It was dawn when the trees parted, when our advance scouts Utac and Aj returned with news that the Highroad was just beyond the next ridge. Though we were weary, though we were worn, still we quickened our pace by unspoken accord, and the simple presence of the Highroad was enough to move me nearly […]
The second night, Eris walked with the children near the head of our train, keeping watch over them all with the assistance of a couple from Blackforge, Ashe and Dieter. Father Zachary and Sister Hope had kept to themselves that day, and much of the air of revelry had subsided. Our pace had slowed, which […]
Dawn brought grey clouds, and a light, ethereal shower of snowflakes. They sifted slowly from on high, speckled the hollows and upper boughs of the trees, and sparked in all of us a silent, wary dread. For now, the snow held off. That was a blessing. We had enough struggles. The strength of the children […]
No torches were lit on the first night. The enemy might still have been too close. We were weary. A night’s rest and a hot meal to break our fast had done wonders, but in the end our strength had been redoubled only to be sapped once again. The druids kept apart still. Sedec and […]
Eris sang. She sang not high but low, daringly near the bottom of her range, and her voice built with each word, until the sound dripped from bare branches around us. Stilted conversations of the people behind began to falter as she wove her song, and I felt an old, familiar thrill run down my […]
Despite the cold, and the hunger, and the pangs of despair, we were quickly made ready to go. Eris and I returned with time enough not only to rejoin the group, but to assist in the final preparations for departure. Now, in the light of day, I had the chance to take stock of our […]
The lands here were gently rolling hills, preludes to the steeper slopes and glades of Farforest, and between the fog and the brambles it was hard to see more than a hundred paces. I could easily imagine the attenuated front line of the Templar marching north, feeling their way through the mist. Seeking us. Seeking […]
Eris walked with me as we left the fire, striking out once again into the cold of the camp, back toward our shelter. The others remained, eking out what little warmth they could before our journey resumed. Father Zachary waved to me from among a gaggle of children. In the forests, a lone chickadee piped, […]
“Don’t just stand there, Alan Lee,” Faith said, knelt by the fire. “Grab a pot and a ladle and start scraping. There’s thirty of them here, and we’ve got to have them all clean before the others are ready to start off.” “Yes, Faith.” Alan was a thin, small man with a good-humored face and […]
The last time I had beheld many of these faces, I had been a girl of seventeen. A woman grown, I had thought. Yet how like a child I seemed, looking back! How sharply I felt the bygone youth, looking upon the familiar folk of Caer Lunan now. I wondered if any of them could […]
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