A Tale Of Two Kings

10-A journey should never be travelled alone

1) Where are y'all coming from, I'm scared

2) Yay, more skin describing bc I'm too lazy to look up if they've actually shown their face or not, plus it's just easier to describe their skin than their face

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The journey took a while, to say the least. Heeding Finns advice, Clay started his trip to the marsh at the crack of dawn, being able to cover more ground before night fell.

Trekking through the forest was one thing. It was difficult to navigate in the dark, yes, but the forest was familiar, and Clay knew there was nothing hiding in the shadows.

The journey to the marsh was different. For him, it was uncharted territory, so the more ground he can cover, the better.

Clay sighed, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Summer was both a curse and a blessing. A blessing because it granted him another hour or so of daylight, but a curse because of the ungodly heat he had to endure.

Thankfully he was far away from the kingdom to take his mask off. His hood was also off, currently draped over his left arm, his forearm boiling from the mixture of sweat and heat.

It wasn't fun.

By the time Clay found a lake to drink from and rest, it was already sundown. He checked his map in the last little bit of sunlight, noting that, if he left by dawn again, this five day journey could be cut down to, at most, three.

He sighed, stripping himself of his dirty gear and swam in the cool water. He desperately needed a bath, and even better, a drink.

He already had more than enough food to last him during the two-week journey, but water tends to go fast on exceptionally hot days, so he made sure to fill up two Water-skins instead of one.

He was exhausted, to say the least. So, after putting his clothes back on, eating, and getting a drink from the lake, he laid down, and slept.

Day two was basically a repeat of day one.

Except this time, he had company.

He woke up and immediately noticed a roaring fire that wasn't there the night before.

Beside the fire was a teenager. If Clay didn't know any better, he would've said that the teen was Tommy's brother. They shared the same blonde hair, though this teens was a lighter blonde, and blue eyes. They even looked the same age, though this teen had a more shy look to him.

He wore a dirty forest green tunic and dirty navy blue leggings. His boots resembled Clays, but in a much worse condition. Clay noticed that the teen had a bow strapped to his back, a few arrows in the quiver.

"Um...hello...?"

Clays greeting, well, more like question, startled the teen out of whatever daydream he was in.

"O-oh, y-you're awake!" He exclaimed, sounding almost shocked that the man awoke. "S-sorry, I-I found this lake a-and you were there a-and I was nervous to stay b-because I didn't know if you were good or not and I-I didn't want to take any chances, b-but I saw that you had food, and I just couldn't help myself. I-I haven't eaten anything in.....th-ree days? I-I'm sorry, I know that I shouldn't have, and you can kill me if you want, but-"