The Fires of Cerran

Chapter Three

As the girl walked through the forests, with the rain pouring heavier with every passing hour, she realised truly how far from home she was. She looked around her, the thick tree lines brought no comfort and she was well aware of the stalking beasts, roadside bandits and convicts that were undoubtedly within them. She held her cloak tightly, her knuckles swollen and scabbed and her fingers turning a light blue. But still she kept on her path, and the howling winds and lightning which followed her; crept ever closer. After a mile or so she came, at last, to the outer edge of the village. The tall stone walls ran across road and cut through the forests that flanked the path. She came through the gate keep without trouble and found herself in the large market, though the place was all but barren at this time. There were a few farmers herding cattle along the road, but otherwise the place was quiet. The girl looked up, there were no guards on the walls, neither were there any royal flags flying above the gate keep.  And yet this was the stronghold of Cerran, one of the Furthest East holdings but by far the most powerful. From this stronghold King Brodon's armies were trained and, for the majority, housed. The town the stronghold enveloped was a small but adequate market town, full of bakers and ale houses. It was from Cerran that the great legions marched West towards the White Woods to hunt for boar and practise archery when the deer were plenty, and marched East towards the Eastern Edge where the coastal winds blew fierce and men often did not come back from. The Kingdom itself, Sera, was held by Lord Tharandal, formerly Master of the Treasury. Tharandal rarely vacated his home, other than for the rare meetings of the High Lords, though they were now few and far between. The girl kept herself close to the shadows, somehow she felt safer there than in the open of the market. She stopped and entered into the long narrow streets which ran away from the gate keep and continued to search for the Inn House. Eventually she came to it, they had told her that she'd know the place when she saw it, and they were right. The Inn stood alone, an old stone built structure clad in black painted timber and adorned with a newly thatched roof. There was firelight eminating from within the place, the soft glow against the windows held an almost heavenly appearance. The girl opened the door slowly, The Bear and Bard was a simple place in its interior, long tables covered most of the floor space, with curved seating areas cut into the corners of the main bar. 

The Inn keeper stared at the girl keenly, the place was quiet at this time of night. 

'What brings you here miss?' He asked, with a well worked on smile. 

'Nothing much, I need food and a bed for the night.' the girl replied, still taking in the place. 

The Inn keeper poured a pint of ale, slid it across the bar to the girl along with a small bronze key. 

'Third room on the right up the stairs.' He said, lowering his tone. 

The girl nodded, took her drink and key, turned and made way towards the narrow staircase against the back wall. At the last step she turned again, the bar was empty. The crackle of the fireplace subsided and the windows slowly replaced themselves with solid stone. 

Melran was a woman with experience of the world far beyond what her years should have permitted her. Thrown, as a barrel from a trade ship, from place to place and tossed aside once her duties had been completed. Home was a foreign concept to her, and as she unlocked the door to her room she felt that familiar feeling within her, of misplacement and an overwhelming sense of distance from her truth. She took off her heavy bags, unbulcked her cloak and let it fall to the floor. She threw the bags in a corner and let her hair fall. It felt like the only way of relaxation in her life, the only thing she could let go of. She tugged at her clothes, soaked from the storms that had followed her, and sighed. 

PAIN 

She tilted her head, narrowed and slowly closed her eyes. 

PAIN