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While Sylira is by far the most civilized region of Mizahar, countless surprises and encounters await the traveler in its rural wilderness. Called the Wildlands, Syliran's wilderness is comprised of gradual rolling hills in the south that become deep wilderness in the north. Ruins abound throughout the wildlands, and only the well-marked roads are safe.
Aleath was in a very bad mood. In fact, she was furious. ‘I made such a stupid mistake!’ she seethed and kicked the nearby stone which stood in her way. The trip seemed so innocent at the beginning, but then it went all wrong and now they were trudging through the wild forest.
It’s been a while since she left Syliras. At first, the Vantha and her dog started off going by the Kabrin Road. ‘Nothing could go bad when we go by the road. There are Traveler’s shelters and we can hide in there when something happens.’ She thought optimistically before their journey. She knew about the bandits that could be there and attack her, but for the moment she didn’t care about it. She was too excited to even think about all the things that could go wrong.
The first day was uneventful so Aleath was lulled by the sense of security and did something careless and rash – she decided to leave the Road and just go close to it to catch some animal to eat. She had an advantage of having Shade with her, who took care of the food for most part. They had great time hunting together, but, when it was going dark, she discovered with horror, that the Road was nowhere to be seen. They were lost.
For a day or two, they were wandering around aimlessly and their supplies grew thin and finally on the third day they disappeared completely. At that time Aleath really thought that they were going to die there. Food wasn’t the problem, but they couldn’t find any spring of water. The Vantha then had to admit, that she wasn’t at all ready for a trip like this. She wished she took somebody else with her.
By some incredible luck the Vantha and her companion found a small pond with clean water, where Aleath refilled the waterskin and they continued on their way.
OOC :
Wow, my first solo. Blame it on Mike. His comment simply convinced me to try it This seemed like a good point to stop for now, but I will continue, hopefully soon.
Bad luck seemed to follow Aleath and her companion. Aleath, after getting lost, simply decided that she would continue in the direction she was going all the time. She was fairly certain that she didn’t turn to any other direction than the one she was walking. She also decided that she would go to Ravok. It wasn’t possible for them to go all the way to Avanthal. No, she would stop in Ravok and find some people going to Avathal too. Or, if she wouldn’t find anyone, she would go by the Road.
"And this time, we will obediently stay on the Road." Aleath murmured grumpily.
She looked up at the sky and frowned. She was no expert, but by the looks of the distant clouds, she could quite certainly tell that a storm was approaching. She could even see occasional flash of lightning in the blackened clouds.
She sighed. If only they had stayed on the Road. Her stupid mistake bothered her all the time. The only thing that calmed her down a little was that she knew quite certainly that they were going straight to Ravok, because she planned her way on the map very carefully, before they left Syliras.
They continued on their way for about half an hour. Aleath, lost in her thoughts, didn’t notice when Shade suddenly stopped in his tracks and stared at something between the thick grass, that she stumbled over him. With much loud cussing Aleath got up and looked at him, irritated. But what she saw made her stop and stand motionless. She found out that they were standing on a small hill and she could see small tent and a campfire below them. She quickly crouched down and looked at the camp more properly through the thick grass.
Apart from a light smoke coming from the campfire, everything looked peaceful and silent. The campsite looked empty, but she didn’t want to risk it. She could go round it to avoid possible danger. But on the other hand, what if there was somebody who could help her to get back on the Road so that she could get to Ravok more quickly?
The Vantha and her companion waited for a few minutes, sitting hidden in the high grass, but there wasn’t a sign that there was somebody in the camp. Was it a good thing to go there and have a look? But why would anybody go and leave his tent behind? Aleath was still in doubt. She waited for another minute with several ‘what ifs’ going through her head, but she knew she wouldn’t achieve anything by waiting so she slowly stood up and crept up towards the camp.
Her eyes were on the seemingly vacant camp and its surroundings, when suddenly they caught a movement in the big bushes, situated on the left side of the campsite. The Vantha spotted a large rock sitting nearby and rushed to hide behind it, but unfortunately, her legs got tangled in a large root and she toppled to the ground and to make things worse, she began rolling down the hill. Tha Vantha heard barking somewhere behind her. The rolling stopped suddenly, when her back hit a thick and hard tree trunk.
Bloody clumsiness, she thought angrily, when she stood up, rubbing her sore back, Shade back beside her. “Ow…!” she complained to herself quietly, but then the pain was forgotten, when she remembered why she fell in the first place. Her gaze flicked in the direction of the movement. Was it only her imagination? Or was it real? She was sure that she saw how the leaves in the bush had flickered. If there was somebody who wanted to hurt her, he would do it the moment he saw her, so she dared to approach the bush.
The Vantha took out her half-spear and carefully jabbed into the bush, but not with the sharp end.
She was shocked by a loud screech coming from inside the bush and she could see a man in ragged clothes as he shot out of the bush and started running away to the wilderness. “Hello! Come back! I won’t hurt you.” She called after him. She stopped her dog by seizing him by his strong fur, as he wanted to run after the man. “He didn’t do anything to hurt us, so we won’t too.” She reminded Shade strictly and released him. The dog looked sheepish and stayed near her.
She waited several minutes, but the man didn’t seem to come back, so she reignited the fire and sat by it. Why was the man hiding in the bush? If he was a owner of the tent, then why wouldn’t he sit by the fire? And why did he run away? Was he afraid of something? The Vantha shrugged her shoulders and continued to gaze into the fire, lost in thoughts.
This seemed like a good point to stop for now, but I will continue, hopefully soon.
