It wasn't a long walk to the edge of the forest. It was just a few hours from the little meadow that they stayed at the night before. Thankfully, the remainder of the journey through the forest was quite uneventful-nothing in particular jumping out and trying to kill them. Tweek was very quiet, but not out of anger like he had been before. Instead, there seemed to be a level of melancholy, of apprehension.
"Are you scared?" Craig asked out of the blue.
"I'm not sure if I'd say scared," Tweek frowned, blush spreading on his cheeks. The way he got flushed so easily was far more noticeable without the lines of paint across his face. It was still weird to see him without all that paint all over him.
Was it shallow of Craig to think he looked so much better without the body paint? Was it disrespectful of his culture? Craig thought it was weird of him to ponder this, but he wasn't sure what aspect of it was weirder-that he liked how he looked more, or that he seemed to care about his cultural feelings?
He didn't want to keep thinking about this.
"Well, it's your first time leaving this place, isn't it?" Craig said to him in a soft, kind tone that surprised himself.
"It is."
"Then it's normal to be worried," Craig shrugged, "I don't like to admit it to myself, but I think if I'm being honest with myself, I was worried leaving Kupa for the first time."
Why was he being so nice to him? Why would he say something like that? But on the other hand, why was it such an odd feeling for him to be nice to someone? Normal people are nice and don't get all worked up about it. Yet even with Clyde, although he knew that Clyde knew that he cared, he usually found himself insulting him more than anything. They weren't true insults, they were a sign of friendship...even if he also insulted people he hated in similar ways. It was just...different.
"Are you alright?" Tweek asked, genuine concern in his voice. Craig realized he was scowling to himself. He instantly felt embarrassment rise up to his cheeks.
"Of course."
Maybe it was better to walk in silence after all. It's not like they were friends or anything. It's not like they could become friends. Afterall, Tweek may not know it yet, but they were destined to be enemies before all was said and done. They would work together as their goals currently overlap, but eventually Craig would do what he has to to.
Tweek stopped suddenly, immediately interrupting Craig's thoughts.
"What's going on?" Craig asked.
"We're near the edge of the forest," Tweek said, his expression unreadable.
"Good."
"I've never gone further than this point," he added with a swallow.
"Well, now you will," Craig shrugged, continuing to walk. It wasn't out of carelessness to Tweek, but rather he felt that such nonchalantness would snap him out of it and make him continue. It seemed to work, Tweek merely nodding and catching up to him mere moments later.
"Maybe I should have worn a shirt," Tweek said under his breath.
Craig scowled, "I told you that earlier! It's too late now."
"I know," he frowned ashamedly, "I'm sorry."
"Whatever," he sighed, still annoyed.
At the end of the path, they could see light seeping through the trees. After so many days in this thick forest, Craig almost forgot how much sunlight was perpetually blocked out by the flora here. Not that he was the type who longed for sunny days in winter, (if anything, the shadows always helped him work,) but he was grateful to leave this place. Thankfully it was still early summer, meaning passing the mountain range would be quite easy, given that they weren't covered in blizzards.
"I'm not sure if they told you," Tweek piped in suddenly as if reading his thoughts, "But...they say time happens differently in this forest works a little differently from the rest of Zaron due to the...strange magical properties. So the number of days you think have passed might not match up to the outside world."
"Excuse me?!" Craig stopped in his tracks, "You mean to tell me when we exit this place we might find out that a hundred years passed or something?"
"Oh no, nothing that extreme," Tweek insisted, "Though it is pretty unpredictable. Sometimes people spend weeks here only to find out that a few days have passed...sometimes the reverse. I think not enough outsiders traverse it and those who do often think they're going crazy, so it doesn't surprise me that people haven't formally realized it. We Barbarians certainly don't mention it to outsiders."
"Great," Craig rolled his eyes. He found it unlikely that Wendy or the Grand Wizard didn't know, they probably intentionally left that tidbit out to prevent him from flaking out on them. Not that he would have, of course. He hadn't tried contacting anyone since he first entered the forest, before because he wanted to remain silent and stealthy as possible, and later because he didn't know what to do about...the whole Tweek situation, so there really was no telling.
"Also…" Tweek hesitated, "Neunbruck has a 'kill on sight' policy with Barbarians."
Craig stopped in his tracks again, gripping his temple with frustration. "Why didn't you say so before?" he scolded.
"Hey, it's no different from Kupa's policy...or our policy towards people from Kupa," Tweek pointed out defensively.
"I guess," Craig allowed with a huff. They walked in silence towards the bright light at the end of the path. After thinking it over he added, "Well, I guess you gotta just stick by me and pretend you're from Kupa. Maybe don't talk so much."
