Anyone would think that the villagers would apologize to me after how they treated me after several children threw stones at me. But no, there were no apologies to me. The most I could expect from them was indifferent silence.
I guess for a dark-skin beyond the south, that was already a victory against bigotry.
The next day after our first night, we decided to leave for the north.
"After that mountain, you see there, you must cross the river and you will have reached the northern lands," one of the villagers told us.
The Northern Duchy, the territory of Rufius Soto, the most dangerous region for a dark-skin, was only a couple of leagues away.
At last ... I would be closer than ever to my sister.
She and I had never spent so much time apart. I imagined she would be scared. Who wouldn't be horrified in her place? Forced to marry a man who could be her father or her grandfather.
Just thinking about it gave me chills.
What a disgusting idea ...
If I had been in her place, I think I would have jumped from the highest point of the Supreme temple in the capital. It was preferable that my body lay shattered against the rocky ground, rather than being married to Soto.
Damn Duke Soto, damn all dukes.
I was surprised to find myself having those thoughts, but it felt good, imagining the death of those disgusting men of the nobility.
I understood better and better why someone would decide to become a pirate.
Oskar and Mayu parted ways with us when we left the village.
"We will go to the capital of the Mountains," said the hunter. "We will have to warn that The Dawn was attacked by pirates and that no one survived. I imagine the families of the sailors want to know the truth."
Veny and I nod sadly.
"I hope you have a good trip," I said.
"I will miss your songs," Mayu told Veny.
"Oh, thank you, little boy," the bard replied. "There is no greater compliment to a bard than the public's gratitude. Well, that and the tip money.
The boy smiled.
We said goodbye to the hunter and his son and continued north. Veny had decided to accompany me, according to him, it would be a dangerous path for a lonely dark-skinned woman.
"These roads are not like the ones of the south, milady," he repeated to me. "Also, I don't want to miss the best story ever told in Alba Terra: a dark-skinned woman escapes from marriage to a nobleman to embark on a dangerous adventure to save her sister."
The southern roads had already been dangerous for me. Never, in my entire trip, had I felt safe. I had always encountered some situation that had put my life in danger.
Delilah had sacrificed a lot too.
All for my sister.
And now Veny was telling me that things could be worse.
What kind of a place full of hatred and death is the realm of Alba Terra?
When we crossed the mountain that the villager indicated, I saw it: The Duchy of the North. On the horizon rose white-tipped mountains surrounded by thick fog.
Was that snow?
I had never seen snow. I was excited to feel it in my hands for the first time.
We go down the mountain and cross the river thanks to an old bridge made of rocks and wood. Every step I took made me feel closer to my sister.
That whole journey had started with her. I let myself be convinced by the ghost of a dead queen, because of her. I began to dream of changing the Kingdom for her.
I don't know for how long Veny I were walking, but my wells were already starting to hurt.
There was no sign of any village or inn nearby.
"There must be some peasant house nearby," Veny assured, looking around.
There was nothing but silence and fog.
As if the pain in my feet was not enough, I began to feel like I was short of air.
"It's because of the lack of oxygen," Veny said. "We are above sea level, much higher than in the south."
I reached my limit and dropped onto the dirt on the road.
"I need ... rest ...," I stammered in agitation.
Veny nodded and flopped down next to me.
How was it possible that he wasn't tired too?
And as if he could read my thoughts just by looking at my face he replied:
"I am used to it, milady."
Yes of course.
As if sent by the Saints, a man in his sixties, hairless, thin, and with ramshackle clothes, passed with his cart near us. He appeared to be a peasant carrying sacks of food.
"What are you doing lying here?" The man asked, in a concerned tone.
"My good man, we are on our way to the capital and we have stopped to rest," Veny replied.
"To the capital of the north?" Asked the peasant. "You still have many leagues to go. I doubt very much that you will arrive soon without a horse. "
"Good thing we're not in a rush."
Lie… I was in a hurry to see my sister.
"Where are you going to spend the night?" Asked the man.
Veny looked around.
"I believe that nature will be our roof, good man."
The peasant leaned over to get a better look at me. I thought he was going to wrinkle his face when he saw that I was dark-skinned, but what I saw was a look of curiosity.
"If you want, I can host you at my house, just for tonight," the man proposed. "You don't have to pay me anything, the Saints will reward me."
"Oh bless you, good man," Veny said. "It will be a pleasure for me to pay you with my best songs."
"Are you a bard?"
"The best of all Alba Terra."
The peasant burst out laughing.
"All bards say that!"
"Yes, but in my case it is true."
We got into the peasant's cart and of we went.
"My name is Saul," the man introduced himself.
"I am Veny and this is my friend Bachué."
"Bachué? What an… exotic name… "
As I was closer, Saul could finally notice the color of my eyes, that which never goes unnoticed by those who know me for the first time.
"Red eyes? Now I have seen it all," he said with a wondering smile.
In less than fifteen minutes we arrived at his house, lost in the misty forest, where he only lived with his wife, apparently the same age, but with a hard face of few friends.
I realized immediately when the woman saw us that I was not welcome there.
"This is my wife Karet," the farmer introduced her, as we got off the wagon.
She didn't say anything; she just gave us a look of displeasure.
"They are accompanying us tonight," Saul told his wife, "perhaps you can prepare the back room for our guests."
The woman withdrew without saying anything. She was clearly upset. I couldn't help but wonder if it was for me.
Veny noted the tense atmosphere.
"Perhaps a song of mine can enchant the heart of your wife," he said with a smile.
Saul nodded, clearly sorry.
"My wife doesn't talk much," he tried to excuse her.
At that moment I thought "Wow, what a rude woman", but I never imagined, even in my wildest dreams, that she was going to put my life in danger once again.
I never thought that she would be more dangerous than the pirates themselves.