Armed horsemen led by a nervous man in humble clothing crested a hill, gaining a vantage point over the grasslands of Deshte below. A large flock of carrion birds covered a swath of the land, a black streak polluting the brilliant green seas.
The winds whispered of unwelcome intruders.
Endless Skies scowled at the sight and sound before him. He was made to leave Thousand Tents by his better, Wings of Killik, to pursue a report made by distressed shepherds about men who were not men. For days, they have tirelessly followed this shepherd to the far end of Deshte to reach the site of the report. Their guide lacked the words to explain what he had seen, only irking Endless Skies more.
His divine sibling had been overworked into a lather. He gently touched the beast’s neck and cooed kindnesses into its esteemed ears. If this turns out to be a waste of time, he could not guarantee the life of his guide.
“Is this it?” Endless Skies demanded.
“Y-yes, Horselord,” the shepherd stuttered. “We have been avoiding the area ever since we found it. Our herds have been fenced away from here.”
“Why have you left it where you found it?” Endless Skies inquired aggressively. “What will be left to examine if the sky scavengers have their way with it first?”
“We dared not touch it, Horselord,” the shepherd stammered. “It is not of this natural world. Even the birds only flock to it, they never eat the flesh.”
Endless Skies raised his eyebrow. There was no corpse that the voracious beasts of the sky would not devour within days. A feeling of unease passed over him. These men who are not men may be more than simple foreigners.
“If there is anything you must caution us of, say so now,” Endless Skies requested.
“The corpses have not acted on their own, I do not know what will happen if they are tampered with,” the shepherd replied earnestly.
“Then we check it now. Move!”
With a gentle flick, his divine sibling led the way down the hillside. Endless Skies focused his ears towards the spirits of the winds to see if there was any more wisdom that he could glean. However, all the wind spoke of was its discomfort with the presence beneath the birds. Their messages were not reaching the beast’s wings to spur them to take flight.
The mass of birds did not seem moved by the arrival of the horses. Endless Skies had to halt the horses to avoid stomping on the transfixed creatures. The divine siblings petulantly stomped the soil.
“What matter of spirit is responsible for this?” Iron Saddle spat.
“Calm yourself, Pact Brother,” Endless Skies assured his fellow rider. “All will reveal itself to us soon enough. We shall travel on foot from here. I do not wish to subject our divine siblings to whatever strange blight afflicts this place.”
“Pact Leader, we should not allow the birds to remain as they are,” Swift Winds requested with a voice strained in concern. “Even Gerel is acting strangely.”
Endless Skies looked over his shoulder. A leather-capped falcon flicked its head around hectically. Its tassel flapped around with it. If even a spirit-imbued beast was afflicted by this energy, then things may be far more dangerous than he anticipated.
“Forgive our separation,” Endless Skies spoke to his horse as he dismounted.
Placing both of his hands over his diaphragm, he stepped to the border of the flightless flock. Air charged by favor swirled inside of him when he inhaled. In his head, he intoned words that he had recited since his Awakening.
He felt the air inside him press against his hands with the threat to puncture his innards to escape. This inhalation was too rebellious. Regular winds were more firm but more docile than the one he tried to tame. The spirits of this area were deeply disturbed by the situation that had overdone resolutions.
“Leave this place!”
In one powerful exhalation, Endless Skies unleashed the full booming fury of the air that he cultivated within him. A flurry of wings and feathers sprung by the birds’ uncoordinated retreat erupted before the horsemen. The grass before Endless Skies was flattened by the extended stay of the flock, damaging the pristine flow of Deshte.
“Impressive as always, Pact Leader,” Thundering Path complimented. The other Pact Siblings grinned with the pride of sharing a sacred heart with one that could harness the wind’s voice.
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“Dismount, all of you,” Endless Skies ordered. “I do not know when the beasts will be drawn back here.”
A chorus of ‘forgive our separation’ echoed from behind Endless Skies. Soon he was joined by his Pact Siblings and the shepherd. The Horselord gripped by the shepherd by the shoulder and shoved him to the front of the group. The terrified peasant sharply swallowed, but complied with the wordless order issued for him.
The shepherd nervously stepped forward, fearing that any step could be his last. Endless Skies walked several paces behind, prepared to react if their guide dropped dead before them. As important as this was, he was not prepared to sacrifice his Pact Siblings to accomplish it.
“This is it, Horselord,” the shepherd announced. “These are the men who are not men.”
Endless Skies waited for a moment, not moving until he was certain that the shepherd was not about to suddenly drop dead. The wind whispered of things that they had long since forgotten about yet felt familiar.
