Jade looked at Morn, whose face was serious and devoid of emotion while carrying the hefty metal block. The orc had not spoken a word since they grabbed a hold of the en-gin a few days ago, which was not unlike Morn, but Jade could not help her worry. She never really knew what was going on inside the orcs head and she wondered if things would have been different if they had been an elf, or at least, fluent in Song. Then they would have been able to share thoughts without effort. Morn and Jade had been through Hell together, but if that made Morn feel any different towards her, they had never let her know. Acantha, on the other hand, talked. She talked when Jade was enjoying the silence and asked questions about the world, bending, crafting, magic. Jade wondered why her friend never asked the questions that she wanted her to.
“Almost there,” Acantha cheerfully pointed out. The small settlement of the craftlords was in view now that they had climbed on top of a hill and they could spot it clearly through the trees. Three separate buildings stood on a plateaued mountainside. Two made out of wood, one made out of the transparent material that Acantha had told Jade to be glass. Acantha had also explained how glass was made, but Jade had not remembered all the steps, it seemed to her overly complicated to turn sand into something just as solid and transparent as frozen water.
When they reached the main building, they found Seamstress sitting on a chair outside in the sun with a book. She greeted them with a smile and told them that Black and Decker were in the workshop. Without a pause, Morn went around the house where they found the forgelords outside, one of the large doors of the workshop was open and a vehicle sat inside that looked much like the hovercraft that Acantha had to leave behind in Hell. Morn walked over to them and put the en-gin down before Decker’s feet.
“I am leaving now,” said Morn, turning to Jade and Acantha.
“Take care, Morn,” said Jade meekly, “Say hi to Iratus for me.”
Morn nodded at them, turned and left. Jade sighed and made herself look away to watch Decker put a chain around the block of metal on the ground. Together with Black and the help of some kind of lifting device, he installed the en-gin on the hovercraft.
“Do you want to bind it, Acantha?” said Black when they finished. Acantha did so after which the four of them pushed the vehicle out of the workshop together. Jade caught her breath and wiped some sweat of her forehead.
“Since. We will. Be going. Into the desert,” she said, panting. She paused and took a few deep breaths before she continued: “I think it would be nice to have a water supply. Maybe we can bring a few bottles.”
“Hold on,” said Decker, sharing a quick glance with Black, “I have a better idea.”
Decker walked into the workshop and came back with a barrel large enough for to squeeze in two or three weemen.
“Here you go,” he said, placing it in front of her.
“There is no way I am going to carry this the whole way.”
“It has straps, see, you can put it on like a backpack.”
“Right,” said Jade, not convinced. She crouched down and put the straps on. When she stood up it was actually a lot lighter than she had anticipated. “Ok, sure, I’ll bring it.”
Black grinned and said: “Because we crafted it so that the water is a part of it, it will replenish daily with fresh water.”
“Wow,” said Jade, “Impressive.”
“Yeah, I guess there are some upsides to how the current nature works.” Said Decker. Jade looked from Decker to Acantha, who was smiling contentedly.
“We’ll be getting back to work,” said Black, who nodded at Jade and Acantha, “Thank you again for clearing the trade route.”
“Safe travels!” Offered Decker before going back to work.
“Ok, we have food and drinks,” Jade said to Acantha.
“And a vehicle.”
“I guess we’re good to go.”
“Do you want to ask Lumira if she wants to come?”
Jade thought about that for a moment. She imagined herself sitting on a hovercraft with the bombastic wizard for weeks. Jade shook her head and said: “Maybe we should actually find a village first.” Besides, Lumira could probably catch up with them wherever they were. It would be a waste of both their time.
“Sure thing.”
Acantha and Jade rode the hovercraft, it went a lot faster than the old one and this new one was able to ride uphill. Acantha steered the vehicle through the mountains and onto the plains. Jade noticed the wind through Acantha’s leaves and smiled.
“This definitely beats the endless walking,” said Acantha, smiling also, “Or the hopping around on squig. I don’t understand why not everyone has one of these.”
“Well,” said Jade, “Not everyone has a relationship with an incredibly skilled pair of forgelords.”
Acantha laughed and shook her head, so that the wind could go through the long bush of leaves on her head, “That does explain some things.”
They drove through the desert up to where Porphyr’s bird had told Acantha a village would be. A journey that would have taken them months, had now required mere weeks. It was a comfortable journey and Jade enjoyed being with Acantha. Acantha told her that she liked traveling around the world, seeing things that she could never have dreamed of back in the Grove. The first fourteen years of her life had been in the Grove, and most of the time she had been rooted to the ground. Her family was stuck there and they were slowly becoming nothing more than plants. It had been a good thing that Aoda had come along.
“But you left Truepath.”
“Well yeah, so that I could expand my horizons. Aoda is really secretive, you said so yourself. Porphyr does not mind sharing information with me, like when he sent the bird to help us find the Suns followers. And he empowers me to be my best possible self, you know. All Aoda cares about is the elves. Uch! The endless taking care of the sick elves.” Acantha shook her head in disapproval, “She doesn’t care about me or about my family, really. Do you remember what she did to Glyndwask?”
“Yeah,” said Jade, “Alright, I understand why you left Aoda. But, you could have discussed it with me first.”
“With you? Why?”
“Well-” Jade fumbled, “Eh- We are friends.”
“Does that mean I cannot make my own decisions?”
“Maybe nothing, but, yeah, well- Nevermind.”
Jade looked towards the horizon, a shimmering dune blocked her view, and sighed.
“Are you still loyal to Aoda?”
“Of course, I mean, I would not betray her.”
“But you’re not working for her either.”
Jade frowned. “I am not sure if I have any reason to.”
“She is not a good Totem,” Acantha said with a stern look on her face.
“There are buildings over there.” Jade pointed, “I think we should stop here. So that we can sneak closer. They’ll see us coming on this thing.”
“Alright, that makes sense.”
Acantha made a small detour so that she could put the hovercraft behind a small cluster of large rocks. Anyone that came close would spot it, but at least it did not stand out as much in the mostly open landscape. Jade planned a route making use of the cover of the dunes and they went on their way towards the settlement.
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