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Taking a moment to thank everyone that has nominated Cobalt for the Fiction Awards!
It's not about the competition at all. It's the simple fact that you guys are nominating it for anything. Taking the time for that really means the world to me, so thank you from the pits of my black heart, as always!
And Cobalt is #69 in adventure, you guys know what that means...
Nothing. It means nothing.
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Every passing hour was more brutal than the next. The endless trail dragged time through its mess of leaves and searing heat like a shriveling snail. Káel was almost hoping one of the circling griffins would spot them hugging the side of the trail, but the thick canopies overhanging the path kept to Vera's plan.
They weren't getting caught with Vera in the game.
The only thing that had even remotely kept Káel awake was his grumbling stomach, and the strange games they played to pass the day. Even with the energising berries Vera had on her, time still crawled to nightfall, and the new game was on him, so he went with one of the only ones you could play stuck on a freaky reptile horse.
"Never have I ever been on a worse road trip," Truvius muttered, watching Vera's nose scrunch as she grabbed a single leaf of grass she had bundled in her palm and stuffed it in her mouth.
Káel caught Truvius' gaze, silently shaking his head. This was the worst one, by far. But Truvius was still looking at him instead of the trail, forcing Káel to finally click in that it was his turn.
"Never have I ever..." Káel skimmed the empty trail. "Ran away from home."
Vera snorted, grabbing another piece of grass to shove in her mouth.
That wasn't surprising in the slightest at this point.
But, after some hesitation, Truvius grabbed a piece of grass from his stash and ate it, ignoring Vera's cocked eyebrow as he nodded at her. "Your turn."
"Never have I ever gone camping and everyone forgot to bring food."
"That's not fair," Truvius grumbled, shoving another leaf of grass in his mouth as Talli and Vera took theirs.
Káel didn't grab a piece for himself, still feeling the bitterly sweet stalk from the last one he'd tried to chew down. It was almost intensifying his hunger at this point.
As he caught Vera's stare, he popped a half done shrug. "I brought snacks in my suitcase, that counts."
"I hate you so much right now," Vera growled, making sure her eyeroll was big enough to be clear from Káel's distance.
"Well I didn't ask you guys to follow me, alright?" Káel snapped back. He didn't know if it was the hunger driving his emotions up a wall, or the heat that still managed to slither through the shade. Maybe it was even his crotch, screaming for him to get off the unsaddled Equaam before he could never sit comfortably again. Something in the list had pulled all his straws by afternoon, and Vera was playing on the final one.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Vera hissed, tugging on her Equaam's ear to stop its trot and stare down Káel. "Do you even know why we followed you?"
"Vera..." Truvius sighed, tugging his Equaam to stop beside her.
Káel gave her a dead smile. "Because you made everyone?"
She lifted her chin, grinding her teeth to keep from snarling as a flush of red leaked into her cheeks. "Truvius called me in the middle of the night, hysterical. I bet you know what happened, from your perspective. But from his, and ours, you left a vague note about quitting in the middle of the night, you left Puff, and just a couple hours before you cut your arm open in front of us." She shrugged, motioning to her surroundings as her voice lifted another notch. "Now I don't know, maybe skat like that means something else on your planet. Here though? That's the exact crap that makes your friends check on you to make sure you didn't throw yourself off the side of the school!"
Káel couldn't hold Vera's stare for longer than a second, her eyes alone had a way with simultaneously stabbing his heart and dragging the rest of him into a sinking pit. Nothing stopped her from being blunt, and from the way Talli and Truvius avoided his gaze in the silent circle, she hadn't spoken her mind. It was a unanimous opinion.
Káel could still feel the heat of Vera's gaze blazing his right side, cursing the screaming silence around him. He had eaten his words, and would turn back time to escape this conversation. "I... didn't mean it like that. I told Truvius that it was to get the tracker out of my arm..."
Vera's tone somehow took on even more of a growl, the flames of her presence thrashing to a stilled rage. "Don't you dare blame Truvius for this."
"I wasn't blaming him! But I told him!" Káel retorted, nudging Truvius' shoulder to catch a stiff frown from his roommate. "I told you, right? I told you it was an act to get out of Samanthra's office and keep Phantom safe!"
Truvius didn't budge, his voice dipping to a whisper that Káel could only hear. "Actions speak louder than words."
