Moon Chasers: Into the storm [Finished]

Chapter Fourteen: The Pursuit

"I got them" said Jory triumphantly

"You got who?" asked Eleon suddenly really interested by what his short friend had been doing for the past two hours

"I finally mastered the spell and I don't understand much about how it depleats my energy but I managed to use it to make a compass pointing in the direction of that strange cloaked fella!"

"Then there is no need to rush in" Qa intervened "Get some rest first then we can charge in " he then proceed to roll around and mimic sleeping noise

The two other, feeling that they wouldn't be able to change his mind went to sleep as well. Jory was fast asleep but Eleon had trouble to find peace and meditate, so instead he took a piece of fabric and started to make a prototype of an eye patch for his friend. The soldier looked a bit sad with the bandages on and the elf wondered if a cool eye patch could help him overcome his uneasiness, it had done it for one of his teacher in the Evergreen anyway. After several hours he finally came up with something good enough and managed to also find the calm needed to meditate and rest his mind and body.

The next morning Jory cast the spell again and the two other took on following him. The halfling thought that they would keep quiet but Eleon kept asking question on how this spell worked and eventually Jory had to tell him it was rather complicated and that he had no desire to explain it to him. Eleon was a bit hurt but Qa snickered, so the elf went on to bother the sword master instead. But that was still far from peace and quiet but it was a one sided conversation and the elf knew how to keep his voice low

During the first part of tracking the fella they didn't catch even a glimpse of their cape and Eleon was now starting to doubt the mage. That was a bit annoying but Jory himself was doubting, though he wouldn't admit it for the life of his. He had enough problem as is so he wasn't going to add onto the pile by admitting he didn't clearly know what he was doing.

They rested under a big tree, even by the standard of the jungle that tree was incredibly large. Eleon landed the eye patch prototype to Qa who looked at the elf in wonder. When did his friend get the time to actually get to work on this project? 

"Come on put it on!" Eleon urged him 

"Alright, alright!" The man spent a minute trying to figure how to put it on and then struggled for another two minute while putting it on. he then looked back up and stared at his friends. The thing was really wide, perhaps too much. The more Jory looked the more he thought it rather ugly, Eleon was a bit perplex but kept on smiling and nodding. Qa didn't look very thrilled by it "Perhaps you should work on it a bit longer"

"Yeah in the mean time he can keep the bandages" Eleon pouted but agreed, it's true that it looked ill fitting he promised to work harder on the next. Qa didn't had the heart to tell him that he didn't think that the elf could make something good enough for him. 

This chase was much calmer than the first, no one was scrambling forward or leaping through bushes, it felt more directed. On the third day however, they caught sigh of their target. They were climbing a part of the mountain. They looked extremely familiar to this activity, and they now had all luxury to observe how they did it. It was strong and gracious, they leaped from one stone to the other, never doubting or missing a single hold. They observed them going up and then waited to be sure they wouldn't come back to run up to the mountain. It looked like the most direct route but obviously none of them had the experience or the skills required to use that route.

The mission was put on hold before Jory discovered a path on the side, it was looking like an animal trail but it seemed good enough for them. It was anyway a hundred times better than trying the climbing route and risking to break their neck or back during the ascension. So they took the animal trail. They walked for a very long time before arriving at the same place as the elusive fighter, but they were now back on the same track, Jory cast the spell and they advanced forward, deeper into the jungle.

This part of the jungle was exceptionally thick, they had trouble advancing forward and the path cleared by the person that passed through before them was not enough, so Qa took back his position in the front and used his sword to clear the passage once again. It took some time to Jory to start to see more clearly in this part of the lush forest as it was much darker than the parts they had been to before.

After something close to an hour they reached the pools again. under the night sky this part of the island was so relaxing. they sat on the polished stone next to a small river and established camp for the night. They ate cold this evening before Jory's spell was locating the target very close to them several feet above them on another floor of the stairs of pool created by centuries old lava. They kept quiet and ate some fruits and leaves. Qa went to sleep first and then Eleon, Jory stayed awake to keep watch for the first third of the night. 

At night the jungle didn't get more quiet, if anything it stayed as loud but more scary. If it hadn't been for the firefly Jory would have been terrified by any noise, from the rustling of the leaves to the gentle sound of water next to him. Because all this added to the atmosphere and he had never been really brave in the wild. In practice he appeared as brave only because he acted before thinking but in reality he was a bit scared of everything.

when Eleon awoke Jory went to sleep, he had no trouble drifting into it because he felt safe with Eleon watching over him. This time the water offered him some peace of mind much welcome as he fell asleep.