Two horses galloped across the grass, the wind blew gently, softly waking up the people inside the carriage that the horses were carrying. The caravan driver breathed in the fresh air and took a peek at the stirring passengers inside.
'...' The driver thought, figured it would be better to let the passengers wake up themselves than arousing them from their slumber. It had been a tiring trip from Fruma to Wynn after all. But to the driver, delivering passengers, or more specifically new soldiers from Fruma to Wynn wasn't something new to him, in fact, he's been doing that for quite a while, and this trip is nothing out of the ordinary. He's been doing these sort of trips for so long and so many times he could complete the journey with his eyes closed. Ever since Fruma allowed its citizens to aid in the battle against the corruption on the Wynn providence, he got very busy, more so than ever. He could remember how he had to teach some new caravan drivers the road to go there. His mind quickly recalled a certain middle age woman he met recently, who was also a caravan driver like himself, she showed great navigation skills and an unrivalled memory, it only took her a few trails to make the trip smooth. He recalled how impressive her skills are, and a funny name she liked to be referred to...
As his mind was occupied by the female driver, the caravan has just passed through the huge wooden gates, settled in the middle of a gap between the mountains. The gates opened, allowing the caravan in. He passed through the gate, which separates Fruma and Wynn. The gates closed once more, waiting for the next recruits. For the newbies in every caravan, their new life as soldiers and protectors began from this moment onward. The caravan moved to the side of the stone and dirt road, an area marked by oak wood and several oak wood fences. A candle placed on top of the oak wood, its flame flickered nonstop even as the wind kept on blowing it, yet the flame didn't seem to care, as if focusing its job to provide light no matter what. The driver stopped his horses and jumped down and feed them with some hay that he had carried, the horses gratefully munched it.
'Ragni outskirts... We made it.' The driver looked at the familiar sight as he murmured.
The sight was stunning to him every time, even though he had been here time and time again. The horses finished their hay and rested. They exhaled loudly, as a sign of tiredness and weariness but also a sign of telling each other 'good job', the same horses have made this trip with the caravan driver numerous times as well, and the two shared a strong friendship with one another. The caravan driver smiled as he petting the horses and stood in front of them, admiring the scenery. On the left he saw the cliffs, with spruce trees standing tall and strong at the ledges, the dirt and stone making mother nature all the more beautiful and glorious, making the lush valley where he is stood out even more. On the right, an oak tree stood, the leaves and grass appeared as different shades of green. Red poppies and orange tulips surrounded the tree making it eccentric but appealing at the same time, with some tall grass surrounding it. In front of the driver is a small wooden gate, with oak wood being the material used. Fences near the tree had torches put on them, providing extra lightning for any travellers. He was admiring the view so much; he didn't hear the passengers inside waking up.
'Buck! Buck! Buck!' Skywalker heard it and slowly opened his eyes. 'I must have fallen asleep' he let out a yawn. His vision blurred but slowly regained. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain, something was tugging on his hair, and he felt his hair somehow got wet. Startled, he quickly grabbed hold the thing that was causing his hair to be all wet, he ran his hand through his hair, only to found it covered in a sticky substance.
'I hoped this isn't pee…' He murmured as he flung off the sticky liquid of his hair. The culprit bucked continuously, with saliva dripping at the corner of its beak.
'Gross! Get away from me you... Chicken? Duck? Whatever!' He shouted, grabbing the grook and threw it across the caravan. It struck the snoring Krisstal, who was sleeping on the floor, her blanket tangled with her limp body. Her head resting on a brown carpet on the wooden floorboard. The impact caused her to snort loudly, which Skywalker could barely contain his laughter after hearing it.
Krisstal woke up with a start; her eyes darted to where a 'buck' was heard. She looked around, seeing the grook tilted its head while looking at her with curiosity. She let out a sigh, 'I want to sleep some more, no thanks to you for waking me up.' Picking the grook up, she tossed it to the back of the caravan, where Hearolie and Reygina were resting on the two wooden stairs at the back.
Having enough of being tossed around like a bean bag, the grook flew slowly, flapping its wing like a madman, down to Hearolie's head and jumped outside through the back of the caravan. The racket was enough to wake everyone up. Hearolie looking around to see what was on his head just a moment ago, while a short-tempered Reygina was complaining about having a small headache. One by one they walked out of the caravan safely with the help of the slabs and stairs in front of them, trying not to accidentally spill the crates and chests that are also in the caravan.
