chapters one and some of two

 Walking through a snow covered forest filled with towering pine trees and a few lost oaks, I came to a stop at the top of a hill. Ahead I see a break in the trees, "Must be a clearing" I said to myself.

Coming upon the break in the trees I look to the sky, "Clouds..." I say aloud flatly as snow lands upon my face. Turning my gaze downward I tighten my grip on my heavy woolen cloak I had wrapped around me, and look around the darkness, but it was not truly dark, for there was a faint grey light being cast around, " Hmm, there must be a full moon tonight." I say quietly.

I squint my eyes looking at something far off on the other side of what I assume is a valley. There was light, faint and far off but light nonetheless. I began walking down the snow covered broken cobblestone road that was built into the side of the valley toward the faint lights.

The broken cobblestone road wound its way down the side of the sandstone cliff I was standing atop of moments ago. At the point in the road where it meets flat ground I looked to my left and saw the faint glow of something emitting light, there was a small structure tucked away behind some trees. Out of curiosity I walk over to the structure to find that it is made entirely out of stone and calling it small would be an understatement, the building was around four to five times the size of an average house, and nearly three times taller. The stone was black in color, as far as I could tell, with carved reliefs of faces and great cities. I began walking around the stone building, admiring the tales the carvings were telling, when I came across a door. The door was outlined in some sort of white stone, the keystone of the arch surrounding the door had a symbol or insignia carved into it, from what I can make out is that there is a compass or clock as one of the elements... I suddenly realized that this was Fabrian architecture. Continuing to look over the front of the structure, the door stood three times my height and was wide enough for four broad chested men to walk through it side by side. On the front, another carving, but this one had actual writing accompanying it.

I looked closely at the writing, squinting due to the lack of available light to see. I ran my hand over the lettering, "I know this script... " I said to myself, I opened my mouth to gasp when a hand laid itself across my lips. The hand was cold and felt frail, old, and spoke of experience.

The owner of the hand began to turn me around, so that my back was to the door. The hand belonged to a man in a long, thick, worn out grey cloak. The man's face too was worn out, frail and told stories of the wondrous things and many tragedies he had seen. He had medium set sapphire blue eyes, his nose was a good fit, not too bulbous or too small.

However, what worried me was the look of sheer and utter terror plastered across his face. He also had something held tight in his fist, it was made of metal, but as far as anything else I could not make it out.

I looked down at the snow at his feet, even though it was night and I could barely make out anything, I could see that the man was wounded and bleeding not profusely, but just enough to make me concerned for his continued existence. He stared deep into my eyes and just as he opened his mouth to say something his eyes fluttered closed and he collapsed into the snow in a lifeless, still breathing, heap.

I stared at the man lying in the snow covered in his own blood... but he was not a man, in the sense he was not a human man, this man was Fabrian. He was shorter than most humans, like all his people were, but he was not big boned, unlike others of his kind that live in parts unknown, he was thin, and had some muscle on his skeleton, however he was not heavily muscled, but he looked as if he could take on anyone in a fight.

I bent down and lifted his cloak to examine his wound, a twelve or so inch long gash ran its way from the middle of his back and wrapped around his left side, still oozing blood. I reached over a grabbed a hand full of snow to clean off some of the frozen and dried red fluid from his soft pink flesh. Once the wound was somewhat more visible I soon realized that the damage dealt to this man was more severe than I had originally thought.

"Oh my... you have been in a fight. My question is, did you win?" I asked the man as he lay face down in the snow.

Luckily for him the bitter cold air had acted on the warm blood quickly and stopped him from bleeding out. However, he would not fare well once others try to patch him up.

Despite my own curiosity with the stone structure behind me, I rose to my feet and bent down, grabbing the man at the waist and throwing him gently over my left shoulder. At the same time the small metal object fell out of his hand and landed in the snow next to my feet. I knelt down and picked up the tiny cube and put it in one of my cloak pockets, reminding myself to inspect it later. I grabbed the strap of my canvas bag, shouldered it and made for the road, walking toward the lights I saw in the distance, taking care not to cause the man I was carrying any more harm then I needed to.

