We hiked up the mountains to Rûte, where we spent the night camping just west of the small mountain town. Sellion and Essaerae took turns telling spooky stories around our campfire, Sellion's mostly ending with a character's dismemberment. He went into gorey detail. I was undoubtedly sure he had done some of these himself.
The morning after, we were descending the other side of the mountain range. The wind was still yet cool against my flesh. The leaves of the trees didn't bend. I got distracted by thinking about the future. I had never been to the Terkraell Desert. It would be my first time seeing a whole different ecosystem. A different culture. I knew little of the horned men's culture. I was excited to learn.
Essaerae skipped along down the winding path that had been cut into the underbrush. Sellion was his normal, unamused self. The horses followed behind us.
All was somehow right with the world in the moment. The sun was shining, the air wasn't too cool nor too hot. It made me tingly inside. I never imagined I would have felt this way again after the Great Fire. After that disaster, nothing ever felt right. My mind had been going miles a minute every day since the day of my father's death. Even when I was asleep, I had horrid dreams. Suddenly, my mind was as calm as the surface of an undisturbed lake. I wasn't about to let it be disturbed by someone throwing a rock into it.
The mountains rolled into foothills. The pines turned into shrubbery and low bushes. We could see a little ways beyond the foothills, where the sunlight was coming from. It painted a picturesque landscape, like something out of a picture my brother would paint.
"It's beautiful," Essaerae whispered in awe as we stopped to relish in the sight.
"Let's go there!" I said, running ahead, motioning my guards—and my companions—to follow me.
As I ran down the hillside, wanting the dreamy countryside to embrace me, everything had gone quiet. I stopped on a rock that dropped off a small cliff, looking out at the world. I could suddenly hear the rhythm of my father's breaths in my ear. And when I looked to my right, he was standing next to me in all his glory. His sky blue eyes glistened in the sunlight and his hair swayed in the slight breeze. He almost didn't seem real. And he said to me, "The world is quiet here."
YOU ARE READING
What Is Done
FantasyDuring the Great Fire of Arün five years ago, Prince Laverne Ingerman stared down death, succumbed to fear and accepted that his life was at its end to save his father. However, Laverne survived thanks to his father's love for his children and King...