"What you did wasn't some brilliant way out," Vera snapped in, booming past the parched croak in her throat to fill the path. "But you know what? You're right. You didn't ask us to follow you, you forced us to. I for one, am not going to risk a guilty conscious for the rest of my life because you got yourself killed running around on an alien planet. So thanks. We're all going to Fairez Stella now. You'd better hope your uncle is there, or I'll drag you back to Cobalt myself."
"She's right you know," Phantom muttered, walking alongside the mount to keep at Káel's side. "You didn't send a great parting message."
Káel bit his tongue before he got another beat down, breathing out a sigh to stare at the ground until Truvius nudged the equaam to keep moving. Carcinos had almost dipped, so they would be at the border in a few hours.
If they didn't die from hunger, thirst, or Káel's own stupidity.
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Time ticked faster as Káel replayed Vera's words in his mind, a strange rumble in his lap finally pulling him from staring at the ground. Puff was now awake from his small cat nap, his head raised and nose twitching to sniff the air, while a deep growl buzzed in his throat.
Vera somehow caught the action as quick as Káel, tugging at her equaam to stop again as her body perked with caution. "What's wrong Puff?"
The dragon backed up right against Káel, his fur on end as he flatted his ears down in fear, letting out a whimpering warble.
"He says there's dogs," Phantom translated.
Káel tilted his head. "Dogs?"
Phantom shrugged, sharing Káel's confusion as the small dragon slipped off the equaam and scrambled into the nearest bush.
Vera ignored Káel's curse mutterings, leaning back for Talli to whisper something in her ear. Whatever she said seemed to suck some of the blood from her cheeks, Vera putting a finger to her lips before Káel called Puff's name and mouthing for him and Truvius to dismount. They cautiously obeyed the command, Vera smacking Truvius away from trying to lead the equaam as she ushered them off the trail.
As soon as their feet hit the dead leaves and dirt, a pitched howl echoed through the forest, trailing into a laughing yip that was answered by the rest of the strange pack of canines.
"Stay low and move as fast as you can," Vera whispered, huddling everyone close to Káel so the forest didn't snap at them as they moved through the shrubs.
"Why are we running from dogs?" Truvius muttered, stubbing his foot on a root and stopping the whole group as he collected himself.
Vera checked her shoulder, her lips thinning as their view of the trail was blocked. "Not the dogs, the people that own them."
Truvius' whisper took on a harsher tone that gave it an unflattering pitch. "I thought you were joking about the bandits."
"I was," Vera replied, waving for Truvius to duck lower as they moved. "These are dragon hunters."
"The ones that had Puff?" Káel muttered, the whole group freezing as another yipping howl echoed, closer than the last. He opened his mouth to continue, but was cut short by another sound.
Voices.
"Stay still and don't talk," Vera whispered, her lips continuing to move with a silent string of spells as another yip rang through the air.
Káel could hear the leaves crunching as whatever dogs the dragon hunters had with them jumped off the trail to prowl the terrain. They were free from the whipping wrath that the forest greeted people with, large enough for their raspy pants to already be audible, and from the sound of it, dead on their trail.
Careful not to make a single sound, Káel wriggled his fingers into his pocket, feeling the thread-like chain loop his fingers as he worked the whistle into the palm of his hand. The crunching was all around them, whatever spell Vera had cast barely distorting the forest in a small bubble.
Káel felt the cold metal press against his lips, not as brave as Vera as she kept her eyes over her shoulder at the approaching creatures. He lingered in his position, weighing the risks of using the mysterious whistle against trusting Vera's quick spell to keep a pack of dogs from finding them. There wasn't much they could do to control their growling stomachs, or Truvius' suppressed pants.
A crack came from his right, a rugged brown paw the size of his own hand frozen to the spot. Without thinking he let out part of the breath he was holding, every inch of his body jumping at the sharp trill that echoed into every corner of the forest and beyond. His mind flurried to panic, eyes darting across the four sets of eyes staring him down as he quickly sucked the whistle into his mouth. Vera was at the end of the line-up, mouth hanging as she clenched a handful of leaves like it was Káel's neck.
A rough growl came from the dog to Káel's right, his heart thudding as he rose a little in preparation to book it if things went south. But things didn't even have a chance to gradually go from bad to worse, a whistling arrow tickling the tip of Káel's ear as it whizzed by and planted itself in the dirt a couple feet away.
