Cursed Flames

Reliability

The pack had come to a dead end trail wise. The only logical thing to do was to keep heading in the same direction and try to avoid any unwanted attention. Reyna thought to herself, "We only have to make it to the coast. Then we'll be safe at last." Reyna lead the march toward the coastline with the sun right above the four of them. The trail they had walked before was shrouded in darkness by the thousands of leaves that left little room for sunlight to shine through, however now that they are in a more open area, the sun was constantly beaming down onto the pack. It was tolerable for a few minutes before ot became annoying. Within the second hour, the heat started to set in. It wasn't like a desert, where the heat was so intense it could kill you. It was just a little worrying as Reyna knew the coast was still half a day's walk away and nobody had any intention of stopping for the night again. The only one not to bothered by the heat was Flaro. He was still affected by the sun's fire, but he had a higher tolerance for heat due to his abilities. The pack walked for what seemed like a week before one of them broke due to the heat. Elera asked, "Can we please stop for water?" as she wiped the sweat off of her face. Reyna replied sounding just as tired, "There aren't any lakes or ponds nearby and, we don't have any shade to sit under." She took a deep breath. "You'll have to wait until that point before we even think of resting." Elera was disappointed. She didn't complain, but she knew that she could only go so much further before she gave in to the heat.
Normally, you would expect that there was some sort of water container the adventures would have that was either empty or so dry the water turned to sand. Well the pack did have water. Plenty of it in fact. The problem was that no one trusted the surroundings for a place to 'go' in a sense. Elera hated being thirsty in the sun's heat, but she didn't have enough strength to do anything about it either. Another hour passed and the sun's new position in the sky showed Reyna that the suffering would end soon. They walk... and walked... and walked... until... Elera's legs gave out. She couldn't even stand. Phoenix noticed and quickly picked Elera up. She carried Elera while helping her drink some of the water they had brought. Reyna was relieved that her pack had at least an idea of what to do in dire situations. And so the walking continued. So they walked... and walked... and walked... Eventually, Reyna had given all she could and also collapsed onto the ground. Phoenix could hardly carry Elera as is, so Flaro had to pick Reyna up and give her some water. Even after the Elera and Reyna both passed out, Phoenix and Flaro wouldn't stop to rest. Phoenix was too determined to stop. She had her own little fire inside her that made her push beyond her own limits Flaro couldn't stop. He knew that the minute he gave in, he'd have to face his thoughts. Worst of all, he'd have to endure his next encounter with Cyote. Flaro tried to put his fears aside and focus on getting to the coast before sundown. As the two walked down the trail carrying their exhausted friends, they came across a few wandering travelers. The first couple of times they met travelers, it was nothing short of hiding in plain sight while trying not to do anything rash. After a while, it was obvious nobody was looking to start a fight. Most of the travelers didn't have any weapons with them, so it would've been pointless to try and fight a pack of wolves. Some of the travelers did, but they did nothing but watch as the pack walked by staring curiously as to why four wolves would be making this trip to begin with. It was nothing new to Phoenix when they encountered new travelers. They would stare. She would just ignore them and continue walking. It's almost like she's done this before. Flaro was a bit of the opposite. He'd lived in isolation for so long that it was almost strange how everyone would stare at him as he passed by. Flaro thought to himself, "On the bright side... it doesn't look like the news about the new law has reached this far yet." The two kept walking further and further. The sun kept falling lower and lower in the sky. It was nearly dusk when it happened. Phoenix randomly stopped walking and stood scarily still. Flaro almost walked into her before he noticed. Flaro called her name. "Phoenix? Are you ok?" Phoenix didn't respond. She just stood still and let the wind blow through her hair. The sun was so low now that the heat that once burdened them was replaced by the bitter cold of the night. Phoenix moved a bit before reaching her leg out to take another step. Instead of taking that step, she fell toward the ground with Elera still in her arms. Falro quickly kept both of them from landing face first into the ground while nearly falling over himself trying to hold Reyna. He gently set all of them on the ground to regain his balance and strength. Flsro let out a heavy sigh of relief and exhaustion. He looked up into the nearly pitch black sky before he saw what looked like a seagull. He tilted his head in confusion for some time before he realized what that meant. Once it clicked, Flaro had managed to carry all three of the girls. It was very challenging, and one wrong move could mean that one, if not all, of them would go tumbling down