Blood of the Sea, Chapter Thirty

Chapter 30: Pioneer

Astrophel

By the end of the first day of travel, Seri, Dionne and Astrophel raced away from the curve of the river which led east, deeper into mage territory, and instead ran south, following the coast. The J’korun run for several hours, their speed eventually flagging in favor of an enduring pace.

As the sun begins to fade, melting against the horizon, Seri calls for them to stop for the night. She slides down easily, riding obviously something that comes naturally to her, but Dionne and Astrophel, for all their time riding hydrurgas, have a harder time dismounting. Astrophel’s feet hit the ground hard, the height of his J’korun unfavorable to his sore seat and stiff, unsteady legs. Patting his J’korun on the neck, he makes sure to give the creature a good berth as he walks around its head, vaguely noting the way its ears track his movements before it snorts and moves off a short distance. Approaching Dionne’s side where she still sits astride her J’korun, her giggles fill the evening air.

“What’s so funny?” Astrophel asks, a smile upon his lips.

“I don’t think I can get down,” Dionne pushes some hair out of her face, “I haven’t had this problem with Ryju.”

“We do ride them a bit different, don’t we?” Astrophel asks, aware of how bow-legged he feels and offers Dionne his hands. “Here, slide down. I’ll catch you.” Dionne tips sideways, gripping his biceps as he catches her around the waist and she slides free of her J’korun.

Seri strides over to them, also smiling. “You could have asked them to bow or lay down. We teach all of our J’korun how to do so for easier mounting and dismounting.”

“Perhaps you can show us tomorrow,” Dionne says between laughter. “For now, the ground looks good to me.” Dionne lowers to the ground on wobbly legs, Astrophel sitting down with her and stretching.

Seri watches them, folding her arms over her chest. “You both did well today.”

“We stayed on,” Astrophel remarks, “I suppose that’s what matters.”

“It’s true. That is the first step,” Seri acknowledges, and they share a smile.

Fatigue pulls at Astrophel, his shoulders protesting from holding onto the J’korun’s mane so tightly. He lets his head hang back as he stares up at the sky, finding where his familiar stars are positioned in this foreign sky. The three moons, Albiorix, Eyidee, and Thrys gleam at him as night takes a hold of the air, cooling the wind brushing against his skin. He gestures towards the moons, a tired curiosity opening the gate of communication. “What do you call them?”

“Hmm?” Seri asks, approaching his side and glancing up, rubbing her arms as the chill brushes over her as well.

“The moons. Do you name them?”

“Oh, yes. Of course. The big one -” she points to Albiorix - “is Kuraken…”

“Albiorix.”

“Excuse me?” Seri startles, glancing down at Astrophel as he leans back, laying on the cool ground, his arms supporting his head.

Dionne interrupts, “The big one for us is Albiorix. The middle is Eyidee…” she glances at Seri expectantly.

Seri’s mouth forms an “O” of understanding and she clears her throat, “Riqhane.”

Dionne laughs, “That sounds like a mouthful.”

Seri smiles indulgently, the corners of her eyes scrunching with delight at this new game, “And Albiorix isn’t?”

Astrophel chuckles.

Dionne rolls her eyes good naturedly. “What do you call the small one, then?”

“It’s the childrens’ favorite. We call it Beloo.”

“Beluuuueeee,” Dionne says, drawing out the sound and erupting in giggles, fatigue setting in. She slumps back against Astrophel, laying her head on his shoulder

Astrophel says quietly, “We call that one Thrys.”

“Thrys,” Seri rolls the sound in her mouth. “I like your names.”

“They suit us,” Astrophel says.

“I like Beloo,” Dionne says, yawing around the drawn out vowel sound.

“I should get firewood,” Seri says quietly.

“Need help?” Astrophel offers, voice low as Dionne’s breathing slows and evens out at his shoulder.

Seri tips her head to the side, studying them. “No, it’s ok. Keep her company. I’ll be back.”

“Do they keep watch?” Astrophel gestures toward the J’korun.

“They do. They’re not only herd animals, but predators.” Seri shrugs, “They sleep for a few hours in shifts, taking turns.”

“I’ll sleep better knowing that. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Seri says. Astrophel turns his gaze back toward the stars, tracing over familiar and strange patterns in the sky as his eyelids get heavier. Seri’s footsteps fade and the J’korun shift closer. Soft rustling as the wind blows over the grass shushes him and his thoughts. Closing his eyes, he tries to imagine the wind through the grass is the sound of the waves against the shore. He shifts, holding Dionne close. Before he drifts off, his eye cracks open and he sees one of the J’korun - his gray-blue creature - staring at him. It’s different from Iska watching over him, but having spent the day astride such a creature, he knows its power, and closes his eyes, reassured about at least his safety during the night. He doesn’t hear Seri come back with the firewood; instead his mind transports him back to the beaches of Gytheio and his dreams are full of salt water and sand.

~

The smell of smoke and warm animal wakes Astrophel in the morning. Opening his eyes, he finds himself propped against a soft gray hide that appears almost black in the shadow of the J’korun’s shoulders: the sun not yet high enough to color both sides of the creature. The fire, he realizes, was built sometime in the night but had since fizzled out. Glowing coals cooling in a small pit dug in the earth. The wind shifts, no longer blowing the charcoal smell his way, and Dionne shifts from where she was snuggled under Astrophel’s arm. His J’korun’s muzzle lowers and the creature lips at his shoulder, prompting him to raise a hand and pet its nose. The J’korun snuffles and its muzzle grows heavier against his arm.