"Right," Tweek agreed, "And we're almost there now."
They walked in awkward silence for the remaining minutes on the path. When they finally approached the end, Craig felt a gust of cool breeze. Too cold.
As he knew to expect, the border between the forest and the official lands of Neunbruck Kingdom had guards. They didn't wear the iron cast armor of the knights of Kupa, however, but instead were adorned in heavy fur uniforms that he knew were typical of the small mountain kingdom. Unlike Tweek for the Barbarians the large, burly guards were exactly as he imagined.
As the breeze had made him suspect, it was really chilly. Not full on winter freezing or anything, but it was immediately clear to Craig that all of summer had passed and possibly a large part of autumn. He sighed annoyedly.
Almost immediately, the Neunbruck guard asked him an accusatory question in his native language, his thick eyebrow raised in skepticism. Or at least that's what he presumed, he didn't know their language at all. Since they were allied kingdoms, it wasn't a priority for him to study any of it, unlike the Elven language.
"Um…" he tried to recall what he was told to say when he reached this land, "I'm from Kupa. Do you understand me?"
"Kupa?" he asked in his thick, gruff accent.
"Yes, on behalf of the Grand Wizard." He quickly reached into his pockets for his official letter and handed it over, though he was unsure that the man could understand. Thankfully, he also had another paper written specifically for Neunbruck in their language.
"Are you Feldspar?" he asked, examining the letter carefully. The overall mission report, not just the one for Neunbruck specifically. That was good, if he could read it it meant they could communicate easily.
"Yeah," he answered. He then figured perhaps he should try to speak more formally for once. He would risk his own life speaking back rudely to Kupa authority plenty of times, but he had less reason to hate these folks. Not to mention, there was more than just his own neck on the line. "We were hoping that, due to our kingdoms' mutual alliance, we could stay here for a few days?"
"We?" he asked, "Who is he? This letter here only mentions you."
"He wasn't originally going to come with me, but it was decided last minute. We didn't have time to change the official documents, but due to our open border policy between our kingdoms, we were confident it wouldn't be an issue," he said without missing a beat. All Craig's years of lying and trickery needed to pay off for something, didn't they?
"Why are you dressed like that? Where's your shirt?" he asked Tweek, narrowing his eyes and leaning in closer to him. Tweek trembled, but thankfully heeded Craig's earlier advice in keeping his mouth shut.
"You guard this forest, you know how it is sometimes," Craig shrugged nonchalantly.
"Alright," he straightened back up with a very loud and hearty laugh that threw both of them off. "Our capital is down the road at the base of the mountain, a few hours by foot. You are welcome to stay as long as you want. We know it must not have been easy going through that forest."
"Thank you sir," Craig bowed slightly, an action he absolutely hated doing. He quickly grabbed Tweek by the arm to pull him along as they continued down the path.
The fresh, cool air did feel nice. Even if it was chilly, the sun was still out and bright, providing some warmth. The trees were all evergreen, making it hard to figure out how late in autumn it was. Maybe he should have asked. Oh well, he could do that once they made it to the capital.
Neunbruck was far smaller than Kupa, just making up the land between the forest and the steep mountain range. The capital was really only said to be a large village, any other settlements being small farm communities. Mostly livestock for fur and meat, though they also grew crops as well. Plus they were known for being skilled hunters of non livestock prey. He wasn't sure if they were of a serf system like in Kupa-it was conveniently never brought up whenever there was discussions about the allied kingdom. At this point in his journey, he wouldn't be surprised either way.
Although the guard said at the base of the "mountain" there were hundreds of mountains within the mountain range. If the forest wasn't enough of a barrier, the mountains acted as a strict natural one between human and non human majority lands. They would be difficult for them to traverse.
"They're beautiful," Tweek marveled.
"I guess they are," Craig looked up at them. Mountains were just as much a new thing to Craig as they were to Tweek, coming from the flat plains of Kupa. They were impressive, with just how high into the sky they seemed to reach, how unnaturally jagged they seemed-as though a giant had run its fingernails down the sides of them. He also figured they were a lot less dangerous to admire than anything in the forest. He was in safe territory now. Still, he found himself frowning and added, "I'm more concerned over how they're already covered in so much snow."
"Well, they're so tall...Aren't they always?" Tweek asked.
"I mean sure, some," he answered, "But don't you feel how cold it is? It's just going to get worse. If it gets too cold, it won't be safe for us to go until springtime." He didn't even want to think about how neither of them had ever likely climbed a mountain before, making them both inexperienced.
