Frozen Summer

Chapter 19

Richard was walking in the direction of Razeon, he had been on the road for two days and was now seeing the village from the mountain path he was on. " People in this part of the world really have a different definition of the word '' village ". Being Not engaged in the war and being at peace for a hundred years, the country of Triskal had no need to requisition the men and the towns and villages were bigger than anything Richard ever saw. Ryzeon was a" medium" sized village with an approximation of four hundred villagers. Their main source of income was the vineyards and farms. The quality of the soil and the intense care of the people of Ryzeon was so high that most of their crops would survive even during the winter. Many of the smaller villages relied on them for their survival. The region was working as an all functioning ecosystem in which Cicsera was the heart. The town which was literally the size of a capital from where Richard came had a near approximation of nine thousands citizens. People from the five main villages would sell their goods to the town and at the same time would get a profit from selling it to the smaller ten villages around them. Ryzeon for their grapes and cerals, Azaglea for their coal mines and jewels, Hyrith for the mass population of demi humans was a trading place for exotic goods but also a slave trade post, Poratif for their quality stables were selling horses to the town guards and workhorses and finally the village of Gorenguard was specialised in digging into an old volcano which is rumored to have been a Dragon's lair since it is filled with rare ores.

Richard was now a few hours away from the village, he decided to take a slight break and relax against a tree. He took out some bread out of his bag and started biting at it. The sun was high in the sky but not warm, it was one of those typical bright winter days. All the leaves were gone from the trees. He was now daydreaming about having Bella in his arms, he wished he could have stayed. From the corner of his eye he catched a small dark shape creeping up on him from his right, he looked to his right and discovered a small child looking at him from behind a tree. He was dark skinned, and seemed to not be older than eight years old. He was looking at Richard with care. Richard stood up and took a step towards the child.

" Hey little one "

The child hid even more behind the tree, who could blame him ? Richard was a tall man in all black and covered in blades. He kneeled and held out his hand with the piece of bread.

" Are you hungry ? "

The child shook his head. He was just looking at Richard in silence. Something felt wrong about this situation. Still with one knee on the ground, Richard focused on the vibrations of the ground. The child wasn't alone. When he stood back up the child had vanished into the forest. " What a strange encounter " thought Richard. All the presences around him vanished too. He took his bag and resumed his travel but was now more aware of his surroundings.

Richard got stopped at the entrance of the village by two guards.

" Hey there stranger, state your business. "

" I have been sent by the duchess of Cicsera to deal with the witch "

" Oi ! We have been expecting you! Go see the chief up there. "

The man pointed at a big house on top of a hill at the end of the main avenue. He nodded at the man and started walking towards it. Along the way Richard noticed that the duchess didn't lie, not a single child was in the town. The younger people he could see were around eighteen years of age. Everyone was waving and smiling at him on his way. The chief house was a big wooden lodge, with carved pillars at the entrance. The lodge was topped by a wood sculpture of a deer head and in it's handles were cyan ribbons floating to the cold wind. Richard knocked on the door and a pale blonde woman opened and told him to come in. As he stepped inside, he was relieved that he didn't need to be in the cold anymore. The inside was spacious, four pillars carved in the same pattern as the ones outside were holding the whole structure, a small fire was at the center of the room and doubled as a cooking station. By just looking around Richard noticed there were multiple rooms and a cellar. In front of him was a man barely older than him, he had quite the thin slender build, his light brown hair was held in a braided ponytail. He was holding a baby in his arms. As he saw the stranger that had just stepped into his home, the man placed a finger on his mouth to signal Richard to be quiet. The woman next to Richard slightly pulled on his cape.