This book is dedicated to all of my friends,

who pulled me out of a hole that I couldn't get out of alone and brought me back into the light.

You know who you are.

Dhurk ava urk a raxo ãvai, nãv dlaork.

 

 

This book will be updated every Monday until it's completion. And unlike the last book, the pronunciations and translations won't be available until the final chapter because I do not have them even written out yet. So instead, I'll put translations for the chapter at the end of the said chapter if they are needed. 

Hope you all will enjoy Spirit of the Mountain, part 2 of the Wild Spirits Chronicles!

2: Prologue

The full moon was cast in a starry sky above the endless expanse of trees. Every star shined in the night sky like a thousand tiny lights. Despite the sky being clear, there was a storm gathered in the horizon, each flash of lightning briefly illuminating the forest.

Somewhere in this forest, a light brown buck was trotting. With a sense of purpose in his step, he swiftly moved between the thicket. Each time he took a step, a spiral of blue starry mist was left in his wake. In no time at all, he arrived at his destination: a small clearing where two other deer were already present.

The larger one was a white-furred buck while the smaller one was a russet-furred doe. The buck's antlers were larger than the brown furred buck and he was much larger than him as well, muscles rippling under his thick fur. The doe was a different story. She was much smaller than him, but obviously had authority over the white buck.

Once he had stopped, the light-brown buck bowed his head in respect towards the two. The white buck bowed back, but the doe did not. She did tip her head however.

"Horora," the light-brown deer said. "You called me, did you not?"

The doe nodded while the other dear said, "Ãvok, Dendar. Naragari has seen something troubling ahead. A Xakar."

Dendar tipped his head. "What has she seen Deswan?"

"An old Kark," Deswan said, "unwilling to pass on."

"Why? Karks are always the fastest coming."

Deswan looked at Naragari, who looked back silently before nodding in approval. Deswan turned to Dendar. "He refuses to leave his daughter side."

There was a few minutes of silence as the small deer took it in. Once he understood what was said, he spoke. "What has his daughter have to do about it? He should be here and his daughter-"

"May not be able to find us," Deswan interrupted. "His daughter is a Dur Xurkolk."

"What?!" The stag roared. "But that's-"

"Possible," Deswan continued, ignoring the young deer's outburst. "The girl has a power within, one that hasn't been seen for a long, long, long time."

"What do you mean?"

"She is a Khunar, a white one."

The brown deer took a step back in surprise, his mouth open in a small 'o'. The white deer gave a small, amused chuckle at his expression. "Now you see why he refuses to leave her," Deswan said.

"We have to protect her then!" The deer jumped up into the air. "She could be the one! The one to free us!"

Naragari shook her head. "The Nightmares have not caught wind of her yet," Deswan spoke for her. "She will be safe for now."

"But the stirrings-"

"They mean nothing," Deswan answered before he could finish. "They will stop soon."

Dendar opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again, knowing better. "Okay." His voice became quiet and calm again. "What do we do then?"

"Nothing. We have to wait until he comes to us." Dendar nodded in agreement. All three of them turned towards the clear, moonlit water. "We must wait for Ordello to come to us."

 

Translations~

  Ãvok- Yes 

  Horora- Hello (Greetings)

  Kark- King

  Xaka- Vision

3: Chapter 1

In the past few weeks, Romelia came to many conclusions.

The first was that walking all day made her feet sore, bruised, and tired. The ground they were forced to walk on was eroded by travelers long forgotten. The hot sun beat down on them all day long and only added to the discomfort. The only solace was the chilly breeze that blew once or twice a day. The cruelty that Dominque showed them did nothing to help anyone. Every time someone tried to rest when they were stopping, Dominque would put them to work.

Romelia's second conclusion was that horses really stank, much more than deer.

"Hurry up!" Dominque snarled, lashing her whip into the humid air. The sound it made was a harsh Crack! that startled everyone, including Romelia. The girl hung her head, placing her hand over the wound that had started to throb once more. It was because of the harsh treatment that gave Romelia little to no time to treat her wound that threatened to become infected.

