NINE
1417 Words
Barely a day in the Barren lands and Richard already knew that the place wasn’t a good fit for him; in fact, that realisation had dawned on him within the very first hour of travelling through the region. And looking at the others travelling alongside him, he saw that they had all come to the same realisation too.
Riding through the deeply snow-covered forest, the travelling companions looked everything like the other Barren landers: dressed in a thick fur winter cloak with the hood drawn up, mountain goat skin satchels, and wool blankets strapped to their horses like the other travellers they'd met; and most importantly, they looked as confident as they could about their environment and where they were headed.
But the fact remained that they weren't true Barren landers. They were outsiders and anyone who poked their nose long enough would realise that too.
The seer, Ariel, rode in front of the group where she pointed out directions to the others as directed to her by her crystal; which up till that present moment she still hadn't explained in clear terms exactly how it worked. Richard and Isidora rode side by side, keeping watch for any attacks from the trees or bushes. Lucian brought up the rear, his job to watcher for intruders from behind. All four rode in silence as they had done since they arrived in the Barren lands earlier that day.
"We need to find shelter soon and fast," Lucian said all of a sudden, breaking the long standing silence in the area. "I can feel a storm coming from the horizon."
"This is the Barren lands, Lucian, there’s always a storm coming from the horizon," Isidora returned without looking back or breaking glance with her surroundings.
"Actually, he's right," Ariel countered from the front. "A storm will soon be crossing this area and it's going to be very big."
"Oh, and did your little crystal tell you that?" the dark witch returned, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in the statement. "You know that you’re going to have to tell us how that thing works one of these days, right?" The seer didn't respond and Isidora didn’t press; and silence fell on the group again.
In truth, the dark witch's irritation was actually very understandable. Thing is, she was the only one standing between them all and freezing to death; a feat which she achieved by casting a spell to shield them from the harsh weather of the region. In consequence, maintaining the spell took a lot of her energy, draining her both physically and mentally; and hence, the irritable attitude.
Just then, Richard looked up towards the east and saw something that he had been desperately hoping he would; smoke. "Guys, look," he said, pointing at his discovery.
"Smoke," Lucian said with a smile, quickly catching on to its significance. "We’re close to people."
"And more importantly to warmth and food," Isidora added, pointing out what she knew that they were all thinking about.
"Come on," Richard said, spurring his horse into a run with the others following closely behind towards what might turn out to be their salvation.
***
The smoke was actually coming from a settlement, as Richard and the others soon saw when they reached their destination. True to what Lucian had predicted, a very strong wind had begun to blow in preparation for what would most definitely be a great storm if the Barren lands' weather was anything to go by.
Riding into the settlement with the sun setting behind a thundery night sky, Richard saw that it was actually the size of a small village; one that would have being the smallest in the other parts of the realm. But judging from the many tales he'd heard of the Barren lands, he knew that the settlement was actually of standard size.
The houses were made of wood which were intricately carved and designed to match the region's standard; although the king couldn't really bring himself to trust in the architecture as the Barren landers weren't exactly known for their knowledge, especially about buildings. The settlers themselves didn't appear concerned at all though, and knowing that the storm was most probably not their first, he didn't ponder much over the matter too.
Leading the others to a building which judging from the noise and the enormous amount of people coming out and going in might be the tavern, Richard dismounted from his horse with the others following suit and a young boy came to take care of them; the king paying him handsomely in silver coins to ensure that he got the animals back in good conditions.
As they entered the tavern, they realised that the inside was even bigger than the outside suggested; the room almost as big as a hall in one of the great kingdom's castles. Men sat round tables all over the place in no particular order; eating, drinking and chatting as a large fire burnt in a pit in the centre of the room to give sufficient warmth and light to its occupants. To support the fire pit, candles were hung all over the room in makeshift brackets; one even over the door in spite of how dangerous it obviously was.
But the group wasn’t to concern themselves with them as a man approached them just then; tankard of ale in hand. "Hello, travellers," he said when he reached them. "Forgive me but you don’t look like typical Barren landers."
"And so what?" Isidora returned, her voice taking on a dangerous tone as she stared directly into the man's eyes. "Do you have a problem with that?"
The man tried to put on his own scary demeanour but it was obviously a pretext as his face had gone completely pale from Isidora's piercing glare; he was deathly scared of the dark witch.
Fortunately though, at least for him, nothing else happened as a fat man suddenly intervened. "Hey, Jason!" he shouted from across the counter, apparently he was the owner of the tavern. "Get out of here and stop bothering my customers, would you?"
The man, Jason, complied almost immediately, Isidora’s glare having done its job; and the group proceeded to take a table at the secluded end of the room.
"I would really like for us to get out of here very soon," Richard whispered to them as they sat. "Apparently our friend Jason has made us the centre of attention, which I don't have to remind you isn’t good."
"Oh, come on Richard, we can take them all if we want to," Isidora returned, smiling even at the curious stares being shot their way.
"That's not what I'm worried about," he replied. "If we happen to beat them all with our skills and your dark magic, they'll know exactly who we are. We aren't exactly very obscure personalities in the realm, remember?" Getting found out was definitely a complication they couldn't afford, especially in an area they had next to no knowledge about. But as it was, there was nothing they could do about it at that moment and so they decided to eat and relax instead.
"These men happened to be talking about the Knight," Lucian informed them after a while, discreetly pointing at two men some tables away from them.
"Oh, you mean the maniac swordsman that everyone around here seems to be worshipping like a god," Isidora returned, scoffing. "What about him?"
"Apparently, they saw him travelling to somewhere called the incending creek,” he replied. “That place is a big deal around here for some unknown reason so I thought we may want to be informed about it."
"The incending creek," Ariel suddenly whispered, the others turning to see her open her eyes like someone just out of a trance, "that's where the crystal wants us to go."
"Wait, the crystal wants us to go and meet the Knight?" Richard was confused. “How does that fit in our quest to find the Conqueror’s flames?”
"Well, I don't know if it's the Knight it wants us to meet," the seer replied, "but the crystal definitely sees that something is waiting for us at the incending creek."
"Well, guys," Isidora said, smiling with the promise of things to come, "looks like we're finally going to meet someone worth meeting in this godforsaken place.”
- Writer
