Chapter 6:

That rain continued throughout the entire day and only stopped around midnight.

During this time, Belferon kept talking to me and asking questions, trying to fish for any details about me and Ren. I remained on guard and avoided giving him any openings in our conversations. Whenever I did slip up, I decided to play the silence game. When I did that, he didn’t push me further, so it worked like a charm. On the other hand, I managed to learn quite a lot about him. He was eighty-five years old and had been traveling alone like this for the past fifty years. It sounded both incredible and unbelievable, and I wondered if I’d ever be able to live that long. I quickly shook off those thoughts. I needed to focus only on the present - one day at a time.

He also revealed that he was heading north to a village called Genehof, which was about a week’s journey on foot from our current location. Apparently, this village held an annual celebration for the goddess Vitara, and he hadn’t missed a single one in the past forty-four years. An impressive attendance record, even if it was for something as useless as religion. The annual celebrations were usually held in the spring, as Vitara was the goddess of life, and spring was her season. However, this year they had to move it forward to the winter. When I asked why, he explained it the best way he could.

“How far apart are we sitting right now?” he asked.

“About a meter and a half.” I answered, unsure where his explanation was heading.

“Would you agree that it’s close?”

“Relatively speaking, yes.”

“I’m glad you mentioned relativity because that’s where I was headed with this.” He said, a spark of excitement in his voice. “Let’s say we were villages, and each meter between us was actually a kilometer. Would you agree that building a village fifteen hundred meters from you is pretty close? Maybe even too close?”

I tried to picture a distance of a kilometer and a half in my mind. It wasn’t that long - a normal person could cover it at a leisurely pace in about fifteen minutes. Then I reminded myself we were talking about villages. These could gradually expand over the years, reducing the distance between them over time. Very quickly the fifteen minutes could turn into five. But was that necessarily a bad thing? They could expand in opposite directions, or even merge at some point. I didn’t quite understand what point he was trying to make.

“I know what you’re thinking.” He said, grinning. “It’s because I forgot to add one important detail.”

“Which is?” I asked.

“My village is in a neighboring kingdom.”

Okay. That changes things. Two villages so close to each other at the border between kingdoms could easily lead up to all sorts of trouble. No kingdom liked it when their neighbors settled too close to their borders. “I think I understand what you mean.” I said.

“Great!” he said, excitement in his voice. “I was afraid my yapping was getting out of hand again. Now, let’s get back to reality - Genehof and Lahvus, of the neighboring Chilpedian kingdom. All would be well if Lahvus wasn’t a newly formed village. Less than a year it exists, and our king had already warned the Chilpedians against settling too close to Morthryga’s borders, but it seems that warning fell on deaf ears. As the closest Morthrygan settlement to Chilpedia, the villagers of Genehof fear that a war may break out there sooner rather than later. They decided that moving the celebrations forward to the winter was better than risking Vitara's anger by not having them at all."

So, Genehof was right on the border with the neighboring Chilpedian kingdom. The idea of crossing the border and heading there was tempting, especially with the looming threat of Morthryga’s twisted heroes hanging over our heads. Crossing the border would mean that Ren and I would be mostly protected from them, as they couldn’t cross into Chilpedia on a whim without declaring formal war. On the other hand, if a war did break out because of Lahvus, we would eventually be hunted down. So, all thing considered, I decided to dismiss the idea.

“Where is Genehof relative to Willox?” I asked him.

“Why, northeast of Willox, of course. Didn’t they teach you that in your big city schools?” he replied, genuine surprise in his voice.

“No, they didn’t.” I answered, keeping a straight face. I haven’t been to a school since I was ten - eight years ago.

My lack of knowledge in geography could prove to be one of our greatest weaknesses, so I tried to create a mental map to gain at least some sense of the environment. When we first appeared on the hill, Willox’s northern gates were directly behind me, and when I chose a direction, I walked with the city to my right. That means we’ve been walking east so far, in the general direction of Chilpedia.

“What about Peltragow?” I asked, trying to expand the mental map I was creating. Elandor said it was on the way to Kase, so figuring out where Peltragow was would help me understand the general direction we needed to take to reach Kase - after I found a healer for Ren, of course.

