Chasing the Sky - Part 3

Asura tout their waypoint technology as 100% safe 97.8% of the time in effectively transferring a creatures or items from one place to another in almost the blink of an eye. That’s what Shelby once swore she heard about them anyway. She had a white knuckled grip on her bristleback’s lead as they and Cynric blinked away from the Pact landing where airships docked. That time between disappearing and arriving was what no one really spoke about, a dangerous time caught in a web most failed to understand. Corrupting energies in unstable places made waypoints particularly dangerous and yet, there they were.

“Shelby…”

Her name sounded so sweet, so tenderly spoken that she closed her eyes so she might better hear it again. It was gentle and familiar, the whisper warming a carefully guarded part of her soul. The rhythm of speaking followed her name, that same gentleness infusing it even as the words blurred indecipherably. It was simply the song of a siren now, one she felt all too willing to follow off a cliff.

It was a roar she heard as her knees went out from under her, Pumpkin’s distress and agitation cutting through the fog that had overwhelmed Shelby’s mind just as Cynric caught her to keep her from falling. He’d forgotten how bird like she felt, light yet strong as she rubbed at her pale freckled face with both of her hands.

“I forgot how hard these are on you. I’m sorry,” Cynric apologized as he supported her. His voice was low, a murmur that reached her hearing just beyond the din of the charr dominated camp that surrounded them. Something in his voice was so familiar that she flinched with pain and made to move away from him so she might stand on her own. There was no time to linger on her troubled mind and Cynric’s confused reaction. “I’m fi—” she barely worked out before several charr marched their way, their attention on Pumpkin as the bristleback remained looking about to shed spikes at the nearest target.

“Is there going to be a problem?” the largest of the trio growled as they approached. He towered over Shelby and Cynric easily, his broad shoulders blocking the sun as he awaited their answer. His armor was entirely utilitarian and colored in the same rich browns as his thick fur, his amber eyes piercing as he measured up the newly arrived group.

Shelby reached for Pumpkin’s lead, her own attempt to answer cut off as Cynric stepped forward.

“Ruddick Gnarlclaw, right? Cynric Feldstone, from the Priory,” Cynric began with raw efficiency. This was no time for flashing smiles and showy manners. Charr had their own ways, and he did not wish to misstep. “We’re heading out to help the group dispatched to assist Gorrik with his current studies. I’d spoken to Graia Silverstrike at the Pact outpost, and she said there would be a mount to be borrowed here?”

The massive charr considered Cynric for only a moment. He let silence linger when he instead stared at the bristleback who was slowly lowering his spines and settling as Shelby gathered her wits by his side. “Taking that thing with you?” Ruddick asked, jabbing a clawed thumb Pumpkin’s way.

“Of course. He’ll make no trouble here. She has him under control,” Cynric quickly answered before Shelby’s sharp defensiveness could raise hackles.

“He doesn’t look under control,” the female charr to one side of Ruddick grumbled through her fangs. Ruddick shot her a sharp look and a growl before his attention was once more on Cynric and Shelby.

“Head out the east gate. You’ll see the ropes and ladders to get you where you’re headed,” Ruddick finally allowed, for now reasonably certain these particular humans would not disrupt the camp’s operations.

“My thanks. We’ll be on our way,” Cynric answered, hooking an arm through Shelby’s to all but drag her and Pumpkin away. Shelby stumbled after him gracelessly, pack almost spilling until she got her footing to keep up with his long strides.

“He’s not likely to eat a charr for fuck’s sake. Asura? Probably. A charr?! He’s hungry not stupid,” Shelby blurted as they headed for the camp’s gates. Not long in their wake they heard a snort almost like a chuckle. Shelby looked back over her shoulder to see Ruddick folding his arms across his broad chest as a smirk of amusement crossed his gristled features. “Right. Leaving,” she muttered as she hastened her steps all the more.

The landscape surrounding the charr held camp was stark and unforgiving. Harsh rock faces with little vegetation to relieve the barrenness jarred Shelby as they set out on the path Ruddick had indicated. She could see sparks of brandstorms flashing in the distance but only passing clouds overhead when she dared look up.

“Cynric…”

The man stopped and Pumpkin soon after, the group gathered just outside the fortified gate as Shelby stared in confusion at the sky. “Kralkatorrik is dead, yeah? I … I thought I saw his wing as we flew in?”

“Oh, he’s dead. A lot of complications and echoes are still around but he is in fact quite dead. Why?”

“Does he have children?” Shelby asked, her gaze fixed on the sky overhead.

Cynric, growing amused, edged to the side of the path as he observed her expression. “There was his child Glint, of course. And there were Glint’s scions, first Vlast then Aurene, her only children that we know of.”

“Aurene, I’ve seen her far in the distance before I think… Is.. This can’t be her, I swear I have seen three of them now!”

