The Wanderings
Chapter One - An Everyday Miracle
Wyes looked at the other child and grinned widely. It had been raining, which meant that the crops would grow, new flowers would bloom, and best of all... there would be mud. Quick as his small limbs could manage, Wyes ducked to the ground and scooped up a handful of the brown muck, and flung it at the young girl.
"Stop it Wyes! Mud is for boys!" Alexa squealed in horror, as she also bent down and got a bigger handful of mud and tossed it at Wyes. Wyes laughed and continued the mud fight, until eventually Alexa stamped her foot on the ground. "No! Now you've gotten me all dirty!" She said angrily, while walking towards him ominously. Wyes gulped, and took a few steps back before one of his feet slipped out from under him and sent him sprawling onto his back.
Alexa quickly dived onto him, tickling him everywhere. Under his arms, his belly, and his bare feet. She was ruthless, giving him no quarter even while he was gasping for air.
"No! Please stop! I'm sorry! I'll do anything!'' Wyes gasped out, between giggles.
"Anything?" Alexa stopped tickling Wyes, and put her hands on her hips using her knees to pin him down.
"Anything!" Wyes exclaimed, trying to worm his way out from underneath her. Alexa looked like she was about to say something, but then she stopped and looked towards the town gate. Wyes followed her eyes and strained his neck backwards to see what she was looking at, and saw a stranger walking through the gates. Wyes looked him over, from head to toe. He had short brown hair, brown eyes, stubble growing on his chin, and was quite tall Wyes thought. Alexa's father, Sahtor approached the man with his right palm facing the sky, and his left facing the ground.
"I am Sahtor, welcome to Cible. Are you looking for something?" Sahtor asked.
"I am Garret. I am looking for somewhere I can stay for the night." The strange man replied.
"Our town is too small to warrant any inn or tavern, I'm afraid." Sahtor said.
"Is there any place I can sleep out of the rain, at least?" He asked. Sahtor's forehead creased, as he thought over the strange man's request.
"You can sleep in my barn tonight, but only tonight, and if you do anything I do not approve of I will throw you out into the woods." Sahtor said, finally.
"Thank you, and I assure you I will do no such thing." The stranger laughed.
"Is there anything I can help you with in the meantime?" Sahtor asked.
"Yes, I was hoping there was something you could help me with..." The stranger's sentence was lost to Wyes, as he walked further away and Wyes could no longer hear him.
***
Wyes hungrily spooned down his stew, as only a small child could. Wyes' mother, Aimee gave him a stern look.
"Wyes, must you eat so rudely?" She said to him quietly, so no one else at the table could hear, "Sahtor and Cara were very generous for taking us in when your father... when he left us. You should be polite at their table, at the very least." Wyes swallowed his mouthful of food slowly, before replying.
"Sorry, mother..." He said, while staring down at his bowl. Sahtor sat at the head of the table, slowly eating his own stew and pretending not to notice Aimee warning Wyes.
"A man came into town today," Sahtor said and took another mouthful of stew, "Just turned up out of the ether and asked if there was somewhere he could stay for the night, though what he was expecting in a town like this I'm not sure..." Sahtor continued eating for a short while, then continued his story "But the strangest thing of all was that he had lots of money on him, we walked down the street and he asked about building a house, just like that! Wasn't concerned about prices, only asked if it would be okay if he built it just outside the town wall. Why he'd want to do that I'm not sure, but if he's willing to pay for it then he'll get it, I suppose..." Sahtor finished.
"Why outside of the town wall? What's he going to do if the Kobolds pass through this way again?" Aimee asked.
"And why would he want to be outside of the town? Who knows what he could get up to!" Cara exclaimed.
"Settle down," Sahtor said firmly, "he's one man, and we're an entire town. Besides, he seems like a nice sort, I'm sure it'll be fine."
Chapter Two - Entanglements
A lanky young man in his late teens, with brown shoulder length hair and brown eyes approached a small house, just outside of the wall of Cible. The house was more like a shack, with only two rooms, but never the less it was a very well built dwelling. The young man knocked on the door, and crossed his arms impatiently.
“Who is it?” A gruff voice called from inside.
“Who do you think it is?” The young man replied, the grin on his face reaching his voice.
“Wyes! Give me a moment, mate.” Wyes heard sounds of things being moved forcefully, and things crashing against walls and the floor, and then finally the door was opened to reveal a grinning man with long greying brown hair, brown eyes, who was looking down at Wyes.
“Garret! Nice to see you again, how long has it been? A day?” Wyes said, taking the older man in an embrace that was returned heartily.
“What brings you to my humble abode?” Garret asked, ushering Wyes inside.
“Humble? You have the smallest, yet most expensive house in all of Cible, there's nothing humble about it!” Wyes said jokingly, and then sighed, “And I'm here for your advice.”
“Let me guess... Alexa?” Garret asked, grinning. Wye was discovering just how interesting his boots could be, upon closer inspection.
“Yeah...” Wyes muttered. Garret walked over to the fireplace and started a fire to ward off the cold bite of the evening.
“Come on then, take a seat.” Garret cleared a bunch of books off of a chair and placed them on the floor nearby. After getting comfortable, Garret turned to the younger man, “Alright, so tell me about it.” He said, his tone serious.
“Well, I don’t know… I guess, that uh, I love her. I just don’t know what to do about it, what if she doesn’t love me back?” Wyes asked, playing with a thread that had come loose on his jacket.
“That’s the biggest worry of many men, and there’s really only one way to find out the answer. You’re going to have to pluck up the courage and ask her yourself, mate.” Garret said sagely.
“Well, great… What about you, were you ever married?” Wyes asked, desperately trying to change the subject to avoid any further embarrassment. Garret looked into the fire, and was silent for a time, his thoughts lost in the flames. Wyes sat quietly, and pondered asking him again. But before he could make up his mind Garret muttered, slowly “Once, a long time ago…” Wyes watched him, and could have sworn he saw tears in Garret’s eyes, but when he looked back towards Wyes they were gone.
“Well, I best be getting back… Sahtor might lock me out if I don’t get back soon. Thank you for the advice.” Wyes said, patting Garret on the shoulder as he stood.
“Anytime, mate, anytime.” Garret said, with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
*********************************************************
Wyes walked back outside, and let the night chill refresh his dulled senses. He could walk back to Sahtor’s house and sleep, but he knew that he couldn’t chance meeting Alexa there yet. He sighed and decided that what he told Garret was true; Sahtor would lock him out if he didn’t return home soon.
“Wyes! Wait, I wanted to give you this, but you uh… Distracted me.” Garret exclaimed, walking out of his house carrying something covered with old rags. “I found this when I was cleaning out some old junk, I don’t have any need for it anymore and I thought you might like it.”
