The Crimson Claymore

The Crimson Claymore: Chapter 41

Chapter 41

The company traveled through the vast wetlands before them: full of shallow ponds, winding murky rivers, short red and yellow grass, and the smell of thick dirt all about them. Off in the distance in the north were the Shayli Mountains, masked in a coat of snow at their tips. There were only three peaks, but they were so massive that everybody dreaded the moment when they'd have to cross them. The way was faster than any other as Karceoles pointed out with his maps, and yet the trek it would take to get there would be grim.

They lingered in the village for a day in hopes of finding any draeyks or the necromancer that disappeared, but there was no such luck. Searon, more than anything, wanted to come across the little girl that haunted many of his thoughts. Yet he knew that he dared not remain in the village too long. In order to be effective against the draeyks, they needed to strike soon.

Searon looked up to the sky where a rainbow still spanned the horizon, and he watched as an eagle gracefully glided across the clouds. He smiled at the wonderful bird, admiring its beauty and wondering how peaceful it would be to be an eagle. It was the king of the sky, without worry or fret, no wars to mask its center of peace, and could travel wherever it chose.

The way was rough and hot with gnats and mosquitoes along the way. Everybody became irritable, but most were ready to be across—and prepared to end the war as soon as possible.

Soon, the marshes became dry, and they wandered into the midst of the Teyyuar desert, where water was scarce. This was the way that the wizard had suggested, although he knew it would be hard on the men, many of whom never wandered into the dry heat. It wasn't as vast as the Aedth Eastern Desert on the other side of the Benora Mountains. Nobody was sure how large that desert was because the mountains went from the northernmost border of Calthoria all the way down to the south, and nobody had ever claimed to cross it. Nobody seemed foolish enough to try. The desert they walked into was only twenty leagues by measure.

Karceoles made sure that they stopped at the last pond of the marshes before they continued on to the desert. The water was murky and questionable, but wet nonetheless, and each man filled his water skins to the rim before continuing on.

By the time they reached the desert, it was morning of the next day. Even Searon had a rough time crossing the terrain, and his poor horse couldn't carry him for long. Horses were meant for the long meadows and forests but were useless for much more than a place to keep saddlebags throughout the desert. Even as resilient as Stripes was, he, too, was discarded in the midst of the desert for rest. Searon knew that he could probably keep on the horse, but he didn't want to bring his old friend to exhaustion, and so he willingly began walking the rough path.

At first, there were shrubs and bushes throughout the outskirts of the desert, many of them herbs like sage and thyme, but as soon as they crossed out of the cloud coverage and far enough away from any ponds or rivers there were only cacti as far as the eye could see. Many were spread so far apart that they only appeared close together from afar. The ground was flat with gravely rocks scattered across its surface, making everybody's feet sore through leather and steel boots. Animals weren't to be seen in any direction except for the few lizards and snakes that crossed their field of vision before quickly disappearing into nothingness.

The terrain was flat; there was nothing to be seen to the northwest toward which they traveled except for the three Shayli peaks at the end of their perilous journey. Some of the cacti that they passed held beautiful flowers of orange, pink, and blue, but the wizard warned of their poisonous nature, and so many stayed away. Starlyn appeared mesmerized by the beauty of them, and stood for long moments admiring several of the cacti with flowers. Many more had barbs and needles that many of the men found quickly to be more than an inconvenience when tripping on them.