Walking through the forest, the wind light in the air but still making the trees sway and groan. I heard a different sound among the rustling trees. I looked to the sky to see a bird flying overhead with long thin legs, wings almost as wide as I am tall, and a short beak, about the size of a small throwing knife. However, there was not a silhouette, the bird seemed to shimmer a bright silver color, as for the species, I would guess it would be a crane. Of where he came from I do not know, but I could tell he was not flying South.

North was the direction of travel.

I smiled, " Safe travels my friend." I said to the majestic beast as he flew out of sight, I knew he was off to other places I have yet to travel to. I gazed at his fading silver glow I held a hope our paths would one day again cross.

Feeling the man sliding down I jumped slightly and shifted the man into a more comfortable and stable position. Once satisfied I continued to make my way toward the lights off in the distance, and barely visible through the trees.

The snow seemed to get deeper as I walked further and further into the forest, I looked over my shoulder to see I had only walked through about a quarter mile of the cold white flakes falling from the sky. Then looking to the sky, through the clouds, I barely could make out the position of the moon.

" Midnight," I said to myself in disbelief, " Feels as if I have been walking for hours..."

I walked for another three or four feet, and could feel my knees buckling under the strain of carrying this unconscious man and trudging through the thigh deep snow was not aiding in my efforts to get him someone to tend to his wounds.

Setting him down gently in the pillowy white powder, I lifted his cloak to see if carrying him had caused him more harm. There was no sign any more blood was leaking from the man, however his continued lack of regaining some form of coherency has me a little more than concerned.

I sat down on a stump, set my canvas bag in front of me, rummaged around until I found my flask, it is not worth describing other then it is a simple hand forged steel cylinder with a cork in the top to prevent the contents from spilling all over. The contents, however, are worth noting.

As I sat on the stump I wrapped my thick cloak around myself, to stave off some of the bitter wind which seemed to be picking up, I took a long and satisfying drink from the steel cylinder held in my hand. The liquid was warming from the moment it touched my lips I felt run all the way down my throat till it settled gracefully in my stomach. The Fabri are known for their strong drink, but this was reserved only for royalty. They call it rokin, The Undecim call it cupam. I smiled, and closed my eyes as I felt the rokin take effect, making my head start to spin. Slowly I opened my eyes and looked down at the still unconscious man in my company.

Snapping to attention I realized he was still in need of care, better than I could provide, however that would have to wait till morning, as carrying him that short distance had made me quite wiry. I replaced the cork back into the neck of the steel bottle and staggered a little as I rose to my feet.

"Maybe I should not have taken such a large drink." I chuckled to myself taking another short drought of the warming drink, recorked the flask once again and placed it back into my bag. I knelt down beside the man, still not among the wakeful beings.

"Ignis." I whispered into my cupped hands, and a small bright flame burst into life. Holding it in my hands feeling its warmth against my cold, stiff fingers.

I gazed at the little orange and yellow sprite as it danced in the night air. I walked on my knees over to the stump I sat on moments ago and set the small bit of fire in the center of it. Once my hands were clear of the stump it did not take long for the fire to take hold and begin to consume the wood. turning back to the gentleman in my company I pulled him closer to the fire and wrapped my cloak around both of us to stave off the cold and frostbite.

Soon after I began to drift off to sleep.

* * *

I awoke to the sound of crunching snow. I hastily opened my eyes, my head still under my cloak. the smell of smoke hung light in the air. Slowly I stuck my head out from underneath the cloak to see who or what was walking around me and the gentleman that laid beside me.

Night was still heavy in the air, however on the eastern horizon I could see the faint light grey of the coming dawn. Then out of the comer of my eye I saw a green glow, not the green of grass, it was a dark green similar to that of an emerald. Wisps of lighter and darker shades of green swirled around a wolf spirit, by the way it walked around me and the other man I could tell she was a female, as she were protecting her young from harm.

