Chapter 2:
Fog is creeping up the hill into Hearthglen.
I woke up some minutes ago from the rain drops falling against my window. I slept uneasily, again haunted by my dreams. I would give anything to get rid of them. In short usually they are about the worst moments of my life. I guess I have to admit, I'm not good at coping with these sorts of things, so I'll probably have these dreams until I die.
The world outside the house is quiet today. I see some guards walking through the little village, but no one else. The poor guys standing up on the towers, they have a ten-hour shift. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore, they've been completely soaked with water by now. At least that would be what I would imagine when looking out there.
We want to go fishing today, at Darrowmere Lake. I hope it will clear up soon enough.
Probably it's dangerous going there, but we three never really care. After all, I am the one the least able to defend himself. Corren on the other hand fights far better while having someone to protect. Not that this would be surprising, he's a paladin after all, it's one of their best traits. Keira on the other hand is a bit reckless but I suppose she'd have the fewest problems dealing with the undead. Last week she went out of Hearthglen to collect herbs in the woods. Even though the guards do not allow us leaving the town on our own, she got even to the outskirts of Andorhal before anybody had noticed and a search troop was sent out looking for her. There she was ambushed by a group of ghouls, she told us later on. If I can believe her, and I'm quite sure of that, she blasted them away in an instant. Keira is not the person to make fun with such matters.
The city of Andorhal was once a flourishing trading place. The market was famous for the rich amount of goods passing through every day. But now the city lies in ruins just like everything in Lordaeron, ruins full of uttering ghouls and skeletal soldiers. Some people even say there is a lich residing inside the town hall which has been attracted by all the other undead. The Scarlet Crusade wants to clear out Andorhal soon. The Ashbringer will make his way to the ruins of Stratholme in the next weeks. After returning from there, they want to clean up Northdale, Corin's Crossing, Darrowmere, Andorhal, Brill and the ruins of the Capital City. That really would be quite something.
I hear the moaning of the undead nearby, the wind is carrying it into the town. Soon there will be another attack. I'm not too worried though. The ghouls are no match for our guards, no matter their numbers.
I've been standing here for half an hour now, staring blindly up into the sky. It hasn't changed much and it doesn't seem like clearing up either. I guess we have to go fishing in the rain.
I take my clothes out of the closet. This is one of the last days I will be wearing my normal clothing. Three days from now everything will change and I'll have to wear the robes of the Scarlet Crusade instead.
I'm genuinely excited.
I'm barely half dressed when I hear a knocking on the door downstairs. I yell that they should just let themselves in on their own.
The front door creaks while opening. Two cloaked figures step into the room shortly afterwards. I know who they are - it took them quite long to arrive here actually.
"Hurry up, up there! We're waiting for you after all. We're all set up to get going, I even got some bait." Corren proudly raises his hand. It's full of extraordinarily long worms. Keira looks at them in disgust. Those worms are usually only found in dead bodies, I'm quite sure Corren gathered them while he was on his shift yesterday.
I take my cloak out of the closet and make my way downstairs. "It took you two quite some time to arrive here." I smirk. "It's good to see you."
We don't want to attract too much attention from the guards on their duty so we have to head out of the village quickly and quietly. We won't be able to talk for quite a while. But the rain outside is so loud one can't even hear a single word of each other, so it doesn't really matter all that much. Swiftly we cross the open area in front of the blacksmith and make our way directly to the gateway and out of Hearthglen.
For our sake, Corren didn't need to bribe any of the guards at the front gate, he just told them we are scouts doing a field trip for somebody higher up. Soon we are on our way down the hill and passing the other guard tower, as well as the small outpost at the hill's footing. It's still quite a way to Darrowmere Lake though. Nevertheless we slow down after we reach the road in a fair distance to the outpost. We also start talking at least we try to. For now we can talk loudly and freely without attracting too much attention and without anyone noticing that we aren't your typical scout on duty.
Keira starts off by telling us the story of the ambush last week again. How she blasted away the ghouls with only one single spell. She tells us how amusing it is to watch flaming ghouls falling apart. But actually I don't believe her on that point. I suppose she was standing there just looking disgusted. Imagining her face slightly distorting makes me laugh out loud. "What's up, MARC? Anything you want to share with me?" It bursts out of her as she draws closer to me with her typical aggressive face. Her green eyes making her look even more like a cat in such moments. Nothing unusual for her to react in this kind of fashion, her temper is quite explosive. Yet her aggressive looks so close to my face only make me laugh even more. "No, no it's noooooothing, Keira..., really."
