The Alchemist's Lair: Part 2

We left early in the morning, a week after the briefing, as planned. Aside from our supplies, Balthazar elected to ride on one of the carts, although we did bring enough extra hadrosaurs should any we were riding become unusable due to injury or exhaustion. The mare I was provided with was a robust young creature, covered in glittering green scales, with a bright yellow beak and a full mane of turquoise feathers. She proved difficult to control initially, much to the amusement of the rest of the group, but later on, we got along just fine.

Escorting us were 20 cavalrymen under the command of Sergeant Spiridon Nixon, who was treating his appointment with an air of detached disappointment. The war against the Sorcerous League ended just as he was being dispatched to the front. All the glory that could be taken was already claimed by others, and, until another conflict broke out, he was stuck with what he perceived as undignified jobs – such as escorting a bunch of weirdoes to poke around ancient ruins.

As the bright orange sun rose behind us, we left the walls and marble streets of Hieropolis and entered the pleasant surrounding countryside. It was an agricultural area, filled with picturesque villages, fields, orchards, and vineyards. Its overall prosperity, as well as its proximity to the capital and its military might, made the plains west of Hieropolis one of the best places in the kingdom to live.

The first several days went by smoothly for the most part. Only issues we encountered stemmed from Civet’s enthusiasm for field research. He wasn’t a leading expert in any one field, but fairly adept at pretty much everything, and as such, he was gathering samples of earth, plants, and animals, making various sketches, and talking to the villagers about local customs. At one time, he almost got into a fight with some inn patrons, who thought his questions about the cult of Meriana were out of line. Thankfully, Rhombus noticed what was going on and nodded at Gandor, who, understanding his master’s intent nonverbally, went to menacingly stand over Civet’s head until passions died down.

His tendencies towards wasting time also led to him butting heads with Iosacta on multiple occasions. She was, after all, the one responsible for planning the legs of our journey, and she found waiting for him to capture, for instance, an intriguing dragonfly specimen extremely frustrating.

“Will you hurry it up! We’re way behind schedule. You should’ve told me in advance that you were going to waste everyone’s time. And those boxes of yours! We could’ve carried two days’ worth of extra supplies without them. Maybe next time I’ll insist we leave you bookish types behind. You can analyze whatever we bring back later”.

“On the contrary, Iocasta, it is of utmost importance that I tag along. Manean academia is in a rut – understandable, frankly, given how much had to be dedicated to the war effort in the last few centuries – and it is imperative for us younger generations to pull us back up. We’ve been sitting in our libraries for far too long. Barely anything was written on ecological or anthropological changes in the past two hundred years, and our academics are satisfied sitting on their arses, collecting their government stipends. There have been theoretical advancements in many fields, for sure, but without field research and samples –“

“Oh, enough! Sergeant Nixon, can you please urge him not to cause further delay?”

The sergeant was watching the quarrel with the faintest hint of amusement on his face.

“I can waste my time here, or back home in the barracks. It’s all the same to me. Do as you will”.

As days went by, the scenery gradually began to shift. It took more and more time to get from one settlement to the next. While the terrain was getting hilly, and we could already see the mighty snow-covered peaks of the Ptolomiac mountains in the distance, fields were still more frequent than pastures. There were, however, increasingly long stretches of untamed wilderness. Different species of antelope, deer, and stegosaur could be spotted in the distance. On a few occasions when we were unable to get to a settlement by the evening and had to camp in the wilderness, we could see packs of cynognathi observe us from a distance, then scuttle back into darkness.

Eventually, we reached the mountains. Terrain became more rugged. Temperate forests gave way to colossal sequoias and ancient, crooked pines. These were the lands of shepherds, outlaws, and monsters. Days would pass without hearing a human voice other than our own. Screeches of various creatures nesting in the cliffs filled the day; at night, there was chirping of numerous insects. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, all noise would cease, and whichever poor soul was on guard duty at that time would clutch their weapon in their hands, squinting at the darkness, trying to make out whatever horror caused the disturbance. But nothing ever entered our camp, and our journey passed without incident – except for one particular night.