A week has passed since Will and his caravan passed the Tash'mal gate and following the stone road towards Salamish in the south, Along they way they lost three lesser experienced soldiers to a bandit raid just a few days after entering the southern countries.
"Artír, how many capable soldiers do we have left?" Will asked concerned.
"Since the last raid three days ago we have around forty capable men left and around fifty civilians and injured traveling with the wagons." Artír answered, also concerned with their diminishing numbers.
"That is worrying, we probably have to gather allies sooner than expected or take shortcuts in our journey to arrive in Salamish ahead of time." Will pointed out to the dwarf.
"Well prince, you have the connection to the sultanate, you make the decision." Artír said.
"I think we should take the shortcuts through Cymbal forest to cut two weeks of our journey, alert the scouts ahead and I will explain our route to the soldiers at the next campsite." Will commanded. Nodding at the command Artír rode ahead to alert the scouts. Sitting atop his horse Will thought about their recent losses and the last battle against those accursed monsters. Will didn't notice it but if somebody would have looked at the prince they would have noticed weird marking faintly forming on his neck on either side.
After a few hours of travel without any ambushes or attacks by monsters the caravan settled for the night atop one of the verdant hills.
"You know Davi, I had heard tales of the green hills of Asurya, but to actually see them is a wonder." A soldier named Ponta spoke with admiration in his eyes.
"I remember you come from the kingdom of Vinte in the far north, I suppose its the first time you see these fields." Davi chuckled at his comrades reaction.
"Well, yeah. All we had in the north were snow, ice and predators, not a single grass for miles." Ponta laughed, scratching his head in embarrassment. "But aren't you also from the northern kingdoms?" Ponta asked.
"Yes, But I was born in the dukedom of Talma at the western part of the Beliend Mountains, so my family had some connections with a branch of our family in the south." Davi explained.
"Why do you have family in the south? I thought the north and south were pretty reluctant to alliances since the war." Ponta asked, confused by his friends words.
"Well, I haven't told that many but I was a noble before the calamity, only the third son of a minor house but I have been to banquets at the capital of Almadas." Davi said but tilted his head to the side when he saw Ponta's surprised face.
"Are you serious? are you a noble and have even been to the famous banquets in the capital?" Shocked Ponta asked.
"Well. Only twice. My family was sent as a delegation from our kingdom during one of the winter banquets and another time during Prince Will's elder brothers birthday." Davi explained. Before Ponta could ask further Artír walked past them and overheard their conversation, nudging them both.
"Soldiers, I would not speak to loudly about Prince Will's brother if I were you." Artír spoke with a hint of threat in his voice.
"Why is that commander Artír?" Davi asked.
"I don't know the exact history, but I warn you to not talk about the prince's family out loud." Artír commanded.
Understanding that they won't get any more information from the dwarf, they dropped the subject and began asking about the journey. Artír explained that the prince will give all the information they need at tonights supper.
Two hours passed and sitting around the campfires in the inner circle Will began speaking to his soldiers and civilians. "Well done on our journey so far, we have traveled a long way since Almadas, and we have for sure seen our fair share of things. But now we have crossed the second to last hurdle in our journey, we have passed the Tash'mal gate and now we only have the final hurdle left, the Cymbal forest. Any questions?" Will spoke with confidence in his voice. The silence giving him the answer Will called for supper and the soldiers began heading back to their respective bonfires while the civilians sat in the centre of the camp.
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"Prince Will really is a good leader." One of the soldiers said to Ponta and Davi, another soldier named Caja sat among them.
"He really is, you should have seen him eight years ago when we fled the capital, he was so young but still took command of the people and led us away." Caja explained, one of the more experienced soldiers in their group.
"You were at Almadas during the calamity?" Ponta asked astonished.
Getting closer to the group so they won't be overheard by Will or Artír Caja began explaining. "I was stationed at one of the windows during the ceremony of prince Mathil and lady Lillie but during the evening banquet loud explosions sounded from outside and I saw from the windows horrifying creatures, large in size and strength. And you know the rest, the capital was destroyed, the royal family lost and and my squad was sent alongside commander Artír to escape with the prince. Honestly I owe my life to the prince and Artír." Caja explained with sorrow while keeping her voice low, fearing the anger of Artír if they were overheard. Remembering the horrors of the calamity eight years ago she thinks about her dead sister before the silence is interrupted by Davi.
"Thats amazing Caja, what did you see that night out from the window?" Davi asked but was punched by Ponta for asking such a rude question.