“What about it?” he replied, a grin spreading across his face.

“In which direction is it?” I elaborated.

“It depends.” he said thoughtfully. “Relative to Genehof or relative to Willox?”

“To Willox.”

“Southwest.” He replied quickly.

Southwest from Willox likely meant the same for Kase. It also meant that by walking east until now, I had only gotten us further away from our desired destination.

“Is it far?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. “On foot? At least two months from here. Could be even three, depending on the weather, which is surely going to stink.”

Three months? That’s way too long. How am I supposed to take care of us for such a long time? Surely the champions would find us by then. And that’s before even considering that our true destination, Kase, was even farther away.

“Do you know someone in Peltragow?” he asked, his voice tinged with curiosity.

His question caught me by surprise, but I quickly managed to fabricate another lie. “Yes, our grandparents live there.”

“I see.” He said. “Well, you should get a horse, then. It would cut at least half the time I mentioned. Also, the road to Peltragow isn’t entirely suited for walking.”

A good horse would cost around twenty golden crowns. I had zero crowns. Not even a single silver penny. Zero. None. Nothing. I could try and sell the hematite and the moonstone when we reached a large village or town, but even that wouldn’t bring in enough gold – they weren’t that valuable to begin with, and since selling them was illegal, those who would buy them wouldn’t pay more than three quarters of their worth. I guess we’ll have to take our chances on foot, or I could try and steal a horse when the opportunity arises. “I think we’ll manage on foot.” I said.

“Oh, I wouldn’t recommend that.” he replied, shaking his head. “To get to Peltragow, you’d have to either cross through the Viloros Mountains or go around them. If you go around on foot, it’ll add another two weeks to your journey. But if you trek through the mountains instead, you’ll save a week. And with a horse, you could shave off an additional three days – it’ll make a world of difference.”

Another week if I don’t get a horse, then? Things were just getting better and better…

“What route should I take if I want to reach Peltragow without crossing through Willox?” I asked.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before quickly speaking up. “If you continue southeast from here on foot, you’ll eventually reach Seros. Then you’ll need to go south to Latenda, then head west to Magelina, south again to Welkonia, and then west again through the Viloros Mountains until you reach Peltragow. Did you catch all that?”

He blurted out everything so rapidly that I could barely catch the names of the cities and villages he mentioned. Luckily, my memory was always my strongest suit, so I still managed to map them out in my mind.

“I won’t pry into your reasons for avoiding Willox.” He suddenly said. “But keep in my mind that it will add another three weeks to your journey. My previous estimate assumed you’d pass through the capital.”

What? Another three weeks? So, if I sum everything up, assuming we won’t have a horse, the journey to Peltragow could take us around four months…Things were getting from bad to worse with every new geographical question I asked Belferon. “How far is Seros?” I took a risk and asked another one. Hopefully, Seros was close and had a healer who could attend to Ren. How was I planning to pay the medical bills? I had no clue, but each problem would have to be dealt with when the time came.

“Around nine days, if the rain doesn’t slow you down.” He chuckled.

I sighed. Considering we had just witnessed the first rain of this year’s winter, more rain in the coming days was certain. The thought of Ren’s condition worsening scared me. “What is the closest city or village to us?” I asked.

“Closest is Willox, of course.” He replied.

“What is the closest city or village to us, besides Willox?” I rephrased my question.

“Hmm, let’s see.” He made a thoughtful gesture. “Since you need a high-healer for your sister, Vedem is your best bet.”

“How far is it?” I asked.

“Four days north of here.” He replied. “It’s in the direction of Genehof, so I can accompany you there if you’d like.”

It was in the opposite direction of our journey, but I couldn’t risk Ren’s health any longer. The rhodonite might’ve helped a little, but she was still unconscious from using an unrefined hematite. Only a skilled healer, a high-healer, would know how to treat her properly. Four days wasn’t too far, considering our journey to Peltragow would take around four months. And Belferon, weird as he was, guiding us to Vedem would certainly ease the journey somewhat. Especially if he had more food in that magical backpack of his. If he did, it would be one less thing for me to worry about.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Sure.” I said. “I appreciate the help.”

