The Beast Uglig

Chapter 3- Uncomfortable days

The men were in good spirits that first day with the sun on their backs and the kind words of the people of Deraim still ringing in their ears. Erion led the soldiers across the land with Vidien beside him. Whilst the men sung and laughed he was silent for he did not know if he was in the right about going now and he was unsure as to if he even had enough food for a journey so long.

They trampled the heather beneath them as they rode. sixteensoldiers on a mission. Through all the villages they passed people rush out from their huts and houses to greet the soldiers, they cheered and stared at so daring a company of men. They smiled and waved to the red cheeked boys and the women folk, with their hair covered and their clothes dirtied by working in the fields. It put great heart into the soldiers of Deraim, heart Erion felt they would need in the times that would follow today’s jubilant ride through the luscious fields of Imrandir.

As the dusk came on some of the buoyancy left the younger men and they began to yearn for their beds. Vidien spoke softly into Erion's ear.

"Erion do you not think we ought to stop here for the night, the men begin to grumble, they long for their rest."

"No, Vidien, no I do not know how long this journey will take and I will not jeopardise the food supplies by lingering at any point on this journey of ours." So into the night they rode and if the less experienced soldiers complained they were soon silenced by the elder and more experienced campaigners.

They finally stopped for the night beside a small hillock on an otherwise flat plain. They tethered the horses to a makeshift post, not that they had any real fear of the horses leaving their masters for they loved the soldiers who rode them and would faithfully follow them through fire and water. They did not set up tents, though they had them in their packs, but instead they slept beneath the stars for it was a warm night.

They awoke early the next morning and kicked out the fires over which they had cooked their meals before mounting their mounts again and riding. Already some people were beginning to regret their decision to come, they were saddle sore and slightly deprived of sleep. Erion sensed the depressive spirit of the rest of the company and felt as leader of this expedition that he ought to do something to revive the attitude that had been so buoyant the day before. He did not know what to do, in fact he was pretty sure there was nothing he could do, he just wished for a day of sunshine and warmth.

His wish was doomed to go unfulfilled. That day the skies gave their all, the winds that blew away the morning mist chilled the bones of man and beast alike and the rain that came from the heavens beat upon the cloaks and armour of the men as though each drop was a stone and made no less noise than a troop of cats yowling rendering speech impossible. The soldiers grumbled into their scarves, their heads bent and rain drops falling from hoods and noses split on their horses necks.

Erion did what he could to try to elevate the mood but it didn't work and he hadn't expected it to. Even the most hardened campaigner could not honestly say that he remembered a day like this for weather, they just clamped their teeth tight and tried to ignore the world around them.

Calabrath, a short swarthy man with darting eyes but with incredible talent in the noble art of sword play and in the practise of knife throwing, was grumbling louder than most. He started making snide comments about Erion and how he had only brought them on this quest to find glory for him and that he did not care what happened to them. Most ignored him but a few of the more impressionable or harder of heart felt he had a point.

That evening when they made camp again they could not find logs dry enough to burn so sat in the dark, wet gloom and munched on bread, dampened though it had been kept most carefully, dried fruits and other such things. The soldiers ate in silence, they glared at the men opposite themselves and picked at their waterlogged clothes which stuck to them.