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Unknown Traveller
"The brave man's keep has an interesting name. Used by the humans and the Worship alike, both party's see a different meaning in the term. While the humans see the red valley, as it is otherwise known, as a place of sacrifice where the last of the empire hold on and defended their meager glory, the worship look at it as a place where the brave men finally defeated their tormentors."
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Looking up the steep mountain I could see the dark clouds.
"Is that really the right way, I mean how should we even get the baggage up there." continuing Forward the road stopped and we were standing at the foot of a mountain,
"Relax, we don't have to climb all the way up, there is a pass situated right ahead of us, you just cant see it jet."
Walking forward Jack took a small almost hidden path up.
The rest of the men following him, they were clearly familiar with the way. Not to be left alone I Leonard and the boy quickly followed them.
I hate faulty inefficient logistics. And this path was definitely in this category. I complained to the millionth time this day as I pushed the wagon another step forwards.
It was hell. The refreshing change of scenery was sadly accompanied by a sharp increase of steepness and a worsening of the road.
Sitting besides the road and looking down I could not help but feel amazed how far up we already were. You could see the endless see of green that was the forest, as well as the blue of the river that cut through it.
The river had accompanied us for a good part of the journey, but it went underground a while back.
Feeling the wind brush past me I spotted something interesting. Besides the narrow and winding path stood a small tower of stones, clearly build by human hands.
"Hey Jack do you have any Idea why there are these stones over there?"
I turned to look at the man who had the most knowledge in our group about this part of the land.
"They are guiding stones. You know that it is safe when you follow this path. It is tradition to add a stone whenever you are passing by, remaining fellow traveller that this path is still in use. Otherwise they would be broken down and shattered. Pilgrims of the worship do the same, it is one of the few shared traditions we have."
Interesting but sadly our short breaks was over.
Sighting I resumed marching, there was no point in wasting time.
3 days later we finally made it towards the pass, the way led us directly inside the mountain. Obscured by fog was a grand entrance supported by two 10 meter high pillars. Their sharp edges but still old appearance reminded me of the road, probably build by the empire.
Inside there was just darkness made wird by the foggy weather that shrunk our vision even more.
Luckily I could already see the familiar guiding light that was similar to the road.
"To the new guys, just follow the lanterns if you cant see your comrades any more, the caves are a maze and if you get lost in the fog you are as good as dead."
Turning around Jack and the other merchants continued into the darkness, not to be left alone we naturally followed.
It was not as bad as he made it out to be, although it was still uncomfortable my mana googles gave me at least a general outline of who was where. As well as provided me with some interesting information.
It seemed that everybody, not just the mages held at least a small amount of mana in their bodies, the kid was just too small so I did not notice it last time. But what gave me a shock was the magic flowing through jack.
Yes I had suspected as much previously, but he never once mentioned it. It seems that the brave mans keep had at least some mages, it would make our stay allot more interesting.
Finally after god knows how long the fog cleared and we arrived at another huge gate similar to the one we entered. And what greeted us was a sight to behold.
Aurora was just rising in the horizon and greeted us whit her light shining all over the land in front of us.
It looked like a meteor crashed into the side of the mountain, hollowing it and creating a valley right beside the see. A perfect location protected by the environment from all sides against the monsters as well as any army that would try to conquer it.
Below us where huge fields of farmland as well as a great city in the midst of all. Making the location even more stunning were the crops that were grown. Compared to the golden wheat that was conmen on earth, only a bloody red colour was present in this land.
The City itself was made out of white stone, even from so far we could see that it was an artistic master work with towers and houses that reached dozens of meters high. There were probably over a hundred thousand people living there.
"No time to be stunned, there are even bigger city's out there" Leonard patted me on my back and threw me out of my trance.
"What are you talking about? I have seen city's hundred of times as big, well pictures of them" but he could not hear me any more. Sighting I went after him.
To my relief, walking down into the valley took far less time than waking up. Not because it was any easier, we almost had an accident two times, but because the way was shorter.
We finally arrived when the last rays of light were already disappearing behind the horizon.
"I am so tired, we marched almost for the whole day without sleep" "We are almost there don't complain"
The merchants next to me made me curious, what was our destination even.
Looking around we were standing before the crimson fields we had previously seen from up the mountain. The Plants making them up looked like rice, only completely red.
Ahead of us was a muddy road leading towards wooden buildings in the distance.
Walking forward, I could feel the earth giving way to my shoes. The ground was quiet wet ,so it must have rained recently.
But while walking forward I noticed something peculiar, besides the clean fresh air you would expect after a heavy downpour I could clearly smell the scent of iron.
Was that blood? Just as I was about to draw my weapon Leonard stopped me.
„These are Iron flowers, they contain a small amount of iron ore. The brave mans keep is renowned for their large fields."
Iron flowers, did they absorb the minerals from the ground, if so that would mean that there is a giant iron vein under the ground, sadly the worship would not give this place up so easily.
Looking forward we almost arrived at our destination. Now that I could get a better look at it, it was more of a small gathering of houses that surrounded a stone temple.
The houses were quite shabby, but much more open and friendly than the ones in the loggers rest.
The temple itself was a small stone roof held up by pillars. Located in the middle was an altar. The material seemed similar to the white stone of the city we saw from afar.
Walking around the walkway were farmers transporting the red plants as well as children playing, a small community of maybe a hundred people.
I almost thought we arrived at a human village, almost.
The worship, as I identified them as, had red pupils and strange black hair. Why strange?
Because it was not technically hair but thick string of something?
While I was looking around Jack already found the trade partner. It was a group of worship that seemed to come from the surrounding villages and decided this place as their meeting spot.
Sadly my hope of entering the actual city was dwindling.
The trade itself was rather uninteresting, as both party's had a certain familiarity and completed the transaction wordlessly. While we gave the monster materials, what we received were big sacks containing god knows what. Too laze to even ask, I waited for the merchants to load the carriages pull them a bit out of the village and make camp on a clear spot in the field.
The place had probably been prepared before for such an occasion.