e
The promise of the dawn lay thick in the air; the subtle quickening of all the rhythms of Mizahar rising in response to the approaching day. For now, though, the night still cast its cool, dark cape over the world and only Leth's limpid, colour-stealing radiance guided the way through the trees.
Eyaire didn't seem to have much trouble dealing with the lack of illumination, though, moving with an easy grace through the woodland. Even Lucilla – whom Eyaire had admitted wasn't at home in the wilds – moved easier than Alses did, gliding over the thick-piled mast on the forest floor, twigs bending rather than snapping under her weight and grass soughing quietly at her passage.
Their movement was irregular, seemingly without rhyme or reason, staccato bursts of motion that confounded any attempt at establishing a rhythm by any sense. Alses followed as best she could, on the assumption this odd gait helped somehow in traversing dangerous areas, stepping wherever possible in the slightly-disturbed wake of her companions and peering into the dark as best she was able.
Luck – or fate, or the aegis of compulsion, whatever one cared to call it – saw them through without much incident, however, the snuffling, calling, prowling, shrieking, stalking, hunting, hungry predators of the Misty Peaks finding other prey to pursue, just this once, and they emerged back onto the hard-packed earth of the road to Lhavit without incidence.
Alses filled her lungs with blessedly free air, unencumbered by the trees pressing close around, and gave thanks to Leth on high for his uninterrupted light streaming down. It helped against the spectre of the dark, just a little bit, even if it did mean the shadows were blacker and more impenetrable on either side.
The sound was stronger, now – nothing mortal could cause that kind of sustained ululation, surely, but still the noise went on and on and on, an auger inside the brain that drove out most rational thought. Back on the road, thankfully, they could move faster, the flattened earth easier underfoot than the tangled undergrowth of the forests, and in short order their little company had made it to the Wishing Bridge itself, a small construction over one of the many small tributaries that fed into the mighty Amaranthine as it tumbled down to the sea.
This, at least, was familiar territory to Alses, a part of the Trail of Waterfalls that was so regularly patrolled by the Shinya guardsmen that only the most desperate or sick wildlife dared linger near. With that realisation, the recognition of familiar ground – the path led round the striated bluffs of Lhavit to the Kinell Hotsprings, one of her favoured haunts – she relaxed, helped further by the first glimmerings of calias-induced phosphorescence that alleviated the pressing darkness all around.
The Bridge was not a normal destination for her, it had to be said; if she'd written all her wishes out on rocks and tossed them over the side of the simple span, by now the Bridge would have been a tunnel and the river far below would have had to find an alternate route to Port Tranquil and the sea beyond. Regardless, Alses had crossed it several times, and under normal circumstances the fitted stone flags and weathered, moss-touched balustrades held no surprises for her; familiar and permanent and eternal.
Under the silvery, colour-stealing light of Leth, however, even with the telltale lightening of the eastern sky that portended the break of day and the joyous Change, the Wishing Bridge was sinister, and the throbbing, insistent call was drumming an inescapable toccata that had an almost physical force. They were alone; the path had been dark and silent, with no sign of the others who had set out, no shining Lethaefal or stoic Shinya or sly, snide snakeling. Lucilla was the first to queasily break the silence, eyes large and darting in the gloom, hunting for the source of the phantom siren call.
“You're right,” Alses managed in reply, voice thick and fighting against the battering roar. “Careful.”
Cautiously, she began to look around, to explore as best she was able – but before she managed more than a pace or two the ethereal shriek was cut through by a resonant, though distinctly female, voice.
“Waited?” Alses managed to call in reply, cutting through the shrieking wail of a summons belting out with full-force and with her voice full of much more bravado than she actually felt, shrinking back to the dubious safety of Eyaire and Lucilla both. “Hiding in the shadows? Who are you?”
e
The promise of the dawn lay thick in the air; the subtle quickening of all the rhythms of Mizahar rising in response to the approaching day. For now, though, the night still cast its cool, dark cape over the world and only Leth's limpid, colour-stealing radiance guided the way through the trees.
Eyaire didn't seem to have much trouble dealing with the lack of illumination, though, moving with an easy grace through the woodland. Even Lucilla – whom Eyaire had admitted wasn't at home in the wilds – moved easier than Alses did, gliding over the thick-piled mast on the forest floor, twigs bending rather than snapping under her weight and grass soughing quietly at her passage.
Their movement was irregular, seemingly without rhyme or reason, staccato bursts of motion that confounded any attempt at establishing a rhythm by any sense. Alses followed as best she could, on the assumption this odd gait helped somehow in traversing dangerous areas, stepping wherever possible in the slightly-disturbed wake of her companions and peering into the dark as best she was able.
Luck – or fate, or the aegis of compulsion, whatever one cared to call it – saw them through without much incident, however, the snuffling, calling, prowling, shrieking, stalking, hunting, hungry predators of the Misty Peaks finding other prey to pursue, just this once, and they emerged back onto the hard-packed earth of the road to Lhavit without incidence.
Alses filled her lungs with blessedly free air, unencumbered by the trees pressing close around, and gave thanks to Leth on high for his uninterrupted light streaming down. It helped against the spectre of the dark, just a little bit, even if it did mean the shadows were blacker and more impenetrable on either side.
The sound was stronger, now – nothing mortal could cause that kind of sustained ululation, surely, but still the noise went on and on and on, an auger inside the brain that drove out most rational thought. Back on the road, thankfully, they could move faster, the flattened earth easier underfoot than the tangled undergrowth of the forests, and in short order their little company had made it to the Wishing Bridge itself, a small construction over one of the many small tributaries that fed into the mighty Amaranthine as it tumbled down to the sea.
This, at least, was familiar territory to Alses, a part of the Trail of Waterfalls that was so regularly patrolled by the Shinya guardsmen that only the most desperate or sick wildlife dared linger near. With that realisation, the recognition of familiar ground – the path led round the striated bluffs of Lhavit to the Kinell Hotsprings, one of her favoured haunts – she relaxed, helped further by the first glimmerings of calias-induced phosphorescence that alleviated the pressing darkness all around.
The Bridge was not a normal destination for her, it had to be said; if she'd written all her wishes out on rocks and tossed them over the side of the simple span, by now the Bridge would have been a tunnel and the river far below would have had to find an alternate route to Port Tranquil and the sea beyond. Regardless, Alses had crossed it several times, and under normal circumstances the fitted stone flags and weathered, moss-touched balustrades held no surprises for her; familiar and permanent and eternal.
Under the silvery, colour-stealing light of Leth, however, even with the telltale lightening of the eastern sky that portended the break of day and the joyous Change, the Wishing Bridge was sinister, and the throbbing, insistent call was drumming an inescapable toccata that had an almost physical force. They were alone; the path had been dark and silent, with no sign of the others who had set out, no shining Lethaefal or stoic Shinya or sly, snide snakeling. Lucilla was the first to queasily break the silence, eyes large and darting in the gloom, hunting for the source of the phantom siren call.
“You're right,” Alses managed in reply, voice thick and fighting against the battering roar. “Careful.”
Cautiously, she began to look around, to explore as best she was able – but before she managed more than a pace or two the ethereal shriek was cut through by a resonant, though distinctly female, voice.
“Waited?” Alses managed to call in reply, cutting through the shrieking wail of a summons belting out with full-force and with her voice full of much more bravado than she actually felt, shrinking back to the dubious safety of Eyaire and Lucilla both. “Hiding in the shadows? Who are you?”
e
To the others, since they dropped out, they did not earn the experience. If anyone has any issues with the grade, please contact me via PM.