" Vidi te?" I asked the wolf spirit

She turned around and started walking toward me. Instinctively I sat up and readied to defend myself. However, she was not snarling or threatening to harm me or the gentleman. Once she was a few feet away from me she sat down in the snow and wrapped her tail around herself and laying the tip across her front paws and bowed her head.

"I have seen you before." I said quietly, " Ah puella lupum, " I said before extending a hand to pet her on the muzzle, " It has been too long my friend." She looked up to the sky, then leaned forward to meet my hand. I smiled and scratched her, although she was a spirit she did have some substance to her form, though not a solid being. She groaned softly in contentment, then she turned to the east and stared for a moment turned back to me and gave my hand a quick lick before she bounced away into the forest.

"So long my friend." I said giving her a small wave. I then turned to the man lying on the cold, hard ground and readied for the day's journey.

Getting to me feet I looked up to the fleeting night sky. Looking at the many colors of lighted clouds that stayed at the center of the of the field of stars.

I yawned and stretched as I walked over to the still smoldering stump and kicked snow onto it smothering it in the white powder, then walked back to the figure still in a lifeless state. I knelt down to observe the contents of my canvas bag were not rifled through during the night.

Once satisfied I shouldered it across my torso and bent down to hoist the man back onto my left. After I was certain he would not fall or start to slide out of my grip I set off for the lights I had seen the night before.

The faint glow of dawn was on the eastern horizon, and becoming brighter and stronger the longer I walked through the forest.

I was walking for about five or so minutes when my thoughts began to drift back to the Fabrain building I saw the night before... And now that I think about it, it was a stairway to a burial chamber for their kings and nobles long ago during the early years of their race. That particular burial chamber was built during the rule of Hovar the Kind, their first king who united his people under one banner.

In the time before the Fabri were united, they were divided into four separate clans spread out at the four compass points of the continent. For hundreds of years they lived like this, never contacting, trading or feeling alone in the world. The four tribes were nomads but they all stayed at to around the cardinal point the tribe chose. Until one fateful day when Hovar was just eighteen years of age. His father was the Thane of the Hoven tribe, however he had died when Hovar was just eleven years old, and now that he had come of age to succeed his father as Thane of the Hoven tribe, he had also found his bride to be at the Aetatem celebration, and proposed to her that night, which she joyfully accepted.

During his early teenage years, he had heard stories about the three other tribes and decided to look more into them. Hovar spoke to traders and travelers came to the tribe and asked them to keep an ear and look out for the names and people of the other tribes.

Once he learned the other three tribes were out there and their names: Tollen in the South, Malian in the East, and Blayzen in the West, he called a meeting with the elder members of the tribe and said, according to legend

"I have known for years that there are three other tribes of our people in the south, west and east. Whether you approve or not I am taking the tribe to go and find them I have had enough of this aimless wandering it is time we became a united and prosperous people".

To which elders agreed, they too had their fill of wandering the continent and living without purpose.

And so at dawn the following day Hovar and his fiancé had set out from the north, with the rest of the tribe following them, to the south to meet their follow Fabri for the first time in centuries.    

After the many months of travel and only one heated argument the three other tribes met at the base of Ellenfall, the only peak of its size in the Yellowstone mountain range. There was a legend about this particular peak.

It was said that there were these magma people that formed when the world was just an infant and they formed this peak after the violent murder of their first queen. Taking great care in forming very crack, fissure and cliff of this tribute to their fallen leader they named the mountain Ellenfall, after Ellen.

Once finished they stood at the peak and wept together and their tears pooled and flowed down the mountain side gathering in strength and made the most beautiful waterfalls any living being has ever seen.

Also according to the legend of this mountain once every decade the world race stands atop the summit and weeps replenishing the waterfalls and giving life to the rest of the world as she would have wanted. For this reason, the Fabri wanted to make Ellenfall their capital, and they met with the King of the Malthorans and to this he agreed on one condition, that the Fabri are to care for the mountains of the world. To which Hovar and the rest of his race agreed.

