Rycress left me to ponder for a bit. He walked around the perimeter of the clearing while I sat there, shocked and silent. I had thought I was good at handling big news, but this hit like a truck and had completely stopped me in my tracks. I knew I couldn’t sit there forever, so, I took a deep breath and pressed myself to my feet.
I couldn’t dwell on the past forever, especially not while sitting in the middle of this creepy forest. Who knows if my rescuer will decide to up and leave. It’s hard to put my trust in a guy that I hardly know.
“Are you ready to leave, now?”
“Where will you take me?” I figured it was a reasonable question to ask. Although the knowledge was currently useless to me, if I ever got my bearings, knowing the name of the city I was in would be useful. I simply had to hope that Rycress would be willing to humor me and what would probably turn into an endless barrage of questions.
“I will be taking you to an acquaintance in Rivish. I expect it to take half a day for us to arrive. If you have no further need for delay, let us depart”.
He started off in a direction, something vaguely westward based on the sun, and I quickly moved to fall into step beside him. I didn’t want to be left behind.
We walked for what seemed like hours, but the sun had barely moved. I kept looking at Rycress, but he didn’t say anything, an amused smirk on his face almost every time I glanced over.
The terrain was rough and rocky, and I got steered around seemingly at random. Rycress would glance in a direction at seemingly nothing and declare that we needed to make a looping left for the next 20 minutes. Either he knew stuff I didn’t or he was allergic to walking in a straight line.
Once or twice, he would leap off into the bushes, almost always vanishing from sight, and I would hear a crash or scream of pain, but he would almost stride back within a minute or two, looking none the worse for the wear, the same almost infuriating smirk on his face. He’s a scary guy. I think that he definitely steered me away from some nasty things, judging by the claw marks I saw and the noises I heard.
After I figured out he wasn’t much for conversation, I began pondering what I would do. If I couldn’t get home I would have to do something here. Find work, or something valuable. It’s not like I could invent something. I didn’t really have the requisite knowledge, materials, etc, nor would people need most of the things I could think to make if they were all like Rycress.
It’s not like I had many skills suited for a medieval society. I couldn’t chop trees, smith or craft or raise livestock. I wasn’t willing to mine unless I had no other choice. I didn’t even know how to churn butter.
I suppose I could use my schooling here? I don’t know how good the education systems are at this place, but I know many medieval peasants couldn’t even read. I could serve as a copier, or bookkeeper of some sort for a merchant or small-time noble? My plan might not survive reality, as there were any number of factors that could tear it apart, but it was all I had. I vowed to keep thinking on it.
As I stood there, lost in thought, starting to fall behind, I vaguely heard
“You might want to stand back”.
As I looked up, Rycress drew his blade, and in one smooth motion, whipped his arm around, the blade blurring, slicing through the air, a buzzing silver blaze that circled around him, clearing all the brush withing 6 feet of him. The slice sent air rushing past my ears, blowing my hair back.
As I stood there, stunned, he sheathed his sword, and then proceeded over to a nearby tree, laying down on its trunk, his feet crossed. I briefly noticed that the mud on his boots was gone.
“We are stopping here for the night. I would recommend you try and get some rest. We have more walking to do on the morrow”.
I glanced up at the sky, shocked to see the light of the sun was almost vanishing. I had spent so much time in thought that I had completely missed it going down. I probably would have wandered off a cliff had I been left unattended. With a sign, I sank down onto the ground.
I realized there was a problem immediately. There was no fire, I had nothing to sleep on, not shelter aside from the trees in case it rained, and no food. I had been too preoccupied with my thoughts to notice it, but I hadn’t eaten anything in hours. My stomach rumbled angrily, and a feeling almost like nausea swept over me.
I turned to ask Rycress if he had any sort of food or rations, a bedroll, anything to make what was, I was quickly realizing, going to be a very unpleasant experience. The bastard was already asleep!
I walked up to him, intending to tap his shoulder, but as soon as I got close enough, his hands blurred, grabbing onto my arms, flipping me over his body. I slammed onto the ground, stars swimming in my eyes. I laid there, writhing on the ground, my back burning, the bruises from my earlier fall magnifying the pain of the impact.
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My mouth opened involuntarily, releasing something that was between a groan and a scream.
“Guhhhhhh aahhhh”
One of Rycress’ eyes flicked opened, before swiveling to look at me.
“Would you be amenable to keeping the noise down? You may not want to rest, but I would prefer to”
His eye snapped back shut, and his breathing once again depend.
That bastard. He throws me around like a sack of hay and then tells me to piss off? I would show him a piece of my mind if I wasn’t in so much pain and so sore, and if I wasn’t completely confident he would kick my ass, and if he wasn’t my only way to human civilization, and if he hadn’t probably saved my life multiple times already. He ought to know he was walking a thin line.
