Chronicles of Viltarion I - A Song of Stone and Iron

Chapter 65 - Soul of the desert

Pitera did not see the tributaries Ojain had mentioned until she was at the foot of the only mountain around, a hillside that contained a surprising amount of vegetation despite being in the middle of Talasea... Even in the blackness of that moonless night she was able to make out multiple trees scattered nearby.

"Soon we will reach the top. The water is cleaner there and we can also see Bagijen from above." The young apprentice explained, still walking.

"And has it not occurred to you that our dear sultan might have thought the same thing?" Bilgir intoned his question as arrogantly as ever, Pitera had learned to ignore his comments after only a few hours of accompanying him. "I say look for any place with water and circle the mountain from below." He added.

"The mountain is not on the path to Bagijen. If they came for us, they must have come from the west." Ojain explained in a tired voice, she wasn't the only one who was fed up with the northern sailor.

"We've come this far, let's go up until we find a tributary and see whether or not there is activity in the village." She said, in no mood to give in to the captain's will. "I can get what we need from these people, but I don't want to take more from them than I have to." She added.

"I agree." Ristri replied, the Hilgar man was easy to predict, always seeming to choose the path of honesty. "If they're at the top waiting for us they'll find us anyway... Besides, the water that elementalist was carrying on the boat has barely lasted us this far."

Bilgir agreed as he shook his head, "Don't ask for help when a group of cultists surround us on the descent." He quickened his pace and put at least ten metres between himself and the other fugitives.

Pitera was sure that if she hadn't had those hard sand masks, her other two companions would have made the same gesture of frustration as she did.

"Was it always like this at sea?" she asked.

"I don't know... I met the captain and this young man at the same time, inside the silver bastion." Ristri replied. "But in the cells it was like that from the moment he entered." He added, Pitera could feel an amused snort beneath his mask.

"All his crew is still in there... Only the elementals know what the hell the sultan is doing to them now... No wonder he reacts like that to anything." Ojain said.

"Yes..." the northerner replied, before looking back at her. "How long have you been in there?" he asked, the thought of the time she had spent inside the Silver Bastion awakening memories of her childhood.

"Since I was twelve years old. The man who looked after me showed me things about the outside, but I never saw his face or his mask."

"Bahir... My master." Why would they keep you there for so long...?" he wondered aloud.

"That's something I'd like to know, too." She laughed and turned her thoughts away from her departed people. "Luckily you guys ran into me. I'm sure I would have spent the rest of my days locked up in there if you hadn't shown up."

"Where will you go if we reach Aljir?" Ristri asked.

"I want to go back to the mountain range, see if there's anyone left to fight for my kingdom there." Pitera answered, even though she knew those organisations were now a thing of the past... But she still harboured hope within.

"I will wait for Ulenna before I decide what to do. Tirfen was all I knew, and I doubt other nations would welcome a southern elementalist with open arms, especially after hearing news of the sultan's attacks..." He added.

"They'd have to find out where you come from first. You seem smart, you shouldn't have any trouble slipping into Hilgar unnoticed." Ristri replied.