After the talks with the Malthorans the Fabri had their own talk between the leaders of the four tribes and agreed to become one people and through thunderous approval named Hovar their first King.  

  I was brought out of my wandering and thoughts of the stories I have heard, by the feeling on my legs giving starting to give way beneath me. So I set the man down and leaned him up against a nearby tree and I sat myself across from him and leaned on another tree to rest for a short while.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

Once I had recovered a little of my strength I decided to try and wake the still unconscious man I have been caring for the past day or so. 

I gripped his shoulders and gave him a gentle shake, “Sir,” I said to him, “Will you wake please?”

He did not rouse.

I shrugged and leaned back against the tree I had chosen for myself and sighed.

“Why is it you are still not regaining continuousness?” I asked him out loud looking around at my surroundings, with nothing but trees and snow for hundreds of yards in any given direction,  “I understand you were in a fight, and you must have lost a fair bit of blood. But is that a reason to…” I stopped talking when I noticed him stirring.

His eyes were fluttering similar to leaves being blown about by the wind, he groaned and moaned twisting his torso trying to find a comfortable position. Then his eyes snapped open and looked directly at me.

“Amico et inimico?” he asked not moving an inch until he had learned what he wanted to know.

I looked at him square in the face and said, “Friend.”

Once the words left my mouth, he seemed to relax a little then he asked,

“Have you been followed?”  

I looked at him curiously and raised an eyebrow,

“No…” I said, “The only beings I have encountered were Argentum Ciconia and Puella Lupum.” I finished.

He collapsed back against the tree behind him, “Gratias solis,” he breathed to great relief.

I studied him for a moment as he closed his eyes and seemed to attempt to nod off to sleep,

“Sir?” I asked, “What, if I might ask, is your name?”

At once his sapphire blue eyes shot open and focused their attention to me. Making me feel slightly uncomfortable.

“What is it to you to know my name?” he snapped

“I did not mean to offend. I am just wanting to call you something else other than the unconscious man in my care.” I replied

He continued to eye me with great suspicion for what seemed like a long time, then he spoke slowly in the ancient language of Fallendor,

“Tu nosti de custodibus?” he asked

Smiling at the question and replied, “Of course I do, he is Gregor de Tollenfell. One of the most incredible men I have never met.” I said gazing off into the distance.

The gentleman cocked his head to the side and said, “ Really?”

I looked back at him and said, “ Oh my yes, what I admire the most about him is his patience, and how he has rebuilt the Custos from the ashes of their former selves.”

“Well you may like to know that you are in his presence.” said Gregor 

I gasped and jumped to my feet, “ Oh Solis I had no idea!”

“Shh keep your voice down,” Gregor looked around in search of someone or something, despite me having said the only beings we encountered were spirits.

Once he was sure there was nothing and no one around us he turned back to me and laughed,

“Hahaha, oh ow.”

“Oh right, I have been meaning to ask you, how did you receive that nasty looking wound?” I asked politely

“ Ah should we not get moving?” he suggested deflecting my question, “ It will be sundown soon and I for one am not wanting to be out here in the cold at night.”

I simply shrugged and silently agreed. Getting to my feet I hoisted my bag to my shoulder and walked over to Gregor, who was still sitting on the snow covered ground and grabbed him by the hand and lifted him to his feet and put the arm I assisted him up with around my shoulders, to keep him propped up. Once he was comfortable and ready, we set out in the direction of the village I had seen two nights previously.

 

We had been walking for a short while, but I could tell we had made great progress in our venture then I had carrying him, I began to think about the wound that has itself wrapped around Gregor’s torso, as a serpent would coil around its prey. It looked as if someone had tried to slice Gregor in half using a sickle, which is a weapon of horror and many a frightening tale. The blade is curved, similar to that of a half-moon shape and ground to a fine edge, designed to cut through dragon bones, and bound in a metal or wooden handle. These weapons are   mostly used by those who inhabit the desert of eastern Fallendor, and by farmers across the land.

