Paladin - the path begins

Chapter 14

Luna woke early, shivering in the cold and pulling her blanket tightly against her. The moonlight pierced the blackness of night, letting her see out across the calmness of the ocean. She stood slowly, her legs and arms weary from the cold. She went over to the cliffs edge a hundred yards or so from the camp and sat down heavily. They were only a day out from Fernhaven, perhaps she would be only hours from seeing Tar'vid. She'd known him less than a few weeks but had felt their connection only a few hours after meeting him. She didn't hear Tarquin approach and though she had come to like the man, she didn't trust him.

"The cold keeping you up too?" she asked as he sat down beside her, hearing him exhale sharply at the cold touch of the rock.

"Indeed, it is times like these I wish I had wintered in Brownfields. Though I would then have never have met you, Luna" he replied with his usual charm.

She laughed, continuing to stare out to sea.

"I've told you before, I'm taken" she replied, blowing on her hands for a little warmth.

"Alas, I have heard that from many married women and yet..." he replied, leaning in towards her.

Luna batted the side of his head with her palm, when he was like this he was unbearable and she'd had to put him in his place before.

"I made myself perfectly clear the last time you tried it on, the next time I'll knock out your damned perfect teeth," she told him angrily as he grabbed his head in pain.

They sat in an awkward silence as the sun began to rise over the horizon.

"Forgive me, Luna, your beauty is distracting to me... but it shall not happen again, I swear this" Tarquin said, flashing a smile.

"Very well, you are forgiven Tarquin" she smiled back, though she knew he would dog her forever if he could.

"I'll beg your leave my lady, there are other women with looser morals than yourself... thankfully," he said as he stood, Luna casually tossed a stone at his smirking face as he walked away.

She sat alone until the sun's rays washed over her face, providing a much-needed relief from the bitter cold. As the sun touched the camp people began to rouse, beginning the work of harnessing the oxen to the waggons and breaking down the tents. Several of the older travellers were found dead, the cold overcoming them in the night. A hasty pyre was built with the bodies being burned, no one knew the two men and so the waggon trains leader said a few words of prayer about their single god looking over them and accepting them to paradise. Luna was fascinated by them, how could one god look after so much she thought as she lifted her bow, slinging it over her shoulder and grabbing her spear, which was coming in handy as a walking aid in the snow. Tarquin fell in beside her as the train rolled away from the camp, he had a long wool lined coat she hadn't seen before.

"The man was already dead, he had no more use for it," Tarquin said, perhaps anticipating her question.

"It's a bit ghoulish don't you think?" she asked, a little disgusted.

"Perhaps, but I have no intention of freezing to death like those two" he replied bluntly, none of his usual swagger shining through.

Luna pulled her cloak tighter, she had certainly felt the cold creeping through her hands and feet lately. Perhaps Deadra would winter at the inn, in fact, she hoped she would. Luna considered her a friend now and her sister would need an ally in Keldran whilst her uncle lived. The sky was cloudy still and soon there were the first flakes of snow falling for the day. It was going to be a long day of walking, she knew it.

The caravan rolled on for a few hours until the road became boggy, the waggon wheels starting to stick in the mud. The few elves in the caravan were helpful and like herself used their superior strength to force out the waggons at all too regular intervals. She was exhausted as they reached the river Rosie where several men approached them from the edge of the forest, bows were strung and crossbows made taut as others drew weapons for a fight. The men though were ragged and shaking from the cold, several had frost bite in their hands and feet, though they were bandits and outlaws the caravan took them in grudgingly, though they were eager to join at first the constant start-stop riggers of the wagons bogging down was too much for several of them who abandoned the wagons, several others died along the way due to exposure as the snows intensified . The men were left at the roadside, though it seemed to upset most of the travellers that the bodies weren't disposed of properly. There was a deathly silence now that the forest was several hours behind them.