Unbound

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy One – 271

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy One – 271

As his friends were led toward the center of the encampment, Felix followed close behind the swaying tail of A'zek and the prowling form of Wyvora. He was careful to maintain a healthy distance from them both. He didn't think either would attack him after all that, but Felix had been wrong before.

Caution, Pit chirped. Felix couldn't agree more.

Voracious Eye!

Name: A'zek

Race: Chimera - Harnoq

Level: ??

HP: ????/????

SP: ????/????

MP: ???/???

Lore: A chimeric beast, harnoq are solitary creatures without need for mate or pack. They excel at taking down large prey, attacking with claws, jaws, or their barbed tail which contains a potent toxin.

Strength: More Data Required

Weakness: More Data Required

Protected, he noted. There was a sense of resistance around A'zek, similar to the Inquisition but far stronger. It felt more like how his Veiling Amulet functioned, but several steps removed and not quite like anything he'd experienced. A spell or something, maybe.

"Is your curiosity sated, Felix Nevarre?"

Felix started, finding A'zek looking at him with a large, slitted eye. It was a dark black in the gathering gloom, but flashes of newly lit torches cast earthy highlights across his irises. A'zek looked amused, though Wyvora at his side was less so.

"Hrm," Felix said. "You're blocking me."

"And you're not using Analyze," A'zek said, and this time it's expression morphed into worry. "A...hungry Skill, your Eye. And it's not the only strangeness about you, Pactlord." Felix only inclined his head and the harnoq snorted. "You can release your Companion now."

Felix took a sharp breath and looked at Wyvora, but A'zek had started walking again. "It's considered rude to hide so in polite company."

"I did not tell him," Wyvora said.

Pit trilled in interest and Felix agreed. In a flash of light the huge tenku emerged from Felix's Spirit. This time A'zek was surprised, spinning and leaping backward in alarm.

"By feather and claw," the harnoq cursed. "You're an ox!"

Pit merely tilted his head in confusion before warbling at the smaller chimera. Pit was at least twice his size. I am tenku. Beast of Harmony. Child of Guardians.

A'zek paused at that, gaze flickering between Pit and Felix. Wyvora simply stared, confused. "Indeed." He turned and continued on the half-sunk path of ancient stones. "Follow."

Felix and Pit followed silently, with the tenku trotting closer to the harnoq. Felix was quiet however. The words Pit had used were familiar. He'd said them weeks ago, after Felix had begun to fix his Bastion of Mind Skill, but why had never been explained. Pit didn't even remember, but to Felix they were tantalizing. Important, somehow.

The sun had dropped behind the mountains by the time they reached a small, unassuming yurt off to the side of the encampment. It was far from the center and the ruined tower, where his friends had gone, and Felix was curious about that. Clearly the Matriarch and her retinue were all in the center, the most interesting part of the area.

So why's this guy way out here? Felix had a feeling politics were involved. Clearly the Farwalker had pull enough to order the Matriarch around. It wasn't someone he wanted to piss off...at least not yet. So when Wyvora opened the solid wooden doorway of the yurt, Felix stepped through, Pit fast on his heels.

The interior was round, spacious, and heavily festooned with furs and cloth that swung low from thin wooden rafters above. There were no windows, but lanterns made of paper hung throughout, orbs the size of his head lit with small flickering flames, illuminating the whole space with a warm, buttery light. Felix stood easily in the yurt, but Pit had to hunch uncomfortably as they entered.

"Whoa," Felix said.

In the center of the room, above a shimmering brazier, there hovered a complicated construction of what appeared to be white-green light. Felix's Manasight identified it as air Mana...but it's not vapor or even liquid as Felix's often appears. It's rigid. Solid-seeming. Crystalline. As he watched, it created several rotating shapes of strange invention, each expanding and shrinking in time to a beat he couldn't hear. It was hypnotic, and it took the harnoq's deep voice to shake him from his trance.

"We have arrived, Farwalker," A'zek intoned. The harnoq pushed between Felix and Pit and stepped forward into the center. Wyvora lingered somewhere near the doorway. "I have brought Felix Nevarre and his Companion."

On the far end of the room, half obscured by gauzy draperies, a figure moved. Felix clenched his jaw and kept his hands at his sides, but it was a close thing. The figure leaned, shifted in what looked like an oversized chair made of wood and bone. His face was in darkness, but the lanterns shone on his legs and torso, revealing a soft body draped in suede and silk.

