After riding all night towards south by following the stars, they had to stop following the railroad since it kept going east. The journey continued south for another full day with no moment to rest. Despite warnings, Varma decided to fly the journey for a large part, only landing to the back of Venamo's mount when her wings got exhausted. Bloodmist flew alongside Venamo's mount and Yilka and Nofa rode on the same mount. Despite others' begging, Venamo would not agree to stop anywhere to rest or eat. Even when Varma spotted small villages, worksites and camps from up above, it wouldn't convince Venamo.
"If the enemy doesn't rest, neither should we." Is what Venamo kept saying whenever anyone wanted to rest.
Eating bread while mounted was possible, but proved difficult and unpleasant for everyone. Bloodmist couldn't eat in mist form, but she couldn't speak to complain either. Nofa carefully caressed Yilka's sore back for comfort during the long journey.
When the sky above was already bright at noon, Yilka thought of something that nobody else had thought of so far.
"Vena! Back there when you let that bastard go with just little cut in his ear, you somehow gave him strength help him overcome what Nofa did to him! Are you able to make others stronger too?" Yilka shouted at Venamo as the journey advanced.
"Apparently I can!" Venamo shouted back.
"Why haven't you done that or us or the mounts?" Yilka then asked.
"The records say that Leri and Rari agreed that no creature stronger than the Grand Beasts shall exist. But Leri realised that the Grand Beasts could be made even more powerful if their bodies get enchanted with Holy magic. That's why the enchantment doesn't stick to living things for long, and when it wears out, it makes them weaker than before." Venamo explained.
"But that Holy lady gave you an enchantment and you're not weaker than before. Your improvements have stuck around for days now." Yilka wondered.
"It wasn't just an enchantment she gave me. It's clear now that she gave me the same powers that the Holy people do. Though nothing in the records say that the Holy people can share their powers with us pure people." Venamo explained.
"Hmm. So pure people is what you folk call yourselves. We Rarheans always refer to you inbetweeners as the flawed people." Nofa commented.
"I am aware." Venamo replied.
"You could give our mounts some additional speed and when they get weak, just give them the enchantment again." Yilka suggested.
"The mounts would be dependent on me from then on, if we don't want them to become weaker, but we are in a hurry." Venamo stated and touched the thigh of his mount's front leg.
The mount immediately became faster and left Yilka and Nofa in the dust. Bloodmist had to increase speed as well to keep up
"Are you just leaving them behind?" Varma asked Venamo as she looked back at the mount of Yilka and Nofa that was becoming smaller in her eyes.
Venamo grunted and felt foolish. He ordered his mount to slow down so that the ones left behind could catch up. Once the mounts were parallel, Venamo Touched Yilka's mount and now both mounts could reach speeds they couldn't before.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSTaljeGYy
With new and improved speeds, the journey went by quicker than expected and before the light of day had died, the shore of the sea and an unwalled city by its sands came to the sight of the travellers. Next to the city was a row of mountains that went parallel to the shore as far as the eye can see. Impressive looking ships were at the docks of the coastal city and the travellers on their way to the city could see it all from up the hill where they had stopped.
"And I believe this is the city of Atalkor. Which means Low City in the Vastusarian language." Venamo said to everybody.
"And where is the Stormress?" Varma asked.
"Leri put her in the desert where nobody could find her domain. But this city is the gateway to the desert. Just a short sailing from here onto the other side of those mountains and we'll see nothing but desert." Venamo explained.
"On the map I saw that there should be a large body of water and a marked town somewhere in the desert. Likely a useful place to stop along the way." Yilka added.
"That is true. A desert is not an easy place to travel in." Venamo replied.
"There." Bloodmist said after she had turned into a solid form.
"What? Where?" Venamo asked.
"Heading to the city. A party of Vastu soldiers headed to the city. Banners up high and all." Bloodmist pointed out.
"Let's go beat up those guys!" Varma suggested even though she didn't understand what Bloodmist had said.
"Let's not. They might be on their way to look for the Stormress. If we follow them, we might get there as well. Hurry! After them!" Venamo said and ordered his mount to move, but not as fast as before.
The others followed, but quickly they realised something.
"I left my disguise back to the inn. I'll fly above." Bloodmist told Venamo.
"Do I stay outside the city again?" Varma asked.
"Well, you don't really have a way of hiding the wings, now do you?" Venamo asked.
"She could put on my robes." Nofa suggested.
"Do you have anything under there?" Yilka asked.
"Wouldn't you want to know?" Nofa asked playfully.
"I hope that wasn't a serious suggestion." Venamo commented.
"I think I'll just stay outside of town." Varma said.
"We may not come back to pick you up. If the Vastus get on a boat, so do we. You must come with us." Venamo said.
