After a while of walking, and the sack beginning to bite into Mariel’s shoulders, she decided to get some rest by a small fountain. The location she had decided to stop at appeared to be the artisan’s area. Great mechanical bellows kept the vast forge area lit and hot. A lot of people, demons and men side by side struck the red-hot metal with heavy hammers. Carts lined up and were promptly filled with tools, crates filled to the brim with nails and other metal commodities. Tradesmen went back and forth looking at lists, shouting orders and hurrying the weary apprentices that swarmed around the grounds fulfilling their menial labour.

“So, why did your master send you away?” Mariel asked quietly.

“I, quietly manipulated him, but don’t worry. In a way, I’m now split between you, and I can still hear and influence his mind, even though my physical form remains here with you.” Siah quipped happily from somewhere inside her mind.

“Do I need to feed you?”

“A fair question… The short answer is yes.”

“And the long answer is that you want to eat my finger or something…”

“Ewww… I don’t like demon flesh, too leathery.”

“How about human?”

“Tasty, but eating any truly sentient beings carries with it a lot of social stigma… Let me just hunt a rabbit or something from time to time okay?”

“But, there are beastkin in this world, right? What about them?”

“Most of them don’t mind, they think themselves superior… By the way, did you know that humans have this silly notion of being an evolution of monkeys? Yet there are places where they consume monkey like some sort of delicacy?”

“Seems… Weird…” Mariel grimaced.

“Not everything is meant to be understood.”

Just then, a person, a city administrator appeared surrounded by a group of six guards and one aide carrying a wooden lockbox. He climbed up onto a podium and the merchants and smiths standing around hurried over. The administrator opened what appeared to be a decree and began reading.

“Considering the recent events along the coast, Adriested city council has decided to issue a request for weapons and armour to be produced immediately, and of the finest quality. About two-hundred sets of arms and armour to outfit a special hunting group tasked with unveiling the cause of the recent attacks.” The administrator then took possession of the wooden box from his aide.

“Each of these slips requires you to produce ten full outfits, complete with arms and armour… We expect our purchase to be met in detail, and of good quality. You will be fined for not supplying the required amounts by the written date.

The surrounding merchants began to push their way towards the administrator, but the guards locked their shields and stood their ground. The administrator opened the box and began to hand out the orders to the tens of grappling hands hoping to fetch a good number of quotas for themselves.

“Hm? Did something happen recently?” Siah asked, her voice carrying a ring of curiosity to it.

“Yes… I guess you could have a look for yourself, right? Whispering to myself like this feels weird.”

Siah fell silent for a short while, likely sifting through her memories in search for the whole picture, frequently interrupted by strange thinking noises from the back of her mind.

“I see, you’ve had it pretty rough… And a whole bunch of murderous humans are going rampant in the countryside.”

“What do you think about it? Not having heard of it before now?”

“I think…” Siah paused. “It appears clear that there’s some sort of escalation here, but humankind has not shown itself to be this powerful… Well with exception of those wielding the lege…” Mariel interrupted Siah’s rumination instinctively when she mentioned the word legendary.

“Stop. I’m sick of that word.”

“I understand, but I think you should know that the old sword you dug up in your garden when you were young… Was the real Eldenljos…”

“Huh?” Mariel shook her head. “That’s impossible… Such a thing would not just be causally buried in my garden.”

“Your father’s name, wouldn’t happen to be Raseignar? He was the last one to possess the sword to my knowledge.”

“No, my fa… Papa’s name is Arwaro.”

“I see… Well no matter then, it’s probably just another replica.”

“Hey there, I’ve never seen you around here before…” Mariel turned her head to find a young kinsman about her age standing close to her, smiling warmly.

“… Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry I work here you see, and I couldn’t help but notice such an upstanding, fair maiden such as yourself being here of all places…”

“Um, are you ill?”

“No! Not at all! I just figured you’d be lonely sitting here by yourself!” He closed the distance and sat down next to her. Mariel struggled to supress her need to move, feeling uneasy with such a sudden intrusion into her space. Without any pause, the young male continued:

“You know, I could take you for a tour around the city, you don’t seem to be from around here.”

“That’s okay, I’d rather prefer to stay here.”

“Oh? Are you perhaps interested in metalworking? I could learn you a good technique for handling a red-hot sword, if you get my drift.”

A cold shiver ran down her spine, and she threw him a look of utter disgust before standing up and hurrying to leave.

“Hey! Wait! It was just a joke okay?” He stood up abruptly, and followed after her.