I can't sense him. Felix flared his nostrils. It's like he's not even there. Pit?

Nothing, Pit agreed.

"Thank you, A'zek. Was the Matriarch much trouble?" His voice sounded strong. Confident.

"She abided by your wisdom," the harnoq said. The Farwalker snorted in amusement.

"She merely listened to the winds. Now she waits for them to turn in her favor. Bah," the Farwalker scoffed and adjusted himself. The chair sudden rolled forward, and Felix realized it was on wheels. "Enough talk of her. Release me, Raven. Let me see this Pactlord for myself."

With a curious rush of wind and faint cawing, the darkness around the Farwalker's face vanished completely and Felix beheld an old, old man. A Henaari, clearly, as the Farwalker's head was elongated with a high forehead and cheekbones sharp enough to cut. The man smiled, displaying a set of white, even teeth and a nest of taut but wrinkled skin.

Voracious Eye!

Name: The Farwalker

Race: Henaari

Level: 94

HP: 244/5984

SP: 112/177

MP: 6332/6481

Lore: Henaari are a nomadic, matriarchal people that are known for their dedication to the Endless Raven. They excel at physical Skills and have a mild aptitude for the magical arts.

Strength: More Data Required

Weakness: More Data Required

Unlike his Companion, the Farwalker hid nothing from Felix's Eye. He felt none of the odd resistance and he could perceive him easily now that those shadows had fled. The man was an Adept Tier or perhaps more; unlike others, his power felt fuzzy and ill-defined.

"Your name is 'The Farwalker'?" Felix asked.

The Farwalker smirked. "It has been for many, many years. A consequence of a task well done, I'm afraid."

The old man rolled himself forward a touch, letting more light fall onto his features. "You too seemed cursed with a competency above your station."

"Not if you ask my friends," Felix said with a half-smile. "Why did you want to talk to me? I appreciate the access to your healers, by the way."

The Farwalker waved his hand. "That's no matter. You spared the life of my neophyte when she most assuredly would not have spared yours. That is worth a great deal to me."

"NeoWyvora," Felix said and looked at the woman. She was kneeling beside him, forehead pressed to the ground. More details connected. "She's your apprentice? A...what's it calleda Farhunter?"

He smiled, and his dark eyes crinkled with a web of fine lines. "Indeed. My people are nomads, wanderers. This is our tradition. Yet there is a duality to my people, Journeyman Nevarre. We wander around the Continent, but each place we stop, we build as if we'd lived there for years. Often we stay a long time as we search for that which gives us purpose."

"I noticed this place looks very...permanent," Felix said.

"Our encampments can be built in a night, owing to our great Skills and Blessings," he said. "When we choose to leave, they are designed to return to the Great Wilds within a fortnight."

"That's really impressive," Felix said, eyebrows raised. So the outpost we found might already be gone. Interesting.

"Your praise is quite gracious," the Farwalker inclined his head. "To answer your unspoken question, Farhunters are those that seek out and find threats to our people before they may come upon us. It is a...difficult calling, but one which Wyvora takes to with vigor."

"So I've seen," Felix said. He could feel the Farhunter's Spirit thrum with delight and shame in equal measure. Weird lady. "She risked the wrath of the Reforgedthe ice warriorsand their allies to attack us."

The Farwalker frowned, a stark change to the mildly pleased expression he'd maintained so far. Wyvora's Spirit quailed. "She grows incautious. That is..." He closed his eyes. "I apologize on her behalf, Felix Nevarre. I have ensured your people have the healing they require, but I would offer you another boon for the trouble this one has caused you."

"That's...really kind of you," Felix said carefully. "We're really only passing through. We have business at the other end of the Foglands. I'd ask"

"Think a moment," the Farwalker said as he rolled himself closer to the center of the room. To the glowing brazier and crystalline Mana lattice. "I'd rather your boon not be asked for in haste."

"Okay..." Felix let the word draw out, his Mind turning. The guy was right. Better to make the most of this favor. "You've been attacked by the Reforged."

"We have."

"Why? And since when?"

The old man rubbed his jowls with a calloused hand. "Nearly a fortnight."

Felix frowned. That was after the attack on Haarwatch. Which meant either some had survived long enough to escape, or the Archon was sending more out. "How many have you seen?"

