Chapter 3
Raine
As a ranger Raine had always wandered from place to place. When he was young he had wandered with his parents and now as a young man he wandered alone. That's how he liked it though, just himself with only the serene peacefulness of Mother Nature. Raine sighed and took a deep breath, then watched his breath steam out before trudging on through the drizzle for which he'd been named.
The ground was becoming increasingly muddy and Raine was seriously thinking about taking his shoes off. Several times he had tried to forage through ankle deep mud and had almost lost a shoe. Raine was just thankful the rain had let up some. Perhaps he'd find a small town where he could stop and dry off a little seeing as he was now completely soaked through and cold. His cloak, though thick and warm and woolen, was not enough when the wind had tossed the rain about like a toy.
Shivering, the man stumbled about in the muck and mud feeling cold, wet, and miserable. It was a godsend when he suddenly saw a light ahead. As quick as one can through mud and muck Raine made his way toward the light. He saw that that light, now flickering, was a small lamp to mark a town. Going to the gate he knocked on the door.
The guardsmen opened the door, but barred it with his body looking Raine up and down. "What do you want?" he grunted.
"All I want is a place to stay for the night," Raine answered pulling his cloak closer around his body trying desperately to gain whatever warmth that might be found. The guardsman grunted but stood away from the door to let Raine pass. "Would you know of an inn where I might find a room?" he asked the guardsman.
The man grunted yet again and pointed off down the street. "It's called the Tree Brooke Inn."
"Thank you," Raine replied wearily. He followed in the direction the man pointed and sure enough he came upon the Tree Brooke Inn. It had been a nicely built building at one point in its history. Now it was abandoned and falling apart, the sign falling off its hinges. Carefully Raine stepped up to the building. It wasn't his first choice to stay here, but there was no way he was going to wander around the town in the rain looking for a real inn. This would have to do.
Raine opened the door gingerly, half expecting the door to fall off its hinges. Then carefully he stepped over the threshold and into the room. It was a fairly large space with a few over turned tables and chairs. But Raine ignored all this and went straight to the fire place. Seeing no wood to burn he turned and used the nearest thing to him; a chair. Then he set about making a fire.
When the fire was lit and the chair blazed nicely and his was cloak hanging up on a near by over turned table, Raine curled up near the fire and slept peacefully. When morning light dance through the window, Raine awoke and gathered his things and left the town.
Raine wandered aimlessly and without any destination in mind, but felt himself moving steadily northward. That was odd though, because whenever he wandered it was never steadily in one direction. Perhaps there was more going on than he could see.