It was a couple of hours past midnight, and about time for Lucien to wake Lynn up so that he could go to bed.

He was sitting there with the rabbit on his lap, reading from Earnest’s journal. He had never paid this much attention to the journal before. He had always treated it as just another thing his family left behind that he needed to guard.

He would occasionally read some stories from it to his children, those that were suitable for them at least, but he would never read much of it. He more or less used what was written in there to supplement the more well known legends and folk tales.

He had learnt a lot from reading it now. There was a lot of insight into the events at the time, which was to be expected giving who had written it. It painted a far more realistic picture of what was going on than the legends and stories that were common place.

Maybe I should read this again. There’s a lot for me to learn from this.

Turning to the next page, he felt the weight disappear from his lap. He looked down to see that the rabbit was gone. Where did it go? He looked from side to side, but couldn’t see it anywhere.

With the rabbit gone, he closed the book and put it back in his bag, where it was safe, Looking around once more to make sure nothing was coming for them, his mind started wandering and he decided that he needed to get some rest.

He reached out to Lynn and shook her awake. “It’s your turn. It’s been pretty quiet so far.”

She looked at him with blurry eyes for a moment, then nodded. She sat up with a yawn and looked around.

After making sure that she was fully awake, Lucien laid down in his bedroll and let his mind drift off to sleep.

A few hours passed and nothing disturbed them until the sun rose in the sky.

Lynn woke Lucien up after he got five hours of sleep, and after a quick breakfast, they packed everything up and set off on their horses again.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the village of Ishtal.

Ishtal was one of the villages on the edge of the wasteland, and was lucky enough that the monster didn’t make it further than it did, otherwise it would have been destroyed just like the others.

It was a rather small village, of only about fifty people, and didn’t have anything of note except for its proximity to the wasteland. However, the villagers managed to sustain themselves thanks to this fact.

There were some adventurers dumb enough to believe they could find something valuable out in that wasteland, and the villagers capitalised on this to keep a constant stream of trade going.

While there may have been valuable things there a long time ago, that wasn’t the case now. Anything of worth had either already been taken, or was buried under so much earth that nobody would be able to reach it.

But some people still tried.

The instant that Lucien and Lynn set foot in the village, they were immediately set upon by an overeager trader.

“Welcome adventurers! You must be on your way to the great wasteland in search of treasure. While I’m sure that you’re well prepared, allow me to offer you some much needed advice if you want to survive out there.”

He was a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard and a round, somewhat plump face. He had a bit of muscle on his arms and legs, with a large gut.

He had a conniving grin, a large, bulbous red nose, and snake like eyes.

Between the nose and the belly, it was clear that a lot of his money was spent on alcohol.

He looked at them with greed, that while it was subtle enough to be hidden from most, couldn’t get past Lucien at all.

Lucien put his hand up, stopping the man from continuing his spiel. “We don’t need any of your help, thank you. I just need to talk to your mayor. I have important business to discuss.”

Seeing this, the man put on an amiable smile, but it was clear that his mood had been dampened. “Well of course. The mayor is currently telling the kids some stories. She’s just over there, you can’t miss her.” He pointed further into the village at a group of kids that were sitting in a circle around an old woman.

After saying this, the man walked back to his stall, eagerly lying in wait for the next person to enter the village.

“Shouldn’t we have heard him out?” Lynn asked, confused.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“He was just gonna try and have us pay for information that we already knew, or for stuff that we don’t need,” Lucien explained as they made their way over to the mayor.

“I know, but we could still see if he had stuff that we would actually need,” Lynn said.

“We’ll see. We don’t know if we’re missing anything yet. We’ll ask the mayor when she’s done.”

They had already gathered all of the supplies that they would need to cross the wasteland and make it to the next village just fine. But if there was anything specific that they might need that would be useful, or that could make the journey easier, then he wouldn’t mind getting it.

Upon reaching the group of children, they hopped off their horses and waited off to the side for the mayor to be finished with her business.

The mayor was an old woman, probably in her eighties or nineties, but still looked healthy enough for her age. She could walk around just fine without a cane, and could even lift some of the children up without her body complaining.

She had shoulder length grey hair that was tied back in a braid. Her thin curved eyebrows, a small nose, and cracked lips were all surrounded by wrinkles.

