Between the Veil and Crown

Chapter 75: Arvek, Kylin

Arvek

When Arvek woke the next morning, his headache persisted, though on a much lesser scale. His body, having had the opportunity to rest, ached and weighed him down. He did not need Rasinod nor the guard to say that they would not leave the town that day. He wasn't sure if he could even leave the stall.

With the help of Rasinod's medication, he was able to drift in and out of sleep for the rest of the day. When he came back to consciousness, he would catch snippets of conversation or horse noises, but nothing made sense. It made even less sense when his brain tried to process it in his sleep, giving him hyper-realistic dreams that left the feeling that he was missing the one key to righting everything and solving the mystery.

He knew food and water were given to him at points throughout the day, but for all that he remembered, he could have just been grass and ash. He did have a dream about being fed that.

Or, he hoped it was a dream.

The following morning brought him strength. His headache had worn off and his muscles were much more cooperative. He couldn't fool himself, Rasinod or the guards into believing that he was fully recovered, but he did convince them that he was up for some travel. The guards agreed to light travel, and Arvek overheard one of them saying they would stop if it looked like he actually wasn't up to it.

They left in the afternoon and went at a leisurely pace to the road. Being out and about gave Arvek some more strength. The fatigue slowly wore off, clinging on just long enough to remind him he wasn't ready to go charging forward. He wasn't a fan of the pace, but he reasoned it was better than spending another day in the stall. At least he was making progress. He was not sent back. Just delayed.

That evening, they reached the neighboring town that was on the main road. They thankfully had room for them. Though, the room had recently been vacated by a couple of travelers who stopped briefly for the Farewell Festival and it was a task to cram six of them in there.

The next day was much kinder to him. He was much more awake, much more alert, and very ready to continue traveling. They headed down the road at a brisker pace. The cold that turned their cheeks pink gave Arvek energy. It felt so good after being so fatigued and fevered. True to his word, Rasinod kept silent, leaving them to travel in peace and not be weighed down with his griping. And if Arvek focused very hard, he could trick himself into believing he could see the taller peaks of buildings in Chester.

It was a good travel day. The best.

They arrived at an inn halfway between the towns just before it really started getting dark.

In Arvek's head, he was checking off the last places they had to pass before arriving at Chester. There was the next town, and then Chester. And then after that, the pass and the Veil.

Don't get too excited just yet, he reminded himself firmly. He had a nagging feeling that if he got too excited, something else would block his path. Something would chase him away. He had to wait until the pass to celebrate.

The next day started off just like the previous day. As it wore on, however, wind picked up, bringing down the temperature with it. When the party arrived at the next town, they were very grateful for the warmth of the tavern that thawed their bones. Even more so when the tavern a hot meal of spiced lamb, scalloped potatoes with layers of buttery cream, and roasted carrots drizzled in lamb and shallot gravy, with mulled cider to wash it down. A bard traveling from Chester to Ault was there that night and had many a song for the tavern's patrons that evening. His collection of songs were all older songs, ones that Arvek remembered vaguely from his childhood.