Meanwhile, more to the east of the Kingdom, a woman named Shemira found a letter. Written in green ink, it said:
Shemira,
This is a map of the Great Woods. Come as fast as you can to the marked open spot. Speak to no one about this message. Tell no one where you are going.
You are expected.
Shemira did what was asked from her, and travelled to the spot marked on the map.
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With Aravis on their side, the rebellious citizens were able to beat the soldiers. They had never expected this ending, because even though the soldiers were outnumbered, soldiers are soldiers, they are trained to fight.
The elf and Kris, the man with the broken nose, were unable to participate in this battle, since they were still tied to the tree. Kris's wife was so focussed on freeing her husband, that she didn't even notice any battle had taken place.
As it was getting late in the afternoon, too late to travel back, the group decided to set up a camp. While doing this, a black stallion galloped on the beach. Its rider stepped off as soon as the horse had lessened his speed. The man, who Aravis recognised as Lek, came walking towards the camp. 'Aravis, there you are!', Lek screamed, 'Where were you? You just disappeared, my dad was furious! It was my task to protect you, we looked through the entire forest!' Aravis had no idea what to answer. Then, another horse walked onto the beach. A young man stepped off and pet the horse for a little moment. He wore brown cloak, but didn't put on its hood. He carried a longbow and a quiver, too. He greeted Aravis. Friendly, he said: 'I am Aleksei.' He spoke with the same accent that Nadya had, like he was from Mun.
Lek was the opposite of Aleksei, he wasn't calm at all. When he saw the chest with the big piece of crystal, he freaked out. 'What is that? Aravis, what are you doing with that piece of crystal? You are on the King's side, right? I can't believe this, you're hanging out with the rebels! And now, you're suddenly a Crystaldealer, huh?' He sighed deeply. 'I needed to find information about the rebels and the Bearers of the Crystal, remember? Maybe that is a reason why I am spending time with them?', Aravis answered witty. Lek seemed satisfied with this answer, and decided to leave her alone to finish this quest. Aleksei was staying with the group.
That evening, the group discussed where they would be going. The citizens wanted to go back to town, and the elf wanted to travel to a place the furthest away from town. Eventually, the group decided to go back up to the river, and walk through the forest a little longer, and then the citizens would leave the group.
The following morning, they got ready for the long walk. Aravis sighed by the thought of having to walk those extra two hours, to get back up to the river, as she couldn't climb up the waterfall. At a certain moment, Aleksei disappeared, to be eventually standing at the top of the waterfall. It was Aravis who noticed him first. 'Why aren't you guys coming?', echoed Aleksei's voice. Aravis looked up and screamed back: 'How did you get there?' Aleksei disappeared again and about five minutes later, he stepped from behind some rocks that were laying next to the waterfall. 'This way!' he said, and the group followed.
Next to the waterfall was a cave, the entrance hidden between the rocks. The small tunnel goes steaply upwards. After a minute or two, it flattened, and the group found themselves in a cave, the walls covered with crystals. The group pauses for a moment to enjoy the beauty of the cave, and then continues the journey. They got out of the tunnel, and found themselves at the top of the hill, next to the river. There, two great boars attacked the group. The rebels and former Bearers of the Crystal wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for Aleksei and Aravis. They were the strongest fighters here. Two citizens didn't survive this cruel fight. This was the moment that the group decided to split up. The elf went her way into the forest, Kris and his wife went back to the city, and Aravis and Aleksei were all that was left. They were looking over the corpses of the giant boars, when they found a little tube attached to one of the boar's legs. Aleksei read the note that was inside, but didn't say a word about it.
They walked some more time along the river, and when it was getting darker, they decided to set up a camp.
--- --- --- --- ---
That same day, Shemira has arrived to the open spot in the woods. There were a few dark brown tents, two smaller ones and one big one. There was a man with a handaxe guarding the entrance of the bigger tent. He looked muscular, has a dark beard with some grey bits of hair here and there. His face wasn't completely visible, as he was wearing the hood of his brown cloak. 'I was asked to come here', Shemira said to the guard. 'Who has asked you to come here?', the man answered. He spoke with a foreign accent. Shemira showed him the letter she got earlier. The man nodded, 'I will ask if you can enter.' He entered the tent. A few moments later, he stepped out. 'You can go in', he said.
Shemira entered the tent. It was dark inside, but luckily Shemira can see very well in the dark. In the two corners at the back of the tent, there were fire pits. In the middle of the tent sat a woman behind a desk. 'Shemira', she said with a foreign accent, though it sounded different from the man she had spoken to outside the tent. 'You made it. Very well. I am the leader of the Bearers of the Crystal, and I have a quest for you.' Shemira hadn't heard of the Bearers before, and had no idea what organisation this was. She was very doubtful. 'Why would I want to do your stupid quest?', she said, a bit angry. 'Because you have to. Somewhere in these woods are a woman and a Marksman. The woman has just turned rebellious, but isn't a Bearer of the Crystal. These people carry a big piece of Crystal with them, a valuable piece of rock that seemed to have disappeared for a very long time. I want you to get it.', answered the woman. 'But still, what if I don't want to? I don't see why I have to do this. Go find someone else!', said Shemira stubborn. 'You have to do this, because we are short of Crystaldealers, and it is time for us to recruit new Dealers. See this as the first part of your practice. Find it and bring it here.' She gave Shemira a big leather bag. In the light of the flames, Shemira could recognise colours, and saw that the woman has two different eyecolours, one blue, one dark red. Also, she has a blue tattoo on her face.
Not knowing what else to do, Shemira decided to listen to what the woman told her to do. She looked pretty evil, and Shemira thought she might be killed if she wouldn't do this.
Shemira went into the woods. It was getting darker when she finally found a little camp. She decided to wake up the sleeping woman. 'Hi', she said.