"Is this your boon? Information on the ice warriors and their Master?" the Farwalker asked and nodded when Felix's eyes widened. "I know of them, of him that dwells beneath the mountain."

Pit growled, and at first Felix thought he was mad at the old man. He had almost chided the tenku when the door behind him was thrown open.

"Farwalker! We have come to speak!" The Matriarch swept in, now wearing blue and gold robes and a series of gold combs in her elaborate hair. She was followed by a coterie of Henaari, each dressed far more modestly in pale greens and blues.

"You honor me, Tava. It is not often that my home is blessed by the presence of the Matriarch and the Synod." The Farwalker bowed in his seat, but Felix noticed his faceand his presencewas once again hidden. Felix could see the man and his chair, but it felt like if he stopped looking, the Farwalker would simply vanish. It was unsettling.

One of the Matriarch's people bowed in return, a woman with steel-gray hair and fine lines on her face. "Farwalker Qzik. We apologize for barging in, unannounced like this"

"Quiet, Fyszal. You do not answer to him," the Matriarch said. "We have come to claim satisfaction for your...guest."

The darkened head of the Farwalker tilted from one side to the other. "Truly? Why?"

"Because it is tradition," she crowed, and the Synod bobbed their heads in agreement. "These Humans have accosted our people, and what's more, this boy has claimed the Right of Wander! A Right that only those chosen by the Endless Raven may invoke! I would that he face punishment for such bold action. I demand it."

Murmured agreement filled the yurt, and Wyvnora even sat up from her kowtow. Her face was nervous. A'zek, however, laughed loudly. Several of the Synod jumped in fright.

"Ridiculous. The Raven does not pick and choose those that follow her. All are welcome, for all may seek to bring the unknown to light." A'zek bared his panther-like teeth at the Matriarch. "All who do so may invoke the Right."

"Tell me, Felix Nevarre, have you brought the hidden to light? Have you looked into the dark corners of our world and emerged anew, filled with knowledge and purpose?" The Farwalker's voice was hypnotic, perhaps due to his odd stealth ability, or something else. Felix flared his Bastion of Will, but nothing was assaulting his Mind or Spirit. Felix decided, then, to simply answer truthfully.

"I have."

"That means little!" the Matriarch insisted. "How could one honor our Raven without knowing of her blessed existence?"

The lady seemed hell-bent on punishing Felix, and he really doubted it was because he'd bound and gagged a couple guards. More politics, he thought. Great. Where's Vess? She'd know how to get outta this.

"Felix Nevarre. Did you know of the Endless Raven before you ventured into the dark?" the Farwalker asked. Intoned, was more like it, as if it were part of a ritual.

"Uh, yeah. I found" Felix stuttered, his mouth about to utter 'a Henaari corpse' and he swerved away from that. "I once found a ring called Gathered Light, crafted by the dawnspeakers."

Several of the Synod looked surprised, but the Matriarch scoffed. "Likely, looted from the dead."

"That is valid before the Raven's eye," the Farwalker stated. "You of all should know this."

The woman turned a very interesting shade of purple as a vein throbbed at her temple. The Synod were suspiciously quiet. Felix desperately wanted to roll his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to avoid the undercurrents he had begun to sense.

"I'm not looking to inconvenience everyone," Felix began. "My team and I are on our way through the Foglands, and we plan to continue as soon as possible. I'm...sorry I restrained your guards. They were rude, though, and one of them cut my shirt." Felix fingered the small rent in his sleeve. "Once my people are healed, we'll be on our way."

"...meets the requirements..."

"...not without a Blessing, he..."

Felix got the impression none of them were listening. This time he did roll his eyes. He glowered at the Matriarch, who glared right back.

"He must face her himself," she said.

The Synod's conversation ground to a halt, all of them looking at the Matriarch with worried expressions. Wyvora too. The Farwalker merely looked...bored.

"All in favor?" The Matriarch pushed her decision further, scowling at the other women around her. Slowly, one hand after another rose into the air, until it was unanimous save for the Farwalker himself.

"Are you sure, Tava?" he asked quietly.

"Oh, I am," the woman said. The gold combs in her hair gleamed as she tossed her head back. "This Felix Nevarre will face the Endless Raven herself."

Felix blinked. "I'm sorry?"