Page 25 of Ruins of Magic
Arion turned and next to the tunnel was another pile of gifts from the dwarves. This time there were three satchels to carry their stuff, but also six more pieces of cured meat wrapped in paper, an extra piece of paper for their current leftovers, a pile of approved berries and other vegetation, and a bow and arrow.
He walked over and picked up the additional loot to bring back to his friends.
“I’m calling the bow,” Garron said.
“Do you even know how to use it?” Valaria asked. She was an excellent marksmen and felt it would be best if she carried the bow and quiver of arrows that had been left for them.
“Of course I do,” Garron said. He sounded hurt, so for the moment she didn’t argue. It would only weigh her down anyway.
With the bags packed, Arion turned and said goodbye to the zanzar hiding at the entrance to the tunnel. He thanked him again for his kindness and that of the dwarves, then the three friends left the cave to start a new day. They didn’t know what lay ahead, but they were in high spirits with full bellies, ready to conquer the world, or at least Keptra.
Those high spirits didn’t last long though. As they reached the edge of Gavalon and looked out onto the scorched blackened land before then, reality of the danger ahead finally sunk in.
“It’s not too late for you guys to turn back,” Arion said.
“No, we need to see this through,” Valaria told him.
“We all gotta die sometime. Though if we survive this, the king will likely have our heads anyway for putting the princess in danger,” Garron pointed out.
They all laughed and took their first dramatic step into the forbidden lands of Keptra. They paused and when nothing significant occurred, they all breathed a little easier and began walking along the uneven ground stretched before them. For as far as they could see there was nothing.
Four hours later with the heat of the afternoon sun pressing down on them and no place to get even a second of shade to escape it, Arion began to second guess his decision.
“We should have brought water,” he chastised himself. “What was I thinking?”
“It’s so hot,” Garron complained.
“I think we need to turn back,” Arion said.
“Wait, I think I see something up ahead.” Valaria pointed out across the horizon.
Arion squinted, and thought maybe he too saw something. “Do you think you can make it?” he asked the others.
“It’s probably a trick,” Garron said. “Nothing but a mirage, but let’s do this.”
With newfound hope their pace picked up. Sweat dripped down from their foreheads and their mouths were parched. The closer they got, the more they were certain there was something up ahead. That something kept pushing them forward.
Arion was certain it was water. The “something” got bigger with each step. The charred land made it difficult to navigate and somehow impossibly hotter. The flat ground had turned into tiny hills making it uneven terrain to walk over.
Valaria tripped and her hand gave against the ground lodging it on something beneath them. Garron and Arion worked to free her. As her hand broke loose it brought with it bones that looked to be from a rib cage.
The princess screamed at the top of her lungs and flung her arm in the air trying to remove it from her arm.
“Hold still,” Garron said, as he pulled the bones from her.
She started sobbing and hid her face against Arion’s broad chest for comfort.
Garron brushed away the darkened ash to reveal a pile of human skeletons covered in charcoaled dust.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” he said walking away to vomit what little they had eaten that day.
“There must be hundreds of them, maybe thousands,” Arion said as he looked around realizing what the uneven ground really was.
“This is awful,” Valaria said. “Who could do such a thing?”
“Ryze,” Arion said. “This was the center of his kingdom. I’ve done a little more research since you told me about him. Keptra was where he reigned from.”
“That was a thousand years ago,” Valaria said still shaking from the revelation.
