Dragon Tamer - Book 1

Chapter 30

For possibly the hundredth time, Aldren of Thoughts Burrow, son of Accard, thought he was going to die.

However this may have been the first time in their journey that nothing especially life threatening was occurring at this precise time.

Instead, he might have thought that considering the events of their journey so far they were doing quite well.

They had encountered no mishaps over the past several days, since their guide (and much of their supplies) had been dragged off by wolves in the night.

Now their only discomfort was the aching of their limbs, the chill in their bones and the growling in their stomachs.

Yet this was in some ways even more terrifying that the strange sounds, smells and sights that they had witnessed.

Such as the peculiar mist that befell them only a few days into their journey and the eerily beautiful music that led Eli to fall into a deep sleep while on watch, never to wake.

Or the occurrence that woke the whole party one night to the sound of hooves thundering past their camp, as if hundreds upon thousands of horses were stampeding around them.

Not to mention the various animal attacks and sightings, some of which none of the men could explain as they had never before seen a creature of that shape or size before.

The result of all these occurrences was that their party of seven had been whittled down to only three. Fortunately the other two were his personal man servant Sebastian Forrar, also called Basti and a stable hand who simply went by the name of Jin, whom he had always gotten along with and whom did not defer to him because of his status so could always be trusted to joke and state his honest opinion. 

He mourned the loss of the other four, especially their guide, a retired trader who had agreed (through much bribery) so escort them through The Forgotten Forest.

So confident was he in the abilities of the weathered old trader and those of himself and his company that he had planned to spend winter in the Village at the forest's heart.

However, winter was fully upon them and he was going to die.

"Anything?" he whispered to Jin,

They were crouching behind a small verge created by overlapping tree trunks. Jin had a long bow, an arrow notched, the string pulled slightly back, for a quick draw, his eyes scanned the never ending trees,

"If there was something out there, we would have seen movement by now" he said, 

"It is too still, too quite"

Aldren didn't know whether to be grateful or frustrated,

"We need to eat" he hissed at the stable hand,

"Can't eat whats not there" Jin replied, he stood and stretched, his eyes never leaving their surroundings, and shook his head,

"Ain't nothin to be had boss. Well just have to wait"

Aldren grunted, his stomach growled.

They returned to their camp, the snow had finally stopped falling and they had found shelter under the over sized roots of an ancient seeming fallen tree that formed an overhang.

Sebastian had a fire going and was drying out their bed rolls. When they took a seat he silently handed out the last of their food. Despite heavy amounts of salt, the meat tasted rancid and was sure to give him belly ache, but he wolfed it down anyway, happy to have anything to fill the void in his stomach.

Jin nibbled on his meat and scowled,

"We should kill the horses" he said, after a few hesitant bites, "The meat could last us a few more days, possible weeks"

"We need the horses" Aldren told him, drinking melted snow from a small wooden bowl,

"No, we don't" jin replied,

Aldren opened his mouth to argue, but Sebastian said,

"They slow us down, they aren't suited for this terrain"

"We aren't suited for this terrain" Jin said with a smile,

Aldren considered the horses, they were tough and fast, they could practically fly over the lush flat lands of his home, they could also handle mountainous terrain pretty well, but this...

The ground was so full of tree roots and pits and holes that it was a struggle to get anywhere, add a thick layer of snow and they hardly made any ground during a whole days travel. And that wasn't even with the trees growing so close together that they had to make huge detours to find gaps big enough for them to pass threw.

"Ill think about it" he told them sullenly,

Jin snorted,

"Whatever you say boss. But we all know the only reason you haven't gutted them for breakfast it that you don't want to carry all out stuff yourself"

Aldren scowled at him.