It took another four days for them to make it to Barrels keep at their slowed pace, following the main road was the quickest way to go but they still took more time than anticipated. Beck knew he was the reason they had progressed so sluggishly, but he also knew that had he tried to rush his healing process and walk properly the journey would have taken much longer. By the time they had reached the city, however, he was beginning to regain feeling in his numbed legs to the point where he no longer needed a crutch to stay upright.
Whilst on the road Evie and Beck had discussed their next plan of action for when they reached Barrels keep and had unanimously come to the decision that they couldn't just stop their journey there, they had to move as far away from the mist as possible. Therefore, the pair had decided to continue down the main road, after a brief stop in at Barrels keep and travel all the way to the capital. At the capital they would reunite with Beck’s family and warn the guard about the threat approaching from the north, at least that was the plan.
As they crested a ridge the city of Barrels keep came into view. The expanse of small-town houses and shops sprawled over a large area, with a central river running straight down the middle. Far off on the other side of the city stood the mighty castle, with its arched gateway stretching over the span of the river, it was truly an amazing feat of engineering. It was designed in a way that all the barrels of goods that came downstream from frost land in the east would be caught at the gate of the castle then sorted.
As well as a sorting and storage center barrels keep served as a very strategic and very defensible position in between frost land and the capital, being placed on an intersection between two highways meant that allot of foot traffic was constantly passing through to other places such as the capital or the many other small villages dotted throughout the area.
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As Beck and Evie continued down the road, they reached the edge of the township. With the grandeur of the castle of in the distance the slums seemed so out of place. The one problem with Barrels keeps was the poor living conditions of low ranking citizens caused by the vast waste production of the castles sorting system. During the sorting process that was done upstream, any scraps or damaged goods were dumped back in the river to float downstream and be collected and pilled by the poor and homeless communities of the slums. This made the slums a very awful place, the smell of rotten fish and smoke lingered in the air and the side streets were so littered with trash that they had become impossible to properly navigate some residents had resorted to building shelters out on stilts closer to the middle of the river so to avoid the cluttered streets, not that it was much of an improvement.
The water of the river was also infested with scraps of wood, animal carcasses and human feces, all together it created a rank disgusting environment that to Beck seemed unlivable conditions.
Evie and Beck continued up the main road, hands clamped firmly around their mouth and nose to avoid breathing in the rancid fumes that permeated the air. As they walked Beck kept his eyes scanning the alley ways that exited the main road, he had seen some sketchy looking people lurking around and didn't want to be caught off guard. Luckily for the two of them they left the slums without incident and had safely entered the middle-class residency by the time the sun began to disappear over the trees that lined the edge of town.