by C Woodward
Kalus put a few things in the pack, “Come back alive so you can hear the final draft of your stories.”
I smiled, “Be sure they contain some stuff that will reduce Talestria’s scary image.”
Kalus laughed, “That might be hard considering her temper at the dwarven gate.” I rolled my eyes and then looked at the rest of the guys, “I wish you all the luck I can, and I am proud to have you as my friends!” After shaking hands, we rode off.
I had little to no experience riding a horse. I learned some here in this world, but it hadn’t gone as smoothly as I hoped. Rejun and I followed Teltar. “There is another road that would keep us away from the public eye, but it’s rougher,” he said.
I asked, “Is it a shorter route?” Teltar answered, “Yeah, a little shorter.” Rejun smiled and rode past me, “That will cut down some of our time. I wonder why it’s not used.”
Teltar muttered, “Because it’s mostly dirt and not as safe as the main road.” It grew pitch black and I could barely see Teltar out front. I saw it was a bit cloudy but thankfully saw no sign of rain yet. I was busy concentrating on staying on the horse as we galloped behind Teltar’s horse. No one uttered a word as we moved. I didn’t mind since I was still upset about the current situation. I couldn’t stop worrying about Talestria and I prayed that nothing more would happen to her.
We rode until the horses were tired. I could hardly see a thing. Teltar hopped off his horse, “This place seems tolerable enough to rest for the night. Who has the first watch?” Rejun and I looked at each other. I could barely see his shape. Rejun offered to take the first watch. I had second and Teltar had the final watch. I tied the warhorse to a small tree. We were near mountains. The side of the mountains were too steep for anyone to climb.
“I don’t think we should start a fire” I mentioned. Rejun agreed, “We are trying to sneak up to Trawlast, so we might be a bit miserable for the next few days.” Teltar just yawned and laid on his bed roll. A few seconds later he was snoring.
I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t help stop worrying for Talestria. The thought of her suffering hurt deep in my chest and because of that, I was still enraged at Forren. It wouldn’t do any good to stay up worrying and stressing about her. In three days, hopefully, all this will be over. I closed my eyes and tried, but couldn’t sleep. I tried diverting my mind by forcing myself to think about facing Forren. It helped and eventually I got some sleep.
Rejun tapped me on the head for my turn at second watch. I might have slept for a whole thirty minutes. The sky was dark but the moon was visible in the sky so I would better see any dangers in the area. I let out a big yawn and leaned against a tree. The air was still and the ground was a bit moist. I turned and looked up the steep mountains. My eyelids were weary but my heart wanted to keep moving. I took a long drawn out sigh and whispered to the mountains, “I will save you Talestria.” A few hours passed and I could see the rays of the sun rising in the eastern sky. I looked at Teltar and Rejun and asked myself, “should I wake up Teltar?” Naw, I might as well stay up. Sleep doesn’t seem to be something I can do right now anyway.
After waking up my two companions, I started to pack up. “Oh, you skipped me” Teltar said but not really looking disappointed. I shrugged, “I couldn’t sleep anyway so I decided to be useful.” Teltar nodded but looked a little worried for me. Rejun had major bed hair and looked half asleep. I grabbed some dried fruit and started to chew.
Rejun looked around, “Guess we won’t have time for me to hunt for some game.” I swallowed some of my food, “We don’t have time for frills right now.” The other two guys grabbed some dry food and packed up. A moment later, we rode off.
I was starting to get the hang of riding. I just hope no one expected me to do anything fancy. We followed Teltar along the dirt path which was mostly grown over with tall grass and plants but we could still see the faint trace of a trail. We gained some time by riding later last night, but only a few hours. My mind began to fade from lack of sleep and stress. There were times when I nodded off while riding but thankfully the horse knew to follow. Even worry and anger were not enough to keep me awake, though the occasional bumping did.