“What is it?” Wyes asked, as Garret walked over to him and handed him the bundle. He almost dropped it, not expecting it to be so heavy.
“Why don’t you find out?” Garret said, his lip twitching at the corner. Wyes looked at him, and then back to the bundle, and slowly started pulling away the rags. He admired the sword that he found under all of the rags, looking at the scabbard first. It was well made, intended for wear and tear, rather than ceremonial purposes, being just a black aside from the gold rings at the throat of the scabbard and the rings that Wyes imagined one would use for attaching the sword to their person. After he had finished examining the scabbard, he drew the sword and examined the blade, looking at the slightly notched edges and the fuller running down the centre. The hilt had been made to accommodate a hand slightly larger than his, but it still was comfortable to hold. The cross guard appeared to be painted gold, but like the blade, there were small nicks in the paint where the metal underneath was revealed. The grip was bound in leather that appeared well worn, but was still quite durable, and the pommel was adorned with patterns engraved into it of a flame twisting around it like a serpent.
“I’ve never seen a sword of this quality before! It must have cost you a fortune!” Wyes exclaimed, shocked at receiving such a valuable gift.
“Of course you’ve never seen a sword like this before, you live in the middle of nowhere,” Garret teased, “and it didn’t cost me anything, it belonged to a close friend of mine… Bare it well.”
“But what am I supposed to do with it? This is no ceremonial sword.” Wyes asked.
“If you’d like, I can start teaching you how to use it whenever we have some spare time,” he offered as he started wrapping the sword back up in the tags, “but whatever you do don’t let Sahtor or your mother know I gave it to you… They’d murder me in my sleep.” Wyes snorted at this and said, “I’m sure my mother would… Sahtor would probably lecture you,” Wyes stuffed the sword into his jacket. He made sure it wouldn’t fall out before returning his attention to Garret, “I’d love to learn how to use it! But where can we do it without anyone finding out?” Wyes asked.
“In the forest, of course. I’m sure the hunters won’t tell Sahtor.” Garret said, matter-of-factly. Wyes’s eyes bulged, and he gave Garret a look of horror.
“Are you insane? Who knows what could be in there!” Wyes exclaimed, glancing towards the forest that began a few kilometres away from the town. Garret looked at him and winked. Without another word, he turned around and walked back to his house, closing the door.
*********************************************************
Wyes woke up the next day and immediately looked towards his wardrobe, where he had stashed the sword that Garret had given him the night before. He felt all of the excitement from the previous night build up inside him again, and he quickly got out of bed and got dressed. He quickly opened his door, eager to get to breakfast so he could get his jobs done quickly, and go see if Garret was ready. However, immediately after leaving his room he ran into Alexa. Literally.
“Whoa! Having fun down there on the floor?” He asked, reaching his hand down to Alexa, who he had just knocked over.
“Yeah, I was having a great time. Thanks for asking,” Alexa said, glaring at him, “in a bit of a hurry this morning are we?”
“Just having a good day.” Wyes replied, with a big grin on his face. Alexa looked at him as if he were crazy.
“Have fun then.” She said, swiped his feet out from under him with an evil grin, and then walked away.
Wyes looked at her retreating form and shook his head. He promptly got up off the floor and followed her to the kitchen, where Cara was already serving up breakfast. After quickly wolfing down his food, and almost being sick in the process, Wyes finally left the house and made his way to the animal pens.
After all the animals had been fed, the eggs had been collected and the manure had been stacked for later use, Wyes made his way back to Sahtor’s home. He rinsed his hands in the small pool of water by the door, and then rushed to his room to get changed into more appropriate attire.
After he had finished all of his chores, he was free to do whatever he wished for the rest of the day. And Wyes already knew exactly what he wanted to do. He briskly made way to his room, retrieved the sword from its hiding place and promptly left for the town gate. He dodged strange glances from the townsfolk, and made it to the gate checkpoint.
“Little early for you to be going out, isn’t it Wyes?” The current sentry, Atantiv asked.
“Garret wanted me to help him with something, so he asked me to come early.” Wyes said, hoping Atantiv would be convinced.
“Fair enough, through yah go,” The older man replied, drawing back the bar on the gate and opening it, “But be careful, if any bandits or other such nasties come, we won’t be able to let yah back in and you won’t have the protection of the walls.”
“It’ll be alright, thanks Atantiv.” Wyes said quickly, eager to get to Garret. He put his hand on where the sword was resting in his jacket to hold it in place, and set off at a slow run to Garret’s house.
Chapter Three – Of Sword and Man
Wyes knocked on Garret’s door and was surprised when it swung open almost immediately.
“Bah, I thought you would’ve been here ages ago!” Garret said, stepping outside and closing the door behind him.
“Hey, unlike some people I actually had work to do.” Wyes defended.
“Come on then, no use crying over it now.” Garret teased as he started the hike to the forest in the late morning sun.
As the forest neared, Wyes began to feel nervous. He had never been this far from the town before, let alone into the forest. His heart began racing and his hand automatically went to the hilt in his jacket. He looked at Garret to see if he was having a similar reaction, but he seemed fine.
Finally, they reached the border of the forest, after what seemed like a lifetime to Wyes. Garret walked right in, unphazed. Wyes stood at the border and looked in, trying to shake off the feeling of foreboding.
“Come on! We’ve already lost enough time as it is.” Garret called from beyond the curtain of trees. Wyes took a deep breath and plunged into the forest. Garret ploughed ahead, unhindered by the dense foliage.
After a short while, and many scratches, they finally made it to a small clearing. Garret walked to the centre of the clearing, to a small circle of stones. Wyes’ skin tingled as he neared the stones.
“This is one of the first things I discovered when I came here, and for a long time it has been my sanctuary.” Garret spoke, as he slowly slipped off his coat and placed it on the ground. He motioned Wyes to do the same. Wyes prepared himself for the bite of the cold, and slowly slipped his jacket off and laid it next to Garret’s.
“Won’t we freeze in this cold?” Wyes asked, rubbing his arms for warmth.
“You’ll soon be grateful for the cold,” Garret said, almost sagely, “it’ll make today a lot easier for your first time.” He slowly moved his legs apart slightly, and began reaching for his toes. Wyes copied him, and found that unlike Garret, he had to struggle and strain to reach his ankles.
“Don’t force yourself too far, or you’ll strain something and this’ll all be for naught.” Garret said, and went into another pose that Wyes found incredibly difficult to mimic. After his fair share of grunting and groaning, Wyes got fed up and stood back up.
