Bethelania Book 1: The Last Bethelanian

Chapter 1: Pillars

A man in a dark cloak stood atop the hill overlooking the clearing that housed the village of Farrengal. He breathed out a sigh of cautious relief. He looked behind him – back from the way he came.

"There may still be time... but is that time enough?" the man swept his cloak behind him and began to make his way down from the hill and into the clearing.

The soft and gentle wind blew slowly and sweetly across the rolling hills and fields of harvest-ready wheat, causing the whole clearing to look like a rolling sea of beautiful greens and gentle yellows. The stream and babbling brooks that flowed along the outskirts of the small rural village trickled with a beautiful and gentle song, glinting in the light of the morning; the small township was abuzz with light chatter, the clack of wooden heeled shoes and boots and the general noises of the town. The village's gateway arch watched over its town, solemn, majestic, strong. It was not connected to fence or wall, nor did it actually house a gate, it was really more akin to the archways known only in rumours in these parts – to a place in the far east. The archway led out into the forest, in fact it was the point at which the village connected to the woods surrounding the small township as the rest of the village was surrounded by a natural moat caused by two rivers meeting between the mountains and converging in the valley, their brooks making a mostly decorative set of circular ring each increasing in size until one was at the main riverbank that separated the valley and its clearing almost clean in two.

There had been a ferocious storm the night before, apart from the uprooted trees on the trail leading through the forest from the gateway it wasn't clear that the storm had rolled through at all; the sky was clearer than it had ever been, and the warm and glorious light of day filled the valley. Old-man-Abernathy hollered at two young men as they entered under the gateway carrying firewood in packs on their backs; the two boys – one taller than the other – were strapping and in the height of youth with the taller of the two having sandy blonde hair coupled with emerald green eyes that sparkled in the daylight, a great juxtaposition to the quite muscular build the young man carried with himself; the other, the smaller of the two, still stood around six feet in height and with shaggy curls of brown that shone gold in direct sun, he had a toned build to him and seemed to be analysing everything with his gentle golden eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, we hear you Abernathy" the taller boy called back to the old man in the rocking chair, "you old coot" He mumbled moments after.

"Come on Orion, let's just get this firewood back to () before she starts trying to burn your wooden training swords" the shorter boy replied to the taller one, called Orion, placing a hand on the taller boy's shoulder as he pushed passed him, taking the lead.

"H-Hey, don't joke about that Toran, c'mon man" Orion replied, slightly bewildered at the thought of his beloved swords being thrown to the flame.

"Then hurry up! Just gotta walk past a few more houses and we'll be there"

The two young men walked the main path that led down the centre of the village and circled around the central well and square; greeting people and being greeted as they went. The two approached a home, the closest to the river, so much so that it had its own small and slightly dilapidated jetty behind it, a clothesline was set up over it. The house was one of the larger homes in the village but that had clearly not always been the case, as the seam between the original stone building and the latter wooden extension of a second floor and small attic space could clearly be seen. The two men walked up the stone steps that were cut out from the cobble foundation of the home, a woman, beautiful and calm, stood leaning on the doorframe of the home, a soft smile on her face as she looked at Orion and then a concerned look as her eyes lay upon Toran.

"Oh, my goodness – your face!" she exclaimed as she rushed to Toran, pushing past a very surprised Orion. She held his head in her hands as she looked him over, "you're all scratched up – and your clothes! What happened?"