“Content, aren’t you?”

“I told you they bond,” Seri’s voice reaches him from across the burnt out remains of the fire. “Your J’korun will try to be your strength, and is most willing to carry you through hardships.”

“You make them sound rather intelligent. I’m used to this sort of thing with the ‘urgas, but…”

“It’s difficult with land creatures?”

“Maybe not difficult… but different.” Astrophel considers the J’korun, its eyes half closed, nostrils flaring with each breath. “I am so used to our lives revolving around the ocean, it’s… a change to consider that you have parallel lives to us, and much of what you do on land, we are used to on the sea.”

“Carts, boats. Your ‘urgas, our J’korun?”

“Something like that, yes.” Astrophel breathes out slowly. “Does this J’korun have a name?”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“He?” Astrophel considers the dusky colored creature. He imagines they could be quite nightmarish, if one were to find themselves on the receiving end of J’korun teeth. He also considers Seri’s words. They want to be your strength. “He does now; Tore.”

“Tore. I like it.”

Astrophel plays with one of his J’korun’s ears, “Do you like it, Tore?”

The J’korun snorts, rubbing his muzzle against Astrophel’s shoulder and scenting the air before the gray climbs to his feet and stretches, forepaws extending, claws pushing free of the skin and scraping at the dirt. Astrophel catches himself from falling over, his back support now gone. Dionne grunts, opening her eyes and blinking up at Seri and Astrophel. Her J’korun trots over, dropping its head to sniff at her face.

“Skai, hey, stop it,” Dionne protests, pushing at the mare’s face, “You’re gonna slobber on me.” Skai, the tan J’korun, finally moves off, rummaging through the supplies laying on the ground until Dionne scrambles after her, chasing the J’korun away from their rations.

The three riders share a quick meal of dry jerky and a fruit each; the sticky juices wash off when they drink from the canteen of water Seri thought to bring along, and they make their way further west, meeting up with a river and following it as the sun chases along the ground with them.

Along their trek, Seri makes sure to point out the elvryx herd they come across, the heavily armored bull colorful in its display markings, but intimidating in its bulk. They learn that J’korun will hunt elvryx in packs, but that Seri has heard it more common for J’korun to stumble upon an elvryx carcass left over by a Thralkin. Threskels are more suited in size to J’koruns, only needing a full-grown adult, or an adolescent pair to hunt one down.

The day passes more or less uneventfully, and at nightfall, they make camp; once more faced with a case of being saddle sore. More accustomed to their strange land mounts, Astrophel and Dionne find it more comfortable settling against their watchful creatures when it comes to bedding down for the night. The shared body heat and budding sense of camaraderie makes for a pleasant sleep.

The third day strikes early, the heat of the day already warming into the air - bright and hazy by the time they mount up.

The day grows hot quickly, and Astrophel sheds his shirt in favor of feeling the wind more readily as Tore moves under him. Squinting against the sunlight, and feeling a creeping sense of annoyance, Astrophel urges Tore up alongside Seri’s mount, Wind, and leans toward the other rider. “Where are we going, exactly?”

“We need to find Flykra and her Rider.”

“Right, but where are they going to be?”

Seri looks him over, her eyes flitting across his sculpted chest before she ducks her head and points out ahead of them, “They should be nested up by Greystones.”

“How much farther is that?” Having left the river’s edge late last night, the landscape they now travel is more sparsely grassed, with fewer trees which appear almost puzzled, twisted as they are, hunching against the wind rolling off the bluff. Tore lifts his head, lip curling back as he scents and Astrophel catches a hint of salt on the wind, quickening his blood. A bird cries out overhead, a sound familiar in meaning, if not in tone. “We’re by the sea?”

Seri nods, not looking at him, “Almost there.”

“Could we not have taken a boat?”

“A boat is an easy target for a wild Thralkin. You saw the bluish one Flykra chased off just the other day. It’s not safe off the coasts of Rhoyenn.”

“You make it seem not safe in a lot of places,” Dionne remarks, urging Skai on ahead as the pull of the ocean catches her in its net as well. Astrophel urges Tore on, and the gray-blue J’korun leaps to chase after Dionne’s tan mount. Joy buoys up in his chest at the thought of seeing the ocean again - feeling too much like a fish out of water, having traveled over land these couple days. He wonders if Iska had made a trip this far around the coast yet, or if she and Ryju and their pup had stayed closer to the ships.

The birds squawk and wail, the cries flitting over Astrophel in a mimicry of the sea-birds from Magellani. Above them all, however, the sound that pulls Astrophel screeching to a halt and sends the J’korun prancing to the side, is a roar which lifts over the land, claiming dominion over the living.

Over the top of the bluff, Astrophel can make out tall spikes of gray rock. Atop the rocks, a white head points in their direction, and a pair of wings lift behind it. Leaping into the sky, the white Thralkin shrieks, as if defying both gravity and the gods; its wings beat powerfully, a tail serpentining behind the creature as it glides in their direction. The creature’s shadow reaches them before it does, and as he shrinks from its path, Astrophel can easily imagine this being what chased away his ancestors. The sea holds a beautiful but deadly temperament, but never before had he compared a storm to a living being. If this is what the sky gives birth to, it is little wonder that they don’t extend their dominion over the earth.

The white Thralkin’s eyes lock on Astrophel, and over its - her - shoulder, he can just make out that which he would better believe in a tale of fantasy: a Rider.