Beacon by Kyle West

Author:Kyle West [West, Kyle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-03-25T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

We had gotten into the routine upon entering the Red Wild. Every day we moved a bit further east; some days we did only a few miles, such as during our time in the heavily forested Dagger Peaks, and other days we went much further. Three days after killing the deer, the trees suddenly broke, revealing a wide, empty valley that was mostly bare rock with small islands of xen, from which grew twisted trees. There were some high hills in the distance, but nothing that could be called a mountain.

Once we had gained some distance, I looked back to see peaks far behind us. It was hard to believe we had gone through all of that, but if Isaru was right, there was worse yet to come.

Seeing so much open, blue sky was a welcome sight. The air was cool, but not too cool, because the sun was warming the crisp air with its own heat. We crossed the valley in an hour, a distance that, if forested, would have taken us the better part of a day. We had to go back into the trees in the end, but I was thankful for any break in what had become the hard work of travel.

Fortunately, this seemed to be a different kind of forest than what we had gone through in the Dagger Peaks. The trees were taller, for one, and more widely spaced. A great many of the trees, the tallest ones, were Silverwoods, almost as tall as the ones in the Sanctum's Grove. Their sweet, familiar scent made me miss the place and everyone I had left behind. I was amazed by how many there were – we must have passed hundreds as we wove our way east. Isaru looked up from time to time, as if he expected there to be something in the boughs above. Indeed, from how wide and strong they looked, there could be someone living up there. Maybe it was wise to keep an eye out in all directions.

“The Northwood,” Isaru said. “Once we’re past this, Northold and the Pilgrimage Road shouldn’t be far.”

In time, the land became a bit rougher, though the spread of xen and widely spaced trees still meant it was far easier travel than the Dagger Peaks had been. We must have been entering those hills I’d spied hours earlier. Rocks rose from the xen, along with high bluffs that were thickly forested. We often saw signs of animal life – scat from something that could have been a bear, though there were no tracks left behind. Plenty of birds’ nests were placed high on the rocks, and more of those strange, quilled creatures could be seen, though I didn’t see any more in a tree.

“What are those, anyway?” I asked. I had never told Isaru about the one I had shot.

“That would be a porcupine.”

“Are they common in the Red Wild?”

Isaru laughed. “They’re just about everywhere. You can eat them, but they grow those spines for a reason.

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