The Warden | A For Honor Fanfiction

The Fortress

It was still light out when I found an end to the treeline. I had made the choice to travel into the forests alone, allowing Deborah to rest from the day's travels. My search for Stone had been going for hours by this time, and all I had found thus far were tracks. It was a stroke of luck that the snow had stopped falling in the early morning, this had prevented the tracks from being erased. Still, my progress had been slowed due to how deep it was, and I was unsure just how many more hours of light I had before I would have to call off my search. I knew if I didn't find Stone today, my chances of finding him here would be all but impossible.

I carefully placed a free hand on one of the trees beside me, taking in what lay beyond them. What I saw before me was a large clearing that sloped downward at a steady angle, leading down a good fifteen to twenty-five feet before evening out again. I couldn't see any major openings from my vantage point, but I could see that the treeline began to curve around the edges of the clearing, as though avoiding the divet in the land. The clearing itself stretched on for some time, with the snow becoming even more immense near the base of the hill I found myself at. However, I noticed that as this valley seemed to go on, the snow seemed to become closer to the ground. Perhaps most telling, however, was the lack of any footsteps. Stone hadn't traveled down into the clearing.

Instead, the tracks took a sudden turn, traveling along the edge of the hill, where the snow seemed to be the most shallow. These tracks barely pressed into the earth, leaving only faint imprints in the powder below them. Stone must have decided to follow the brow of the hill to find a safer path down, or perhaps even staying clear of the valley altogether. I removed my hand from the tree and turned to follow them. After following them for some time, I found a small patch of cleared land, a patch of brown slowly expanding into a trail of dead leaves and broken sticks, leading down the hillside.

From here, the tracks were gone. The ground was probably far too frozen for anything to penetrate it, let alone leave a solid set of tracks. Stepping from the deep snow onto the mostly clear ground was a strange sensation, after having gotten used to resistance with every step. My steps felt lighter, and I had to catch myself a few times from accelerating too fast on the way down. With a small stumble, I landed at the base of the hill, allowing my momentum to carry me before slowing my pace. The path curved around a section of the hills around me, trees blocking my sight from anything beyond. Still, I swore I could see what looked like walls just through the gaps in the trees. An abandoned outpost, perhaps? A halfway point for messengers or traders? If that were the case, I was almost certain that the bandits Stone was tracking would have set up camp there, and thus become his destination.

As I was having these thoughts, I realized that the light around me had started to turn a dim gold, and the trees were beginning to cast short, but clear shadows over the top of the hill. Looking up, I could see that the once fully blue sky was beginning to show shades of purple, and the light shining through had dimmed to a dull gold. Twilight was approaching, my window to find Stone was shrinking. My heart began racing as I hastened my step, breaking into a jog. My armor clanged loudly as my breath grew heavy, my pace growing quicker and quicker by the second. Before long, I was in a full sprint, kicking up twigs and loose snow around me.

Another long path came into view as I rushed around the turn, the path diverged several feet in front of me. One was completely covered in snow, but the path forward was clear, and more importantly, I could see that it led upward, to a massive, multi-storied wooden fort. This was my best chance. I ran forward as fast as my legs could carry me, the sound of my heavy breathing drowned out by the rattling of my armor. As I drew closer, I could see what looked like bodies in the snow to the side of the path. Bandits, it had to be. I was right, the bandits had taken it as their base, but just how many were there? What had Stone gotten himself into? I did not stop to get a better look at the bodies, there was no time. I quickly noticed the sound of clanging steel and screaming as I stopped in front of the open gate, trying to catch my breath.