Gabriel had just awoken from his sleep, to find that Judith was still deep in his dreams. The young boy lay in bed for another moment, staring at the ceiling before he let out a yawn, and a stretch, and with that he was on his feet.
He knew that he had many things ahead of him today, so he promptly got dressed in his pants and tunic, both being a shade of brown. After he was fully clothed, he walked outside, the cold morning air hitting his face and waking him up.
The first thing he done once outside, was go down to a lake, so that he can splash some water on his face and get a drink, as he knew he must be alert and hydrated for his morning training.
Once he returned to his campsite, he went back inside to drag his sword out, the floor of the cabin looking visably worn from the sword scraping against it day in and day out—although the state of the floor was of little concern to either inhabitants.
He brought the sword outside into his usually spot where he trained, that being a small little clearing amidst the forest that was not too far away from his cabin.
He had learned in a book that was laying in the cabin, that exercise's such as pushups, and running could help his endurance and strength, so he always started a training session with a lap of the nearby Lake and 100 pushups, although today he didn't have time to run, or do pushups, so he went straight to sword training.
For about twenty minutes, he continued his usual routine of trying to hold the sword, and then swinging it, his body being pushed to the absolute limit, as he had to throw and hold his own weight for a prolonged period of time.
Once he finished up, he spent a brief minute or two laying on the ground, exhausted, before he finally rose up and dragged the sword back to the campsite. Once back, he placed the sword in its usual spot. He saw that Judith was awake, and eating some berries, as he sat on the edge of his bed. Judith offered him some and he accepted, as he hadn't eaten at all this morning.
"You're to go into the local village today, and buy a horse and carriage, don't forget." Says the young Judith, "I left the bar of gold that Jean gave me next to your sword, you should see it."
Gabriel nods before getting up, and going to grab it, he also grabs himself a small dagger to bring with him incase their is any trouble, and a long black robe—to conceal both the dagger, and the gold. "I'll be heading now, it's towards the direction of the setting sun, am I right?"
"Yes."
…
The young Gabriel set off into the woods, the dense forest making it hard to move through, and casting him in shadows. The only way he could tell where he was going, was the brief glimpses of the sun through the trees, every time he looked back.
He had never been to this village before, and didn't even know the name of it, which made him nervous. He thought about how he—a fourteen year old former slave, with a large sum of gold—is putting himself in a dangerous situation. The worry of all this made him clench onto his robe tightly, as he continued his march through the dark forest.
As he journeys further through the woods, he notices that trees are becoming less and less dense. He sees that a few hundred metres ahead of him, the forest entirely stops, and a large clearing starts. When he notices the large plain ahead of him, he starts to pick up his pace, bursting out into a little jog towards the grassland, his face lighting up with joy to see a change of scenery.
When he reaches the clearing, he looks out across the land. In every direction—other than behind him—an endless grassland lay. The grassland is vast, although it's not all flat, as Gabriel himself stands atop a hill. He notices that at the bottom of the hill, there is a village, the village that he was most likely in search of.
By all means, this settlement was no normal place, it didn't seem to be near any considerable river, although lakes did scatter this part of the country, so fresh water was attainable. Most strange of all, was the fact that this place lay at the bottom of a hill. In all four directions surrounding the village, their was only hill to be seen, making the place an easy target to any bandits, although it seemed unscathed by the scars of battle.
Gabriel cautiously begins to descend the slope, his robe concealing the blade that he clenches onto so anxiously. The hood of his robe is raised over his head, to shroud himself, as this is the first time he has ever entered a human settlement—in a peaceful way that is.
Upon aprouching the wall that surrounds the village—it being not much more than a series of wooden pillars that encircle the settlement—he thinks to himself, "Why bother, I am too used to the same old things," the thought lingering in his mind as he stood motionless.
A local bumped into an entranced Gabriel, knocking both him, and the stranger over, and almost exposing Gabriel's money, and dagger, although he maintained a strong enough grip. "What was that for!" Says the local as he rises to his feet, his tone one of mild frustration. Gabriel apologies profusely before explaining, "sorry, I was deep in my thoughts, forgive me."
"It's alright don't worry, anyway what's a boy like you doing arround here? You don't seem like you know the place very well." The stranger asks, reaching out a helping hand to help Gabriel get up, although Gabriel refuses, and gets up on his own accord, so not to let go of his valuables.