'Wonder what's in them?' Reygina asked, touching one of the crates close to her.
'Probably food, water and medical supplies for the driver and his horses if anything bad happens, I guess?' Hearolie answered, making a guess on his own.
'Hmm, I suppose that makes sense...' Reygina replied with a shrug. She gave a final look at the boxes before decided to ignore them.
Their eyes shifted from a grey and brown ceiling to a clear blue sky, they were in awe of the amazing view around them, like the caravan driver in front of them.
'This is not something you get to see every day! Not in Fruma to say the least.' Krisstal breathed the fresh air, she felt lively and felt the surrounding energy flowing around and inside of her.
The others didn't give her a response, but their actions gave her the answer. Hearolie is walking around while admiring the nature whereas Reygina looked at the cliffs high above them, feeling astounded. The snowy mountains were so high that it seemed to merge with the sky, the top of the mountains unable to be seen. Skywalker gave a simple nod and walked towards the driver.
'Hey, thank you so much for the ride; we wouldn't be here without you.' He patted the shoulder of the driver.
The driver was surprised by the sudden gesture; his hat flew off from the head, carried by the wind. Luckily the driver caught it before his hat was lost, gone with the wind.
'Oh sorry, did I surprise you? My friends are charmed and mesmerised by the beauty of nature here. One of a kind I have to admit.' Skywalker smiled apologetically.
'No! No! It's okay. Well, let me give you a quick briefing.' The driver laughed. He corrected his hat and tidied his greyish-white shirt and blue vest, his brown striped pants and black shoes looked a bit worn. Hearing what the driver had said, the others seemed to finally able to say goodbye to Mother Nature, and they walked towards where Skywalker and the caravan driver are.
'Finally, you're awake! Everyone already went on ahead. This is as far as we go, right to the border. The King is waiting for you in Ragni. That gate marks the entrance to the Wynn Province, so the castle can't be too far from here.' He pointed to the small opened gate in front of them.
'I heard it's a dangerous road to the castle, but fortunately, you're armed. Sorry, we couldn't take you all the way, here is a partial refund for the journey. Use it to buy yourself some armour.' The caravan driver lowered his head, feeling upset he couldn't do more. He fished his pockets and gave those emeralds and a healing potion to each of them.
'Thank you, this would most certainly do!' Skywalker said, pocketing the emeralds and the potion.
'Yes, if the road is indeed dangerous, you may get yourself hurt, we wouldn't want that.' Hearolie comforted the driver whereas the girls gave the driver a thankful smile while heading towards the caravan.
'Well, we better get going, don't want the king to wait for us for too long!' Skywalker said, returning to the caravan, he opened one of the chests and in there was a wand, a spear, a dagger and a bow. They took their own weapons and inspected it. Skywalker flipped his dagger, Krisstal sharpened her spear, Hearolie tugged his bowstring and Reygina waved her wand. Everything seems to be in good condition, and they began their trip to the castle of Ragni.
'Goodbye and wish you the best of luck!' The driver yelled, his voice echoed through the valley. They waved goodbye and the driver returned to the caravan and groomed his horses.
'Here we go!' Holding his dagger towards the setting sun, Skywalker led the group. Their footsteps shook the stone, gravel and dirt path. They walked past the wooden gate that is in front of the oak tree.
'And this is it. Our mission to protect Ragni officially starts and begins.' Skywalker said, looking back at the caravan one last time.
'Then let's kick some monster butt!' Krisstal yelled with enthusiasm, slamming the base of her spear to the ground.
Hearolie aimed and prepared to fire an arrow, wanting to kill a grook, as revenge for the one that ruined his sleep. Reygina slammed her wand at Hearolie's head, opposing and disapproving his actions, and gave him a piece of her mind by glaring at him. Hearolie lowered his bow as a sign of defeat. They continued travelling along the path, they saw a small waterfall on their right, making the air humid, cooling and watering the surrounding plants, giving life to where each droplet fell. In the distance, a windmill was in the line of sight although it was not moving. A few wooden building were built right at the edge of a mountain next to the windmill. With two small waterfalls flowing from somewhere high and clifftops far beyond the eye can see. Like the valley they just had been, the scenery was beyond imaginable, being too beautiful and too mesmerizing for any person to think or create in their minds. Cows mooed and wild boars oinked in some sort of melody as if an orchestra was being performed. They were happy clearly, enjoying every bit of their life.
