Dry as dust (Veldrys)

[Bolden Denusk]

Bolden waded uncomfortably through the deep water, trying not to choke on the increasing smoke. The cold temperature numbed his limbs and made him clumsy enough to keep landing in the damn water above his head. Repeatedly he came up sputtering water and his panic increased. He couldn't go any deeper or any closer, so if---

Veldrys' comment stopped him in his tracks and he stared in wonder at the Symenestra. Total surprise, indignant fury and red-faced shame warred across his features, vying for placement. If he wasn't so scared of the situation, it might have been damn funny.

"What the petch are you talking about? This is some crazy shyke, but yea let's stand here and philosophize on the relative merits of which death is worst! I'm petching illiterate but yea I assume I'm smarter than everyone. No. I just think moving away from danger is smart. Let's not be afraid of things that kill us. We'll stand here and just talk about the relative painful styles of each thing trying to kill us, while letting it kill us!"

'Gods I wish Nightwind was here!' he thought fervently of his only friend. He could've sworn he felt a light nudge in the middle of his back from the strider. He ignored it as nonsense and continued speaking.

"I don't get you man. Is the water not wet enough to make you think it exists? Maybe if the flames--"

The enormous stallion nickered quietly, shoving Bolden's shoulder with his muzzle! How did-? Where did he come from?! He looked from the horse and back to Veldrys in surprise.

"Wait--you're not afraid because this is a dream!" He exclaimed, instantly at ease because of his strider's presence.

"How did you know this is a dream? It looks just like Endrykas and we're having the worst drought anyone can remember-even the elders. It's mostly just plains and meadowland so there's rampant wild fires going on right now."

The young Drykas stopped talking and scrambled up onto Nightwind's back. Now he could forge any river or outrun and wildfire. But with the way the guy was acting, he certainly wasn't with Bolden by own choice; that was for damn sure.

So if this was just a dream, then he couldn't drown, burn or suffocate? The guy had figured out that this wasn't real before Bold had, so as usual, Bolden was the stupid one. It really stuck in his gut that no matter how much he learned about horses and striders, people, even strangers in -dreams- considered him dumb as a brick. And they were right.

Bolden sighed and looked at Veldrys, not meeting his eyes.

"I didn't know this was just a dream and you got it way before I did. I'm thick and you could have just said, 'it's only a dream.' No, I'm not smart at all, so there's no need to rub it in. Swim or not, talk or not, follow or not, it's all your choice. I don't consider myself smarter than anyone."

His face colored in shame at his glaring stupidity but there was nothing to be done for it. He nudged Nightwind forward, the tall horse swimming confidently and easily. With a gentle hand he stroked the strider's neck and avoided looking anywhere in Veldrys' direction.

'Why can't I wake up from this dream? Petching hells, I can't even be smart in my dreams!'

[Veldrys]

Veldrys began to find the smoke and the cold water just as unpleasant as Bolden. But rather than simply breathing the smoke in and potentially choking on it, he covered his face with the sleeve of his robe which made things at least marginally easier to bear. And unlike Bolden he didn’t land in the water and nearly drowned, but kept his head above the water at all times. „Do you need help?“ he asked the Drykas as he came up sputtering water for the third or fourth time. He couldn’t keep the sarcasm entirely out of his voice.

Bolden’s outburst just earned him another somewhat indifferent look. Veldrys was just about to finally start explaining why he reacted the way he did in a bit of detail, when the strangest thing happened. His amethyst eyes widened until they were so big that they nearly dropped out of their sockets, and then he made a step back and nearly stumbled. As the horse nickered, the Symenestra raised his hands defensively. He wasn’t afraid of horses per se, but he had never been so close to one. There were no horses in Kalinor. Besides there was something wrong with a horse that appeared out of thin air and landed in a river.

„What are you?“ he wanted to know. The question was of course directed a Bolden who seemed to know the horse. Was he some kind of mage? What kind of magic could make animals appear? He had once heard of mages that could summon creatures from other worlds. Was that what Bolden had just done? And why hadn’t he done it earlier? Should he be worried? He wasn’t sure if he could trust a mage, especially one that seemed to be such an idiot. „How did you bring that horse here? And what do you mean ...?“

He stopped abruptly and reconsidered the question he had wanted to ask. Bolden seemed to be just as surprised to see the horse as he was. That they had somehow ended up in a dream together wasn’t any more unlikely than that the gods had taken him to the past to save Bolden. But if this was just a dream, why was he in Endrykas and not in Falyndar where he really wanted to be?

„How did I know that it is just a dream?“ he asked, as if he had really known all along and not foolishly believed that he’d travelled to the past on some kind of divine mission. „People don’t normally move from Denval to Endrykas within the blink of an eye, so there were two options. Divine intervention or a dream. Although I have to admit it’s a very realistic dream.“ He coughed a little, and then he wondered if he could just summon a horse of his own that could take him away from the fire.