The way to the Triforge Mountain pass was surprisingly one of uneventfulness. Or at the least, the first day of travel was. It consisted of following the Midpath out through the very outskirts of the Winterwoods, and that was Li's territory, completely harmless and under his control. It also helped that the Midpath was very clearly marked with glowing runes etched into the dirt to show where it flowed.
That night, at the very outskirts of the Winterwoods where the trees grew sparser and the vegetation thicker, Old Thane had gone hunting with the beastwon and Zagan because the two Rivieran brothers were not yet high enough level to deal with monsters in the fringes of the Winterwoods.
While the others were hunting, as Li breathed arranged a few incendiary seeds in a tight circle at the center of the pumpkin's storage space to create a neat and controlled fire, he had asked the two brothers of their future plans.
"I will make this very clear to you two," said Li. "You cannot travel with all the way. There will co a ti where the danger will be too great regardless of whether you are with or not, and the truth, though it may sound cold, is that I can no longer afford you the sa protection as I did when you were my followers."
The brothers nodded with good understanding. They sat cross-legged, inspecting their weapons on their laps to see if there were any imperfections before they had to use them to fight.
"We know, seer," said Mason. He always seed to be the more level-headed and rational one of the two, capable of tossing away his pride when humility was needed and understanding intentions with more empathy than his brother. "We do. We did not split from your following without knowing what we lost. That you even harbor us here for now is a boon of magnitude that we do not know if we can ever repay."
"If ever there is soone to repay, it will be Ivo. He vouched for you two to remain safe with until we reached the Hinterlands," said Li. He reached to the fire and pulled Tia back, for she had crawled dangerously close to the fire, looking at it with intent. She was always srized and cald by fire. "Tia, the fire is dangerous. It might not burn your skin, but if a spark gets in your eye, that might hurt."
"No hurt," said Tia as she drew back to Li's side, tilting her head from side to side in rhythmic motion, matching the dancing flicker of the fla. "Like fire. Warm. Warm like papa." She put a hand to her growling stomach. "When food co?"
"Soon," said Li. "It has only been half an hour. But we are still in the Winterwoods. I doubt that the beastwon and Old Thane will struggle much for finding at. If in ten minutes they do not co back, I will give you a snack from the pack."
Tia nodded eagerly, and Li made a ntal note to give so thanks to the owner of Lakeside Bounty, the higher end restaurant that he had freed from Chevrette's control, for they had heard of Li's travel and given him high-level and high end preserved and dried foods for the trip.
"We will not disappoint Ivo, nor you, good seer," said rcer. "As I have said before, when we make our nas great and known, we will have but praise for the good and great farr's guild."
Li was amused. "As I have said, I look forward to that day. That said, I do wish to know when you two will leave to journey on your own. I will guarantee you safe passage through the Triforge mountains and over the Shibboleth, but from there, you must decide on your own."
From the limited readings available to Li, he knew that past the Shibboleth – a massive fissure in the ground that split the Hinterlands from the main continent of Eldenia – the levels of creatures sort of 'reset', aning that monsters around the Shibboleth were quite strong, representing the apex monsters of both Hinterlands and Soleil, but past them, there were vast stretches of lower leveled territory suitable for the brothers to travel around.
"I have thought about this with my brother," said Mason. "And wish to know if you can carry us to the war encampnt of the Five Armies."
"That far?" said Li. "Well, if ever there was a safe place, I suppose that would be it."
Mason nodded. "And it is our hope that we may find so likeminded rcenaries or adventurers willing to bring us into their party. Strength is in numbers, after all, and for us to spread our na into the halls of Valhul, we must at the least survive."
"It was my idea that a two-man party would garner an even greater legend," said rcer. "Just look at Twin Winds. Twin brother and sister reaching the hallowed rank of Platinum watching but their own backs."
"Ah yes, brother, I understand that we too are descendants of Helius donning divinely blessed weapons and armor with all the tactical prowess afforded with a soulbound link," said Mason sarcastically.