“What’s the point of this? You told me you were going to teach me to use a sword, not to dance!” Wyes huffed. Garret let out a great guffaw, and almost doubled over.
“What? What’s so funny?” Wyes demanded.
“Your ignorance! You have no idea what I’m doing, and bloody funny to watch…” Garret wiped a tear from his cheek and took a few deep breaths, “If we don’t stretch like this, when you try to swing a sword around you’ll injure your arm, and won’t be able to use it.”
“I’m not going to have time to do this before a fight!” Wyes looked at him as if he was a hermit too long removed from civilization.
“Of course not. But if you do this every time you practice, you avoid injuring yourself during practice, and it will decrease the risk of doing it in a real fight too,” Garret explained, “but I think that will do for today… Let’s move onto the more exciting stuff shall we?” Wyes grinned. Garret reached into his coat and pulled out a long sword of a similar make to Wyes’ own sword. Wyes also retrieved his sword.
“We’ll start you off with the basics. For starters, a sword like this is meant to be used with one hand, leaving your second hand free to do whatever you may wish.” Garret paused while Wyes readjusted his grip and strained a bit under it’s weight. “Eventually the weight will be comfortable to you, and it will feel like an extension of your arm rather than a piece of metal. Now…”
Garret continued teaching as thus for the next few hours, slowly moving from one move to the next, occasionally moving one of Wyes’ feet or bending his elbow in a certain way. And finally, after hours of gruelling twisting and turning, Garret allowed him to rest.
“Not bad for a beginner. Next we’ll move onto sparring, but until you are much more experienced we’ll be using wooden staves,” Garret said, “otherwise you’re likely to cut off your own foot, mate.” Garret added seeing Wyes’ venomous look.
After searching through some nearby trees for a few minutes, Garret found a few choice branches and cut them down with a knife from his boot. After Wyes’ questioning look, he merely shrugged and replied, “Better prepared than dead.” After slicing off a few twigs and a quick run down with the knife, their staves were ready. Garret tossed one to Wyes and stepped into a ready stance.
Wyes fumbled with his stave for a few seconds before finally getting a good grip, and moving into the same ready stance Garret was using. After taking a few steps towards Garret, Wyes lunged with an overhead swing that was promptly parried and soon found himself on the defensive, trying to ward off Garret’s relentless attack with his limited knowledge.
After retreating from the onslaught of the wooden stave, Wyes soon found himself backed up against a tree and disarmed.
“Not bad, not bad at all, but remember your enemy will always take advantage of your hesitations.” Garret said, not even having broken a sweat.
“I still lost…” Wyes murmured sounding disappointed.
“True enough, but ye forget I have winters of experience on my side mate, it’ll be a long time before you can hold me off for long.” Garret said. “But in the meantime, no harm in trying is there?”
*************************************************************
Wyes walked back through the gates into Cible, tired and sore. He was so stiff from all of the things Garret put him through that he could barely walk. After clearing the gates, he soon discovered a gathering of townspeople in the town centre. They were all staring towards a strange man with long spindly limbs, and a face that looked more like a skull with pale skin drawn over it. He was wearing a smirk on that skin, and it made Wyes feel uneasy.
Stalking to the back of the crowd, his weariness forgotten, he tried to discern who the man was and what he was doing here.
“What’s going on?” Wyes asked the elder man standing next to him, who was grinding his jaw in fury.
“They’re upping the taxes the feegli dy mayali!” The man swore. Wyes was taken aback at the man’s language, and wondered how bad it must be for him to use such a strong curse. After worming his way through to the front of the crowd, Wyes saw Sahtor standing in front of the man, clenched fists looking like small boulders.
“How can you expect us to keep up with such ridiculous demands? We would not make enough to support ourselves!” Sahtor shouted furiously.
“You’ll just have to work harder then, won’t you?” The slender man said, his serpentine voice weaving through the crowd. “It is not my fault if your…” He paused to search for the word he was looking for, “Village is too useless to meet King Mawvaye’s reasonable requirements.”
“This is outrageous! You will not hear the end of this!” Sahtor roared. The man backed away, scared of his sudden ferocity.
“It is not my problem to deal with.” He said, and quickly ran back to the stables where he had left his horse.
“Mawdyer les Deeu!” Sahtor swore again, and spun around to face the crowd. “We must try to pay the taxes…” He forced out, seething, “The cost of not doing so could be worse.” The townspeople groaned and mumbled amongst themselves, before they finally began returning to their respective homes and businesses.
Sahtor spotted Wyes and quickly strode across the town square to meet Wyes. Sahtor cast a critical eye over the buildings, none of which were very grand or large.
“We’ll have to work harder to keep up with these taxes, we’ll need you to help with more tasks around the house, and not run off with Garret so often.” Sahtor said.
“How much are they asking for?” Wyes asked, trying to keep the shock out of his voice. He hadn’t realised that Sahtor knew of his daily ventures to Garret’s hut.
“Three eighths.” Sahtor muttered.
“What?! How can they ask for that much?” Wyes exclaimed, outraged.
“It’s to be expected… The times before Mawvaye were easier. You were only seven winters old when he became King, if you could call it that…” Sahtor trailed off.
“What do you mean?” Wyes asked
“I mean that he hasn’t got a drop of royal blood in him, he usurped and killed the last King. No idea where he came from. Wasn’t ever a Lord, nothing, just appeared out of the Ether,” Sahtor explained, “Now, we better get to work right away.” It was at this moment, Wyes’ sore muscles decided they needed to complain to him about the work they had already done today and he groaned.
Chapter Four – Tragedy is only the beginning
Wyes loathed working on the farm. He hated cleaning up the animal’s dung for them. He detested ploughing the fields and sowing the seeds for the crops. Wyes was definitely not a farmer. Garret had given him a taste of excitement, adventure, a taste of change.
The fact of the matter was that the extra work brought about by the higher taxes was driving him insane. They’d been at it for weeks, ploughing, sowing, feeding, and milking. If they did not produce enough before winter brought along the Taxman, they would not last.
Wyes collapsed into bed after another laborious day. Tomorrow the Taxman would come and they would have to hand over half of their produce. Sahtor and the rest of the town elders had been discussing their situation when Wyes had become bored and left. He didn’t care for their situation but he was only one man, and there was nothing he could do about it. And after three moons of extra work, he was beyond caring. He quickly fell into a deep slumber.
***********************************************************
Wyes awoke with a start, and find Alexa shaking him and yelling.
“I’ve been trying to wake you for so long I thought my hair would turn grey!” Alexa huffed.
“Uh… Wha? Wha’s goin’ on?” Wyes asked groggily.