Grumbling, I trumbled back to my tree, laying down to lick my wounds and plot my revenge. I muttered to myself as shifted around, trying to fall asleep. I soon realized that would be a difficult task. It had gotten cold. Very cold. Plus, the ground was lumpy and dug into my bruises. The fact that I kept jumping at every little noise did not help.
It was a profoundly uncomfortable couple of hours as I tossed and turned, and huddled upon myself, shivering. I eventually drifted off into sleep, however.
It felt like no time at all had passed when I was gently shook awake. Rycress’ armored hand retreated from my shoulder, as I drearily turned to peer up at him. He had that infuriating smile on his face, a strong contrast to what must have been an exhausted glare from me.
I swept my gaze around. The light of the sun was barely starting to peek above the horizon, causing a sickly yellow light to shine through the topmost leaves of the nearby trees.
“Up an attem!” Rycress enunciated unclearly, as if this was his first attempt to speak a foreign language. With a groan, I pushed myself to my feet. It figures that I was stuck with an early bird.
Sleeping helped a little bit, but I must’ve only caught a few hours. I had more energy now than last night, by I felt almost as beat up as yesterday. My back ached from being slammed on the ground repeatedly.
I wandered over to my savior. He was once again scanning around, peering intensely at the same forest we had been wandering by for the entire length of my time here. I didn’t know if he was actually seeing something I wasn’t or if he just wasn’t all there.
I decided it didn’t really matter.
“Our path will intersect with the road soon. After that, it will be an hour’s journey more before we arrive at Rivish” Rycress said.
The thought of more walking made me wince. Plus, my stomach had started waking up, and it was back with a vengeance. My gut felt like it was starting to cramp up.
We set off towards the road, the brambles and thorns thinning out. We pushed through the last of the thicket, emerging onto a road of packed dirt, along with some sparsely interspersed rocks. The cobbles were few and far between, and what did remain was covered with cracks and worn down the passage of countless feet, wagon wheels, and storms. On the other side of the road stood an empty prairie, with broken down fences partially surrounding its edges.
I stared down the road. It was empty for miles behind us. In front of us, it curved over a hill. I saw a small speck in the distance, with all the grays and browns of wood and stone. It looked like a town. I suspected it was Rivesh.
The road was a godsend. It was a blessing to not have to step over logs, dodge branches, and pull thorns out of your clothes (or arms) every few seconds. It greatly improved our pace, although I suspect Rycress could have gone far faster than this even in the thickest of woodland snarl, but my exhausted legs held him back.
After what was probably 20 minutes on the road, Rycress spoke.
“I’m going to leave you off with my acquaintance as soon as we arrive”.
I said nothing. Although I didn’t like him, he was the only familiar face in this place. It would be difficult enough for me to adjust without knowing literally nobody.
The dot in the distance got closer and closer. It was a little city. If I had to guess, it could hold around 5,000 people or so, although I was no expert. My numbers could have been significantly off the mark.
In another half hour or so, we reached the walls. They were mostly scratched, rotten wood, with older, crumbling stone pillars and bricks interspersed along its length.
There was one guard at the gate, a worn spear resting on his shoulders. He was wearing faded leathers and had a dented metal helm.
He started as soon as he saw us, relaxing when he realized we were people, before testing up again when he saw Rycress’ armor.
Rycress strode up to him, saying something that I couldn’t make out. They seemed to discuss something, the guard gesturing intently, before he nodded in what appeared to be acceptance. Rycess motioned for me to step forward.
As I walked up to the gate, the guard kept his eyes on me. He was watching me oddly. Putting it aside, I stepped through the gate, following Rycress. Inside the town was different than I imagined.
People were dressed in old, faded colors, poorly sewed up rips and seems abounded. Faces were haggard, eyes covered by shadow, as people kept their heads down and scurried about their business. The houses were old, missing tiles and chipped wood patched up by old boards and hay. There was no glass. The streets were cobbled, unlike the outside road, although, especially near the gate, they were covered in rusty brown stains. The road was cracked and pitted, looking like it had been around for centuries. Overall, it was not a very cheerful place.
We swept down the middle of the street, the few people out and about making way for us as soon as they saw my guide. His armor must’ve been more imposing than I thought.
It didn’t take long for us to reach our location. It was a 2-story building, looking run down like the rest, but with a more cheery air, somehow. I couldn’t describe how it managed that, even if you paid me. A sign hung up above the door, faded paint making up a sign that might have used to be bright. Its chipped letters read Varos Inn. Taking a deep breath, Rycress pushed open the door. He stepped inside, pulling me along with him.
There was a woman, standing there, behind the counter. Rycress opened his mouth and belted out “Hello-Devista-this-man-accidentally-came-here-from-another-world-and-I’m-here-to drop him off to you many thanks I hope we will meet again!” before turning and bolting out the door, leaving stunned silence in his wake.
The woman turned.
“That bastard”.