Chapter 7- Abandoned Followers
She lead quietly, smashing through the undergrowth hardly making a sound. Meanwhile, they all crushed through behind, making sounds and tracks that could be followed by anyone. She looked back at them, irked, but said nothing and kept going. They didn't care, and kept going, looking for some sign of something that marked civilization, and hopefully a way to get back to their village, except for Karza, who still wanted to go adventuring, secretly.
Late afternoon passed slowly, to the newcomers to the land, yet to the new companion, if flew by, as if they had just been traveling through the woods for a couple hours. She looked up at the sun, through the leaves, just barely finding it. "Judging it's position in the sky, and mentally calculating the distance from it's highpoint and the plain's edge, perhaps we have another three and a half hours before it sets beneath the skyline. We should be able to make it. Now, should I dare risk revealing myself and letting them know I know their language, instead of using a highly new form of speech? Maybe…"
"Hey, my town should be only two hours ahead. Can you guys keep going?" she asked in a very light voice, yet making sure everyone could hear.
"The girls look exhausted…" Narste replied, not so surprised that she could actually speak their tongue. "…yet I could go for another hour, at this pace. The wet from the recent rain doesn't help either though. I'm not sure about Rva and Karza though. You can go another hour, can't you Rva, Karza?"
"I'm sure I could go another hour and a half, and not even be as tired as Karza." Rva said, as he wiped some sweat off of his forehead.
"I'm almost beat, but I think I can go for another hour." Karza panted, while leaning over gasping for breath. "If it just weren't for this heavy armor, I'd be fine"
"Here, go take it off over there," Rva pointed over into some trees. "I'll take one of your packs, and you can change into your comfortable clothes from home, and stuff all your armor into itself or something."
Karza didn't care to retort, being so exhausted from traveling, and just wanting to get the hot breastplate off at the least. So, untying the strangely placed straps, he began to release his torso from the warm wet metal. "So much better" he whispered silently to himself, as he pulled his dry tunic over where his upper plate body had been. Karza, determined that it would be too much of a pain to take off the rest of it, along with carrying it along with him, so he decided to leave it on. Describing the feeling of having air through some of his body, he would have only been able to say, "heavenly" at the time.
"Lets get going. We don't have much time to waste." The girl said.
Ryintha and Kirthe were tired and beginning to get sore, but they were eager to reach the town where there were possibly beds and a bath, or possibly even a hot spring. They had both slept on the ground outside before, and didn't like it. Too hard. They much preferred their raised soft cots they had gotten used to sleeping on at home in their parent's huts.
They set off once again, sweating as they went plowing a new path through the forest. It seemed as if it was getting even denser, and they weren't startling as many animals as they went. "We're getting closer. Hold out, just for another fifteen minutes." She said again as she looked back, seeing that some encouragement was needed.
She thought more about them as she led the way through the deep forest. "They don't seem like heroes to me. More like normal kids, just older than me. Although, I suppose the Archsage did say that they always ended up much much stronger after training. They must be stronger than they look then." Her thoughts didn't get to keep on that trail, as they broke out of the deep forest wall into the sandstone flat rock, the entrance to her village.
They all popped out right after her, almost put into shock from the harsh difference between the forest and the sandstone rock cliff that towered above them, reflecting sun across the side of it, almost reflecting it perfectly, so as if when you faced the wall to the right, the sun's rays would double upon your eyes.
She gave them a rest, letting their clothes dry some while they stood and sat around resting some and catching their breaths. Yet, to them it was all a quick rest, even though it lasted at least fifteen minutes. Again they set off, this time through a massive crevice in the cliff, that was hardly identifiable to them until they saw their undecided leader pass through it.
"Follow right behind me. Its not far now, and we need to get there by sundown, if you want to make it!" came a high echo from the crevice crack in the cliff. They plodded over to the crevice.
"I'm gonna die at this rate. It seems hard to believe that just half a day ago, we were just setting out from the charred rock," Kirthe commented. "I wonder how long it'll take us to get back…." She sighed, beginning to really miss home.
The rest didn't care, too tired now to speak, even after resting. They squeezed themselves through the crack, coming into a larger sized crevice, where they had room to walk two across, and not having to worry about scraping their new clothes on the sides of the smooth sandstone sides. They appreciated this, as they had had to walk behind one another in the forest, always waiting for the next person to take another step before they could move forward. In a way, they almost considered it a luxury, as they picked up their speed, trying to catch up to "the girl" as they had been calling her, since she wouldn't give a name to go by. It being so much easier, and the darkness of the crevice cooled them down, they began to jog, letting the sweat evaporate from their foreheads and clothes, leaving behind the sticky residue that made their clothes still stick to them, until they peeled it off of their skin.
The canyon like passage they walked along through got tighter, until they eventually had to stop jogging, and fall back in a single file line, with Narste in front, leading, as always, and then Rva and Ryintha, and last of all the other two twins. Karza stood out the most though, because of his missing platebody, and in place of it, his homespun shirt. Suddenly, the passage took a sharp turn to the right, and in another twenty steps, a sharp left turn, where they became exposed to the gentle, soft gusts of wind the prairie. Not all was prairie land and grass though. Much of it appeared to be massive gardens. The five took a few more steps out and cleared the shear cliff face, where they could see all the massive farms in front of them, and to both sides. Besides where they farms stood, was a town, much like their own, or at least from what they could tell. The shine from the red gold sun threw rays down into their eyes blinding them. With renewed energy, as the sun set, the five set off once again, toward the reddening skyline, toward the town, straight in front of them.
Only minutes later, they lifted their heads, looking again for the town, now that the sun was down. It was nowhere to be seen. Again, they looked, turning back and forth, looking every which direction. Rva saw it first, not hesitating to turn around to look for the missing town, although, it wasn't there. Only a shimmering outline of a tower could be seen, almost fading more and more as he trained his eyes upon it.
"Hey, look everyone. Back there!"
Without hesitating, the rest looked back, where they saw the wooden tower melt into nothing but air.
"Must be something what she meant when she said that we could be able to make it by sundown." Ryintha murmured, disappointed at their luck. " I wonder what happened to it."
The party headed back toward where they came, looking for the crevice. The couldn't find it, but knew they must make camp before the air was devoid of all light. They didn't remember pulling off their outer layers of sweat soaked clothes, and spreading themselves on the tall grass and drifting to sleep.
