Book 1: The Whispering Cairn - Chapter 5

The group waled at a steady pace; Shidé lead, being the only one knowing the way. For a few hours they talked idly, taking the opportunity to get to know each other. Zadkiel kept his answers to questions of himself fairly cryptic, seeming to not be comfortable discussing his past just yet.

Kagami was very talkative, and seemed to enjoy the sound of his own voice. He had a lot of breath for someone so short. Shidé and Narr listened to it all, saying little. Ielena was enjoying the walk, having not been able to get away from the garrison for several weeks, aside form patrols through town.

About an hour away from the cairn, Shidé stopped, looking into the brush to their left. Narr looked at him slightly puzzled. "What is it?"

Shidé raised his finger to his lips, signaling they should be quiet. "We have company..." he said softly, "Two wolves. They've been following us for the last thirty minutes." He slowly readied his bow.

The rest peered into the brush, trying not to alert the beasts. Kagami also readied his crossbow. Kagami loosed his crossbow's bolt only a split second before Shidé loosed his arrow, and there were two simultaneous yelps about a dozen feet off the trail as both missiles hit their marks. The wolves bolted away, and on the opposite side of the trail three more ran. Shide and Kagami glanced at each other, a smirk on Kagami's round face. Ielena sighed slightly "Wow, a whole pack was on our trail..." she said, somewhat surprised no one else had noticed the animals sooner.

They continued on, arriving at the cairn about an hour later. The stone entryway had no door covering it; it stood ten feet high and the same across, with the 'door frame' about a foot wide all the way around, crafted in a simple Grey stone. About halfway up each side, bands of what appeared to be simple geometric designs running horizontally along, into the cairn. Kagami wasted no time trying to get a better look at the designs. His brow furrowed in mild concentration as he examined them. His wife looked at them beside him, admiring the artwork.

Kagami's thoughts were racing, as they usually did. Hmm... these designs are not as simple as they appear... I know that combination of symbols there... where have I seen it before... His eyes widened in realization. "Aha..." he whispered under his breath, "Auran... language of air..." No one seemed to hear him, and he couldn't be bothered to share the info yet. He made a mental note to craft a Scroll of Comprehend Languages when they were back in town to assist in further study.

Shidé pulled a small notepad from a pocket with a small piece of sharpened charcoal and started sketching as they slowly walked into the entrance. Not far in, the passageway branched into two small 'guard posts', one to the left and one to the right. Ielena and Shidé stepped into the short, left passage while Zadkiel and Kagami went to the right. the passages were short; Kagami and Zadkiel took one step in and found the passage completely barren.

Ielena and Shidé found a small bundle of old, brittle cloth at the end of the left passage. They crouched down, trying to examine it without actually touching it for fear of damaging it. Narr leaned over them, curious what it was they had found. Small wood shavings littered the floor around the bundle, which was the size of a halfling or an older child...

(I will be finishing this post as soon as time permits.)