"I'll buy you a cape or a robe from the town. Stay outside until then." Nofa suggested.
"I think my wings would just burn a hole in them." Varma replied.
"Then I'll get a robe made of feathers so your wings will blend in with it." Nofa suggested.
"Not actually a bad idea. If you can afford one." Venamo commented.
"Amazing idea." Yilka added.
Right then Bloodmist flew up high in mist form and disappeared into the sky.
"Great. She ran off." Varma said.
"Well. We're already here. Vakevata will be angry at us but that lady is quite hard to catch." Yilka said.
"We came here for a reason and we're not turning back now." Venamo said with determination.
Right then a robe covered in black feather fell from the sky right on Varma's head.
"Aah! We're ambushed!" Varma yelled while struggling blinded under the cape.
"There." Bloodmist said right as she appeared next to Varma in flesh form.
"What?" Varma said once she escaped her predicament and looked at the robe.
"Where did you get that?" Nofa asked Bloodmist in their common language.
Bloodmist remained silent and flew up to the sky.
"How did she understand that we needed exactly that sort of robe? She shouldn't have understood us."
"Maybe she's just a clever one and had the same idea as us." Nofa said.
"She did snatch a pretty robe." Varma said and put on the black feathered robe.
As feared, her wings burned holes through the robe but Varma only put her wings through the holes and her wings blended in with the robe well enough.
"Well, you look like a very dapper and proper earnest bird lady." Nofa said to Varma and chuckled.
"Hihi. Lady even?" Varma replied and blushed.
"Remember. Only I get to speak once we're in there. Keep it shut." Venamo told the others as they were about to enter the city.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9QpFDr5rN
As they entered through the main road surrounded by low buildings of stone on one side and wood on the other side, they witnessed an interesting scene unfolding. A group of Vastus wearing pink dyed expensive looking jackets were facing off with a gang of five Venomfolk. Everybody in the face off had clubs, daggers or axes.
"Never should have slithered to this side of town, snakes!" One of the pink jackets shouted at the Venomfolk.
"That's right! Never!" Another seconded.
"This street no longer belongs to you! We've come here to stay, and you'll have to move out of the way." One of the Venomfolk shouted back from the other side of the road.
"You'll have to drive us out!" One of the pink jackets shouted as the whole gang charged forward.
Before any contact could be made, city guards with large shields rushed between the two gangs and violently slammed their shields on the pink jackets until they were on the ground and unarmed.
"None of this foolishness! Everybody involved in this, go home now or be arrested!" The captain of the city guards shouted as the pink jackets were picking up their weapons and slipping away.
"You're traitors to your own tribe!" An angry voice shouted from a house by the road.
The Vastusarian city guards ignored it and pointed their weapons at the gang of Venomoflk who bitterly went away to their side of town.
The travellers around Venamo all looked like they wanted to comment something about what they saw but knew better than to speak out loud.
"Move along, travellers. Nothing to see here." The city guards said to the travellers as they rode past.
Venamo ignored what they said and kept his eyes on the soldiers who were still walking ahead. The tile road had twists and turns but Venamo kept his focus on who he was following. By following the soldiers they found themselves in an interesting part of town where the soldiers went inside a large tent on a sandy field. What made the part of town interesting is that a clear divide could be seen. On one side of an invisible line, the road was paved and the houses were made of stone, and on the other side the road was unpaved and the houses were wooden. More city guards were in this area and menacing looking groups of Vastu citizens and Venomfolk citizens were milling about. The large sack that Blueberry was carrying around seemed to be interesting to many who saw it, even more so than the butterfly that was able to carry such sack. Venamo figured that he couldn't just follow the soldiers to the large tent that they went into, so he stopped his mount and gestured Yilka to also stop his. As soon as he dismounted, he saw a shady group looking at his mount with bad intentions. He climbed back on his mount and made it leap to the roof of a stone house without warning Varma who was on the back of the same mount. Varma had some strong words to Venamo but wasn't allowed to speak. Nofa told Blueberry to go help Varma and Venamo down from the roof in that order. At the roof Varma gave her finger to Blueberry and Venamo jumped down, grabbing the hanging sign of a tavern before hitting the ground. Yilka made his mount leap to the roof of the same house as well, and he and Nofa got down the same way Varma did. Venamo gestured his companions to follow him inside the tavern that had a good window for spying the large tent.
They all went in and as soon as they entered, the sword on Venamo's back got some interested looks from the natives. The travellers sat by a table by the window where they looked at the tent where the soldiers had gone. The tent was red in colour with training dummies and shooting ranges outside of it.
"Looking to join, are you?" A strange man said as he sat down by the same table.
"What's it to you?" Venamo asked the man back.
"We don't like those folk in these streets." The strange man warned.