Gregor asked only one question, shattering the silence that had surrounded us, “ Means you know who I am, I believe I deserve to know in whose care I am in, would you agree?” 

I nodded gently and said, “ Well I have many names, however I am most known as Ursus.” To which he turned his head back to the ground in front of him and continued walking.

We continued to walk along through the now knee deep snow for what felt like hours then Gregor had to stop and rest. I set him down on the stump of what was once a tree with a split trunk, thus creating two trees, one half of which was gone, rotted away years ago and flattened by many creatures walking over it.

“ Ugh, please be gentle.” he warned gripping his side in pain

I gave him a quire look, to suggest annoyance, and simply smiled and nodded, “ I believe It will be night soon and we shall need warmth and you desperately need food.”

“Very well.” he stated

I nodded and wondered off in to the surrounding forest is search of sustenance.

Walking through the forest was calming and somewhat gratifying, the peaceful stillness combined with the quite snow falling to the ground and piling up made for a tranquil, undisturbed environment.

With my eyes to the ground in search of any sign of life it was not long before I came across a set of hoof tracks. I knelt down to examine them. They belonged to some hoofed animal,

“ Hmm, perhaps a deer or swine?” I said to myself, but I dismissed the swine as to I am far north of where they are normally found. I began to track the animal through the slender trunks of the trees getting closer, I hope, to my target.

 I followed the tracks for a short while and found myself in a clearing, within the clearing there is a sundial on a rose colored pedestal. The dial itself was made of copper. I stepped closer to get a better look at the face of the dial. Etched into the face was a depiction of the sun and moon, opposing one another, at the center of them was a compass, like that which a cartographer would use surrounded by an outline of a mountain, and at the poles of the insignia were three names written in ancient Fabrian: Tollen, Malian, and Blayzen. Though I noticed that Hoven was missing.

“ The Fabri never leave the names of the cardinal direction off any of their architecture. Why have they left it off this dial I have not the faintest of ideas.” I spoke aloud, to no one in particular.

I then made a mental note to ask Gregor when I returned to him. For My thoughts rejoined with the thrill of the hunt.

 

 * * *

 

Gregor was lying back against the tree where Ursus had left him when he went off to hunt. As he lay there, a roaring fire to keep him company, he suddenly realized that he was missing a metal object and frantically searched his pockets to no avail.

“ Where did that blasted thing go?!” Gregor said aloud frustrated and with a note of fear in his voice

“ Where did what go?” I asked dragging the carcass of the freshly killed deer toward the blazing fire Gregor had made

He quickly looked over at who it was, only to realize it was me dragging a dead deer.

“ Oh… I do apologize I did not mean to startle you, Gregor.” I said

“ It is quite alright, I have just misplaced a family heirloom… you did not happen to find it when you found me did you?” he asked sounding worried

I looked into his eyes for a moment and then remembered, “ Why yes I did!” I exclaimed reaching into the pocket of my cloak I had placed the small cube, “ I was going to ask you about it, when the time became appropriate and you had regained consciousness.” I finished handing him the cube.

As he turned it over in his hands I noticed that four of the sides bore the insignias of the four Fabrian cities the fifth was that of a tree with a likeness of a rose with an arrow and sword piercing the delicate flower. The sixth side was one I had seen only once before, though I could not place where I had seen it nor who or what the insignia belonged to. It depicted a mountain, its top missing, smoke billowing from the missing peak.

“What is the significance of that cube?” I asked studying Gregor as he turned it over and over in his hand

He smiled and let out a small quite laugh, “ Just an old relic.”

Judging by his facial expressions he did mean what he said, however there seemed to be a hidden, unknown story about that tiny cube but I did not want to press him for any details they come bearing some memory he wished to forget.

I then turned to look at the sky to see that night, indeed, was fast approaching. Truning to the deer I had killed I began to cut into the...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

ignore spelling