Chapter 4: The journey to Dalduin
Once the four of us had recovered from the battle and our wounds were healing nicely, we continued on towards our destination. The temperature had risen a few degrees and it was sweltering hot as we rode through the forest, thankful for the shade of the trees. It was around noon now judging by the position of the sun, at the highest point in the sky and shining down on us making our journey kind of difficult. No one likes to be riding in blazing heat do they? Luckily there is a canopy of trees above our heads sheltering most of the sun's rays but it was still really hot.
"It will be three days before we arrive in Oxenstoke" Arazeize dismounted and rested himself against a nearby tree. I dismounted and collapsed next to him, I was exhausted already! "We will rest for a while and then I aim for us to have at least reached Dalduin before midnight tonight. There are many caves on the far side of Dalduin that we can rest in if we get that far."
"We will, if we don't have to stop to rest too much" Legosis said as he mounted his horse again.
A few minutes later we were on the road again.
It was around six o'clock, by my reckoning, when we reached Dalduin. The place was rather empty and lacking character. Most of the road we were to take was narrow and rocky and the horses weren't keen on it, neither was I.
There were a few small villages but no one seemed to want to greet us. When we arrived they fled the streets and ran into the nearest building, closing all the shutters on the windows. The buildings themselves did not look very inviting. They were dingy and they were all grey except one which was more a green colour due to the amount of moss growing on the outside. The village was dark and not much light seemed to reach it.
We rode quickly through the first village. When we came across the other village things were different. The buildings were wooden with thatched roofs and the people in the street just carried on with their daily life and didn't seem to notice us. Those that did catch a glimpse of us smiled before tottering off with their newly bought goods or in to the local inn for a pint.
This village was bright and everyone was happy. It was the complete opposite of the village we had passed through earlier that day.
Once we had finally passed through Dalduin and were on the far outskirts it was nearly midnight and we looked for a nice cave like Arazeize had said.
"Arazeize why are the people of Dalduin so different? I mean the first village was the opposite of the second village. Why was that?" I asked when we had settled down and built a fire to keep us warm. The temperature had dropped dramatically when the sun had set and the moon was shining.
"I'm actually surprised with the village of forestside, the first village. I would have thought they'd have put passed terrors behind them."
"Passed terrors?" Not my favourite word, terror! "Yes, nearly a hundred years ago things were different for the people of forestside. With the village being so close to the edge of the forest we came through they used to get a lot of trouble with robbers, attackers and foreigners coming out of the forest. The reason they flee from passers by is because they have not forgotten the passed events even though they have not been attacked for around a hundred years." "And the second village?" No more terror please no more terror. "Well they never had as much trouble, being further away from the forest and closer to Troll Mountain, attackers either went a different way trying to avoid Troll Mountain of when they arrived they were too tired to fight the occupants and decided it was better to leave Dalduin from an easterly direction. The people of this village remain happy and undisturbed."
"So this Troll Mountain..." Arrghh! TROLLS I'M GONNA DIE FOR SURE!! "Don't worry there hasn't been a troll in there for nearly a thousand years; people were just scared of the name. The people of the nearby village had a small old farm house on the edge of the village which was falling apart and there was a rumour about the house being regularly attacked by the troll. The people of the village encouraged the rumour knowing it would keep unwanted visitors out and also they would throw a few rocks on to the house just to make fresh damage if anyone came to check if it was true."
I felt relieved to know that I didn't have to pass or fight trolls, well not yet at least. I do not know if I'll ever meet one but if I had a choice I know what I'd choose. I felt my eyes get heavy and I fell asleep.
Once the four of us had recovered from the battle and our wounds were healing nicely, we continued on towards our destination. The temperature had risen a few degrees and it was sweltering hot as we rode through the forest, thankful for the shade of the trees. It was around noon now judging by the position of the sun, at the highest point in the sky and shining down on us making our journey kind of difficult. No one likes to be riding in blazing heat do they? Luckily there is a canopy of trees above our heads sheltering most of the sun's rays but it was still really hot.
"It will be three days before we arrive in Oxenstoke" Arazeize dismounted and rested himself against a nearby tree. I dismounted and collapsed next to him, I was exhausted already! "We will rest for a while and then I aim for us to have at least reached Dalduin before midnight tonight. There are many caves on the far side of Dalduin that we can rest in if we get that far."
"We will, if we don't have to stop to rest too much" Legosis said as he mounted his horse again.
A few minutes later we were on the road again.
It was around six o'clock, by my reckoning, when we reached Dalduin. The place was rather empty and lacking character. Most of the road we were to take was narrow and rocky and the horses weren't keen on it, neither was I.
There were a few small villages but no one seemed to want to greet us. When we arrived they fled the streets and ran into the nearest building, closing all the shutters on the windows. The buildings themselves did not look very inviting. They were dingy and they were all grey except one which was more a green colour due to the amount of moss growing on the outside. The village was dark and not much light seemed to reach it.
We rode quickly through the first village. When we came across the other village things were different. The buildings were wooden with thatched roofs and the people in the street just carried on with their daily life and didn't seem to notice us. Those that did catch a glimpse of us smiled before tottering off with their newly bought goods or in to the local inn for a pint.
This village was bright and everyone was happy. It was the complete opposite of the village we had passed through earlier that day.
Once we had finally passed through Dalduin and were on the far outskirts it was nearly midnight and we looked for a nice cave like Arazeize had said.
"Arazeize why are the people of Dalduin so different? I mean the first village was the opposite of the second village. Why was that?" I asked when we had settled down and built a fire to keep us warm. The temperature had dropped dramatically when the sun had set and the moon was shining.
"I'm actually surprised with the village of forestside, the first village. I would have thought they'd have put passed terrors behind them."
"Passed terrors?" Not my favourite word, terror! "Yes, nearly a hundred years ago things were different for the people of forestside. With the village being so close to the edge of the forest we came through they used to get a lot of trouble with robbers, attackers and foreigners coming out of the forest. The reason they flee from passers by is because they have not forgotten the passed events even though they have not been attacked for around a hundred years." "And the second village?" No more terror please no more terror. "Well they never had as much trouble, being further away from the forest and closer to Troll Mountain, attackers either went a different way trying to avoid Troll Mountain of when they arrived they were too tired to fight the occupants and decided it was better to leave Dalduin from an easterly direction. The people of this village remain happy and undisturbed."
"So this Troll Mountain..." Arrghh! TROLLS I'M GONNA DIE FOR SURE!! "Don't worry there hasn't been a troll in there for nearly a thousand years; people were just scared of the name. The people of the nearby village had a small old farm house on the edge of the village which was falling apart and there was a rumour about the house being regularly attacked by the troll. The people of the village encouraged the rumour knowing it would keep unwanted visitors out and also they would throw a few rocks on to the house just to make fresh damage if anyone came to check if it was true."
I felt relieved to know that I didn't have to pass or fight trolls, well not yet at least. I do not know if I'll ever meet one but if I had a choice I know what I'd choose. I felt my eyes get heavy and I fell asleep.