OathBlade (Wattys2015)

6. ...They'll Always Come Together Again*

Morning came with the sounds of vendors crying out their wares and flocks of white-winged neldreds resting in the high places of the city. One sat outside Elery's window. Its claws scratched at the sill as it searched the crevasses for food. Its shrill warble clamored in her skull and she covered her ears, rolling to the side and bumping into another warm body.

Cylphi lay on her side with her arms curled around her traveling pack.

Elery reached over and brushed her fingers gently along the dry streaks along her companions cheeks. Then she leaned down to briefly press her lips to Cylphi's forehead before standing from the bed. Her armor was again piled neatly atop her own traveling pack, but she didn't move toward it. Instead she left it in the corner and walked to the window, throwing it up and knocking the neldred from its perch.

The creature, roughly an arm's length, fell from the sill and opened its wide feathered wings. As it tucked its humorously small arms and legs against its slim body, its long neck twisted to enable it to look back at her. Tiny red teeth flashed in the sunlight like barbs of polished metal as it opened its beak and shrieked in protest, then flew away over the heads of two young girls carrying sacks of food below the window.

With the irritating creature silenced, Elery scanned the city in greater detail than she could have in the dark. Wood and stone buildings sprawled across the land. Tented booths lined the wide main street heading up to the Duke's mansion, with vendors trading wares and services among passersby.

A broad rivers curled through the city, leaving some areas accessible only by a short boat ride to the other side. A few fishing schooners drifted where the river opened into the ocean, and other boats lay in permanent docking areas along the shore, acting as fishing shops. The sister moons, united once again in their orbit, were still barely visible over the water. She watched them sink ever so slowly as if retreating into the water to rest.

Elery took a deep breath as a cool, damp gust of wind rushed in to blow her hair back. She caught the scent of brine. The moist air left her skin feeling slightly damp. Though she wondered if that wasn't in part a result of having gone without a bath in over two days.

She turned at the sound of a soft groan from her companion to see her eyes flutter open. "Good morning."

"M-morning," Cylphi murmured. She let go of her pack and sat up, rubbing her arms. "I'm—"

"Come here," Elery waved. "You can see the Duke's demesne from here."

Cylphi bit her lip again, though this time she smiled as it quivered. With a hurried scramble of her thin limbs she moved from the bed and hurried over to look out over the vista. "Wow." Her voice quivered and the small muscles of her jaw shook.

Elery put an arm around her shoulders. "Everything's fine. You're right. I know killing them won't bring the ones who've died back to us."

"And you're right, too." She wiped her eyes, watching a flock of neldreds fight over a few dropped fish. "Bethgardel won't stop now that they know we're weakened."

"I don't intend to go in alone," Elery said. "I'm sorry if I've made it seem that way. I'm just...very focused on making it to the Dark Forest right now. All the rest of it can wait." She walked to her pack and retrieved the last set of clean clothes she'd packed. "Did the madam give you the key?"

Cylphi nodded and walked to a whitewood dresser near the door, opening the top drawer to retrieve the aged silver key. Elery grabbed a dozen coins from her pouch and tucked them in the pocket of her tunic.

They left their belongings in the room and their key with the tavern keeper, then walked across the road to the bathhouse. Warm steam greeted them even from the foyer. It leaked from under the wide curtain beside the desk, where a white-horned man sat thumbing through a leather-bound book. As they approached he set it aside and held out his hand. "Two hundred."