The Dead King

Chapter 20 - The Tarnished City

The rest of the journey to Tarenfall had been one of peace. After a brief night in the inn at Navaren, Marin and Gus purchased a new map at the convenient store, and continued their journey south.

Leaving Navaren, they passed through rich farmlands, a few larger cities, and the kingdom of Kybervald. When dusk neared, they retired to the last inn that they would stay at before reaching Tarenfall.

During most of the journey, Marin continued to discuss with Gus the elements and other skill techniques – something he had not expected to do or ever planned for, but it was apparent Gus yearned for these practices, and they had a long journey of walking, with nothing else to keep them occupied.

Marin finally told Gus that if he was so inclined to master an element, he should join with Neo after this quest. He assured Gus that the National Elemental Organization would be the best place to learn, they had streamlined the process and taught excellent fighting tactics. There would be no better place to become a walking weapon. All he had to do was enlist and pledge himself to them for at least one term – that was eight years from what Marin could remember.

Gus told Marin that it was out of the question. He was not planning on leaving his king's service anytime in the future. He loved his King, and the loyalty he had developed for him thwarted almost everything else.

"Really, Gus. You should do it. You're not transferring your loyalty to someone else. I know you'll still support me, even from a distance. I know you'll be back after training, and you will return as a much stronger man," Marin explained.

"Nope. Not gonna do it."

Marin grinned slightly from the answer. Gus was very stubborn.

This entire quest so far had taught Marin much. From all the townsfolk and travelers he met on the road, he was developing a better grip on this era's society. Language was still fundamentally the same, but two hundred years worth of time had changed some percentage of words, phrases, gestures, even body language. Marin had come a long way to adjusting.

Gus helped him quite a bit in turn as well. Sharing information wasn't just one-sided from Marin's perspective, for almost every fact Marin told Gus about the elements, Gus shared with him sayings, phrases, and the do's and dont's of conversations with modern-day people.

They were now further south than they had ever been. The two of them were now out of the northern regions of the continent, and were beginning to near the heart-land. They had covered much ground in a short amount of time. Based on Marin's readings of the map, they would reach Tarenfall at the end of the day. They had been traveling for four days now.

"Look at the kingdoms in the far south," Gus pointed out near the bottom of the map. "I reckon it would take three weeks to get all the way down there."

"That sounds about right," Marin confirmed.

The map was rolled up and they walked on. Both of them were ready to finally reach the city. The traveling was a novelty to Gus at first – especially since he had never traveled in his life, but four days in, he had walked quite enough. Gus had also ran out of things to talk about – or rather, things that Marin was willing to share, and for that reason, things remained quiet for some stretches of time. Silence was broken occasionally when Gus pointed out a piece of greenery or chunk of land that he had never witnessed before, and would inquire with Marin on what exactly that was.

Without much else to do, Gus looked at everything he could, and pondered the long talks his King shared with him. His King – he didn't look like much of a king at the moment. Gus reminded himself that he was still hauling Marin's royal garments in his backpack, and in place on Marin's body were the rags they had picked out from a second hand clothing store in Navaren.