After another day spent in Notting the party resupplied, packed up, and were out on the road again, Azara couldn't help but feel somewhat apprehensive as the days passed on. The map they had been given by the Hawks was checked over by Gunvar's best historians and scribes, and indeed, pointed to an old crypt of an ancient dragon slayer king -Dreifregis the II. The artifact there was known as "The Dragon's Eye" and was said to be an enchanted stone that guided the way to dragons, warned of their presence, and allowed their fire to be stopped.

Azara wasn't so sure of this. The legends were very old, and the chance of the map leading to an already looted tomb was high. If the tomb hadn't been looted, then it would be that way for a reason. That reason could be anything, but magical wards were not out of the question, and Azara was not the sort of mage to be able to decode and destroy those. Mechanical traps could also be a problem, but considering the age of the place, some three thousand years, whether they would work or not would be in question.

Everyone else seemed in good spirits though, and Azara didn't dare bring them down.

This was especially true because her primary concern wasn't even the information they'd been given or the obstacles the ancient tomb could present.

It was Konrad. She hadn't heard a word of him since Midton. Either he and his few knights were laying low or they hadn't even reached Issawast when they had arrived in Notting. Gunvar had heard no reports from any scouts or border guards of any such knights, and no peasants or other commoners asked along the way had seen Kornad or his knights. This concerned her. Were they headed in the wrong direction, or did the knights just have no idea where to go themselves? If so, why would they have come all this way, without some idea of where to go?

It occurred to her that they might have been heading straight for the dragon, but that would be foolish considering what the governor of Midton had said and what she knew about her kind. Dragon's only made dens and stayed there when they had eggs to watch and young to care for. Even if they had a hoard they would leave it periodically to search for things to add to it. Moving it around a lot to keep it safe was also a habit. In short, dragon's were mobile creatures, and could easily relocate.

The last thing on her mind was another issue that was less pressing but still a difficult subject to deal with. The ever-vigilant, quiet, but musical old soldier, Joakim, was beginning to have his doubts. As they rode in the wagon, he began expressing those doubts.

"See Valerius," Joakim said to the prince sitting beside him on the front seat of the wagon. ", I think I've fallen asleep on watch many times now. I can't tell, I didn't feel like I was asleep, but I'd blink and the stars would change position, or dawn would be coming. I don't feel weary or anything, just suddenly, it’s there."

"Well, I don't think the sun is speeding up, so you are probably just sleeping. Maybe you should get more rest during the day." Valerius replied.

"Maybe, I think I may just be getting too old for this. It has been for decades now, and sometimes it feels like I'm turning to stone, these joints of mine that is. The feet are the worst. Sometimes I think someone could be clubbing them with a mace and I'd feel better. I also keep thinking of home. I used to never do that when on campaigns."

"Perhaps so, but I'd wager that isn't quite the case."

"When will we come along that crypt anyways?

"It should be today actually," Valerius replied, looking down at the map on his knee. "We'll need to turn off the road up ahead at the mountains in the distance if we want to go in the right direction. Tomorrow, we head up those mountains to the place."

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"That is tomorrow then, not today," Kasper said from the back, cheekily. "Can't we just get there today. Those mountains couldn't be a day's travel away now, and it is only noon."

"Perhaps, but I don't want to camp on the mountainside. This much traveling has taught me enough to know the wind is no good - and look!" Valerius said, pointing off in the distance. Sure enough, clouds were blowing in over the edge of the mountain ridgeline.

"A storm?"

"Snow," Joakim replied. "I can tell from here, that isn't a rainstorm. It looks hazy underneath those clouds. A mid-spring snowstorm, which is not a good omen. However, with how far north we are it is not unusual. The mountaintops stay covered all year round."

Azara squinted as she looked at the mountaintops, and sure enough, he was right. Every one of them had a light dusting of snow at the top. It was snow that never melted.

Soon they had pulled off the main road, if the path they had been following could even be called that, and steered towards a peek to the west. At its base, there was a small forest of conifer trees, and it was within these they decided to make their camp. By the time they did so, the wind had begun to pick up some, and a few flakes were beginning to fall.

This was the first time, Azara thought, that she had used magic to light the fire. It quite amazed Kasper and Joakim, even though they had already seen her magical prowess and powers. Surprisingly, it wasn't that she was generating fire from thin air that amazed them, but rather that she blew it from her mouth onto the kindling. They simply couldn't fathom how the fire didn't burn her lips. "I get that now, I suppose." Irinia said. "But why cast fire magic from the breath? Why is it a better place for someone like me?"

Azara shrugged. "The breath is closer to the soul I think." "Well then, wouldn't the eyes be a good way?" irinia asked.

"You've said before that the eyes are like windows to the soul, and are very connected to our souls. So wouldn't that be a great place to cast magic from? However, I've never seen mages do that. Well, normal mages."

"I've seen a few, but you are right. It is rare, and hard." Azara replied. She shrugged. inwardly, she wished that she had read more and practiced sorcery less. If she had studied magic like her sister or the other members of the Ignis Evigan, she may have been able to answer questions like these. "I'll be honest, I don't know for sure Irinia. The breath is just the right place to cast fire from. Not just for me, but any mage wanting to learn. I don't know the theory, just the practice. The only reason I ever learned magic was because I wanted to be better than my sister."

Irinia raised an eyebrow. "She was better than you?"

Azara nodded. She smiled out of nostalgia. "Much better. She's interested in alchemy and machinery these days, but she used to use magic like us extensively. When we were little she got a lot of praise from mother and studied magic very scientifically. I wanted to get noticed too so I set out to become better than her. I kind of did."

"What do you mean kind of?" Irinia asked.

For a bit, Azara considered whether she should respond before she shrugged and sighed. "Astra, my sister, got a bit carried away with it. She ended up injuring herself very badly and decided to never use fire magic again. Truth be told, the only reason I surpassed her was because she stopped practicing and learning."

Irinia frowned. "That's sad."

"It is, but she's happy now I think. She survived and found another passion though, that is what matters. I came to really like my magic for what it was rather than just a competition. Everything worked out." Azara said. She looked up at the snow falling from the sky. The fire was roaring, and Joakim, Kasper, and Valerius were setting up their shelter. "We should probably help the boys. The magic study can come later."

"Alright," Irinia said with a nod.

Eventually, the snow started coming in heavier and heavier. The wagon had been parked beside a large boulder, on the other side of which a large tree had grown. All together the wagon, combined with the boulder face, and the large tree, gave them a semi-circle of shelter. Back in Notting, they had been given a much larger tent, and they used the canvas of this to spread over the wagon and the boulder, creating a large shelter over the area, quite close to their fire. Then they pitched their old tent underneath this. The wind began to pick up but sheltered as they were by the forest and their little barricade, it was not a bother, and only its loud howling was a nuisance.

And its howl grew louder and louder, as the night fell and the moon rose.