He grinned. “No problem, my young friend.”

***

I couldn’t find sleep the entire night, nor did I actively seek it.

My senses, sharpened by survival instincts, were on high alert. The distant howls of nocturnal beasts formed a haunting melody, intensifying my restlessness. Fatigue hung heavy on me. It was as if the past day’s ordeals had caught up with me, and my body ached everywhere. My eyelids, sensing my exhaustion, threatened to descend and plunge me into sleep. Yet, I resisted the temptation and remained vigilant.

I sat with my back against the rough wall of the estate, with Ren nestled beside me. Belferon lay on the other side of the fire, wrapped in a dark wool blanket. He had offered me one as well, but I refused, still fearing that all of this might eventually come back to bite me. My eyes rarely left the old man, skeptical and wary. There was a strange comfort in watching him sleep - at least this way, I didn’t have to worry about him doing something. But was his sleep genuine, or a ruse to lower my guard? I pondered the possibility that Belferon might be an elaborate charlatan, an actor playing the part of a benevolent old man. What were his motives? There was no way he was just helping strangers out of the kindness of his heart. I didn’t buy his bullshit about enjoying the company of strangers. A stranger you meet is more likely to slit your throat, rob you, or both, than help you. If he was truthful about traveling like this for fifty years, there’s no way he didn’t end up stabbed and killed at least forty-nine years ago. If the rest of the world was anything like Willox, then it was a terrible place.

The memories of my friends’ deaths revived the panic in my heart, and suddenly, every creak in the house or rustle of the wind reawakened my paranoia. Morthryga’s Champions loomed in my thoughts. The fear that they could emerge from the darkness at any moment kept me on edge. I recalled Alaric Belton’s threatening words when he saw me pick up the stone. It felt like the calcite was more than just a treasure he wanted to prevent from being stolen; it seemed important to Kase as well, and I wondered why. Elandor never told us why they asked for this specific stone, and he himself didn’t know what powers it held.

I glanced at Belferon again, just to make sure his eyes were still closed. Upon confirmation, I pulled the calcite from my pocket and watched it under the bonfire’s dim light. It looked so…normal. So insignificant. Many minerals were incredibly beautiful - some had a unique color of their own, while others came in a myriad of colors, each one providing different magical abilities. But the calcite was just a transparent stone, nothing special about it visually. Yet it was special, or it wouldn’t have attracted the attention of a neighboring kingdom.

I carefully hid it back in my pocket and stared at the ceiling. My mind raced with thoughts - about Ren, about the calcite, about the Champions, and what happened in that treasury. My heart ached.

***

Once morning came and the rain stopped, we got ready to leave.

I loaded our somewhat dried clothes into Belferon’s backpack and lifted Ren from the floor. Belferon, seemingly unable to bear seeing me carrying her on my back, immediately proposed a different solution.

“If you carry her with the sleeping bag on, you might drop her since it’s slippery.” He said, grinning. “But you shouldn’t take it off, or she’ll get cold. Luckily for you, my backpack has something that might help.”

He reached into his backpack and, after a few pulls, brough out a small cart. It was made out of wood, with a single wheel and two handles, and it was much larger than the backpack itself. There was enough space on it to lay Ren comfortably, with her legs bent just a little.

I put her in the cart and wondered why Belferon would even have a cart in his backpack. I didn’t voice the question, assuming he’d have another bizarre answer, much like his excuse for carrying extra pairs of clothes that didn’t match a man his size.

“This way, my young friend!” He said cheerfully as he led the way north, Willox already just a small dot to the southwest of us. I followed him, pulling the cart, and Ren, behind me.

From the beginning of our journey together, I quickly realized that Belferon’s talkative personality became even more extreme when he was walking. He talked non-stop, raising countless philosophical questions about life and other themes during the day. And at night, he would pose even more questions, telling me to sleep on them so we could discuss them the next day. Needless to say, I ignored each and every one of those question and just tried to roll with the conversation the following day.

