The Land of Green and Gold Part II: Silence

Chapter 30: Highdale

On the other side of the flames stood a city like none Griffin had ever seen before. Roads made of raised brown stone provided paths through the sand. The oddly-twisted rocks they had seen earlier stretched and curled into the air; a forest of bare-limbed trunks, stiff and heavy upon their sandy bed. Massive, tubular branches connected this desert forest on varying levels, causing the path where Griffin's group walked to become cross-hatched with shadows. Griffin reached out a hand as they passed by one of the immense stone buildings, fingertips brushing its surface. The red-brown rock scraped coldly against his skin.

 "Where does that go?" Solar asked the guard, pointing to a doorway in one of the giant stone towers. A dull brown cloth had been hung up in the hole to act like a door.

"The upper markets," the guard explained shortly. She continued guiding them through the streets, unwilling, it seemed to elaborate.

"There is more than one market here, then?" Griffin pressed.

The guard glanced at him, eyes narrowing. "Yes."

Griffin frowned. Why is she acting so suspicious? It's just a simple question...

"So what's your name?" Khopesh asked. The new spriggan grinned, as though a joke had just occurred to him. "Unless you'd rather us just call you 'hey you'."

"It's Amber," the phoenix replied without bothering to turn and look at Khopesh.

Griffin's frown deepened. Rude.

"Hey, Jolt—I think your hair's on fire," Solar suddenly pointed out.

Jolt touched his spiky blond hair and a small flame flickered as his hand passed through it. "What flame? I don't feel any—wait. You have one too."

Griffin followed the phoenix's gaze to find that Solar did indeed have a small flame resting upon her head. A glance at the others showed that they bore flames as well.

"This is your doing, isn't it?" Jolt accused, glaring at Amber.

"Jolt," Griffin growled warningly.

Amber returned Jolt's glare. "That's your protection, blörtus."

Jolt's hand erupted into flames. "What did you call me?"

Oh, great. I should have left him back with the others.

"That's enough, Jolt." Griffin waited until the phoenix extinguished his flames before looking at the guard. "What do you mean by protection?"

Amber settled her burning red eyes on the Moonlight Band leader. "Being followers of Wild, you are protected by your alliance with our Lord. I marked you with those flames so that the citizens of Highdale know not to touch you. Can we keep going now?"

Griffin nodded and the phoenix immediately turned to walk swiftly down the street, making the others jog a little to catch up.

"Be careful," Ash warned quietly, coming up alongside his leader.

"Do you think there's something she's not telling us?" Griffin wondered.

"I don't know, but she clearly doesn't want us here, and I don't like how she phrased her answer about the flames."

Griffin nodded, mulling this over. "We'll grab supplies as quickly as we can, then get out of here. Hopefully nothing bad will happen."

But then that means Cold and I will have even less time to find the location of Alderin. Griffin glanced down at the black bracelet on his wrist. Should I try to call Wild? Maybe not...he might not know. If he had known, he would have told me by now, right? Griffin looked around at his band and the scattered Highdale civilians watching the foreigners pass. I can't really call him out in the open like this anyway.