"I live out in the woods, and I was sent here to buy—," his words falling short, realising he should not be telling his buisness to strangers. "Well, you see, theirs a shortage of fish in our lake, so I was going to buy some here."
The stranger laughs, "well theirs no shops out here, you bumpkin!" His tone relaxed, although it seemed to be rather condescending. "Follow me to the gate, I'll show you in."
With that Gabriel wearily follows the man, his dagger clenched tightly, as if he was in danger. "So, eh, what's the name of this village?" He enquires
The local looks back confused, "you seriously don't know the name? I thought you lived arround here?"
"I do, I do, honest!"
"Whatever you say pal, anway, it's Danber," his tone almost mocking, "Good thing I told you that, because the people aren't too friendly to outsiders, so keep your hood up and don't speak too much."
Gabriel remained silent, his head ducked inside his black robe, as the local guided him arround the wall. They finally reached the enterance, the gate itself being not much more than an opening in the wall where no logs layed.
Gabriel gently tucked his blade into his pocket, before he stretched his hand out for handshake, "Thank you, don't tell anyone I'm an outsider, kind stranger," his tone hushed, yet grateful. The stranger accepts the handshake and responds, "I won't," before he turns his back, and hurriedly dissapers into the gate.
The boy takes a deep breath in, before he himself steps inside the gate. His vacant hand rushes back into his pocket almost instinctively, and clasping onto his blade once again, as he enters the village.
Gabriel sees crowds of people running their daily errands, amidst the marketplace, he notices many stalls as he surveys the market with his eyes, most of which selling rather menial items and goods. He decides that he should walk further through the street, and see if there is any place that sells horses and carriages further up.
As he continues his survey of the village, he notices the houses arround here are rather poor, being made only of wooden frames, and logs, although some more fortunate places were decorated with stone. "In all my years of raiding, I've never seen a village this poor," he thinks to himself as he walks further ahead.
As he nears the end of the road, he notices a stall next to a barn, although he cant quite understand the sign, so he walks up to the front of it and questions the person manning the stall, "What're you selling here?"
The young woman standing behind the counter had long ginger hair tied up into a bun, and was rather tall and skinny. She examined the boy up and down with a scowl, before angrily replying, "Well can't you read the damn sign!"
The boy, with a deadpan expression and tone, responds. "No, I can't read or write."
The women, who was once angry, now broke out into a fit of laughter, as her hands clasp together, "I don't think anyone who can't read, has enough money to buy the horses we sell!"
Gabriel rolls his eyes and murmurs under his breath, "we wouldn't even raid your village, dumb bitch."
The woman leans in to Gabriel, and asks him sarcastically, "what was that, you little broke boy?" Before she continues her fit of laughter.
Gabriel wittingly retorts the insult, "I said do you do horses and carriages?" His hood now down, and a big grin painted on his face.
The woman stops laughing, and stands there dumbfounded staring at him, "you're kidding right?"
Gabriel smirks at her before he quietly slips out his gold bar, and places it down infront of her, the bar seeming to shine under the suns light, "I said I'd like to buy some horses, and a carriage, and less of the rudeness women."
The woman silently accepts defeat and grabs the gold brick, before she walks away into the barn for a brief moment. Gabriel stands there, leaning casually against the stall, with a big grin painted on his face as he waits for the women to return. The man from earlier walks back up to him and laughs, "That's women for you, too emotional! She's a special kind alright, her parents had enough money to send her off to boarding school, although I do pity her," his tone growing more casual, and even a bit somber, as he continues, "She didn't really grow up with her parents arround too much, so I can't blame her for being so quick to lash out."
"Anyway! Didn't you say you came here for some fish? Why are you buying a horse and carriage, you must be rich," he enquires, as he leans in closer, his voice laced with curiosity.
Gabriel whispers into his ear, "Well, you're not really supposed to let people know you have that kind of money on you," before he lets out an akward chuckle.
The man laughs back in agreement before letting Gabriel know he has buisness down in the blacksmith that he must attend to, Gabriel gives him a farewell and the man wanders off again.
The woman finally comes back out, with a red slap mark on her face, and tears welling in her eyes. In a seething tone, she tells him, "Come with me, my father will sort out the rest."
