Evening was just starting to fall when they entered an old ruined city. Such a thing was nothing new to Dawn but she noticed that some of the others seemed totally shocked at the sight of what was once a rather large city having trees growing in its streets, vines climbing up what was left of the walls, and barely any signs of any humanoid coming here at all. The signs of intelligent lifeforms were mostly in the carvings done in the wall. All sorts of things were written on it. From someone recording some form of tally to images carved into the crumbling stone walls or to the writing that entirely coated some sections of the wall. Dawn ignored them as she did not really care what the natives of this land cared to put down. She figured it was nothing good.
The sound of the hoofs and of the clicking of talons sounded eerily loud though in the abandoned place. Though the roads were pushed up by roots of trees, they were still made of stone and thus the sounds of the steps of the animals sounded different than on the gra.s.s.
The only reason that Dawn did not just turn around and lead everyone out was because these old buildings, as she remembered from her childhood, could make really good shelters. And these ones were actually in pretty decent condition by Nix"Ryl standards.
But that also presented the problem of there maybe being some natives sheltering in here so she sighed and told the others to keep on their guard. Tira and Lowks volunteered to find the best building for them to hole up in for the night, while Vixen offered to find a clean source of water.
As Dawn dismounted from Zyph"s back, though telling Raven to stay up there, she thought she saw something move. However, when she looked closer, she did not manage to actually make out anything in the growing shadows.
She pressed her lips together, hoping that they did not get into any altercations with any natives that they were not here to destroy. That could get messy. She was not really here to hurt people who were more like she had been back then, though if she had to then she would.
After all, she needed to keep her own people as safe as possible. So, she kept her eyes peeled but did not draw her weapon – yet.
Everyone else was on their guard, Brilma and Colton had even not been bickering at all, even though they had been all day.
Lowks came back, almost smiling, as he informed them, "Tira and I found a building that has about three-fourths of its roof left. I think it used to be an inn, so its fairly roomy as well. Tira is keeping an eye on it."
"What would she do if something happened?" Dawn felt curious about the fact that these two seemed to think nothing of just going into dangerous situations by themselves.
"She would do two hoots of a screech owl, then one of the horned species." He shrugged, "It"s our old code from childhood. I"ll take you there and then go find whether Vixen has managed to find anything."
Lowks gestured them to follow him and when they came to the almost intact building she nodded. This would work and the fact that it had an intact fireplace was a bonus. Tira had been standing near the door, though it was not until she stepped closer that Dawn actually noticed her.
As the rest of them began setting up camp, Lowks went back out to go locate Vixen and tell her where they were staying the night.
Dawn, meanwhile, tried to calculate to herself how much longer it should take them to reach that place where the Grim Shades were located. If they made good time, it should only take two weeks or so. And it would be quicker if they were not trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
She heard an argument break out and turned to look. It was between Tira and Aldresh, as Miria stood in between them looking uncertain what to do. Miria had been going to make something for dinner for everyone but Aldresh was being obstinate about wanting to be in charge of the flame. Which drew several other people in as they took the half-elf"s side.
Aldresh was getting frustrated as he seemed not to understand the simple fact that most people did not appreciate fire being totally unrestrained and untamed. She frowned, wondering how to diffuse this situation. She was not too good at dealing with people, not in the way that Arrion had been.
As she tried to think of how her husband would have dealt with this, someone else had calmed the sorcerer down. Gysen had walked over, and grabbed Aldresh by the back of his cloak and pulled him over, sat him down, and just started lecturing him. And Aldresh shut up and gave the older sorcerer his full attention.
Dawn did not actually think that the young man wanted to be difficult. He actually seemed like a pretty good kid, despite the slight screw loose that he had. And he did listen when someone took the time to actually explain why, in a given situation, fire magic should not be done.