The days following the eclipse were relatively peaceful. Prād took over the cooking and bread making, Stuart volunteered to temporarily run the tap room with Sanjaya keeping the books under his supervision. Rumors of the haunted house had spread like wildfire and Jack had had to post a guard full time to prevent children from sneaking in.
Most of the villagers had attended Bill and Tercia's funeral, it turned out that they had been well liked, especially Tercia. Sanjaya noted from the eulogy was that Bill and Tercia had arrived in town three years ago with considerable wealth and a wagon full of goods - along with another man who had departed shortly after. They had immediately built the riverside inn. Apparently Bill used to be a seafaring merchant and came here to live out a quiet retirement. Sanjaya had no inclination to pry further.
About two weeks later, Sanjaya sat in Jack Slate's office after tallying the proceeds of the final shift. The days were becoming colder and the mining operation was beginning to see diminishing returns. "The supply wagon is late," the captain voiced his concern. "Usually it comes once a fortnight, but its already about a week overdue. I need to report the situation and get the help of a priest. If the wagon doesn't arrive within the next few days, I'm going to send out some men to see what's going on."
"Could it just be the winter?" asked Sanjaya, he sincerely hoped that it was nothing more than the weather, but, considering recent events and his reason for coming to this isolated village in the first place, he had a nasty suspicion that there was more to it.
"Unlikely, the iron is important to the Veil of Stone and in the past, we've never had this much of a delay."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're sending men to the Veil of Stone, that means they will be going past Dragon's rest. Dragons rest has a huge library and one of the biggest Sun temples. I've always wanted to visit that library and I'm sure we could sell the jewelry that we salvaged, and possibly get the services of a priest there. If you're sending people that way, I'd like to accompany them."
The captain gave Sanjaya an appraising look. "I hope that you will come back, you are doing a great job of managing the warehouse. Initially I didn't know what to make of you, coming here with those strange claims, but your words turned out to be true and you have shown yourself to be intelligent and reliable."
"Thank you, I do try." Sanjaya felt flattered. The gruff captain rarely gave compliments. "I don't intend to leave town just yet, I still have a lot of reading and understanding to do with those books I got from the temple, and I am not currently sure of the state of the rest of the country. Remember the reason that I come here. However, I would rather not pass up this opportunity."
After Dinner, Sanjaya called Prād up to his room. "The supply caravan hasn't come and we are sending some men to the Veil of Stone investigate. I intend to go with them as far as Dragon's Rest. Elhandriel, would you like to come with me or stay here with Prād?"
Before the pixie could answer, the monk spoke up. "I would like to go with you. I came out for life experience and I am learning a lot from Karya, but I do want to see more of the world."
"That shouldn't be a problem, we are leaving the day after tomorrow."
Elhandriel's eyes lit up. "Are there real dragons in Dragons Rest?"
"Yes," Sanjaya smiled. "Dragon's rest is famous for three things: It has a huge library, wizards and scholars come from all over the world to visit it. It has the kingdom's most opulent sun temple, it is said that the deity is made of solid gold and it has the Dragon's Rest inn. The inn is built inside the remains of an actual dragon and sells its specialty 'Dragon's Breath' whiskey. It is very expensive and only successful wizards, nobles and important merchants can afford to stay in town.
"So its a dead dragon." The pixie's face took on a mischievous expression. Sanjaya could almost see the cogs in her mind turning as she gleefully rubbed her hands together.
"Just remember that not all humans are good or even friendly and a lot of them will be much more powerful than we are. I promised not to restrict your freedom, but just be careful to whom you reveal yourself. If a powerful noble decides to capture you because his servant saw you, there's not much I could do about it."
