“Great! We all had our fill of food, and now let’s get going before the day runs out,” ordered Vaeludar, tossing the chicken bone. “And I do mean now.”
Vaeludar waved his hand forward like a sergeant waving his hand at his soldiers to move forward. He wanted to move out quickly before any danger came running into them. They were in uncharted territory and they had no idea what they’ll find out in the great wilderness of the mountains that border the land of the south and the unknown land of the north.
As he was inspecting the others, Marina came walking to him. The Siren was armed with a bow in hand and she was ready to do some hunting. However, she came walking to see Vaeludar with an emotionless face.
“What is it, Marina?” asked Vaeludar.
“I don’t feel alright about this place. I mean, it looks too plain and evil for just any travelers to go about. It doesn’t feel right.”
“Some things never feel right. We must start travelling as early as possible and cover as much ground as we can by day. By night, that’s when enemies will be lurking about. We are traveling to the north to find whatever this armor artifact is and get back here as soon as possible.”
“Are you sure we must?”
Vaeludar looked at Marina with a stern look. This face meant it was going to be a “yes” from the hybrid leading the expedition. Then he looked away and walked passed the siren archer. “We move out now. Flarefur, you know the way to the river, lead on.”
The Griffin nodded his head and walked ahead of everybody.
The day came and went by that fast while everyone was walking and not flying. While Flarefur was ahead, everyone followed behind. They followed Flarefur past two mountain passes in very steep trenches where everyone, expect for Vaeludar who climbed with his wings, had to walk very slowly. After passing through the trenches, they had to go through the high elevations of two tall mountains. They were pathways Vaeludar thought were trade routes once upon a time before being abandoned.
The air in those parts was breathable but very, very thin. This slowed their walking tremendously. They had to stop every ten minutes or thirty if they were lucky they have the strength to walk. Even Vaeludar and the Griffin couldn’t breathe that easily. They had to walk slowly in the high passes for four hours or four-and-a-half hours before descending downwards on another trading path.
They took a two-hour long break on a flat ground of a mountainside. They ate almost one bagful of meat. Flavius carried two bags of meat, along with the bag of wood, and one of them was toasted off. Wonomi carried three bags of fruit that no one was eating. Everyone else was carrying light loads, except for Vaeludar and Marina who toured the capital city instead of looking for supplies for the trip.
After they were well fed with meat and with no fruit or vegetables in their stomachs, they rested for an hour-and-a-half. After sleeping for that long, with Marina staying up for the time, they woke up to the sound of the female voice calling out Vaeludar’s name.
Vaeludar and his companions followed the Griffin, and this time they were making a lot of ground. Since the break passed noon, they walked for three hours straight on the shallow sides of smaller mountains there were big rocks and rounded boulders.
As they took another break on flat ground, Vaeludar ordered Flarefur to find the river again. The Griffin flew off in search of the river again, and this time he flew from a lower altitude than up high; there was a strong wind gushing from the northwest that made the Griffin fly closer the mountain-ground.
Hours had passed and a sunset had a grimly, eerie feeling. The clouds were red and the sky was purple, with a very small hint of blue sapphire. The horizon of mountain was even farther than what Vaeludar’s dragon eyes could see. It was no wonder why people got lost and were never seen again: the terrain of mountains stretches across the land of the mile and more so on. The entire mountain range he and the group were crossing was the mountain border that divides what lies to the north and the known territory to the south. There were a few mountain ranges that didn’t go onward for several dozen miles, but this mountain range did.
Marina, Flavius, Wonomi, Monico, and Galvin grunted with exhaustion. They covered a lot of ground in a day, but they still had more ground to cover and more walking and rock-stumbling to do.
During their rest, Flarefur returned to the break site of the resting companions. “I couldn’t find the river because a fog is coming,” said Flarefur.
“How far away is the fog?” asked Vaeludar.
“Only a few hours away, but I managed to find some ruins of some kind. A village in other words. I didn’t pick up any sight of any people, so the village must have been abandoned for a long time. If we hurry, we might be able to take shelter there.”
“How far is this abandon village?”
“It is only a two-hour walk long if we can make it there. We can rest there until the fog lifts overhead and fades. If we hurry, we can make it to this village long before the fog covers our view and we’ll be exposed. And I don’t want to find out what happens when the fog hits.”
Vaeludar was exhausted already. He looked at the others who wary of their tiring travel in the air they were breathing. And worse yet, a fog is coming their way, which would mean they would have limited visibility. With his hybrid eyes,
