Sentria: The Age of Adventure (Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Realm of Ruin

I slept on the bench in our room that night and Eldwyn and Prince Lucas slept on the beds. I kept waking up in the middle of the night to make sure they were safe. My worries that they would be stolen away in the night were too strong and they wouldn't let me rest for too long. I'd give my life for both of them without a second thought.

We had a big breakfast in the morning that came complimentary with our stay at the inn. I made sure that Eldwyn and Prince Lucas had two plates before we started our journey. It would be long and difficult and I didn't know when the next time we'd get a meal this big. Leaving Loria would take us three days: a day through Vilquist, and another two days through Belderaan to get to the Ark Library.

I asked Eldwyn how he was feeling and he told me that all was well, but I knew that that was only to calm my fears. He went out to the frosty garden near the inn to meditate for a little while and I watched him do his best to concentrate, but he looked pained. When he finished we left to retrieve our horses, then continued north on Petal Road and into the eastern part of Petia Forest which rubbed shoulders against the havenly Blue Water Bay. The trail through the forest was surprisingly clean. Most forest paths had overgrowth and natural hazards along the way, but this one had been maintained by Loria as if they were main service roads.

It lightly snowed, making the roads more slippery with sleet, but our horses were adept and they accommodated quickly. The small ponds were beginning to chill over, as if the land was deciding that Winter was truly coming. It was a strange sight to be sure. Their caves seemed less treacherous and every part of the forest that they had seen were open and bright, which was far more unsettling than if they were. When night fell it didn't make much of a difference to the tone of the setting. It was still a timid place of natural splendor and still capable of hiding the quietest dangers.

Eldwyn and Lucas slept in a cave that first night and I slept close to the mouth to keep lookout throughout the night. There weren't just marauders to worry about, black bears roamed these forests and if any sought to come for them I'd take them down. I woke them up at first light and  we had loaves of bread for breakfast. It would be another full day of riding before we got through Petia Forest and I didn't want to stop for anything. The conversation was sparse all the way. Everyone was stuck in their own minds. We might have been traveling through the forest, but we were reliving the past.

"A Winter storm is coming," said Eldwyn, towards the end of the day. "It will get worse before it gets better."

"We better rest then," I said. "We'll need the strength if we hope to weather the storm."

We slept one more night in another cave in the Petia Forest, then, in the morning we broke free from the forest. There was one last Lorian village we had to travel through and it was the largest of the land. It was almost like a kingdom itself from the cordiality and how fine the upper class dressed with their customized leatherwear and finely woven jackets. The temptation to stay for a while was strong, but my desire to get to the Ark Library was stronger than my need to sleep.

As we ventured further north through the realm of Vilquist, there was a steep decline in its environment. Loria had greens of its plant life that were only just beginning to die, but Vilquist was a gray land of small sad villages and unkempt roads that rutted this way and that. It was snowing harder and it obscured our track, but we continued in the general direction that we were headed, intent on overcoming the conditions.

"Why is this place like this?" asked Eldwyn, looking around at the ruins alongside of the road. There was a castle tower that looked like it had been cut in half, and concrete crumbled squares of former fortresses all around. Archways that didn't complete and stone walls that would begin and end over and over again.

"They call it the Realm of Ruin," I said, looking all around. 

"This was once Frayburn Castle," said Prince Lucas, his voice shivering. "The family Bram once owned the lands in this region, but they were vanquished by Vilquist."

"Why?" asked Eldwyn.

"It's the same old story I suppose," sighed Prince Lucas, "power and love. Loria oversaw all the affairs of these lands, but Lord Arrington I of Vilquist wanted to be the main lord of these lands, and Lord Hankford Bram wouldn't yield. This feud had been boiling for decades and when Arrington's daughter Lady Clarke fell in love with Lord Fergus Bram, it resulted in an all-out war. Lord Arrington forbade his daughter from seeing Fergus and sent his military to siege Castle Frayburn. They killed every last Bram. They burned them alive to ensure that no one survived. Now, the Arrington's are the main house of Vilquist."

"That is dreadful," said Eldwyn with a bite to his voice. "Did Loria not step in to stop this death."

Lucas scoffed. "Of course not. Loria cares about Loria. As long as Vilquist pays, they can do just about anything that they want. I'm sure the Arrington's paid double in their taxes to make up for what they had done to the family Bram. That is the royal way."

The snow began to come down even harder and the horses slowed down. I could practically hear Eldwyn's teeth chattering and Prince Lucas was breathing was heavy. We needed to find shelter as soon as possible.

"This way," I said, and turned my horse to walk westward.

"Where are we going?" asked Prince Lucas.

"To Vilquist Castle," I replied.