Silver Eyes

A/N Sorry for the delay, RL and NaNo are not a good combination... But the obligatory intro chapters are more or less over, so things should be moving faster, after this chapter at least because well, I had to do a bit of a cliffhanger. ;) Thank you to smint45 for your lovely review, and for reviewing each chapter so far! And thanks to those who voted as well!

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The following weeks passed fairly uneventfully. The winter was gradually turning into spring, and one of the few benefits of the King’s laws was the lack of bandits on the roads. They had turned northward due to rumours of the rebels attacking army caravans; a small chance, but more than they had heard otherwise. Most of the inns and taverns they had tried to listen for news in were more concerned over not having a soldier or someone still loyal to the King hear them. In the smaller towns most people were indifferent as long as none of the laws had touched them. Very rarely they would witness an argument that generally devolved into shouting and fists over whether the rebels were doing the right thing. It was saddening to both the Knight and Wizard that so few people cared either way. Most had the attitude that as long as it didn’t affect them directly, they didn’t care who was on the throne or who got hurt by the laws.

“According to the map, we’re only a few hours away from the next town. We should be there in time to have a hot meal.”

D’rian nodded his assent. He had found himself opening up - slightly - to the other man, but was doing everything he could not to. It was proving harder than he thought to keep his barriers up though; the Knight was just that good at charming people. He had managed to curtail his lust at the least. Especially after finding out he was engaged. Straight or not, he had never worked up the nerve to ask, D’rian wasn’t foolish enough to think that the Knight would forsake his duty to his family. Now if only his gut would stop clenching every time those eyes turned to look at him. As they travelled and inns, especially ones with proper bathing facilities, became fewer and farther in between, Asahi had been forced to let his hair grow out, still not long, but rather shaggy looking, and it framed his face wonderfully. But as he had learned to do, he contented himself with looking rather than touching.

“A hot meal will definitely be welcome. I think after this journey I will never want to see a rations bar again.”

Asahi laughed at this, green eyes sparkling. “They do taste rather awful, Much like chewing on bark, I would imagine. But it’s the easiest thing to carry, and I’m ashamed to say my luck hunting hasn’t been helping much.”

“If you were to let me help you I could draw the animals closer. There’s no luck in hunting game that isn’t there. The lack of anything larger than a hare does have me worried though. I may have never travelled up this way, but it still strikes me as odd.”

“Too early yet, I’d imagine. It may be spring, but up here it takes a while longer to warm up. If we go much further north we’ll have to get some winter clothing. Besides, I‘d rather you save your spells until we need them, we still have the rations, and I‘d rather you not run out of something you need when it‘s an emergency.” D’rian grimaced - if he could only tell the other man the truth it would make both of their lives easier, but unfortunately even for him, it would be very obvious if an animal was bespelled. Generally speaking, deer did not just walk up to passing travellers and stand there waiting to be shot. It was not something that he enjoyed doing, as it felt wrong to take away any creature’s free will like that, but when you’re starving morals tend to fall. He chose to ignore the last comment, as he actually felt bad outright lying to the Knight.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t get that cold; I don’t do well in winter climates. That village with the obnoxious need to paint each building a different blinding colour was the farther north I ever went.”

“Truly horrible sight that place was, I don’t understand how the people there can stand it. I understand that a lot of villagers can’t read, but really, you could just paint a sign rather than painting the whole damn building.” Asahi shuddered dramatically, and D’rian laughed at his reaction.

“I remember asking about that when I was there last. Apparently it was only the healer’s house at first, which is somewhat understandable, I suppose, and then each business tried to one-up the other until the entire town was painted.“

“Some people have some strange customs, that’s for sure. At least that one is fairly harmless.”

D’rian hummed in agreement, and the two lapsed into a companionable silence. D’rian was shocked to realize that the Knight was probably the closest thing he had ever had to a friend. It was a sobering thought, and it made the wizard even more worried about his secret being revealed; seeing the contempt and revulsion on that normally cheerful face would be more painful than he cared to think about. He found himself once again praying they never found out anything about the rebels, Both would face punishment surely, but Asahi wouldn’t be facing anything fatal, most likely just a demotion, and D’rian would go to his grave with his secret intact. At this point it was the best outcome. But so long as they never actually found the rebels, they could continue to chase after rumours. Eventually the King might remember and recall them, but that probably wouldn’t happen for quite some time. There was occasionally a benefit for working for an insane monarch it appeared.

