CHAPTER XII #2
I spot Keane’s head tilt to the side at the comment, as if he’s angling better to hear Lord Daniel from all the way at the front of the group.
“Trust me, Lord Daniel, I was just as surprised as you.”
The Discerni Lord chuckles and moves a hand to his beard.
“Lord Daniel, can you settle something for me?”
“Of course, Lady Alexis,” he replies, light brown eyes sparkling on mine.
I feel no guilt at the lie I’m about to tell, mostly because I’m truly interested in the answer that will come from it.
“Princess Clair and I were speaking earlier about the standard magical abilities between the Pyrenese and the Discerni…”
We weren’t.
“I thought I told her everything I knew on the Discerni side, but she mentioned something else, something I wasn’t aware of.”
“Like what?”
“Well, I told her what I knew about you all in general. That the Discerni are quick, quicker than the average human, and that the Discerni strength is tenfold that of any human as well…”
“Our hearing and sight is also heightened,” Lord Daniel adds, giving me a small smile.
“Hmm,” I smirk inwardly, watching as Keane’s lips tip up in a knowing laugh from afar, “that’s what Princess Clair suggested, too. I guess I was wrong on that bet.”
Keane’s location summoning suddenly graces my bones, his amusement vibrating down my body and making me grin in response.
“Those attributes are less noticeable than speed and strength,” Lord Daniel replies with a nod, “so I can understand why you wouldn’t know of them.”
Always so polite, I smile.
Once we reach the large wall surrounding the city, the three human soldiers in our group lower our banners.
We pass under the large gate and into the forest surrounding just as Stormfall flies down from his glide to rest on my shoulder.
He walks across and steps closer to my face, his head and beak leaning through my hair before he nips the skin of my neck.
“You’re hungry?”
The Bird of Ash chirps in response and lets his beak rub against the skin of my cheek. I scan the forests around us, not liking that the trees are still thick.
“Be quick about it, please. And try to stay in sight of our group.”
Stormfall chirps again and pushes off my shoulder, his black body and tail angling for the forest.
“Excuse me, Lord Daniel,” I give him a small apology, “I need to ask Holis a few questions.”
“Of course, Lady Alexis,” he nods.
I guide Millie to the middle of our riding group and stop next to the Discerni twin.
“You hungry?” Holis asks on the spot.
“Always feeding me, Holis,” I laugh.
“Just trying to add some extra weight to those bones,” he shrugs.
“I’m surprised all the ale she drinks hasn’t done that for her,” Cal rides up next to us.
I roll my eyes at both of them with a smile.
“I actually came to ask a favor.”
Holis meets my gaze with a nod, urging me forward.
“Stormfall will need meat, real meat. Not the small mice and lizards and snakes he can grab now. Can we resume the bow? And tracking? I’d like to be able provide for him.”
Holis’ smile goes wide and approving, “of course, Alexis.”
“Why use the bow when you could just pierce a stag dead middle in the eyes?” Cal chuckles next to us.
Keane’s head makes another sharp turn against his shoulder from up front, his leaf-shaped ear facing us.
“That seems improper,” I reply quietly.
“Whatever gets the job done,” my big friend shrugs, “dead is dead.”
“I’d be happy to assist, Alexis,” Holis affirms again.
“Join our dawn,” Cal offers to the Discerni twin.
Holis nods just as Stormfall bounds through a set of trees, his black wings moving strong through the branches like he wasn’t born just days ago.
“You’ve decided to name him,” Mana’s quiet voice joins us as well, riding up next to his brother.
“Stormfall seemed fitting,” I grin.
While everyone will assume his name comes from the grey storm and the falling of ash in the sky, I secretly named him as an amused ode to my clumsiness. Yes, Stormfall was born of storm and falling ash, but he was also born of storm and falling knees.
“The Ancient would approve,” Mana replies quietly as he watches Storm move through the woods. I frown at his response, curious as to why him and his brother seem to know a lot about the Ancient Hirovale and his beast.
“Are there any other powers I should know about him?” I ask the two.
Mana nods, “yes, but he’ll make them known to you.”
“He’s fairly immortal,” Holis adds in thought, “and while he’s still a babe now and susceptible to harm, when he grows into himself he will be near impossible to kill.
He’s only been missing from the Old World because he chose to go to sleep with the Ancients.
If he hadn’t, he’d still be flying the skies today.
I suspect whatever you found in the library was his resting place. ”
My brows furrow at the information.
Is that what happened on that height? Did I wake Stormfall unintentionally?