On the first day of the journey, to my pleasant surprise, there was no rain, and Belferon spent the entire day telling me the story of how he became a vegetarian - the same story which he had planned to tell me when we first met, and which, in my naivety, I thought I had managed to avoid. Later on, he began preaching about Vitara, the goddess of life. My annoyance was clearly visible, which only prompted him to speak about her even more. “You know, when my heart first opened up to Vitara, my life truly changed.” He said.

I shook my head as I realized the conversation had returned to the very topic I was hoping he’d leave behind. “Look, Belferon.” I said, trying to sound respectful. “I’m not really one for religious talks.”

“But it’s not even about religion, my young friend.” He said jovially. “It is about life!”

About life? Of course…there was only one thing Belferon couldn’t stop rambling about: his love for life and all living things. And, apparently, his divine reasons for being that way.

The second day was mostly rainy, and Belferon surprised me when he pulled out a humongous umbrella from his backpack - an umbrella so massive it was enough to cover all three of us. We took turns holding it so the other could rest his arms, and when my turn came, I feared it would be extremely heavy. Yet it was lighter than a feather and still sturdy enough to withstand the extreme winds. Another item enhanced by runic magic, I assumed. When I asked him about it, he admitted he couldn’t actually recall where he got it.

On the third day, which was rainy as well, he was eager to explore the realms of thought and decided to delve into a rather abstract concept that had been occupying his mind. “My thoughtful companion, have you ever contemplated the nature of time? How it weaves through our lives, shaping our experiences and moulding our destinies?” he asked.

The only time I had contemplated time was two days ago, when I realized it would take us four months to reach Peltragow. It had me wondering if it was even worth going there.

“Time is just a measure.” I replied. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

He grinned. “Ah, but time is more than the ticking of a clock. It’s a river, flowing and shaping the landscape as it goes. Our moments, like ripples on its surface, forever altering the course of destiny.”

I was getting tired of his philosophical talks, so I decided to try a different approach to get him off my back. “The ripples disappear eventually while the river remains.” I said calmly. “So, in your metaphor, we are essentially meaningless…Nice.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment, then frowned. “You’re such a downer.”

I shrugged. Did I succeed? Would I finally have a moment of silence? My hopes were quickly crushed as he suddenly laughed. “It’s so refreshing that I feel like I need to pick your brain some more!”

Of course not.

During the days, but mostly at night, memories of the Blood Moon Foxes kept resurfacing in my mind - Will, Frenkie, and Elandor, and the grotesque ends they had to meet. The pain of losing them, of losing what we had in our small base house in Willox, hurt me more than I had ever imagined it would. I couldn’t believe that three years was enough for me to feel this way.

All three were bright and cheerful people. Frenkie was air-headed most of the time, a trait that made him endearing to everyone, even to a quiet person like me. Will was the most level-headed of us all; he seemed to have it all. He was funny, extremely sociable, showed leadership qualities, and knew when to be understanding and compassionate. And Elandor was…Elandor. One of a kind. I doubt I’ll ever meet anyone like him again. He was the only adult, aside of my parents, who actually saw something in me.

Many times, we passed other travelers and merchants heading to Willox, and I did my best to hide my face from them. They asked Belferon for directions, which he happily provided. Some of them even inquired about Ren and if they could help in any way. Unfortunately, none of them were healers, so they couldn’t.

On the third day, as the sun began to set, the rain, which had come and gone throughout the day, finally seemed to cease completely.

“I think we should make camp right here.” Belferon suggested. “We should be able to reach Vedem tomorrow around noon.”

Tomorrow around noon? But that meant we were so close. Why were we stopping?

“Isn’t it a bit early to make camp?” I asked, confused. “The sun hasn’t set yet. We still have at least two hours before complete darkness.”

“These parts are quite dangerous to travel late, my boy.” He replied calmly, before returning to his loud and cheerful self. “We should rest. And don’t worry, we’ll get your sister to a healer tomorrow.”

I wanted to insist, but he looked like he knew what he was talking about, so I reluctantly agreed to his suggestion.

