Espha and Lunhlia arrived in the middle of the day at the top of a cliff overlooking the forest, the slope was sharp and descended to the ground in sharp crevices, its summit was a gigantic plateau, composed of a greyish rock that reflected slightly the sunlight.
At this altitude the wind seemed to reign supreme and with it the air had become icy, only the stones offered a little comfort by their heat acquired during the day.
The camp had been built in the center of the plateau, giving a breathtaking view in normal times, it was primarily a strategic choice because it offered the opportunity to flee in case of attack.
All that remained was a tent of a purple canvas whose structure was composed of dark, polished wooden beams.
The roof girder ended curvature like the front of a boat and there were five pink rhomboid crystals as a prow, of which a big stat in the center and 4 small the size of a coin was turning, in rhythm by an invisible force around him.
Two curtains gently lifted by the blast of the wind to form the entrance to the tent.
There was also a scepter that supported with twisted rods in dark metal like ivy, an opaque orb made up of all the colors of a rainbow set with the same mess as the stars in the sky.
A small campfire was extinguished between the orb and the dwelling. Traces on the ground showed that there had been other dwellings there recently.
Lunhlia grasped the scepter more forcefully than needed, the orb reaching hers face.
Espha approached her to admire the jewel.
"What is it?" Asked the Pakerjer.
"It's an orb of communication, and if my teammates have left, they still left me a message inside."
The jewel reacted to contact with the hand of the Urlh, an illegible handwriting for Espha appeared in blue and seemed to move like waves, fading one after the other to make appear the next.
"We leave to join the capital on the order of the general, the monsters are attacked and at the time when you will read this message you will have to make a choice. Either go back now and save, or continue the mission alone which would be pure madness. In both cases the city of Dartrax is protected by a field of magic force that let only the Urlh enter, you will be safe there. "
"Ask them if they know the current situation of the city of Kijirzel," said Espha.
"Of course, i was going to ask them if they know anything about your city," she replied.
Orange letters appeared along the line drawn by Lunhlia on the orb in the same way as the previous ones, and disappeared in their turn.
After a short moment a blue answer appeared.
"The Pakerjer City is also on high alert and has withdrawn its troops from other peoples leaving them to deliver to themselves"
Espha was puzzled for a moment to thought about what to do, to return home with hers family was to give up the Gereh to their fate.
A sound of falling rock rushed through the air, drawing her from hers thoughts, she went to lean toward the void to see where it came from.
Lunhlia let her go, intrigued she had heard nothing.
Espha looked pensive as much as possible to look at the rock face, there was some stone wedged between the walls of the furrows that could have fallen thought she, before returning to the Urlh.
"What is it?" Lunhlia asked.
"Nothing to report, I thought I heard something."
What she had not seen was that on the other side, a pack of creatures called Bargass climbed the wall with thick claws on the four long paws.
Their noses were a solid block that ended in a point with layers of black scales like carving in volcanic rock, which went down to a jaws armed with sharp fangs.
They possessed green eyes that resembled those of the dragons and their broad heads lined up with their spines giving them a panther look.
The rest of their musculature was a powerful neck, massive silver shoulders reminiscent of battle armor, and an agile tail with a fluid movement that opened like a rudder.
Lunhlia noticed them advancing with calculated steps, jumping from rock to rock making the stones creak with each other, she counted in all 4 beast.
The Urhl released hers scepter by surprise, which fell producing a metallic noise that made her jump a second time, failing to break the orb into pieces.
"Espha we have surprise guests." Said she gesturing at them, trying to sound calm.
The animals began to grunt the attention of the Pakerjer.
"It's me they want, it's them I sowed before I met you, I knew they were determined to follow me everywhere, but from there to climb that cliff," she said disconcerted.
Espha pulled out hers sword with one hand and pointed it in their direction.
"I'm counting on you to cover me," she said as she left without waiting for an answer.
Lunhlia positioned hers hands in front of hers mouth like a funnel, knowing that it would not be enough to be heard.
"We could go back with a plan," she said in the wind.
Annoyed at not being listened to, Lunhlia kicked the scepter for a swearing oath. She immediately regretted her gesture, now obliged to turn her bell while holding the tip of her shoe to alleviate the pain.
She pulled herself together for a moment, then put one knee on the ground to trace a runic pattern on the ground while talking alone.
"She will have her support, the last time I did this spell I was temporarily banned from training camp."
While Lunhlia was busy completing her work of art, Espha Calm and attentive had managed to position the Bargass in an arc facing her so as to be back to the void and was about to fight back.