Corren can just shake his head at us two. He doesn't understand how I can laugh about such things, he even looks rather annoyed by it. And actually I don't know either, but well, I just can't take Keira serious when she acts up like this.
Corren on the other hand is more the calm type of person, quite the opposite to Keira. He also never lets his guard down. Even though we are strolling along the road now he has his hammer clutched in his fist, ready to take down every possible foe that could come attacking us all of a sudden, alive and undead the same.
After Keira has finally calmed down again she promises us to show us her new developed 'blast wave' as she calls it. She already admitted that the name is more or less a rip off of somebody in Hearthglen.
I envy her a bit for being able to use such strong fire magic, but well, I also envy Corren for being able to control his hammer without killing innocent bystanders. At the moment I am fairly useless in case of an attack. I hope, no..., I beg to God that this will change when I have joined the Crusade.
Keira continues to talk for the whole rest of the way, as for women and especially her, typical.
I, on the other hand, fall to my thoughts. How great my friends are and how useless I have been till now. As we reach our favorite fishing site at Darrowmere Lake several minutes later, I'm totally absorbed by my usual negative thinking. It's no use, I couldn't rescue anyone. Why did I sign up with the Scarlet Crusade in the first pla...?
Corren bumps into me, looking at me harshly. He leans in a little bit closer and whispers. "Stop thinking things like that, idiot!" He knows the face I make when I'm having down-times, Keira doesn't.
I quickly try to gather myself and reply with a simple, "Thank you", then I smile at him, showing that he made me snap out of it once again. He often tells me that I'll find my way and I just have to believe in myself. Being me makes this harder than it sounds, but I'll manage – somehow I hope.
Over all of this we didn't even notice when the rain had stopped.
Keira and I sit down while Corren prepares two fishing rods with bait. He hands me one of them and we put the bait into the water. Keira doesn't like fish therefore she refuses to fish with us. If I'm honest I also don't like fishing, well at least when I'm alone. I kinda think of it as fun when Corren and Keira are around.
At first we are quiet for a moment, just gazing at the lake. Keira is the first to speak up, but she's rapidly called back by Corren, "Stop it - you're chasing the fish away!" I can't stop myself from giggling. After that her temper rises a bit, but not for long, also just as usual.
She calms down very easily today probably because she does not want to end this day with any grief left behind.
"So... today we say goodbye?" She asks us as her voice is shacking, something I never heard from her before. She is looking at Corren and me and it seems as if she really is close to tears. "I know that it's been merely a year and I know that I'm goin' to do what I've always wanted, but... I don't want to leave y..." She almost starts crying when Corren interrupts her "Shhhhh, we all chose our path, it won't be easy, but we have to stand up for the things we wanted to do." He doesn't take a single look in our direction as he is still staring at the lake. Keira seems to be a bit frustrated from his answer as a pair of tears finally drop down from her cheeks.
Just in the moment I want to speak up, Corren raises himself and steps over to her. He gently wipes away the tears on her face, "Don't cry Keira, it won't be for long. The holy light will protect us, I'm sure of it. Just have faith - we will meet up again and everything will be fine." She smiles for an instance. She doesn't believe in the 'holy light' as Corren calls it, but if she said that now, it would only break his heart. The two look deep into each other's eyes.
I like it when they have these warm looks on their faces, but this time it only makes me feel lonely.
I wouldn't want to say the day was wasted, but we didn't catch a single fish in the end. We also didn't talk that much. Everybody was saying his salute and his prayers in silence. We all do not want this day to end, yet Nozdormu does not approve of our wishes, so we have to move on after several hours.
As we start to make our way back, Keira suddenly starts to break the silence again. She reminds us that she promised us to show her new spell so we take a short detour to the outskirts of Andorhal.
"Wait here..." she says to Corren and me with a wink. She runs off into the ruins and soon we hear the uttering of the undead residing here. Keira comes running back laughing, she still says the ghouls make funny sounds although she also describes them as disgusting. Somehow I just think she's a bit crazy, though the good kind.
She stops about thirty meters in front of us, so we can see it all clearly. The ghouls come charging at her. I notice how Corren seizes the hammer in his fingers, ready to interfere and save her if he must. At first she makes an ice nova. The ghouls are frozen in their tracks about an arm's length away from her. Corren almost jumps in there, he can barely hold back any longer. Keira makes fun of the ghouls which are reaching for her but can't get any closer. I for myself, pity them, the poor creatures, once men and women, as proud as any of us, now turned into these uttering lumps of mindless flesh.