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Breathe in. The fresh, crisp smell of morning air, a hint of baked bread wafting from the inn. Snow on the mountains and a thin layer of frost on the ground. Prād enjoyed another breath, his muscles warm from his morning training. The donkey brayed as a cart, loaded with a fair amount of iron was hitched to its harness by two soldiers. He observed silently as Sanjaya added his backpack and a canvas sack which probably contained books and Elhandriel's bed. The pixie was nowhere to be seen but Prād guessed that she was already on the cart somehow, so he took another breath, closed his eyes and focused on his hearing and the feel of his ki, trying to sense her. The mutterings of the men and snatches of final orders. The donkey snorting. Birds tweeting, the cackling of a hen as it laid an egg. A nearby presence, footsteps. Prād opened his eyes and was surprised to see Amelia approaching him. She had been with them when they raided the temple and regularly bought bread. Her long brown hair was braided and her lithe body wrapped in a fur coat. "Please come back safe." Her face flushed slightly as she pushed a small leather pouch into his hand. Prād was stumped. He had no idea how to respond. He stared mutely at the pouch, the fur soft to his fingertips, then up at the young women. She was already backing away.
"Lets go Prād," came a voice from the cart. He turned to see Brax, the soldier wore a wide grin on his helmeted face.
"Amelia," he called. The young woman froze and looked back, her brown eyes meeting his. He knew her name. "Find Karya and ask to see the garden."
With that the group set off. Two soldiers: Stuart and Brax, Sanjaya, Prād and a stowaway pixie hidden somewhere in the luggage.
It was a slow walk at donkey speed towards Dragon's rest, they had estimated that it would take about day and a half to get to there. When they stopped at midday for a lunch of bread, butter, cheese and honey sandwiches that he had packed in the morning, Prād opened the leather pouch that Amelia had given him and shook its contents into his hand. It was a claw the size of his forefinger, fashioned into an amulet by a silver fastening and a plaited leather cord.
"Nice girl that one, " commented Brax around a mouthful of bread. "Looks like a claw from a wolf that she and her pa hunted. Biggest damn wolf I ever saw. Now don't go breaking her heart."
Prād examined the token. He wasn't sure what to do. He appreciated the gesture but didn't feel enamored by the idea of bits of a dead animal hanging off him. "I don't think I'm ready for a relationship. My Guru said that I must be very careful of women and make sure that they don't draw me down a path that I don't want to walk."
Brax was about to take another bite of his sandwich when he suddenly stopped and stared. The bread had turned green. "Are you seeing this Stuart?" he asked the man next to him. "What?" The sandwich had turned back to its normal colour as though nothing had happened. "I swear my sandwich turned green."
Prād hid a smile. It looked like the pixie was introducing herself and he wasn't going to spoil her fun.
As evening drew near and the winter chill set in, the small band set up camp. Sanyaja lit the fire, cheating a bit with magic when the others weren't watching. Prād collected firewood while Brax and Stuart pitched crude tents. Soon, the smell of a fresh pot of Prād's vegetable stew permeated the air. The soldiers had wanted to add some of their smoked ham, but Prād was vegeterian.
"Why don't you eat meat?" Brax asked, cutting some chunks of smoked ham into his steaming bowl of stew. Prād shrugged. "We don't eat meat at the monastery because it means killing innocent animals. We are allowed to eat meat if there is no other food, but why kill if you don't have to?"
Sanjaya spoke up. "I can agree with not killing on principal, but in the winter the animals will starve unless we feed them and there is not enough food to go around. You eat milk and cheese, but we wouldn't have those things without cows, and cows need to breed to give milk. Surely it is better to slaughter one or two animals so that everyone can eat than to let the whole herd suffer a slow death."
Prād looked thoughtful. "Maybe you are right, but there is enough for me to eat right now. I am also told that eating meat disturbs your mind and makes it more difficult to meditate. I don't know, I have never tried. You will need to ask my guru if you want better answers."
After dinner, they flipped a coin to determine who would take watch. Sanjaya lost on all accounts, so he wound up with the midnight shift. The soldiers took first watch and Prād volunteered for the early morning duty.