Vera's enchantment easily shattered with the projectile, cracked into fine dust that settled into the grass around them. A sharp whistle was soon to follow, stopping the dogs around them from leaping at their exposed backs.
And all at once their fears were realised by the sound of a booming voice.
"There you are!"
Káel didn't dare to move and prompt them to loose another arrow. Waiting for the man to continue.
"Hands up, walk over here slow. I guarantee we'll down at least one of you if you think of running."
Káel quickly went through a mental list of hope in his head. Things were south, but he had Phantom. He had Puff, Truvius, Talli's crazy strength, Vera... her just as moody phoenix. He had a possessed blade shoved into the rim of his pants, and a necklace with a temper for people laying a finger on him.
Before he knew it, his subconscious fear had him on his feet, hands in the air alongside his friends as they slowly turned to a pack of half a dozen wolf-sized dogs.
It was the moment that Káel felt his feet obediently moving to walk towards the small handful of men on the trail, that he really realised what it was. Everything around him was useful. Everything around him had a place for even the smallest shred of hope.
He was the only odd one out.
"No funny business, I don't want to see your lips moving," the man boomed, now close enough for Káel to see his smirking face.
The dragon hunters weren't rugged, or matted with dirt and blood like the movies. Not nameless thugs who's personalities shone with the stupidity of a punching bag. They were people. Taller, stronger, and hugged with cleaned leather armour and a halestorm of weapons. Experienced.
These finer details made it all the more terrifying for Káel as he continued to walk until the man motioned him to stop just a few feet away.
The man looked along the line of frozen people, his smirk breaking with a soft laugh as he stopped at Káel. "Kids, huh?" He dipped down to lock gazes with Káel, his hazel eyes sending a shiver right up his spine. "Cobalt?"
Káel shakily nodded, tensing as the man reached up and ripped down both his sleeves, moving along to Truvius and ripping his sender off to crush it in the dirt. He did the same for Talli, seeming to stop a little as he met Vera's burning scowl.
"Nice equaams."
"Keep them, we stole them anyways," Vera spat, keeping her frown stiff until the man reached for her sleeves. Before he could even brush the fabric she snapped a kick right between his legs, digging her nails behind his ears before he could buckle over and driving her knee into his face.
The defensive enchantment lining his skin shattered at the impact, Káel and Truvius jumping back in surprise as Talli dived for the man's belt, snagging his small dagger to lock him in a neck hold with the blade pressed against his throat.
"Drop your weapons or we bleed him!" Vera barked, the fire in her eyes fading a little as one of the other hunters stretched their bow to aim the arrow at her face. "I'm not playing."
"I don't care, bleed him on the trail, this will go nicely between your eyes," the bow wielding man snarled, stepping Vera up to the edge of the trail as he ignored his struggling companion.
"Quick Káel! I know a very explosive spell," Phantom cut in, waving in front of his face to break his trance of fear. "It will cause enough of a distraction to book it!"
Káel barely registered the words, still fighting himself on if he could use insanctious on more than one person. The thought was looping without relent. He couldn't collect himself enough to think, his breaths shaking as one of the other hunters approached him.
He quickly raised his hands again, paling as the hunter squinted at his face. "What's he got in his mouth?"
The hunter tugged at the chain, pulling the whistle out without a fight to dangle it in front of their friends. The intricate object didn't hold the same mystery for the hunters, fear seizing their faces as the one holding the whistle thrusted it back at Káel.
"This real?" He didn't even wait for Káel to stutter out a response, dropping the whistle in the dirt as he turned back to the group. "Get the dragon and go!"
Puff perked at the order, scurrying away from the first hunter and rolling away from a small net another one shot. Káel didn't know why the Puff was still on the trail, dead in its center with a full forest around him to escape into.
Stranger still, he stopped a few meters away, cringing in the middle of the flatted path with a pitiful whimper. Scrunched up to hide as if there was a pillar in front of him instead of a pocket of air.
Káel quickly realised it was more than empty space. A distortion moving in front of the dragon that quickly filled with colour. Black leather armour wrapping a cloaked man that stopped the hunters in their tracks with a single look. The familiar stranger from Soren's shop paid his guests a chilling smile, dancing a dagger across his fingers to a slow beat of doom.
His voice was soft, yet still managed to fill the trail with ice. "Go where?"
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Quality Quip #48:
'Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.'
~ Abraham Lincoln