7: The Wyvern's Blood

Chapter 9: Through the portal.

It only takes them just over three hours to reach the nearest town. It's now just after two in the afternoon. It's a coastal fishing and farming town called Aberdrum, they decide to stop there for a late lunch and have a little look around. This is the last larger settlement before they reach the magical portal on the coast.

Bethany gets off Hamish, wanders around to the carriage and shouts to them.
"You guys want anything? I'm starving."
Luca replies.
"Can you just toss me an apple please? And a carrot for Nova... I'm still pretty full from breakfast."
She nods, digs into the bag and grabs an apple and a small carrot.
"Here, catch!" and throws him a juicy pink apple, then a carrot, he deftly  catches them both.
Shaun just glares at him in disbelief.
"Still full from breakfast?! What's wrong with you, Luca?"
Luca takes a bite out of the apple and speaks with his mouth partially full.
"I just don't eat much... That's all..."
Shaun shakes his head.
"You are weird... It's long past lunch time, how can you not be hungry?"
Luca shrugs as he swallows his first bite of the apple.
"I prefer to eat when I'm actually hungry, not when the clock tells me to be hungry..."
Shaun looks at Bethany strangely, hoping that she agrees but she just shrugs.
"He's completely fucking mad... Did you pack any sandwiches Beth?"

She has a look through the cold box, it's a little steel box, about 24"x 24"x 40" that she has cast a persistent frost spell on, it keeps any perishable food fresh. They live in a time where magic has been used for many practical purposes such as the refrigeration of perishable foods, they also have running water indoors and sewer systems, again because of the discovery of advanced magics. The recent invention of microscopes mean that germ theory is now a thing too, a very recent thing though and so is still being studied. It coincides with colder temperatures being known to keep food fresh but it's still in the early stages. Fire magic is used for quickly stoking ovens and furnaces and for lighting candles etcetera. Electrical magic has not yet been harnessed for practical use in homes though because it is unfortunately still wildly unstable and difficult to control. For practical use, it is, however, in the experimental trial stages but only for smaller applications at the moment.

She takes out a few brown paper bags.
"Right... There's poached salmon and cream cheese, sliced cheese and tomato... Roast beef salad and relish or... Just a strawberry jam one..."
Luca hears that and changes his mind.
"Now I think of it... Can I have half of the jam one please? I'll keep the other half for later..."
Bethany nods and takes it to him.
"Alright, here you go... Shaun?"
He thinks for a moment.
"I'll have the roast beef one please... If no-one else objects?"
Luca shakes his head and Bethany says.
"No, I'm good... I'll have the salmon one... Aw, uncle Alex has put some of his soup in here too... It looks flash frozen, Eleanora must have done that... Shall we have that for dinner later when we set up camp for tonight?"
Luca groans when he hears the word 'camp'.
"Ugh... We can have it for dinner but I'm sleeping in the tavern tonight... I miss my bed already..."
Shaun rolls his eyes.
"Ugh, fucking spoiled princess..."
Luca sniggers and throws his apple core at Shaun's head, quite hard while he shouts "... Dick..." at him. It hits Shaun's shoulder and he recoils dramatically.
"Ew, gross! Bastard..."
Bethany rolls her eyes as she looks up from her book.
"Oh shut it you two... I'm trying to read here..."

About an hour of pissing about later, they pack up and get going again. It takes another three hours to reach the portal village, it's around half past six in the evening. The area they have entered into is a little hamlet that seems to have been built around the portal, almost like a tourist spot before you leave one country and go into the next one. It's called Dunrossie and this little settlement makes most of its income from visitors and tourists wanting to use the portal, kind of like a service station where you can rest, eat and refuel yourself and your horses. It's a hilly landscape surrounding them to the South and East, fairly flat farmland to the West and a cliffy coastline and seemingly endless sea to the North, all covered by thick grey skies full of rain. There is a small tavern and inn, a general supply store and nine or ten small residential houses, they also passed a large farm less than half a mile back on that road which seems to be where most of the locals work. Shaun looks around him and decides to comment on the weather.
"Gods I miss Idralla... Please tell me it's better in the Eastern realm?"
He looks at Bethany who just shrugs in response, she doesn't really know. He then looks at Luca, who answers him.
"Well... It's dryer but it actually gets colder the further East or North you go... Most of Russaine has snow or frost for at least six months a year... Sorry Shaun... But the summers are beautiful and warm like in Northern Idralla, better than this bloody country anyway..."