Her feet dragged slightly as she continued along the beaten road and she became immersed in her thoughts. She knew that if any of her friends saw her, they wouldn't recognize the young girl. Romelia's hair, that had once been a shimmering silver, had been dirtied to a grey color. Because they hadn't been allowed to wash, a layer of dirt had settled over her skin, turning her skin into a tannish color. They weren't fed well, just a piece of bread and some unclean water, so most of their ribs were poking out and cholera was rampant. Romelia was no exception. Her usually bright eyes that saw the wonder in everything had dulled from the pain and exhaustion.

None of the prisoners would talk to the girl, even though she tried to show that she meant them no harm. This caused Romelia to grow very lonely at times, especially at night when the stars came out. The stars brought back childhood memories of when her father would show her the constellations that made up the starry skies. Romelia hoped that her father was alright with her not there. She knew how much her father could worry about her.

"Stop!" Dominque's iron cold voice once again startled everyone. "We'll make camp here tonight!" No one argued with her.

As she and the others got ready for bed, Romelia couldn't help but stare up at the darkening sky. There were many things on her mind, including what tomorrow would bring and if she would stay alive for one more day. But the one thing that stuck in her mind was her worry over where her friends were and if they were safe.

Romelia especially hoped that Cyri was safe and well.

âš”

"Ack!"

Cyri let out a startled cry as his leg was sucked into the mud. Cursing under his breath, he began to pull his leg out from the mud for the third time that day. A few feet ahead of him, Luther looked at him. Amusement danced in the man's amber eyes as he watched Cyri struggle to get his leg free. Behind Luther, the sun had finally managed to pierce the low hanging storm clouds. The rays it his hair just at the right angle to give the brunette red streaks.

"You know," Luther commented when Cyri was freed, "it's much easier to avoid the mud."

"Shut up," Cyri muttered as he walked past the tall man. He heard Luther chuckle quietly as he followed Cyri. He then began to shake the mud from his hair that had been collecting in it since his first run-in with the sinking mud.

Ever since leaving the forest, the two had been following Dominque's trail. They had learned that not long after leaving the forest, Dominque had taken a slave trader's haul as her own. Luther had a strange, uncanny ability to track their movements. It seemed almost unnatural sometimes how accurate he could be. But when Cyri asked about it, Luther bluntly brushed it off. While Cyri was suspicious about why he didn't want to talk about it, he knew that everyone had their own secrets. Of course, there were things other than his tracking abilities that Luther kept to himself.

For example, whenever Cyri would ask Luther about how he knew Dominque or anything about how he had found the forest in the first place, he would just answer with his own question. After an infuriating night of trying to get a straight answer out of the mysterious man, Cyri just gave up and decided to stop questioning him for a while. Luther seemed trustworthy and had never given Cyri any reason to doubt him. Cyri's hope though was that Luther would come around eventually and just give him an answer.

That might be a while, Cyri thought to himself.

The two walked through the gushing rain, the clouds once again swallowing the sunlight. The first week of their journey had gone smoothly, no huge obstacles on the road. The second week though, they were attacked by a small group of soldiers. During the attack, their food and supplies had been destroyed and Cyri had been thrown into a thorn tree head first. While they won the fight, they were still left without food and water. Throughout the whole of the week, they had been attacked by something at least once a day. Whether it was wolves, bandits, or even farmers. The beginning of the third week, it had started to rain. It still hadn't stopped even though it must have been days since it started.

Cyri took a small break to observe his reflection in one of the many, many overflowing puddles since he had not taken to any kind of grooming in his journey with Luther. When he did, Cyri was surprised at what he saw.

His face was hard with the troubles they had come across with the bandits. There were bags under his eyes, showing how little he slept at night. His hair was sticking to the sides of his face because of the constant rain. He noted the faint stubble of a beard that was starting to grow along his chin. There was also a scar across his nose from when he had been thrown into the thorn tree. Luther had patched him up well, but a scar had still formed.

"Cyri!" Luther's voice snapped the teen out of his thoughts. He looked up to see the brunette looking at him from the top of a hill. "Come on! We have to keep going!" Cyri nodded, hurrying to catch up with him.

A few hours later, after the wind and rain started to increase, Luther suggested that they should try to make camp. Cyri agreed almost immediately. He was tired of his wet clothes and the cold rain. Despite his drive to find Romelia, he knew that if he stayed out any longer he'd catch a cold and he wouldn't be much help to her then.

Cyri set up a makeshift tent out of leaves and sticks while Luther hunted. This was how things usually went at their camp. Luther would go off to hunt leaving Cyri alone for a few hours to set up camp. He almost always came back with some sort of animal. With the way the weather had turned though, he believed that they would go to bed with empty bellies.

