The person hands me a white cloth. I wipe my face with it and take the gunk out of my eyes. I thank the man and give him it back. He takes it and pulls out a strange looking instrument. He flicks a trigger and a flame pops up. I jump back as he burns the cloth. I notice behind his black robes is a cool looking belt. I wonder what delights are connected to this man. He looks at me, nods, and starts to walk away.
"What about me? These woods, they are poisoned.." I say. He stops walking and waves me over. I follow. I notice my shield is on his horse. He signals me to hop on and I awkwardly attempt to get on the mighty beast as he pets its head. I'm still unsure of this man.. Still afraid of him.. Of it..
He helps me get up and move backwards. With ease the person gets up and sits on the saddle.
"Where shall we be going?" I ask. I hear a small mumble and we start moving. We rode on slowly, for what seemed like an hour, within the woods. He stops the horse and gets off. He signals me to stay. I am tempted to leave him here.. He pulls off a crossbow and shoots a rather large bird creature out of a tree. I couldn't see it until it fell, but he could.. I decide not to steal the horse, considering his accuracy. He climbs back up and we continue..
"So... Who are you?" I ask a little while after. I get no reply. "Hello?"
He stops the horse to a hault and stares at me. I lean back quickly, almost falling off. He catches me and I hear a mumble.
"..now keep your mouth shut.." He said.
"Okay..." I say, frightened by his approach. He gets the horse to go again but more silently. I'm scared now and feel I'm being watched again. We keep moving.. Hours on end. I'm growing tired.. This stupid forest never ends...
I start to see a tunnel of trees, just in front of us. If we get out of here and he lets me go.. What will happen to me? I don't know my way around. I don't even know they way back home!
"What's to happen to me?" I say to him. He stops again. He takes my hands and puts them on his stomach.
"..hang on.." He said as we bolted through the tunnel. I look behind us and the branches start closing in.. I duck down quickly after looking back up to see a branch about to slap me. We both stay ducked down and he yells at the horse to go as fast as he can. We make it to the end and fly out over a slight cliff of dirt.
I blow out some air and ease myself out. We are still going fast but are starting to slow down. I notice the vast green field we are in. The beauty of the snowy mountain range to our right.. I look to the left and notice other mountains, but further in the distance. I notice the forest behind us. Big, thick almost all black. Being in there definitely was a sight and feeling I never wish to experience again.. this land, however, is not Ferihale.
We rode off towards a small village in the far distance at a walkings pace. We come up to a wide river. The horse refuses to go through it, knocking me off. The man calms the beast and gets off. He pulls out a rather large map and looks for the best route. It takes him a bit to find it but when he does he packs it back away. He waves over to me again and gets me on the horse. He gets on and we go upstream.
"How can we get around this?" I ask.
"..a bridge is this way.." He replied. We rode on. I didn't see anything for a while.. But we made it. We wait a distance away from it. Another small town lies behind it.
"Why are we so far away from the bridge?"
"...I'm not welcome here.."
"Then why bother?"
"..let's just try going through.." He said. We went up on to the somewhat busy bridge. Some immediately notice the strange outfit he wears. We continue on.
We get inside the town guarded by thick stone walls and four knights with rather long spears. I notice their flags and I can't help but notice how familiar they seemed. I quickly realize it was the ones who we faught against only a day ago. I quickly take my labels and throw them off the left side of the bridge. He looks at me.
"So uh... My people faught against these people so I may not be welcome either.."
"...your shield.."
"You got any covers?"
"..yes.." He said as he pulled a string letting two drapes to cover both sides of the horse. "..now lets go through the town.."
"But your outfit.., you should take it off if they know you by it." I suggested.
"..no." He turned down as we went ahead.
YOU ARE READING
Deadlands
FantasyA knight falls under a dangerous task that leads him to uncovering a whole new 'world' 'just around the corner'; forcing him on an adventure to not only find his love, but his courage to move on to help those he has found along the way. Ferrin Anton...
