The death of the horse ; An unexpected twist in the journey!
[ Arc - journey to Scarestown ]
The next day , Zayn Wolfe began his journey.
Armed with the blunt knife and a map guiding him through the ominous journey to Scarestown, Zayn Wolfe embarked on a treacherous journey to reach the northern direction where the mysterious scarestown resides .
A hundred kilometers lay ahead—a perilous path he had to tread, ten days on foot or five days on horseback. Fortunately, the gang leader had provided him with a robust horse for the journey, along with sufficient provisions and currency.
Seems like the mission is very important to Oliver , that's why he is giving him that much help as he can for the mission.
Mounting the horse, Zayn set forth into the chilling unknown. He had limited information about the baron and the town but before he began his journey, he enquired with some of the people he knew and to his question, only few gave him the necessary answer but it was nowhere enough for him to understand what he was going through.
The scarestown ! It was a city frozen in time, its secrets concealed beneath layers of history and decay. Not many people are living in there , It's a habitable place if people can get used to the cold yet that place was classified as non habitable.
Only this much information he knew and with this , he has to assassinate the baron and escape from there . The task wasn't easy but for the reward he has to do it at any cost .
As the horse raced through the cold road , he began to think about plans to kill the baron but with having limited information, he couldn't come up with any plans. Soon he was traveling for five hours straight and he thought he could reach his destination if he resumed in the same speed , Yet destiny took a malevolent turn as, not even half a day passed into his journey , the horse succumbed to an unseen poison.
The brownish horse fell to the ground, its mouth leaking from black blood . By the sudden collapse of the horse , Zayn Wolfe who was mounted on the horse , immediately fell to the ground.
Bewildered and alarmed, Zayn stood up from the ground and inspected the lifeless creature, realizing that there was a foul play was afoot. Someone had set a trap, a dangerous omen that sent shivers down his spine.
"Why would anyone poison my riding horse?"
he pondered, the ominous realization sinking in. A calculated trap lay ahead, but its nature remained elusive.
He didn't know who did this but he knew that going back to the Borderland wasn't his choice now . He has accepted the task and he has to complete it any cost .
Looking at the fallen horse , he thought for a moment before he began to continue his journey but few seconds later he came back .
Taking out the blunt weapon, he began to dig a hole on the ground. After some time a hole was dug by him , he pushed the horse into the hole and covered it with the sand . After Digging a grave for his fallen companion, Zayn continued on foot, his senses heightened and his blunt blade ready for any unseen threat.
That's his habit of being careful at unfamiliar environment. He survived like this , by being very careful. Since his horse died , now he has to travel by foot which will take a toll on his body and he knew the mission will be longer than he calculated .
As he was walking, he met a single bandit who blocked his way from advancing, Zayn Wolfe was already feeling upset about walking on foot and when this guy came to tob him , it made him angry .
The poor bandit was beaten until he couldn't move anymore, not only that he was also robbed by Zayn .
"Tsk..You are very poor !*
Zayn kicked the bandit while shaking his head. Hearing his words, the bandit closed his eyes and pretended to be unconscious.
The bandit had only few Silver and a sharp dagger , Zayn kept them in his pocket and resumed his journey . Regretfully the bandit didn't have any horse on him, or else it would have helped him.
Soon Nightfall descended, and in the distance, an ancient village emerged, its flickering torches casting long shadows on the walls.
Stoping infront of the village, Zayn took out his map and looked through it . After a minute, he looked at the village and thought while again glancing at the map .
"The village isn't marked in these map ?Why? "
Was he lost ? I don't think so !
Thinking like that , he looked above and saw the moon was very bright today . It was already late night and he can't travel by foot at night which will be very dangerous. According to the map , there wasn't many nearby places within 50 kms and since these places are all mountain and desserted areas , the chances of bandits living here was very high .
Zayn may be was strong but he wasn't over confident about his own abilities . He can take out ten men at a time but not a whole gang by himself. So he knew taking rest was a good idea but he didn't find any safe place to stay but now he found a village by luck .
Thinking of luck , he was always very bad at it so he was very puzzled about seeing the village in front of him .He looked at the village and decided to take rest here but still he was very suspicious of the sudden coincidence.
His horse was poisoned and just some distance he met a village that shouldn't exist according to the map !
Was the map fake ? Or is it something else that I'm not understanding?
Suspicion gripped Zayn as he entered the village, finding himself face-to-face with the frail village head, an elderly man on the brink of death.
Zayn Wolfe didn't knew why would these frail looking old man would wait at the village entrance in these harsh cold wind.
He spoke slowly to the old man
"Sir , Can I take a rest here tonight?I lost my way and I can't travel in night . Can you please let me stay here for today ? I promise I will leave tomorrow morning. "
Struggling with hearing and sight, the old man looked at Zayn Wolfe and asked in puzzling tone.
"My son , I can't hear your voice! Can you repeat again loudly?"
Zayn Wolfe once again spoke , his voice wasn't loud but the old man heard his voice this time .
The old man thought for a long time . He glanced at Zayn deeply and spoke
"As long as you agree to one my condition, I will let you stay in the village for one night !"
Confused by the abnormal words of the old man , Zayn Wolfe thought the old man would ask for money so he was prepared to give it since he has some money with him now.
"What is it sir ?"
The old men voice was hoarse when he said the words
"Young men ! You can sleep at night but you are not allowed to leave your room at midnight! If you agree to this requests then you can enter my village!"
Zayn Wolfe frowned hearing the old man words . He asked coldly
"Why is that sir ?"
The old man shook his head and said
"I can't say the reason. So what do you say ? If you promise not to leave your room at midnight then I will allow you to stay in the village!"
Zayn Wolfe didn't knew what the old man was upto but he has to take rest tonight so he agreed to the old man's weird request.
"I promise Sir , I won't leave the room till it's morning!"
Hearing this , the old man noded and said slowly
"Follow me" !
Delivering a cryptic warning—Zayn must not venture outside after midnight. Perplexed but with no choice, Zayn agreed, and the old man escorted him to a humble wooden house. The village looked very desolate and there wasn't many houses in here so after some walks , the old man took him to a small woode house .
Opening the wooden house door , Zayn saw that The dwelling offered small little comfort—a small bed, a lone window, and a shattered mirror reflecting fragmented images.
Atleast it's better than the slum he was leaving in , thinking like that Zayn Wolfe thanked the old man .
The village head, reiterating the warning, departed, leaving Zayn alone with the unsettling stillness of the night.
Fatigue weighed on Zayn, and as he succumbed to a brief respite, a disturbing knocking shattered the silence.
Not even half an hour passed but someone was knocking on the door.
Knock! knock!
Startled from his sleep, Zayn, gripped by a rising sense of dread, approached the door, blunt blade in hand.
The knocking persisted, echoing through the desolate village, as Zayn reluctantly opened the door to confront the unknown guest .
Who was it ?
Was it the old man or someone else ?
To be continued...