Or did Stormfall wake for me?
“How big will he get?” I watch his black wings dip between a large set of trees.
“Big,” Holis affirms with a grin, “about half the size of a horse with his wings extended.”
“There’s no way,” I reply in awe.
“But light,” Mana adds, “light and agile. He’s known to move quickly, even quicker through the shadows of the night.”
“Quick, immortal, and the ash taker of souls,” I shake my head at the brothers, “how do you two know so much?”
Mana gives a small shrug as Holis replies, “his Ancient is revered.”
He speaks of Hirovale with the same awe Morose did.
“Can you tell me about him?” I ask quietly.
My knowledge of Hirovale and the rest of the Ancient Ten is rudimentary, though it has grown significantly from everything I’ve been reading in my travels.
As a human, we’re all taught the basics about the Ancients and their history in the Old World, but that schooling always falls short of actually studying them in depth and in detail.
I’m not sure how that teaching differs for the Discerni, but I suspect they regard the Ancients with a higher level of esteem then we do.
I do know that the Ancient of Death and Exploration was the most feared of the Ten, and I’ve read enough in my travels to respect the nature of what he does and understand why his name brings fear to both magical beings and mortals alike.
The two brothers send eachother a silent look at my request, like they’re sharing a conversation without saying any words. After a moment of that look Holis turns in my direction, his blue-green eyes watching me quietly.
“What would you like to know?”
“Anything,” I shrug, “Morose seemed to think that the Ancient sleeps in Pyre. She said her and others were dismayed about the rumor that he sleeps in Disce.”
Mana’s lips curve up in a small smirk, as does Holis’.
“Pyre would like to think that,” Holis nods with a sly grin.
“But you don’t think he sleeps in their lands?”
“No,” he affirms as a fact, “he most certainly does not.”
I remember Lord Daniel’s comment about the Ancient being rumored to sleep in the woods of Fumagalli… how it’s his breath that provides the sleeping air throughout the forest. Is he there now? Slumbering somewhere in those dark, moody woods.
I shake my head at the too many coincidences lately and look at the twins.
“What exactly was he known for?”
Holis and Mana exchange another side glance.
“He is the Ancient of Death and Exploration…” Mana replies vaguely.
“I know,” I nod, “but what exactly does that entail?”
Holis eyes me again, his look questioning. “Have you always been this curious, Alexis?”
I don’t understand his question.
Of course I’m curious, have been curious. I’ve just been gifted the Ancient’s beast.
“How can I not be when I have the Ancient’s Bird of Ash now sitting daily on my shoulder?”
Mana looks at his brother and gives him a small, silent nod. Holis frowns in return, but he does provide more detail.
“The Ancient Hirovale is most widely known for helping souls reach their final resting place.”
“I know that as well.”
“Unless he claims them,” Holis continues without interruption, “then those souls are his to do with as he pleases.”
A small shiver creeps up my spine.
“And the exploration?” I ask in a whisper.
“The unknown,” Mana responds, “followers of Hirovale believe death is not finite, that what comes after is a new exploration of the soul.”
I recognize now, in this moment, why I chose to forgo the worship of the Ancients and left it to their followers. They’re too surreal, too fantastic to be true, especially for a human like me.
And that’s not to say I don’t believe in them… the history books all recount their presence on this Old World without a fault, but I do believe that they’ve gone to sleep for good.
It’s been well over thousands of years since an Ancient has walked among us, and while I was taught about the time when they freely roamed the Kingdoms as protectors of the lands, the many years of silence has made it hard to believe it’ll ever be true again.
Though…
I don’t know if the appearance of Stormfall will change my outlook. The Bird of Ash may very well have me questioning my prior beliefs, but I still have no burning desire or call to change that philosophy. The Ancients can remain asleep for all I care.
“You are skeptic,” Holis watches me with quiet eyes, “even after Hirovale offers you his right hand.”
“I’m human,” I shrug, looking towards Keane riding next to his brother, “magic and magical beasts do not belong to me.”
“How very wrong you are, Alexis,” Mana replies.
Our group reaches the border of the Bulwark Plains just after midday, stopping at the edge of the thin woods of Pyre to rest the horses and take a lunch.
Alanna approaches me as I’m unscrewing Golem’s jar, that cloth bundle in her hand letting me know what she needs.
I welcome her, wanting to take care of my own business before heading into the desolate lands, and follow her into the thin line of trees just as Golem goes to stand a few feet away from Millie.