Marian and Petran.”
“ That explains why you're walking when there's two spare horses I suppose.” The man smiled wryly at him obviously knowing something of shifters. “I'm Davith an enchanter and these are my companions Sera Ta and Emmaline.”
“ Shall we share a fire as we talk about the journey ahead?”
Dorn made the offer and Davith quickly accepted it. After that things went as he would have hoped. Everyone dismounted and a fire was quickly built from the bits of scrub they could find nearby. A kettle was filled from the river and tea prepared. And as it boiled they shared some of their more personal details.
Emmaline was as he'd guessed a spellsword and also a fugitive from the Dicans, though she hadn't come from Lampton Heights like him. She was from the Kingdom of Yed which almost bordered his homeland. Only the narrow strip of land that was the northern most edge of Tellur el Ve lay between them.
Sera Ta meanwhile was a wildcast capable of calling down windstorms and a local, almost. He'd travelled with Davith from Enderly. Actually he’d travelled from the capitol of the coastal province – Chorianis – a good sized seaport seventy leagues east of them. Though it wasn't a part of the wastes it bordered them.
That gave him pause. Lorian, Marian, Petran and himself were all from the wastes more or less. They'd all been met by the glowing people within a dozen leagues of one another. But Sera Ta was from seventy leagues east of the wastes and Emmaline from at least seventy leagues south west of them. He hadn't expected that. If nothing else it meant that the glowing people were travelling far and wide as they found people to send to the ruined temple. It also meant that there were likely a lot more people heading there. A lot more wildlings. And wildlings tended to associate with others of their kind. At least they did in the more northern wastes, if they were far enough away from the Dican ruled lands. They probably did anywhere else where there were no Dicans to hunt them. There were even lands – or so he had read – where wildlings were considered blessings. The White Plains for a start.
“ Do any of you know a wildcast of light by the name of Terra, a summoner by the name of Beran or a dream walker by the name of Matilde?” Naturally they all shook their heads. Dorn was immediately disappointed even though he had always known it would be unlikely. But he also knew there would be more wildlings ahead, and by the looks of things they would be from all over the continent. There was still hope and that was more than he'd had in many years.
After that the conversation returned to more mundane matters, mostly about the journey ahead and of course what they'd find when they got there. Naturally they had no clue as to the latter, but they were lucky in the former. Davith had a map, something none of the rest of them did. He'd traced it from a book he'd found in the Academy Library in Chorianis when he'd been met. Suddenly Dorn understood why an enchanter who'd never left his home city had been leading their group when Emmaline surely had the experience and the skill in hostile lands.
Emmaline meanwhile had the answer to another question that had been circling in the back of his thoughts; why the dusky elves were in the southern wastes in numbers. Apparently they were fleeing a drought that had devastated their lands, and had headed north looking for food.
The same drought was playing havoc with both Lampton Heights and the Kingdom of Yed, but not so terribly. Tiblissi's bounty was still flowing. Then again while the northern most strip of Tellur el Ve ran between the two human lands of Lampton Heights and the Kingdom of Yed, most of their province was further south, extending some said many hundreds of leagues until it hit the icy southern oceans. The lands down south were said to be dryer and harsher to start with. A drought could be truly terrible. But also unlike the elves the humans had long
“ That explains why you're walking when there's two spare horses I suppose.” The man smiled wryly at him obviously knowing something of shifters. “I'm Davith an enchanter and these are my companions Sera Ta and Emmaline.”
“ Shall we share a fire as we talk about the journey ahead?”
Dorn made the offer and Davith quickly accepted it. After that things went as he would have hoped. Everyone dismounted and a fire was quickly built from the bits of scrub they could find nearby. A kettle was filled from the river and tea prepared. And as it boiled they shared some of their more personal details.
Emmaline was as he'd guessed a spellsword and also a fugitive from the Dicans, though she hadn't come from Lampton Heights like him. She was from the Kingdom of Yed which almost bordered his homeland. Only the narrow strip of land that was the northern most edge of Tellur el Ve lay between them.
Sera Ta meanwhile was a wildcast capable of calling down windstorms and a local, almost. He'd travelled with Davith from Enderly. Actually he’d travelled from the capitol of the coastal province – Chorianis – a good sized seaport seventy leagues east of them. Though it wasn't a part of the wastes it bordered them.
That gave him pause. Lorian, Marian, Petran and himself were all from the wastes more or less. They'd all been met by the glowing people within a dozen leagues of one another. But Sera Ta was from seventy leagues east of the wastes and Emmaline from at least seventy leagues south west of them. He hadn't expected that. If nothing else it meant that the glowing people were travelling far and wide as they found people to send to the ruined temple. It also meant that there were likely a lot more people heading there. A lot more wildlings. And wildlings tended to associate with others of their kind. At least they did in the more northern wastes, if they were far enough away from the Dican ruled lands. They probably did anywhere else where there were no Dicans to hunt them. There were even lands – or so he had read – where wildlings were considered blessings. The White Plains for a start.
“ Do any of you know a wildcast of light by the name of Terra, a summoner by the name of Beran or a dream walker by the name of Matilde?” Naturally they all shook their heads. Dorn was immediately disappointed even though he had always known it would be unlikely. But he also knew there would be more wildlings ahead, and by the looks of things they would be from all over the continent. There was still hope and that was more than he'd had in many years.
After that the conversation returned to more mundane matters, mostly about the journey ahead and of course what they'd find when they got there. Naturally they had no clue as to the latter, but they were lucky in the former. Davith had a map, something none of the rest of them did. He'd traced it from a book he'd found in the Academy Library in Chorianis when he'd been met. Suddenly Dorn understood why an enchanter who'd never left his home city had been leading their group when Emmaline surely had the experience and the skill in hostile lands.
Emmaline meanwhile had the answer to another question that had been circling in the back of his thoughts; why the dusky elves were in the southern wastes in numbers. Apparently they were fleeing a drought that had devastated their lands, and had headed north looking for food.
The same drought was playing havoc with both Lampton Heights and the Kingdom of Yed, but not so terribly. Tiblissi's bounty was still flowing. Then again while the northern most strip of Tellur el Ve ran between the two human lands of Lampton Heights and the Kingdom of Yed, most of their province was further south, extending some said many hundreds of leagues until it hit the icy southern oceans. The lands down south were said to be dryer and harsher to start with. A drought could be truly terrible. But also unlike the elves the humans had long
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