The Fires of Cerran

Chapter Thirty-Five

They awoke to dew-speckled grass warmed under a bright, unobstructed sun. The breeze was lazy, and the foliage above danced and waved softly as the sparrows took off for morning hunt. A slim column of charcoal smoke rose slowly from the charred remains of the fire, and the morning air was sweet and light with all the joys of Spring. Astriel was the first to awaken, her robe stained by drool that betrayed her sleep as a rare, deep one. As she stretched out her bones cracked, her leg was stiff, and she rubbed it to return the blood flow. She relaxed against the trunk which had served her so well that night and yawned. As her gaze focused, the bright golden beams of Spring morning parted to reveal the horizon beyond, not a day's ride away it stood: Cerran.

Soon after Ramon stirred grumbling and aching from both ride and poor, uneasy slumber. He glanced to the younger girl and then Astriel.

'I suppose you heard it all then?' He said, his voice groggy and harsh.

'I hear what I am meant to hear my friend.' Astriel returned, throwing her skins across to him. He opened the silver catch and drank, the water cleansing his sour breath and easing his burning throat.

'Ha, then that settles it.' He returned, throwing the skins back to her.

'You should not have done that.' Said a previously unheard voice from beneath a hood and cloak. Lenren lifted his head, his eyes sparkling in the shade of his hood and with a disapproving look to his friend.

'I did want I needed to do. She knows I'm watching her; she knows the consequences of her actions.' Ramon returned sharply under an angry brow.

Lenren shook his head, dropped his hood, and revealed a sorrowful expression on his greying face.

'And now she is closer to you than ever my friend. You allowed her into your mind, perhaps not intentionally, but nevertheless she has seen into every corner of yourself.' The man said.

'She saw nothing.' Ramon answered quickly.

'And how can you be sure of that?' Astriel interjected.

Bereft of an answer, the hulking man pulled himself up and stomped down towards the horses. Astriel turned to face Lenren, offering him a sad smile.

'I fear for him, since Elyson he has not been himself.' She said, watching the distant man trundle onwards.

'What happened with Elyson cannot be changed, but we cannot allow ourselves to become driven mad by what we fear to be true. We cannot allow fiction to take precedence over truth.' Lenren replied sternly, wiping his tired eyes with his sleeves before yawning. He looked off to where his friend now stood, amongst the rides, patting them and tending to them as they needed. He turned to face the girl that slept beside Astriel and sighed heavily.

'I hope she is true.'

'To what?' Lenren replied quizzically.

Astriel turned her gaze to the girl, huddled as a new-born babe in intertwining robes and cloaks. 'To herself.'

Melran woke from a deep slumber, the first she had had in a very long time, and she found breakfast cooked and her mare ready for another day of riding. They ate quickly, berries and cheese along with bread, a simple but filling meal for the girl. She felt Ramon's glare upon her as she packed away her things, but she never met his gaze that morning. She kept herself to herself, a natural recession now.

The rolling hillocks and valleys of Sera were in stark contrast to the lands they had rode in Tu Ton. Here, the grass was long and soft, with bees and birds dancing amongst the fauna and flora as they rode amongst it all. Lush fields, uncorrupted by man, spread out to all corners, flanked by untamed forests of thick elder elms whose canopies grew so wide and strong that the paled skies were obscured by them. Here were well maintained roads, made of dirt but kept to the highest of standards. A few small townships emerged from the emerald forests, with houses made of thick stone and with thatched roofs that held a central hearth from which steady streams of dull grey smoke rose into the soft morning breeze.