When they're done eating they pack up and continue walking. Asher elects to avoid the road; his only notion of the land around them comes from things he's heard from his parents and the villagers. The only thing he knows for sure is that the farther south you go, the bigger the towns get. Somewhere to the south was Malark, the city his father had left. And farther south, the great cities of the empire, their buildings tall and their gods great.
So, Asher and May continue walking south. The day passes much like the one before, though the land has begun to level out. Shortly before noon, they crest a large hill and the land spreads out before them. "Wow..." Asher whispers in awe. They can see for leagues upon leagues. To the east at his left, on the far horizon, he can see coal-colored hills piled atop the meadows. The south and west are entirely open, until they fade away in a blue-white haze at the edge of the sky. From their vantage, they can even see two towns, just small brown clusters in the distance, one straight south and one far to the southwest. "Let's rest here," Asher suggests, "and decide what to do."
They sit and Asher pulls out some bread and two of the petalfruits. "What do you think?" he asks after they've been quiet for a few minutes.
"It's very...wide." May casts her gaze over the land stretching out before them.
"It is. Not quite like the forest."
"And no river. I do not understand how your people survive."
Asher shrugs. "We have wells and streams. The land gives us what we need. It's like your river that way." May opens her mouth but Asher cuts her off. "But we don't worship the dirt."
YOU ARE READING
The Unending Epic Written to Appease a Friend, Tell a Tale, an...
FantasyEach day, the story grows. The tale begins when two lives are suddenly and irrevocably twined together, and a boy from a lonely farm and a girl without a people find themselves each other's only friend. Little by little the fabric of their lives wea...
