The Sword Saints

10. First Blood

(Yuna)

"Life's journey often doesn't follow a straight and simple path. Sometimes you come to a fork in the road and you must choose. Those choices are not easy, but that just makes them more worthwhile."

- The Book of Order: Ch. 7: verse 10.

Yuna knew that her journey wouldn't be an easy one. She knew that she would have some hardships, have difficulty following the two Sword Saints. However, she didn't expect to encounter such adversities so early in her adventure. She had come to a fork in the road, and she wasn't sure of which path to take.

She shared the ferry with the two Saints for a couple of days as they sailed the White River west. She assumed that they would ride it all the way to the coast of Anglova, to the great harbor city of Queensport, to the where the White River met the vast grey waters of the Olenn Sea. From there they would inevitably board a galleon heading south to Daath.

But that was not what happened.

Instead, her unwitting guides disembarked from the ferry at Mollington, the city of the oaks. Yuna knew that the ferry would stop at all of the major ports along the river, so she wasn't too worried at first. She followed them off and into the town and did her best to trail them stealthily. She thought that they would stop at a tavern for a drink, or maybe stop at a shop or stall to buy something.

But they just kept walking.

She followed them and followed them until they came to the southern gates of the city. Where are they possibly going? She thought to herself. She realized that they were heading south and that they could indeed get to Daath from that way. But they were on foot and it would take a month longer at least.

They didn't stop at the gates and instead kept on going, out towards the endless plains of southwest Anglova. Yuna grinded to a halt and bit her lip. She was at that fork in the road. She knew that if she followed them that they would find Judar, she was sure of it, but they would take far too long to find him, and she wasn't sure if she was willing to let Judar wreak that much more carnage.

She made her decision. She gave them one last look of longing and thought, and then she turned and began to walk back to the ferry. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Yuna realized that it would now be up to her to locate Judar on her own. She had no idea how she was going to manage to do that.

Yuna couldn't wait. Besides, if she went with the Saints, she wasn't sure she would have gotten her opening to kill Judar before they did.

Making her way back to the ferry proved more difficult then she would have liked. It was noon and the foot traffic down the main avenue through the town was particularly dense. It was nothing compared to the traffic of Whitemarch, but never had she walked among the people. She was always among her entourage, with armed guard escorts and other nobles.

Now she was alone and vulnerable. She kept her chin held high and tried to keep an air of confidence about herself, but she was still scared. She should have been scared when she was walking the streets of Whitemarch following the Saints, but Whitemarch was familiar. It was home and even though there had been thousands of people around her that could do her harm, she had felt safe.

Mollington, though a quaint and downright peaceful town, seemed as dangerous as Daath. She didn't know the streets, or the people. So, she strode on through, with her knife gripped tightly in her hand.