We set up the camp near some woods by the side of the road. Belferon lit a fire using two chert stones and some wood he had in his backpack, just as he had done each of the previous nights. Once again, I envied the simplicity of his process compared to the arduous struggle I went through when I had to light our fire in that abandoned estate. He was also wary of the possibility that the rain would return, so he pulled out a large piece of a deep-blue colored cotton fabric and tightly stretched it between some trees, securing it over our heads with some nails and a hammer. When I questioned how a piece of cotton fabric was going to protect us from the rain he simply said. “Boy, it’s obviously enhanced by runic magic as well.” Then he laughed. “I’ve gathered many peculiar items such as this during my travels. You’re thinking about it too much.”

I picked up Ren from the cart and carried her next to the fire, as I did on all of the prior nights. As I put her down, I took a quick glance at her right arm, which was still the same purplish color. The only thing that calmed me was that it didn’t spread further into her body and that the color hadn’t intensified. I wanted to believe it was thanks to the rhodonite.

Belferon tossed some apples in my direction.

“What? No grill tonight?” I asked. I had grown quite fond of the grilled vegetables he made for us each night over the past three days, even if it wasn’t as filling and nutritious as meat.

“Sadly, no.” He laughed. “I’m glad you liked them, but it looks like I finally ran out of veggies. I’ll have to stock up in Vedem for the rest of my journey to Genehof.”

I felt a bit bad, knowing that I was the reason he ran out of food. He probably didn’t expect to share his supplies with someone for so long. He always talked about his meetings with strangers, but those were always just singular occurrences along the road. He said he hadn’t traveled alongside anyone for years.

I watched Ren’s unconscious face, and hope rushed into my heart. Tomorrow would be the day I finally got her to a healer. If everything went well, she might even wake up. I wondered what she’d say and how she’d react. Elandor believed she would want revenge, and if that was the case, I knew I would have to stop her. Revenge against the kingdom’s champions was pointless. They would kill us without batting an eye. The only ones who had any real chance against those guys were the heroes of other kingdoms, and even they would question their ability to do so, considering Morthryga’s heroes were known and respected far beyond its own territory.

“You shan’t worry, my young friend.” Belferon suddenly said. “The healer in Vedem, Vera is her name, is a good one. Judging by our first meeting and the last few days together, I’ve already deduced you haven’t ventured outside of Willox before. So trust me when I say this woman is the best healer around these parts.”

It was reassuring to hear, but I still worried about how I’d pay her once we got there. I had nothing of value to give.

The anxiety and exhaustion I had accumulated over the last few days, and mostly sleepless nights, finally took its toll on me. I fought to keep my eyelids open. I couldn’t allow myself to fall asleep. Belferon was still awake, and I hadn’t yet decided if I could trust him. What if I fall asleep and he tried something? What if he robbed me of the calcite and the tourmaline and left us alone in the rain? Or worse, what if he was some old pervert just waiting for the moment to assault me or Ren?

I had to stay awake.

But while my mind was adamant about not falling asleep, my body didn’t listen, and I began slowly losing this internal battle.

The final thing I heard before I blacked out was Belferon’s voice reassuring me. “It’s okay, my young friend. You can rest. I’ll keep watch.”

***

My eyes shot open, my heart pounding in my ears. Panic gripped me as I scanned our campsite, searching for any sign of Belferon, but the old man was nowhere in sight.

“Ren!” I instinctively shouted, and relief washed over me as I found her lying in the same spot where I had placed her. Yet, my brief respite shattered as I instinctively reached for the calcite – the precious stone we had risked so much and paid tenfold in blood. The two stones I took were still in my pocket, along with Ren’s moonstone, Elandor’s tourmaline, and Frenkie’s fluorite. But the calcite? Gone.

Dread crawled up my spine, and just as the realization of the missing stone sank in, a familiar voice, smooth and melodic, sliced through the darkness. “Looking for this?”

Time seemed to freeze as I searched for the source of the voice. There, leaning against one of the trees Belferon nailed the covering fabric to, was a man with long red hair, holding the calcite stone between his fingers.

It was Axel Bane. He had found us.