Born in the Flame

Chapter Thirteen

   
    The night remained uneventful. Like he promised, Birch stayed awake in the room until the early morning sun poked through the window. While he hadn't slept much, I had gotten a full night's worth of sleep. It even included elusive dreams that I couldn't remember when my eyes opened.

    Mornings had never been something I liked, I was always someone who loved the night. Though I didn't like mornings, I could stand getting up early because of us living in a cave with minimal windows. My eyes were built for low light situations, but having these last few days I had been greeted by blinding amounts of light. Today was no different.

    "You talk in your sleep." Birch mentioned from the couch. He had been right where I had left him; on the couch reading his book.

    "What did I say?" I asked, trying to rub my eyes awake.

    "Nothing coherent." He said, starting to stand. "I don't feel anything off anymore, but stay here. I have to go to the river and check something."

    "Check what?" I asked, now sitting up in bed.

    "I have a suspicion that the dark mages that Oakwell has been recruiting have been using local resources for their magic. I want to check if they've started using resources from over the border."

    "Oakwell is the dawn elf from your memory? The one with the chimeras?"

    Birch nodded his head in confirmation. I watched as his fingers moved to form a symbol, then a haze formed around his head to hide his elven features.

    "I just need to see if they've made any attempts to move into Droca. If not, then we're fine. If they have then we will need to hurry and get to Nadraria." He added straightening his shirt.

    "Are you sure you don't want to sleep a bit before you leave?" I asked. I didn't think he should be riding a drake on how much sleep he had been getting.

    "I'm okay. I'll sleep when I get back." He started, "Just stay here, I have to make it look like I'm just collecting some herbs. If you come with me it'll draw too much attention."

    "Okay, fine. I'll be here." I waved him off. With a nod, he exited through the door. Now that I was wide awake, I didn't waste any time getting my leather jerkin and bracers laced on me. Birch had been right, that primal urge to fight or flee had dissipated, but I wasn't going to take any chances. I'm sure Salim was somewhere in Yimelke, just waiting to pounce.

    I wasn't hungry, but I needed to eat something before I actually did get hungry and missed the breakfast hour the hotel had. On the paper the dwarfling had written for me, he had also written down the hours for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Fortunately, the clock that ticked above the fireplace's mantel told me it was only 8:45am, just enough time to grab a plate and take it back to my room.

    When I arrived back, I had a full plate of eggs, bacon, and toast. While I ate tiny bites from the plate, I began to flip through the journal. After the entry I left last night, most of the entries were about trying to translate the supposed book. From what it seemed, not a whole lot happened of major importance. Well, importance to the mission at hand. My father had met my mother and fell in love. That was important to him and I, but to make the blade, it wasn't necessary information. Regardless, I read it all. I read everything down to the mundane details in hopes of finding a small nugget of information that might help me understand the creation of death steel.

    It had been an hour after I finished eating my breakfast that I heard a knock at my door. For a split moment, I thought it might be Birch. I had thought that until that sinking gut feeling came back in waves. It seemed to scream at me to not open the door. As silently as I could, I gathered my few belongings and boots. The knocking now turned into banging. As I strapped everything on, the weight of my armor and belongings seemed to feel ten times heavier.