"It's a shame dwarves don't let anyone else into their territory anymore," Tweek sighed.
Craig had to agree. Dwarves lived within the mountains themselves, with an extensive tunnel system said to connect every single mountain together. If they could just cut through the mountains, they would have a lot easier time. Weather wouldn't even be an issue. Still, although dwarves still had decent diplomatic relations with non-dwarven kingdom they feared the tension between the humans and elves. For that reason, they no longer allowed either species enter their territory and allow passage through the mountains. It did make sense to Craig-they didn't want their home to be caught up in someone else's issue and for their land to be used as a war path. They wanted to remain neutral-which was their right, he supposed.
"Yeah, but that's obviously not happening," he ended up answering.
"Well, if things go our way and we get peace, perhaps on the way back we can!" Tweek smiled rather brightly.
"Yeah...maybe."
Craig rather liked the walk through Neunbruck. It was somewhat hillous, with the wide path itself elevated by a few dozen feet on a sort of ridge. The farmlands he heard about could be seen everyone once in a while to either side in valleys below. There were so many cows about. He grew up on a farm with them, of course, but in his village there would only be perhaps one or two a family at most. Here there were hundreds grazing free and only occasionally would he see a farmer lounging about near them. There were also other animals he recognized, like goats and sheep, though there were some he did not.
They passed the few tiny villages as well. The path would diverge into smaller ones leading to the small villages out in the distance. They were tiny and the two of them decided not to diverge from the main path to visit them, but he could tell that their houses were much more well put together than his small thachet one he grew up in. Even from a distance he could tell that they looked...peaceful. They were almost definitely not a serfdom, he decided.
Still...it was a kingdom. There was a system of hierarchy. He wasn't foolish enough to believe that this place didn't have issues of its own.
"I know Kupa is flat, but other than that, is it similar?" Tweek asked, breaking a silence Craig hadn't even realized they created.
"Not at all," he answered flatly.
"Oh?" Tweek asked, probably to prompt a longer response. Truth be told, Craig found it hard to put into words why. It should be easy enough. The hundreds of evergreen trees that Kupa didn't have any of-much of its flatland having nothing at all. The way the grass seemed so much greener than Kupa's, which often was more of a scorched brownish most of the time, except after a heavy rain or at a very affluent property. The way the air felt so much fresher and cleaner than Kupa's, which always somehow felt dusty.
"Yeah, Kupa is a total shit hole," he ended up answering.
"I see," Tweek responded, realizing he wasn't going to get a more in depth answer. Instead, he tried to go a different conversational route. "You really don't like Kupa, do you?"
"Neither do you."
"But I like my own home," Tweek pointed out.
"Kupa doesn't feel like home," Craig found himself confessing, "Or, it hasn't for a long time, I guess."
"So it once did?"
"Jeez, pushy much?" Craig furrowed his eyebrows.
"I'm just curious," Tweek looked down, a light flustered blush covering his cheeks again, "But you're right-we agreed to not talk about that."
"You're going to wonder forever, so I might as well tell you," Craig groaned, "Fine. The village I grew up in maybe felt like home once. But it got completely destroyed in the elven war, my friend Clyde and I the only survivors."
"I'm so sorry," Tweek's eyes grew wide.
"To be honest it was a shit hole too," Craig looked forward, avoiding Tweek's gaze of pity, "But it was all I knew and all I ever thought I would know, so I liked it enough at the time. Plus it had, you know, my…" he trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
"Your family?"
"Yeah," Craig felt his blood grow cold.
The two continued down the main path for a few more minutes of silence until eventually Tweek cautiously added, "Your friend you just mentioned...is he the one that…?"
"Yeah, he is," Craig admitted, "And he hates Kupa as much as I do. We always talked about leaving Kupa forever, and honestly once I'm done with this mission and save him, the two of us have no intention to stay there."
"I see," Tweek responded in a voice almost as quiet as a whisper, "Everything makes a lot more sense, now. Thank you for telling me."
"Listen," Craig added, his voice still somber, "According to all official records, everyone in our village died. Including us. I've never been able to tell anyone this, but if it got out-"
"Of course I won't tell."
"Thanks."
He didn't know why he told Tweek this. He never told anyone this. They weren't friends. They were going to become enemies, weren't they? But at the same time, once he could use that information against him, Clyde and him would be far away from Kupa anyway.
"Is that it?" Tweek suddenly called out in a change of tone. Craig looked up. Sure enough, where the road curved he saw the settlement, half at the foot of the mountain, half going up it.
"Must be," he replied, his voice devoid of emotion from their previous conversation.
