The Alliance (cont.)
In the valley, traveling northwest:
Dabuk rode along quietly, sullen. The fight with the ogres hadn’t gone the way he’d hoped. He held his aching ribs, as he rode, looking over his shoulder at Mesik and Bactra. Then the half-elven ranger looked forward towards his father and Hugh, walking beside his father’s horse.
The young man sighed in frustration. He knew Kellin was out front doing his job. He didn’t like it but had conceded that he wasn’t in good enough shape to lead the way. He noticed Thessa staring at him out of the corner of his eye. Her expression was troubled.
“I’m fine Thessa,” Dabuk kept his voice low, as not to distract the others.
“No you’re not and you know it.” She brought her pony closer to his warhorse. She forced him to show her the bandages on his chest. She had healed most of his internal injuries with her magic but Dabuk had insisted on toughing it out after that. “You really should let me heal those deep bruises. Also, I think you still have a cracked or broken rib.”
“No, I’ll be fine.” Dabuk sat up straighter in the saddle refusing to show any pain.
Thessa sighed in resignation. His stubborn pride would be the death of him one day. She whispered in her pony’s ear and the beast responded by trotting up close to Hougwarth.
Tell me more about your people, Hugh.” Thessa spoke loud enough so that the gaint man could here her words.”
Hougwarth looked at her and nodded. He took a deep breath as he raised his hands to pantomime in conjunction with his story.
“Quietly Hugh,” Garth spoke the words without turning his head. “We don’t need any unexpected company. Who knows what lurks in this valley or in the hills above.”
Garth’s words deflated the grandiose tale Hugh was about to spew forth.
“Yes Hugh, I’ve heard your great tales but I’d like to hear more about your life when you still lived with your people.”
“There’s not much to tell, little friend.” The giant man looked down at Thessa with a solemn look to his eyes.
“But your stories speak of a great people with a strong sense of community and ability with magic and steel. Are they only stories?”
“Oh no, Thessa. The stories are true… to a point.” Hugh stared up into the hills surrounding the valley. “My people have existed on Harqual for nearly as long as there has been life. We were one of the few races to first live amongst the human barbarians of the Northlands in peace. We were great then, as well as down through the ages.”
“But not now?” Thessa’s words bit deep, although she hadn’t intended for them to.
“That’s correct,” Hugh’s face grew lines across it like a dozen bleak horizons. “Now, my people are a lost, dying race. Less and less young ones have been born in my stedding through the generations and those that have been born and lived through the cold winters have become more and more isolated from other races, as well as each other.”
“What about your family? They must have been happy when you were born.”
“Aye,” Hugh seemed much older now. “They were one of the few families blessed in our stedding that year. They had such high hopes for me.”
All of the companions were listening to the giant man’s words. Even Garth kept one ear open to Hugh’s words. Dabuk trotted his warhorse up next to Hugh opposite of Thessa’s pony.
“You know, even though I’ve bugged you about dropping your sword, you are a excellent warrior, Hugh. I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings.”
“No, friend Dabuk,” Hugh’s face brightened for a moment. “I haven’t disappointed my family because I still have much to learn about such martial skills. It is because I chose to wield a sword instead of the family plow that I disappointed them.”
“I see. They wanted you to be a farmer.” Dabuk looked back towards Bactra. The elven wizard had a scowl on his face. He too had disappointed his father by refusing to become a simple tailor.
“Aye,” Hugh nodded glumly. “And when I told them I wished to leave the stedding they refused to let me. They said I would expose the few of our people left to the dangers of the world. The elders of the stedding decreed that I be locked away in my family’s sacred burial cave. To die of starvation for my crime.”
“That’s crazy,” Thessa looked at Hugh in shock.
“Man, that’s cold,” Bactra thought of his own family troubles. “At least I was eventually allowed to choose my own path.”
“So you fought them and escaped, right?”
“No,” Hugh shook his head his eyes closed tight. “They are my kin. I could never have hurt any of them. I initially accepted my fate.”
“You let them lock you away to die!” Dabuk’s jaw dropped in confusion. “How could you let them do that to you?”
