The Planes Walkers

27. Souls Whisper

Bright light woke Heyvl up as it blared inside the caravan. There was no hesitation in his stirring. He jumped up and shielded his eyes, only to see Coria standing at the entrance.

"Wakey, wakey you two," she said, still energized as ever.

"Is it time?" Heyvl asked. His throat was dry. He looked around from his canteen. He immediately began to hope that Jet had enough water with him out in the desert, if he was in fact out that way.

"That it is. The trafficking has passed and I have a good idea on how many there are. I need to get this information back to the Queen."

"Shouldn't we follow them though? Couldn't they have Jet?" Irina asked. She yawned and wiped her eyes.

"They could have Jet, but there still a strong chance he could be in the desert. We know the Emperor isn't slaughtering them, so we have time to reach him. We need to first get this information to the Queen, then we'll swing back at the Empire, hopefully with a force of men and women from the Kingdom and Lonava."

Heyvl agreed. He hoped that there were men and women gathering arms to support the Kingdom in its march to stop the Empire. Jet's story seemed to be coming to life once more, just on a larger scale. The Emperor must have been rebuilding the machine. He was probably using the Spirit Elementalists to power it. The idea seemed to slither out of his head.

"It's like his story," Heyvl said as he starting to think about it.

"What is?" both women asked.

"It's what is going on here and now. Remember in Jet's story? He mentioned the Emperor building a machine to gain power."

"But it failed," Coria reminded him.

"Yes, but didn't we see a large construction site north of Calbar? With the trafficking of that many Spirit Elementalists, the Emperor is sure to be trying to build the machine again."

"Just on a larger scale..." Coria muttered as she began to picture it too. "This needs to be told to the Queen. We have all the necessary information to prove that the Emperor is up to something dangerous, not just suspicion."

"It'll take weeks to get back to the Kingdom," Heyvl replied. He had hoped they would get to Jet sooner than that.

"Jet will be fine. Judging by the scale, the Emperor is expecting this project to take several months. We have plenty of time. Let's get moving."

Heyvl began to hear whispers in his ear. He looked around to see no one else there. "Your friend is as good as dead," the voice said. Heyvl shook his head to clear his mind. It was just negative thoughts clouding him.

Heyvl and Irina jumped out of the caravan and began to pick up what remnants of a campsite there were. It looked as if Coria had slept outside in the cold. She had a bedroll near the hill where she was scouting. Heyvl guessed that the trafficking had stopped sometime in the middle of the night, allowing her to sleep.

"I cooked some breakfast. Nothing too fancy. The soldiers on the wall are more aware, so I couldn't have the fire going too long," Coria explained. She had already begun to roll up her bedroll.

Irina and Heyvl looked at each other and shrugged. It wasn't like the food they had been eating on the way there, but it was food nonetheless. On the way to the wall, they had been able to have a fire going. Coria usually brewed some coffee to go along with the meat she would cook. There had been plenty of game on the way through the Empire, but today they were left with dried meat and toasted bread. Heyvl was happy that she did manage to brew the coffee.

They both ate quickly to avoid the discomfort of eating dry foods. Heyvl washed everything down with coffee. He didn't understand why the Kingdom liked toasting their bread. It just made it drier. Irina and Coria obviously didn't mind.

After Heyvl and Irina had finished eating, they worked together to load the supplies back into the caravan. Heyvl made sure to bury their fire pit in the snow. Coria had taught them to cover their tracks as best they could. The Empire soldiers weren't known for hunting or scouting, but they shouldn't be sloppy just in case.

The two of them then sat in the front next to Coria once everything was loaded. Coria had just finished caring for the two horses that pulled the caravan. Heyvl wasn't too comfortable around them, mostly because they weren't common in Lonava. Lonavians preferred walking, and that's the way he liked it. Being pulled by horses wasn't too bad. He was a distance away from them and didn't have to worry about falling off or getting trampled.

Coria took the reins and began to lead the caravan out of the small wooded area. It wasn't long before they were on the road once again. Heyvl sat on the right side of the bench. He looked back to the wall. He knew that Jet was either still beyond it, or they were following him in the traffic. A part of him wanted to stay. Heyvl felt that he could possibly get passed the wall and into the desert. But what then? He had no clue what he would do on the other side. He let out a sigh as he realized that it would be bad if he risked himself like that to only find that Jet was on his way to Calbar already.

It wasn't long before the wall was gone from sight. Heyvl decided to be quiet for the trip. He had to think of ways to better himself as a Non-Elementalist to defeat the general. There had to be a way. "You're weak. You can't defeat the Empire," the voice whispered. Heyvl wasn't quite sure, but he could almost see purple aura escape his fingertips.