Gabriel follows her, and enters the barn, the horses laying down in their stables, and the carriage in the corner of the room awaiting use. In the centre of the barn, a tall man dressed in a white tunic and black pants stands, his hair visably balding, and his belly buldging out of his clothes.
"Sorry about my ol' daughter, she can be a little runt. Anyway, I suppose you were sent here to buy a carriage for your family or somethin'!" Asks the man, with a big grin on his face.
Gabriel nods with a smile, although in his head he feels rather anxious about being questioned like that. "I know how to ride horses, so if you can give me them now, I can ride them back to my house."
"I'll get my ol' daughter to set the horses up to the carriage, and she'll help ride you out, it's only fair as she was being so rude to you earlier," he says, while looking at his daughter, her eyes refusing to meet his, as she walks over to set up the carriage.
…
After some time had past, the carriage was set with two horses at the helm of it, and the akward conversation with the owner came to a close, Gabriel thanked the owner, and sat up next to the young women, who he now knew to be named Elaine from his brief, and mostly one sided talk with the owner—the man going on about his disappointment of a daughter.
Once Elaine got the carriage to exit the barn, and away from her father's earshot, she let out a sigh, before she turned to Gabriel. "My damn father, how dare he speak about me like that infront of me!" The tears welling up in her eyes.
Gabriel looks back sympathetically before telling her, "If it makes you feel better, you can leave the horses to me, and you can go off for the rest of the day." Elaine sniffles, before responding, her tone appreciative, "Thanks, I'll do that."
They both sit in quiet until they reach the gate, where Elaine leaves one final remark, "Be careful, goodbye," before she jumps out of the carriage and runs off back into the village.
Gabriel lets out a smirk, before he pulls up his hood, and grabs the rein's. He begins to bring the horses up the hill, until he is met with the same forest as last time. He suddenly remembers that there was a road nearby the lake, but he cannot remember where the road started.
He rides along, parallel to the forest, as he waits to find a small road that he can navigate, and sure enough, he finds one after a few minutes of searching, a small and derelict road into the forest, where little light penetrates. He begrudgingly follows the path, with one hand on his dagger, as he unnervingly ventures through the long abandoned road.
In the corner of his eye, he sees somebody running towards him, their movements inhuman, their joints bending in ways they shouldn't, their figure obscured by a large white robe that covered them.
The strange entity bounces at Gabriel and knocks him off of the carriage and sends him hurdling across the path.
Gabriel jumps to his feet and tries to look arround to see where it is, his dagger on full display and ready to strike at any moment. Suddenly, he fells a hand against his back, and he swings back stabbing it right in the eye. It shrieks as its hood falls back, exposing it hideous and rotten face, the muscles and bones exposed, as it lacked skin.
Gabriel pulls his dagger out of its eye, and tries to push the head away in disgust, yet he feels a scalding sensation as he pushes it. The monster's head erupts into flames, as the small bit of sunlight that peaked through the trees, reaches him. The beast falls back and begins screaming in agony, its full body now erupting into flames aswell it disintegrates infront of Gabriel's eyes.
A terrified Gabriel jumps back up onto the carriage and clenches the rein's as hard as he can, the horses bolting down the road accordingly. He keeps looking left and right, waiting to see if he will be attacked again by those things as dashes along the dark road.
He soon reaches a part of the path where the sun can protect him, his horses begin to slow down again, and he begins to relax himself, although he still stays on high alert, as danger could appear at any moment.
As the carriage ventures further up the road, Gabriel comes by a lake not too far from the cabin, with Judith bathing alone along the shoreline. Judith turns back and makes eye contact with Gabriel, before asking, "You seem worried, what's wrong?" Gabriel stares at him for a few seconds, before he shouts back at him, "I got attacked by something!"
"Did you get attacked by bandits? Wolves? Locals? Anything like that?" His tone a bit confused, "They're not here now, so why are you so scared"
Gabriel sighed before continuing, "No, No, please just listen, whatever attacked me, was not human."
Judith smirks, before calmly responding, "I'll believe it when I see it, but anyway, you're fine now. Let's go back to camp and set up."
A frustrated Gabriel holds himself back from saying anything more, "Okay, yes. Let's go."