Sons of Ironstorm - Book 1: Griffon's Rise

Chapter 23: Northern Vigilance

"They did build them great places of resort

Mighty and puissant, to guard against the enemy.

And they did prepare them with arms and warriors

Before they turned to cast a vigilant eye

To them that would make terrible war upon them."

- from a partial history of the First Alliance 

The sun, visible through the containment field as a flickering ball of light, climbed to high noon and down. As it began that downward flight towards the western horizon, it found the Aquilan company nearing the southern edge of the Sovun'chul. Since Halen made the destination of Aer na'Tolan clear in his mind when he activated the trail, the inherent magic of the trail would alert him when they neared it.

Still, he was somewhat startled with the deactivation tlyph began flashing in his mind's eye, enough that he almost drew his sword in reaction. Grinning sheepishly at Ciramax's upraised eyebrow, when the elven leader looked at him for an explanation, he shrugged.

<<We're here,>> he said. Nodding in acknowledgment, Ciramax turned to the rest of the company.

<<Prepare to disembark from the elftrail!>> he shouted back along the column. As the rest of the company gathered themselves, Halen began to push his will through the deactivation tlyph to end their journey.

Again the effect was immediate: as quickly as they had accelerated at the beginning of their journey, the company now slowed down. The walls blurred then resolved into clusters of green and brown. And then they were at a standstill, the trees beyond the containment field now only slightly fuzzy.

Without hesitation, Ciramax signaled the company out and, shoulder-to-shoulder, they all stepped through the blue wall of energy marking the trail's edge. A quick look around them was enough to confirm they had left the heights of the Stone Forest long behind. They now stood in the central flatlands known as the Larsh, territory the wiry prince knew very well. 'And in one frosty day, no less,' he silently noted, privately astonished.

Then reality reasserted itself and he snapped out a number of swift hand signals. In the Larsh, yes, but within striking distance of the Lusinor border. It was time to return to the ways of caution. In a singular motion, each of them quickly flipped up the hoods of their cloaks to fade into shadow before easing forward.

Though they weren't far from Aer na'Tolan, Ciramax knew that enemy troops often traveled through this region, a danger they needed to avoid. So he swiftly moved the company away from the elftrail and deeper into the surrounding forest, putting as much distance between them and the magical passageway as possible, to prevent its discovery.

Only when they were at least a full league distant from the Lorin Cut did the brown-eyed elf let himself relax just a bit. But not much; they still had three leagues to cover before nightfall in order to reach the Aquilan border fortress, when the dense forest would make it too dark to travel. Pausing to orient to landmarks and brief the company on what to expect when they reached na'Tolan, he sent out his scouts then drove northwest through the thick underbrush as the sun continued to slide out of the sky just to their left.

Just as the alpine foliage of the Tempest was different from the denser forest of the Shawl, so the Shawl was different from the Sovun'chul. Here hardwoods dominated, silver and black oak, crescent maple, northern teal, tamarack, eastern yew, darkthorn and jakarin. They stood in dense, heavy stands so close together the light of the sun was hard pressed to reach the forest floor.