Sanjaya sat stoking the midnight fire and reading one of the books that he had retrieved from the temple. This one detailed a ritual that would allow a priest to commune with their deity, receiving answers and directions. The intricacies escaped him and there was no way that he could perform such a ritual at present. This was at least fifth circle magic. Preoccupied by his reading, Sanjaya failed to notice the disturbances in the environment - fortunately though, he had set a ward.
As the mental ping went off, Sanjaya looked up from his book, careful not to make any sudden movements. He saw a hideous humanoid creature approaching the camp on all fours, sniffing the air. Its long rope-like tongue hung from a maw full of needle sharp teeth, dripping saliva. Its gray flesh covered in filthy clothes.
"Intruder!" yelled Sanjaya as he released his only offensive spell. Bolts of pure condensed ether pierced the horror, causing putrid, rotting blood to ooze from wounds that would have killed a normal person. As it staggered from the assault, Sanjaya cast his quickest spell, channeling a significant portion of his raw magic into his legs, he boosted his running speed and fled as the creature lunged over the campfire to the spot where he had just been.
The soldiers emerged, bleary eyed from their tent, weapons in hand to see Sanjaya being chased by a twisted person. It was running hunched over, sometimes on two legs, sometimes using its clawed hands, its face locked in an expression of hunger and hatred. Prād rolled out of his tent, immediately ready, as though he had not been sleeping at all and launched himself at the abomination, quickly closing the distance and striking a glancing blow on its back as it chased Sanjaya with dogged determination. It completely ignored him.
Sanjaya was careful not to run too fast. The spell allowed him to push past his natural limits for a time, but his body would pay the price. Seeing the soldiers with ready weapons, he darted between them and spun around to see his assailant butchered by steel longswords.
The horror collapsed to the ground, twitching, huge gashes rent its body soaking its now shredded clothes with thick, dark blood, its tongue lolled out like a limp tentacle.
"What the hell is this that thing?" asked Brax, running his sword through its throat for good measure.
"Its wearing clothes, and decent clothes at that," commented Stuart.
Sanjaya leaned against the cart, catching his breath while Prād tried to calm the squealing donkey.
After a moment of heavy breathing, Sanjaya went to examine the corpse. It looked as though it had been human though its features were grotesquely twisted. It even wore a simple gold band on its elongated ring finger. He cut off the finger with his dagger, removing the ring to examine it. No engravings or distinctive markings. He handed it to Stuart. "Whatever this is, it used to be a married man. I think we may have found why there hasn't been a supply caravan and I'm not liking our chances."
"Our orders are to find out what happened," said Stuart. As Jack Slate's second in command, he was in charge of the mission. "We'll go at least as far as Dragon's rest and take it from there. Ugh, that thing just twitched again. Lets chop it up and move camp." The idea of an invisible pixie poking the creature's head was far from the realm of Stuart's possibilities.
The soldiers had barely slept at all, so they broke camp and travelled another half hour down the road before choosing a spot to rest. Sanjaya and Prād had both slept a few hours, and were now wide awake, so they passed the final watch together each performing their own form of meditation.
"I think Brax is nice," came a small voice from Sanjaya's knee. With the soldiers asleep, Elhandriel had dropped her invisibility. "But I don't like Stuart. He is always thinking bad things. He doesn't want to be here and feels like he is being punished. He thinks that he should be the captain and that he is being sent away because Jack wants him dead."
"You can read minds?" asked Sanjaya. The pixie puffed up her chest. "Of course. Now that I have pixie dust I can do all sorts of things. I have to cast a super-secret pixie spell to do it and I have to focus, so I can't be invisible, and he might notice but yeah."
"Interesting, I'd like you to try that on me some time if you haven't already." Sanjaya was always keen to learn, he had already made great progress on the detection spell.
"Of course I haven't," said Elhandriel indignantly. "That would be very rude and you'd definitely notice anyway."
They broke camp as the sun rose and continued plodding down the rough road. As they crested the final foothill, they could see a glint of light reflected off the dome of the Sun temple. Dragons Rest was in sight, and there was no smoke coming from the chimneys....