71st of Winter, 513 AV
There were two lucky souls, one a woman and one a child. They were riding bare back on a horse, the two with hair the colour of a fire's embers. Coming over the horizon, they emerged from the wilderness to be met with a city of crumbling houses and lawless residents. The two beings looked terrible with their faces worn from fatigue and worry, yet they held a smile of accomplishment as they were awarded a town to stay in for their endless travels.
The sun was shining down on the two girls as the horse they rode on traipsed through the forest, snow crunching from underneath her hooves. Lenz was one of the girls who rode on the horse’s back, her fiery hair long and messy, the curls whipping into her face by a small breeze.
Ipisol, with her less vivid, yet still auburn shaded hair, had snuggled into Lenz’s back with her arms wrapped around her waist in a protective fashion. She had fallen asleep a little over a bell ago and hadn’t woken up once, not even during the time Lenz’s horse, Ametrine, had nearly been spooked by a large snake that slithered by.
Lenz’s eyes, their colour a mix of green and brown, were slowly growing heavy. She was tired and hungry and hadn’t had anything to drink for half a day now. She wanted nothing more than to take a break and rest or perhaps even set camp for the afternoon, but deep in her heart she wanted to be able to rest in a city more.
“Ipisol?”
The girl didn’t respond, she wouldn’t have even moved if it weren’t for the bumpy ride.
“Ipisol, wake up,” Lenz said to her more sternly.
The girl tried to find a comfier position and shifted her rear, but Lenz nudged her with the back of her hand. Ipisol’s eyes widened in confusion. They were a beautiful crystal blue that shimmered in the sunlight, yet glowed in the moonlight. She was a rather gorgeous young girl who looked older than she really was for only being nine years old.
“What?”
Lenz sighed and returned her attention to the front of the horse. It was a checkup. She had been making frequent checkups during random times of the day to make sure that everyone was still okay. She was protective that way and in having a child to care for, she needed to keep her responsibilities in order.
“Nothing,” she said, patting Ipisol’s leg. It was shrouded by the winter blanket the two had gotten a while back. It was cold, for it was still winter, but thankfully the weather hadn’t been miserable during their travels.
The two had been trekking through the wilderness on various paths since their escape back in Xy. Lenz had lost her mother there and one of her friends, but she had managed to sneak Ipisol out along with herself and in doing so gained a little hope.
Ipisol wasn’t necessarily a burden, but she was quite a handful. Not being very brave and often afraid of anything that seems threatening to her, she can be difficult to take care of. However, Lenz was doing the best she can.
The sun started to set lower and lower behind the horizon until she couldn’t see it much longer. The only thing that kept the horse on track now was the moon casting down rays of glowing white.
The woman sighed again and closed her eyes for a split second. She needed to figure things out for the night. They hadn’t made it to a city yet, and safety is what they needed at times like this. Sure, they had managed to pitch their tent and sleep through the night without much danger, but there was always that chance that something could go wrong and every night Lenz fretted over such thoughts.
“Ipisol,” Lenz whispered to the child behind her.
The girl wriggled and released her grasp around Lenz’s abdomen. The warmth of the child’s arms left her body and although the woman willed for it to return, the frigid air kept it away.
Rubbing her eyes of sleep, Ipisol sat up a little straighter and looked around to see where she was. There was nothing she hadn’t seen before. There were trees, there was Lenz and there was the horse they were riding on, a few supplies they had brought along sitting near them.
“What is it?” she asked as she wrapped the blanket tighter around her small body.
“Would you like to stop and make camp?”
Ipisol yawned, but didn’t reply. Lenz didn’t know whether or not she was thinking or had just ignored the question, but she was determined to keep going for at least a little bit longer if it was alright with the other passenger.
The air around them was silent, almost too silent, an eerie feeling that made Lenz’s stomach ache. It wasn’t unlike any ache she had experienced before, having been under the command of many Zith. She knew when something felt wrong and when it did, usually bad things followed.
