Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 3, Tah'Enar's Berth Ch 1
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 3 Tah'Ear's Berth Ch 1
Jasper went into the tunnel first, pulling a torch out of his pack and lighting it before he did. Although the starlight filtering down through the chasm provided them sufficient light to see by on the ledge, that light quickly disappeared in the dark confines of the tunnel. "Stay close," the rat offered, "Come on, Zeke." and he held his free paw out to the fox. Zeke timidly accepted it and followed him inside.
"I hope this all comes to an end and soon." Narissa murmured, following after the fox.
"I would agree with you, Lady Hearthsinger," acknowledged Dillan, stepping into place at the rear of the party, "But I would add the qualifying matter of it being an end I survive."
"Where do you think this tunnel leads?" the tigress asked of nobody in particular.
"It leads up." Jasper noted at length. He didn't have the slightest idea where they were going but he could tell that there was a distinct positive grade to the pathway.
"Safety." Zeke offered with confidence, his paw wrapped tightly around his glowing necklace. Little rays of light filtered through the fox's fingers, highlighting the underside of his muzzle and the front of his chest with eerie shadows, "It leads to safety... I'm sure of it."
"Well," Jasper nodded, "Hopefully it'll be the good kind of safety... I think I've had enough of the bad kind."
"I didn't know there were multiple 'flavors' of safe, Jasper." Narissa noted.
"Once you've lived a life full of danger you learn to appreciate how many kinds there are." the rat confirmed with a smirk, not bothering to look back.
"I've survived plenty of danger," the tigress objected, "and, at least as far as I can tell, either you're in danger or you're not, so that makes safety pretty singular in type."
"How long you'll be safe, what conditions there are to you being safe, exactly how much safety you can claim," the rat listed them off, "Honestly... you can't look at a burned-out husk of a hut in the middle of the Wild Lands and a nice inn within the walls of a Wayside and say they're both the same kind of safe."
"I wouldn't consider the skeletal remains of a charred building to be safe at all." she responded.
"Then you have a very closed-minded sense of safety." the rat smiled, his tail twitching in amusement. He would have continued the discussion but he stopped; at the edge of his torchlight a bricked-off wall ended their journey forward, save for the fact that it was adorned with a ladder leading up.
"Should we try it?" Zeke asked, his voice barely a whisper.
"Hold this." Jasper offered in response, and handed the fox his torch. Once the rat had a solid hold of the ladder he reached out and plucked the light source from Zeke using his tail. The Wild Lander scurried up the ladder with ease, pausing at the wooden trap door separating him from the room above. Letting out a steady breath, Jasper moved his tail to its full length to keep the torchlight from flooding into the chamber as he opened the trap door.
"Well..." the rat acknowledged, "this is interesting."
"What?" Dillan called from below.
"Come on up..." he noted, "it's safe."
Narissa paused for a moment, "What KIND of safe?"
Jasper smiled; the bard COULD be taught.
* * * * * *
Beo remained at the back of the group, gently massaging his neck. He was confused at Jerard's sudden outburst and the way in which the werewolf remained distant... the white furred magus almost acted as if HE had been the one who'd been nearly choked to death. Beo found that the confusion in the situation hurt the most. Pausing, the black-furred husky rubbed his throat-- on second thought, he realized, his THROAT hurt the most... but the confusion... THAT hurt the SECOND most.
The dog remained quiet, eyes alternating between the downward sloping trail and the confounding antics of Jerard the werewolf. At times it almost seemed to Beo that the other magus purposefully tried pushing him away and yet, at other times, Jerard held as tightly to him as a drowning man would cling to a large piece of drift wood. Beo knew what he wanted, but he didn't have the slightest idea what it was that Jerard wanted-- he wasn't too hesitant to say that even Jerard probably couldn't answer that question if put to it. Beo had half a mind to do so but, before he had summoned up enough nerve, Nori was quick to cost him the chance.
"We're not the first travelers to use this ledge." he noted.
"I thought you said earlier that the stone is new." Jerard hrumphed his assessment, "How could someone else have used it if it's new?"
"It isn't appearing in front of us, duh." Nori countered, "Someone passed through here sometime between when it was created and right now."
"So you're saying someone else is walking down this really big hole?" Beo questioned, "Well... I'm glad we're not the only stupid ones."
"It's NOT a good thing of they end up being our enemies." the ferret challenged.
"Right about now I wouldn't mind electrocuting some Sun Cultists." Jerard grated, cracking the large knuckles of his clawed paws.
"Just to be on the safe side," Nori glanced back at the two of them, "You two wait here-- I want to scout ahead without any City Dwellers giving me away." With nothing more to be said, the ferret continued silently forward, his dog Wyse ahead of him by several steps.
"Prick." Beo mumbled under his breath.
"Hm?" Jerard asked flatly, one of his white-furred ears swiveling back to face Beo.
"Oh... nothing... I just think he's a self-centered, egotistical little prick."
"Sounds like someone else I know." the werewolf grunted with a snort.
The comment put an end to Beo giving Jerard some space, "Can I say I'm sorry now, or should I wait?"
The albino werewolf turned to stare at him, pink eyes gazing intently, "Do you even know what you're apologizing for?"
