Departure

Handing over clothes she had buried under old piles of dresses, Bast even bothered to give him socks matching his boots. The many ripples covering his ankles did testify to their unfitting size.

"Thanks." Arthur uttered after lifting a mountain of effort from the depths of his mind.

Never before did he pronounce such a terrible word. Historically, the royal blood never let his people know he was grateful. The boy could feel a part of him choking under the relief he suffered from.

Nonetheless, it was the best pain he ever felt.

"I'll prepare the lizards. Be ready when I come back, please refrain from stepping downstairs anew, now is not the time to raise suspicions."

He now noticed how easy it was for her to say please, to let her voice flow out of her throat with ease.

"The w-wizards?" He stuttered.

"Lizards. Our rides. You better not make such a grimace in front of the others." She said, tapping her fingers on his forehead to erase his frown.

Downstairs, she stood in the door's frame and took a deep breath, when she was brushing her face off the emotional roller-coaster, a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Did you cry?"

"No Aleks, I paid a visit in the kitchen, I wonder if your wife will succeed at killing you this time. She's getting pretty close, it's easy to tell from the smell."

The man behind the bar had sunken eyes, wrinkles from top to bottom, and eyebrows so long it brushed against his ears. Strangely enough, he had all of his teeth and his vitality seemed to radiate from his face each time he seeped alcohol from his jar. A tinge of blond reflects gave color to his aging hair. The man shrugged before resuming his job.

Bast approached the center of the room, she hammered her hand on the bearing beam of the entire structure. The shock wave spread through the ground and stopped every conversation on the spot.

"Guys. We've got a mission." She said, puffing her chest.

"Aye, captain!" Some proposed a toast to her announcement, but they were quickly repressed by her hoarse voice. "Not this kind of mission. A greater one."

She stomped the wet paper hard enough to make it fuse with the rotten planks. A heavy silence fell, everyone who gulped down their saliva in unison either humidified their lips or commenced to nod. In a sudden concert, chairs racked against the dry ground, backpacks were picked up at the same time and coins fell on the tables.

This was how much they owed the thief. Not an ounce of hesitation, their plain loyalty was further enhanced with their haste.

By the time the coins stopped rolling, no one but the old-looking man and the wyrmfolk remained. A second round of silence fell, and the buzzing sound of the drunk flies resounded when she briefly sat at the counter.

"Take care of her. I'll come back as soon as I can." She said, slamming the entrance door behind her.

"If I'm not dead by then." The man scoffed.

Bast mocked him back. "You're not that old, and your wife isn't that talented. Thanks for your help Aleks."

Only the racket in the street in front of the hostel decided Arthur to peek at the local activity. A dozen lizards, four meters long, equipped with two incredibly complex saddles each, waited for their riders.

"Lance! Time to go!" Bast shouted.

Clouds were roaring afar, the sun was hidden beneath a thick layer of mist and blinding thunder. The boy stood, scared of the frontier between the hard floor and the muddy ground. It was his true first step outside.

He trembled just to think of the guards rushing nearby, he was afraid to be pulled back inside and caged anew, but once he made the final step, he had a new breath of courage.

The flyers were left behind, left to rot and all of the baggage was charged on the steeds.

Arthur wore Bast's oversized cloak, over twice per minute, he adjusted his hood to ensure his safety. A part of himself wanted him to be identified. To be pulled out of his insanity and brought back to his safe zone. The growing part of himself, however, made sure to even avoid the eyes of the omnimancer's ghost tormenting him.

He came face to face with the giant reptile. He could imagine how easy it was to create low-level stables compared to the need for horses, but once he turned his head toward the thieves' leader, he repressed his immoral will to compare the rides to the wyrmfolk.

'Right. There's no need to compare everything with scales to the fabled dragon. Their size is nothing compared to the royal shield.' He thought while trying to understand what he was looking at.

Bast patted his back before pointing at one of the lizards. "Bad news. You have to ride in front of the group, we'll be both exposed to most of the guard's check-ups. We'll ride next to Ardgal, whom you've met already." She paused and signed a man to approach.

The man had brown feathers at the tip of his ears and some scarce among his hair, his straight posture and perfect nose gave him an almost noble stature. He was tall, and lean, the total opposite of the guy behind him.

"This is Loke, he's often paired with Ardgal."

It was a young orc, the shine at the top of his skull said much about his chances to grow hair one day. His skin was dark, almost green, and it was slightly translucent. The two protruding canines that spurted out of his lower jaw made his face look flatter than most. On the skinniest parts of his body, his veins and bones could be seen.