A lumberjack was strapping wood logs on the floor, and then inspected the rest of the wood nearby. 'Hmm...The quality should be good enough to sell.' the lumberjack thought.
He saw a group of people heading towards him, slightly chuckled at the fact that they kept looking around. 'It's like every Fruma recruit has never seen Wynn's natural beauty before.' He chuckled.
He was seen by Reygina and she approached him. However, before she could say anything, the lumberjack had stopped her and said. 'You're one of the new recruits from Fruma right? You're probably heading to Ragni then.'
Surprised at how well he knew their purpose here is, Reygina smiled. 'Yes, indeed. There must be a lot of recruits walking our path to reach the castle. You're quite observant. Cool!'
'Indeed yes, I greet and meet a lot of new people as I live here and work here.' the lumberjack replied, grateful for the kind response.
'So do you know how far we are from the castle?' Reygina asked a bit concern as she saw the sun setting.
'The castle is right along the path, follow it to the east and you'll get there in no time.' The lumberjack pointed to where the east was, opposite to where the sun is setting.
'Thank you so much for your assistance. Please take this as a token of our gratitude.' Reygina handed him an emerald.
The lumberjack humbly thanked her. 'Good luck to you and your friends. I can't thank you enough for helping us in protecting Wynn.' The lumberjack stretched his hand out, to which Reygina gladly shook hands with him.
'Come on guys this way!' She walked along the path with the others followed her behind, but they suddenly came to a stop at a fork in the road. On the left, a small farm with luminous Jack o'lanterns gave light to the surrounding wheat, the house surrounded by large oak trees, the house itself looked a bit old, but judging by the opened door and lights were on in the inside, it's clear to them that someone lives there. On the right, a wooden staircase leads to the windmill above. Seeing someone was resting in front of them, Krisstal approached him.
The person, an adventurer who was just resting near a tree looked up and said to her. 'Ah, another recruit. You're a bit behind, friend.'
'Yeah, sorry! We want to explore around a bit.' Krisstal said, her eyes focused on the windmill next to them.
'Everyone already went on ahead. Just follow the path up to the bridge and you'll catch up.' The adventurer replied, but in a smoother voice. He smiled back at them, the tense atmosphere seemed to subside a bit.
'I want more sightseeing to be honest. Who knows if we will have another chance coming here.' Skywalker said, trying to walk down the right path but Reygina held him back.
'Same, but we only have time for one... attraction.' Hearolie said. He gave a quick glance at the pumpkins.
'Yes, the sun is setting; we don't want to be out in the open in the dark.' Krisstal agreed. The sun was beginning to set.
'Plus we don't want the king to wait for us for too long. Like the driver and lumberjack said, we are a bit behind schedule.' Reygina added while tapping her foot.
'Then let's split up and meet back as soon as possible.' Skywalker said, sprinting towards the windmill.
'Hey wait up!' Krisstal ran after him, catching up in no time. The two raced towards the windmill.
'Come on let's take a look, maybe take a look who owns these pumpkins.' Reygina said, walking towards the house, with Hearolie behind her.
They strolled along the path, oxeye daisies, orange tulips and blue orchids greeting the new soldiers. Books were stacked and placed outside the house, jukeboxes and wooden chests, crafting tables as well, stacked atop of each other. A candle's flames glowed dimly, but provide just enough light. They entered the opened door and were inside the house. A cake was put peacefully on the table, candles placed around the house, and two doors on the perpendicular walls in front of them lead to the farm behind. Next to them, a staircase spirals upwards, an anvil and a chest right under the stairs. More books and bookcases were put aside next to the table. Even the sunken corner behind them had books there.
'This guy is a nerd, he has so many books that he also has to put some outside. It couldn't fit inside his house.' Hearolie laughed.
'Shh... Don't you hear it?' Reygina said, signalling him to be quiet, she looked up the stairs.
'Sounds like someone is crying... Upstairs…' He whispered.
'Come on, let's go upstairs and see if he is alright.' Reygina said quietly, she slowly moved towards the stairs.
Hearolie didn't hear her, however, a book that was next to him caught his attention. He took the book and wondered what this owner reads. The title read 'How to cure corruption'. Hearolie shuddered when he saw the book, he felt sick with apprehension. He saw the word that dreaded so many peoples lives already before he even reached the city.
