Rojuun
Page 15
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For two more days, they traveled along the forested road. He told her about some of his travels while she told him about her life in the valley. She also told him of her parents. She cried a few times from the sorrow of losing them, but the conversations began a healing process for both.
Their first glimpse of the city was when they came around a bend in the road at the top of a pass one morning. Broken roofs of buildings in the distance jutted above trees. They paused and readied their weapons. Liselle strung her bow and readied the quiver of arrows her Uncle Laremy had made. She could think about him without crying by that point, though her heart still ached.
Tathan loosened his sword in its scabbard. He realized it was the first time he had readied it in days. The thought caused him to pause. For some reason, he wasn’t jumping at imaginary dangers. Perhaps the enchantments on the road had something to do with it.
As they rode up, it became obvious the city was abandoned. The forest encroached upon the edges, but something seemed to be preventing nature from taking over completely. Birds and small wildlife scurried about. Forest scents gave way to dusty cobblestone. The horses plodded through long abandoned streets as their riders looked back and forth at the decayed buildings.
“Do you think the bridge was built by whoever lived in this city, Tathan?” Liselle’s voice was filled with awe as she looked at the ruins.
He nodded. “Definitely. The stonework is the same and it looks to be as old as the bridge. It’s extraordinary that there’s any cobble left.”
“But the bridge was still in good condition. These buildings are all crumbling and collapsing.” She gestured at a building with only two walls remaining. The rest was rubble.
“The bridge had runes protecting it from wear and tear. These buildings were well-made to have withstood for so long, but wouldn’t have been magically protected.”
“Why not?”
“It takes a lot to cast runes to protect a structure,” he said. “They have to be inscribed, then the spells cast and then all of the runes tuned to each other. There’s probably a border of runes that keep the forest from finishing off the city.”
“Would it be more important for a bridge to last longer than a city?”
Tathan looked down a side road. “Yes. A bridge doesn’t have people cleaning and taking care of it all the time. Plus it’s harder to cope with a broken bridge than a broken building.”
“Wow. I never even considered that.” She looked around some more. “I wish I could meet the people who lived here. Should we explore?” she suggested hopefully.
“Sure, we can do that. But we must be careful when entering buildings. Wild animals may have moved in. We can set up camp in that building over there.” He pointed out a moderate-sized building. It had a dome with a few holes, but looked largely intact.
“That looks good to me.”
The large doorway had probably held double doors at one time, but there was no trace of them now. Inside, it was dusty and empty with no furniture to give any clue as to what the building had been used for. They set up the horses in the near corner and put their camp in the back where the walls and domed ceiling were still intact. It would protect them from weather should they wish to stay for any length of time.
After taking care of the horses and camp, Liselle asked, “Shall we explore now?”
A gravelly, tenor voice came from the doorway. “Oh yes, I do love exploring!”
Tathan and Liselle spun in alarm.