“Will it happen every time she dies then?” Karolus asked curiously as he watched the young druid entertaining a cluster of squirrels.

“Not sure to be honest, lad. The Drydakka only gives what we need and asks for nothing in return. It's only the second time I know of. First time I met her I was a youngling and she was already on her way out. She turned back up and we grew up together. As time passes she’ll remember.” Stella mixed the leaves into the boiling water.

“I never knew such magic existed. Do the Drydakka help you? I remember you said you were a Cleric?” Karolus' thoughts were trying to piece together the magic he had witnessed. 

“That I am, and they help out now and then. Mostly though it be Shiorraidh Cadal, known to some as the big bastard bear.” Stella smiled, it somehow made her scars smile as well.

“Back home we respect the Drydakka, some worship, others just nod as they pass a tree.” he sighed, wondering in that moment if he had believed as Stella and Yina do if his situation would be different.

“Well, they be all around us lad. Reach out once in a while and let’em know.” she smiled, passing him a mug of tea. 

Karolus enjoyed the brew. It somehow let him centre in the morning. 

With the coming of the morning his memory was a lot clearer. Of everything that had happened it was the eyes of the Calvarian that had stopped him and Connor at the bridge that held the most vivid in his mind.

He had woken earlier than the halflings. Spending time thinking in the quiet. Three months had passed, maybe, according to Yina. The temperature was milder meaning more rain and indeed the coming of Spring.  

Connor was in Calvaria, an ancient place across the sea. His thoughts didn’t make sense. 

Karolus was still unaware of why.

Holding to the knowledge that Connor had been wanted alive gave him some twisted comfort that he was still alive. His thoughts led to thinking of Glen and the promise he’d kept. Then there was his mothers spirit, she had prayed everyday to the Drydakka, he needed to know she was beneath their leaves.

“One at a time. One at a time.” whispered Karolus to himself.

The highlands were so different in the winter months. He had never really paid any attention to it before now. The air was crisper in the inhale and cooler on the exhale. Morning frost crunched under foot. Trees looked older, their smell subdued by the cold. Woodlands were graveyards of the past seasons, some still stood defiant with their evergreen life. 

Yina travelled extremely light, she ate what she found, drunk from thin streams and running brooks. Some of the surface ice had to be broken. When the trio slept the young halfling would always look to be comfortable wherever she lay her head. 

It always made Karolus smile seeing her sleep so soundly, not a care in the world. Stella hadn’t asked the druid to come along; she just did. 

Stella was clearly the lead for this trip and Yina the orbiting tag along who somehow investigated everything but was never behind.

“Yer be skinnier than when I last saw yer. We are gonna need to get yer healthy again.” Stella had inspected him thoroughly.

“I’ve been somewhat, well, dying.” He defended himself with a little humour. 

“Well you aint now so take advantage of the time we got travelling, cos your bony self won't be fighting any Calvarian, at least no longer than a swing or two.” 

Karolus accepted her words, he checked his own frame. He had height and a bit of width but was lacking the thickness he’d gained with the Douén. 

The months on his back had made him feel weak and out of breath when he exerted himself. Galwyn had said the best warriors never stopped pushing the limits of their body.

“Yina, what happened to the lads' fancy sword?” Stella called over to the young druid in conversation with a blackbird it seemed. 

“The wolf took it.” she called back, still focusing on the bird. 

“Wolf?” Stella said, confused. 

“Galwyn?” Karolus asked.

“Aye, possibly but why the sword and not you?”

“No idea, be nice to ask him.” Karolus sighed long and loudly.

“Well the plan be to avoid the Calvarian’s which likely means we will miss the Douén. Lotta blood getting thrown about the Highlands.” Stella subconsciously patted her hammer.

Stella gave him a look, smiled then tossed her hammer towards him which he caught. It was heavy, and he stumbled as he had to quickly shift his feet. The memory of sparring with Glen rushed back and he clung to it. 

“Carry that for a while, and get some movements going. If you can move that through the air with ease then a sword is like a younglings toy.” she grunted and continued to strap her shield to his other arm.

“May as well do both. I’ll likely throw stuff at yer, so be ready.” she smiled and all her facial scars looked as though they were smiling as well.

“Running is good as well.” called Yina from somewhere around them.

“What do yer know about running?” Stella laughed.

“The air spirits told me.” the druid stated.

Karolus nodded and did a couple practice swings. It wasn’t as smooth as he wanted but the pattern was there. 

The next few days were filled with him doing patterns with the hammer and shield until his muscles ached. After resting for food and drink Yina would encourage him to run ahead or behind. 

Puffing and panting he ran ahead, getting close to the trees and moving from one to another as fast as he could and trying to do so smoothly. 

For now he did as he was told and concentrated. There had been a moment where Yina asked if he wanted to swing by Grey Rock. But his last memory of the place was the Calvarian’s using it as some sort of base.

When he had Connor back at his side then they would return home together. Then they would return the favour of running their lives. 

All he could hear was his breath beating in his ears. It was loud. But he concentrated and kept his pace going. With a quick look he saw that Stella and Yina were nowhere to be seen. He had run too far ahead. 