A quick and sudden scream came from upstairs. 'Oh no, Reygina!' Hearolie quickly ran upstairs and saw who he assumed is the owner of the house about to stab Reygina with a dagger.
'Coming here was a mistake.' He thought and immediately took his bow and draw it, an arrow magically appeared.
'Let her go now.' He commanded. The resident quickly used Reygina as a shield and had his blade resting at the mouth of his hostage.
'You entered my house… Stole my dog… You shall all die…' The resident stuttered as if trying to get the words out of his mouth with extreme difficulty.
'We're sorry… We're sorry…' Reygina was holding back tears, Hearolie tried his best to comfort her. Her wand was tossed aside to the far corner of the room, which Hearolie had noticed out of the corner of his eye. He slowly circled his way there, hoping the insane owner won't notice it.
'We are new here, we don't know there would be someone here. We meant no harm…' Hearolie trying to reason with the hostage taker.
'Lies… You took him…' He stammered and yelled out suddenly. Reygina was then released from his grip and was supported by Hearolie. She used her cloak's sleeves to dry her tears and took her wand from the ground. They both looked at the resident who was gripping his head with agony and immense pain. Sweat formed in his face and veins began bulging on his forehead, his hand firmly grabbing hold of the dagger. A strange black fog like substance began oozing from his body, it began to slither across the ground.
'You okay?' Hearolie inched forward slowly while trying to put his hand on the person who was kneeling in front of them. Reygina gripping his arm while standing behind him. The black smoke was slowly heading towards them.
'Corr… rah...' He suddenly sprang up from the ground and tried to land a hit on the two humans. Hearolie dodged while Reygina jabbed the owner with her wand. The resident got knocked back, and Hearolie kicked him. The homeowner fell to the ground, the dagger slipped from his hand and sailed to the corner of the room. Hearolie immediately ran ahead to immobilized their target.
He grabbed the homeowner's hands and held them behind his back. 'Reygina, think you can use your heal spell on him? Hurry, before he makes any more erratic or irrational behaviour!'
Reygina stepped forward was pointed her wand at him. 'Heal.' Blue particles were released from her wand and surrounded them. The unstable occupant calmed down, his movements became less wild and his breathing became more stable. Reygina used her spell on all of them repeatedly till she ran out of stamina and sat on the floor to rest. The black smoke stopped flowing from him and the surrounding black mist began to clear.
'I… I… What happened?' The occupant looked a the two strangers in front of him, their stern expressions frightened him a bit.
Hearolie broke the silence. 'You were acting senseless and talking things that don't make sense. We were attacked by you and then well we tried to use Heal spell to hopefully make you come back to your sense. You were oozing black smoke and being… mindless.' Reygina just shook her head unable to say anything after what she just witness.
'It was corruption… I was affected by it. I was mining in the mines yesterday to get some stone when one of the zombies bit me. I killed it and ran back here, and I have been hiding here ever since…' Reygina felt sorry for him, he probably wasn't even himself when he attacked and held her hostage. 'The mage spell must have acted as a temporary cure. Someone told me I need to drink one health potion around every eight hours, or else the corruption will take over me… like just now… It seemed that rumour was true and so I was preparing to buy more potions in Ragni, but it seemed my sense of time is poor...' The resident apologised incessantly, even though Reygina and Hearolie said it wasn't his fault.
'You were also saying about a dog?' Hearolie asked, recalling what the man said.
'Yes, he's a little white dog that looks like a small wolf. I actually didn't own him, just found him a few days ago destroying my crops. I basically fed him and gave him a place to stay and this morning he wasn't here… He probably ran off somewhere with the recruits a few days. The owner let out a sigh. 'If you find him, maybe keep him? My health condition is a hazard to anyone or any animal until I find a more permanent cure...'
The two teens nodded and handed their single healing potions they received from the caravan driver to him. 'Take these and keep it, and buy more stock next time. We have to really go now and meet the king. Please take care.' Reygina waved goodbye and the two of them exited the house.
They hurried to the path where they left Skywalker and Krisstal. The residents limped through the balcony, he murmured something even though they couldn't hear it clearly, they decided it's best to ignore it.