“Why don’t you just take a hint and scram?” She flipped around and growled at him. The young male stopped in his tracks, and after a while nodded and turned around to head back.

“I could’ve gotten rid of him or you.” Siravin appeared next to her, his torn suit had been replaced by a strikingly similar set of leather armour to her own. A long fitting dark cloak, and a set of brown leather armour reinforced with metal plate covering the torso, shin and shoulders.

“… I managed, didn’t I?”

“True, well done.”

“Thanks, should we get going?”

“Ah, sure, but… What exactly have you been buying? It looks really heavy.” He stepped in behind her and lifted the backpack in his hands.

“Gifts for everyone, don’t worry, I promise they’re really useful!” She smiled.

Siravin sighed and shook his head. “I see, so what can I look forward to then?”

“That’s a secret.”

“Have you bought anything edible?”

“Not yet.”

Siravin offered to carry the backpack, but was turned down. After a short while of walking through the streets they ended up at the marketplace. Immediately, they both dove headlong into the crowd, and emerged at the other end, with another backpack worth of supplies for the next leg of the journey.

Sunlight was fading by the time they crossed the drawbridge leading out of the city.

“That all took a lot longer than expected…” Siravin mumbled while looking in the direction of the setting sun. “We should hurry before it gets any darker.”

“Did they go far from the coast?”

“No, they should be somewhere inside that forest you see at the edge of that patch of farmland over there.” Siravin pointed to a dark, eerie looking forest in the distance. They continued towards the forest, and soon passed through the outer gates protecting the drawbridges. One of the guards on duty stopped them.

“If you intend to travel, you should be aware that the countryside is particularly dangerous now, we have received numerous reports of raided villages and stolen crops.”

“We have heard the rumours, we’ll be careful.”

“Safe travels then and may Tyweriak keep your swords alert…”

They headed down the country road. Behind them, a caravan of trade wagons and some armed riders were given the same warning and soon thundered past them at the fastest possible speed. In the nearby fields, the farmers were finishing up on the day’s field work and were gathering around the local well to wash and drink alcohol.

“Hoy there travellers, Care to sit down with us for the evening?” A large, muscular farmer came over waving a pair of tankards in his hands.”

“Sorry, we’re only passing through and must be on our way.” Siravin politely refused the offer while gently pushing Mariel along.

“Be careful out there! Rumour is that the forest is pretty dangerous these days!”

“We’ll be careful! Enjoy your ale!”

They quickly continued along, leaving the group of farmers to their revelry. A rider came up behind them and thundered past, his saddlebags heavily laden with what appeared to be letters and packages from the lack of noise, all the bags bore a seal neither of them recognized.

After a short while, they reached the forest edge, and as soon as they could no longer hear or see anyone else coming down the road, they quickly headed into the undergrowth. Despite the easy going, Mariel kept lagging behind, her gaze wandering between the many trees. A broken branch under her feet made her nearly jump.

“Quiet… What’s the matter with you?” He took a firm grip of her arm.

“Last time… We were attacked…”

“We’re almost there, I think. Just keep it quiet…”

“… If this is your notion of quiet, I’d hate to hear you being loud…” Tizare’s voice appeared from somewhere close by. Siravin sighed and clenched his fist, dissolving the cracking lighting in his hand.

Around a nearby tree, Tizare appeared with his bow drawn.

“Welcome back… I’m glad you’ve returned Mariel safe and sound, at least I can count on you that much.” Tizare quivered his arrow and smiled.

“If this was a city, I’d have detected you.” Siravin spat.

“Oh, I have no doubt, but the forest is my home, and even your abilities would stand little chance out here… But let’s not stay here, we made camp in a bear’s den… It’s not far… Saya, you can come down too.”

Mariel jumped as Saya landed like a cat next to her, before she could say anything, Saya put her arms around her in a hug.

“Welcome back, I missed you.”

“I’ve only been gone for a day, but I’m happy to see you too!”

“Later ladies… Let’ go.” Tizare led the group on through the forest. The terrain changed gradually to more rugged and rocky terrain, trees clung onto the rocky outcrops hanging over a small river running through the forest. They jumped across and soon arrived outside a small cave at the bottom of a small cliff. A fire had been lit inside, and next to it sat Casindire, whom jumped to her feet as they approached, while waving dagger around wildly.

“Relax Cassy, it’s just us. We found Mariel and Siravin.”

Casindire hesitated for a moment, but put the dagger down.