A snap of a twig proved her theory and as she whipped her head around one hundred and eighty degrees, she tried to make out if there was anything in the woods that would want to harm them. Mizahar was a dangerous world and it was treacherous to be out alone in the wilderness, but when you had been enslaved, and had run away, now not having anywhere else to go, travelling to a better place was your best option.
The crack of a twig echoed around the two girls again and nausea soon grasped its clutches around the woman’s throat. What if something was out there and in a split second it came out to kill her? Or worse, what if something took Ipisol away from her?
The centre of attention quickly shifted to Ipisol as Lenz asked her grab onto her shirt. The girl did as she was told. Lenz, her grasp on the horse’s halter firm and resistant, quickly flicked her wrist, sending a signal to the horse in terms of picking up her speed.
Trotting now, through the vast expanse of trees and shrubbery, Lenz’s worries soon subsided. There were no more strange sounds that gave her anxious feelings and with the more distance they were making, they should cover ground quicker than they had been.
“You can go back to sleep now,” the woman told the child and obligingly, the child lowered her head and nestled into the back of the woman in front of her.
Only a few chimes had passed by before something familiar was seen off in the distance. Straining her eyes to try to get a better look, Lenz’s assumptions were quickly proven right as ransack houses and shacks were visible.
Elation brightened her face as she could no longer hold in her excitement. Turning to shove her companion awake, she ended up getting snapped at as a response.
“What’s wrong with you?” the child asked a little enraged that she had been awakened from her nap, for she was exhausted.
“Do you see that over there?” Lenz asked her as she moved to the side so that she could get a better view.
With eyes previously dull from lack of sleep and lack of action, they soon ignited with happiness and pure hope. They had arrived to their destination! A city was a city, and although the one they were looking directly at appeared poor and unsafe, it was better than nothing.
A genuine smile crawled across Lenz’s lips and stayed there for some time as she looked into Ipisol’s eyes. From all the things she had seen and from everything she had been through, the poor girl had enough positivity in her left to smile.
“I wonder if they have a library,” Ipisol thought aloud as the two rode closer into town.
Both girls looked filthy with matted hair and dirty faces and the two bore similar expressions of hunger and thirst. It was unanimously decided that among all possible locations they could have visited, a tavern or inn was the first place they would go to for food. There was no need for words even; a simple act of eye contact had settled it.
“And then after, we’ll clean ourselves.”
Lenz found their emergence the perfect time to take in her surroundings and upon doing so, she wasn’t overly satisfied, yet satisfied enough. She had spent her entire life in Kenash, not exactly the best of places. And after that, she had become enslaved in Xy, one of the worst places in Mizahar. Sunberth might have been terrible in anyone else’s opinion, but having seen nothing better, she felt it was a great place to be.
She had heard rumours about the city from various people. Some had said that it was a city of no law and although that sounded particularly bad to the protective and logical side of her, Lenz also thought it was a perfect place to be to do what you wanted to after having been manipulated for a long time.
Many of the buildings looked abandoned and dirty and shabby, the people who had constructed them obviously slacking on the job. They looked unstable as if they could fall at any moment, but as she noticed a few people coming in and out of the front doors, she simply shrugged and thought nothing more.
There were no hills or dips in the earth, the entire surface completely flattened. More rumours she had heard told her that the city had once been a mining town. There were many tunnels from the underground working still below the earth.
“That sounds cool,” a tiny voice whispered from behind her.
Whirling around to look at the child, she realised that she had said aloud everything she had been thinking. She hoped that that wouldn’t happen in the future as she said, “Cool isn’t it?”
Ipisol nodded as she tightened her hold around Lenz’s waist again. It wasn’t unbearable, but with having several problems in that region of her body from the past, an instinctual cringe flawed her face momentarily.
“Whenever you want to go into town, take me with you okay? I’ve heard that there are a lot of bad people here and with the many passageways throughout the city, I don’t want you to get lost.”
