. He leaves all the time, and I get tossed into some random knight's hands for the afternoon." He blamed a lack of focus and attention for his consistent failures, really. All the others could do were take random stabs at things he might not already know, give a quick lesson on how to do them, and then it was a quick goodbye and onto the next ones. Xithyria himself was supposed to be coordinating his training, but the Ithecal had clearly given up after the first few sessions, realizing that he was a hopeless case and passing him off like discarded luggage at every opportunity until the trial period passed and he could tender a formal request for transfer to a less arrogant knight willing to waste his time and sully his career on an nonredeemable failure like him. That was exactly the reason why he needed to take the initiative and train himself!
"He reminds you of your father, doesn't he?" That certainly brought a frown to his lips. But it was horribly true. Being shunted off onto his mother, who then continued to pass him onto the rest of the family, juggled between houses because nobody had the time to care for him and his mother at the same time. His whole young life had been spent being passed around like an unwanted gift from one place to the next, waiting for someone to care long enough to impart something meaningful to his life before being snatched away to someone else. That was probably made him such a recluse, even among his own entourage of animal companions. Spending so much time alone made you used to your own company. Crowding felt bad for the soul.
A quick glance over Traveller's side said they were high enough to glide at a comfortable pace and Nir'wei released the reins, stretching back over the leather saddle on the Sohr Khal's upper back with both hands used as pillows. "Nothing reminds me of my father."
Myrth, stretched length-ways over the Sohr Khal's spine with legs dangling over either end, licked at Nir's forehead as they glided across the blasted land. Okay, so, perhaps he was cheating a little bit by riding Traveller into the Stormwastes. And cheating a little more by bringing both Cold and Myrth along for the ride as well. And Jasper. And Greyhide, currently dematerialised to not overload Traveller too much. Then again, it'd be silly to go in there alone for his first time... and what if there was an emergency? "JEEZ, can you stop with all the self-justification for your own imagined arguments? There's more guilt in here than in that bar," Archailist moaned. "Just stop worrying. We're out here now, there's no turning back, whatever happens when we come back will be dealt with one way or the other... and until that happens, there's no point stressing. Besides. Not like they can really do anything." Strange how the more that kept being brought up, the more true it became. At the end of the day, he could just walk away. Nothing really stopped him. He'd broken no laws, and even if he did, they weren't going to do anything to him. He'd fly away. Escape. They'd never capture him, and if they did, they'd never hold him for long. He could walk back in at the end of this and tell Xithyria to his face to go fuck himself, and the best he'd manage was kicking him out of the Knights... a prospect that wasn't spellbinding, but it wasn't the end of the world. He'd find something else, something more rewarding. There was always another way out, something better waiting around the corner.
Straightening himself up with a pat to Myrth's head, he tugged the reins lightly and chuckled at the questioning rumble from Traveller. "Let's set down here, eh? Easy does it though. And remind me, the next time we do this, I need to dress up a little more!" Traveller's preference for high altitudes made for great soaring but really poor for breathing and staying warm. However, he'd grown rather accustomed to surrendering a little more control to the Sohr Khal during their flights, in the understanding that this mutual trust would help later when he needed a little more input from the flying beast in moments of high stress. Animals with higher intelligence like them required a very different approach than the wolves; they couldn't just be goaded with coercion and reward, no. They needed assurances. Commitments. Almost like a real person. A real crafty one. "Easy, easy." Stroking down the winged beast's neck to soothe it and help it steady out as they neared the ground, one quick flap lurched them all for a moment before Traveller settled on the edge of a large red rock, kicking up swirls of dust.
They weren't kidding about the place being a blasted hellscape. Even in Zi'da, freezing cold with heavy clouds in the sky, this place looked like a desert. Red dust and rocks everywhere, not an inch of green in sight. All the way to the horizon the land seemed featureless and uniform, streaked with red dust and marred stone. As he breathed deep from the air and started thinking about what to do for food and shelter, a harsh tingling ran the length of his body, from head to toes. The trees from this place would all be safe to burn, dry and acrid as it was, for the chill tonight. If he found any small plants, chances were they'd be edible both for him and the others, though anything larger than his palm shouldn't be approached. No prey nearby. "GAH!" It was like a rush of information pouring directly into his skull! For a moment he clutched the side of his head, anticipating more, but it seemed like it was done.
"I felt it too," Greyhide announced, shivering all over. Okay, so, weird. Definitely weird. "Yup, definitely."
Once they'd all shaken down a little bit and cleared some space atop the jagged rock edge, Nir'wei pulled out the small amount of supplies he'd brought for the journey and passed them around. Dried meat rations for everyone, including himself, a small tinderbox with some light kindling for a small fire when the cold started hitting, and a sleeping bag for himself and blankets for everyone else. The tent probably wouldn't be needed, it clearly hadn't rained in this region for quite some time, and the red sand made for a really poor surface to hammer the tent's supports in. Really, they should have chosen a better place, but with night approaching rapidly and the eerie silence starting to give Nir'wei the jumps, he whistled and brought his three wolves close to share their body warmth. Unprompted, Traveller settled in close to them all and looped his serpentine body around most of them, one huge leathery wing blanketing them all from the elements.
"Uhh, just so you know," Greyhide suddenly announced from his place closest to the opening of their makeshift shelter. "There's something watching us in the distance. I can see eyes."
Nir'weis tingling senses still couldn't detect any prey, oddly enough. "Archailist is on night duty. You see anything, you wake us the hell up." He felt the squirrel-spirit give a little confirmation bob, but their night was uninterrupted... and in the morning, Greyhide found animal tracks that stopped and turned around from the point he'd seen the eyes. "Alright then, so we've got company. If that's not a sign to start moving, I don't know what is."
