Skulls

"Why are you hunting that... monster"? I asked.

If I hadn't seen him curse it in the sky I would have called him a liar.

"Because it is a theif of cattle and kin, the beast thinks we druids are a free meal" an evil smile spread across his face.

"Till we ground it that is, the ugly bastard and his kin are turned into rugs for our young to roll on".

My hands stopped their work as I looked at him, 'He's serious' I thought.

This little five foot terror is going to hunt the lizard that looked like a moving fortress.

I wanted to call him an idiot but decided to focus on the task at hand.

Hager rubbed his palms with a stick in between together so quickly that a fire started near instantly.

The fact that he did that with still moist leaves and grass attested to how fast he moved.

He brought other twigs and branches over making a fire and roasting his meat.

I was taking my time getting rid of all the excess fat and feather stems that are too deep to be plucked without scalding it.

I set it aside and let my mana seep into the ground.

I felt it move around hard rocks and through soil until it was deep enough.

I let it disperse and condense it again.

When it condensed into a pillar I drew it out slowly.

I could use an array and make this a lot faster but I didn't want to show my cards just yet.

The cylinder pillar of soil rose up and below are all the rocks I didn't collect, neatly piled on the bottom.

The cylinder is removed neatly without disturbing the land around it.

The dirt was laid behind me slowly chipping away until it became a dirt mound.

A fire ball was made and sent down the hatch heating up the stones as it hovered above them.

Once they are sufficiently hot the flame is extinguished and I throw the skin and fat that was peeled into the hole.

A small fireball hovers above the melting fat.

I waited until the rocks are nice and glazed with natural oils before I throw the slimy meat on top.

The sizzling noise stopped Hagers hand while rotating the chunky leg.

Walking away but still keeping my front to the dwarf I walk behind a tree and disappear from sight.

The dwarf stares at the hole with the slow cooking meat.

I came back with two handfuls of round purple plants.

I squeezed them over the hole and the juices flowed down.

This was the closest thing to lime I had tasted so far and it did wonders for the gamey taste of meat.

After slow grilling it for some time I removed it and bit into the crispy meat.

It wasn't delicious, but it wasn't disgusting either.

"Yer better off going to Undia then going through the mountain pass" he said while waiting for his meat to roast further.

"Will they try and enslave me"? I asked and he shrugged.

"I don't know or care for yer human wars as long as it stays away from the spine".

"Your saying your race lives on all the mountains throughout Zefria".

"No, we live in all mountains across the world"

"Ya will not find a more prominent race than the Druids of the land and the Sylph of the sea".

It sounded like a rhyme in the language of the Inka.

I suspect that we are speaking the language of the druids and the Inka adopted it.

"Who taught you the mana arts"? he asked.

"I learned myself and some from Luca".

"Yer not lying are ya" his statement was accompanied by a cold face.

"No I'm not"

"Don't tell anyone else... if you do they will suspect you of being a demon".

"What's a demon"

"Ya will know if ya see it, they are creatures whose aura is consuming them"

"The feed on mana in any way they can drying out the already starved land" his voice was matter of fact but I could sense his frustration.

"Even the beasts know of demons and a child that can wield mana like ya do would most assuredly be mistaken as a demon".

"Why would they think that? What will people do to me"?

"Why? Cause Mana is dead and anomalies such as children blessed by gods are either coveted as ingredients or shunned for their power".

His brown eyes hidden behind brown hair glazed over slightly.

"How do you know this"?

"Yer a suspicious little urchin arn't ya"? he asked with more of a pitying gaze then anything else.

"Not at all" I smiled lightly while lying habitually.

He grunted and bit into his meat.

We ate in silence, the voices in my head created by all the questions got louder as time went on.

I maintained my steady breathing disassociating myself from myself.

I let my mind run its madness and quelled the urge to attack the dwarf.

I wanted answers and I knew Hager did not have them but deep down I still wanted to pin him down and carve answers out of him.

But even if I could I wouldn't know where to start.

It was best to get to safety, this young body has a lot of growing to do.

"How far is the mountain pass"?

"Its a few weeks north west, Undia is further west from there".

"Ill make sure to tell people I'm from Undia then... thank you" I added after a moments hesitation.

"Consider us even".

"Why is your aura so thick"?

He shrugged not bothered by the question.

"Donno, everyone and everything was changed by the lack of mana"

Finishing his food he stood up abruptly and stretched.

He then began to walk directly west, the rising sun against his back.

Dropping the bones down the hole I covered it back up.

The difference in our areas couldn't be more plain.

He left behind the bones and meat only snuffing out the fire where it looked like I hadn't even been there.

I followed behind keeping my eyes in the sky looking for the huge beast.

"If ya follow tha river it will split going north and south, ya want to follow it north till the rivers end"

"Ya will find the mountain pass ta tha west from there, right past Undia".

"Where is druid territory"? He stopped walking and turned to glare at me, apparently not liking the question.

"So I can avoid it" I added with my hands up, a crooked smile danced on my face.

With a grunt he continued walking.

"Under the shadow of the spine lies tha territory of the druids, yer best to remember that boy".

"Isn't that unreason..." I was cut off by a wailing sound coming from the west ahead of us, it was as if someone was singing.

Hager stopped moving for a moment listening to the sound before breaking into a run.

He ran past the trees going from zero to full sprint faster then my eyes can adjust.

He moved like me when my mana core pulsed and released waves of energy in my body, but I didn't see any mana only world energy.

I followed behind using mana vision and seeing the red energy flaring from his body every so often, in between waves was a pulse of red energy.

'He isn't like you, he isn't releasing really pure mana, that is full blown world energy' I said to Ava who was wondering about Hagers unique trait.

The more I watched the more it made sense.

'He isn't storing this world energy, it's what is naturally absorbed and his aura is pushing it out'.

"Interesting" I mumbled to myself while my glowing eyes returned to normal.

'The druid can't use mana but can move like that due to the aura in the body, if only I could get a blood sample or better yet some bone marrow...'

Hager broke past the tree line and pulled me out of my thoughts.

When I crossed the bush the two blades are out of their leather sheaths.

I jump to a tree branch looking down at an odd scene.

The river bent creating a space with no trees and only rocks, the trees surrounding the clearing seemed to be echoing the voices singing.

The singing only got louder and sitting on an overturned Galley with a broken mast are two druids.

The mast lay next to the overturned boat too heavy for the river to carry it away.

Both have black hair and beards down to the waist dressed in the same leather pants and tunic with chainmail like Hager.

They sang low and deep with eyes closed, I could feel the the emotion in their voices as they sang about brothers lost, an enemy fought and a life well lived.

"Broodar"! one of the druids stopped singing and hopped up on both of his stubby legs.

They are both a half meter shorter than Hager and as jumped off the galley one by one I see different shades of red energy when they land.

One held a broadsword bigger then he was and the other an axe matching it in size.

Hager opened his arms wide a smile playing on his lips.

"Broodar" he replied with a gruff voice.

When they reached Hager they clasped his shoulder like he did to me when we first met.

"Tell me ya saved the liquor"! are the first words out of his mouth and he is met with cheeky grins from his fellow druids.

"Aye, the barrels are sorted well" the dark haired druid replied and then raised his head looking directly at me perched on a tree branch.

"Ill drink it out of the skulls of the humans behind ya".