The Cleansing (Book One: The Folara Chronicles)

086: Crevan

Crevan crawled inside the wagon and lay on the bed next to Rion. He closed his eyes, the creaking and groaning of heavily laden wooden wheels met his ears as the vibration of it set his teeth to clacking against each other. There wasn't much in the way of cushion beneath him. "Rion?" 

"Yes?" Rion's  voice was much stronger than when he'd spoken to him hours ago.

"Are you... feeling better?" 

"I am healed." Rion wrapped an arm around his knee and braced himself with his other arm, his head rested on his knee also, and his longer hair fell across his forehead.

"You are thinking about your little searcher girl?" Crevan knew that he was, he could also feel that Rion was deeply preoccupied.

"I can feel her alive." Rion murmured wistfully. "I just can't tell where she is, if she is in danger, or what help she may need from me."

"Are you going to stay the course to Valdemar?"

There was a possibility that Rion would go looking for his searcher girl, if he thought she wasn't with Quildor. Crevan didn't want that.

"How are we supposed to fight Quildor whose army is ahead of us? We have this tiny band of what...? Ten men? Ten against thousands?"

"Kib is talking of veering off around the army. Going to the seashore and then north."

"Yes, I heard that talk. Kib would really prefer to skip going to help Valdemar at all." Rion shrugged. "He is still afraid of predators. He says he has seen roving bands of Salimantor in the hills, ferocious beasts. I don't know why he would need me, I can't transform."

"Have you tried since you got your strength back?"

"Have you?" Crevan sensed the hope inside his friend. He scooted back the way he had recently come and reaching the back of the wagon, dangled his legs over the side until he could hop off and when he did, he instantly transformed into complete Salimantor form. Almost as instantly Skirvon, seeing him, fired an arrow, which he caught in one hand and crushed, tossing it to the ground, his face appeared where it should be, and he yelled at Skirvon to hold. Skirvon had run to the front of the wagon and now all three main leaders were running toward him with arrows drawn.

"A little helping hand would be appreciated, Rion." Rion slid off the back of the wagon in Salimantor form as well. The wagons stopped and the big men approached warily, not daring to believe that the formerly helpless Foemen were suddenly able to transform.

"Kib! It's Rion!" He noted the sweat pouring off Kib's face and neck in reflexive terror.

"Rion!" He lowered his weapon. "Why are you in Salimantor form here with us?"

Rion surged back into his human form and took a deep breath. "To see if I could transform at all. I've been too weak."

Kib's eyebrows drew together sharply. "I didn't realize that your weakness prevented you from transforming."

"It must take more energy than I thought." Crevan agreed, becoming human before their eyes. 

"You can travel outside the wagons now." Skirvon recovered from his initial shock.

Rion jerked his chin. "Crevan and I will definitely travel point, we'll need the crystals to find water. But we'll be on watch from here on." He moved to the front of the wagon walking past Kib's surprised face, as one of the women handed him a sharply pointed yellow crystal about eight feet long and bound on one end with leather binding to prevent burns. He hefted the weapon and grinned back at Crevan. "This ought to put a dent in some hide, for sure!"