God of Discovery [high fantasy, slow build, mlm]

The pillar, part 3

"We are still too close," Haur grumbled later that night in their newly set-up camp. He was sitting opposite of D'Argen with a fire blazing between them, but he was looking way past the runner and into the distance.

D'Argen looked back over his shoulder. The pillar was nothing but a black line against a dark background. The sky was clouded yet again so that even the full moon's light could not pierce them. There were no stars. D'Argen focused on where the black line disappeared into the clouds above.

Whatever this pillar was, whoever created it, it was a feat. More importantly, D'Argen had not seen a clear sky for longer than a few breaths since before they left the ship. The weather in this region was horrible. No. Not region. Continent.

As if to confirm it to himself again, D'Argen shifted and stomped one foot down on the solid ground. They had melted most of the snow away and the dirt under it was packed and hard and frozen solid. The stomp reverberated up his leg and settled with a tingle under his jaw. He scratched at it before turning to face Haur again.

"—and just go."

"Sorry, can you say that again? I wasn't listening," D'Argen prompted.

Haur finally tore his eyes away from the pillar and turned a glare at D'Argen. "Do you not feel it?" he growled out, his voice pained.

"I feel it." D'Argen shrugged and looked down at his hands. He did not remember unsheathing his sword or taking to cleaning it. It looked brand new, the fire dancing on its surface and staring at him. "It just doesn't seem to bother me as much as you. Whatever it is, it's clearly affecting all of our mahee differently." He sheathed his sword and put it on the ground by his feet.

"Yet another thing with a connection to the mahee," Yaling said from beside him, startling him. She had barely spoken since they left the pillar behind and he had almost forgotten she was there.

Their small campfire only had four people around it. Haur, D'Argen, Yaling, and Abbot. Nocipel had joined another fire to talk with a few of the mortals there, Thar stood alone higher up the hill where they had not touched the snow, and Lilian was... somewhere.

"What do you mean 'yet another'?" Haur questioned.

D'Argen started twisting on the spot to look for Lilian. As he did, he also noticed that Thar was not where he last saw him.

"Well..." Yaling hesitated. "There is that cursed stone. And gold. And that new communication spell—"

"The spell is not a thing," Haur interrupted.

D'Argen spotted a long white sleeve just as it disappeared behind one of the larger tents.

"And the flowers," Yaling said.

D'Argen's head snapped back to her so fast that he heard the bones cracking and felt it in a chain reaction down his spine all the way to his waist.

Yaling was not looking at him. She was looking down at her hands as she fiddled with a delicate yet simple dagger. It was still in its sheathe though she pulled it out barely a finger to catch the fire's light then snapped it closed. She repeated the action a few times before Haur spoke up again, drawing all attention to him.

"The three of you," he started, eyes skipping over each of them in turn. "You are hiding something."

"Nothing concrete," D'Argen quickly stepped in before Yaling could say anything else.

"What is it?"

"Hey, I have a question for you. You're friends with Olov, right? What's been happening in the Rainbow Fields?" D'Argen quickly tried to change the subject without straying too far from the original topic.