Theurgy: The Journey's Dawn (Book One)

Chapter 66 The Era of Heroes

They were coming home. It had been two weeks of travel along the Frostlandian border. Two weeks of extended travel, though in high spirits. They could almost feel the difference in climate as soon as they passed along the Silondras Trail that directed them back southward towards the city itself. It was still late into the winter season for the empire, but they felt warmer seeing the barrier markings introducing them back into Liontari. They have had a few close encounters with a few passing armies, a small force of Frostlandian soldiers camping out about fifteen miles away from yet another Lykan outpost. They decided to take the long way around this time and cut through the very top of the Forest of Silence to avoid any further halts in their plans. Otherwise, the road was unbothered, and nature was as unruly as it ever was. Lyse felt the warm embrace better than anyone, the Pendant of Life radiation ti's infectious aura that only he could grasp. They tried a few experiments to see if either Edlund or Makyra could glimpse the power it held. Still, neither could feel anything, envisioning the pendant as just a blank space in their aura sense, melding into the air as if natural. And they gained no effects while holding it. Still, they managed to keep their time as they rode home through it all, Edlund, most of all, shedding the anxiety he had to garner and resembling his old self once more, entertaining them all by regaling Makyra of the many moments from their childhood. Strangely enough, he always painted himself as some courageous, trustworthy town figure and not the troublemaker he tried painting Lyse as.

"Remember when you pushed that girl into the fire ants' nest?" he laughed, just off the cusp of some other shenanigans they had gone on.

"Oh no, that was you," Lyse sighed, turning to Makyra, who was pleasantly smiling, only listening. "He had pushed this older girl into it. She was a bit of a bully to us at the time, before we were accepted as squires."

"Oh yeah, wasn't it Susie or something like that?" Edlund asked.

"It was Susie, I believe, yeah," Lyse agreed. "She still lives in the village. She tried to become a squire herself but failed the written exam."

"How embarrassing," Edlund laughed. "You would think she would have run out of town. Doesn't she still work at that bakery? Maybe we'll head down, grab a bite and make a day out of it."

"We can do that after we handle our business," Makyra said. "Your mother will be in James' hands, and we can start planning on what to do next. Talin is up to something, and no doubt it involves the godslayers, don't you think?"

"We have been over this a thousand times," Edlund groaned. "Talin this and that. How about we instead try and relax. We just made a major victory, stopped a god from rising, saw a Frostlandian White dragon and all. Some beers and wines and women would do me some good."

"No doubt you'll have your full brother," Lyse sighed. But then felt some strange sensation in the back of his head. It was like something was calling his name from a distance, and it told him to look to the south. So, without stopping his horse, he looked in that direction. It was getting late in the day. They meant to get to Silondras perhaps the following morning, but something pushed Lyse forward. Something that spoke danger into his mind and action into his limbs. Makyra and Edlund sensed his hesitation as well, stopping their horse from looking curiously into the direction he was staring at in some daze.

"Are you alright, Lyse?" Edlund asked him.

"It's . . . something," he said, confused by this strange sense. "Like something . . . wants me to do something."

Without another word, he willed his horse into a brisk pace, Makyra, and Edlund shouting after him to stop. But he did not listen. It was getting late in the night, and they needed to set up camp. But despite this protest, he moved forward, forcing the two of them to make do and ride along with him.