“The whole town’s been woken, there’s a town meeting starting this morning, and we’re late!” Alexa exclaimed. Wyes sat there for a moment. “Well, what’re you waiting for?” Alexa asked.
“Well, unless you plan on watching me get dressed…” Wyes let the statement hang. Her eyes widened in realisation and she blushed. She quickly exited the room muttering apologies and trying not to turn around before she’d left the room.
After swiftly putting on some clothing, Wyes left his room and followed Alexa to the town square. Sahtor and a few of the elders were standing on the raised platform in the centre of the square.
“Ah, Wyes, nice to see you could finally make it.” Sahtor said, making Wyes turn red and stare at his feet. “As I’m sure most of you know, the taxes have been especially trying this season and to make up for it we’ve all had to work night and day to make enough to sustain ourselves! Well, we still do not have enough. When the Taxman comes, we will give him as much as we can spare, but it is only half of what they originally requested.” Sahtor looked over the crowd, watching them grasp the full meaning of what he had said.
The townspeople broke out into murmurs and started talking amongst themselves. Some people called out in protest, others in worry, and some in agreement.
“Well, isn’t this convenient. A welcoming committee!” Called an uncomfortably familiar voice from the side of the town square. The crowd turned to face the Taxman. His lips were drawn in the smirk that he was last seen with, and his attitude was no different.
“We do not have the produce to give you all you ask, but we can give you what we can spare.” Sahtor said slowly, trying to keep the man calm. The spindly man pondered this for a few moments, and then nodded.
“Bring it to my wagon at the gate.” He strode off in the direction of the town gate. There was an audible sound as the town let out the breath that none of them had realised they were holding. The men started carrying all of the necessary items to the Taxman’s wagon.
***********************************************************
Wyes sat quietly at Sahtor’s table, and thought. He had made up his mind after the Taxman had left that he would tell Alexa of his feelings for her, and depending on her reply ask Sahtor’s permission to court her. The problem was he couldn’t think of a way to tell her, and the fact that she was sitting at that very table with the rest of her family, and his mother was not helping. He knew he would have to get her alone to tell her, but he couldn’t think of a good way to do that either. Wyes decided he’d take a leap of faith, because if he didn’t do it now, he would never do it. Taking a deep breath, Wyes plucked up his courage and prepared himself for the worst.
“Alexa, could you come help me with something in my room after lunch?” Wyes asked, his courage quickly fading. Alexa looked up from her food and looked at him strangely.
“Of course I can,” She replied, “what do you need help with?”
“Well uh… Something’s fallen behind my bed and my arms are too big to fit.” Wyes improvised, and smiled hopefully.
After lunch, Wyes and Alexa walked to his room, and once she had entered, he closed the door behind her. Alexa looked at him questioningly.
“I need to tell you something…” Wyes said, trying not to look her in the eye.
“What is it?” Alexa asked.
“I uh… Well, I don’t know how to say this so I’ll just say it. I love you.” Wyes said, finally looking her in the eye. Alexa blinked. And then without warning, she stepped forward and kissed him. Wyes blinked. Twice. And then kissed her back.
“Does this mean you love me too?” Wyes asked, suddenly feeling scared.
“Of course it does you big oaf!” Alexa laughed. Wyes grinned and then remembered the second part of his plan.
“Uh, I’ll be back in a minute, I need to go talk to your father.” Wyes said a bit sheepishly. Wyes raced downstairs to the table in hopes of finding Sahtor, but he only found Cara.
“Where’s Sahtor?” Wyes panted.
“He just left to check on the animals. Why? What’s wrong dear?” Cara asked.
“Nothing, thanks!” Wyes said as he quickly ran outside. He quickly located Sahtor tending to the animals and ran up to him.
“Sah…tor…” Wyes puffed and panted, and doubled over trying to catch his breath.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Sahtor asked, immediately looking around for any source of danger.
“N-nothing…” Wyes panted some more, and then finally took a deep breath in and tried to explain himself more coherently. “I just wanted to ask your permission, to court Alexa.” Wyes said, hopefully. Sahtor looked at him and blinked.
“Pardon me?” Sahtor asked, dumbfounded.
“Uh… Can I court Alexa?” Wyes repeated. Sahtor grinned.
“Yes, you can.” Sahtor said, and then his tone darkened, “But if you hurt my little girl, your life won’t be worth living.” Sahtor grabbed his shovel with both hands, emphasising his point. Wyes then remembered Garret, and quickly ran away again to the town gate.
*******************************************************
“Halt!” Atantiv said, grinning. “Why are you in such a hurry?”
“She loves me! She loves me!” Wyes kept on repeating, practically bubbling with ecstasy. Atantiv looked at him as if he were possessed, but let him through the gate anyway. He bounded to Garret’s house and knocked on the door energetically.
“Who is it? Who’s dying?” Garret called out.
“It’s me!” Wyes exclaimed.
“You’re dying?” Garret asked, opening the door.
“She loves me! She loves me!” Wyes repeated. Garret grinned and hugged the younger man, nearly crushing his chest.
“Congratulations mate!” Garret said, releasing him from his death hold, “Now where is the lucky lady?”
“She’s… Oops.” Wyes said, his eyes widening. “I’ll be back tomorrow! Gotta run!”
***********************************************************
Wyes looked over Sahtor’s table, past Cara’s extravagant feast and smiled at Alexa. Throughout the week, he’d gotten to know her on a level he’d never thought possible before. Cara had prepared their huge meal in honour of their courtship. Sahtor uttered the evening prayer and then, after he had finished, everybody started piling food onto their plates. Aimee shook her head as her son as he stuffed his mouth with as much food as it could fit.
After Cara had swept away all of the scraps and taken away the plates the table chatter returned to its normal level. Cara and Aimee were talking about things that the townspeople had done, with Sahtor occasionally adding a word or two. Wyes looked at Alexa and grinned. He stood up and walked over to her, taking her hand in his and then slowly leading her to the door so they could spend more time together. Before they reached the door, Sahtor quickly called out for them to wait.
“I almost forgot. Wyes, Garret asked for you to visit him tonight, and that you’d need to bring your gift.” Sahtor informed Wyes, patted him on the shoulder, and then walked back to his wife. Wyes sighed.
“Do you mind if we don’t spend this evening together? Garret won’t want me to bring anyone with me for this.” Wyes asked. Alexa sighed.
“Okay, but I don’t expect to be left behind again.” She replied, giving him a death glare.
Wyes kissed her and then ran up to his room to grab the sword Garret had given him, and then swiftly made his way to Garret’s house.
***********************************************************
“Hurry up and get inside Wyes.” Whispered, peering out the door as if expecting someone to jump out of the darkness.
“What’s got you in such a state?” Wyes asked, walking in and closing the door behind him.