"Why not?" Venamo asked.
"Why not? You must not be from here. They defend those snakes who think this city is theirs." The strange man told.
"Isn't their job to make sure that the townsfolk behave?" Venamo quizzed.
"They prevent us from kicking out those snakes like they should be. Can't wait to kick out those stick ups too so we can finally get something done about the problem." The bitter man explained.
"These so called snakes, are they the Venomfolk?" Venamo asked.
"Well who else?"
"And why are they a problem?"
"They can't coexist with us. I've seen it too many times. When we came over, we paved the road, expanded the city, built a sewage system and a port. Those snakes didn't build any of that. They only steal from us and bring what they steal back to their side of town." The man explained.
"So they were here first?" Venamo asked.
"Yes. Living in holes in the sand and eating insects."
"If they want nothing to do with the new world that was built for them, that's their choice." Venamo stated casually.
"If they want to live like they did before, they should go live like that somewhere else. Their lifestyle doesn't fit the civilised world. Quite frankly they should be treated like the Uhmaks are before the snakes try to rebel like the Uhmaks did."
"Do you think the way the Uhmaks are treated is fair?"
"They're a rebellious and treacherous tribe. Once that attitude gets worked out of them in a few generations, they can fit into the civilised world. Maybe then even the north Uhmaks might knock down that wall of theirs and let us modernise their sad land as well."
"If the Uhmaks don't want any part of the type of world that the Crown is creating, let them keep their sad backwards land as it is, I say." Venamo argued.
"You may be right there. And let the snakes live in their sad desert how they want. But not in here. And why are you bringing witches like that into our city?" The bitter man said and pointed at Nofa who just looked baffled, not understanding a word.
"We're passing through the city." Venamo answered.
"You better be. Would you like to discuss some more with some drinks? You seem to have some interesting thoughts." The strange man proposed to Venamo.
"No thank you." Venamo politely replied.
"More for me then. Five pints to this table!" The strange man shouted.
And so in the blink an eye, five pints were brought to the table and coins changed hands. Yilka seemed pleased to get a pint in front of him. Nofa carefully sipped on hers. Varma was about to taste hers before Venamo pulled it away from her and didn't bother touching his own.
"While we have time, tell me what I should know about the city." Venamo asked the strange man.
"Can't even ask my name first?" The strange man asked half jokingly.
"Sorry. What is your name?" Venamo asked.
"My name is Kuranalu. Lived here all my life. Father wanted to be a sailor, so he and mum moved to the newly built port town. It's a young city. Started as a small village of snakes some forty summers ago. Five summers later the Crown saw its potential as a port town and came to make the place a proper city. Five summers after that, I was born here. The snakes didn't really take kindly to their civilisers and they've been the way they are ever since. We aren't allowed to the kick them out of here because the local authorities are a little too serious about law and order and they think that laws should apply to animals too." Kuranalu ranted and downed a pint.
Venamo handed his own pint to Kuranalu.
"And now tens of summers later, the tension is still strong here between the Vastu and the Venomfolk, I see." Venamo commented.
"Both want the other out, but the authorities won't let us fight it out." Kuranalu complained and chugged down Venamo's pint.
"Maybe there's a reason for that." Venamo suggested and gave Varma's pint to Kuranalu.
"I don't know what value they see in keeping the snakes around. But me and the gang are going to drive them out. Me and the gang are challenging them to an axe fight to end it all. If we win, they have to tell their tribe to leave the town for good. If they don't, me and the gang will burn their part of town to the ground." Kuranalu revealed in a drunken rant.
"And when will this axe fight happen?" Venamo quizzed.
"At midnight!"
"Tonight?"
"That's right!"
"Is it the best idea to get drunk so close to the fight?"
"Ale makes me strong!" Kuranalu exclaimed and raised his pint and the folk around cheered.
Right then a clique of five Venomfolk barged into the tavern and forcefully held Kuranalu in place while one of them plunged a long knife right through his gut. Everybody saw it and raised their weapons to attack the hostile clique. Chaos ensued. Tables broke. Wood bludgeoned skin and scales, and metal struck bone.
Yilka, Nofa and Varma just looked shook since they had no context. Venamo however looked out the window and saw city guards curiously looking into the tavern. Somebody was thrown through the window and that's when the city guards started coming towards the tavern.
"Time to go." Venamo said to his fellow travellers and broke his language rule.
"I agree." Varma commented.
Nofa and Yilka finished their pints quickly and they all hopped out of the window. No guards bothered them on their way out of the scene, but now their problem was that they didn't know the city and where to go. They headed to the side of town with unpaved roads and wooden houses and as they passed an alleyway, they saw Bloodmist there who joined their company.
"The wind is blowing from there. Must mean the sea is there. Go there and find a port if that's where we're headed." Bloodmist said to Venamo and then returned to the alleyway.