"Its okay Ponta. I don't remember much except the dead bodies of the citizens and ruined building all across the city. But I can clearly remember a large obelisk appearing from the ground, onyx in color and covered in chaotic runes from top to bottom." Caja told the group.
The conversation continued a bit longer, the group talking about their lives before the calamity and with the sound of a bell clanging to announce the rotation in guard duty, throwing a few pieces of wood on the bonfire the soldiers said good night and headed towards their lodging.
Three days later the group were at the entrance to the Cymbal forest, Will noticed that a large part of the outer woods have rotted and decomposed into a ruined land. "This seems incorrect, wasn't the sacred forests supposed to be protected by enchantments." Will asked Artír, confused by the sight before him.
"Indeed, I don't know the reason but we have to tread carefully through the forest." Artír told the prince and their soldiers. Getting of their horses the caravan began traveling through the forest along the path,
After an hour of traveling suddenly something flew half a meter from Filís, a young High-elven female with long braided blond hair reaching down to her back. She possessed a pair of beautiful blue eyes inherited by her high-elven heritage and on her face a scar from her left ear down to her cheek was visible. On her hip she carried a longsword beautifully ornate with several gemstones in its cross guard. The small creature looked like a small child, only twenty centimetres tall with large glittering wings.
The small creature started talking to Filís with a beautiful voice and the young elf was entranced by it. The creature began flying away from the group, asking Filís to follow it in a melodic and soothing tone. She began walking towards the small creature into the forest, but before she could leave the group Will threw a dagger towards the creature, scaring it away from the camp into the forest. Filís awoke from the trance and asked what happened and Will explained that she had been fae charmed by a woodland fairy, a forest being known to entrance travelers passing though their territory.
Voices and shadows echoed throughout the forest, the lesser experienced soldiers nervously tightened their grip on their weapons while the more experienced among the soldiers attempted to light some torches, but Artír ordered to extinguish the torches and explained that fire drew the attention of spirits. He explained that they may look harmless; however, they charm the person and make them walk aimlessly throughout the forest until they die of starvation or fatigue. A few soldiers shuddered in fear by Artír's explanation of the creature Filís encountered. Looking around them they noticed that they were surrounded by a thick forest made up of mostly oaken-wood and Dusk-wood, the ground was filled with flowers of all colors and some thorn bushes covered the more intangible parts of Cymbal.
Some hours after the band had entered the forest Will gave out the order to set up camp, Artír led the camp set up and gave out provisions to the soldiers. Under his command there were several dwarven men that set up runes in the ground to charm of magic and gave out orders to the less experienced soldiers. Among the dwarven soldiers one in peculiar stood out, a dwarven man named Perran from Teras-Ulrik, one of the dwarven kingdoms. He had a bald head but a long-braided beard reaching down to his waist, he had several colourful gems embedded in the beard. In his hands he held an axe with a leather-bound shaft and an engraved axe head with runic symbols.
"Perran, It seems the runes are working, but they are not as effective as before." Artír spoke to his friend as he looked over the runes inlaid on the ground.
"Ay, We are nearly out of ink so we had to compensate some of the ingredients with some of lesser quality." Perran explained while finishing the last rune.
"Hopefully we leave this accursed land soon." One of the rune-carvers commented.
"It takes three days to pass though Cymbal forest, more now due to the condition of our people. But surely we have a safe journey, Cymbal forest have been been empty for years, except for this unknown creature we are alone in this forest." Artír explained to the rune-carver.
Finishing the runes the dwarves headed back to the wagons to get dinner. Standing in the queue one of the soldiers noticed Artír and Will speaking to each other, he hesitated for a moment before asking the prince, "Prince Will, are we safe laying camp here?" The soldier asked nervously. Will noticed the soldiers nervousness and reassured him that the group is safe. Placing his hand on the soldiers shoulder Will noticed how young the soldier in front of him was, about the same age as he was when they fled the capital.
"Ay Bran, We dwarves have a knack for runes, the entire camp is surrounded by runes to ward of magic, so unless you leave the encampment you don't have to worry about anything." Perran spoke with confidence in his tone, assured his work was working. Thanking the dwarf for the reassurance Bran took a bowl of stew and bread from the hastily made kitchen before sitting down with the other soldiers.
While eating his stew Will thought about these past years and the many lives that have been lost, his conviction bolstered and he fell asleep amongst his comrades, assured that the final hurdle would be completed and they would arrive in Salamish soon.