There wasn’t much of a trail, the Greenway had headed into the woods and slowly dwindled away.  Every so often Keto what she thought was a trail stone, but it had been sometime since she had seen even that.  That hadn’t stopped Quartes, the landian pushed on with his usual certainty.  Though with kindness enough to pause and stop branches from smacking back at her as they passed.  Before they had entered woods she was sure she’d seen the top of the Migin’s lonely mountain off to their right.  Which meant that they weren’t heading there.  North of them was Koric and within the northern province there was Kol Tailen and the Dragon everyone knew resided there.

Keto ducked under a drooping branch and when she straightened realized she could hear running water now.  A little further on and they came to a stream.  The forest offered the water a little space and Keto took a breath as she looked up at the sky.  When she looked back down Quartes was staring at the flowing water, a frown on his hood face.

“Is there a problem?” she asked, stepping up beside him.

“There was once a bridge here.  It fell long ago but the pilings had remained, and I have hopped across them but they seem to have washed away.”  The landian looked up and down along the length of the creek, Keto joining him.  She didn’t seen any convenient jutting stones or a fallen tree that bridged the water.

“Maybe we follow it downriver and find a better crossing?” she offered but Quartes was looking back at the river again.

“It’s calm here, a reason they had pick this spot for the bridge.  I slipped and fell once making the crossing and I could stand, the water was just up to my chest.”

“That would be up to my neck,” Keto countered looking at the river but after a moment she gave a shrug.  It really wasn’t moving that fast, how bad could it be.  “You’ll owe me a fire when we reach to the other side.”  He looked over, giving a smile and a nod.

“Deal,” Quartes answered before looking back across the water.  “Ras, want to make sure nothing over there gives us a surprise?”  The straight sword withdrew from its scabbard and headed across the river.  Floating over the surface by a foot or two the whole time.”

Keto laughed as she watched, “All those years of adventure and you don’t have a way for us to fly across?”

The landian’s smile had grown, Quartes almost smirking as he turned and headed back to the tree line.  “I did that once, it was quite the moment.”  He had lowered his backpack, opening it to withdraw a bundle of rope.

“That’s a story I’ll have to get,” Keto retorted, mimicking the landian as he began to gather up fallen branches.  In response Quartes just gave a knowing smile.  She continued to gather a few more branches and Quartes began to lash them together.  In time they had a little raft, which Quartes tied their packs too.  He had removed his cloak, rolling it up and stowing it.  Keto was untying her boots when he pulled his tunic off.  She looked up to catch what before she had only seen by firelight.  There were scars which crisscrossed his torso.  Some had the curvature and spaced marks of teeth, others were cleaner looking cuts and she wandered which were made by blades and which by some sharpened tail or claw.

Quartes caught her looking, staring back for a moment before he wordlessly moved on to untying his boots.  Keto wasn’t sure why she felt her cheeks flush but she returned to her boots.  When she finished with them, she looked at to see Quartes beginning to untie his belt.

“You’re going all the way?”

His actions slowed and then paused but after a moment he started again.  “It’s longer being cold if the clothes need to dry.  It’s your choice though, we’ve got time to spare.”  Keto thought for a moment, shrugged, and pulled her own tunic up over her head.  A few minutes later they had stowed their clothes and, with the raft floating between them, stepped out into the river.  It was cold but to a pleasant level after the exertions of the day.  The current was light and her only real worry was that slime that shifted slightly under her feet.  That and the water steadily rising up towards her neck.  In the end she never quite found out just how high it would reach, opting instead to hold the raft and swim as Quartes towed her and the raft across.  Cheriss and Keid hovered over them the whole way.

Reaching the other bank they reunited with the waiting Ras.  Pulling the raft up onto the sandy shore, Quartes withdrew a blanket and handed it to Keto before draping his cloak over his shoulders and heading back into the woods.  He emerged with an armful of branches and set about lighting a fire.  Keto pulled the raft alongside as the flames caught, sitting on it as she finished using the blanket to dry off and wrapping it around herself.

“That was fun,” she comment, Quartes giving a smile as he unlashed his pack and set it down next to him.  He pulled out another blanket and began to dry off.  “Now,” Keto continued, “as we aren’t doing anything but letting ourselves dry, you owe me a story of how you flew in the sky.”  Quartes gave a look towards Ras and then took a breath.

“So, in different times Ras would’ve been a pirate, but in a world of Dragons he raided dragonkin instead.”  Quartes looked towards Keto as he continued, “His trick though was that he was far from an ocean or lake.  Instead, he had somehow found a sky ship…”

“A what?” Keto asked.  Quartes resisted restating himself and let her continued.  “Are you saying a ship that can fly?”

“Yes,” Quartes answered, “Falden’s kin made them, putting them together at great shipwrights within the peaks of the Hendarks.  I’ve been to one once, it was with Ras as we looked for more ships to help us fight the Dragons.”

“You are going to tell me how you met Ras?” Keto asked, reaching down into her pack to retrieve her discard clothes and boots.

Quartes bowed his head.  “Myself and others had been fighting a Dragon for hours.  We had surprised it, managed to pin one of its wings to it side, and had fought it in a running melee down the side of a mountain.  It managed to get free and was scared enough by the wounds we had inflicted on it that it had launched itself into the sky to run.  Somewhere in the day Ras had taken notice of our fight and had ordered his crew closer.  When the Dragon took to the air, Ras had them ram it, impaling the beast on the bowsprit of the ship.”  Quartes’ hand flicked, his fingers extending in a simple imitation of the ship striking the Dragon.  His pale gaze looked distantly into the fire as he slowly shook his head.  “Had never seen anything like that before.”

“Seems like he had a flare for the dramatic,” Keto commented, looking to the floating straight sword with new appreciation as she finished pulling her blouse back over her head.  She smiled, enjoying the sight of the Landian’s wry smirk as he remembered his past.  “I’m not much of a sailor but I’m guessing that wasn’t good for the ship.”

“No,” Quartes answer with nearly a laugh, “took Elhandriel eight days to patch it back together.  Gave us time to get to know Ras and when the repairs were done,” Quartes look over to Keto, the bard pausing now in the middle of pulling her boots on, “he insisted that we go up in the air with him.”

“And so you got to fly,” Keto concluded.  Quartes nodded, a smile on his face as his pale eyes saw a past where the wind had whipped past, where the ship had dove and picked up speed, and as the air roared past Quartes had felt like the storms he had so often wielded.  “What was it like?”

“Like nothing I had ever experienced,” Quartes answer, his eyes coming back to Keto, the smile lasting for a few moments before the memories of what would come next reasserted themselves.  Smile fading, Quartes gestured toward the floating straight sword.  “Now a bit of his memory flies wherever it goes.”

Keto thought for a moment, finishing with her boots before looking back at the sword.  “Was he as pretentious as the sword makes him look?”  Quartes gave a short laugh and Keto swore she saw the sword shake itself at her.

“He had a taste for wine, that the two of you would’ve enjoyed about one another,” Quartes answered.  “I don’t think he wanted to be a hero, but I don’t think he could stand seeing his freedom restrained by the Dragons.”

“Sounds like a hero in the end.”