By noon, we let the horses rest and drink. I found myself passed out on the ground. Teltar and Rejun were talking about traveling at night and sleeping during the day. Teltar mentioned that we were far enough away from the main road that we really didn’t need to worry about anyone spotting us. They were making small talk about battle tactics and food and so forth. I only got about half of the conversation and spent my time resting. “Well, we should get going. The horses should be ready to go” Teltar explained. I mumbled and took a gulp from my wineskin and put my helmet back on. My horse was getting its last sip of water. It was a large horse not made for speed but for strength. Teltar’s dwarven pony was built the same just smaller. Alpo was the only normal looking horse. I sort of zoned out for a bit when Rejun walked past me to get Alpo ready. I let out one big yawn and joined them. I should have been thankful that I was too tired to do much worrying. I mindlessly followed Teltar through an overgrown pass. Occasionally, a small branch smacked me on the face because Teltar and his horse were much shorter than my horse and me. My helmet helped. I would of have ducked if I had been more aware. I think we all would need a good night sleep before the big fight. With that thought, I began to worry again for Talestria. As miserable I was from lack of sleep, she could be feeling worse. Lack of sleep and worry caused me to shed a few tears. Thankfully, I was wearing my helmet and was behind my two buddies.
“So Teltar, what kind of things lurks beyond these mountains?” Rejun asked.
Teltar took a moment to reply, “There’s nothing that bad in the mountains but further west of here is where no one goes.”
Rejun asked, “Why is that? I hear that the area beyond the mountains is full of strange things.” Teltar turned his head, “I never really bothered to check it out, but there are strange beasts and other things. There could be stories of explorers there, but anything dangerous pretty much stays away, so I don’t really care.”
Rejun laughed, “You don’t care about too much.”
Teltar answered, “I don’t worry about needless things.” That’s Teltar for you. We continued to ride long after the sun dropped from the sky. I was looking forward to getting some rest. Teltar led us to a cluster of large rocks. The rocks looked natural, and then we saw a carved opening barely wide enough to fit a horse. Beyond it was a decent-sized room with stone walls and no ceiling. There had once been some form of flooring but now it was just wild grass and a few shrubs. “Strange room” I muttered.
Rejun hopped off his horse, “I wonder what this place was used for.” Teltar dismounted and dropped his pack. Rejun and I looked around the rock chamber and then at Teltar, “Well, this was one of the old outposts. It was mostly used to store supplies. Most of it has rotted away.”
Rejun looked outside, “If this had a proper door it could be well hidden.” I got off my horse and looked up. It was a little brighter tonight and warmer within the stone walls. I wasted no time getting my bed roll out and lying down.
Teltar took notice and said, “Go ahead and sleep.” I complied and fell right to sleep. “Blake!” Rejun yelled. It was a few hours later when I was jarred awake. I grumbled and muttered, “Ah, freaking crap, what is it?” I put on my helmet and grabbed my axe. An object flew in my direction. I had to side-step to avoid it. Blood was spewing from it and I looked down and surprisingly saw it looking right at me. It was head. It was not a human head but the head of a ghoul. I recalled seeing their freakish faces before. One of them had been shrieking loudly by the entrance to the room. Teltar caused that one to lose its head.
Rejun was loading his crossbow while backing up. He yelled, “Don’t let them touch you!” Just then I saw one grab hold of Teltar and almost immediately, Teltar froze still.
I saw three of them run over to Teltar as soon as he lost feeling in his body. “Teltar!” I yelle
d as I charged them. They turned to face me. They waved large knives and short swords. One charged at me while the other two tried to get around me. The first one shrieked unnaturally as its knife lunged toward me. I stepped to the right and swung my axe down which severed the arm of the first ghoul. The other two were quick and surrounded me. I could only respond to the one in front of me now and just missed being grappled. The other one grabbed my left arm. It was franticly looking over my armor, moving its hands and looking for bare skin to apply its paralyzing effects. From the corner of my eye I saw more of them coming into the fight.
I sunk my blade deeply into the ghoul in front of me which made a disturbing cry. The bad thing was that my blade was now stuck. The ghoul at my left arm gave up finding a bare spot in the armor and used both arms to hold my arm back. I released my blade which stuck in the corpse before me to punch the ghoul on my left arm. Two other ghouls jumped in and grabbed my right arm. This wasn’t good! The ghoul holding my left arm let out a cry and soon collapsed on the ground. Rejun got that one. I now had a free arm and my first move was to punch in the direction of the two ghouls. I was close but they avoided my swing. Another ran over to me and grabbed me by my helmet. Aw, crap.