Pumpkin snorted, either aggravated at the pause or at the exchange. One could never be sure with bristlebacks. Cynric meanwhile stepped closer to Shelby while she remained so focused on looking up.

“This is why I brought you here, Shel. They’re related to dragons but they’re not true dragons. The prevailing research says they came through from the mists when Kralkatorrik tore the rift open and fell here. The asura researching them call them skyscales,” Cynric explained, his hand lightly against the small of Shelby’s back to encourage her to focus on where they were going again. She startled a little at the touch, her wide-eyed expression so hard to read when she looked up at him instead of the sky.

“For real and true? You’re not toying with me?” she asked, a subtle waver in her voice as he turned them towards the rock walls surrounding them.

“Would I have brought you this far just to tease you about something like this?” Cynric responded, though he barely finished speaking before he looked chagrinned. “Don’t answer that,” he hastily added. “No Shel, I’m not joking. They can be as docile as springers and are amenable to riders. That’s where we’re going now. It’s the safest way to reach where they’re doing research.”

“To see the researchers?”

“No, to get on a skyscale you daft girl,” Cynric responded with a lopsided grin as he stepped forward to reach for the first rope ladder, testing it for strength and surety.  

It was Pumpkin that gave Shelby pause amid her shock and excitement. The bristleback stood there in agitation, obviously unable to climb sheer rock faces. He shifted his significant weight back and forth in dismay, his bristles rising and falling before Shelby reached for his head and began to push.

“Look,” she uttered low to the beast. “Stay in the valley. Stay low and out of sight. I will be back for you, I always am,” she vowed, pointing ahead to a sheltered place far from the camp that could be easily overlooked for a time. “Stay away from the charr, whatever you do,” she added strictly. The bristleback growled and bit back a roar, throwing his head before he turned his back on the pair for now as Shelby sighed.

“C’mon Shel, we’re going to lose what daylight we have,” Cynric gently encouraged as he climbed to the first ledge on a swaying rope ladder. Shelby laid a hand on Pumpkin’s side before she tied her backpack more firmly in place and hauled herself up after her friend.

Climbing was not a favored sport for the duo. They managed to get to the first ledge with little trouble but the second was a much longer climb. They did have a small argument about Shelby’s backpack, one that almost came to blows before sheer practicality ruled the day and they tied it to a rope to haul up after them. Shelby begrudgingly had to admit it was an idea that spared her a lot of struggling as her arms began to shake halfway up to the second ledge.

“You got this Shel, I’m right here,” Cynric encouraged, his voice strained from his own exertions. He had barely gotten himself up onto the second ledge when he turned and wavered.

“Shelby, I need you to stay very still. Don’t climb any higher and get your feet as solid as you can on that rung…,” Cynric said slowly as he remained near the edge of the outcropping.

“What’s going…”

She did not get to finish her sentence when she felt something push against her backside, knocking her free of the ladder and sending her arms pinwheeling through the air as she tried to catch hold of something, anything that could break her fall. What she had not expected was to find a broad, twisting horn nor the feel of fiery breath on her feet as she landed seated atop a foreign creature’s head.

“You’re both late!” laughed Talira from the skyscale’s back, the dragon-like creature’s broad wings flapping slowly before it settled with its claws dug into the stone Shelby had been climbing not moments before. Shelby flailed, sputtering and clutching onto the creature for dear life as Cynric laughed with relief.

“We’re not late you’re just early!” Cynric replied, starting to haul Shelby’s pack up so he could snag it as he waited for Shelby to get to safety. Talira winked at Cynric as she guided the skyscale up to the top of the plateau. It landed with a deceptively light touch for so large a creature and lowered its head so Shelby could safely climb to the ground and leave its horn freed from her grasp. 

“It looks more bristleback than dragon, look at its mouth! Its feet! I must have been injured in that waypoint this cannot be real,” Shelby gushed, her voice low and eyes wide as the dark scaled creature sniffed at her curiously and huffed a puff of smoke at her.

Talira chuckled as she shook her head. “Just you wait!” she said before she urged the skyscale back into flight, diving and returning to collect Cynric and their packs from the ledge below. The familiarity he showed Talira as they landed on the plateau left Shelby awkwardly looking away, her gaze straying down to the valley below where she swore she could see Pumpkin tucking away into the shadows as she’d suggested.

“C’mon Shel, climb on and let’s go! Did you bring the stuff you used with the wyverns? I think that is going help the best if they let you work with them,” Cynric said as he reached out a hand for Shelby to climb onto the skyscale behind him and Talira.

“I think so…,” Shelby answered, pensive and uncertain as she took Cynric’s hand and got onto the beautiful beast’s back. She held fast to Cynric’s tunic as they took flight, the experience as terrifying as it was thrilling since she was unfamiliar with the beast they rode. She felt like she was holding her breath the entire time, blindly trusting the journey.