The tale of Drakfot - part 20

The tale of Drakfot – Part 20, There it is, finally!

They were finally off heading towards Fairhaven, the town they had left for what
felt to be so long ago that it was as if they had left as children and now
returned as adults. Rikka had shown a map to Drakfot pointing out where they
currently were and where Fairhaven was. She had also plotted out the rout with
her finger. It seemed as they were to run along the beach from Windermeer past
the Goari’s and Cloppers heading north east for a little bit and then it was
time to swim again for a bit until there was another beach not far off.

So now the three of them ran along the beach just passing the animals whom
roamed around at the outskirts of the town. They tried to reach out and grab at
the Homins as they passed them by but they were not ready and could not keep up
the same pace as those that had just passed them by. One of them were the most
lucky of them and managed to rip a part of Drakfot’s skirt off, but that was all
it ever managed to get its claws on. The Homins did not bother to stop, well
Drakfot just followed the others as she knew that she was perhaps able to fight
one or two of these but not all the ones they had run by so far. She remembered
how she had been surprised by them as she had taken her first steps outside
Fairhaven and she would not like to have such experience again. So she kept
herself safe by running near Rikka and Crythos.

Soon they had passed all the animals and the beach ended in a formation just
like the one in Rikka’s map and they all took a jump diving into the water
continuing to move further away from Windermeer onward to Fairhaven.

“Uhm, I wonder be that not heavy to swim in your armour Crythos ?” Drakfot asked
as they had swim a bit. She had sort of been wondering this since the first time
she had seen them reach water. “I mean. its thicker and more resistant then what
I am wearing, is it not heavier too?”

“Yes, it is heavier you’re right about that. But its all part of the training so
to say.” Crythos replied between the motions. “It’s not all about raw strength,
but stamina and agility too. But it is a bit easier as I have the chest plate in
the bag at the moment.”

“I see, here I found that my Light Armour felt much heavier when in water.”
Drakfot said and continued trying to keep the same speed as the others.

“Well, you are still young aren’t you ? You haven’t worn such kind of armour for
long now, it will come in time. And to know is that some of the better kinds of
armours also are made to let you move swifter, some Light Armours are not even
noticeable that you are wearing.” Crythos said still looking forward towards
where they were headed.

“That is because you have a dirty mind, diiiirty Crythos !” Rikka suddenly
shouted near him. “blubb!”

“Excuse me, what was that ?” Crythos said with a big grin on his face as he
grabbed Rikka’s foot and dragged her backwards down under the water.

“Crythos !!” She shouted as she resurfaced and was met by a big grin. “Bah !”

Rikka continued swimming towards the beach faster, though if Drakfot had seen
her from the front she would have noticed that both she and Crythos were
smiling.
Soon they stood on the beach and stretched and tried to squeeze out as much
water as possible from their armours. Drakfot was breathing a little heavier
then usual since she was not used to all the swimming and she thought that all
this would leave sore arms for tomorrow.
Even this time they ran along the waterline of the beach past some Cloppers once
more then pass some Kipee’s who just looked at the little things running around
near them before bellowing a roar telling the others that there was something
near that might be good to keep a look at.
As Drakfot looked at the Kipees as she ran she suddenly tripped and fell. The
Kipee next to her got scared and ran away from her while Rikka an Crythos
stopped hearing the loud thud.

“Ouch” Drakfot said as she met with the ground wondering what it was she had
stumbled upon. As she looked back her face got red of shame. She had tripped
over a pretty large Stinga who just stood there growing from the ground.

“So, we spaced out again Drakky ?” Rikka said as she returned and extended her
hand helping Drakfot back up on her feets again. Her face was still red. “Tihi,
you are fun!”

“I am sorry, I was looking at the Kipee and , didn’t..” Drakfot said and did not
finish the sentence.

“Haha, don’t worry Drakky. Its alright. Now lets hurry back to Fairhaven.” Rikka
said as she turned around still holding Drakfot’s hand dragging her along.

She had got used to it by now, that Drakfot could often lose herself in other
lines of thought not keeping her eyes focuses on the road ahead. It would change
in time, when the notion of everything being new had settled and she got more
used to things around. Still , Rikka thought, there would be many more times
where Drakfot would stumble on her own feets. And she would love to be there
laughing at it loudly.