“Tizare, stop doing that… I told you to announce your arrival…”

They sat down around the fire again and Siravin began sharing out the supplies and tools.

Mariel took her backpack and took out the items she had bought and laid them out in front of her.

“Hey… Mind telling me who you intended these gifts for?” She whispered, hoping that Siah had not fallen asleep.

“Sure thing.” Siah whispered back. Under the mindling’s careful guidance, she began to pass the cases out. Siravin received the metal case, Tizare got the roll of string, Casindire accepted one of the wooden boxes, and finally Saya took the wooden tube, with some curiosity. Tizare immediately took out his bow and replaced the string with his gift. After a couple of practice draws he smiled from ear to ear.

“This’ll do nicely… Thank you Mariel.”

Next out was Saya, whom pulled an old, reinforced glass bottle from the wooden tube.

“Oh, alcohol! Now that would really brighten the mood.” Tizare grinned.

Saya threw him a sour grimace and began to wipe the dust and grime from the old bottle. As the label emerged from behind the dust, a look of astonishment began to appear on her otherwise expressionless face.

“A blue gleam ice wine…”

“A what?” Siravin’s interest was piqued, while he worked to pick the lock of the box.

“The vintner responsible for this lost everything in the war… My parents, shared one sip of this at their wedding ceremony… I remember the pictures.”

“So, you’ll carry that bottle home? That will only slow us down.” Siravin shrugged.

“I’ll carry it.” Casindire stood up abruptly, dangling from her hand was a small silver chain, at the end hung a small golden bell, which chimed from her movement. She walked over to Mariel and knelt beside her.

“Thank you for your wonderful gift… I’m sure you don’t understand… But these bells you brought for me, they’re special for their sound… They are used to soothe pain and calm the mind. I will treasure them.”

“You’re welcome… I hope they’ll help.” Mariel flashed a kind smile.

With a loud crack, Siravin broke the lock on his box and opened the lid. With some surprise, he retrieved two blades from the box.

The blades were gently curved; the metal bore a fine pattern which Mariel recognized as the result of folding the metal and fusing it together, finally tempered and sharpened to perfection.

“Thanks, they almost feel like they were made for me.” Siravin nodded.

“So I didn’t waste our funds after all?”

“You still did, but I appreciate that you got these items, they’ll come in handy in getting home.” Siravin shrugged and made some practice swings and some blade tricks with the two short swords.

“Good balance, strong… These will do… So, what did you get for yourself? Jewellery? A famous weapon?”

Everyone gathered around Mariel, whom hesitantly opened the last wooden box. Inside laid a simple comb, cut and shaped out of amber.

“That’s, unusually… Frugal, it makes me a little sad that you would get us all these fine things, while keeping something so, common for yourself. Not that I don’t appreciate it though.”

“None of you realize how important this comb is to me, so from my standpoint, I’ve really been rather selfish.” Mariel closed the lid on the box and put it away in the backpack.

“Long as you’re happy.” Tizare smiled and retrieved the map from his pack, rolling it out on the ground. He traced his finger on the map along their path, his finger hovering just outside Adriested on the map. He then traced two different paths, explaining them both as he went. The shorter route would take them upriver, and across hilly terrain, and some smaller peaks marked out on the map. The long route would be around the hills, and down a river on the other side, both paths ended by a big marker with bold text: Carastved.

“Those are the choices… We’ll avoid the main host of our enemies by taking the long route… The short route is quicker. Your thoughts?”

“Long route.” Casindire voiced her opinion first with some conviction to her tone. “Shortcuts are bad.”

“I agree with her.” Siravin nodded.

“And the rest? Saya? Mariel?”

“With you. Long route.”

“That’s one more to the long route with you Saya, so what is our leader’s opinion?” He cast Mariel an expectant look.

“Long route, we’ll be safer. I think the altitude will also give us better warning… And we’re a small group, so we’ll be able to hide even up there.”

“You’ve thought this through, well done Mariel.” Tizare rolled the map back up and put it back in his pack. “So we should all get some rest. Saya? Will you keep watch? Or should I?”

“It’s your turn.”

“Ah, alright…”

With Tizare taking the first watch, the rest found themselves a spot to sleep in. Casindire, Mariel and Saya found a spot for themselves close to each other, while Siravin leaned himself against the stone.

“By the way, while you sleep, I’ll be able to partake in your dreams… If you want me not to, you should perhaps excuse yourself for a bit.” Siah whispered, but got no response, Mariel much too tired to respond.