Xanth stood by the window, his full attention outside and waiting for any sign of Ryder or Lyra emerging from the forest. Ryder had asked him to meet up at Fang Peek meaning after he must have found Lyra, he had no plans of returning back here, he would proceed straight on to Venzor, Erstonia.He worried for Ryder journeying alone into the kingdom of Erstonia because of the history of the place and the connection it had with Ryder’s past. He sighed and turned away from the window, he should never have let Ryder go alone.Iris sat by the fire with the gypsy woman, Lillian as she tended to her injuries. People of Astaroth were incapable of healing on their own but they were very good when it came to endurance, Iris showed no sign of being in pain as the gypsy sewed her stab wound close, the cuts on her arms and back had already been cleaned and patched up and she reclined against the chair like she could feel no pain.“You’ve stood at that window for over four hours now,” Lillian pointe

Lyra winced when Ryder tried helping her put on the coat. The huge gash on her shoulder had begun to heal but it was slow in healing, Ryder believed it was because she was weak now. She sat with her back against a tree trunk, the extinguished fire pit was to her left and Ryder was to her right on one knee beside her. The expression on his face was set and serious and he frowned slightly but he never for once met her gaze, she suspected that he was trying to avoid doing that and she wondered why. Was he angry at her again? Even if he was, he had never really avoided her gaze.“Can you walk?” He asked her, still not lifting his head to meet her eyes. She pursed her lips in a thin line and nodded slightly, her eye brows furrowed in pain as she tried to stand, he placed one hand around her waist and the other held her hand as he helped her to her feet. When she was standing upright, he let go of her and took a step forward.“We have to leave this place.” His voice was harsh like he was b

“I’m freezing!” Lyra shouted out to Ryder who was walking on ahead of her. He stopped and turned around to look at her and then he gave a sigh. Of course she would be freezing, she barely had any clothes on. She had ripped the dress to make it shorter, had no shoes on and the only thing worthy of keeping the cold at bay was the thick cloak he had made her wear.“We are nearing the edge of the forest, into Zagaroth Mountain, it is always cold there. Erstonia is far up North and always covered in ice and blizzards.” He told her.One eye brow came up and she shook her head. “Okay, and? How does that help me right now?”The cold came from the ground to her exposed feet, she curled her toes in response and hugged the cloak tighter around her body now regretting why she had disposed of those worn out muddy shoes but then wearing wet shoes was way worse than being bare feet. She sighed.They could see the sea of white snow just past the trees ahead of them and Lyra heaved a sigh of relief th

Finding Axeris and Khiones together was an impossible sight except if one race was dead and the other was alive and standing over the corpse, but finding Axeris and Khiones working together was more than impossible yet it was where Iris, Xanth, Syrana and her Khione warriors found themselves in as they made their way through Oerth forest.It was very obvious and clear that the tension hanging in the air above them was heated enough to melt the snow and chase away the cold - which it literally did - but the party had a common goal and working together would help them in achieving their common goal faster, and the faster they achieved that goal, the faster they could be away from each other. But in the small tensed group, none was more disgusted than Kye.It was an irritation he didn’t bother to hide.“How long do you think it would take us to get to the other side of the forest?” Xanth asked Syrana as he slowed down to walk beside her.“Whenever we get to the other side, we get to th

Iris still walked with a limp, the wound had sealed up but she still felt the pain on the inside. She was angry, that much was very obvious to see and she walked ahead of the group, nobody spoke, they all walked in silence, Syrana and Xanth walked behind Iris, Kye and the other few Khione warriors that had not been picked off by Indie walked behind.“Iris,” Xanth called out. “You don’t have to be stubborn about allowing Syrana help you with the injury you have.”“What injury do you speak of, Xanth?” she threw over her shoulder.“Iris…” he called again but Syrana placed a hand on his to stop him, and then with a smile, she said.“If she won’t admit to having an injury, then she doesn’t need my help, Xanth.”Iris scoffed. “At least we have a smart one among us.”Xanth frowned at Iris’ remark, he could not understand why she was being this hostile, maybe it was the fact that she had been seemingly humiliated by Indie, or ti was the fact that she had done it through a possessed Khione war