Avishraa Reloaded

Many miles away and higher up, where the climate was moist enough to support forests of dark, spiky-leaved trees, a small settlement nestled in a poorly-traveled valley, less than a village but more than a camp. In one of its large round tents, a figure slept.

He did not dream. He hadn't dreamed for many turns now. Considering what his dreams had been like prior to that, it had been just as well.

He awoke uneasily, and the feeling of… something… building inside him grew too insistent to ignore. Looking about in confusion, he gasped and clutched his head as a soundless, chilly roar shook his bones.

It commanded, in terms more fundamental than words: THERE IS A THREAT. END IT.

He shuddered, sinking to the ground. He had had some few communications like this before, but they were never pleasant and there was no preparing for them. It was not so much the sending of a message as the imposition of will.

Unfortunately, this also meant that there was no way to seek clarification. But as confusion welled up in the unfortunate recipient's mind, there was a sudden pain in his head, like a thin, cold spike being lodged in his skull, and then-

And then he could… see? Perceive?… something, some one, a long way off, a tiny point outlined in darkness. THERE.

And then, the presence left him. He lay there, trembling, until he could regain his composure.

He did not understand - what could his master consider a threat? - but understanding was not required of him. He rose, carefully, and left the door of the tent. He would need the assistance of the Seekers in this hunt, and no doubt they would bask in the opportunity to serve their god.

The widening of the hole had proceeded quickly. It was just as well that An-uxhwi had offered his assistance; although Shyriath could move rock more quickly, he was still worn out from his exertions in Oraa.

Unitti, by his own admission, had no experience of digging through anything harder than gravel, but provided what assitance he could by clearing debris out of the way as it was generated. Evrith, after an extended coughing fit that had had An-uxhwi concerned that she would start spitting blood again, had fallen asleep in the back of the cart.

It did not occur to anyone to check on Tikke until the hole was wide enough to easily admit any of them through, at which point it began to occur to them that the last member of their party was not visible.

“Tikke?” Unitti called uncertainly.

There was no response. But, shortly afterward, there was a strange almost-sound, a sort of change in the texture of the air - and then Tikke faded gently into view in the back of the cart. He stared wildly at nothing, then shivered. “Book-travel is strange,” he declared.

An-uxhwi hung a little awkwardly inside the hole, having excavated enough space to partially lodge himself within it, and only partially heard the conversation below – less because there was anything obstructing the sound and more because the chamber and his position made for disrupting echoes of all but the clearest speech.

The long and short of it was that he didn't realise it was perhaps worth his attention, and, for the moment, simply continued with his work.

An-uxhwi found it hard to ignore what came next, because what it was was a shout that rang thechamber like a bell. Up to this point, Unitti had been very soft-spoken, but there was nothing soft about his words now, and it was only a pity that no one else could follow what he was saying.

[You idiot! We just got exchanged with a ball of rock by someone who can apparently tie space and time in knots, and you think this is an excellent opportunity to use one of those, those things, you don't even know how they work, you didn't take anyone with you, you could've been sent into, into a volcano-]

Evrith, having been violently awakened by the noise, lay there shaking in astonishment. Tikke, for his part, appears to have expected his band-brother's reaction, because he looked merely resigned and annoyed. He waited until Unitti was force to pause for breath before announcing, in an ostentatiously casual tone, “There food in the book. And water. If anyone interested.”

It wasn't easy to actually look back down into their little bubble of life from where An-uxhwi was, but he'd heard enough by now that he was carefully trying to extract himself from his little nook.

His main surprise was that the books were still functional - not having any idea how Evrith's magic worked, he had assumed it was something similar enough to interfere badly with their spoils. Apparently, space magics did not cancel out, or even introduce anomalies.

Good to know.

Having access to what might as well be a little pocket universe was useful, of course - especially if there was food and water in it, bless Tikke for looking - but it didn't save them from having to carve their way out of here. Not if they wanted to do something about Avishraa's future, anyway.

Whether from the knowledge that shouting at Tikke wasn't having much effect or the knowledge that he had, through sheer dumb luck, confirmed a portable supply source without getting killed, Unitti's tirade, when it resumed, was more measured in volume. He folded the leather strap he'd been using to help haul rocks and started whacking Tikke lightly with it, apparently berating him into helping with the excavation.

Evrith, however, wearily hauled herself out of the cart and began squirming up the debris-strewn slope. She glanced at Shyriath and pointed down. “See if you can start forming that into a ramp.” Shyriath looked as if he might ask her what she was going to do, or possibly if she should be upright and moving around at this particular juncture, but her expression and the shape of her mind informed him that this would be a tactically unwise move, and he carefully slid back down.

Evrith made her way up next to An-uxhwi and extended a finger, from which a long, curved line of silver light began to extend. “You may want to get back a bit,” she advised, and then, with a strange hook-like motion of her arm, smoothly carved off a section of rock as if she were ladling water out of a well. “I'd rather we get moving if we can.”

She carved off another chunk of rock. The pieces crashed down the slope and were fielded by Shyriath, who was welding the stone into a smooth surface for the cart.

An-uxhwi remembered this ability from their escape from the mine. Whatever it was, ordinary substance did not appear to present any resistance to it. But although this allowed Evrith to widen the hole at an impressive rate, he had to wonder about its effect on her - though it did not seem to be actively damaging her, she still looked exhausted, and her breath had a ragged edge to it.