'Well, I hope he's fine, and… thanks for helping me.' Reygina stuttered, still trying to recover from the incident and try not to have the slightest imagination of what would have happened to her.
'It's alright; you don't have to say it. Glad to be of service.' Hearolie smirked, being proud of himself for his act.
'Hey you two, we're back. How did it go?' Krisstal asked, rushing to their side, water dripping from her body and clothes.
'It's...' Hearolie began, but quickly got cut off by Reygina.
'It's okay. Nothing special.' Reygina butted in, preventing Hearolie from speaking further.
'Oh, that's nice. Well, our little expedition is quite amazing.' Skywalker panted, who was also wet.
'Really? Tell us! And why are you two all wet?' Hearolie pointed at them, their clothes still dripping water.
'Well... 'Skywalker began. He started by telling them how they walked up the stairs that lacked a few handles.
'When we reached the windmill, there was a resident inside, he invited us in and asked how we are doing.' Skywalker said, pointing towards the windmill.
''He also told us about a person named Ragnar. He said 'I heard there is a man in Wynn called Ragnar, He's a true hero. Maybe if you train hard enough, you can be as powerful as he is.' Wonder if Ragnar is still in Wynn?'' Krisstal wondered, looking to the east where Wynn is.
'We then asked if we could go up the windmill, but he rejected, saying it's too dangerous. The guy even has an iron trapdoor to prevent us from sneaking up.' Skywalker said, looking at the windmill while clearly longing to go up there.
'We then walked a bit and saw a cave with leaves overgrown and covered some of the cave's entrance, we still managed to get into the cave and reached to the other side.' Krisstal continued by pointing at the cave from the distance, which is apparently behind the two small waterfalls they saw earlier.
''The house next to the cave has someone living in it as well. The owner said to us 'Welcome to my home! Don't worry about barging into people's homes; it's common to ask people for work in this province.' So we had a small chat and explored his house, he's cool with it. Not much though, the second floor is just a small floor full of books and the third floor is just a small storage area full of chests on one side and his bed on the other side.'' Skywalker said pointing at the house on the left of the waterfalls.
'The last house, which was to the right of the two waterfalls, requires the wooden bridge in the middle to get to.' Krisstal shifted her finger towards the small wooden bridge. 'So we used the bridge and reached the last building. We saw the owner on the balcony, and he greeted us. Inviting us to come up and talk to him.'
'So we entered the house, again nothing special at first. The first floor is his kitchen and on the other side of the room, a small cupboard with books and plants were placed. A desk is next to the cupboard and some logs are strapped by metal restrains opposite to the desk. The floor is covered with red and white carpet.' Skywalker recalled.
'We decided to explore the house before talking to him. The second floor has... Surprise surprise, more books! 'Krisstal said while making a mind blown gesture, making fun of the resident.
'They read... a lot.' Hearolie smugged while Reygina just nodded.
'The fourth floor is just his bedroom, with books on both sides, and a large throne-like stone chair that allows the person who sits on it to look outside.' Skywalker added.
'But the third floor is really astonishing. Isn't it?' Krisstal asked Skywalker an obvious question.
'Yes, of course!' Skywalker replied. 'It's an indoor garden, seems as if every kind of flower in the world is present there, each planted in its own flower pot. Overgrown vines and leaves are everywhere, making it hard to even walk around, let alone reach the balcony.'
Signing, Krisstal continued. ''But it's not that bad in the end, the owner praised us. He said 'Wow, you walked all the way up here? You are quite the explorers! There is always plenty to find around this province.'' We thanked him and then left, seeing this was the end of the road.'
'But since I was too lazy to walk down from where we came through, and Krisstal thought it's a good idea. We jumped down from that wooden bridge and swam our way back.' Skywalker explained as the two of them finished drying themselves up and were set to go.
They then walked ahead when another adventurer approached them. 'Be careful, there's a crazy villager who lives in this cave, he attacks anyone who goes near him.' He stuttered, clearly frightened of this crazy villager.
'Oh? Well, I better beat some sense into him!' Hearolie entered the cave. Skywalker tried to stop him but in vain. He knew that would happen, his friend is a stubborn one and seeks for a thrill all the time.
'Yo! Crazy villager! Where you at? Come out and let me beat you' Hearolie shouted, his taunt echoed throughout the small cave.
He looked around the small cave. It only has just a small stream of water, a tent made of cyan and grey wool is set at the end, a bed with a lot of books stacked inside. Candles light up the cave brightly.