It didn't take long for them to approach it. He wouldn't want to admit it but it was quite...cute. Outwardly, he would admit that it was quaint. At the bottom there was a small lake, with water so crystal blue he wouldn't believe it had it not been for the rainbow lake he had seen only this morning. The buildings were far nicer than the ones in Kupa City, or at least in the opinion of his own personal taste. They were typically a cream color with wooden roofs and balconies. Perhaps it was also heightened by the backdrop of the mountains and evergreen trees.
Tweek clearly enjoyed taking it in, Craig could tell. He was practically glowing like a pixie, his mouth slightly hung open.
There were a few guards much like the ones at the edge of the forest, though far more casually standing about than knights did in Kupa City. No moat or gate keeping anyone out. Neunbruck guards were well trained, but they didn't exactly have a formal military. They kept out invaders like the Barbarians, but otherwise they were an incredibly peaceful people.
"We're from Kupa," Craig announced to the guard, hoping he understood his language as well as the guard at the edge of the forest.
"Greetings," he answered with the same gruff accent, "It's been a while since we've had visitors from there! We love visitors, but we know it's a dangerous journey! If it weren't for those damn barbarians, am I right?" Tweek let out a strained laugh. Craig on the other hand, was thrilled at how easy this was going to be.
"Right," Craig agreed, "They scared the hell out of my friend here. We're hoping to stay here a while and recuperate before we cross the mountains."
"Oh my child, you will have to be careful! It is already snowing an awful lot."
"Is it not safe to cross?" he had the same fake diplomatic tone that he had with the previous guard.
"I'm not even going to comment on how it's not a good idea due to the elves on the other side if you were brave enough to make it through the forest," he gave a hearty laugh from the pit of his stomach, "But thankfully for you it's not yet winter. There's currently a blizzard, but it should die down and be a little warmer before we reach the winter's point of no return, if you know what I mean."
"As nice as this place is, we don't want to wait for spring."
"You shouldn't have to, but if you do you're more than welcome to stay," he patted him on the back harshly with his large hand, causing him to fall forward, "Do you have our currency? If not, we have an exchange center up the road."
"We do, thank you," Craig gritted his teeth.
"Then by all means, go on!" he raised his arm to invite him to enter, "We have a couple of nice inns that are more than willing to take you in. Have the best stay here in Neunbruck."
"Thanks," Craig fake smiled. He wasn't sure how people managed to put up such fake diplomatic fronts all day. Doing this for only two conversations was driving him crazy.
It really was quite small. He knew that Kupa City was absolutely massive and that Neunbruck was a small kingdom, but it still was odd that their capital was mainly connected by a single winding road, with much smaller roads branching off. At the very end, at the highest point of the mountain where there village ended, was the castle. It was larger than most of the other buildings, but it wasn't as big as a lot of wealthy noble houses in Kupa City. It was also made of wood.
It was then he became aware of the fact that everything here seemed to be made out of wood. All the buildings, the fences, even the road was made of wooden slats. There were trees lining the street as well as many surrounding the village going up the mountain, so it was clear that wood was something they had plenty of and managed to use without completely destroying their forests like Kupa had many years ago.
There were people on the streets speaking in their native language. Some blatantly gawked at them, while others shyly waved. For some reason, Craig found himself hesitantly waving back.
He greatly ignored the shops along the way, more interested in looking for the inn they could stay at. However, when he saw a handful of laughing young teenagers leaving one, he couldn't help but notice what it was. A magic shop. He didn't even realize that he froze until Tweek whispered in his ear, "Remember, Feldspar, most places don't ban or limit magic. Kupa is the exception, not the rule."
"Right," Craig blinked. He knew that. It was still odd. Neunbruck also was known for having a rather large percentage of magic users. He shouldn't dwell on it.
"I think that's the inn up ahead," Tweek nudged him. Craig looked up. He couldn't read the writing on the sign, but it had a large sign and seemed to be built like many inns he had seen in the past. He merely nodded, and the two continued.
It turned out they were correct. Inside the inn was a husband and wife couple who ran it, who greeted them with open arms. Literally, as they rushed in to hug the two of them as if they were long lost friends.
"Welcome!" the woman said with a heavy accent as she let go after way too long. "What brings you here?"
"We'd like to stay here," Craig answered with a frown, annoyed by the obnoxiously tight embrace that had just happened. He brushed off his clothes, even though he knew they got nothing on him.
"For how long?" the husband answered.
"We're not sure yet," he answered, "We're going to cross the mountains once the weather clears."
"Oh my, some adventures," the woman grinned widely. "You two can stay here as long as you want. But...one room or two?" She raised an eyebrow coyly at the two of them.
