Noah arrived at the city of Speartail a few hours after the bandit raid and it was getting late. He decided to wait until early in the morning to head back along the trail. Less people would be traveling right when the gates opened, so there would be more opportunities to slip into the forest to head up to The Spearhead. He was walking along the side of the road trying to find a cheap inn when he found himself at the end of the market street. All of the southern cities had what they called a, "market street." A market street was a designated street or streets that were entirely made up of various stores and was usually connected to the city square. That was so it was easy for tourists to find. The more notable and expensive stores were at the entry to the city square and the less notable and cheap stores at the end.
Noah decided that he might as well restock on supplies while he was there. He was already going to go up the street to reach the town square. While he was walking, he noticed that having Nightmare as a mascot was a recurring theme among the advertisement posters. How can their lives be so easy that they can be happy when they're being subjugated. Noah angrily thought while shaking his head.
"DRAGON SCULPTURES! DRAGON SCULPTURES! COME GET SCULPTURES OF OUR REGIONS BELOVED MASCOT HERE!" Some verder was shouting at the top of their lungs. This caught Noah by surprise and even stopped him in his tracks. So the South doesn't think of Nightmare as a tyrant, but as a mascot? Even while he's taxing the hell out of this region? Noah thought, extremely confused, even a bit disappointed at the lack of resolve in the Southern people.
"Hey you there!" The vendor exclaimed, running at Noah, "Are you interested in the sculptures?" They stopped in front of Noah and held out one of them. The vendor was a young man with dark gray hair, fine dress, and well developed muscles for a Southern person, in Noah's eyes.
"Not really." Noah said. He felt awkward considering the subject of the conversation and their difference in views. He thought about what he should do next so that he doesn't get reported for "treason."
"Alright." The vendor responded, disappointed and began to turn away.
"They're nice sculptures. I'm certain that someone would be interested in buying one. The only reason I'm not is that I don't have enough money to spend on anything extra." Noah quickly said, "Where did you learn to sculpt like that?"
"Oh, thank you. My father was a sculptor from the North and came to the South to start a business here. He taught me how to sculpt and I became really passionate about it." The vendor replied, smiling.
"That's nice. I should be going now. Noah said and began to move around the vendor.
"Yeah, I should get back to advertising as well." The vendor said and began to head back.
"Why don't you make some posters to help with the advertising?" Noah suggested, turning to face him.
"That's a good idea. Thank you." The vendor turned his head and waved. Noah turned back and continued his way up the market street.
* * *
Noah arrived at the western gate just as the sun was rising. He got some skeptical looks from the guards, but Noah calmly stated that he was a messenger and the skeptical looks stopped. He got there a bit early so he waited for the guards to open the gate. When they did, he walked out until he was out of sight and dived straight into the forest. He quickly found a trail that was headed towards Spearhead and followed alongside it. The forest was pretty quiet but he was still on guard as any animals that would find him would be pretty angry, or in the worst case scenario, be found by bandits or Nightmare.
After walking for a while it was late in the morning. Noah was lucky and didn't encounter any wildlife. He was nervous about finding bandits however. The bandits he fought yesterday retreated this way into the forest. It was unlikely that a bandit camp would be found this close to the Spearhead, he couldn't dismiss the possibility that there was one. He began to traverse more carefully as it became later in the day so it would be less likely that he would get caught. There were many times when he stopped moving because he heard something or thought that he saw something move. This got even worse when noon arrived. Noah knew that it was rare that Nightmare would start moving around before noon. The only exception was when caravans and other large groups were passing through the region that had a license. Noah sighed, his thoughts had wandered around while he was waiting for Nightmare's active hours to pass. The whole licensing process is what made the North such a poor region. While the South had the money and manpower to afford to send out traders to other regions, the North had relied on nomads and foriegn traders to make their money. One might ask why the North and South didn't trade with each other and the answer to that is that the two subregions had always tense relationships with each other. The North viewed the South as softies that didn't know what it was like to go through hardship while the South viewed the North as people who were stuck in the past and didn't know how to change with the times. This tension was only further increased when Nightmare took over the region with both subregions viewing the other as traitors. The North thought that the South were traitors because they listened to Nightmare's demands with no resistance, allowing him to do what he wanted. While the South viewed the North as traitors for resisting Nightmare, which would just get people killed.