'If this villager is crazy, why is he reading?' Hearolie thought as he strolled towards the tent.
Suddenly the crazy villager stepped out of the tent, surprising Hearolie. He jumped back, drawing his bow.
'Hmm... Herrr...' the village tries to knock Hearolie before he could make his move. But Hearolie sidestepped it.
'I have no idea what you are saying but that doesn't sound nice.' Hearolie exclaimed as he dodged another attack from the villager.
'Alright, cave dweller. I had enough of you.' He said and quickly fired a shot in the cave dweller's knee.
'Purt... Purt...Purt.' He said, holding his knee and shut his eyes tightly.
'Arrow in the knee!' Hearolie laughed at his own joke. The village was clearly in pain, he fell and tried to pull the arrow out but it was too deep inside.
'You won't die, but you won't be hurting or attacking anyone as well. Be happy that I spare you, unlike that resident.' Hearolie said, scratching the tip of another arrow against the villager's neck.
The village was as white as a sheet of paper, constantly nodding his head and kept quiet.
'Good, I'll be taking this as well. You probably stole it from someone.' Hearolie picked the leather boots and took it out with him. He was greeted by the adventurer and his friends.
'Did you…take care of him?' The adventurer asked, trying to peep inside the cave.
'No, I didn't, but I have made sure he won't be hurting anyone anymore.' He flashed a smile at him. 'Let's hurry up, we are late.' he said rushing ahead of them.
'Wait up! Where did you get those boots? I want them, my shoes are soaked badly, and they are so unbearable and unwearable now.' Krisstal complained, her shoes were taken off.
'You can have them, it probably belongs to someone the villager attacked and stole, I think.' Hearolie said, throwing the shoes at her. She cast a suspicious glance at him but decided now is not the best time to argue. She quickly changed and tossed the old ones inside the cave. A 'hmm' could be heard from within.
They continued forward until they were at the wooden bridge, the only thing that allows people to travel towards the Ragni kingdom and the Ragni outskirts. Only there isn't a wooden bridge now, the bridge is broken into two, its mid-section missing, jumping across is obviously impossible. They crouched near the ledge and saw what is below the bridge. The currents battered brutally against the sharp stone spikes and pillars, possibly formed due to erosion, the remaining pieces and chunks of the bridge could be seen scattered across the stone spikes and pillars, some smaller pieces that were floating were being carried away by the current or the heavier pieces sunk to the button, the water is deep at the south end, the seafloor hidden from their eyes.. The north end although looks calmer, is nothing to be underestimated as well. To beneath the waters, death and danger await any foolish people they could swallow. Under them, sudden slopes of the sea floor cause the water currents to accelerate, whirlpools formed, sucking anything near it. It's a miracle if anyone could survive if they fell off the bridge. Skywalker, having a fear of heights slowly backed away, his entire body trembled and he shut his eyes tightly.
Yet another adventure was beside them, looking down at what remains of the wreckage of the once strong and elegant bridge. 'The bridge was destroyed by some horrible creatures! Now there's no way to get across.' He said disappointedly.
'Monsters?' Hearolie gleamed with excitement. 'Where?'
'I don't know but all I know is that luckily when the bridge collapsed, no one was on it, so no casualties.' He let out a long sigh, a sign of relief.
'Oh no! Now how are we going to get across? The king awaits us.' Reygina said gloomily.
'Unless...' The adventurer thought, he pointed to a large tree to the left of them. The spruce tree was really tall, similar to how it is a giant while the people are just ants. 'That old tree to the north looks like it's going to fall over at over any second. Maybe you could give it a little push.'
'Alright then.' Skywalker rushed to the old tree and observed the trunk carefully.
'We need to think of a way to make the tree fall across... I think…' Reygina perceived. She realised the adventurer was right, the tree did seem to be large and long enough to act as a temporary bridge.
'Timber!' Skywalker shouted as he backed a bit, then without warning, he ran straight for the tree and just about meters away from it. He jumped and stretched his legs, his feet aiming for a weaker section of the old trunk and kicked it hard. The tree wobbled as he landed butt first on the dirt.
'That wouldn't...' Reygina said as the others helped Skywalker on his feet. The tree wobbled again and started to fall. With a loud 'thud', the massive tree laid across the chasm, providing them with the need and way to get across.