“We have too much to do and too little time for this.” Garret huffed, “If Mawvaye does what I think he’ll do, we have less than a week before all hell breaks loose.”
“Why? What are you talking about?” Wyes asked, utterly confused.
“The taxes… he’ll use Cible as an example. He will wipe the town out just to show everyone else what will happen if they don’t bend to his will.” Garret stated.
“What?!” Wyes straightened in shock, “How can he do that? What can we do?” Wyes started panicking, his breathing getting heavier, and his movements becoming erratic. “We have to warn them!” He shouted and got up to leave.
“I’ve already spoken with Sahtor about it. The fool refuses to leave. He thinks that if it comes down to a fight he’ll be able to win.” Garret said.
“I have to get my mother! And Alexa!” Wyes said.
“If he’s sending a large enough force to take a town then it’ll still be a few days before they arrive. In the meantime I need you to come train with me as often as you can in the next two or three days. If we need to run, or fight, you’ll need it.” Garret said.
“Can I go warn mother and Alexa?” Wyes asked, itching to return. Garret nodded.
Wyes raced out of the house and ran as fast as he could to the town gate. It was closed.
“Hello? Hey! Is there anyone there? I need to get in!” Wyes called out, hoping someone was on the other side. Silence. He pushed against the large wooden gate, hoping to get someone’s attention. He shook it a few times before stopping to listen. Nothing. Wyes got frustrated and struck the door with his foot, and quickly recoiled after the pain from his foot coursed up his leg.
After grumbling over being locked out, Wyes grudgingly limped back to Garret’s house. He knocked on Garret’s door, who promptly opened it.
“Back so soon?” Garret asked.
“They locked me out,” Wyes seethed, “Can I stay here for the night?”
“Sure, just means in the morning we can get to work sooner. I’ll explain it to Sahtor later.” Garret said.
“Thanks” Wyes mumbled.
***********************************************************
Wyes woke up tangled in a blanket, on Garret’s floor. It was still dark, but Garret was already preparing breakfast.
“Ungh… We’re leaving this early?” Wyes groaned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Of course, this way we can get in more training.” Garret grinned, enjoying himself.
“Why am I doing this again?” Wyes asked.
“To increase your chances of survival if Cible is attacked.” Garret stated, matter-of-factly. Wyes grunted, and walked over to see what he was cooking. “Everything a growing body needs.” Garret said, answering his unasked question.
“Anything a growing body wants?” Wyes cringed at the less than pleasing look of the contents of the pot, hanging over the fire. Garret’s grin widened.
After eating their bowls of slop, and finding it surprisingly good, they set off for the forest. The feeling of foreboding returned to Wyes as they neared the border of the forest. He did not hesitate this time. They continued much as they had the last time, with Garret showing him certain techniques, then testing them, and repeating this process until Wyes slowly adapted to the situations Garret put him in. He still could not get close to touching Garret, but was holding him off for slightly longer each time.
They had a quick breather, before they continued. Wyes let himself collapse onto the ground and looked up at the sky, trying to catch his breath and relieve his sore limbs. He watched the skies, the clouds floating past as if they didn’t have a care in the world. He noticed one dark cloud, and wondered why it was so out of place. It seemed to be coming from the ground, and was moving too fast to be a cloud. He bolted upright in realisation.
“Smoke! There’s smoke!” Wyes cried, his exhaustion soon forgotten as he jumped to his feet. He knew what was happening, though his mind tried to deny it. He ran towards the source of the smoke.
“Wyes! Wait!” Garret called out, struggling to catch up to him. They scrambled through the dense underbrush that was desperately trying to snare them, and dodged through the trees. Wyes knew what he would find.
‘No, maybe there was just a fire near Cible. Maybe they’ve decided to burn all the rotted wood.’ His mind continued providing him with reasonable explanations.
They broke through the final line of trees and Wyes saw his worst fear unfolding before his eyes. Cible was in flames. The tongues of orange lapped up the town, leaving nothing behind but black, death, and destruction. Wyes cried out in horror and denial. He continued his race to the town, not stopping even though his lungs begged for a reprieve. He had long since left Garret behind, but he raced through the burning gates to Cible, not caring if he was trapped. He heard no screaming, no moaning, nothing. There was nothing but the roar of the flames.
He didn’t stop searching, never stopped searching. He found countless bodies, some consumed by the fire, some who had bled to death. He found some with missing heads, some who had been stabbed through the heart. He made his way to Sahtor’s home, dreading what he would find. The house was in ruins, the fire having already having laid waste to it. He ran around the house and found Sahtor. He couldn’t bear to look at his ruined form. Wyes saw Cara lying further ahead, in a similar state. He felt tears come to his eyes, but he kept on. He had to find her. He reached the animal pens and cried out in pain. He had found them. He looked at his mother’s broken body, and he started to cry. Wyes moved on to Alexa, and rested his head against hers and wept. Her clothes had been torn from her body and she was covered with bruises.
The fire spread to the animal pens, but Wyes did not care. Nothing mattered to him anymore. He felt like his heart had been wrenched from his chest, leaving a gaping wound.
Chapter Five – Nightmares
Garret took the bandages off Wyes’ left arm and checked the burns again. When he had found him lying unconscious on Alexa’s body, his left arm had just caught fire and he had quickly extinguished them, but not quick enough for Wyes not to suffer any burns. Garret knew the injuries were just superficial, the real damage lay in his heart and mind. He redressed Wyes’ arm and started to prepare a fire. His house had been burnt down along with Cible, of which only smouldering ruins remained.
Without having anything to treat Wyes’ wounds properly, but not being able to move him, Garret had made improvised bandages out part of his shirt. Once he had healed enough for them to travel, Garret would have to take him to the nearest town for more treatment. Garret was thankful that he carried the majority of his money on him, not trusting it to be stolen. He wouldn’t have been able to pay for it otherwise.
Garret had spent the next few days checking Wyes’ injuries, while slowly making a stretcher for him. Even though Wyes woke up every now and then, it was never more than a few minutes. He had barely had anything to eat or drink in three days and Garret was worried. He’d decided that he had to risk moving him or he would die anyway. The only problem with the stretcher he’d made is that the only way to move it would be to drag it, as he couldn’t carry Wyes the entire way. He was also concerned that in all his tossing and turning he might fall off the stretcher and get his wounds dirty. The last thing he needed was an infection.
Garret would pull him along all day, and then at dusk, he would make a fire, lay Wyes near it, and go hunting for their dinner. Every time he came back with an animal of some sort, and every time Wyes would be lying in the same position that Garret had left him in.