My helmet was almost off. I tried to grab it with my right arm but the other two were making that difficult. A moment later, my helmet was off and I saw hands moving toward my face. Their grip on my right arm weakened as soon as their hands touched my face. Something smelled like old meat and made me sick to my stomach.
I could feel other hands on my head and it just felt wrong. The first thing I did was lower my body and looked for my axe. They let go of me and assumed that I was under their magical effect. I quickly grabbed my axe and got back up by shoving against the dead ghoul. I turned around and saw three very surprised ghouls. I couldn’t help but grin.
The bolt from a crossbow buried into the neck of one. It tried to grasp onto the bolt with its gross hands but fell backward. The other two ghouls stared at me. “Stupid ghouls, you’re tricks don’t work on me” I said with a sadistic grin. They backed up but I charged one and sank my axe into the side of its neck to the collar bone. I leaned back, pulled out my blade and faced the last attacker. I swung, aiming for the side of the neck but hit a little higher and my axe sunk in the side of the head. It was a death blow. I stood wiping sweat and gunk from my face. I heard a loud shriek behind me. Forgot about the one armed ghoul.
I felt the breeze of another crossbow bolt zip past me and then, silence. “Wow, good aim, man!” I said. I stepped on the ghoul’s head and pried out my axe. It was gross. “Is that all of them?” I asked while looking around. Teltar was mumbling to himself and slowly stood up. He looked around and brushed himself off.
Rejun ran over, “I’ve never seen ghouls before! They are freaky!”
Teltar spit on the ground and kicked a ghoul onto its back, “Vile things. Let’s clean this mess up.”
Rejun looked around and then at me, “I was surprised they didn’t freeze you.”
I walked over and picked up my helmet, “You don’t know me really well, do you?” Teltar actually chuckled. Rejun ran over to calm down the horses while Teltar and I dragged the bodies as far as we could from camp. The severed head was just too gross for me to carry, so I kicked it out of the entry way That turned out to be like kicking a soccer ball and was just about as gross as carrying the thing out.
The ghouls were wearing old, ragged clothing and carried a few valuables on them. I found a silver necklace and a thick, gold ring with a stone. They must gotten them by looting a grave or something else that I would really rather not dwell on. “Ghouls normally don’t travel this area” Teltar mentioned.
I removed the ring and the necklace and commented, “Maybe they used to hang out near the ruins west of Halatross but left because of Forren’s men.” Teltar shrugged “Could be.” I let out a big yawn and walked back to my bedroll. Rejun had been too leery to get near the bodies. He didn’t want anything to do them. He even backed away when I shown him the necklace. I shrugged and shoved it in my pack. I was sure they would be nice once they were cleaned.
The smell of the dead ghouls was enough to keep even choguls away. We all rested fairly easily the rest of the night. Rejun was the first to wake up and made a loud whistle to wake the rest of us. Teltar and I both would have preferred to sleep but as soon as my mind woke up, I jumped to my feet and got ready to go. We found some coins around the ghouls but their weapons were too old and rusted to bother with.
I retrieved the bolts for Rejun since he didn’t feel like getting near the dead ghouls to pull them out. I didn’t blame him. When I had seen ghouls, it was always at night or in a dark place. The daylight shows how freaky they look; very pale, no noses just nostrils and dark eyes with no pupils. They had slightly pointy ears and small sharp teeth. Seeing those lifeless eyes staring back made my flesh crawl but I had to get the bolts for Rejun. He carried a bunch of them but one more bolt might count in the final fight.
After looting, none of us were hungry enough to eat breakfast. The smell of dead ghouls killed our appetites. “Might be best to just have a bigger lunch.” Teltar muttered as he walked his horse out of the camp. Rejun and I looked at each other and followed him. The smell was strong but a few minutes of galloping fixed that problem.
“We should reach Trawlast before sun down” Teltar mentioned. I let out a big sigh, “We are making better time than I expected.” My chest felt a bit heavy at the thought of the next couple days. Be safe, Talestria!
