4: Exertion
"So it's decided," said Petra. "I will go to speed our passage. Naia will go to keep Rajke energized and healthy. And Melia will go to help with threats and food."
They stood in the pass between the mountains. The sun had fully risen, but the east mountain still blocked its rays, casting a cold shadow on Rajke and the five elementals, who seemed unperturbed even in their light garb.
Aura was crestfallen. "What if Averna and I also come, and we just stay away from other people? Or we could take turns with the headband thingies."
Averna put a hand on Aura's shoulder. It could have been Rajke's imagination, but he thought he saw the fire nymph's skin smolder and glow where she touched the Aura. "It is too dangerous. We do not know what will happen to us if we lose our forms that far from home."
"It will be okay, love," said Naia. "We will be back before you know it. And with any luck," she added cheerfully, "Rajke will be able to find more of these..." she trailed off, holding one of the three copper headbands, looking to Rajke to remind her of their name.
"Diadems of Cerebral Screening," Rajke supplied. "It's a terrible name, I know. Some people call them 'Mind Shields,' but the artificers hate that."
"Doesn't it need to have jewels to be a diadem?" asked Melia.
"I think it just needs to represent royalty," said Rajke, "which these also do not do."
"Anyway," interjected Naia," maybe we will find some more, and we will be able to all leave here together. We will be able to meet people and see cities and explore the world!"
While Rajke was glad that Naia was excited and that he had been able to offer the nymphs something for their help, he feared he would not be able to grant her wish. Mind Shields were extremely difficult to make. Only the best artificers in the world had the skill. So they were both rare and expensive.
The only reason Rajke had them in the first place was because one of Rajke's mentors, Largu, had gifted them to him when he was a journeyman wayfarer. Rajke had saved her life from a rampaging troll when her arthritis had flared, causing her to drop her bow. The orc woman retired after that job and bequeathed most of her equipment to her apprentices according to custom. But the Mind Shields she gave to Rajke, who was not technically her apprentice. Thalden and Grie had never forgiven him for taking what they thought was rightfully theirs.
"Right," said Rajke, jerking himself back to the present. "Shall we be going?"
Petra, Melia, and Naia nodded their heads. Aura grabbed Rajke and kissed him deeply, a breeze kicking up around them. Before Rajke could even process what was happening, she pulled away and said, "Come back, Rajke. I'm not done with you yet."
Averna gently pulled Aura away and said, "He'll be fine, babe. You saw him naked. You don't get a body like that without being able to take care of yourself." Her words were cast in a comforting tone, but her fiery eyes glanced at Rajke hungrily as she said them.
Rajke watched as beams of sunlight were just starting to light the summit of the volcano to the west.
I've spent too much time here already
. He hoped having the elementals accompanying him would make up for the lost time, at least.
"Goodbye," said Petra stoicly. "We will return when we have found the child, or know he is beyond our finding."
And with that, the foursome turned north and began the trek through the pass.
Petra strode before them, and as she went, the earth seemed to flow and form into something resembling a road, easing their progress greatly. "I do not know your limits, human, but Naia will bolster your vigor as we go."
Rajke took her cue to set the pace and began to jog. He did not want to overexert himself, especially after his feinting spell earlier, but he could feel his energy waxing rather than waning as he ran. He looked to Naia, who was keeping pace beside him without apparent effort.
"Water carries nutrients to you, to the littlest parts, the chambers we talked about. Remember? And water carries the weariness out of them as well. I am helping your body move nutrients and clear the weariness faster. You will need to eat more than normal today and drink water like a fish. It will also be a little hard on your liver and kidneys, but not as hard as a night of drinking intoxicants in excess."
Rajke could follow most of her explanation. Wayfarers were necessarily eager learners, and Rajke had escorted all sorts of scholars and doctors on the dangerous roads between walled cities. Still, her knowledge was beyond him, and he could tell she was dumbing things down for his benefit. But what understanding he gained from her explanation bread confidence in him, and he ran faster.
Soon, they were passing through a forest so thick it reminded him of the jungles south of the Salin Desert. Now Melia took the lead, clearing vine, branch, and brush as they flew. "How is this here? Aren't we above the tree line?"
Melia, usually so terce, spoke openly when it came to the forest. "It is our influence. The heat Averna generates in the volcano, the moisture that Naia gathers, the air that Aura thickens, the soil Petra churns, and the life that I encourage, it all works together to make this place."
"Wait," said Rajke. "I thought you were all here because it's where elements meet. Are you saying it's the other way around?"
Petra answered with a question of her own. "Do you live where there is a home, or do you build a home to live in?"
