After practising enough to get used to his new body Layan changed to his spare set of clothes, the leather pants and vest of his own homemade attire. Making and building everything had always been the way of life for the young man so everything he owned he had fashioned by himself after being taught how by one of the people his grandfather had teach him.
He spent some time on his swords caring for them and refining the edge to keep it sharp enough to shave with. He admired the swirling designs flowing through the pattern welded blades. They were his best work to date, and he was proud of how well they had turned out.
The double edges on both blades were almost identical only showing tiny differences from the forging process. The grips were made from polished and knurled bone with a brass pommel and guard. They were simple handles but well-made and suited to their purpose. Sheathing the blades, he checked his knife and then gathered his pack and set off once more following the river east.
He travelled swiftly for many days pushing himself to get to his first goal before things got too bad out there. The lost time from the days spent in the cave were a concern. He had hoped to make it to the small town of Ben's hollow before a week had passed. Now it was closer to ten days and he was only just getting to the outskirts of the small logging town.
He had managed to stabilise flow of energy running through his heart and lungs during the time he was moving. Which added to his stamina and made the journey a bit faster in the end.
Looking out over the town from the hills gave him a decent view of what was going on down there. From the look of it there had been some fighting and the place seemed almost deserted. Layan had been to the town many times over the years. He knew a few of the locals from having to buy some supplies from them. Last year he had met the Sheriff after an unfortunate incident where he was forced to subdue a pair of drunks shooting at a stray dog.
The Sheriff was a good sort and Layan wanted to meet him now to find out what was happening and hoped to start gathering people with the man. It would be a good place to start he was well respected in the town and Grandfather had always told him to gather the leaders of towns and cities rather than trying to do everything himself he needed an army for what was to come and spending the time to convince every joe blow to follow him was never going to work.
It wasn't looking too good in the town, there were some smouldering fires in a burnt-out diner. It was a popular place for food in town too.
He could see some bodies in the street up towards the mill end of town too and the sheriff if he was alive would have never let that stand so either things were too dangerous to go out, the sheriff was dead, or he had left the town.
"Well, whatever the case waiting here and looking won't get me much closer to finding out what's going on down there." Layan spoke softly to himself his voice dry and cracked from disuse. The faster he got things done here the better. This was just the first and the easiest stop on a very long road.
Picking up his gear he leapt down the face of the small ridge he was on sliding and hopping down towards the trees below. His eyes focused, his mind sharp and keeping alert for any sign of movement as he made his way into the town.