The tale of Drakfot - part 16

The tale of Drakfot – Part 16, Open lands once more.

As they got closer to the group they could hear the whispers that the portal was
now nearby, but that there was one small task now left to be done before leaving
the darkness of the Prime Roots. It was to find the Karavan whom held a
teleporting unit not far away from the portal.

“Gather up everyone, it’s time for a short, but well worth, detour now. We shall
move along that wall over there so that we can find the Karavan and make pacts
with them here.” The leader said as they all closed in on a spot that seemed to
be safe. “Same rules as always, but stay sharp there are some times smaller
Kinchers walking along the wall. So be ready for a fight.”

As if it was by old habits Drakfot, Rikka and Crythos formed up a small party
near the end of the group. But as the leader had given a warning the entire
group now were moving so closely what every member could easily be spotted with
the eye even in the darkness of the Roots.
They gently moved along the wall, some of the animals around them noticed them
moving yet did not pay it much attention as they were busy with their own
doings. But the ruckus of two Yelks fleeing away from the moving group caught
the attention of a lone Kincher that was patrolling by. At first it tried to
find a meal in the Yelks, but as they moved away already it turned around an
instead noticed the row of Homins moving along the wall. It was for the Kincher
a rare sight, and also a rare snack as they by birth, it seemed, knew that
Homins were an easy target and so it set off towards the group.
Thankfully as everyone were indeed staying sharp and not one but many eyes were
constantly peeking around for dangers the Kincher were quickly discovered. As it
barged towards them several bolts of light and posionus aerosnakes landed on it,
bullets from shooters gave up a silent “thud” as it left the shell traveling
through the air to finally burrow down deeply in the Kinchers leg. As it fell it
was met by the swords of the frontal fighters. Soon it was all over and the
group were once more a tight knot moving fast along the wall.
Soon they found a opening in the wall and everyone moved in there, through some
strange large plants and after a moment they cold all spot the Karavan’s whom
stood by their teleportation unit looking at them as they saw so many Homins
coming at once.

“I see that there has been another world travel, you are all most welcome to
bind a pact with us.” The Karavan watchman said to them.

Drakfot gathered some courage and walked up to him, she had not yet got used to
the ways of purchasing pacts.

“ahm.. I would.. like to .. mumbles .. pact… please” She didn’t dare to look
the tall man in front of her in the eyes. Or where the eyes most likely are as
she could not see through the shielding glass on his helmet. She had always
sensed that there was something special surrounding these Homins.

“Aha, you wish to make a pact with us here Homin, or can I call you by your name
Drakfot?” The man said, and she was certain that his eyes were fixed on her.

She looked up at him, facing his protective glass, yet she could feel his eyes.
But also that he was smiling warmly towards her. “How.. did you know my name?”
She asked him a bit surprised but somehow she understood why they would know her
name. Suddenly her thoughts went back to Ce-Ni Bong and the conversation they
had. There is so much here that she does not understand so clearly.

“Well, it is always good for us to know the names whom we have made pacts with,
and besides I overheard your friends over there calling your name a moment ago.”
He said with a nice, almost laughing voice. “And you are welcome to travel here
anytime Drakfot.”

Drakfot bowed deeply to the Karavan Travel Master and moved aside a little while
the others lined up to receive their pacts. It seems as there was still so much
she needed to find out, to cope with and understand. As she looked around she
accidentally bumped into one of the large tree-like plants they had run through
to get to the Karavan. As she did it moved some of its branches as if it tried
to shake her off. She looked at the huge pillar that was in front of her. Was it
alive ?
She touched it carefully and as she did the branch over her hand started shaking
slowly in an sense of harmony. She slowly moved her hand and the branch seemed
to follow it. Suddenly it shook a few branches making a few leaves to fall off
and fall over Drakfot as a curtain as it headed to the ground. She smiled and
moved away from the plant to the others as she had heard it was time to depart
to the portal.

The voices whispering that they would soon see the sun again made the whole
group eager to travel there in a hurry. So as the leader made the gesture to
move they all fell in line quickly and moved back out to the wall from which
they had come previously. Once more they moved with great precision and
attention to everything that was around them and soon they were back at the
point where the detour had started. Now as they all gathered up the leader
pointed in a direction just outside their sight, then made another gesture
telling them that it was towards there they now were headed. It was without any
problems or battles they soon reached an opening for a cave and as soon as they
saw it many began to rush into it knowing that the spinning portal in the end
was waiting.
It was a nice relief for them all after the tensions of traveling in the Roots
to finally find the safe spot of the portal.

Rikka, Crythos and Drakfot waited until everyone else had gone through the
portal before they stepped through. And moments later they all felt a warm
breeze covering them as they opened their eyes and saw the green’s of a beach
cave. They were now in Bounty Beaches.

As they made their way to the opening of the cave they saw that everyone was
standing there waiting for then while enjoying the sun and the warm sands. Both
Rikka and Drakfot decided to remove their boots and run barefoot from now on. It
was a warm and soft sensation to bury the feets in the sands, a sensation they
had missed for some time.
Thinking about it many days and nights had passed since they set off from
Fairhaven to travel around Atys. And now they were almost all home again.
Crythos unsheathed his rifle and placed it on his shoulder aiming at a distant
Ragus.

“Bang” he said silently to himself as he made a gesture of shooting it. “It’s
always good to calibrate your eyes when coming from such dark place into the
light again. Eyes are the most important tool when finding the target for the
bullet.”

“So I take it that you’re happy with being in the Lakelands again Crythos.”
Rikka said and gave off a smile that was not far off from being a challenge for
the sun to beat in shine.

“Yuepp, sure is good being back on your own back yard.” Crythos said and
sheathed his rifle again.

“Ok, great work so far everyone, I know that we are not far from homes and
loved ones.” The leader said.

“And aaaaleee!” Memorx added with a happy shout.

“Yes, that too. But for now we are headed straight through these lands, I’ll
leave the exploration of them up to you for a later quest. But for now we are
hading just about straight through to that mountain you can see over there.” He
said and pointed into the distance.
“This might be our homelands, but its still a dangerous place to be at and we
all need to stay focused even here. And now even though we have the sun warming
us, it can also blind our sight so be careful everyone. ”

“It seems as we are going to see if the Karavan have fixed the teleportation
unit they have on the other side of the mountain or not.” Rikka said. “Rumor has
it that it has been working, but a swarm of Kitins gave it a good beat during a
raid sometime ago.”

“So it has not been working since then ?” Drakfot asked her.

“Yeah, or well it must have been ages ago, I cannot remember it working while I
have been around here so..” Rikka replied. “But I guess that we will soon find
out won’t we.”

She was smiling again. Soon the three of them were running at their by now usual
position at the end of the group. Drakfot though about a few things that had
happened during the journey and was happy that she had met such nice Homins, her
friends.

Now it was time for the animals in Bounty Beaches to be astound over the small,
yet powerful and unstoppable force of Homins that was traveling through it in
order to reach their homes.