"For being a self-centered, egotistical little prick?" Beo offered. Jerard snorted disinterestedly and turned away. Beo beat a paw against the wall of the fissure in frustration and tried again, "I'm sorry for telling you about me now... about the... stuff--" the husky flicked an ear, and quickly added, "which I'm not even sure is true!" he began wringing his paws together, "...but... what I mean is... I should have said something sooner... I guess."
"You guess?" Jerard turned to face him again, a hint of anger in his gaze but, for the time being, the werewolf kept it in check, "Did you even stop to think that the fact that you might-or-might-not be able to give birth is something you should have told me BEFORE I might-or-might-not have done something to get you pregnant?"
"I... uh..." Beo shirked back a little, his ears falling as he felt his entire body blush, "wasn't really thinking about that at the time... I was kind of focusing on your paw wrapped consensually around my neck and, I mean, Goddess... you have the biggest co--"
"And what happens if you are, then?" Jerard challenged, "Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don't want kids?"
Beo shirked away a little more, "Do you?"
Jerard leveled his gaze at the husky, "Isn't that a little late to ask now?"
"Hey!" Nori called to them from below. The ferret was a good distance away, yet he somehow managed to let his whisper carry the distance. Without a word, Beo glanced down to where the Wild Lander was. "There's a cave..." the Wild Lander pointed out a faint dark recess in the side of the cliff. "Get down here." he directed.
Only too happy to put the discussion with Jerard on hold, Beo followed the werewolf down to where Nori stood. As the ferret had noted, a man-sized opening in the rock identified the entrance to a tunnel leading-- Beo sniffed at it-- he didn't know where it led.
"Four people went through there." Nori motioned.
"Assuming your skills at tracking on solid stone are any good." Beo chided pointedly.
"Wyse can smell them." the Wild Lander stated flatly, apparently unwilling to rise to the bait, "And there are two more continuing on down that path."
"They split up?" Jerard reasoned.
"Nah." Nori shook his head, "The two heading down have a lead on the others... I don't think they even know about each other."
Beo watched as the werewolf glanced down the tunnel then peered over the edge of the ledge. Jerard straightened back up and regarded them both, "Well then, I guess we have a choice to make..."
* * * * * *
Cymbelisiev was content to walk in silence behind Roarg Stoneclan; he realized that the badger had a lot to consider. Although the dragon didn't have the first-hand experience of being a Paragon, Roarg was not the first one he had met. He didn't envy the badger the title nor the position, but one thing he lamented more than the rest was the thought that Roarg didn't know what the trip into the Berth would mean... or do.
After nearly twenty minutes of silence, the dragon in dog guise finally spoke, "Tell me about your family, My Lord."
"There isn't much to say at this point." Roarg responded with a sigh, "I had a twin... a sister, but she died at birth. My parents raised me here-and-there... I still don't know why but we never stayed in any town for long until we got to Bannihar." the badger placed a paw against the stone wall and it ripped at his touch; he didn't seem to notice. "I was in my early teens... old enough to be apprenticed. They sent me to the quarry one day to ask after a labor job to help bring in some coins."
"You come from a long line of mason, do you?" the dragon asked pleasantly.
"No." Roarg answered, and he chuckled, "Stoneclan was a name given to me by the masons who took me in."
"Took you in?" Cymbelisiev raised his ears and an eyebrow.
Roarg nodded, but didn't bother looking back, "After checking around the quarry I returned to where my parents had been staying, but they were gone..."
"I am truly sorry that you had to experience such hardship." Cymbelisiev spoke genuinely. It was another side effect of being a Paragon, the dragon knew, but he also realized there was no way he could explain it to the badger without pouring salt in already bleeding wounds.
"Life's full of hardships, Cymbeline." the badger shrugged casually, "I came up with a saying a long time ago: measure your life with smiles, not with trials."
"So... you mean to say that you would rather count the good things than the bad?"
The badger chuckled, "You could say that, yea... I suppose it's more polite than saying 'focus on how many bridges you walk across and not the number of rivers of shit you have to ford'."
"You are an amazing man, Roarg Stoneclan." the dragon-in-shepherd-form acknowledged, "I am honored to say that I have had a chance to meet you."
The badger grinned and glanced over his shoulder, "YOU'RE honored? You're not the one who got to meet a dragon."
Cymbelisiev could not help but smile himself; the badger's expressions were obviously contagious, "I would dare say that there are far less Paragons than Dragons, My Lord... I believe I am the lucky one."
"I didn't know there were ANY dragons left." Roarg admitted.
"Some." Cymbelisiev acknowledged, "Though I would wager there will be less of us after tonight." he slowly let his gaze fall from Roarg's face when the realization began to settle upon him; he'd said too much.
"After tonight?" the badger stopped, "Why?" he asked, "What happens tonight?"
Cymbelisiev closed his eyes, "The culmination of millenia of separation." he answered, then elaborated as simply as he could, "The dragons converge on Zion-- we have all chosen our sides."
"Sides?" Roarg asked, his fur starting to stand on end, "What do you mean, sides?"
"You are at the center of a carefully woven masterpiece, Roarg Stoneclan. Many designs made up of countless threads come together here... very soon... and for many of us, our threads may end tonight."