Red Winter

Fernish Gyre Part 2

Keito's five hour journey across rolling hills and sprawling plains went by without incident. He arrived at the small, poor town of Topin, which sat right where the grasslands met the forests. It was roughly three o'clock in the afternoon by now and the sky remained a cloudy light gray. The village's bland structures were mostly small wooden residential homes with curved wooden roofs and muggy glass paned windows. The poor town did feature a two-story inn, a general store, and many farms on the outskirts by the grasslands. Close to the woods was a lumber yard with a hand painted sign advertising prices of small wood orders and bulk buys.

Keito glanced around the town, and finding it void of people in the street, he decided to climb down from the saddle and lead Umbra to the inn's stable water trough. He brushed her smooth black neck with his hand and he looked at the slender white steed already in the stables. The saddled animal was chewing on hay and it had black spots on its neck and legs. "Play nice," Keito murmured to Umbra with a small smile. His fingers slipped from the side of her neck and he left her and walked into the inn.

The common room of the inn felt balmy compared to outside and the smells of cooking meat and potatoes enticed Keito's nose. The long, low-ceilinged chamber featured two rectangular dining tables with gray cushioned benches around them, and pale light filtering through the muggy windows illuminated the room. Five people sat at the tables in various little groups or alone. Most of them seemed like travelers, others like locals, but none of them were Fernish Gyre. An average looking man wearing a faded blue tunic stood behind the counter near the inn's entrance. He nodded his bald head to Keito in greeting.

Keito nodded in return and made his way over to the man, presuming him to be the innkeeper. With his arms folded behind his back, he began to strike up a conversation. "Good day. I'm looking for a young man who might have passed through here within the last twenty-four hours or so. He's about this tall, a bit skinny, with shoulder length black hair in a ponytail. I was hoping someone around this town might have seen him. His family is worried about him," Keito said in a clear voice.

The innkeeper looked at the elf with light green eyes as he spoke. "Yes. I remember a man like that coming in before dawn. He rested here for several hours until sunrise, then inquired about the fastest route to the peaks of the Sunspaw Mountains," he said, his forehead creasing a little as he recalled.

Keito couldn't help feeling the surge of gratification flow through him that came with growing closer to a target he pursued. "And what did you tell him?" he asked, pressing further for information.

"I told him that if you stick to the town's main road into the woods for about four miles you'll find a smaller trail that bears northeast. That trail leads right up to the peaks and plateaus of the Sunspaws," he said, matter of fact. He then leaned his elbows on the counter and got closer to Keito, a worried expression pinching his face. "But I'll also give you the same warning I gave him. There's a gyrfalcon taken to nesting somewhere up there, lad. Best to not go up there for a few weeks until the monster moves on," he said gravely.

Keito was impressed by the total stranger's candid concern for his life. "I understand completely and I thank you for the warning, good sir. However, it is important that I find this man before the gyrfalcon or any other manner of monster in those mountains can make a meal of him," Keito said grimly.

The innkeeper quirked an eyebrow and shrugged as if to say, "well, good on you."

Keito requested a meal from the innkeeper, tipping him two silver pieces as thanks for his assistance. The innkeeper left and then shortly returned with a plate of fresh bread and boiled chicken smelling of herbs. "Pick a place to sit and I'll bring you some water," the innkeeper told Keito, handing him the plate.