The warning was sent loud and clear, and the child nodded her head frantically, frightening images of death and murder flooding her mind like a typhoon. Lenz too, thought about such images, but grabbed Ipisol’s hand and squeezed it, letting her know that everything was going to be okay.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” she reassured the kid as the town soon passed behind them. They weren’t planning to stay inside the city, instead with a tent securely strapped to Ipisol’s back among their two bedrolls and a few other necessary equipment, they planned to stay in Tent City.
“I hope to find a job here,” the elder female said as she readjusted herself on the horse. “That means, you’ll have to come with me. I won’t have you alone in the tent, alright?”
Nodding again and accepting the authority present in her superior’s voice, it made Lenz feel as if she were a mother. She would have been if it weren’t for a horrific incident that took place back in Xy, but even thinking about such thoughts weren’t wise.
“Do you know what else I’ve heard? I’ve heard that on the outskirts of town, there’s plenty of old places, some from even before the Valterrian. Some say that they’re dangerous and haunted. Sightings of monsters and harmful creatures have been reported inhabiting them so for whatever reason, if you find one, I don’t want you to investigate, alright?”
Waiting for a response, but getting none, she went on.
“This place is bad, do you understand that? It isn’t safe, but it’s the only place we have. Just be careful because if you’re not, I don’t know what I’d do.”
And it’s true. Having lost so much in the past including not only her mother and her baby but her lover as well, she didn’t think she was capable of surviving through the loss of another person she cared for.
“Okay.”
Many tents of various colours and sizes quickly surrounded the couple as the horse continued to plow through the land. It wasn’t overly crowded, but there were much more people living in tents in this area than Lenz had initially thought.
Pulling the reins to the side, she staked out a spot. Jumping off the horse, Lenz offered her arms to help Ipisol down. The girl hopped down, the tent that was securely strapped to her back accompanying her.
Taking the halter’s strap, Lenz began to tie Ametrine to a nearby tree, hoping that for now, it would suit just fine. After that she began to ready herself for a few bells of setting up camp and with her fingers already chilled to the bone, it was going to be a little more difficult that she had hoped it was going to be.
"Okay," she puffed, "let's get started shall we?"
There were two lucky souls, one a woman and one a child. They were riding bare back on a horse, the two with hair the colour of a fire's embers. Coming over the horizon, they emerged from the wilderness to be met with a city of crumbling houses and lawless residents. The two beings looked terrible with their faces worn from fatigue and worry, yet they held a smile of accomplishment as they were awarded a town to stay in for their endless travels.
The sun was shining down on the two girls as the horse they rode on traipsed through the forest, snow crunching from underneath her hooves. Lenz was one of the girls who rode on the horse’s back, her fiery hair long and messy, the curls whipping into her face by a small breeze.
Ipisol, with her less vivid, yet still auburn shaded hair, had snuggled into Lenz’s back with her arms wrapped around her waist in a protective fashion. She had fallen asleep a little over a bell ago and hadn’t woken up once, not even during the time Lenz’s horse, Ametrine, had nearly been spooked by a large snake that slithered by.
Lenz’s eyes, their colour a mix of green and brown, were slowly growing heavy. She was tired and hungry and hadn’t had anything to drink for half a day now. She wanted nothing more than to take a break and rest or perhaps even set camp for the afternoon, but deep in her heart she wanted to be able to rest in a city more.
“Ipisol?”
The girl didn’t respond, she wouldn’t have even moved if it weren’t for the bumpy ride.
“Ipisol, wake up,” Lenz said to her more sternly.
The girl tried to find a comfier position and shifted her rear, but Lenz nudged her with the back of her hand. Ipisol’s eyes widened in confusion. They were a beautiful crystal blue that shimmered in the sunlight, yet glowed in the moonlight. She was a rather gorgeous young girl who looked older than she really was for only being nine years old.
“What?”
Lenz sighed and returned her attention to the front of the horse. It was a checkup. She had been making frequent checkups during random times of the day to make sure that everyone was still okay. She was protective that way and in having a child to care for, she needed to keep her responsibilities in order.
