Alva breathed out again as he lay on his stomach in the shrubs. He groaned quietly, as did his stomach. He tried to clutch it, but then he remember he was still wearing his light armour.
Dammit, Alva! He thought, This is exactly what happens when you pig out the day before! Peering back through the bushes, he saw his trap and bait, waiting quietly for some unsuspecting creature to waddle along, and fulfil its role in the food chain. Alva had been waiting the whole day for something, anything to come along. It was almost noon, when Lady Luck turned to his favour.
"Oh! Oh, yes!" Alva whispered while donning a face-wide grin. A rather fat duck waddled noisily in the puddles, and approached the last scrapping of bread Alva had spared from his gluttonous rampage. The best thing? One of it's wings were hurt. Easy kill.
It pecked the still fresh bread.
"That's it..." Alva whispered, grin getting wider.
The duck pecked some more.
"Keep going..."
SNAP! The trap worked! The catch came undone and the crude cage flipped forward!
...And the duck quaked loudly, and quickly waddling away with the remains of the bread. Alva growled to himself.
"You cheeky, little prick." He drew his dagger from his hip. "Right, sod this." With the last little bit of strength he had, Alva launched himself forward, tackling the poor duck over. With a quick motion, Alva sliced the struggling duck across its throat, blood spewing onto the grass, but victory in Alva's mind. He could hardly speak. Finally, after hours of waiting, he finally had food in his hand.
Without hesitation, he sliced open the ducks belly, took the liver out, and gulped it down raw, gagging slightly on its bitter taste and slimy texture, but it worked. Now able to think and work properly, he hauled his catch back to his camp site, and got to work immediately. First, he cut off the feet and head of the duck, then took little care taking out its guts. He was too hungry, too tired to care.
He then began the long and tedious task of removing the feathers from its body. While this took a while, it was worth the work. He had a perfect, plump and tasty looking duck, even if it was currently raw.
Washing it off in the nearby stream, Alva then started a fire, and watched with a watery mouth as the duck span slowly over the camp-fire. While the duck was spitting, Alva made use of the other parts. Storing away some of the feathers for when he gets to a nearby town, and stuffed his sleeping pillow with some, Alva got the stomach and took strips of it, drying them in the afternoon sun, he found some berries in a nearby area, thinking that he probably wasn't going to eat the whole duck tonight, he will make duck and berry cakes for later.
By the time the sun had set, the duck was almost ready. Alva waited with anticipation as the duck was nearing its final turn. Finally, after nearly half a day of waiting, Alva could wait no longer.
He wrenched the duck from the spit, and devoured it, without thanking its spirit, or the gods, for the a gift such as this.
He could almost hear Serrate tutting in the distance.
Still, he was too hungry to care. Every bite, every chew was a plethora of flavours. Within minutes of none stop eating, he had decided that enough was enough, and lay down on his back, sighing with delight. The now full Alva still had difficulty getting up and doing some preparations for the days to come. With the dried up stomach strips from earlier and the berries, he rolled the meat and berries together in his palms, and wrapped them in the stomach strips, one by one, until he had quite a nice amount of cakes lined up, which he then put into his food sack.
Finally with some food down him, Alva brought out his map of the known lands, and began to trace his journey. The closest land was Mirrah, a land of Knights, as it was known. Alva doubted he would find the cure there, but it was a start. Next to Mirrah, was the land of Heide. Like Mirrah, it delved into the realm of iron and steel. He also doubted he would find the cure there, but it was beyond Heide that his luck would be far better.
It was the lands after Heide that caught Alva's attention. Jugo was a desert land, recently made, actually. They were bound to have some insight on the sickness. If not, surely Melfia, the land of sorcerers and witches?
In any case, Alva was sure to find something, anything, on this curse.
Whatever he was going to do, he was surely not going to begin right now, since he had dipped his head, and was sound asleep.