So deep in thought was he that he didn’t notice when the woods went completely silent. Asahi did however, and his hand went to rest on his disguised sword, and his eyes hardened from his normal carefree look. It was true they hadn’t seen any game in a few days, and this silence wasn’t the silence of an approaching predator but of absolute emptiness. The silence had also come gradually, so much so even the Knight’s training hadn’t noticed at first. It felt like walking into a graveyard, and a shiver went up Asahi’s spine at the thought.

Blinking D’rian noticed when the plant life around them started to fade out. He glanced at the Knight, who looked over and shook his head slightly, as clueless as the wizard as to what was going on. Both continued on without talking, neither willing to break the eerie silence. The horses were incredibly nervous as well, ears flicking about everywhere, and only their training keeping them steady. Through the saddle it felt like their skin was crawling with unease as well. Too soon there was no more green left,

The woods tapered off, once again not in a natural way, but as if they had been blasted out of the earth. The two men could see where stumps were torn out of the ground, or the tops burned off. It was more damage than a normal fire could do, it looked like a massive explosion had ripped through the forest, and it scared D’rian to think of anyone having that much power.

“This has to be wizard damage. More than I could possibly do, I think. It would have had to be several working together, I just can’t figure out why.” D’rian spoke in a hushed whisper, his words easily carrying to his companion in the stillness.

“Wizards can truly do this much damage? I thought they could only manipulate things?”

“That is true - wizards can only manipulate, but it could be done. It would be a manipulation of pure energy, in this case, possibly combined by fire if these trees are any indication. Basically he would have pulled all of the energy out of everything around him, into a focus, and then sent it back out as a wave of destruction. It would be my best guess, given the trees and the lack of anything living in the area.” D’rian grimaced, thinking hard about what he was about to say next, but if there was any chance of the person who caused this still being here, Asahi needed to be warned. “To be honest, I don’t think it’s a wizard. I think it has to be a non-human. There are several species that can do what wizards do, only without the tools. The energy gathered for this much destruction wouldn’t be easily contained in a focus, it would have to be contained in the wizard himself. It would kill a human wizard, and most non-human wizards as well.”

Asahi was staring at him. “Do you think the person behind this is still alive? What kind of non-humans are we talking about?”

D’rian shook his head. “It is doubtful, there is a lot of damage. Unless it was done by more than one person working together. It would most likely be either a Fae, or a Drake - they all have the ability to do mage craft, although few on a scale such as this. Unfortunately I don‘t know much about either species“ He inwardly shuddered at this thought - he didn’t even know anything about his own heritage, only what he had been able to figure out on his own. He wouldn’t know another non-human if he tripped over them, such as the case with his own Gram.

“I don’t think we have to worry about Dragons. Or Darcans really. Most of the winged species got out of the country the second the law was in place, from what I’ve read. So we’re talking a were Drake or one of the Fae species.”

“There’s no way to find out, this is old damage, I wouldn’t be able to get a feel for whoever did this. Let’s just continue and hope we get out of the damaged area soon.” Asahi nodded his agreement and urged his mount forward. If possible, the damage seemed to get worse, the burned out trees giving way to blackened earth. D’rian squinted and looked forward. In the waning light, the ground above looked like it had recently rained, black and glinting. Both men were shocked when they realized the entire area had been blasted down as if lightning had struck.

They dismounted and wrapped the horses’ hooves. The ground was glassy and rough, there were jagged edges that could injure the horses and they weren’t about to add the extra weight. Both led the horses carefully over the ground, trying to guide their mounts around the worst of it. They also had to watch out for their own feet; the boots they wore were made for hard wear, but they still would tear on some of the glass-like ground. D’rian’s mind was still boggling over the sheer power needed to do this, and on a lesser scale, the reason behind the attack. Both were so concentrated at picking their way over the treacherous ground that neither was paying enough attention to the land in front of them. Asahi was the first to look up and D’rian felt his heartfelt cursing summed up the situation quite nicely.

tbc...