It was noon and Teltar insisted that we keep going since there we were coming soon to a side gate to Trawlast. “You might want to get that ring out” Teltar muttered.
I reached into my pouch and found the thick ring from King Wotmire. Rejun rode up next to me, “I don’t see anything that looks like an entrance.” He stopped. As we made a turn we saw a hidden pass that swung up and around toward the mountains. It was very well hidden and at the top we saw a short stone tower sticking out of the rocks.
It took some time to climb up to the tower. Up there were two very curious dwarven guards. They didn’t expect to see anyone come up this way and tried to look unfazed by our presence. “Ah, captain! What brings you here?” one of the dwarves asked.
Teltar cleared his throat and wiped his hand on his pants then looked at the two guards, “Uh, we are just passing through and need to make up for some lost time.” The two guards looked at Rejun and me. They saw the ring that I was displaying.
“Um, yes, of course,” one said while turning around to open the gate. We traveled through a stone tunnel that looked to be carved from the rock. There were a few decorative gaps near the top that let in light so no one would bump into the walls. The tunnel went a fair distance and then slowly wound up, and deeper into the mountain. “How long did it take you guys to make this tunnel?” Rejun asked.
Teltar shrugged, “I don’t know. This was here long before my childhood.” Once we reached the other end, there was another gate that lead outside. The two dwarves at this gate didn’t even question us. They just opened it when they heard us coming. We were at the outskirts of Trawlast with the main buildings a fair distance away. Teltar looked around and pointed out a smaller building, “I’ll go figure out our pass. You two go find a room at the inn.” Rejun and I nodded and watched Teltar ride off toward the main part of the city. The area looked like a military district that catered to troops from the south gate and the patrols. Looking out we saw an inn, a blacksmith shop, and barracks. The only other people around were a few troops making their rounds.
The inn was pretty lively. There were a few guards enjoying a late lunch while in-between shifts. Rejun and I got a few odd stares, I don’t think they get to see many humans here. I took off my helmet and smiled, “Hello! We would like to get a room.” The innkeeper walked over to the counter where he kept the keys. He was a rather old dwarf who looked like he had seen many battles in his youth.
“Two humans, eh?” he said. I
sat my helmet and ring down on the front desk to reach for some money. He stared at the ring, “Who are you? We don’t get many visitors down this way.”
I sighed, “We are just some travelers visiting a friend.” I glanced at Rejun who tilted his head slightly and shrugged.
The old dwarf looked at me and then placed a big key on the desk, “Diplomats normally stay at the fancier district closer to the palace.”
Rejun spoke under his breath, “Diplomats?” I smiled and handed the innkeeper the money. He passed the key over to me, “First door, down on the right.” I grabbed the key and my things and walked down the hall. The old dwarf stared oddly at me as if he thought he should know who we were. The room was rather simple but it had real beds which made me happy, at least until I remembered why I was here.
I removed my armor and laid down. I was very tired and just wanted to relax for a bit. Rejun sat on his bed, chewing on some dried meat. He swallowed his food, “Should we wait for Teltar before getting some real food?”
I closed my eyes, “Naw! You can go ahead and get something.” Rejun hopped up from the bed and fished in his pack for some money, “You coming?”
I shook my head, “No, I’d rather have some time to be alone with my thoughts.”
Rejun sighed, “Alright, I’ll bring back something for you. We do have a big day tomorrow!”
I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling, “Hopefully, tomorrow will end well for us.”
Rejun took a few steps out of the door then turned back, “Dang, now I am nervous!” he said at the door way.
I closed my eyes, “I am nervous, too.” After he left, I just laid there, staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow, if everything goes well, it will all be over. Goosebumps covered my body at the thought of that. We will have a long journey and then we’ll face some fearsome enemies. Any fear I had dulled at the thought of Talestria locked away in a fort, afraid and alone. I took a few deep breaths and tried not to think of bad things happening to her. I felt a heavy weight pressing on me. My main fears and worries were on her. My second strongest emotion was anger. Each moment I spent thinking about it, the more I desired to do great harm to both Forren and the Blood Witch.