It was hard to resist the urge to jolt into a shrinking posture each time a chunk of rock was carved free. But Evrith's actions were not that interesting to him in and of themselves. Instead, it surprised him that she was expending the energy. Had Tikke's little adventure triggered something? Had it brought a threat that had previously not existed?

Or had there been a threat for a while and only Evrith's sudden awakening had made her realise that it was now closer than it had any right to be?

He knew better than to touch her to see what was happening - he had, after all, promised not to do that, even if it had been impossible to remember it in emotional moments. But this was an intellectual curiosity and he knew not to pursue it.

“Are you both quite rested enough for this?” he asked, though, raising his voice just enough for it not to fragment awkwardly in the changing geometries of their rocky environment.

From below, Shyriath replied, “There better be a damn good meal and a long sleep at the end of this, but I can hold up for a while longer.”

Evrith didn't answer for a few minutes, as she carved a wide chunk of rock out of the way; it toppled outward rather than in, widening the hole considerably. She paused, wheezing a bit, and glanced at An-uxhwi. “As for me… no, not really. But if our new friends don't mind, I can sleep on the cart as we go.”

She carefully scythed off another slab on the opposite side of the hole from the previous one, widening it yet further. It looked nearly wide enough for the cart.

An-uxhwi watched Evrith with concern, still privately wondering why she was exerting herself this way. She'd not said anything and didn't seem to be radiating nervousness or anxiety, but it still felt sudden and off.

“Tikke,” An-uxhwi addressed the xtauh conversationally. “What is it like, where you went?”

By this point, Unitti had apparently given up on physical chastisement; at any rate, they could not help much with Shyriath's smoothing of the slope, and had instead stood aside for the moment. Tikke looked pleased at having the chance to talk about his brief trip. “There big pile of rock on other side, where other book is,” he replied, “but all around rock is grass, off to distance. Some streams with trees near. Much prey. Could have fine living there.”

There was a last crash as Evrith shoved a chunk of rock out of the way. Her work complete, she gently sank to the ground in the widened exit.

Tikke's visit didn't sound like it had likely influenced something, unless he had missed something crucial. An-uxhwi's mind briefly ran with the idea of it being a trigger, regardless, and considered a level of indirection - by having gone to the world, they would visit it more frequently now, to get supplies when they ran low on them in this one, and eventually, that would lead them to be discovered by some threat.

It seemed rather too nebulous to matter. No, it was more likely something else was going on - possibly something as mundane as Evrith simply not liking the confined space very much.

Maybe he would ask her later. For now, he instead approached her to carefully grasp her and ease her back toward the cart, slow in his approach to give her an opportunity to object.

Evrith looked, very briefly, as if she might indeed object, but erupted in a brief bout of harsh coughing. When it ended, she appeared to have decided not to argue, and allowed An-uxhwi to help her down toward the cart - somewhat awkwardly, given the difference in their sizes. Shyriath, looking very worn out himself, went upward past them as he continued to work.

Having reached the cart, however, she made no move to get into it. “Needs to be pushed up and out still,” she mumbled, as Shyriath reached the top of the slope. “Too much trouble with me in it.” Tikke and Unitti started awkwardly turning the cart in the limited space until its wheels were parallel to the ramp.

An-uxhwi sighed inwardly, but decided not to argue. Instead, he simply helped to keep her propped up while the others tried to get the cart maneouvred out of their little space.

With some struggle, the cart was pushed up and out. Evrith looked as if she might try to assist, but, after a sideways glance at An-uxhwi, allowed its two owners to do most of this work; tired and distracted as she was, she did not want to distress him further on her account.

A thought occurred to her, and as An-uxhwi helped her haul herself up the ramp after the cart, she asked him, “Is the wing feeling any better?”

He shrugged as lightly as he could get away with and still make the gesture apparent. “It is only a bruise. It will continue to sting for a while, but it is best left alone,” he reasoned. It was technically a little more than a bruise, but the overall statement still remained. It was a source of pain he could easily ignore, especially if he was focussing on physical labour.

It was just as well that she was too tired to fall into a bout of self-recrimination, especially over even a bad bruise. As it was, a little voice in her head said: You could've prevented that. You got someone hurt again.

But, at least for now, she ignored it. Once the cart was on reasonably level ground again, she began climbing into it without prompting. “Tikke… Unitti… I think you're heading south in any case. Could you carry us for a while?” There was a certain amount of head-bobbing agreement, and shortly thereafter the two xtauh were pulling the cart onto a little-used track with the other three in the back.

Evrith let her head droop, where it came to rest against An-uxhwi's neck, and murmured, “For now, we're safe - mostly. But something will seek us out when we get further into the hills.”

An-uxhwi blinked, not quite having expected her to come forth with another prediction at this point in time - not without prompting. It was welcome, though, and saved him from prying. Still… the wording struck him as quaint. “What kind of thing?” he asked, softly.

“People… takmar. But I think they're already looking… I think they know about us, somehow…” The words were starting to come out slurred. “Don't know how.”

An-uxhwi grimaced lightly, unnerved by the idea that some people were coming after them despite never having met them. On the other hand, that was what they were doing with the nameless mage that lived in the future, weren't they?

“Maybe they too are in the company of one such as you, who can see the future?” he theorised. He shifted and tried to fold one wing over Evrith, more as a gesture than out of need.

Under the wing, Evrith shuddered briefly. “I… think not. Hope not. Oracles are very, very rare.” There was a long silence, and the only clear indication that she wasn't asleep came when, without really seeming to think about it, she curled a foreleg around one of his.

At last, she added, “If one is after us, we're in very bad trouble.”