“His people’s ways are not our way, son.” Garth kept scanning the valley and hills for any sign of danger. “You must not judge another culture until you have experienced it. I’m sure his people felt that what they did was right and just. Hugh?”
“That’s correct,” Hugh sighed. “I was not the first to be imprisoned in such a manner and I doubt I was the last.”
“But your people need new blood,” Thessa shook her head in disbelief. “Sentencing their own people to die in such a manner seems so contradictory.”
“Aye,” Hugh nodded in agreement. “I never believed in the practice myself, but the stedding’s elders worry that exposure to the rest of the continent will bring more doom upon the vonakyndra then a handful of imprisoned kin.”
“A handful,” Mesik brings his pony just behind Thessa’s. "So it doesn’t happen all the time then?”
“No,” a single tear rolls down the giant man’s cheek. I was the first to be imprison in such a manner in nearly 200 years.”
The group continues to ride on in silence, none willing to continue the conversation. Everyone reigns their mounts back to their respective positions.
* * *
An hour comes and goes as the companions continue to travel northwest towards the edge of the valley. None have seen Kellin since he last reported back nearly an hour and a half ago.
“Maybe he got lost.” Dabuk grins at Bactra.
“You wish,” Bactra points ahead along the rough path winding through the center of the valley.
Dabuk looks where his cousin is pointing. Kellin One-Eye lopes down the path towards them, the end of the valley rising up behind him.
“Rats.”
“No, ogre.” Bactra pokes his cousin’s arm.
“Shut up.” Dabuk smiles swatting away Bactra’s hand.
“Kellin,” Garth reigns in Hindle and waits for the ogre man to report on what he’s seen and heard.
“The valley ends about a mile and half ahead. The path continues on up the valley’s edge but it’s very steep. You will have to lead the mounts on foot.”
“Is there another way?” Hugh’s spirits seemed to be lifting.
“No.”
“Great.” No one missed the sarcasm in Mesik’s voice.
“And what have you found beyond the valley?” Garth ignored the halfling’s annoyance.
“There are at least two small communities ahead,” Kellin looked at Thessa with concern in his eyes.
“What is it, Kellin?” Thessa gulped.
“They are on the other side of another river.”
“Is it deep?”
“Yes, and fast.”
“Great.” Thessa whimpered in fear.
* * *
The river:
“It’s only water,” Thessa spoke the words but found no comfort in them.
The river, called the Gurret, was indeed as Kellin had said. It flowed along quickly with eddies and white water. It also looked deceptively shallow in most places. The river stretched out even wider than the Silver River had been.
“There’s no way,” Garth looked at the churning mass of water in front of him. “The horses wouldn’t make it across.”
“Agreed,” Kellin and Dabuk both spoke the words as one. Dabuk felt his skin crawl.
“There may be a bridge or ferry downstream but I can’t be sure. I didn’t want to get to close to the communities. I would have scared them. I’m going to have to cross on my own.”
“What about Hugh?” Thessa looked at her new friend with concern. If you believe they won’t let you cross downstream then they’ll likely react badly to him as well.”
“I will go with Kellin,” Hugh beamed at his friends. “I’m sure between the two of us, we’ll find a safe way to cross.”
“Fine. We’ll meet you on the other side. Say 10 to 20 miles north of the community downstream. Agreed?” Garth swung Hindle around parallel to the river.
“Agreed. Dusk, tomorrow, 20 miles north of the community. Light a fire so we can find you. But be careful, I’ve never been this far west of Harqual Forest but I’ve heard rumors about vile monsters, bandits and worse in this region.”
“Understood.”
“And if we’re not there by morning the day after, leave without us.” Kellin and Hougwarth started to move off towards the east.
“Kellin-“
“No arguments Garth!” Kellin stopped in his tracks looking back.
“All right,” Garth nodded to his friend. “Be careful, my friend.”
“You too, Hougwarth.” Dabuk nodded to his giant friend then stared down Kellin as if to say, ‘If he dies you die too.’
Kellin returns the half-elven ranger’s gaze. “Understood.”
Only Hugh hears the ogre man’s response.
* * *
