Chapter 312: A Familiar Face
Blue rock and earth flashed beneath us, even the largest rock formations reduced to a blur beneath Fable’s paws. After the first hour, I’d long since lost track of time, carrying just enough strength to hold Korra and cling to Fable. The only real reference I had was the distant silhouette of the mountains on the north and south flanks, framing the Blue Canyon from beginning to end. They’d been there since we began our descent, and, according to Korra, the range only ended as we entered Brithlite proper.
At some point, I became aware of a thin needle on the horizon. It steadily grew closer with each passing minute, until, despite being quite distant, it dwarfed the nearby rock formations. A nervous tremor ran down my tail as we approached, and I touched Korra’s cheek, flinching as I found her cold and clammy. She groaned weakly and shifted in pain, and I cast a Gentle Song, soothing her sleep. The poison had advanced to fill her entire body with ugly blackness; there wasn’t much time left. If we couldn’t find help soon, even if I eventually found a healer, the hopeful scene in my vision would never be fulfilled.
Soon, the rock formation towered high in the sky, easily as tall as any mountain. To me, it was a hopeful beacon, the silhouette of a lighthouse in a storm. Within its shadow, there was someone who could help us, someone who could save Korra. The ground flowed by like a river, disappearing rapidly beneath us, until we finally crested the final ridge. Fable cantered to a stop, letting me get a view of the scene below.
A small city, just as I’d seen in my vision, nestled against the base of the monolith. It was more of a fortress than a city, with stone walls at least thirty feet thick. Squat towers broke up the smooth face of the walls, laden with siege weaponry and flapping with Brithlitian pendants. The road, which we had left so long ago, appeared a little the our side and snaked through the last canyons before ending up at the gate.
Unlike my vision, there was no army without the walls, only a few scattered companies–a couple hundred at most. Their camps were neat and orderly, evenly spaced a couple hundred feet from each other and the walls. One sat on the road itself, acting as a guard post or waypoint of some kind. Despite the distance, I could just make out tiny soldiers sitting around or training, the red light of the setting sun catching on their polished armor.
How were we supposed to approach this? I was an exile, one who had rejected the gods’ invitation to return and pay penance for my crimes. Korra had abandoned the world for me and was likely just as hunted as I was. Even if they didn’t recognize us immediately, the soldiers before me were a clear sign of the war raging between Enusia and the demons. Would they really just let a demonkin waltz in and demand a healer?
My tail twitched as my fears piled up, and I had to constantly remind myself that there was a path that led to Korra being healed. I had to have faith and trust what I had seen, no matter how impossible it seemed. Korra’s life depended on it.
The Nexus spell had yet to break and still bound our souls together, but the rest of my magic had since dissipated. After hours of desperate travel, my mana had slowly regenerated, leaving me with a little over half–just enough for a few fifth-circle spells or a sixth-circle array. It wasn’t much, not if we found ourselves at odds with the soldiers below, but it gave me enough confidence to take the next step."
"Let’s approach from the road," I murmured into Fable’s ear. "We’ll have to face them eventually, so it’d be better to get this over with. And if there’s someone powerful enough to help Korra, the soldiers will know about them."