As he set up, Cyri's thought returned to a subject that had been on his mind ever since leaving the forest: Romelia's condition and Ordello's death. The teen had no idea how he could possibly tell the girl that the deer that raised her was dead or how she would react when he gave her Ordello's message. He did know that she would cry though, and he didn't want that. Not because he had no idea how to deal with crying women, but because... Well okay, it was because he had no idea how to deal with crying women.

"Cyri." A deep voice had snapped Cyri out of his thoughts. The blonde looked up to see that Luther had returned. Much to his surprise, there was the body of a young doe slung over his right shoulder. "I got dinner," was all he said.

Cyri simply blinked at him. "How did you-"

"Go ahead and cook it," Luther interrupted. Cyri was confused on how he had managed to catch anything in this weather but still cut the deer up so he could attempt to cook it.

4: Chapter 2

Unlike all the other nights, crying woke Romelia up. Usually, she was woken up by someone shaking her shoulder. While the girl could tell it was female, she couldn't see anything. She started to freak out, thinking that she had somehow died in her sleep. Romelia soon realized that she was dreaming, however. Once she realized this, there was a blinding white light. Crying out in pain, she covered her eyes with her hands. Just like her dream a few weeks ago, she could hear faint whispering. Though they were a little bit clear, she still couldn't tell if they were male or female, old or young, or what it was they were saying. As soon as it had come, the light disappeared.

Once her eyesight had returned, Romelia looked around at her surroundings. She had expected to be on the hill she had fallen asleep on, not in a forest. It still was the middle of the night though. The forest was silent, other than the sound of crying. Romelia decided to find the source of the sound. She walked forward, tripping over a lot of fallen branches, but she continued onward. Eventually, she entered a clearing.

It was a large clearing with bright, dewy grass that sparkled in the moonlight. A small stream curved around a gigantic red-oak. The tree looked like it was dying, its branches bare and drooping slightly. Romelia saw the scorched wooden bridge and she recognized where she was. Romelia was home.

A rustling drew her attention to the entrance of the clearing. As she did, a brown and white deer padded into view. A blue-haired nymph followed close behind her.

"Ryna, you have to do something! The entire herd is on freaking out! They want to know what happened to Ordello and Romelia!"

Ryna, Romelia's mother simply stared at the dying tree. "I can't Tanisha."

"Why?!" Tanisha questioned.

Ryna stayed quiet for a moment before answering calmly. "Because we have to have faith that Romelia will return."

"What?! That's not-"

"We can't tell them because I know they might disband," Ryna responded. "But, if we wait for Romelia to return, the chance of disbandment is very slim. So we can't tell them yet. Not until Romelia returns."

Romelia's eyes opened in darkness, but it wasn't like before. She was back outside the hut, on the little hill she had fallen asleep upon hours earlier. The others were still asleep, no one aware of what had happened to Romelia. Even though the girl was happy to know her mother and friends were safe, their conversation still bothered her.

If father isn't with the herd, then where is he? Romelia thought to herself. Is he out looking for me? If so, then is he safe?

"Hey. You."

At the sound of Dominque's voice, Romelia jumped a little in surprise. She turned towards the hut to see Dominque standing at the doorway. The girl's hair was still messy from sleep, signaling that she hadn't been awake for long. Her movements were also sluggish and there were bags under her eyes. There was something in the corner of Dominque's eyes, something that Romelia couldn't quite see. She knew there was something there, something that seemed... black.

"Hey!" Romelia realized that Dominque had called her name multiple times. Romelia looked at her, a bit afraid to question her. She still did, despite her fear.

"Huh?"

Dominque sighed. "I asked if you're cold. You were shivering."

"O-oh." Only then did Romelia realized how cold it had become since nightfall. The chill almost reached her bones. Romelia nodded nervously. "Y-yes."

"Here." Dominque threw a blanket at her, while Romelia caught a little clumsily. It was made out of some kind of black fur. When Romelia ran her fingers through it, she realized it was made out of wolf fur. Even though this horrified her, she still wrapped it around her, trying not to gag. It was the only warmth she had.

"T-thank you," Romelia said, once she was sure that she wouldn't throw up. However, when she looked up, Dominque was gone.