“Nothing,” she said, patting Ipisol’s leg. It was shrouded by the winter blanket the two had gotten a while back. It was cold, for it was still winter, but thankfully the weather hadn’t been miserable during their travels.
The two had been trekking through the wilderness on various paths since their escape back in Xy. Lenz had lost her mother there and one of her friends, but she had managed to sneak Ipisol out along with herself and in doing so gained a little hope.
Ipisol wasn’t necessarily a burden, but she was quite a handful. Not being very brave and often afraid of anything that seems threatening to her, she can be difficult to take care of. However, Lenz was doing the best she can.
The sun started to set lower and lower behind the horizon until she couldn’t see it much longer. The only thing that kept the horse on track now was the moon casting down rays of glowing white.
The woman sighed again and closed her eyes for a split second. She needed to figure things out for the night. They hadn’t made it to a city yet, and safety is what they needed at times like this. Sure, they had managed to pitch their tent and sleep through the night without much danger, but there was always that chance that something could go wrong and every night Lenz fretted over such thoughts.
“Ipisol,” Lenz whispered to the child behind her.
The girl wriggled and released her grasp around Lenz’s abdomen. The warmth of the child’s arms left her body and although the woman willed for it to return, the frigid air kept it away.
Rubbing her eyes of sleep, Ipisol sat up a little straighter and looked around to see where she was. There was nothing she hadn’t seen before. There were trees, there was Lenz and there was the horse they were riding on, a few supplies they had brought along sitting near them.
“What is it?” she asked as she wrapped the blanket tighter around her small body.
“Would you like to stop and make camp?”
Ipisol yawned, but didn’t reply. Lenz didn’t know whether or not she was thinking or had just ignored the question, but she was determined to keep going for at least a little bit longer if it was alright with the other passenger.
The air around them was silent, almost too silent, an eerie feeling that made Lenz’s stomach ache. It wasn’t unlike any ache she had experienced before, having been under the command of many Zith. She knew when something felt wrong and when it did, usually bad things followed.
A snap of a twig proved her theory and as she whipped her head around one hundred and eighty degrees, she tried to make out if there was anything in the woods that would want to harm them. Mizahar was a dangerous world and it was treacherous to be out alone in the wilderness, but when you had been enslaved, and had run away, now not having anywhere else to go, travelling to a better place was your best option.
The crack of a twig echoed around the two girls again and nausea soon grasped its clutches around the woman’s throat. What if something was out there and in a split second it came out to kill her? Or worse, what if something took Ipisol away from her?
The centre of attention quickly shifted to Ipisol as Lenz asked her grab onto her shirt. The girl did as she was told. Lenz, her grasp on the horse’s halter firm and resistant, quickly flicked her wrist, sending a signal to the horse in terms of picking up her speed.
Trotting now, through the vast expanse of trees and shrubbery, Lenz’s worries soon subsided. There were no more strange sounds that gave her anxious feelings and with the more distance they were making, they should cover ground quicker than they had been.
“You can go back to sleep now,” the woman told the child and obligingly, the child lowered her head and nestled into the back of the woman in front of her.
Only a few chimes had passed by before something familiar was seen off in the distance. Straining her eyes to try to get a better look, Lenz’s assumptions were quickly proven right as ransack houses and shacks were visible.
Elation brightened her face as she could no longer hold in her excitement. Turning to shove her companion awake, she ended up getting snapped at as a response.
“What’s wrong with you?” the child asked a little enraged that she had been awakened from her nap, for she was exhausted.
“Do you see that over there?” Lenz asked her as she moved to the side so that she could get a better view.
With eyes previously dull from lack of sleep and lack of action, they soon ignited with happiness and pure hope. They had arrived to their destination! A city was a city, and although the one they were looking directly at appeared poor and unsafe, it was better than nothing.
A genuine smile crawled across Lenz’s lips and stayed there for some time as she looked into Ipisol’s eyes. From all the things she had seen and from everything she had been through, the poor girl had enough positivity in her left to smile.
“I wonder if they have a library,” Ipisol thought aloud as the two rode closer into town.