Karolus slowed and took a swig from his waterskin. It was abnormally quiet. An eerie stillness settled in the area. No noise, no movement, not even an icy breeze. Beyond the trees in front of him was a massive open space. The ground looked scorched, nothing seemed to grow, it was as if no life had ever existed. 

He tiptoed closer to the edge. Scanning he could see it wasn’t a natural glade of the forest, it had been made by force of might or magic he knew not. He crouched and touched the soil, his fingertips tingled, he immediately felt as if he was being watched. 

Spinning to look he noticed shapes, shapes of a mist forming that of a humanoid. Karolus hadn’t seen where they had come from but they were here in number. Now they had formed he could see their features, those of the Calvarian’s, halfings, gnomes, other shapes. With a quick head count he saw at least twenty coming from the open space towards him. 

He  started to back away from the ghostly beings. The eyes were empty but the gaze was strong and piercing. They were looking deep within. 

An unnatural fear began to grow in him, from the pit of his stomach. He shook it off, and once more it grew.  It felt like an attack was coming from every angle, tearing at his soul.

“To me lad!” Stella came running towards him, hammer in one hand and shield in the other. 

She chanted loudly a prayer to the Drydakka, green speckled light shone from her. A handful of the ghostly figures immediately backed away. Hatred in their faces rebuked against the light.

“We don’t have much time. Yina!” Stella stalked towards the ones that weren’t fleeing to the back edge of the glade.

Karolus looked for Yina and saw her to Stellas left. Her face was set, no smile present as she conjured a blade of ice in front of her. Her head tilted and it shot towards the closest one. It Impacted so hard that it exploded and shards of sharpened primal ice hit the other two. 

They all wailed as if in pain, high pitched and painful to the ear. 

Stella stepped in to meet the spirits and swung her hammer. It connected as if they were solid. The same screeching wail. The light from the battle hardened halfling pulsed brightly and those ghosts cowering at the edge of the glade screeched and seemingly evaporated. 

The remaining swung out at Stella but she was equal to it and moved deftly as the misty hands clawed at nothing but air. Her hammer struck again. As the blow landed the ghost froze in place before shattering into tiny breaths of mist.

Swinging a stick she had picked up and coated in druidic magic, Yina slammed the makeshift weapon into her target. Her battle cry filled with joy.

Karolus had not moved from where he was when Stella had shouted at him and already so much had happened. Rushing forwards to stand at the side of Stella he slashed out with the dagger in his hand but it went straight through the ghost as if he were attacking smoke, leaving his hand feeling as though he had dipped it in arctic waters.

“Need a bit more than that lad! Stella called as she swung out with her hammer again.

“Great.” he said, taking a defensive stance.

Another ice made blade blasted into the ghost in front of Karolus, as before it exploded on impact and shards hit both he and Stella. The halfling cleric ignored the small cuts as the divine light she had been wielding faded.

Karolus on the other hand did not enjoy the several small cuts across his cheek and neck from the icicles. After lowering his hand from shielding what he could he saw that only one ghost now remained. A tiny smile of victory soon disappeared as the ghost hit out at Stella and its arm passed through the shield and her armour into her being. 

Stella groaned in pain and fought against the attempt of it possessing her, but in repelling it there was damage done. She dropped to one knee letting her hammer go and clutching at her chest. Her breathing became shallow.

As the ghost went to try it again Karolus stepped, scooped up the hammer and swung it as hard as he could into the dead thing. It was different this time, the hammer, unlike the dagger, hit firm. It felt like he had just hit a tree with it. His arm shook at the force and he had to right himself.

The blow had been as true as it could have been, as the ghost froze in place before dissipating into nothingness. The glade became silent again. Other than the strained breathing of Stella. 

“Are you ok?” Karolus asked on his knees beside her.

Stella nodded and continued her prayer. A soothing light of leaf green wrapped around her like a winter scarf. A few seconds later she stood. 

“Lets step away shall we.” and she gestured towards where Yina had remained on the outside of the glade. 

The druid passed out large purple berries. Eating them was incredible. Karolus didn’t question that as he ate them the small cuts on his face healed. Stella had seemingly taken care of her own wounds a moment earlier.

“What just happened?” Karolus looked back at the dead glade. 

“There are a fair few of’em around the place. Varying in size. They mark the use of necromancy from the Calvarians. Skirmishes and larger battles. All leaving their print on the land.” Stella made a strange face, stretching her jaw muscles.

“Necromancy, as in magic of the dead?” It wasn’t really a question as he had just seen the evidence. 

Shock and awe was his normal go to for such things but he felt as though things were obvious now. Yina and Stella's magic, the Calvarians, Douén, and the elemental spirits. 

There was a numbness to it all. Last winter, magic was nothing but a bedtime story, now as common as the mud beneath his boots.

Stella gave the glade a nod. Taking the hammer back from Karolus she checked it over. 

“Things that aint fully in our world need to be slapped with weapons that have tasted magic in their creation.” she gestured at the hammer.

“Magic hurts magic?” Karolus questioned.

“Not a strong one, but enough to sting ghosts and the like.” she passed the hammer back to him. 