onto the ground. Flaro very carefully made his way back into the invisible trail he had been following all day. He was slower than normal due to many things. The extra weight. His exhausted stature. His lack of a good night's sleep. The list could go on. This, however, didn't keep him from accomplishing his goal. Flaro could see the coast in the distance. Along the coast, he could see a harbor full of ships. Hes eyes lit up and he moved even faster making his way closer and closer to the harbor. It seemed to be guarded. Not heavily, but there was no easy way in from the front. Wolves aren't fugitives of the law, nor are they a lingering threat to the world, but after such a horrible war leaving millions of casualties on both the wolves and the rest of the planet's inhabitants, there is a slim to none chance of wolves being trusted for millennia to come. Flaro had to think quickly, for he could feel his body getting weaker by the second, and if he were to stop moving, he would have no energy left to keep going. Flaro kept walking closer and closer slowly going into a panic. His eyes darted from every direction looking for a weak point in the guarded areas. Thats when he found it. There was trash heap on the far side of the harbor with racoons digging around in the garbage. As one racoon got its fill of food, another raccon would come through a small hole in the fencing. Flaro saw it as his only way in and took it. Once Flaro made it to the hole in the fence, he saw all the racoons stare at him. He paid no attention to the glares and glowing eyes that followed him and made his way to the hole. He had to get the girls through before he could get himself through, so he had to find a way to safely maneuver them inside without hurting them or startling the racoons. To Flaro's surprise, the racoons actually started to help him. One by one each racoon would help move the girls through the hole in the fence. Then it was Flaro's turn. He slid his way past the hole and picked the girls back up. The racoons looked at Flaro and Flaro looked back. He nodded to the racoons before walking away as a sign of thanks and respect for the little creatures. Flaro's new objective was to find a boat on it's way to the island. He found a map showing the harbor's regular routes and saw that the name of the island was Greyshore. Now he had to find out which boat went to Greyshore and where it was in the harbor. As he read the listen names of boats and found their designated route he found the name he was looking for. The only boat that traveled to Greshore was called the Mysterious Hope.That was his new goal. Moving around was a struggle for Flaro due to the extra weught he was carrying, but he was still able to move rather quickly. He looked around at all the names of the boats as he passed them. Northern Traveler, Deathly Sunset, Noble Trader, Sundaze, Summer Wind. None of these boats matched the description Flaro was looking for. Some of wich looked like they were selling weapons or moving prisoners or captured animals. Flaro struggled on, still keeping an eye our for the Mysterious Hope. Suddenly, a light started to shine further ahead of Flaro, lighting his path up and making its way towards him. He looked around frantically. The only thing he could see were a couple crates covered in ropes and chains. He saw his opportunity and just managed to sneak behind the boxes before the light approached Flaro's hiding spot. The light stopped for a moment before continuing in its original direction. Flaro let out a sigh of relief as he peeked out from the boxes. He searched for the source of the light when he found a spot light. It was too far away to hide underneath the lights range, however it was just close enough to reveal Flaro's position if its light were to shine on him. This made things difficult. Flaro watched the spot light very carefully as it made its circular patrol. The spot light went though its patrol a few times bef Ohio re Flaro learned its complete pattern. The light would move until it hit a spot of importance, such as large amounts of equipment, tons of supplies like crates or cages, or a ship within the range of the lights strength. The light would stop on those spots for at least thirty seconds before continuing on. Flaro took advantage of this the moment the light was shining on the crates he was hiding behind again. When the light started to move again, he used every second he had to get as far as possible as to not risk passing out or getting spotted. He made his way past a few more ships wuickly skimming all their names in seatch for the right one. He found his next hiding spot on a lowered dock near one of the ships. The light's glare shined over his head as he ducked down to avoid exposing himself. "That was too close..." He thought to himself. Once the light left, Flaro continued on m, still reading the names of all the ships around him. Divine Sail, Sea Strider, Restless Cannon, and finally, Mysterious Hope. Flaro's eyes widened as he saw that the boat was only a few yards away. He then remembered the light that was stalking him as it started making its way towards him. He ran as fast as he could with the three girls on his shoulders, the light quickly getting closer and closer to him. Flaro had just made it to the Mysterious Hope just as the light was about to pause on the entrance of the