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

The pillar, part 4

Haur barely lasted two days before the horrible headache had him accepting Abbot's offer and lighting up a few herbs in his own pipe. Thar was tempted to join them, wanting some relief from the icepick that had settled between his eyebrows and not shifted a hair since, but the herbs Abbot smoked were too strong. Just their smell was enough to lessen the pressure but also make his eyelids heavy.

How Yaling and D'Argen, not smoking but always around Abbot, could handle it, was a wonder. Lilian was a whole other story.

"One of the scouting parties reported a group of animals, not too far from us," Nocipel was reading out a list, taking charge once Haur had turned to narcotics to help with his headache. "Nothing any of them have seen before but I have approved for them to capture one to see if the meat is edible."

"Nothing any of them have seen before?" D'Argen perked up, showing more life with that simple action than all of the others combined had shown since coming across the pillar.

"Yes, D'Argen, you can go." Nocipel waved him off with a hand in the air. It fell back down to her face and she rubbed her brows.

"Let me," Thar offered quietly, holding out a hand towards her.

Nocipel, thankfully, did not question him. Instead, she handed over the wooden tablet and scrawled paper then proceeded to rub her face and eyes harshly, as if trying to wash herself.

"Anything else?" D'Argen asked, his legs already bouncing from where he sat.

Thar tried to ignore the attention that D'Argen called to his body and instead focused on the report Nocipel had tried to give. He was not sure to who since Haur was barely paying attention, Yaling and Abbot were sleeping, and Lilian may as well have been in another realm with how far their gaze wandered.

D'Argen was listening, even though he did not look it, but Thar suspected that Nocipel was reading it aloud for her own benefit. He tried to ignore the ache inside his chest but found his arm shooting up and rubbing right at the centre of it. The report. Thar skimmed the words quickly, trying to find any information that would be relevant for D'Argen or something to keep him with them, but nothing stood out.

"Aim south," Nocipel said through a groan. "I have the feeling we may not be that far from the coast."

"Got it!" D'Argen saluted and jumped to his feet. He fidgeted, dancing on the spot, and looked at Thar.

Thar waited, skimmed the paper one more time, then put it down to look at D'Argen and give him a firm nod. The fire in the middle of their small camp was almost completely extinguished by the gust of wind when D'Argen opened his mahee and ran. It remained, but only because Nocipel started prodding at the embers under it.

Thar stood up and walked away, further from the flames, while he focused on the report. They had sent off multiple scouting parties since making camp. No matter their size, every single one of them was delayed in either leaving or coming back. Thar knew they all stopped at the pillar.

He felt it.

The reports all mentioned the pillar as well. The water around its base was freezing again and soon they would be able to get close enough to touch it once more. Lilian would be able to touch it again.

Thar glanced around the small camp where all of the Never Born were, sticking together and away from the mortals since they first arrived on solid ground. He wondered if they felt the same pull that he did, the one that made him sit right in front of the hot flames with them.

"I will be back," he told Nocipel, the only one paying attention to him, and handed her the report sheet. Without waiting for a response, he walked off. Barely a few steps out of their campgrounds and he felt someone following him. He did not stop.