Journey to Forochel , Four
Morning sun brought with it a fresh energy to the journey. The security offered by the outpost had allowed Usva and Mugendo to sleep away the exhaustion that had weighed them down.
The snowfall had buried all trails and paths that may have helped them decide their route, Above them towered the North peaks of the frozen mountains, A fortress of stone nestled in the crevices, barely visible to the trained eye…..to the south the land fell away in a gentle slope down to the distant sea sparkling in the morning light.
Stories around the camp told of spirits in the keep harming any foolish enough to disturb them. “South to the sea it is” Mugendo announced to his companion, recounting the story of an elven ship abandoned on the distant shore….”maybe it has treasure” he added with A chuckle.
Usva had still not decided if he was serious, or simply teasing her as they set out from the camp later that morning.
The white blanket stretched before them made it difficult to be accurate assessing the distance to the sea, half a day on horse was the best guess Mugendo could make. The journey passed quickly as the two recounted the events that had led them here. The world almost seemed normal as rabbit tracks crossed their path several times…each set of footprints ending at A small hole dug to reveal A patch Green nibbled to the root. The predators here presented no danger to the traveller. Snow foxes huddled down in the snow to vanish from sight whenever the two passed close to their hunting grounds.
The rolling plain sloped down steeper as they neared the sea, eventually they were forced to proceed on foot along narrowing pathways, leading the horses on extended reigns. The sea disappeared from sight at times as the path led them through natural choke points.
Mugendo paused A moment and held up his hand to halt Usva, In silence they stood listening……”There it is again, we are close” spoke Mugendo in a whisper….Usva strained to hear what he was referring to…then she too heard the muffled sounds… A roar echoed in the distance. To her surprise Mugendo waved her to follow as he continued forward... She reluctantly followed. Taking small steps to slow her pace, fighting at each step the desire to turn and run….”why is he not looking for A safer path?”... She found herself asking herself in a whisper.
Mugendo increased his pace as the sound echoed around them; even the horses were difficult to hold as Usva knew they shared her natural instinct to run in the opposite direction. Usva had no option other than to follow Mugendo to the bitter end, she had precious little knowledge of these lands or their people, but she was certain that she could follow their trail in the snow back to the camp they left this morning. The small canyon they had entered when descending now towered overhead forcing them forward on an increasingly slippery floor…..sliding and slipping the last few hundred paces they half ran out of the final outcrop and found themselves on a frozen shore… A great wave breaking against the rocks fell all around them in a fine spray, the water droplets freezing in the air as they fell. Small rainbows floated in the air before them as the sunlight cascaded through the spectacle.
So this was the roaring I was so afraid of thought Usva as she stood both relieved and mesmerised by the beauty of nature. She giggled as another wave roared onto the shore to explode into another show of light and spray….It was their own private firework show nature was giving them.
The roar of the breaking waves were far behind them as the rocky land gave way to gentle shorelines; it was here they chose to rest.
Mugendo pointed up to the North explaining the camp from last night was not far away, “If we could fly as direct as a crow” he finished. “The good news though, we are not far from the wreck now” he continued pointing Eastward along the beach……