It was evident that she had done a good job taking care of herself.

A group of young children were sitting in a circle on the ground around her, eagerly listening to her with wide smiles.

She was sitting on top of a tree stump with a toddler on her lap. She had a gentle smile as she looked around at the children. Her eyes stopped for a moment on Lucien and Lynn, causing her to get distracted and forget her words.

“Now where was I? Oh, that’s right. That brave adventurer was as strong as an ox...” She picked up where she left off, telling the children a story about an adventurer that had come through the village in her youth.

The adventurer was incredibly tall, taller than anyone she had ever seen. So tall that she thought she had met a descendant of the giants. She couldn’t quite remember how tall he was due to how long ago it was, but she remembered that he was about twice her height.

And she was not a short woman. She was above average for women.

The adventurer was also incredibly strong, capable of lifting large rocks with ease, and had helped out a great deal by taking care of a dangerous beast that was getting too close to the village.

“...After he took down the beast, he dragged it all the way back here by himself. When he got back, it looked like he was carrying a mountain with him.

The monster was so big that we were able to feast for a week. I think I still have some of that creature’s scales with me,” she muttered to herself. “I’ll try and find it to show to you all next time. Now all of you run along.”

She passed the toddler off to one of the older children then shooed the rest of them off. The children scattered. Some ran back home, others went off to play elsewhere.

Seeing that all of the children were gone, she slowly walked over to Lucien and Lynn, who had been patiently waiting at the side. “I noticed that you’ve been standing there for a while now. Is there something I can help you with?”

“Is there a place we can talk in private?” Lucien asked.

“Of course.” Seeing the serious look on his face, she turned around and guided them back to her home.

It was a small house. Not anything as lavish as some of the places they had seen, but not as small as the shack Uther had lived and worked in.

The inside was adorned with a large amount of furniture and assorted knickknacks. There was still plenty of area to move around in, but it definitely felt cluttered.

“Apologies for the mess. I’ve lived a long life and have just picked up too much across the years. Please sit down.” She pointed to a table with a few chairs. “How may I address you?”

“Lucien.”

“Lynn.”

“Alright Lucien and Lynn, you can call me Mary,” she introduced herself with a gentle smile. “Do you need something to drink?” she asked as she made her way to the kitchen.

“No, thank you,” Lucien declined.

Lucien’s eyes drifted around the room as he sat down at the table. There are a lot of monster parts here. Did she take them down herself? Or did she get all of these from adventurers?

He was tempted to ask her more about this stuff, but he didn’t want to spend too long here. Maybe I’ll ask when I get back here.

She came back to the room after a few minutes with a mug of warm water in her hands. She sat down on the chair opposite them, sighing as she took a sip.

“You don’t look like the typical adventurers I see walking through here. Why are you here?” she asked.

“Have you heard about the recent bandit attacks?” he asked.

“Of course. I don’t think there’s anyone in the region who hasn’t. We’re lucky that the bandits haven’t decided to attack us yet. I don’t think I’ve heard anything about them coming this close to the wasteland.”

Lucien went on to briefly explain what had happened recently and how the bandits had gotten worse. He told her that Locham had been destroyed, but didn’t go into much detail.

She looked at him with pity, easily able to fill the blanks on what happened. “I’m sorry that happened to you. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“We’ll be crossing the wasteland. Is there anything that we should get to make things easier?” Lynn asked.

She stopped to think for a moment, pondering. “Show me what you have.”

“Everything’s with the horses right now.”

With that, the group got up and walked outside to the horses that were tied up out front of the house. They opened the bags to show her everything that they had.

They had plenty of food and water, wood and pieces of flint for fires, and a few tools and knives that could prove useful.

“Hmm. There are a few things I can think of. Give me a second.” She walked back inside and disappeared for a few minutes. She returned with a small piece of parchment just when they were about to go back inside to look for her.

She handed the parchment to Lynn. “Get everything I’ve written here. Go to the stall on the left just outside the exit to the wasteland, tell him I sent you, he should have everything you’ll need.”

“Thank you.” Lucien bowed slightly to her.

“There’s no need for such formalities. I’m too old for that.” She waved him off. “May the Matron bless your journey.” She offered a prayer and walked back inside.

They scrutinised the list, noticing a few different items. They untied their horses then walked side by side with them. “Let’s get going.”