*************************************************************
Wyes saw Alexa standing in flames, staring at him as the fire consumed her flesh. She was reaching out for him, calling his name. Accusing him. He wanted to turn away as her skin started to melt, revealing flesh and bone, but he could not.
He was standing outside of the gates, with a vicious scimitar in his hand. His hand thrust out and an invisible force grabbed the sentry by his throat and then he ran his weapon through the sentry’s heart.
Wyes walked up to the gates, and pushed with his now bulging and sinewed arms and watched the gates give way under his might. He walked through the gate, drew a huge sword from a scabbard on his back, swung it brutally, and crushed an elderly woman’s skull.
Wyes had a thin sabre in his left hand, and with a quick jab, ran a young man through. He turned and threw balls of fire from his hand, that exploded as they struck buildings and people alike.
He had a falchion now, and quickly spun around and used the momentum to lop off one of the guards’ heads, and then turned around and made a gesture at one of the other guards, and watched as his neck snapped and he slumped to the ground bonelessly. Wyes felt a sadistic smile creep onto his face, as he revelled in the destruction.
Wyes was holding the huge great sword again, and was towering over a young woman. She didn’t scream, which he thought was odd, most people screamed. This one was different, but he could make her scream. He grinned as he put his sword back into it’s scabbard and-
Wyes woke with a start, and shuddered. He tried to ignore the dream, he’d been having it over and over again. He was just glad that he never had to see the end. He looked over and saw Garret sitting next to a small fire, stirring the contents of a pot he was holding. He tried to sit up but quickly found he didn’t have the strength to. The movement also put pressure on his arm, sending pain shooting through his body. His hiss of pain drew Garret to his side, who walked over and felt his forehead.
“You’ve been out for four days, but I can’t figure out why. The burn on your arm shouldn’t have even made you pass out, however it’s made it difficult to move you. We’re heading towards Salus, but it could be another two weeks before we make it there.” Garret informed Wyes, as he retreated to grab the pot he’d been stirring. “You haven’t eaten anything since I found you, so you’re probably feelings very weak right now. He brought the spoon of slop to Wyes’ mouth and made him eat it, despite the look on his face telling him just how bad it tasted, “I added a few medicinal herbs, so it tastes worse than usual, but it’ll help you regain your strength quicker.” Garret gave him a small drink from his wineskin, the water soothing Wyes’ parched throat.
“C… Ci…ble?” Wyes managed to croak. Garret looked at the ground for a few moments, and then looked up into Wyes’ eyes.
“It’s gone. There’s nothing left.”
“How?”
“The fire wasn’t natural, and it consumed everything. My guess is that Mawvaye sent his best mages to quickly deal with Cible. I didn’t think he’d dare send magic users when he’s forbidden the teaching of it, and they had to be powerful ones too. The only way they could’ve made it there that quickly was with a small group, no more than ten men. Rest now, we’ll see how you feel in the morning.”
Wyes wondered how he could still be tired, after four days of sleeping, but shortly after closing his eyes again, he was back in the nightmares.
*************************************************************
Wyes jerked awake and barely suppressed a scream. It was the same nightmare. Only he got a little closer to the end this time. He felt like vomiting, but there was nothing for him to bring up. He rolled onto his side and looked around. The fire had gone out some time ago, and it was just before dawn. He sighed and painfully dragged himself to a sitting position. Garret stirred a little, but didn’t wake. Wyes thought back to the dream, wondering what it could mean, and who those people were. It was always those four, with those weapons, with those abilities.
He resolved to ask Garret about it when he woke up, in the meantime he wanted to see the extent of the damage to his arm. He slowly peeled off the makeshift bandages, trying to ignore the pain. The last layer finally came off, and Wyes examined the wound. The skin was charred, and there appeared to be purple fluid seeping from it, he snorted as he realised it almost looked like leather.
The sound awoke Garret, who immediately reached into the folds of his blanket, before realising it was just Wyes.
“With a proper healer, I’m sure we can get it back to the way it was in no time.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Wyes preferred to use short answers, because it meant he didn’t have to think of anything creative and it didn’t irritate his still parched throat. Garret frowned, and then looked at the sky.
“It’ll be dawn soon, think you can walk?” He asked.
“I’ll try.”
“How’re the nightmares?” Wyes looked at him in surprise. “You’ve been tossing and turning since I found you.” Garret said, seeing the unasked question on Wyes’ face.
“They’re… strange. The same every night. Four men, killing people in Cible with swords and…” Wyes searched for the word to describe what he had seen, “devilry.” Garret stiffened a little and then nodded as if it were perfectly normal. He was using a small knife to carve a long shaft of wood, which Wyes had not noticed before.
“What’re you making?” Wyes asked slowly. Garret held the shaft out a little, and let Wyes examine it.
“I’m making a bow. Won’t be anything special, but it’ll do until we get to Salus.”
“The string?”
“That’s for me to know, and for you to find out.” Garret grinned as Wyes rolled his eyes.
***********************************************************
After another three days of travelling through grassy planes and sparse forests, for they had to abandon the roads to reach their destination swiftly, Wyes finally felt strong enough to walk unaided and carry his share of the supplies. This also meant that he would be able to go hunting with Garret, to test out the bow that Garret had finished the night before.
He still hadn’t told Wyes where he found the string, but he promised to tell Wyes while they were out hunting. Wyes had never liked secrets, and was irritated that his friend would play such a trivial game at a time like this. Garret had refused to let him use his burnt arm however, to many protests from Wyes, meaning that he would only be able to watch Garret hunt.
Wyes was standing behind Garret, as he notched an arrow that he had crafted the same morning, along with two others, and took aim at a small rabbit that they had found sitting near a log, licking a small gash on one of its foremost paws. The wound would attract larger predators, and fortunately, they had found it first. The arrow flew forwards and promptly ended the small animal’s life.
“And this, should help explain how I made the bow string.” Garret said, as he put the bow over his head so his hands were free. He made a strange gesture with both of his hands, making the rabbit fly to one, and the arrow to the other. Wyes gaped.
Chapter Six – Salus
Wyes was staring warily at Garret, recognizing the strange ability that the four from his nightmares possessed.
“What is this?” Wyes asked.
“Magic. Or, magie if I were to use the original term.” Wyes looked at him as if he’d grown another head.
“The men in my dreams-"
“Used magic, yes.”
“You-"
“I am nothing like them. They revel in killing, I loathe it.”
“Who are you?” Garret smirked.
“I am Garret. I have never lied to you about my name.”
“ But that doesn’t answer my question.” Wyes’ eyes narrowed slightly. Garret sighed.
“We’ll go back to the camp site, so you can be comfortable to hear this story.”
