Raya and four others set out toward Vagren, knowing full well they might need to go further to find the source of the light on the horizon. Throughout the day since, Raya had doubted what she had seen. It must have just been lightning, or a trick of her eyes. But Hemsten told she was wrong. He had been on sentry duty and had seen the long flash himself too.
Hemsten led the way down one of the hill slopes, and Raya followed near his side. Behind her walked Lotha, the most quiet member of their group. She had explained that Viker could handle her responsibilities in Olston and that her abilities of healing and analyzing might be useful. Her road apparel was much less formal than her beautiful costumes in town; she wore leather slacks, a fur-trimmed wool tunic, and a dark blue cape, while her dark hair was bound behind her head with a small knot of string.
Behind Lotha marched two other guards: Erek and Dondar. While the former had a wife and young son who would miss him, Dondar was a thirty year old man who had grown up in Vagren and had no other connections aside from his long career in Olston. He talked with a slight accent and a offensive sense of humour, but seemed like a good man at heart.
“There’s the farms around Vagren,” Hemsten said, as they climbed the next slope. Sure enough, in the distance Raya spotted a few cabins in the lowlands, as well as orchards and large brown fields.
“Should we go into Vagren?” she asked.
Lotha folded her arms. “It’ll delay us, but my status likely ensures our safety,” she told them.
Raya nodded. “Benn would probably join us if I asked him,” she said. When Lotha looked at her quizzically—they already had three guards—she explained, “He’s a good-meaning young man with a smart head, might help us out.”
Hemsten nodded. “Spoke to him before he left Olston a few months ago, and I’ll take him if he wants to go with us.”
Into Vagren they went, that afternoon, arriving at the Vagabond’s Rest as the evening began. Given the curious nature of their journey, Master Urvin Kama agreed to give them free board that evening if they paid for their meals and returned to tell the tale of what the thunder on the horizon had been. The whole tavern was abuzz with it, and a new theory was posited—a volcano had erupted in the Karalla Mountains, rumbling through the heavens. One proud townsman boasted that the ash would come, and he wouldn’t need the insights of brave adventurers to recount the truth.
Benn eagerly agreed to join them, and Urvin begrudgingly allowed it. The next morning, their group set out from Vagren heading east along the Eremes River. As the sun rose, Benn joked with Raya that they would find a gemstone from the stars, a beautiful rock that had crashed into the earth with a joyous crash.
Soon enough, from an inn in Ellakar, Raya was certain they would learn the truth. The large lake city would hold answers for them.