Blaekerian: An Epic Fantasy Novel (In Progress)

A Town

They awoke and started early. The sky was still dark and stars could still be seen. The dune hills were cold and crunched under their feet as they trekked. In the dark they could have been marching over snow if they didn't know any better.

The dunes went up and down, up and down. Reyloriel complained about her legs once and Cheruffi lifted her up on his shoulders.

"We're almost there." he said, "We'll stop when we get there."

Reyloriel didn't complain after that. She grabbed hold of his horns and smiled brightly bobbing to and fro with the sway of the ifrit's long strides. A half hour later the sun rose behind them and lit up the desert quickly.

They came over a rise in the sand and on the other side a town appeared before them. It was so sudden that Reyloriel gave a start at the sight. She had a great view from her high perch to scope out this wondrous new sight.

The sandy desert stopped a couple hundred feet from the nearest buildings. A cluster of possibly a thousand buildings spread out before them. They were all yellow bricked made from the abundance of sand in the Drylands. Tall palms surrounded the outside of the village and there was actual greenery, grass and shrubs growing about in spots with the sand becoming darker soil.

To the north a wagon rutted road led away from the town in a straight line until it disappeared on the horizon. A ways away to the south another road ran parallel to where they had traveled.

Cheruffi lowered Reloriel off his back. On seeing her eyes follow the road north he said, "That leads to Non." And turning to the other road. "And that is the road to Samton."

"Why didn't we take that road here then?" she said, "Why did you make us go through all those hills when there was a better way?" There was a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"The main roads are faster, true." He nodded. "But easily raided by bandits and thieves. And even then, not everyone is fond of people with horns." Reyloriel nodded, not entirely convinced or at least not showing it on her face.

They made their way down the dune to the outskirts of the town. Reyloriel was thrilled. She kept gasping over and over at the size of the place, exclaiming that "This must be the biggest city in the world!" and "How did the buildings get so tall?"

In truth Cheruffi also thought the place was quite expansive. It was certainly the biggest place he had ever been to, having never been off Balghr Ranthe. But he had heard stories in taverns and from Zivar about massive palaces, magical treasures, and vast cities far away under strange banners.

The town of Erston was populated with all sorts of people, mostly human and dirhsa but there was the occasional gnarmoc that wandered by, looking like he hated every second of being in the sun scorched town.

But there were no other ifrit and the duo were getting at the very least raised eyebrows from passersby, and gasping shouts at worst.

One dihrsa man just turning a corner in front of the pair fell back on his rear end and shouted "Demon!" at the top of his lungs. Cheruffi only glanced at him as they walked by. Reyloriel stayed a second longer and stuck her tongue out at him, before running to catch up with the ifrit. The man continued to stare with his jaw dropped as they rounded another corner.

Cheruffi had never been through Erston before. Well, never walked. He had dropped in to see Zivar many times but in those times he'd been flying and never in the daylight. They soon were making their way through a market square that fronted a large building. People hawked their wares in loud voices to be heard over each other.

Several stalls were set up lining the square and in the center of the open space. People mulled through the stalls bartering with shop owners and chasing after children who had strayed too far from their sight. One man with a graying beard and a light dusting of hair on his crown, near the street Cheruffi and Reyloriel had entered from, was yelling. "Fresh fish! Fish of all sorts! The best you can find in all of Bleak Black!" People were brushing past his stall and not paying the man no mind and he knew it. He wore an irritated look on his face in the short moments between shouts.

When he caught sight of Cheruffi and the girl he exclaimed, "Well I know you won't need any fish! Your kind only eats little children. And it looks like you already have a snack!" He pointed at Reyloriel with an old wrinkled finger. That got bellowing laughs from a group of ladies sitting behind the booth next door as well as a dihrsa who nearly dropped the seasoned meat on a stick he held on one hand, due to his loud guffaw.

Cheruffi kept moving, muttering under his breath. This was how it usually was in the towns. When they weren't afraid of him they were laughing and when they weren't laughing they were cornering him in a darkened alleyway drawing steel. Sometimes that made it easier when the gang raided. Sometimes. But that was then.

He walked a few steps before noticing that Reyloriel wasn't beside him. He turned back and saw her giving quite a rude gesture to the stall owner with her hand. The old man gasped along with the women in the neighboring stall. It seemed that that particular gesture wasn't something they saw very often if ever from children.

Cheruffi came back hurriedly. Dang kid. He quickly ushered her away with an arm on her shoulder. The wispy haired shop owner yelled some choice words to their backs and Cheruffi didn't see if the man used the same hand gesture as Reyloriel had used, though he guessed he had.

"You can't let people be mean Cherry." Reyloriel said. "If you do then they'll keep doing it 'till you cry." Cheruffi smiled down at her.

"You're right," he said. "Where did you learn that?"

"My mom." The girl's face remained still, eyes moving over the crowd. Cheruffi lost his grin. He reached out a hand and the girl took it, gripping tightly without comment.