He moved the weapon in mundane patterns before him.

“You did well not to be scared. Lots of folk just run away from the site of ghosts. Those that don’t curl up and cower whilst their life is drained from them and they become spirits themselves, bound to the glade. Sad really. But well done for you.” Yina spoke the words cheerfully.

“Aye, got a strong heart in there lad. Now let's get a move on, we have been out in the wilds long enough. Time for some tavern grub and a strong drink.” Stella stretched, put her shield back on her back and hooked the hammer.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to it.” Karolus also stretched, noticing after the running he was doing how nice it was to stretch out his muscles. 

“Now get to running, still an hour or so before nightfall.” The halfling cleric pushed Karolus forwards.

“We just fought ghosts.” he held his arms out pleading.

“We fought’em, you just lazed about.” stated Stella.

With a shake of his head and a pleading look to Yina who smiled back he set off at a jog, avoiding the glade by several feet. 

As they approached Applecross, Karolus looked up to the sky. It was dark and he imagined beyond the night grey clouds it was filled with stars. He saw shapes fluttering above them. Not with the grace of a bird but the deliberate chaotic effort of bats in flight.

“Evening to those walking in the dark. What may yer be doing that would stop me calling alarm?” The voice came from one of age, it had gravel to it.

“Aluro! How are yer still alive?” Stella stepped past Karolus towards the voice. 

From nearby a gnome appeared, incredibly old, not a hair on their head. Grey eyes twinkled as if tiny gems sat within them. Their clothing simple, lacking any tartan but their skin patterned in a woad of silver grey. Mainly circles with varied extending lines like a childs picture of the sun or the stretch of starlight.

Their long pipe sat sideways from the mouth, the tiny wisp of smoke making a slow dance at the end. The smoke heavy with the scent of pears. 

“When there’s no more stars in the sky and no pears on me plate, then I’ll die.” they said cheerfully.

Both Stella and the one called Aluro embraced one another. Karolus could see genuine care in both their eyes. The pair then turned and walked towards a clump of trees that had makeshift walls and roof tops made with woven branches and moss. Candle light flickered through the gaps and the smell of cooking fruit hung in the air.

Karolus followed, as did Yina. She smiled and would often take a deep breath standing on her tiptoes as if to get the best bit of the fruity aromas. 

Every so often he passed an apple tree, then a pear tree. There was no organisation for them but they looked full of fruit. It was the end of winter, still these looked in full bloom. His gaze fell on Yina, druid stuff that he did not fully understand.

Rope ladders went from home to home in the trees, it's not like they were hundreds of feet up either. Maybe ten to fifteen feet from the ground depending on the tree. There were also some structures on the ground. The same moss rooftops and woven branch walls. 

The candle lighting gave it that final touch of looking like a nest of fireflies, the grey blue night adding to the look. It felt as though the village were being revealed to him. 

All the Gnomes here were displaying the same coloured woad with similar patterns of suns and stars. There was not much difference to their fashion other than they showed more skin. 

Yina shared with Karolus that they were among the Meirge Tribe. Folks, mostly Gnomish, who revered the bat as their Ainmhí Spiorad, animal spirit. 

On branches and window sills were small fetishes, and wooden carvings in the image of a bat. Small wooden bowls with sliced apple and pear were left out for the nocturnal creatures. Some were feeding as the trio walked,  the creatures clearly not bothered by new folk. 

Yina moved from his side and looked to be engaged in a wonderful chitter with a young bat, it took to her straight away. 

Stella and the ancient looking Aluro led Karolus to a larger structure that involved climbing a short ladder and walking a thick branch. 

A woollen blanket used as a door was pulled aside to reveal an obvious communal place of drinking and song making. Within the building it was heavily scented with fruity drinks, no doubt strong enough to make one sleep for a day or two. 

The ceiling was decorated with many holes, makeshift chimneys.

“They like stars lad!” Stella called as she mingled with more of the woaded Gnomes who were clearly familiar with her.

Karolus stared skyward through the hole straight above him. On their approach to the village the sky was night grey and clouded, but here in this spot he could see the stars. Sparkling like broken glass in a firelight. 

“A fan of the stars are you?” asked a cute button nosed Gnome holding out an apple towards him. 

“I was as a youth, less so these days, or so I thought.” He felt the need to look back at the twinkling sky diamonds.

“Komodo.” she said and stepped close to him pointing upwards as she stood on a stool.

“Komodo?” he asked, realising her cheek was now right next to his.

“The constellation of the dragon. Apple?” she turned her head and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Dragon?”

“Apple?”

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Do you want an apple?” she held it out again for him, smiling innocently. 

“Erm, yes, thank you.” he took the apple half leaning away from her.

“Aoife. Pleased to meet you.” she hand held out.

“Karolus. And you.”

“Reet lad, we be here for the night, so let's drink, eat, watch the stars and if we be lucky a hot bath.” Stella interrupted the pair.

“Hello Stella.”

“Hi Aoife.” she stared at the smile on the gnome lass’s face then at the nervous look on Karolus' scruff covered one.

“Behave.” Stella left her look lingering on Karolus then moved on to talk with others who were now entering the building.