"I should have gone the lower route..." Alva murmured to himself as he craned his already aching neck at the cliff face, right next to an angry looking waterfall. He had woken up in a bad mood, and his mood worsened as the morning went. The sky was overcast too. Just what Alva needed.
Clambering up the cliff face while getting pounded by the spray from the water fall, he managed to climb about half way, before shaking his head, and climbing back down, cursing repeatedly as he did so, and sulked childishly as he continued on the winding path. He had set in stone that the first thing he was buying when he got to Mirrah was a climbing set, or something. Anything to shorten time and walking.
Trying to take his mind of the boring walk, he thought of the day before, when he had met that beautiful, if rather rude woman. He hardly knew anything about Zullie, just her name and appearance. Yet, Alva felt something, a sense of familiarity.
He felt drawn, even.
His thoughts scattered when he heard a dog bark. Not a wolf. A dog, and dogs mean people. Deciding against seeing who it was, Alva took careful steps forward, being sure not to step on a twig or a loose rock. Hiding behind a tree, he peered around the tree, and held his breath.
A hunting party. A couple of men and women, and about three, no, four dogs. Alva wasn't sure if they were friend or foe, and he wasn't ready to find out. He took a glove of, licked his finger, and held it up. It blew away from the hunting party, good. No scent, less trouble to deal with.
Sneaking past the party, he walked away without a hitch, though from hear on out, he would have to be more careful. No doubt one of those parties wouldn't be out mere fauna.
Another cliff face, though this one was nowhere near as steep as the last. Alva smiled, realizing that he could climb this with ease.
His smile faded when he slipped on the first rock. Sighing, and turning red, despite no-one being around, he tried again, with greater success, and hauled himself onto the cliff edge.
Only then did he realise how much he missed home. The forest looked so small now. The mountain where he lived was no longer in sight, buried by clouds.
But peering forward, his hopes returned to him. Mirrah was in sight.
Mirrah, was in itself, fairly unimpressive. It was bright and colourful, with plenty of happiness going round ad such. It, to Alva, just wasn't giving him any impressions that made him go 'wow'.
First things first, he went to a local hunting store.
"Ah greetings sir! How can I assis-"
"How much for these?" Alva interrupted to man. After giving him a sharp glare, which Alva cared little for, the merchant opened the bag, and tossed Alva two silver.
"Any thing else, sir?" The owner sneered. Alva had his attention on something else.
"How much are those?" he asked while nodded his head towards a rope and other climbing equipment. The shop keeper smiled, sarcastically, and took the two silver off the desk. Alva left, mood worsening as the day went. Thinking about leaving already, he made his way to the castle.
It might be because of where he lives, but Alva found the castle dark and cold. It was clean, at least. The royal emblem of Mirrah hung on the curtains and banners around the castle. The wind blew through the holes in the walls, a poor excuse for 'windows.' Alva made his way to the throne room, someone of great importance must be there.
"Halt, Knight." The door guard commanded. Alva did. Sort of.
"I need to speak to your Lord." Alva groaned, while looking at the masked knights in front of him. Only Mirrah would adopt such queer customs. And designs.
"I am afraid our Lord is out at the minute. Perhaps later you may seek an audience." The other told him.
"I will find him. Where is he?" Alva said impatiently.
"We do not have the answers to your question."
"Or you won't give them to me."
"Whichever, you won't find him." The knight with the halberd snapped, patience running out. Alva gave one last groan, and realized he would have to wait. The very thought made him angry. He'd been waiting for that duck for nearly a whole day yesterday, he just wanted to be rid of Mirrah, and move on.
Leaving the gods-forsaken castle behind for now, Alva made his way back to town, fuming. He had no idea what he was going to do, where he was going to be, and how sort out his still hurting knee when he slipped from earlier on that stupid cliff.
He shuddered. Why did I do that?
A woman screamed in the distance, followed by another, and another, until the whole town was in chaos.
Then the thunderous sound of hooves, growing steadily louder, and louder.