When the winds urged him forwards, Endless Skies complied. He led the way towards the cause of the report. Heartbeats quickened reflexively. Steps were slow and measured.
“What in Killik’s name is this?”
He was not sure who had said that, but he had no choice but to agree with them. The sight before him was beyond words. Nearly twenty corpses were scattered over the field. Their emaciated frames indicated that they had all starved to death. If they were huddled in this fashion, it was during the previous snow season.
True to what the shepherd had said, these were men who were not men. While they were the size of a human, had all of the same body parts as a human, and wore garb like a human, they were not human. They were men with bestial characteristics. Some had the snouts of dogs with furry bodies and triangular ears cropped above their heads. Some sported hooves instead of feet. Some had skin of a hue that man could never replicate.
There were two that were stranger than the rest. The first was a being that had translucent blue skin. One could see the outline of the bones of the being. Crystals of ice had formed beneath the surface of the skin making a bizarre latticework that covered the exposed skin of the creature.
The other was a being that looked almost exactly like a human. There was no strange or misplaced feature on their face or torso. However, poking out the back of the human’s pants was a tail.
Out of everything that he had seen or heard over the course of his young life, there was only one possible answer that his mind could come up with.
“Novesse,” Endless Skies announced.
Everyone around him instinctively flinched before growing angry. The emotions of their ancestors were inherited by them, even all these centuries after driving them away. Even the air vibrated with the memories of those that once roamed these lands.
“Pact Leader, you cannot imply that our oldest enemy has starved to death in Deshte?” Swift Winds questioned incredulously. “After over six hundred cycles they have returned in such a pitiful state?”
“I agree with Pact Sister,” Thundering Path spoke up. “How can we not be certain that these aren’t simply people that have advanced their unity with the spirits?”
“Has the shock made your eyes deceitful?” Endless Skies demanded, silencing his Pact Siblings. “If one was so spiritually favored as to take on the form of the beasts, they would not be so weak as to starve. Only our graceless elder siblings would be so rude as to sneak into our Deshte without an invitation.”
“But Pact Leader-“
“Silence!” Endless Skies barked. “What else could trespass upon our eastern frontiers but the creatures that we drove even further east? If it came from any other direction, we would have surely heard several reports. Such a sight is too bizarre for not even one rumor to exist. If you do not believe me, then believe the wind that shook with familiarity when I spoke their name.”
His companions were driven into silence by his words. He felt shame for requiring such sternness to force them to accept the truth before them, but he could not waste time trying to convince them.
“But why now?” Iron Saddle asked with a flummoxed and defeated face. “Why would they venture into our lands when we would not tolerate their lives?”
“Pact Brother, I think why is less important than how,” Thundering Path commented.
Endless Skies’ eyes stared further east. It was a few days ride from here to the massive defensive structures erected by Xanbo centuries ago to prevent any future incursions. How could such a formidable force allow such a pathetic band of creatures to pierce its defenses? Had the Guardians of Flame grown weak and complacent over the long peace?
This was something that he had to confirm himself. Such news that the mighty warriors of Xanbo had allowed Novesse through could only be a boon. The shame could be used as a potent bargaining chip for generations.
“Wrap the strangest ones in sacks and tie them behind your horses,” Endless Skies ordered. “We will use these as proof of our discovery.”
While his Pact Siblings hesitantly got to work, he reached a palm to the sky. He caressed the wind gently with one hand. The spirits kissed his skin in acknowledgment of the affinity of favor within his veins.
“Oh spirits of the wind,” Endless Skies intoned. “Carry my words to the ears of Wings of Killik in Thousand Tents. Tell them that the Novesse have died in our grazing fields and we are visiting the great fortresses of Xanbo to learn more.”
He heard his words garble within the winds and pass through over the grasses with the assistance of a strong westerly wind.
“We ride further eastwards at speed,” Endless Skies ordered with an eager smile on his face. “The right wing of the phoenix has been clipped.”
Endless Skies rode hard over the grasses with his Pact Siblings close behind. His divine sibling galloped joyously beneath him and the winds caressed his face. While he was upset at the invasion of his lands by his ancestral foe, the prospects of weaponizing it against his people’s current rival made him willing to overlook the frustrations that he would have been feeling.
There were many scenarios that Endless Skies envisioned when he thought of his confrontation with Xanbo. However, he would soon discover that all of those mental musings would be useless in the face of the incomprehensible thing that he saw before them. He went slack jawed in astonishment at the sight of the opened fortress gate. What he saw inside made even less sense.
The fortress smoked from the fires of a recent fight and the garrison was nowhere to be found.
“What in the Mother’s name happened here?”