Abberthorn

The Journey Begins

Aramore and Durane's journey was not long underway before they came under fire. They had scarcely reached the edge of the forest. Some five hundred kilometres from Riverside, as a barrage of arrows came soaring past them in mid-flight. It had become clear to Aramore that the dragon was far too large to fly clear across the land without being seen. As the two of them astride the beast looked the size of an ordinary house cat a top a large horse. Aramore yelled out for the dragon to increase her speed enough to get them out of sight of their attackers, so that they might find a more inconspicuous means of travel.

The dragon landed in a large clearing amidst a field of large boulders, which were scattered across the land like some kind of ancient battlefield long since forgotten. They dismounted the dragon and Aramore then whispered into her ear, causing her to fly off into the distance, quickly disappearing from sight. As they began to walk Aramore noted a confused look that had by now come over Durane's face.

'You look all at sea Durane, what is it?' asked Aramore.

'Why did you choose to continue the journey on foot? It will take us at least two months this way. Passing through some pretty treacherous places! Bearing in mind that we have no food or water, would it not have been better to simply stay on the dragon and keep our course. At least that way we would have been there in mere hours and would not have to fend off what I am sure will be some rather nasty foes?' asked Durane as he watched the majestic dragon disappear into the distance.

'Perhaps we may have gotten their much faster Durane, but it was clear that she was drawing too much attention to us. And this early in our journey, I feel it better that we attempt as far as possible to go unnoticed. Not mentioning the fact that Elaquor is one of the few remaining dragons in all of Abberthorn!'

'But Aramore she is a dragon, is she not capable of defending herself? And besides who was it exactly that was firing those arrows at us, we were far too high for Elvin bowmen to reach let alone any human' asked Durane turning to look back at the forest that he called home.

'You are right, those were no mere archers those were ogres. The only beasts to walk these lands that I have ever seen able to fire an arrow that distance.'

'Ogres, then is it wise that we are out in the open right now, should we not increase our pace. I am sure that they would have seen where Elaquor landed, and surely they would follow suit?' said Durane slightly concerned.

'Yes, they would no doubt have seen where she landed. They have incredibly good eyesight. Might even be better than elves...' he said with a naughty smile on his face.

'That's not possible, elves have the best eyesight in the land, bar none' said Durane defensively.

'No not by a long shot, at least not during the day at any rate!'

'What do you mean by that?' asked Durane, still not liking the fact that the elves are not the best at something that they do.

'I mean that although ogres can see incredibly long distances by day, by night their field of vision is not quite as good as that of the elves'

'And it is nearly nightfall that is why we have no fear of them following us?' said Durane feeling more reassured.

'Yes, they should keep to the sanctity of the forests, at least for tonight' said Aramore scanning his surroundings.

'But now what will we do for food and water Aramore. We have a long journey a head of us and will need sustenance' said Durane, not having had the need to leave Riverside in some time.

'If we walk through the night, we should come across a small human settlement by morning' answered Aramore to Durane's great pleasure.

'Is that wise... to travel at night I mean, there are creatures that lurk in Abberthorn by night that even the most battle-hardened dwarf would fear.'