Chapter 21-3

In the end, it took almost a week for Almonihah to finish his purchases, collect his new arrows, and find a ship willing to take a giant griffon. He'd managed to spend almost all of the treasure he'd taken from the dragon's lair, though he still had enough that he wasn't worried. Why he felt the need to go south... perhaps it was just to do it, after his failure to cross through the Madlands. Perhaps not. Sometimes he felt like there was something more driving him, though what it was he couldn't say. 

After a couple days of warily watching the pair from a distance, one of the Midport Griffon-Rider captains approached Almonihah. They had, apparently, gathered that something was different about Zakhin'Dakh beyond his size, and he invited the pair to spend a bit of time with them. Almonihah rather reluctantly agreed, but Zakhin'Dakh was much more enthusiastic. Hanging out at the edges of town while his friend did things with shiny round things was rather boring.

The griffon-riders lead them up to their eyrie, in one of the mountains to the north of Midport. There they spoke with Almonihah and, to their surprise, Zakhin'Dakh (indirectly, until one of their number who actually knew Great Eagle was called in). At their request and with Zakhin'Dakh's energetic approval, the big griffon remained behind while Almonihah continued his business. He returned frequently, however, both out of concern for his rather naïve friend and out of his own curiosity about these griffon-riders.

One other thing he noted while in the city was a man who would sometimes shout from street-corners about how the gods were deceiving the world, that none were worthy of worship, or some such nonsense. Almonihah paid him little heed, but he seemed to gather an audience some evenings. Once Almonihah thought he saw something around his neck, mostly hidden under the robe he wore. He only got a glance of an odd chain around his neck, but for some reason the sight of it chilled the Ranger. Even days later, he found himself tensing up whenever he saw the man, though he never again caught sight of whatever he wore around his neck.

Eventually the day of departure came. Zakhin'Dakh wasn't hard to get on the ship, though it was, as Almonihah had guessed, difficult to keep him from causing trouble. Food would still be an issue, as well—they'd packed quite a bit, but he and the griffon would have to supplement it extensively when they could. The only benefit Almonihah could convince the captain of (besides the payment) was that any pirate foolish enough to attack them would find himself quite outmatched, so they were paying for their own supplies separately. 

The journey was... surprisingly uneventful. Pleasantly so, even. Zakhin'Dakh did complain a bit about the food, when they couldn't manage to get something fresh from an island or even a couple times by catching something from the ocean, but they both managed to stay fed. Friction with the captain and crew was... irritating, but not serious. Zakhin'Dakh eventually found a couple ways to help that they actually appreciated.
And so they reached port in Ferdunan quietly, slightly ahead of schedule. Convincing the guards at the port that neither of them meant any harm was a bit more difficult, but eventually, they were allowed to disembark and start making their way inland.

It wasn't how Almonihah had originally planned to go south, but now... here he was, in spite of Jivenesh.

*****

This is actually the end of chapter 21. It's a rather short chapter. Chapter 22 will be fairly short as well, and then... we finally get to Garkhen's story!

Speaking of Garkhen, he randomly decided to talk to me from over a thousand years in the future from present-day Draezoln. You can read it here, if you want the spoilers: http://figmentregistry.wikidot.com/stories:garkhen-s-last-words