The Pakerjer with her wings back, scraped the stone with the tip of her sword, advancing briskly, then seized her weapon with both hands, cutting the ground deeply into a curvature, producing sparks and a strident sound, her movement gained strength and in speed as she rushed off.
With the sword drawn from the ground drawing an arc in the manner of a fan that opens by lifting a sheaf of stone blinding the Bargass, the blade sent waltz the one to the left of Espha.
The sword ready to go, Espha strode forward to circumvent them, she turned one quarter the edge of her blade to get rid of another Bargass in a powerful and fast returned, twirling her hair.
Her blow had produced a small gust of wind as it cracked the air.
One of the remaining creatures jumped up and roared on Espha, who had the reflex to deliver a sword of armor from her left wrist to its head, sounding for a moment against a rock.
The last remaining creature had the temerity of approaching and was knocked down with a thrust like its colleagues.
Espha's sword had ended in a rock, exhausted and suffocating with cold air burning her throat, she tried to remove it by waving the guard, but the blade would not go out.
The Bargass, who had been sounded, had risen up, showing ferociously all its fangs.
This time it mowed down a load on the Pakerjer's leg on the ground. Espha grabbed its jaw, struggling to stop its mouth and keep it wide open, making her feel its hot breath while grunting at her.
From her side, Lunhlia had completed her magic circle on the stone that illuminated by the touch of her hands, a fiery spear came out that she moved over her with an arm movement.
A Bargass who was much bigger than the others, with shoulders and blue eyes, had appeared behind the Urlh roaring, it must have been their chiefs, she thought.
Lunhlia went back and forth between Espha, who was fighting there, and their chiefs, and reluctantly made up his mind.
"Come and fight!" Said she to the attention of the huge creature.
While the leader raised its paw, Lunhlia threw the javelin directly and she touched it on the chest. The creature fell from the cliff while yelling.
The magician jubilant internally in the face of her power.
On the over side, Espha put her last strength into a punch that freed her from the monster and stood up, her arms numb, to remove her stuck sword.
The Bargass had seen her do it and forgetting its mistake jumped on her.
The creature fell to the ground, only to stay Espha the raised sword that blew a big blow and split the air to clean the blade before putting it in its sheath.
She sat back to the rock, allowing herself time to catch her breath.
Lunhlia joined her, stepping over the stones, and looking at the markings on the ground left by the confrontation, she crouched on tiptoe and leaned on her knees to support her head with her hands.
"You've been damn brave," said Lunhlia smiling, admiring and compassionate to reassure her.
Espha hesitated to answer, but she ended up looking at her with a sigh.
"You did not help me," she said reproachfully.
Lunhlia stood with her hands on her hips slightly outraged at her response.
"What?", She replied, gesturing in the air to help find her words.
Lunhlia did not know what to say because she was not totally wrong, but Espha did not know she had to face their leader.
After a silence class she ended up tired of thinking to justify herself.
"Yes, if you want". She nodded, sticking a hand to her face.
Espha saw her go without turning, she got up to join her, the hair of the Pakerjer was tousled and her wings dirty with dust, nevertheless she kept looking great.
Lunhlia was searching at the tent’s back in a pile of magic paraphernalia she did not spare the objects throwing one by one behind her without paying attention to Espha.
"How are we going to help the Gereh?" Says Pakerjer.
The Urlh stopped for a moment to answer her.
"We? Do you include me in your quest? "
"This is not the case? Maybe you prefer to go relax in your city, "she replied with a joke.
"Of course not," she said, getting up very cheerful.
The Urlh handed her a red ribbon, which she had kept in surplus in case.
"Hold it's for you, your hair must annoy you while you're fighting."
Espha accepted it by thanking her and took the time to tie it to make a ponytail taking only the hair from behind the head, leaving strands falling forward.
She looked like a warrior.
Lunhlia and Espha came out of the house, the Urhl took the scepter and threw it into her tent with the same great care as usual, then caught with one hand the immovable crystal hanging on the beam and slowly the construction disappeared in a burst of a thousand small floating orange lights, which returned to the crystal, the small crystals that turned stopped and fell to the ground.
Lunhlia put the crystals in her purse, she was ready to go.
Both flew towards the city named Elos, which was the capital of the Gereh, and they arrived at nightfall at the entrance.
At this time of day, everyone could observe a grayish planet near Faeris that occupied as much space in the sky as legend in this world.
The visible part appeared 10 times larger than the sun due to its proximity and never represented more than a quarter of its actual area and remained on the horizon.
This view as well as shooting stars was not a rare sight. Its light had always illuminated the nights of this world and people had named it Korn, the inaccessible land.