"KEIRA!" Corren yells. He is pressing her so she doesn't endanger herself any longer.
"Yes, yes, I'll get on with it. Sheesh. I was having fun here, mister!" Her tone is nagging. She mumbles something and a fiery explosion emits from her.
Corren and I feel the huge heat even at our position and the ghouls next to Keira are reduced to bare ashes. "Wow" I admit silently with an open mouth staring at the burned down undead. Keira comes back to us, jumping and smiling. "It's a... blast..., isn't it?" She seems very proud of her spell. "Wow, you're getting better and better!" I'm impressed. Corren for his part only remains silent offering her a reproachful look. I can't say I wasn't expecting that.
On our way from Andorhal to Hearthglen Keira then tells me again about the five great dragon aspects. About the things they represent, about their kind and about Neltharion's fall from grace. I love it when she tells me stories about them. Before I met her I didn't know anything about all of this. She says that if I want to become a priest I should honour Alexstraza, head of the red dragon flight, binderin of life itself. But this is also the point where Corren usually interferes. I should worthy only the holy light and not such nonsense as dragons as he says. The two often fight about this issue. Corren doesn't believe in the five aspects, but Keira remains on her point pressing that she has already seen one of them, even if only from afar, Malygos, head of the blue flight.
I can't hold back and point out that I find Nozdormu and Neltharion interesting as well. Keira seizes my shoulder with her hand. "You should be careful what you say, young priest. You shouldn't interfere with something as wicked as time or as cruel as death."
Her words give me a shiver.
"Marc, I know you think this is fascinating, and I'm sure you believe in it, being torn into all of this by Keira. But be sure to never mention this while you're an apprentice. It will only harm you and your studies for the Scarlet Crusade." I know right now I look a bit annoyed about him always trying to tell me what I should do. "Just be careful with this knowledge." He adds and I nod shortly in response, I feel as if I'm a twelve-year-old talking to his father when Corren acts like this.
I wish I could see one of the aspects just once.
We have already reached the outer gates of Hearthglen again. Corren and Keira are pressing to go faster. The guards had a shift change while we were gone and no one was suspecting anything, nothing unusual with us three returning from the woods. We head directly to the small marketplace in front of the blacksmith. "Oh, the caravan is already here. Damn we have to hurry up and get our stuff." Keira bursts out.
Corren goes to the head of the caravan asking how much time they have before leaving. He returns to us with a sad face, "Well.. Keira and I have to get going already, that guy meant they were only waiting for us two." Keira immediately runs off to her house getting her bag. Corren smiles at me and says "Just stay here a moment, we'll get back to you before leaving."
"Okay", I'm not able to give more of a response.
Keira is back after about five minutes, she had everything gathered and packed up already.
"I've got something for you." she announces. "Now open your hand." I do as she says, usually she hates surprises, but she always wants to surprise others. She gives me a kind of necklace, it feels cold in my hand and has a pointy end. I open my palm again and see something that looks like a tooth. "It's from a real dragon!" she winks at me. "Keep it close, it's something reeeally rare." It looks strange to me, no dents to it whatsoever, though I guess it still could be of a tiger or bear.
"I will." I reply with a forced smile.
It seems as if Corren is ready too, he slowly comes back from his house.
He stretches out his arm holding a book. "This is for you, so you won't forget us until we meet up again." I look at it for a short moment before eagerly opening it only to see what this book is about. I find my answer on page three. 'The Holy Light and its Righteous Ways', yes he really did present me with this. It feels a bit like crashing into a wall, but well I expected something like that in the first place.
"We have to get going now, Marc." Keira forces a smile. I give them a sad face.
"Well... you have to." I hug Keira.
"Live up to your dreams, young priest. The red dragon flight will be watching over you." she whispers into my ear.
Corren smiles at me like a big brother, wishing me good luck and only the best for the future.
"We will meet again soon" he promises. "Farewell, I believe in you, Marc"
Now I stand here, both of them moving to the caravan, but still taking a look or two back to where I'm standing. They are waving. I slowly walk backwards into the direction of my home.
As the two reach the others, the caravan instantly starts moving, leaving no time to think, no time for regret. I turn around and walk the last meters normally. I open the heavy front door and go inside. I make my way upstairs and go directly to the window trying to see the rest of the caravan moving out of the town.
Now I stand here, alone. The book and the necklace resting in my trembling hands.
It looks like rain again tonight.