The Dreaming Land

Chapter 3: The Northern Road

Getting out of the city unnoticed was easy, but Orius did notice that the number of guards on duty had nearly doubled. It's likely they assumed the two of them had died in the burning ship, but at this rate, they couldn't be too careful. Too bad for them, it didn't work.

The road north wound uphill through a forest. The path was wide and paved with stone for a while, but eventually became a dirt road, narrowing gradually over time. After a couple hours of walking, there were no signs of civilization, and the path was only about a meter wide. Traveling by path to the north wasn't the most popular way to do it. Boats would ferry people north along the coast line. That wasn't an option for them, though.

The sun was starting to set, they'd need to stop and set up camp for the night soon. Orius wished they'd had more time to prepare, but spending even one more night in the city would only make it more dangerous for them. His back ached still, and he needed around four more hours of sleep, but at least he was alive. Imara seemed to be doing fine, though.

Soon they reached the peak of the slope, and looked back at the view behind them. Gigas city was huge, filling the landscape to the south along the coast. Castle Harrier's great towers reach high above the other buildings, and Orius could swear he could see his little home above the market building. It felt like they'd walk so much further than they had, and they still had quite a ways ahead of them.

Looking around, Orius realized this was as good a place to stop as any, so they began setting up their camp. Before long they had a fire going, and started digging into their rations. The view of the sunset from the top of the hill was marvellous, and a few stars could already be seen in the eastern sky.

"It's so pretty up here." Imara said.

"What's it like across the sea?" Orius asked, wondering if it was just as nice, or better where she'd come from.

"It's lovely," She smiled, "there are huge open fields filled with golden wheat that stretch as far as you can see. Haysian City is on the sea, just like Gigas, but the sunsets you can see from the pier are so beautiful."

"Sounds lovely." He smiled, "Maybe we can go back when all this is done."

"Yeah..." She didn't seemed happy about the idea.

"Why did you decide to work for that mage, Imara, and come all the way out here?" He asked.

"Well..." She sighed, "Really, it wasn't my decision. My father is in debt to the emperor, more debt that wealth can repay... Or rather, my clan is, but my father is the head of our clan."

"Why is he in debt?" Orius asked.

"There was a war a couple of years ago," Imara explained, "and our clan was in service to the last emperor. We're ninja, assassins. We fought against the current one, but in the end we could not win, but we managed to kill the last of the emperor's children before he took the throne. Knowing we were too strong a tool to throw away, he enslaved us. I've lived all my life under the emperor's will. He'd sent Namita to us, and I was sent with him to get the shard. We're supposed to deliver the answer of how to cross the dreaming land, but..."

"But now he's dead."

"I'm not going back there, not yet anyways." She said.

"So did you agree to come with me just to steal the answer?" Orius asked, eyeing her carefully.

"No.. Or, well, I don't think so, anyways." She shrugged, "I hate the emperor, and giving him what he wants will only make things worse. He'll have no use for us if all his dreams come true. I wish Namita hadn't died, but now I'm free."