“Why should I follow you anywhere? For all I know you could have planned that entire attack!” Wyes was on the verge of hysteria. Garret rolled his eyes.
“I have never hidden myself from you, I have never told you anything but the truth. If you do not wish to accept this, do not want to hear my story, then you may as well leave now. However, if you can accept this fact, then you will come with me back to the camp site where I will explain as much as I can.” Wyes turned around for a moment, and took a deep breath. Garret watched, heart in throat, as he watched his closest friend for a decade turn his back. Wyes took another few breaths. And turned around again.
Relief flooded through Garret, and Wyes appeared to have himself more composed.
“I’m sorry, I’ll come.” Wyes acquiesced. Garret put the forgotten arrow that he had used to slay the rabbit back into its quiver, readjusted his grip on the rabbit, and set back off for their camp.
By the time they arrived, Wyes had settled down considerably and was ready to hear Garret’s tale. Garret got himself comfortable, took a few breaths, and began.
“I came to Cible when you were around five or six winters old. Before I came to dwell there, I was living elsewhere. To the far South of this Realm, there was a small… village, that I came from. In this village, which I shall not name yet, there was an abundance of magic users like myself. They have very special academies set up to help nurture these people, and teach them certain skills that they may need. Some of us continued our training for longer than others, like myself, my wife, and… an old friend, Mawvaye.” Wyes grimaced. “Mawvaye, however, discovered that he didn’t need to follow the Elders’ rules, and he went renegade. He gathered some of the other magical inhabitants and ventured forth on a crusade to cleanse the land of everything unholy. At least, that’s what he told his followers. In truth he wanted nothing more than simple power, and when his faithful servants were no longer useful to him, he killed them all and invoked a ritual to enhance his own abilities through their deaths. At this point, after much deliberation from the Elders’, myself, my wife though we had only just been wed, a dear friend of mine, and three other men and women who I came to befriend in our time together, were sent to stop him. It was believed that together we’d be able to bring Mawvaye to justice… A mistake cost my beloved,” Garret’s voice broke, and he cleared his throat before continuing again, “and my brethren their lives. And if it hadn’t been for my Bella, I would not be here today.” Garret didn’t try to hide his tears, his beloved had taught him it takes the strongest man to cry.
Wyes blinked back his own tears, and embraced Garret as he used to.
“I didn’t mean to doubt you.” Garret only nodded, not trusting his voice.
*************************************************************
Wyes spooned down his slop quickly, ignoring the taste and occasionally glancing at Garret. They hadn’t talked since the incident, neither of them knowing what to say to the other. But night came, and at last he took a leap of faith and asked a question that had been bugging him.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? It would’ve explained a lot of things.” Garret shrugged.
“Everything you knew died a week ago, you were injured and unconscious for four of those, and as far as I can tell, you still haven’t come to terms with what happened. I didn’t want to burden you with too much too soon.”
“What do you mean?”
“You haven’t cried, you haven’t gotten unreasonably angry, nothing. You don’t talk quite as much as you used to, and don’t tell quite as many jokes, but that’s the only difference I can see.”
It was Wyes’ turn to shrug, as he finished cleaning out the last remnants of food from his bowl.
“How long until we reach Salus?” Wyes asked, handing the bowl back to Garret so he could clean it out.
“I’m not sure, since you healed we’ve been moving faster than I thought we could, so maybe a week. I’m going to have to start rationing out our food into smaller portions, or we’ll run out before then.” Wyes nodded, and sat near their small fire warming his hands.
“Could you have done anything to stop them?”
“Not by myself, no. Too many angles for them to attack from, I’d need someone to cover my back.” Wyes stared into the fire for a minute, and made his decision.
“Could you train me to use magic?” Garret sighed, and moved closer to Wyes.
“Not everybody has the ability, and some are better with it than others. Even if you do have the ability, there’s no certainty that you’d be able to use it well enough for it to be useful.”
“ I’d still like to learn.”
“ Alright, but there are other risks involved. I’ll need to delve deep into your mind, body, and soul, to determine if you can, how well you’d be able to, and what you’d use it for. If you do not trust me absolutely, there is a good chance it will fail and you’ll be killed in the process.”
“I’ll still do it.”
“Then let’s start, there’s no time like the present.”
***********************************************************
Garret had Wyes lying on his back, arms, and legs outstretched. He had to breath at a steady pace, and let his body relax. Garret had said that the more tensed he was, the harder the whole process would be.
Garret sat next to him and got comfortable, allowing himself to relax and slip into a higher state of mind. Once there, he guided one hand to the centre of Wyes’ forehead and let a tendril of himself flow into Wyes. He began his search slowly, starting with his mind. He was looking for an invisible force that would mark his link to magic.
He wasn’t expecting to find it immediately, and then discover that unlike others he had seen in his time, he could not discern how large it was. However, he continued on and subconsciously moved his hand to Wyes’ heart, where he inspected his body’s capability for channelling magic.
This was easily accomplished by setting up a type of magical relay, where he would send his own magic on a circuit through Wyes’ body and then feel how much power would make it back to him. The more magic that made it back, the better Wyes’ ability to channel magic would be. He set this up with practised ease and built up a small amount of magic to use, and released it into the circuit. Garret almost jumped in shock when his power returned to him almost instantly, in full force.
Putting this new information to the back of his mind where he could process it later, his hand moved once again to the centre of Wyes’ torso, his solar plexus, and felt the presence of his soul. He found that the soul of a person, their essence, varied dramatically between people. It was like a scent, not entirely tangible, maybe not completely necessary, but it was there and it added to a human and made them an individual, rather than a tool. Wyes’ scent was what he had come to expect, somewhat sweet but with a slight bitterness that gave it an edge.
Garret grinned in his mind as he slowly withdrew himself from Wyes, and pried his eyes open. He tried to control his breathing, feeling as if he had just ran the length of the continent, as he crawled to his bed and collapsed. He had neglected to mention to Wyes that the process would induce a dreamless sleep, and tire out Garret to such an extent that slumber would soon take him too. He grinned as his eyes drooped, and he dreamed of what could be.
*********************************************************
Wyes awoke and found that for once, he had risen before Garret. He also discovered that he had not dreamt last night, and that he felt better than he had since Cible.
‘I wonder what happened.’ Wyes thought as he began examining himself to see if he was different. He stood up and stretched each limb individually, searching for any telltale signs of stiffness or injury. Hope surged through Wyes, and he quickly unwrapped the bandages on his arm, getting excited when there was no pain.
The last layer of bandages fell away. Wyes scowled, and the hope he had allowed himself to feel disappeared. The burn had not been healed, though it did seem somewhat faded. He rolled his shoulder for a while, then experimentally flexed his arm. It felt normal to him. Wyes grinned.