From there she returned to the sky in mist form and followed the others. While passing through this part of town, local Venomfolk who were loitering around, leaning on walls, sitting on overturned barrels and standing with their gangs would eye the travellers, but none of them seemed to have violent intentions. As the travellers were passing through, Varma nudged at Venamo's sleeve to get his attention. Venamo looked at her. Varma pointed at who was behind them. An angry mob coming from the Vastu side of town armed with clubs, axes and hoes as well as some spears stolen from the city guards.
"It's happening right now, snakes! We're not waiting for midnight! We're settling it now and the losers will leave town. Come out of your houses and leave your women and children indoors!" The leader of the angry mob shouted.
All the Venomfolk on the streets grouped up on the main road as more came from the houses and tossed weapons into the group. More Vastus kept coming from their side of town and more Venomfolk kept coming from houses and other streets, and before long an intense staredown was taking place.
"Are we letting them do it?" Nofa asked the others.
"It's not our fight. And it'll grab the attention of the city guards." Venamo argued.
"The Vastus seem to hate everyone who isn't them. Our tribe isn't an exception. I don't know what that man told you in the tavern but I have a feeling who started this fight. I'll help the Venomfolk fight them off." Yilka swore.
"Wouldn't the best option be if they could live together in peace?" Varma asked.
"We wanted to follow the soldiers we saw outside in case they're headed to Kyrasar, didn't we? If we allow this fight to happen, it'll occupy the soldiers. If the fight doesn't happen, they can get moving quicker and we can start following them again." Nofa reasoned.
"Then what do you suppose we could even do to prevent the fight?" Venamo asked, not expecting an answer.
"I'll do it." Yilka said and ran into the open space between the two gangs on the road.
He took his cudgel and raised it into the air. He looked at the mob of Vastu men and then smashed his Beast Slayer down to the ground. The mob ahead of him was terrified by the damage it caused. A crater was created on the road. Yilka smashed another crater on both sides of the first one and now the mob behind him was also terrified.
"Bastard destroyed our street!" One of the Venomfolk shouted.
"Who is that madman?" One of the Vastus shouted.
"He's dangerous to all of us!" One of the Venomfolk shouted.
"Hey, snakes! Let's kill this madman!" The leader of the Vastu gang shouted at the Venomfolk.
"Agreed!" Many Venomfolk shouted back.
Both gangs charged at Yilka from both sides with their weapons raised high. Yilka realised that he had made a mistake. The gangs weren't scared away like he expected. He'd have to use violence to defend himself. He clenched the cudgel in his fist but he didn't actually want to hurt civilians. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to. Right before the gangs caught him, he was grabbed by his arms and carried away by Varma who used her wings to fly away from trouble.
"What are you doing? You're meant to hide those!" Yilka shouted at Varma who was struggling to carry him.
"And ngh... we were all meant to ngh... keep low key." Varma replied and dropped her cousin off on a roof.
They could hear the united gangs coming their way still.
"We need to get back to the others and get out." Yilka said.
"I can't carry you any more. You're too heavy." Varma replied.
"Well, we can't go down there!" Yilka argued.
"You and your damned ideas! Ughhhh!" Varma complained.
"I thought it'd go differently!"
"Well, you clearly can't predict what others will do next."
"I can predict that if we don't fly back to the others, I'll have to smash the entire mob here or they'll skin me." Yilka argued.
"Well... Oh, it's Blueberry! Over here!" Varma exclaimed when she saw Nofa's blue butterfly flying towards them.
"She should be strong enough to carry me." Yilka said.
"Great. She should also know where the others are if they ran off somewhere." Varma added.
"Nofa, you amazing, helpful and beautiful wizard's daughter." Yilka said to himself and gave his finger to Blueberry.
Flying over an angry mod of Vastus and Venomfolk marching arm to arm against their common enemy was quite the sight for Yilka and Varma who looked down from the sky. Varma remembered where the other travellers were but Blueberry didn't land there.
"I see them down there! Land, Blueberry! Land!" Yilka told the butterfly.
"Nofa told her to take you to the harbour since that's where we're all headed anyway. I'll come with you, but we'll have to hide since my cloak is in Nofa's hands for now. Bloodmist will guide the others to us." Varma said while flying next to Yilka.
"How about that tower right there? Seems to be right by the harbour." Yilka said when he spotted a white stone tower up ahead that didn't have walls at the uppermost part of it.
"That works for me. Are you able to communicate that to Blueberry?" Varma said and asked.
"Not the slightest clue. Maybe she'll follow you if you land in the tower." Yilka guessed.
"Let's see if she does." Varma said and picked up speed in flying towards the tower.
ns216.73.216.19da2
