Chapter 2: A Fire to Warm the Spirit

The rain continued to pour, but had let up somewhat from the torrent it had been. The roads were extremely slick with water, but they were preferable to the marshes that the fields had become. The Tumerok wondered how the Humans and Lugians would travel in this weather without a tail to keep themselves from falling on the slippery stones.

As he walked he looked through his soaking pack, wondering if he had anything worth keeping. He pushed aside the Reaper's horns and inspected a few of the items. Weapons, armor, parts of his prey: little worth keeping or breaking down for materials. He paused for a moment to transmute some of the useless items. Continuing on, he looked at his hatchet. It was a fine weapon. His great-grandfather had made it from the skull of a Lasher, and it had not failed him in the hunt. He tried to dry it off on the wet bindings of his reed armor but realized the futility of his attempts and put it away.

The haze created by the rain still hampered his vision, and the rain had soaked him to the bone. He hoped that Shoushi was nearby so he could dry himself off.

----------------------------

The gray haze of the rain turned black as night fell. The shadows danced within an old building in the ruins of Old Shoushi. In its ancient fireplace flames sputtered and crackled upon the damp wood.

Keltslash looked about the broken building. Rain fell in from the missing sections of the roof. The water would eventually put out the fire, and he hoped that the rain would cease before it had the chance. He wondered briefly what this building was used for back before the Golden Age. Some Human might know.

"What is taking him so long?" Keltslash mumbled to himself. "Why does he always want to hunt whenever the weather is so unpleasant...oh. How could I have forgotten?"

He sat silently for several moments as he thought, idly scratching a pattern on the ground with a claw. "Still, he is a fool for staying out there so long, no matter how important it may be to him. He'll die because of the storm before the creatures get him,"

After a while the fire began to dim. He idly tapped a rhythm on his drum and a bolt of lightning struck the logs, drying them out and rekindling the flame. He moved towards the fire and warmed his hands. "I'll be surprised if he hasn't been sent to his Lifestone more than once because of this cold. It may as well be snowing," he said to himself.

"I haven't been to my Lifestone in days," said a voice behind him.

"Ah, there you are," said Keltslash, without turning to look. "If you're going to shake yourself dry, go do it over there. Don't get me wet too," he said, pointing to the opposite corner of the building. "You should get some sleep. There's a blanket for you over near the fire. I have some business to attend to," he said, savoring the last moment of warmth near the fire before he got up and headed for the door. The other Tumerok shook himself off before wrapping himself up in the warm blanket and drifted off to sleep near the crackling fire.

----------------------------

With the morning came the end of the rain. The storm had ended, but the world was still soaked. From a clear sky the warm rays of the sun began to dry the land.

He awoke and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Keltslash standing over him, his arms folded and his tail swishing back and forth impatiently. "Get up," he said, "We have much to do today and it's almost noon,"
"What was this business you had to attend to last night?" he asked accusingly as he sat up. Keltslash looked away. "That does not concern you," he said coldly.

"Did you find anything useful yesterday?" asked Keltslash as they readied to leave. "Nothing of much worth," replied the Tumerok, remembering the Reaper's horns in his pack.

Keltslash sighed. "You never do. You really ought to stop going on those hunts whenever it rains Xenorath..." he said quietly as the two Tumeroks went out into a new day.

"...it won't bring her back,"

Assuming all goes well, I should add a new chapter every week on Friday. If you have any comments, email me at editor@warcry.com