"Quite a challenger for a rat." Loke commented, shaking Arthur's hand.

"He wasn't that great." Ardgal said, doing the same.

"That's some constructive sarcasm, I'll take note. Call me Lance."

Their reaction was sympathetic, they weren't affected by their previous game nor by the soft glances Bast gave him.

He tilted his head left and right to understand how the saddles were built or how he was supposed to sit on them. Thankfully the wyrmfolk came to his rescue in time, shooing the lizards that were trying to impress close-ranged people.

"You're right-handed, right? Then right knee on the back slot with your feet behind, yeah. There. And left foot on the front slot. Now the belts... Awesome. Hold on to the reins, make them coil around your forearm if needed. The roughest part of the trip will be the moment we depart, those gyro saddles take over a few seconds to stabilize. The many springs around affect the rotation, those lizzies wiggle a lot when they run."

Under his right knee, he could feel a regular shock wave spreading through his body, the lizard's heart was beating vigorously and its torso was breathing slowly.

The take-off was a fantastic experience, the ride was great until they reached one of the main veins of the capital. They were a dozen meters wide and had double-sided circulation. Bast sat just behind Arthur and made sure he wouldn't fall off.

The main road was larger than most buildings, animals of all sizes and citizens of all horizons crowded them. Nonetheless, the speed limitation was higher and the traffic was fluent.

They passed next to a gigantic building, as big as the royal castle, but with towers and sharp edges more than rough carved stones. In front of the House of Mages were gathered teams, soldiers ready to go for their mission. Arthur's heart skipped a beat when he recognized one of the royal flowers, Lily.

'Milda almighty! She saw me! I'm sure she knows!' He thought, hyperventilating his lungs in distress.

But there was no movement from the group of mages. Not even from her.

Still, the boy let Bast know how much danger there was lurking near them, they had to accelerate or be much more careful. Arriving at the ramparts of the capital, the colossal walls that circled the capital made the entire city look like a fortress, ready to sustain any attack.

They stopped only once in the city, they bought twenty steel spears in a dark shop, deep in a gloomy alley, they had a bad design and a little bit of rust all over. However, the little golden button Bast spent for them said long about their importance.

There were a dozen guards on the outpost they needed to go through. Bast darkened her scales as much as she could and made sure Arthur had enough spice in his hair to fool anyone.

The chances of him being recognized were slim but not zero. Only the bright cyan reflection of his eyes captivated them. Since they were carrying weapons outside of the capital, they were authorized to venture toward another city.

The thousands of dangerous creatures outside were renowned for their brutality and venturing outside without being armed was considered plain suicide.

The lizards suddenly accelerated once outside, surprising the boy who let out one of his rare shrieks of fear.

Over an hour later, they reached a dark forest, they were at the entrance of a dangerous area. The dozens of carcasses lying next to the first trees as well as the feasting scavengers increased by leaps and bounds the wariness of the thieves. Their rides were exhausted and they were forced to stop even though there was a little bit of light left to see under the leaves.

Now standing under them, the thunderclouds were scarier than seen from Tash. The team set the spears on their rides like fishing rods at the edge of a pond.

There was no way for Arthur to understand the purpose of the spears until they planted their tents. Sun touched the horizon but the clouds prevented the light from tainting the color of the sky.

They were surrounded by thick trees that were decorated with shiny lines all over their trunk.

"Lance, we can't stay in this lightning forest for long, we won't risk anything from the weather as long as it doesn't start to snow. But you better make the quickest path to our goal before we run into troubles." Said Bast while setting a bonfire.

A deafening sound resounded, as a white light momentarily blinded him, Arthur saw a black dot at the tip of one of the four peaks. He hurried to point at it but the tremendous wind that blew there hid the mark beneath fog.

Soon, every tiny detail around him made sense. Bright green sprouts pierced through the great fertilizer that was created by the youngest plants, all burnt because of the thunder. The sap of each tree was made out of a conductive material that attracted thunder, it nurtured or killed the plants in an eternal cycle.

Thanks to the richness of the air that surrounded them, to the endless new scents and natural creations of the world, he finally noticed that he had been blessed with a wonderful gift.

"Animals are living in such a hostile environment?" He blurted out.

Ardgal heard the loud question and shrugged. "Of course! Insects... Buried rodents that use the heat stocked in the tree's roots, and a lot of griffin-related species too."

Bast hushed Arthur's worries before they were found. "We are experienced warriors. It's not that dangerous." With a greyish rock, she then tried to light the fire to avoid her guildmates dying of the cold.