Chapter 2 - Independent Learning

"That is good to hear. But let us hope it doesn't come to that."

He rises from his chaise and begins collecting fallen branches. "Unfortunately I cannot sustain this magical fire whilst sleeping, so I will build it up to provide us some warmth and dry us out a little."

He adds the collected branches to the magical fire. Being damp, the wood hisses and spits, but is drying quickly in the heat of the magical flame. Passer collects several more armfuls and waits till the real wood has caught, before allowing the magical fire to die out. Tannis notices the heat drop off instantly, but there is still enough warmth to keep them in relative comfort, despite the rain.

"Sleep well Tannis" says Passer, turning in for the night.

"Sleep well, Sir," Tannis replies.

He will sit up for a bit and tend to the fire, keeping it fed in spite of the rainfall. He is hesitant to fall asleep, but eventually he will wrap himself around his ruck to keep it protected and let himself doze off for the night.

Tannis tosses and turns several times, trying to get comfortable on the knotty roots that make up his bed, whilst protecting his ruck from the rain, which continues to drizzle down. Finally sleep takes him.

Tannis is surrounded by bodies. He is standing on the chest of bloated corpulent form of a Felin soldier. Somehow he knows that underneath the bodies is a book. A book of great value and power. Tannis kneels down. Blood and bodily fluids spatter him as he pushes away the corpse. Underneath is another body. He pushes it to the side. There is another. Tannis is digging down through bodies. He sees the grey face of Zanros among the bodies, the lifeless eyes staring to infinity. He pushes aside Zanros's body. His actions are becoming feverish. He pushes aside the body of his teacher. And more and more bodies of his classmates. There are bodies all around him as he digs. The limp dead hands brush against him. Tannis sees his prize. A black spellbook adorned with a silver dagger above a drop of blood.

Tannis sits up. It is early morning. The rain has stopped. A pale light from a clear sky filters through the leaves. A magical fire crackles above the embers of the previous night's fire. Passer is sat cross-legged, his eyes closed, a look of deep calm upon his face.

Checking his ruck, Tannis finds its contents intact and untarnished by the rain. His efforts to protect the contents proved successful.

After a short wait, whilst the warmth of the fire dries Tannis's clothes, Passer opens his eyes. Smiling, Passer says "Good morning. Thank you for your patience whilst I prepared for the day. I expect we will reach Hadud by nightfall, and I decided to make some preparations in case your persuasion skills don't hold up."

He stands and walks over to Tannis. "Take a handful of these." He holds out a handful of berries. "As well as quenching the appetite they have a small healing property, should the worst come to the worst..." his voice trails off.

"Shall we depart?"

Passer's face turns to a more serious countenance as they walk. "It has not been a week since you narrowly survived a battle with your life. And you are reverting to an innocent optimism as to the prevalence of violence in this world?"

"No, I do not think it will come to that. But it is not beyond the bounds of reason. And if I am right that Hadud is behind the blight, then he possesses powerful magic. Whilst Ballater resists, it does so with the aid of old and powerful magic, the blight is no doubt powerful. And so we must be prepared."

"I know little of the man I'm afraid. I have never spoken with him. All I know is from the rumors of the people of the Soverbot valley. I have seen him often enough in his travels. But I see many things."

"In any case" his tone slightly more positive "we must presume his innocence until the contrary is confirmed."

The pair continue their travels along the valley's edge. The two previous days they had travelled in a roughly westerly direction, but the valley now begins to bend to the north. The hills on the far side of the valley are becoming noticeably higher and more rugged.

After several hours of travelling, Tannis notices a crowd of people in the valley below. The presence of a crowd stands out to him as until now the travellers had passed the valley's farmers in ones and twos.

"Who knows" replies Passer "they should be focused on the harvest, not having a group chinwag"

As Tannis keeps an eye on the crowd, he notices, from his elevated angle, three of the people from the crowd descend into a hole in the ground.

"Probably some old dear saw a bad omen in her tea leaves. I wouldn't trouble yourself with it." Passer seems somewhat more serious and resolute today. He seems on edge.

Tannis and Passer continue their trek along the side of the valley. There are now almost no arable crops in the narrowing valley; herds of sheep and goats graze on sloping pastures. To Tannis's right the Hallgerd woods seem impenetrably dark - the high canopies allowing just a little light through to be absorbed by the mass of brambles and dense vegetation on the forest floor. The darkness is amplified as clouds draw in.

After two more hours of walking, Tannis notices that the travellers have now passed the limit of human settlement. The valley floor is lined with scrub and trees. Passer leads the pair down towards the river.

"We are not far now. Perhaps another half an hour along the riverbank"

Passer finds a path on the East bank of the river. It's much less than the river Tannis had crossed at Southam, perhaps waist deep at most, and fifteen feet wide. Still navigable, but only by a small rowboat.

The scrub soon gives way to thick forest, with knotted trees leaning over the river. Other than the babbling of the river as it bends around root and rock, the forest is silent. Tannis cannot see far in the gloom.

As the travellers turn around a dense clump of vegetation, both immediately see an orc 30ft ahead, a brutish axe in its hands, and black marks upon its skin. A split second later, Tannis notices that the orc appears translucent - he can see the vegetation behind clearly through the orc's body.

"Go away" the orc grunts.

The orc advances slowly, swinging the axe in a figure of eight with its right hand, then switching the axe to its left and doing the same.

"I don't think it's listening" says Passer quickly.