Chapter 18 - Windrunners

Dressed for the journey, Vex walked out to meet with the guards that he would be traveling with. He wasn't particularly surprised to find the part of the royal guard often referred to as the Windrunners awaiting him. They needed to move fast and he already had enough training to keep up, barely.

The mission his father had given him was as much a test as it was a monumentally important task. Vex would need to be stubborn enough to keep up with them even when he began to physically tire. He wanted to meet her, though, didn't want that chance to be snatched away by the guilds. He nodded once, grabbed the pack that was offered him, and joined them in the sedate walk to the gates. It was the only rest he'd get for a while yet, the Windrunners weren't known for stopping very often.

Once they arrived at the gate, their leader glanced to another member, "Koria, keep pace with him," he jerked his head towards Vex, "He falls behind too many times, you drag him back by his tail."

Vex paled a little at that, "I'm quite certain my father was not being serious with that," he grumbled.

"One does not assume a king speaks in jest," Koria responded evenly, "Even among the Faelyn, it's a good way to find yourself punished. For us, it means laps, chores around the castle, bothersome things we'd rather not do. He says drag you by your tail, that is how you'll be returned if you fall behind."

Vex followed them up a staircase just inside the gate and continued walking just ahead of Koria as they made their way higher into the trees. Eventually they came out on the upper paths and he found the others that had made it up first moving and stretching. The forest floors weren't safe even for Faelyn so their run would be a swift paced movement from tree to tree.

He joined them in preparations and fell into line as they took off into the trees, speed boosted by wind magic. There was little time or breath for talking, it would have to wait for the rest breaks they'd take.

Vex had already run for over twelve hours, having convinced himself at least four hours prior that they were never going to take a rest break, when a hand signal from the leader brought them to a slow halt in the crook of a massive tree's branches.

It was sheltered from the elements by an interweaving of leaves above though a bit crowded for the numbers they were traveling in. Despite that, everyone pulled their sleeping bags and rations from their packs before tossing them into a pile. At first he'd thought there was no order to it but was quickly schooled by Koria as to exactly where his pack belonged when he tried to add it in.

The meal was filling if bland and everyone settled quickly for sleep with little chatter. Their mission was an important one and even running as fast as they were it was possible they'd not be fast enough.

Sleep claimed him quickly, bringing with it dreams of all the ways he could fail this very important mission. Everything from falling from a tree and having to be saved by one of the others to not being able to keep up to just arriving too late managed to flit past him in the depths of sleep.

He woke and they ate another small meal before taking off once more.

Running and sleeping continued in a cycle that seemed to never slow but he forced himself to keep pace. He wanted to meet her. He didn't want to lose the opportunity to the guilds.

He lost track of time as they ran on, finding himself surprised when a hand signal seemed to urge everyone to even higher speeds than before. At first, so far back in the line, he had no idea what was going on. As he rounded the trunk of a particularly large tree, though, he saw chaos ahead of him.

They were nearing a village at speed and a small chunk of it appeared to be wreathed in flames.

His keen eyes and his skill with magic told him what the others might not have known. The fire was false, illusionary magic made by the light element and likely accompanied with harmless heat from the fire element to be convincing. The village was in no danger of burning, it was a distraction.

He caught hold of his magic and used it heavily to catch up to the leader, to inform him of what was going on. The Faelyn nodded his understanding without speaking and motioned Vex to once more go back to Koria's side.

He obeyed as it was hardly the time for arguing or disobedience, dropping back beside Koria and keeping close to her. Hand signals combined with swishing of tails seemed to communicate a lot among the Windrunners.

Suddenly Koria caught hold of him and pulled him to a halt just outside of the village. He found himself torn, wanting to join the others in saving the Faelyn they'd come to gather but also terrified that he'd failed some sort of test.

Koria leaned in, "You said it was illusion magic," she said swiftly, "Can you dispel it?"

He nodded once, "Not all of it, considering even the weakest hawk is a lot stronger than I am, but a small area, enough the townspeople should be able to figure it's an illusion."

She nodded and motioned him to follow, taking a different route into town, "Good. Soon as we land on the walkways do that. Everyone else is going to help calm the panic down there. We're after the girl, hopefully before the Hawks get their hands on her."