Cythera Chronicles: Quest for the Shard II

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May the nineteenth

Talm penned in his well-worn journal, which was nearly full. Its once green cover was now stained a ugly brown, and evidence of more than one drop into the mud was clear.

"We’ve arrived at the southern coast, just west of the great swamp. We are chasing one of the more promising leads on the whereabouts of the fire crystal. According to the rumor, told to us by a rustic living outside Kosha, a strange black monolith stands in the crater of the smaller cinder cone at Land’s End volcano. While most people dismissed the man’s story as having been caused by his overindulgence in wine, I feel we must consider the possibility. We are but a day’s hike away, and I feel this may be the single most likely thread we’ve followed so far."

Talm closed the ragged tome, and placed it into his pack. He surveyed the camp. Melia was awake, cooking up breakfast over the fire. Velgen was still asleep, he was, by nature, not an early riser.

Talm stretched his arms, and wandered over to Melia. He looked into the kettle brewing over the wood fire. Stewed Lizard. Again. Titans and Unicorns hardly ever came this far south, but if there had been any suitable game, they’d be eating it - Melia was among the best hunters around.

Talm sighed, and turned south to the beach. The sun had risen an hour ago, but it was all but obscured by the dense coastal fog. Talm reasoned that if the fog ever let up, they’d be able to see the ethereal void from here.

On the beach, a dozen small birds pecked at the wet sand, trying to find some smaller quarry. Then, a wave would come, and chase the birds away momentarily.

Melia’s voice interrupted his observation. "Breakfast’s ready!" she said.

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Velgen wolfed down the stew, and was eating his third bowl. Melia and Talm were still ‘relishing’ their first servings. Ratlizard had a very gamey, almost musky, flavor. The texture was a bit better, but it was not all in all something Talm considered good eating. Wolfie, Talm’s pet, sniffed the kettle in disgust.

"It’s nobody you know, not even a wolflizard, Wolfie!" Melia told the concerned, green animal. Still, Ratlizard probably smelled something like Wolflizard, and Wolfie may have been concerned that his future job would be dietary supplement.

Melia finished the bowl of stew with effort, and sat the bowl down. "Do you think we’ll make it to the crater today, Talm?" she asked.

"Oh, I don’t know. I’d think so," he replied.

Velgen spoke up. "As always, Talm, you’ve underestimated the difficulty of moving in the back country. Besides, we’ve never climbed a volcano, I doubt anyone has. I’d say it will take us a good two days!" Velgen finished, and returned to his soup.

"No, I can’t see how it will take two days, the trail has been clearly defined so far," Talm countered.

Melia, regretting she’d asked in the first place, swiftly changed the subject.

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The troupe had decided to follow along the beach to avoid the wiles of the forest. Wolfie ran ahead of the group, in a futile attempt to catch sand birds. A cold, misty wind blew across the sand, picking up some of the tiny particles and flinging them through the salty air.

Ahead in the distance, the could barely make out the outline of the volcano against the fog. Land’s end was an active volcano, and its top was ringed by an almost ever-present cloud of sulfurous smoke.

Talm felt that this was the last best hope for finding the crystal. He hoped he wasn’t wrong.

[This message has been edited by moderator (edited 01-07-2002).]

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