Esveldza: 'The Lonely Child of Fire'

Chapter XXIII- The Hadaarac Desert

Chapter XXIII

The Hadaarac Desert

I was startled the next day when I realised I wasn’t in my room until I remembered I had slept on Daarken’s bed. I turned around to see Daarken on the floor curled up next to Volcarn who had his wing protectively over him. He still wore the clothes from the previous night.

I reached for the pillow I had been sleeping on, to throw it at Daarken and Noomkiara woke from my movement. Her large blue eyes found Volcarn and Daarken on the floor and then looked to me with the pillow. Noomkiara seemed to smile.

I put a finger to my lips, smiling cheekily and then turned to face the two, holding the pillow like a weapon. I lift the pillow over my head and then throw it smashing down with as much force as I could muster, hitting Daarken directly in the face.

He instantly wakes up, startled. It takes a moment for him to grasp the situation and I burst into laughter. He glares at me and pulls himself out of Volcarn’s embrace who begins to wake up.

“You can’t just sleep on someone’s bed and then wake them up rudely like that!” He yells and finally jumps free but he falls backwards onto the floor, clutching his thighs.

I laugh harder, because Daarken flew without a saddle for so long he must’ve had pretty painful wounds on his legs.

He pulls himself up again, “Medic, I need a medic.” He murmurs, attempting to walk towards the door, which suddenly swings open to reveal Salvator and Sarben.

“It seems you have finally awoken. We received a message from Half-Moon Mountains last night and I believe it is time I took you three on your first mission.” Salvator announces, I jump up with excitement but Daarken groans. Any other day and Daarken would have been jumping for joy, especially since he had just become a rider but he was too tired and sore to be ready for more travelling.

Salvator raised his eyebrow at Daarken, “I should leave those wounds instead of fast-healing them so that you learn your lesson.”

Daarken looked desperately at Salvator, “I was only getting to know Volcarn, what is so wrong?”

Salvator shooed me and Noomkiara off to go get ready and Sarben went to go have breakfast. As I packed my bag with emergency herbs and potions, clothes and chocolate my excitement increased. Noomkiara was pacing the room excitedly, she was finally getting to leave the castle and see the world from outside an egg.

+++++++

I met with Salvator, Daarken, Sarben, Volcarn and Noomkiara outside the gates of Tivess, a carriage waiting for us. Daarken shifted uncomfortably on his legs and I giggled at him. He shot a glare at me and I turned away, laughing.

“I will drive this carriage to Hadar (Huh-dar), just enough to pass through the Hadaarac (huh-dar-ick) desert, then we will walk the rest. I estimate it will take us a month to reach the dwarven cities.” Salvator explained, climbing onto the carriage and sitting on the driver seat. Two sturdy Desert Horses were tied to the carriage. The carriage had a short roof over the driver to shield from the sun and a small four person enclosed seated area with a storage box at the back. I was grateful for the cover we would have while passing through the desert, despite being the land of fire, most of Arveltri was grassland, beaches, mountains and forests but the two deserts; Hadaarac and Jarin (jah-rin) were relentless. Hadaarac is much bigger, spanning from the border of Hadar to not far off Marasob. However, Jarin was much hotter, it sat in between Marasob and Tivess, almost as if the two deserts had been connected at some point but had become separated from some cooling. Jarin is almost uninhabitable, sand monsters lurk its depths and water is almost impossible to find. Luckily, Hadaarac can be passed through with some Desert Horses and lots of water.

I had only ever been to Forban and Rannen so visiting Hadar was very exciting. I eagerly climbed into the compartment, Volcarn and Noomkiara would fly above us or walk next to us. Sarben grumbled loudly as he climbed in after Daarken, calling out to Salvator; “Why can we not just teleport? This will take forever!”

Salvator shook his head, “Other officials will be teleporting to assess the situation immediately but this is the perfect time for you to experience the diversity of your home.” Sarben groaned again to this.

Daarken sat next to me and Sarben sat opposite us, lying on the pillow and pulling out a book which he began reading. I rolled my eyes at him and looked at Daarken who seemed to finally be getting excited. “Forward.” Salvator commanded the horses and they obeyed, pulling our carriage effortlessly.

“How was flying? I only flew for a little while, but it was incredible!” I exclaimed, Daarken smiled at me, the memories of last night seeming to replay before his eyes.

“I cannot even put into words what it was like, Volcarn and I, we talked… it was so good to talk to someone that much.” Daarken’s voice became a whisper and he closed his eyes for a moment, almost looking sad. I didn’t understand, I always listened to Daarken and we told each other everything. As I really thought about it however, I realised that it was mainly me that did the talking. True, Daarken would talk all the time but when it came to sensitive matters like his father he hardly said anything.

I felt an unusual coldness run over me, Daarken was my best friend yet I knew him of the time we spent together, I would have thought there was nothing more but the way Daarken had just acted changed my mind. I decided I wouldn’t pursue it though, Daarken would tell me when he was ready.

Daarken then told me about his flight, the speed and aerial movements, how they stopped for a bit to rest and talk and how he was too tired to move Noomkiara and I when he finally reached home. By the time we had finished sharing our love for flying the air had become considerably hotter and Tivess was long gone from our view.

Sarben had been snoozing with the book on his face but he shifted uncomfortably, propping himself up into a postured position, he took the book off his face and looked outside.

Suddenly he pointed, “Look, the desert!” He said and all three of us went to the nearest window to look outside. The ground below us had very little grass left and the large sand dunes of the Hadaarac desert were only a few hundred metres away from us.

“I am glad someone finally started taking in their surroundings.” Salvator said from the driver’s seat.

I winced with shame; I had been too preoccupied with talking to Daarken that I hadn’t even bothered to take in Arveltri like I’d never seen before.

Salvator gave us a task where he would point out an item and we would have to calculate the distance from the carriage to the object but after a while we had run out of things to point out because we had entered the Hadaarac desert.