ship. Flaro carefully made his way ariund the ship's interior looking for a place to hide himself and the girls. As he walked around, he noticed that there wasn't a lot of crew members on the ship, and the ones that were on the ship were already asleep. Flaro had to walk around until he found an unused storage closet. It was rather large yet the room was nearly empty. The only things around were a few small boxes and a metal shelf holding some unused wash cloths. He carefully made his way in shutting the door behind him. Flaro then proceeded to lay the girls down gently one by one Startingbwith Elera and ending with Reyna. As he finished setting Reyna down, Flaro felt a knife slightly press against his neck. A voice came from behind saying, "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing on my ship?" The boice was rather quiet but it was still very stern and intimidating. Flaro slowly raised his hands as the person behind him put the kife closer to his neck repeating his question. "Who the hell are you, ans why are you on my ship?" Flaro took a deep breath before he spoke. "I'm trying to get to Greyshore." "And what makes you think I'd just let a few wanderers like you board my ship without permission?" Flaro raised his voice a bit. "We aren't wanderers. We're trying to escape from Morpine. It's a small town a few miles from the castle." The unknown person pulled the knife away from Flaros neck letting him go. "You mean Ironwater Castle?" Flaro was a bit confused. He never kearned the name of the castle. "I guess so. I've never seen the place. I just know where it is." Flaro turned around to see a young werewolf about his age. He was wearing a long sleeved shirt and ragged jeans holding a steel dagger in his right hand. He was crossing his arms and looked like he was growling underbhis breath. "Ironwater... I hate that kingdom." Flaro tilted his head watching the werewolf. "Those guys are nothing short of racist and cowards." He said looking back at you. "What's yourname kid?" Flaro scoffed. "I'm as old as you." "Just answer the damb question." "...Flaro." He smirked a bit and putbhis knife away. "Cool name. Mine's Fang." He shook Flaro's hand roughly. Flaro asked, "Is there a reason you put a knife to my neck?" Fang closed his eyes and growled a bit. "You're a group of strangers boarding my ship unannounced. My first guess was you guys were either thieves or outlaws, and I wasn't gonna have any of that shit. Especially with how slow business has been recently." "You keep saying 'my ship' like you own it." Fang opens his eyes and glares at you. "I Do own this ship! It cost me an arm an a leg! I'm the captain of The Sea Howlers." Flaro looked confused. "Wasn't this boat called Mysterious Hope?" Fang laughed. "That's a stage name dummy. You really think the king at Ironwater is just gonna let some wolf run a supply ship under the name Sea Howlers?" Fang laughed skme more. "That's practically suicide." Flaro is full of questions at this point. "What's wrong about the kingdom of Ironwater?" Fang looked at Flaro then up at the ceiling of the room. "For starters, everyine there's recist. And not just towards wolves. They hate anyone who isn't a pure bread human. Wolves, orcs, elves, hybrids. You name it. They hate it." Flaro nodded understanding what Fang meant. "Then theres the fact that the king's a fricken coward! Everyone who follows him is!" Flaro spoke up a bit. "What proves that he is?" Fang burst out in laughter. "That's a funny question... but in all seriousness, what doesn't prove he's a coward? He orders knights to take care of problems he can't bare to face, he doesn't bother giving people his time to explain current problems and ongoing disputes within his own settlements, and worst of all..." Flaro looks at Fang with curiosity. Fang just shrugs it off. "N-nevermind... you get the point." Flaro noticed Fang's uncomfortable expression and tried to drop the subject. "Hey Fang." He looked up. "What's up, kid?" "Could we hide in your boat until your next trip to Greyshore? You already know that we're tying to get as far away from Ironwater before we get... killed." Fang was shocked to hear this. "Killed? You mean that low life king actually did something for once?" Flaro nodded. "He put a new law in order which put a bounty on every wolf in Ironwater. We were in Morpine when the law was passed. We barely got away with out lives." Fang puts his hands behind his head and leans backwards a bit. "Hmm... what's in it for me?" Flaro digs through his pockets and pulls out a gold ruby necklace. "I have this... will this do?" Fang stares at this necklace and sighs. "Keep it. You guys are just trying to get to Greyshore right?" Flaro nods. Fang chuckles. "I have a delivery that leaves this morning. As long as you guys don't rat me out we got a deal. I don't wanna deal with having a bounty and being an outlaw y'know?" Flaro nods again. "Thank you, Fang. You won't regret this." Fang puts his hands in his pockets. "Let's hope your right." Fang then walks off to the captain's quarters. Flaro shuts the door to the empty storage closet and looks back at the girls. They're all sleeping soundly. Flaro sets himself down mext to Elera and starts to drift off to sleep. The entire time he was thinking, "We did it... we made it." Flaro eventually passed out from exhaustion with his head in his arms.