Melody of War 17

“Is something wrong? You’ve been staring off into the sky for a while now.”

Chain’s question pulled Varen’s gaze back down to the almost nonexistent road that cut through the grassy enveloped and narrow gully in the mid reaches of the Stormroot Mountains. Chain had taken to placing her hands on the back of her head as they trekked onward and had to twist further back than normal to give the tall soldier she traveled with a curious look.

“Well I guess you could say so.”

“You guess?”

“Well, I didn’t think about it yesterday just because I was glad to be out of that fog finally but… According to the people I talked with down in Nest Cliff there is supposed to be a dragon god in these mountains. Supposedly as long as you’re on the road you should be able to see the brilliant light of its shimmering green horn, but…”

“There isn’t any light.”

Chain finished Varen’s line of thought and turned her own gaze to the towering peaks the two of them aimed to ascend. Impressive as the peaks were jutting above even the low hanging clouds and marring the sky with their onyx hue there was no sign of any brilliant green light. The only light in the sky above the Stormroot Mountains that morning was the Great Bird of Light Sol who Chain had to look back to see as she traveled west. As the maid did turn back Kyte ducked down behind some rocks along the ridge he was following the adventurer and soldier from.

“Oh~ that was close Chainmaid. A moment sooner and you definitely would have saw me. I should have expected as much though. You can hear the Builders’ Song after all so there’s pretty little chance you haven’t noticed me yet. The question is why haven’t you called me out? Are you just afraid to pick a fight with a Hero who’s already beaten you once or is because you don’t want to risk a confrontation while drawing upon the Seventh Well? Or is it because of that man you’re traveling with? Just how much of a wild card is he? It’s driving me crazy just thinking about it!”

Kyte’s babbling was well beyond Chain’s range of hearing and whether she was aware of his presence or not she turned her head back to the road ahead of her with a slight frown on her face.

“Well asides from the stupid bird I don’t see any other lights up here.”

“You really should show a god more respect than that.”

“Should I? It’s not like I worship him and maybe the reason we can’t see the light from this dragon god is because of its light. That is unless you managed to be a genuine idiot and got us lost by following the wrong road.”

“Come on. Seriously? There was only one road into the Stormroots from Nest Cliff and I never deviated from it.”

“Well for your sake I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and guess that something’s happened in Misthead.”

“Somehow that seems worse than you treating me like an idiot.”

“Well you are an idiot as far as I can tell but Melody also told me about the dragon god’s light when I contacted her back in Nest Cliff.”

“You really can’t help yourself but insult me can you?”

“I can’t help it if you make it so much fun with your reactions.”

“Seriously?”

Chain laughed and offered Varen a cheerful smile in response to his exasperated expression. Chain’s good cheer did not last for long however and she frowned anew as she turned her attention again to the road. Lowering her hands from behind her head the maid cupped her elbow in her left hand in pinched her chin with the other.

“On more important matters though, I don’t have a lot of reason not to think that something has happened in Misthead. According to Melody the dragon god protects the town from the bandits who dwell in the Stormroots, but if this is the main road why haven’t we seen any bandits yet?”

“Maybe Bright Rift has driven them out. I mean sure we haven’t seen any of their soldiers asides from the sentinel you and Lord Elliot did a twin-day ago but even the people of Nest Cliff are worried that Bright Rift is up to something.”

“There actually trying to lure out the Bandit King so they can do what Elliot already failed to.”

“I guess that makes since… Wait a minute! Where did you find that out?”

Varen’s double take would have normally earned him a laugh from Chain but the maid unexpectedly showed restraint, instead turning her attention to the ridge running alongside the road.

“It’d probably be better if the Hero from Bright Rift who’s been following us told you.”

“What?!”

Varen did not bother trying to hide his surprise and instead chose to draw his sword as he turned to face the direction that Chain was looking. Groaning Chain stopped and turned around to address Varen as she grabbed at her left temple.

“Honestly, don’t bother. I’ve already fought this muscle bound idiot and it turned out the same way my fight with the Bandit King.”

“And you didn’t bother telling me, why?”

“Does it really matter?”

“Of course it does! I’m honor bound to protect you since you saved my life and now I’m finding out that you’ve been getting into fights with Heroes without me even knowing. When did this even happen? Was it when you went to contact Melody?”

“When else would it have happened? And I don’t remember asking you to be my protector, and I definitely don’t need you to protect me anyway!”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have saved my life back in Highroot.”

“And miss out on having a Hero in my debt. No way! Besides, as much of an annoying idiot as you are you’re still entertaining in your own way.”

Chain offered Varen a twisted smile as the two squared off against each other. Having seemingly forgotten about the Hero who was following them it was up to Kyte to remind them that he was there.

“As much as it looks like your quarreling could be as entertaining as a mating clash between horned wolves I’d much rather test the tall man’s strength for myself.”

“Is fighting all you can think about you muscle bound idiot?!”

Interrupted from her argument with Varen, but not being relieved of her irritation, Chain turned her ire onto Kyte who had stepped up to the edge of the ledge and into sight. Finally seeing his opponent Varen used his free hand to drop his packs to the ground. Seeing Varen’s readiness for battle brought a smile to the Hero’s face and he stared the man down with gleeful intent as he answered Chain’s question.

“I’m a fisherman who has always challenged only the greatest of foes and the man you travel with has piqued my curiosity. I shouldn’t play with my bait when there are bigger fish to catch but…”

Kyte twirled his spear into a combat ready position as he squatted into a low combat stance and held his left hand out in front of himself and towards Varen.

“Kyte Ardea, a humble fisherman of the great kingdom of Bright Rift and your current challenger tall man. En garde!”

Having introduced himself Kyte launched himself from the ledge and down at Varen like an arrow fired with the force of a bullet. As when he had similarly engaged Chain the Hero was upon Varen in less than a blink but Varen showed no surprise to his opponent’s speed. It was actually Varen who caused surprise in his opponent and Chain as he leaned out of the way of the spear to his left and promptly caught the shaft of the weapon with his free hand preventing any follow up attacks.

“Oh~ That’s awfully impressive tall man. Now I’m starting to get excited. But what will you do now tall man?”

“First off it’s not tall man, it’s Varen Elcourt, adventurer by virtue not license.”

“Oh~. An adventurer are you?”

“First I’m hearing about it.”

Chain’s comment went unheard by the two men who had already engaged each other and the maid was left with naught to do but sigh. Not wanting to expose herself to the attention of the Hero though Chain backed away from the combatants as Varen tightened his grip on the spear. Looking down the length of the shaft Varen glared at the smiling Kyte who was slowly inching his way to the butt of his spear in an attempt to create more distance between him and Varen’s claymore.

“Yeah I’m an adventurer. As for what I’m going to do next…”

Varen again surprised Kyte and Chain as he suddenly yanked on the spear shaft with all of his might. He lacked the strength to disarm the Hero however, no less budge him from his position, but that worked to Varen’s favor as he hurled himself at Kyte.

“I’m going to bring you down for attacking Chain!”

Copyright © 2018 Joshua D Tarwater