Chapter 219: Bluehair
Irwin stood beside Rindiri as she navigated The Sonata through the mountains. The ship was eerily silent as everyone stood on the prow and sides, staring ahead. They were closing in on the location where the Galub had said the portal would be, and Irwin had told everyone to be still. Who knew if there was any Galub that could hear as well as Greldo?
He glanced at his friend, who was standing a few steps away, eyes closed and hands behind his ears. Either he was glimpsing between his eyelids, or he noticed it some other way, but Greldo opened his eyes with a frown.
"I still only hear the distant shouts. But there's a lot of them. I'll go and scout along the shadows and see if I can get any closer this time."
Irwin nodded, but Greldo was already gone. Taking a deep sigh, he looked at the back of the ship where Clarish was standing, looking slightly nervous. Her body was tense, and a blue glow hovered around her feet, showing she could teleport in the blink of an eye. If anything went wrong, she would teleport to the three ships that were following ten minutes behind them to warn them. Seeing him looking at her, she nodded, and Irwin smiled reassuringly before he turned back to stare at his surroundings.
The mountains all around were gloomy and covered in shadows, while deep straight gouges, like sword cuts, covered some parts. According to Rindiri, those weren't uncommon on the Portal Gallery, though nobody had any idea what created them.
They were gliding past a steep cliff, the railing so close that he could probably have touched the dusty gray rocks if he leaned out over the railing. One of the deep gashes, a dozen-foot-long diagonal cut, sat nearly at eyesight, and he wondered if they weren't just made by something moving too close to the mountainside. He was pretty sure he would have hit the wall if he'd been the one behind the helm.
I'm glad she's behind the helm, he thought, shaking his head at Rindiri's impressive steering.
"Perhaps we should just lure them into the mountains and let them smash against the rocks," he whispered.
Rindiri didn't look up, but the corners of her lips curved up ever so slightly.
"I'll try and lure a few here while you are running rampant," she whispered.
Irwin grinned, noticing a few of the rangers had turned to look at them. He pointed at his ears, raising an eyebrow, and the rangers shook their head.
I hate sneaking around, Irwin thought as he crossed his eyes and shared an annoyed look with Rindiri. She just smiled before focusing on a narrow gorge ahead of them.