Light shone from the tree, mimicking the golden glow of the sun now setting behind the mountains. It stood taller than the others in the small forest that clung to the edges of the valley. The glowing golden light from the crystal sconces lining the trunk illuminated wooden platforms built around the branches. Standing on several strategically placed platforms were Sao-Vaarie guards. They had armor polished so it reflected the golden light around them, with magnificent yellow and black butterfly wings on their backs. Each one also carried a wicked looking lance.

Aeron watched through a crude wooden spyglass. He was tucked safely behind a rock on the crest of a hill overlooking the forest. His nondescript brown clothing helped him to blend in with the dirt and tall tufts of grass. Unlike the Sao-Vaarie, his back didn't sport any wings. Teh-Vaarie hadn't had them for ages. He frowned.

“Looks like they’ve got the place pretty well guarded. Not surprising I guess.” he put down the spyglass and pulled aside a blade of grass behind him. “What do you think Quail?”

The parted grass revealed a brown cottontail rabbit. It had a saddle on the back and several bulky saddlebags. It was nibbling on the grass. Aeron shook his head.

“Typical, always thinking of your stomach.” he turned back around to look at the tree. “I suppose we don’t really need it, do we? It's only one piece of the puzzle after all.” he stood up and walked around to Quail’s side. Opening one of the saddlebags he rifled through it for a minute before pulling out a notebook. The cover was made of coarse brown bark with thin pages made of dried leaves. It was bound loosely together with a coarse cord made of grass fibers.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

He opened up the notebook and flipped through the pages. He reached one that had a diagram on it with various words connected by lines. Most of the lines led to the word journal in the top left corner of the page. He frowned again, then closed the book and stuck it back in the saddlebag. He stroked the fur on Quail’s side.

“I wonder if they would just let us have it if we asked nicely?”

The rabbit extended his neck and took another nibble from the tuft of grass. He had loved traveling the grassy valleys of Sontan over the past week. There was a lot more food here than their usual journeys through the Teshi wastes.

Aeron looked back over the hill towards the glowing tree and sighed.

“Yeah, I don’t think so either, but we need that journal if we are going to have any idea of where to even start looking.”

He put the notebook back into the saddlebag and walked over to the other side. He opened up the other saddlebag and pulled out a backpack with a cord and a ramshackle wooden device at the end. He took off his rabbit wool jacket and shivered as a breeze blew past. Strapping the device to his wrist he put his coat back on over the top and then slung the backpack over his shoulders. Quail turned his head to look back at Aeron.

“What? It will work this time. Besides, it's only insurance in case things go south.” He also pulled a small pouch from the saddlebag and tied it to his belt. That was even more insurance. Closing the saddlebag he put his foot in the stirrup and hopped into the saddle.

“Time to see how friendly they are. Hup!” With that, Quail took off down the hill toward the forest.