'Never mind.' Reygina said, she quickly hopped onto the trunk and balancing herself across. Hearolie just ran across, violently shaking the tree. Reygina shouted at him for his attempt to murder her.
'I... I don't know about this... I... I.' Skywalker said. He was not very fond of crossing the bridge like that. He took one look down at the ravine below and shivered, frozen on the spot.
Krisstal took note of it and she reached her hand out towards his. 'It's okay, hold my hand, close your eyes.' She said softly, reaching out towards the frightened boy.
'O... Okay.' He closed his eyes, holding on to her hand tightly. He can feel her pulling him, not like forcing him to go, but more like guiding him across. Even though he couldn't see it, he could feel it. He blushed a bit and had a silly smile on his face, thankfully Krisstal didn't notice.
'There we go. Good job.' Krisstal said and let go of him. He opened his eyes and released he was across. 'Thank… Thank you for your help.' He said, but it came out more like a whisper.
'It's okay, glad to help! Come, let's join the others.' Krisstal hurried across to where Hearolie and Reygina were with Skywalker right behind her.
However, when they approached the gate, they were halted by Honynn, the first Ragni soldier they ever encountered.
'Halt! This cave is full of monsters! I won't let you through unless you have a helmet.' He put his hand out to stop Skywalker from entering the mines further.
'You can buy one from the merchant over there.' He pointed to where a stall and where a person was standing behind them.
'Why do we need a helmet, apart from the protection we need from the monsters inside.' Skywalker asked, being curious at everything. 'We are not riding a bike inside right?'
'Very funny!' Honynn growled, not laughing at his joke. 'No, it's because the mine is a bit unstable, some rocks might fall any time without warning, we have a few cases where people got hit in the head, injured and died due to it. It's a policy now to wear at least a leather helmet if you wish to enter the mines.' Pointing at a sign on the gate, it read 'Keep out' with red paint, and 'unstable' in grey underneath the red words. Making it very clear for anyone that saw the sign.
Seeing no other way around or getting past him, they walked back and greeted the adventurer, his black beard and red headband swayed lightly with the wind.
'Man, I want to buy a helmet but I don't have any emeralds! I'll have to go and kill some animals to get some.' He turned to try bargain with the merchant.
The armour merchant is similar to the cave dweller; only he looks much more civilized. His thick eyebrows are so thick and long that they appeared to be merged, like a thick black line as across the merchant's eyes, as if someone drew on his face with ink. He wore a black apron, with black gloves. His brown undershirt and pants were strikingly well cleaned, almost spotless, as if he took hours every day just to prepare his outfit, just to show his professionalism in trade.
'Alright, let's see.' Reygina asked the merchant, eager to show off her bargaining skills. 'How much for a helmet? Sir?'
'Hmm.' The merchant responded. There was a sudden silence after that.
'What is that supposed to mean?' Reygina groaned, realising no bargaining can be done without common language. She saw Skywalker facepalm in the distance. Krisstal just snorted at that situation, finding it hilarious.
'Well isn't this 'Déjà vu!' Hearolie commented, remembering his encounter with the cave dweller.
'Hmm...' the merchant picked up a sign from the floor of his brown wool stall. Reygina looked and read the sign.
'Five emeralds for a plain leather cap.' She shouted, allowing everyone to hear the price.
'Well obviously we don't have enough money, and since everyone needs a helmet, we have to kill a few animals.' Hearolie's eyes targeted a nearby grook.
'No...' Reygina screamed. 'I can't and won't do it. I'm an animal lover.' She ran away to the left, unable to witness her friends doing such a cruel thing.
'Okay then. Have fun being out here.' Hearolie said, shooting a groom square in the eye. 'Buck!' 'That's for disturbing my sleep, revenge is served.' He smiled and picked up an emerald that the dead animal left behind. The others began killing a few animals 'Oink' 'Buck' 'Moo'. Soon they collected enough emeralds.
'Well, we're done; you can come out now, Rey.' Hearolie shouted, picking up the last emerald he got.
'Woof! Woof!' a dog came running down from where Reygina went. It barked and wagged its tail, as if happy to be in the centre of attention.
'Oh nice, more emeralds.' Hearolie said, walking towards it and about to shoot the four-legged animal. The dog unaware that his life was in danger still ran around as if obvious to what would happen to him…
(To be continued)