Chapter 6: Stormwatching

A heavy wind buffeted the land as Keltslash and Xenorath trudged on towards Cavendo. The gale had carried in heavy clouds, blotting out the moon and stars, making the night's darkness complete. Xenorath had to follow Keltslash by the sound of his footsteps, which was nearly impossible over the rustling of bushes and howling of the wind. There was little to be done about it though, any torch would be blown out like a candle. He just wished he knew how Keltslash always seemed to know exactly where he was going.

Before too long he spotted the glow of the portal in the distance. "There's the port..." he started to say, but stopped as he realized that he was wasting his breath. The winds began to die down as they continued through the portal into Cavendo.

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As the pull of portalspace released him, Xenorath found himself alone at the exit. The air was still and the skies were clear over Osteth excepting the now distant clouds over Omishan. Cavendo was bright with the lights of the city and the sound of the adventurers mingling filled the air. On the horizon he could see the sky begin to change color. Dawn was near. Keltslash must have had to hurry to meet his contact. Xenorath grinned and began towards the city.

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The sun had only barely crested the hills when he saw Keltslash again. As he walked through the crowd towards him, Xenorath noticed an unusual unhappiness about his features. Keltslash had only rarely every appeared happy as long as Xenorath had known him, and since the incident he had never shown any sign of mirth, but somehow he seemed less happy than usual, as if he knew he would have to do something he would regret. When he finally reached him, Xenorath asked him what happened. Keltslash continued to stand still, not appearing to notice. After a moment he unfroze and looked towards Xenorath.

"Get a room at the inn. It's time I let you in on a few things."

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The room was not large; just a bed, a wardrobe, and a small table with a chair. Xenorath sat sideways in the small, solid backed chair, it obviously designed for humans. Keltslash stood with his back to him, looking at the wardrobe with disinterest, his tail waving slowly from side to side. A moment passed. Xenorath searched for something to say to break the silence.
"I had a dream last night," he tried, "Well, not exactly a dream, more of a memory-"
"About that day," Keltslash interrupted.
"Yes..." he trailed off, uncertain of how to continue.
Another moment passed in silence. Keltslash took a deep breath and turned to face him.
"I've been meaning to speak to you about that," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"It's been two years since that day, and until we happened to meet there again a few months ago, I though that I had been the only survivor,"
"As did I. What are you getting at?"
"For weeks after that day I trekked across Omishan hoping to find that Lugian and get revenge. I must have covered every square foot of it at least twice. Eventually I became careless and I was ambushed by a gang of Burun. The shock of death finally made me realize that I wasn't going to find what I was looking for that way. It was about four months after the incident when I began meeting my contacts. At first I only had to meet them once every month or so, but just before we met again they started to become more frequent."
"So that's why we're always on the move, but who are these contacts and why did the meetings become more frequent?"
"Mostly they're survivors of encounters with the same Lugian who I've managed to happen across. The first was another member of that tribe we stayed near that day who happened to be on Osteth when it attacked. The rest I found out about mostly by accident. Before I met with them infrequently simply to organize and investigate after the few rare attacks there were."
"But why at night?"
"It wasn't always that way, but some of the people in this group are bandits who dedicated themselves to our cause after their gangs were obliterated by the Lugian. They've made a lot of enemies they'd and would prefer it that we didn't even meet in cities, but the rest of us feel that there is greater safety in heavily populated areas, so it's simply a compromise."
"What have you found out about it so far?"
"No one seems to know anything about it, except for the fact that its hammer nullifies the protection of the Lifestones somehow. Anyone killed by it will not be resurrected and it is able to penetrate whatever protects the Lifestones themselves. We believe that the Lugian was once no different than any other, but the hammer has somehow possessed it and caused it to become so massive."
"I see. Wait, you still haven't told me why the meetings have become so frequent lately."
"You see, not long ago the Lugian began attacking more frequently, and I've had to collect all of the records of attacks. Just yesterday there was another one, which is why we had to leave in the middle of the night. But this attack was different..."

Due to a recent increase in real life obligations, the Storm of Vengeance will now appear bi-weekly. Sorry to those of you who read it regularly, but I promise I'll try to make the chapters longer to make up for it. If you have any comments, email me at editor@warcry.com