Soon they saw that the beach ahead took a dive down into the water again, but
now it was different. This time there were buildings appearing in the distant,
and the sound that they all remembered. It was Fairhaven, finally they had
reached the town they had left for what felt was so long ago. And now they were
but hundreds of meters away and could hear they lively sound of it being alive
thanks to all the Homins being in it. They even had a short laugh as they saw a
Mektoub Packer running along headed towards Lorias Rise followed by what seemed
to be the owner shouting to everyone to either get out of the way or try to stop
his packer. Luckily there were some guards that just had patrolled the area who
manages to successfully grab and calm the packer.

As Drakfot, Rikka and Crythos swam by the house towards the beach on the other
side they overheard the conversation between the Homin and the guards. It turned
out that the Mektoub Packer was young and not fully used to carry the bags on
its back. And when another Homin and made a holding crystal of a spell, the
light and sound had startled it and it had bolted off. Moments later the one
that had created the crystal came running apologizing to both guards and the
owner for his lack of attention.
More then so did the three not hear for they had reached the beach and now it
was just about 50 more meters of water left to swim before they could safely run
into the capital of Aeden Aqueous.

Even though they had a long rest at Windermeer they were still tired from all
the swimming and it seemed as after this giant trek they could sleep for days
before regaining the energy lost. But that did not matter now as they ran
between the water and the cliff side turning left for a straight line towards
the stable. They ran past a few guards and Rikka took the opportunity to gently
slap one of them in the back of the head so the helmet moved a little and he
lost sight. As she corrected it and saw whom it had been he shaked his fist
towards Rikka then to open his hand waving to her.

“Nice to see you back here prankster!” He shouted behind them.

“Well someone has to keep this place kicking right” Rikka said as she reached
the stables and finally stopped running.

Crythos was just behind her but he continued all the way to the Packers to place
his gear and weapons in their bags for the moment. Drakfot whom was just behind
stopped and looked at all the people around the stables. She didn’t know what to
do and got a bit nervous and bowed respectfully while greeting them. To her
surprise they looked at her and greeted back wit smiles, waves and bows. It made
her feeling more welcome and definitely feeling more as if she was really home.
It was the only home she had, if she had had one in the past, it was now lost
with the rest of memories of the past. She quickly shook those thoughts off as
she looked around at everyone standing at the stables.

“Uhm.. hi…” She said in an attempt to talk but her shyness took the upper hand
and she blushed again. Strange , she thought to herself, that she had been in
battles, beaten so the life almost left her and she had returned here. But she
hardly dared to speak to a fellow Homin ?

“Hi there, whats up?” A girl with short hair and slimmed body asked her as she
closed her mouth. “My name’s Frydeswinde”

“I an pretty new around here and have just returned..” Drakfot started to say.

“The world trip, I know I’ve met some of the early returners. So what can I do
for you ?” Frydeswinde asked again.

“Hands off Fryde, this one is mine!” Rikka shouted from behind.

“Oh, you.. I see that you are in good hands already. Well I’m off, got business
to attend to.” Frydeswinde said before disappearing into thin air.

“Rikka?” Drakfot gave her a look full of questions.

“Haha, don’t worry. We are friends, we are even members of the same Guild.
Didn’t I tell you that ?”
Rikka said.

“Not that I can recall , you might have mentioned it but I cannot remember it
off hand.” Drakfot said starting to trying to remember if Rikka had mentioned it
previously.

“No no, no thinking now. We had enough spacing out today Drakky.” Come here and
have a sip of this and we’ll have a talk.” Rikka said as she put her arm around
Drakfot and dragged her off to the packers.

“Ladies, I’ll have a stroll to the Guild Hall to put my old shooter there and
see if I can get a new armour. A pleasure spending time with you both. Good day”
Crythos said and made a move as if he had grabbed a hat on a courtly gesture.

“Guild hall ?” Drakfot asked, not had she just returned from a long journey. Now
it started to have her know new things again and she was rather tired.

“Haha, you are a funny one. Come here and I’ll show the place and answer all
your questions.” Rikka said as they walked towards the bridge leading into
Fairhaven. “But first I want that flask back Drakky!”