Tweek and Craig looked at each other. He certainly didn't want them to get the wrong idea, and to be honest he did much prefer the notion having privacy again. Yet at the same time, sharing one would be half the cost-Craig only had so much of this country's money, and who knew what would happen if they had to stay here a longer than expected period of time. Plus, as annoying of a concept as it was, allowing them to think that Tweek was his...significant other would probably help their cover.
"One," he said. Tweek's face flushed slightly. Craig chose to ignore that.
The husband led them up the stairs to their room. They passed a few other guests-almost all dwarves. It made sense due to the proximity of the two kingdoms, but he couldn't help but find it grossly hypocritical. Though at the same time, he knew they weren't allowed to visit Kupa. They lacked any magic, but it was said that the Grand Wizard simply didn't like their kind enough to allow them to visit for any reason other than diplomatic meetings. For that reason had never seen a dwarf before, though their short, stocky nature and dirty beards matched the illustrations he had seen quite well.
The inn was full of fur and hunting trophies, which Craig found quite tacky. Much like the capital as a whole, everything was wood, with the exception of the dead animals everywhere. It reminded him of the gnomes, but this wood was much darker and less expertly crafted. As though here they used it out of necessity as opposed to honing a skill.
Their room was about what he expected. Quite small, but much better than sharing a room or bed with a ton of strangers like he had to a some. That said, there was only one bed with a large fur pelt blanket draping over it.
"We'll be serving dinner in about an hour," the innkeeper told them as they made themselves acquainted. "It comes with the cost of the room." He only then realized he never even asked how much this was going to cost. Whatever, he'd deal with it later. When the innkeeper left with the door shut behind him and footsteps faded away, Tweek finally spoke.
"I like it here," he said.
"You're forgetting that if you open your mouth you'll be in big trouble," Craig reminded him as he dropped his things on a chair.
"There are very few, if any, human territories that like barbarians," Tweek sighed, sitting on the bed, "And to be fair, we don't like other human territories either. Even though we are human, it's as if we've been accepted as a completely different race-both by ourselves and others."
"But you don't seem that different," Craig added, "And you don't seem to hate every outsider either...just Kupa."
"I don't think I ever really hated everyone from Kupa," Tweek said quietly, looking to the floor.
"Could've fooled me," Craig laughed under his breath.
"Well, I don't hate you."
"You don't like me either," he pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
"I-" Tweek seemed thrown off by his statement. He furrowed his brows in a way that Craig could only guess was a melancholic frustration. Finally, after a few moments of a pause, Tweek's expression faded back to a neutral one. "I guess I just don't think everyone in any group is all bad. Regardless of species or alignment. Except for the Dark Kingdom, I guess."
"Well you're in luck, they've been wiped out since we were toddlers. Unless that weird time bullshit means for you that was last week or something."
"No, that's about right," Tweek chuckled, "But what about you? Do you think I'm wrong to not generalize."
"I don't really care enough about other kingdoms or species to think that deeply about them in general," Craig answered honestly, "Let alone whether or not I'd befriend them. Though, given that the elves killed almost everyone I ever knew, I can't really imagine that I'd ever like one of them."
Tweek frowned. "But then you don't like anyone, do you? Just your friend...the one you're saving."
"Well, it's not like I hate everyone. There are plenty of people I tolerate." he shrugged as he walked over to where the balcony door was. He bet it was a pretty view.
"Do you tolerate me?" Tweek asked from behind him.
"Obviously," Craig found the question annoying. In fact, he tolerated Tweek far more than he did most people. Claiming that he tolerated a lot of people was probably a flat out lie. More like...a small handful. But regardless, that was a worthless question. If he didn't tolerate him, he could have betrayed him the second they left the forest to the Neunbruck guard. He wouldn't have told him his obnoxious life history.
"But Clyde is the only one you really care about."
Craig groaned in annoyance as he lifted the animal skin curtain that shielded the light from outside. Sure enough, the view was beautiful. There was a view of most of the village, with the lake at the bottom, the snow capped mountains in the distance.
Still, Tweek spoke once more. "You and Clyde...is he-are you two-?"
"Are we what?" Craig spun around to look at Tweek, the level of irritation in his voice skyrocketing.
"Sorry...if that's too personal of a question." Craig could tell the apology was sincere. He sighed, it was just Tweek being how he had come to learn he is. Nosy.
"He has a serious girlfriend back in Kupa," Craig tried to shrug nonchalantly, "He's not like me. He likes a lot of people."
"I see," Tweek responded. Craig could have sworn that for a split second he saw his lips turn upwards into a small smile. He immediately dismissed it.