A long while later, Garret finally opened his eyes.
“Back from the land of nod, I see.”
“Do you have to make such bad jokes this early in the morning?” Garret groaned as he climbed from his bed.
“Well, you told me last night I wasn’t making enough jokes…”
“True, but that doesn’t mean take every opportunity no matter how bad.” Wyes grinned.
“So, how did it go?” Wyes asked. Garret stretched his neck, and was rewarded with a loud crack.
“Fairly well, I can teach you.”
“When do we start?”
“Not until we get to Salus, I don’t want to wear us out too much. Give me a minute and we can leave.” Garret started clearing up his makeshift bed, and packing everything onto the improvised stretcher to make carrying it all easier.
Once again, they were on their way, making more progress than Garret could have ever hoped. He was still wary of letting Wyes use his burnt arm too much, lest it should not heal properly and leave it useless. He took in his surroundings wearily. They’d been travelling along these relatively flat grasslands for two days and food had become scarce. Not for the first time, he was glad that he’d been wearing his good boots. But eventually those would wear out too, and he’d have to buy or make new ones. Unfortunately, Wyes’ boots had already started to fall apart and he wasn’t sure if they’d last long enough to get them to Salus, which was still a good four days away by his reckoning.
A long while later, Garret checked their position against the sun again, and found it almost on the horizon.
“Nightfall is coming, but we can keep going all night and reach Salus sooner. Your arm might feel better but it’s far from fine, and I want an experienced healer to look at it. What do you think, mate?” Wyes opted to press on, encouraged by how his night of rest had left him feeling.
Wyes shivered and crossed his arms for warmth, not realising that the night would bring such a vicious chill. He tried to distract himself by counting the stars, but always forgot which ones he had counted or double counted them when they continued to move. Giving up his futile effort he refocused his attention to Garret ahead of him, who had slowed down almost to a crawl. He ducked behind a nearby rock formation and motioned for Wyes to join him.
Wyes scooted swiftly to Garret, darting from rock to rock until he reached him.
“Kobold scouting party just ahead.” Garret whispered.
“What do we do?” Wyes asked, peering over the rock to spot a small group of almost reptilian creatures, standing four feet tall with crude spears in their claws. They turned their pointed snouts this way and that, as if sensing danger nearby.
“Hide and hope they don’t smell us. We can handle a little group like that, but those little buggers run quick as demons, and I don’t fancy letting one of them warn their tribe.”
“Oh, lovely.” Wyes stole another look at them, and his heart began to race. “They’ve stopped.” Garret peeked over the rock and swore quietly. He took the bow of his back and notched an arrow.
“We must be downwind, they’ll figure it out soon enough. We need to act quickly, you have your sword?” Wyes nodded and reached a hand into his jacket near his hip. “Three…” Garret took aim and pulled the string taught, “Two…” Wyes tightened his grip, “One!”
Garret’s arrow tore through the air and imbedded itself into the throat of the largest kobold, and he quickly deserted the bow and signalled Wyes to follow him as they drew their swords.
The four remaining kobolds released reptilian hisses as their comrade fell, and they shook their small spears at the two humans that were descending upon them.
Wyes felt adrenaline racing through his veins as he knocked the first thrust from the little beast off to the side, and returned in kind. It quickly leaped back from the path of the blade and swung it’s spear like a club at his head. Wyes parried with his sword and brought the sword back down in a diagonal arc, hoping to catch the kobold unaware. However, it merely sidestepped and tried to put its spear through Wyes’ kneecap. Wyes saw the spearhead flying towards his leg, sidestepped, and thrust his sword forwards again.
He felt the sword pierce the rough leather of his opponent’s armour and into its flesh and back out again. Wyes watched its eyes go wide in pain and then glaze over, as it fell from his sword and fell into a pool of brown liquid.
“Wyes! Stop gaping and chase that little bugger down!” Garret’s voice pulled Wyes from his reverie, and he started chasing after the fleeing kobold that had escaped the fate of its three comrades. Garret was hot on his heels and they sped across the ground. But the kobold moved faster and soon they lost sight of it as it disappeared into a line of trees.
“Mawdyer les Dee dy hibrido larvu!” Garret swore angrily. “Come on, we need to go.” They flew back to where they’d left the bow and stretcher, shouldered the packs (with some pain on Wyes’ part), and started for Salus again at a slow jog.
“Don’t we need to go faster?”
“If we go faster we’ll just get tired quicker, and it’ll take them a little while to mobilise a party big enough to hunt us down. Less talk now, we’ll tire quicker.”
************************************************************
When dawn finally peeked over the horizon, Wyes’ lungs were burning, his legs sore, feet blistered, and his shoulder was aching. Garret looked like he could keep it up for another few days, and he probably could.
“How long?” Wyes gasped out.
“Not long! We’ll be there by noon!”
For the first time since they’d started their mad dash for safety, Wyes looked back over his shoulder and saw a small shadow chasing them across the grasslands. He looked forwards again and began searching the horizon for Salus. Wyes couldn’t find it, and thought that his eyes must be worse than Garret’s.
When Wyes finally saw the telltale dot of their destination in the landscape ahead, Garret gave him a short reprieve and gauged the distance between them, Salus, and the kobolds. Wyes fell to the ground and gasped, trying not to pass out.
“If you have anything in your pack that’s dear to you or essential to us, put it in your pockets and leave everything else behind. We need to run faster if we want to make it to Salus before the kobolds overrun us. Let’s hope that the townspeople grant us refuge, or we’ll be in a spot of trouble.” Garret stated understatedly.
“What? Why wouldn’t they let us in?”
“Well, I’m sure they’re going to love us for bringing a hunting party of kobolds to their gates…” Garret let the sentence hang.
Wyes looked through his pack with renewed vigour, and finding nothing but old clothes, he left the pack where it was. Garret however, took out a small jingling bag out of the pack and into his pocket, along with something that Wyes didn’t quite see, and left his pack on the ground.
“Alright, the race is on.” Garret said, and they started to run. Wyes’ muscles complained vehemently but he ignored them knowing what was at stake if they stopped. They ate away at the leagues separating them and Salus, with the kobolds gaining on them at an alarming rate.
“Don’t look back! Stay focused on Salus!” Garret called out, as Wyes started to fall behind. His lungs were on fire and his muscles too. He couldn’t keep it up and they still had another league to cross before they made it to Salus, and the safety of its walls. Garret frowned and slowed down a little. “Give me your hand.” Wyes did so, and Garret’s frown deepened. Wyes felt a surge of energy pass into him, and some of his fatigue was relieved. Wyes quickened a little to keep up
