Gift Of Justice #NaNoWriMo2k18

Chapter 9

The original plan was for them to return to the library to do some more research before heading off, but with Thora's disappearance they needed to cut that out. Instead, Niel found himself hurrying through the streets, walking as quickly as possible and scanning all of the shops. There wasn't enough time to hang around anymore. The guards in the town had been alerted to the presence of the harpies, but they seemed to have mysteriously disappeared, along with Thora. He was anxious to arrive in Anemos as soon as possible and hopefully be able to gather enough evidence to convince the council to shutdown the operation. 

He ducked into a store that supposedly sold camping equipment, browsing through the items and came out with an 'Ezy-Peezy Constructable Tent'. The seller promised him that the tent was designed for absolute beginners and was of good quality. They were running out of time though, so he didn't question it and simply left. He hurried down to the local bakery he found and bought some bread as well, putting everything except the tent into his bag. With everything set and ready, he hurried down to the port.

Akira hadn't returned yet, so he put down the text, leaning it against the pier and sat down on the ground with a crunch, waiting somewhat impatiently. Finally, water what seemed like an eternity he saw a flash of red feathers as she hurried into view, her way too long shirt flapping around her like a blanket from the strong sea winds. Beaver was running behind her frantically, and she stopped in front of him, pausing to survey him before letting out a long whistle.

"Is that everything, then? I've got the weapons. That's the tent, right?"

"Yeah, it's for two so we should be fine. You know where the river is right?"

"Mhm. It's just off the north side of the town. Here, I'll lead you there. Oh, and take this first."

She pulled out a small dagger, sheathed in a leather casing and passed it to him. He took it slightly unwillingly, sliding it into a side pocket on his bag. He preferred not to carry weapons, but there was no telling what they might meet in the city. It was better to be safe than sorry after all.

He stood up wearing, following Akira through the streets as she glanced across the shore until she found the edges of the river. The Diamond River flowed rapidly, crashing into the ocean with mist swirling into the air. The raised land meant that a small waterfall was formed, and foam spread out from where the two bodies of water met. He looked up over at the long distance ahead of them. Forests and trees still grew nearby the city, but he knew one they walked further inland it would fade back to dry savannas, even deserts. Akira was stocked with bottles of water, and she passed two for him as well.

"There's the river, but it's probably best to drink fresh water for now that we know for sure is safe."

Standing at the edge of the city, he glanced backwards one last time at the town, knowing it would be a while before he saw proper civilisation again. With the nearly morning Cascenda behind their backs, they turned towards the wind and began the long journey towards Anemos.

It didn't take long for the heat of the summer to return, and it was worse than before. At Ershire at lead they'd been close to the poles, but here where they were walking close towards the top of the continent the level of head was gradually increasing. Evotina mostly lay in deserts and arid land anyways, with Cascenda and [ding] at its far ends. He was actually glad they didn't have to visit [ding], as the intense heat would probably cause severe heatstroke for him. 

Akira stopped and nudged Beaver towards the river once the land moved towards yellowed grass, and he slipped in. The flow of the river was far slower there than further downstream, and he was able to swim against it easily. They continued trekking along the banks forwards. Niel could see the beginnings of the high rising plateaus that made up Anemos, but it was still impossibly far away.