Answer the dragon call

Chapter 17

The late morning sun was shining down with a brilliance that was blinding, with no comfort to his aching head.  And did Ylek have to sing that irritating song so loud that the words echoed inside his head.  Arell closed his eyes in a vain attempt to block out the light, but as soon as he did that, the images of the previous night flooded his mind.  It was so humiliating.  He had never been drunk before, and he made a solemn promise to himself that he would never allow that to happen again.  They had gotten to the village earlier than they had thought they would, but it was too late to carry on to the next village, so they had gone to the inn in search of a bath and a bed.  The previous night they had slept along the road, luckily it had not rained, but it was still cold at night, so Arell was glad for the warm bath and prospect of a good nights sleep in a warm bed.

However, word got around that they were from ‘The Camp’ and just about everybody had come to have a word with them.  And as the villagers talked, they bought the two something to drink.  Mostly it was beer, but there were enough of those who got them Fire Water to drink, actually, there were too many of them.  He could only remember that he had made it outside before being violently sick, then tried to make it back inside, but the cool night air had felt so good, that he had flopped down onto his back and stared at the sky.  And that was the last he could recall.

According to Ylek, he had stayed there until another man, not as far gone as himself, had fallen over him and then wanted to duel the ‘soldier’ and show him a thing or two.  Luckily Ylek and others had heard the commotion, gone to investigate and rescued him from making an even bigger fool of himself.

And now he had to deal with the consequences of the night before.  He could have handled just the headache, or just the queasy stomach, or that strange felling that he had possession of someone else’s body.  But all together, no one should have to endure that!  He could not believe that there were people that put themselves through that, knowing what the result would be.

And that infernal singing!  He was sure Ylek was doing that on purpose.  Blast him!  On the other side, Ylek did suggest that they stay for one more night to give him time to recuperate, but Arell was already nervous and reluctant about continuing with his journey, and he was afraid that if he delayed for even one single night, he might end up putting it off completely.

While they were staying at the inn with Kenna and Dorano, he had gotten Regatten to help make the changes to the two knives.  He was pleased that the sword they had helped make had turned out so well, and was eager to see what the whole set would look like when it was complete.  The evening before he and Ylek had left on their trek, he had nearly made up his mind to return to camp.  The whole night he had argued with himself, tried to compose even one valid reason for going back, but he had come up empty handed.  Anyway, he knew that if he didn’t go now, he would have to go later.

But he had no idea what to say, even if he did find this girl, ‘hey, you are supposedly holding our future, so I have to unite with you’?  And then she would say: ‘Yes, sure, why not?  Don’t have anything better to do at the moment.’   Hmf!  Like he could see that happening.  She will more than likely run away, terrified, which is exactly what he is feeling at the moment.  And each step further away is filling him with such dread, that his guts are all twisted into a knot.

Arell was so involved with his misery, that he didn’t notice the horse limping until it stumbled slightly.  He jumped off before they had come to a complete stop and called out to Ylek, riding in front, still singing.  The horse obediently lifted its hind leg when his hands slid down the knee.  There was blood on the hoof, caked in dirt.  Silently Arell cursed himself for not noticing earlier, the poor animal must have been limping along for a while.

“What’s wrong?”

“Not sure.”  Arell grabbed the water skin, and with his finger gently rubbed the grime away as the water slowly washed over the hoof.  Almost immediately he felt the thorn.