Noah sighed just thinking about this. He used to think that all of the South's actions were wrong and that the North was always right. However, through his travels he learned that both sides were wrong and right. Resistance with no proper planning would just get people killed and no resistance would allow Nightmare to continue to oppress the people of this region. Noah looked towards the sun. It was almost time that he could resume his journey safely. He shuddered just thinking about what would happen if he got caught now. He could theoretically talk his way out of the situation, but he had no story to explain what he was doing. He looked at the sun and saw that he should be safe to continue to move now. He got out the rations that would be his lunch and began to eat. He didn't dare move, much less eat when he was waiting for midday to pass.
Once Noah finished eating he resumed his journey. After walking for a short while he came across an unusual sight. He found a few broken branches as if a group of animals came through. This was confusing to him as he previously saw no signs that animals lived here. He decided to proceed with caution as he didn't know what would be living so close to Nightmare. He took a closer look and saw that it looked like the animals were running. He wasn't sure if they were running away from something or towards something. He decided to look for footprints which took him a small while to find, but he found some canine prints. 'I'm guessing that some wolves came running through here, but I'm not sure why they were running through here. I didn't find any other footprints so they weren't hunting anything so maybe they were running away from something. It would be unlikely if they were dog prints as there is no good reason for humans to come this close to Spearhead unless they were paying the dragon tax. Now what would make a pack of four wolves run away, Nightmare would' Noah sighed as he finished his thought. If Nightmare was close that would cause a lot of problems. If he was found before he got to Spearhead and got the dragonslayer spear he was as good as dead. Noah once again sighed to calm himself. He couldn't lose himself now when he was so close to achieving his goal.
A little while later, Noah started to hear leaves crushing and branches snapping. He froze and looked around at his surroundings to find a place to hide. He saw some bushes and hid in them, careful not to move the branches too much. He moved the branches back into their original positions and after a little while of waiting he started to hear barking and four dogs came on to the road. 'So that's what the tracks were from, but why are there dogs here?' Noah thought. The dogs began to sniff around, and Noah prepared himself for a fight knowing that the dogs would pick up his scent. As he waited for the dogs to pick up his scent he began to think, 'Why are there dogs here, no one would dare hunt this close to Spearhead. Are they patrolling something? If so, why are they alone and don't have someone with them?' He was suddenly forced out of his thoughts however because the dogs started barking. He stopped his breathing to hide his presence even further. The dogs began to head towards Noah while sniffing the ground. He waited till there was a dog right in front of him. Once there was a dog in front of him he jumped out unsheathing his spear and stabbing the dog in its shoulder. The dog practically screamed in agony and Noah pulled his spear out as he landed. The dog began to limp away and collapsed sometime later in the forest. Noah looked around and saw that the other dogs had surrounded him. A dog leaped at him and sunk its teeth into his thigh. Noah grit his teeth in pain and lifted his spear and stabbed it into the dog's back and ripped the dog off his thigh. He gasped in pain but turned around to face the other two dogs. They began to run at him and he leapt to the left and stabbed the dog on the left in the heart, causing it to die instantly. The other dog dived right past him. Noah tried to pull his spear up but he couldn't. He began to panic as the final dog regained his footing. He put his foot on the dead dog and pulled on his spear with all his might. This caused him to lose his balance and fell on his rear. The dog began to run towards him and leapt at him. Noah changed how he held his spear and the dog bit down on it. He got an up close view of the dog salivating and bloodlust in its eyes. Noah threw the dog away and stood back up. Noah ran at the dog and stabbed and killed it.
Authors Note:
So chapter 11 is going to take a while as I am going be studying for finals. Expect it in a month or a half.