"Divine armor this, divine armor that, divine blood here, there -all excuses, brother," said rcer. He thumped his chest. "For strength lies here. So long as our wills push forward, I've no doubt we'll reach greatness."
"Yes, and I can very much tell I will be the one keeping our hearts beating til' we reach that point," said Mason. "For now, little brother, we find n and won with fighting fire much like ours. And besides, were you not the one that wished to see Triple Threat?"
rcer crossed his arms. "Who would not? They are the greatest heroes of Riviera. Gold-ranked adventurers – the first Riviera has had in an entire century – and Jeanne, gods, divinely blessed with heroic might and the face of a goddess…" He trailed off, a little bit lost in fantasy.
Mason rolled his eyes and jabbed the handle of his sheathed blade into rcer's shoulder. "In a thousand years, perhaps, if by so miracle you beco immortalized deity, brother, you may have the thinnest sliver of a chance to win her heart."
"Ah, envious that I am the brother that took all the dashing good looks?" said rcer, and Mason shrugged in a 'I don't want to deal with this' sort of defeated manner.
"I can have you et them," said Li. "They are all kind at heart. I am sure they will be willing to direct you two to appropriate adventurers and groups of your ability with far more ability than I could, for I myself am not well traveled."
"Aha! I knew fate would lead to the golden maiden's heart," said rcer before Mason jabbed the handle of his longsword into the younger man's shoulder a little harder this ti.
"We are all too grateful to receive your protection and guidance to the heroes of Riviera, O good seer," said Mason with a short bow, and rcer, prompted by two sharp jabs, followed suit.
"It is certainly the least I can do for you two," said Li. "The way Westward will be full of dangers. Dangers that you two will now have to face with your own strength. I wish you two the best of luck, but in the end, luck is all that I can give."
"And luck is all that we need," said Mason.
"Luck is what has gotten us this far," said rcer. "No doubt it will continue to serve us further."
"If you two weak," said Tia matter-of-factly. "Then I can protect! Tia always make sure weak has chance."
Mason sat up, looking to Li with sowhat pleading eyes that had most definitely discarded any of the pride he had in thinking Tia was so weak child.
"No," said Li. "Tia, papa will not be with these two, so if you go with them, you will be away from papa. You won't like that will you?"
Tia nodded. "Papa right," she said.
"And I doubt these two fine warriors would want to rely on anyone other than themselves."
Tia looked questioningly at the brothers. "They strong?" she asked in utter disbelief.
Li looked to the two brothers. Surely, if their lives had aligned just a little differently, they would not have been on the streets, bereft of opportunity. They would not have been kicked out of their adventuring training. Who knew the potential they had. Or perhaps they had none.
Regardless, it was up to them to find out the answer.
"We'll know soon enough," said Li as he pet Tia's head.
At that mont, Old Thane and the beastwon ca back. Li could tell because the light emanating from the roof of the Vukanovi's hollow flickered a little from the old man knocking at the pumpkin's head.
Li willed the Vukanovi to slide open its head, and it did so by parting its rind from the stem in a smooth, controlled motion very reminiscent of an automatic glass sliding door. The sky above was dark and full of twinkling stars.
Old Thane leaped into the storage space, and the beastwon followed, with the Serpi being a little less dexterous and instead slithering slowly down the arc of the pumpkin's innards. When everyone was inside, Li willed the Vukanovi to close its head and begin moving again.
It moved with relative smoothness, though it was still possible to tell from a slight lurching that was comparable to being on horseback.
"Is that dinner?" asked Li.
"Aye lad, a northern classic!" Old Thane smiled as he slamd down the carcass of a freshly slain Frost Spider. It was almost as large as he was, and it sprawled out a hairy, chitinous mass with its eight legs curled up dead. A fist-sized indentation on the carapace of its head indicated what had killed it, though there were plenty of claw marks elsewhere on its body that no doubt contributed.
A large gash on its belly showed that it had been thoroughly gutted and cleaned, ready for preparation.
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