"I don't have a home," he said but conceded the point anyway. "Most people these days buy or rent homes from others who build them. But I take your meaning."
It took three hours to emerge from the forest. It probably would have taken Rajke two days at least if he were walking, cutting a path through the untamed forest, breaking regularly to rest and catch his breath.
Rajke marveled at the magic of the Nymphs. Life as a wayfarer meant expecting failure, death, and disappointment. One had to develop a thick skin and a brutally realistic view of the world. Rajke hoped, of course, that he would find Natan, safe and sound, but he knew he should not expect such a happy ending.
But now, with the aid of the elements themselves, working with him rather than against him, Rajke allowed himself a little optimism.
By the time night was beginning to fall, Rajke's magically aided strength began to flag. They had begun the descent on the other side of the pass, which had a much shallower slope than the almost sheer climb on the southern side of the range.
"You will need to stop and eat soon," said Naia.
Rajke had tried to gnaw on rations as he ran, but he had never eaten while running before and found it very difficult.
"And sleep," said Petra. "His body runs on water, but his mind runs on dreams. He cannot keep running indefinitely."
Rajke argued with himself briefly - the same argument he had every evening since he had taken this job. The same argument he had with himself whenever people needed him.
Should I stop? I could push on for one more hour, can't I? What is one hour less sleep if it means finding Natan one hour sooner? What if that one hour is the difference between finding a lost boy and finding a dead boy?
But he had been taught wisely to play his own devil's advocate.
What if I arrive and I am in no shape to help him because I did not take care of myself? The odds that one hour makes the difference for Natan are slim, the odds that one hour makes the difference for me are guaranteed. What if I face some
novel experiences
while my body and mind are sluggish and weak from lack of sleep?
Rajke slowed to a walk. After nearly eight hours of running at close to his full sprinting pace, his legs felt strange - tingly, as though they might spontaneously start running again without his consent.
They were still in the foothills of the mountains, but they were sloping down into prairie. This side of the range was the drier side, but it was no desert. The grass was not lush and soft, but it was tall and green and not too prickly.
Rajke looked up at the sky, deepening blue with hints of pink and orange to the south. "It doesn't look like rain, so I will sleep in the open. Do you want me to set up the tent for you?"
Petra was about to reply, but Naia spoke up first. "Rajke, do you remember when I told you that the order within your mind is what lends our chaotic nature the capacity to order ourselves? When you sleep, your conscious mind fades. Your unconscious mind is much less orderly. We will not maintain our forms. It's hard to explain. But rest assured, we don't need sleep, or food, or drink."
"Back in the pass, Averna said something about that, didn't she? 'We do not know what will happen if we lose our forms away from home.'"
Petra responded. "Yes, she did. But you don't need to worry. She wasn't talking about this."
"What was she talking about?"
Petra paused to consider, but shook her head and said, "Just know that we have roved out from the mountains before, once. It is difficult for us. It's easier with you here, but we may find ourselves retreating to the mountain if..."
While Petra trailed off looking for the right words, Melia interjected, "...if things get bad."
Rajke turned to look at Melia and was surprised to see her carrying the largest rabbit he had ever seen by the hind legs. It hung, dead and limp, dripping blood from fresh claw marks.
Melia thrust the rabbit at Rajke's chest and said, "Eat, mortal. You'll need the fuel."
Rajke inspected the calf-high grass all around them. It was green, but only just this side of yellow. "I don't think a fire is a good idea. It's too dry and..." No sooner had he said it than the grass in a ten-foot circle around them withered and dried.
Then the earth rumbled and churned, carrying the dead grass out and away leaving fresh loamy soil about them, rocks emerged from the dirt, as if sprouting like seeds, coming together in the center of the circle forming a neat ring. A sudden downpour of rain fell briefly on the tall grass, everywhere but the bare patch of soil where Rajke and the Nymphs stood, and just as suddenly dissipated. Last of all, a tree sprang up at the edge of the circle. When it was eight feet high and four inches wide in the trunk, it withered just like the grass, and toppled, dry as a bone.
It took almost five heartbeats for Rajke to process all that had happened. He looked at Naia, then Petra. When he turned to Melia, she said, "Don't expect me to cut your wood for you, too."
***
Naia teased him to take his shirt off while he chopped the dead tree "You look hot, why don't you let that beautiful chest of yours breathe a little, get some fresh night air." Rajke took the teasing in stride, but he was working up quite a sweat. Chopping a tree with only a small handaxe was not easy work.
When he paused to sharpen it, Petra said, "Sorry Rajke, I should have thought of that." The blade honed and sharpened itself without even touching a whetstone.