Both girls looked filthy with matted hair and dirty faces and the two bore similar expressions of hunger and thirst. It was unanimously decided that among all possible locations they could have visited, a tavern or inn was the first place they would go to for food. There was no need for words even; a simple act of eye contact had settled it.
“And then after, we’ll clean ourselves.”
Lenz found their emergence the perfect time to take in her surroundings and upon doing so, she wasn’t overly satisfied, yet satisfied enough. She had spent her entire life in Kenash, not exactly the best of places. And after that, she had become enslaved in Xy, one of the worst places in Mizahar. Sunberth might have been terrible in anyone else’s opinion, but having seen nothing better, she felt it was a great place to be.
She had heard rumours about the city from various people. Some had said that it was a city of no law and although that sounded particularly bad to the protective and logical side of her, Lenz also thought it was a perfect place to be to do what you wanted to after having been manipulated for a long time.
Many of the buildings looked abandoned and dirty and shabby, the people who had constructed them obviously slacking on the job. They looked unstable as if they could fall at any moment, but as she noticed a few people coming in and out of the front doors, she simply shrugged and thought nothing more.
There were no hills or dips in the earth, the entire surface completely flattened. More rumours she had heard told her that the city had once been a mining town. There were many tunnels from the underground working still below the earth.
“That sounds cool,” a tiny voice whispered from behind her.
Whirling around to look at the child, she realised that she had said aloud everything she had been thinking. She hoped that that wouldn’t happen in the future as she said, “Cool isn’t it?”
Ipisol nodded as she tightened her hold around Lenz’s waist again. It wasn’t unbearable, but with having several problems in that region of her body from the past, an instinctual cringe flawed her face momentarily.
“Whenever you want to go into town, take me with you okay? I’ve heard that there are a lot of bad people here and with the many passageways throughout the city, I don’t want you to get lost.”
The warning was sent loud and clear, and the child nodded her head frantically, frightening images of death and murder flooding her mind like a typhoon. Lenz too, thought about such images, but grabbed Ipisol’s hand and squeezed it, letting her know that everything was going to be okay.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” she reassured the kid as the town soon passed behind them. They weren’t planning to stay inside the city, instead with a tent securely strapped to Ipisol’s back among their two bedrolls and a few other necessary equipment, they planned to stay in Tent City.
“I hope to find a job here,” the elder female said as she readjusted herself on the horse. “That means, you’ll have to come with me. I won’t have you alone in the tent, alright?”
Nodding again and accepting the authority present in her superior’s voice, it made Lenz feel as if she were a mother. She would have been if it weren’t for a horrific incident that took place back in Xy, but even thinking about such thoughts weren’t wise.
“Do you know what else I’ve heard? I’ve heard that on the outskirts of town, there’s plenty of old places, some from even before the Valterrian. Some say that they’re dangerous and haunted. Sightings of monsters and harmful creatures have been reported inhabiting them so for whatever reason, if you find one, I don’t want you to investigate, alright?”
Waiting for a response, but getting none, she went on.
“This place is bad, do you understand that? It isn’t safe, but it’s the only place we have. Just be careful because if you’re not, I don’t know what I’d do.”
And it’s true. Having lost so much in the past including not only her mother and her baby but her lover as well, she didn’t think she was capable of surviving through the loss of another person she cared for.
“Okay.”
Many tents of various colours and sizes quickly surrounded the couple as the horse continued to plow through the land. It wasn’t overly crowded, but there were much more people living in tents in this area than Lenz had initially thought.
Pulling the reins to the side, she staked out a spot. Jumping off the horse, Lenz offered her arms to help Ipisol down. The girl hopped down, the tent that was securely strapped to her back accompanying her.
Taking the halter’s strap, Lenz began to tie Ametrine to a nearby tree, hoping that for now, it would suit just fine. After that she began to ready herself for a few bells of setting up camp and with her fingers already chilled to the bone, it was going to be a little more difficult that she had hoped it was going to be.
"Okay," she puffed, "let's get started shall we?"
