The Necromanced (Being Edited 7/21/14)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Wounded

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Wounded

We left at dawn. There was very little time for last words. Thomas was on the wall with the rest of the guard. I'd said my goodbye, he'd been quiet and puzzled, but he knew I would leave soon, so it came as no surprise. Merrick was there at the gate, he spoke vaguely on being careful, and slipped me a small package before I left. May was completely different. She spoke gently, though firmly, about remaining on task; remembering the mission. It wasn't anything sentimental, though she said it in such a way that it gave me the impression it was much more important than she let on. As we left I had a million questions throbbing through my head. Jase didn't say a word all morning, not a single goodbye was said as we prepared. I had won out, Faith was saddled and happily chewing on some sweet grain when I got up and finished the last bits of packing I had left.

I wasn't belabored with many possessions, so packing was relatively simple. The heaviest things we brought was food. We planned on not stopping more than a night, two at the most; Having to hunt for food would extend our journey, and as we headed out it was made blatantly clear we had no time to lose.

Four hours into our silent journey I attempted to make conversation. The silence left me with nothing but my thoughts. Quite honestly I preferred the harsh words of a stranger to the thoughts of corpses and friends in the morgue.

"Where do you hail from?" I asked hoping to get some sort of a reply.

"As you're from Sunder," He said distastefully, "I doubt you'd know the name of it."

"Well, what is it like?" I prodded, the silence had turned me into quite the talkative one.

"It's cold." Jase said leaving it at that. There was yet another long pause. The uncomfortable silence seemed to smother me, I tried breathing, counting my breath. Eventually I gave in, we rode along the rough terrain. I tried to focus on the scenery. It was really quite nice when you looked at it. I trusted Faith to find her footing, and relaxed the rein as to not put unneeded strain on her neck. The birds were silent. Small woodland creatures scuttled through the greenery. I ignored them best I could, though on more than one occasion I was forced to jump. The beasts stuck in my head, their fur, their eyes. Everything about them was a fascination. The colours that seemed to shine off their backs-Not to mention their razor sharp teeth, and claws, I reminded myself ruefully.

"I heard you had a couple run-ins with the Creatures." Jase said after awhile. Great! Now he wants to make conversation! I thought almost bitterly. I even considered leaving him to talk to himself, but my common sense won out in the end. I was after all going to be spending the next weeks of the foreseeable future with him, might as well make nice.

"What about it?" I asked hoping I didn't sound as annoyed as I was.

"Well I assume since we're to be spending the next few weeks of our foreseeable future together, we might as well be able to hold a breath long conversation." He said smirking at me.

"What do you want to know?" I asked, changing my approach. We talked for a short while, I still didn't like him, but it seemed as though the days weren't going to be quite as unbearable as I thought they would be.

We made our way along the path, it was going to be a long day.

Hours later we stopped on the outskirts of a nearby town. It was nowhere as glamorous as the palace, or even the Floating City. It was more broken down than functional. I saw the small glimmer of lights from the forrest, we were at the brim of a valley. We could see everything. We set up camp, the horses rested and ate. I brushed Faith off, she had had a hard run. Jase looked at me, a smirk smeared across his face, he was smart enough not to say anything. Even still, I shot daggers at him.