Pieces of Eight

Chapter 10

"Spread out. Search everywhere."

"What of the dragon, sir? What of Tehraiza?"

"Are you questioning orders, whelp?!"

"N-no, sir."

"Good. Now get your ass into that woods and find your General!"

"Sir, if he's managed to escape the temple, why would he be running away from us? He must know we're here, why wouldn't he head in our direction?"

"That's a good question, boy, and you can ask him yourself. Now get moving!"

"Sir, what if he's bewitched?"

"Not even Tehraiza, that accursed woman, can control people's minds, now you leave off!"

"But sir, if he isn't bewitched and he isn't coming back, that means he'll have others with him. Are we to fight Tehraiza's mages?"

"For the sake of the gods, all of you get moving! And if you encounter the General plus some of Tehraiza's own, I damn well expect you to do whatever needs to be done!"

"Do you trust us to act as we see fit, should we encounter mages?"

"I trust you to know what awaits you should you fail."

***

"What was that?"

"It was Rumble, relax."

"Aldebrand, that was not a wolf, and you know it."

"Perhaps it was Sable, then, Mimi, I don't know. Where is your damn cat?"

"In her basket, where she has been kindly and unobtrusively remaining silent the entire ride."

"Suijin? Haizea?"

"Baskets, too, Aldebrand."

"Hmph. Ila?"

"Perched on my saddle."

"Damn it to hell. Can you see anything?"

"Not so far. I dare not send the breezes too far, in case they have mages among them. They'll be able to track the magic right back to us."

"Damn it all to the fiery depths of hell. Haizea?"

"The grass in our immediate vicinity has heard nothing: no footfalls, no jingle of armor, no stomp of shod hoof other than our own. Like Ila, I hesitate to send my magic too far, lest it be snared by another."

"All well and good, but how much warning are either of you giving us?"

"A good hundred feet."

"The same for me."

"Harrumph."

Areli listened to the ongoing exchange with his eyes closed and the reins slack, letting his little bay horse follow the others in the group. He was a sweet horse, and a smart horse, he'd figured almost immediately. It didn't take much more than ten minutes for the Gryphon to trust the steady gelding. The stable lads and lasses had earned a good tip, if he ever saw them again, Areli noted ruefully; they'd chosen well for him. It didn't trouble him at all to lean on the horse a bit, close his eyes, and focus on his breathing while in the saddle. The horse simply plopped along with the pack, not bothered by anything. Moments like these, when the pain swamped him and took his breath away, he was able to rest, for which he was eternally grateful.

The mages were currently bickering about the safety of their group. Aldebrand, a bull-headed fire-bending man if Areli ever met one, wanted Ila and Haizea, the two women gifted with wind and earth talents, respectively, to expand their screening of their surroundings by tapping into their elements. The women refused, on the basis that sending out magic much farther would alert any mages that might be in the area, and enable them to lock onto their signatures and trace them to the party's exact location. Suijin, the gentleman who could wield water, had been largely quiet on the matter, as had Mimi, but Areli almost wished they wouldn't. Perhaps then Aldebrand would consider himself overwhelmed and overruled and would shut the hell up.