A Long Tiresome Journey: Part 3

A new village beckoned over the horizon, from a distance I could see it go down towards a river that led to the mountains. I squinted my eyes and could barely make out the roads that led into Forsberg Territory. It had only been a few days since the incident at the previous village, my brain was still hung up on how it could've happened, what could've caused it? As I toiled along the road 3 riders bolted past me towards the village in some urgency. Their saddles carrying a satchel with a sigil embroidered onto it. The sigil was that of the knight squad and mercenary group The Blood Hounds.

They rode off down the road and into the distance, my legs barely being able to stand, slowly dragged my lifeless body into the village. A small sign at its front noted "Kjult's Way", it looked as if it had only been recently put up, in good quality with nothing tarnishing it. I noticed next to the sign there lay a brothel, my mind in its no good state decided that I'd use this place to ease up, in a way that broke my tension. I walked in and ordered a quick bath and then a night with one of the courtesans, I had never done this before, but I felt, I don't know... good?

As morning broke, I quickly escaped the brothel, slowly regretting my decision, muttering to myself as I left, "What a way to lose my virginity. Something I'd rather forget"

Slowly I realised that I had run out of money for the rest of the travel, and for this last few remaining days I'd have to live with sleeping under some bushes somewhere. I wandered down the road towards a letter room. The smell of crow shit and dead rat echoed from inside, I quickly wrote down a letter reporting of what had happened at the previous village before handing it to the crow courier.

"Send this directly to the Captain of the Royal Guard, it's urgent." my eyes still lifeless and tired, the courier quickly nodding and going inside to send off a bird. I could hear the bird begin to take flight, it's wings flapping slowly at first then coming to an even pace and flying through the window and off on its way to the capital. Quickly I grabbed my gear and proceeded to lethargically step down the road, still trying to break my sleep from the night before.

"Is that him?" a man said at the stall across the street, his eyes fixated on me.

"Is that the boy from the last village?" another lady closer to me quickly whispering to her friend.

Then as I had decided to ignore the comments, a young man around my height quickly planted his arm around me bringing me in close to talk to me silently.

"Some 3 riders came through here and explained about the last village, they seemed to think you had been a part of it but couldn't prove it." I glanced quickly at his mouth as he talked, his lips forming a sharp predatory smile. "Now the whole village thinks you had something to do with all the death." I quickly shrugged off his arm, not really caring at first but then he broke his silence, "He admits it! He did help destroy the village!" I stopped dead on his last words, and I don't know what came over me, my mind snapped, and I drew my sword and lunged towards him planting it firmly beside his neck. The man shit himself and cowered as he fell to the ground, "You take me for some idiot? That I'd allow you to insult me like that?"

My blade remaining ever close to his neck, kissing it with its edge, but I had snapped out of the moment. My rage had subsided a tiny bit, and then it came, the crowds "Boo!" and "Fucking die scum!". They quickly began tossing stones or anything they could at me, one stone flying through the air and slamming into my face just above my left eye. I felt relieved somehow at all this though, was this the closure that I had sought for so long? I hadn't realised it till this point but did I want someone to call me out for all of my bullshit? Or was I just looking for an excuse to start a fight?

Everything that had happened up until now, I never really blamed anyone but myself, so was this some sort of self service to finally have people say I'm the problem? Never the less I quickly bolted out of the village, knowing that no matter what I had said that their opinions were made up for them. I quickly moved along the road, and as I got closer to home, I could see more and more smoke coming from the horizon.

I stopped for the night, and as I sat there practicing my magic, I heard screams in the distance, this part of the land had been filled with caves used by traffickers in the past.

"I thought they were all dealt with." I quickly muttered to myself, casting a small fire spell I had created to serve as a light source as I got closer to one of the cave entrances. Slowly stepping into the cave, I tilted my head and dodged the ever closing cave, coming to my next turn I could spot a light flickering against the cave walls, the screams were louder and echoed through the cave. I approached slowly cancelling my spell as I got to the corner, peering round it to say what was going on.

To my own horror, three women lay half naked in cages, it was obvious that they had been raped, and across from them sat two men, playing a game of dice. One of the women had been beaten and was unconscious whilst the other two lay in what seemed like a state of shock. Something came over me in that instant, the want to change my stance as a bystander. So I pushed round the corner and tried to cast a fire spell on the two men.

"Mana listen to me, give me your fire and set these men ablaze!" I screamed trying to focus all of my might into this one attack. As I concentrated the two men turned to me and saw me standing there, palm extended towards them. The flame that I had conjured sparked, flickered and died in a matter of seconds. The two men laughing at my failure slowly stood grabbing their weapons, one was a club that was riveted with iron the other carried a small sword and a dagger. "What a failure you are!" Without hesitation I drew my sword and prepared myself not only to fight for my life, but for once I decided to fight for another's right to live.