Lora knew that she would need a ship to reach Blackthorn's palace. "Hmmm... I may as well get one from Britain," she thought, but remembered that if she did get one from Britain, the voyage by ship would be long, while taking a ship from Minoc would mean to sail north for a short distance before getting to destination. Perhaps, she thought, she might even get a deal from Minoc.
She headed straight east. She knew that the sea blocked the path beyond the rivers, and she thought of taking a short cut by crossing the river. Heading out of Yew, she left the clearing, and reentered the deep, dark shelter of the forest. Although the sun scorched from above, it was damp and cold among the trees.
She soon reached the rivers, and passed from in between the two rivers, since there was a pass where they were nearly connected. The end of one river was only a few feet away from the end of the other. The forest ended beyond the pass between the rivers, and Lora was once again exposed to the heat of the sun. It sure was a hot day, and Lora started to sweat like mad; especially because of her uncomfortable tight dress.
She followed the river to her south, and stopped occasionally to take some air and to wipe the sweat off her forehead. She felt different from her usual adventures, as her feet were finally comfortable. She felt much better, and had more energy.
The river ended at the sea, and Lora would have to swim across where the sea ended and divided into two rivers. Since with her armour and backpack the deep sea was not ideal to swim in, she decided to cross the river where it ended and joined the sea. Removing her armour and putting it in her backpack, she thought that swimming with her dress would be very dangerous. It limited the movement of her feet, which would be crucial in swimming, and it would not be a good idea to wet it. She found some logs around, and made a very small raft out of them. It was barely big enough to carry her backpack. She undressed and packed her dress in her backpack, then loaded it on the raft and pushed it into the river.
Lora dove into the calm waters, pushing the raft along with her. It was a matter of seconds before she reached the opposite bank, but saw that she would have to cross another river quite soon, so she did not dress and carried the whole raft to the next river to the east.
This river was slightly more agitated than the previous one, but did not look threatening. She put the raft with the backpack on the waters, and they moved down the river! Lora swam after it and stopped it, then moved it across the river. Reaching the other side, she left the raft and took her backpack. There was a small wood ahead, as she could see, and she would have to cross it to reach the path that leads to Minoc.
Lora took her time to dry up, and then dressed. She put on her loyal Mystic armour, and proceeded on her journey. The sun was nearly touching the horizon, which meant that she would soon have to set up camp. As she walked through the wood, she felt she was being watched.
She drew her sword and proceeded with caution. From behind the bushes, several wolves revealed themselves. By the way they were drooling and by their exposed and sharpened teeth, Lora could tell they were hungry. Three wolves jumped onto her, as she waved her sword and blood flew onto the trees. Putting down her sword, she reached for her bow and an arrow, and fired at another wolf. She sheathed her sword, and walked backwards, away from the wolves. However, they followed, and she fired her deadly arrows at them. Not long after, Lora set up camp and roasted a wolf for dinner.
The following morning, Lora was rested. A few minutes east, she left the wood. Consulting her map, she could tell that she would have to go east and turn south, only to go east and north after that, before a long walk to Minoc. The map flew out of her hands as the ground started to shake. Parts of the ground ripped apart, and she rolled over before a tree nearly fell on her. The quake died down and she retrieved her map.
Lora walked east, and it started to rain. There was no shelter now. There was nothing left to do but walk in the rain, or else go back to the wood and waste precious time. She opted for the first, and proceeded under the rain. Unlike the previous day, this day was cold, and Lora shivered under her thin dress and cold armour. She soon came to a river to the east, and walked past it to the east until she came to yet another river, after which she turned south.
Once again, the end of the day was nigh, and she walked past the river and set up camp. The night was cold as ever, and Lora could not sleep. It was still raining, and the ground was nearly flooded. She could not even make a campfire to keep warm. Perhaps stopping was a bad idea, and considering she could not sleep anyway, she grabbed her things and proceeded.
Southeast was a pass between the sea and the mountains, known as Kafiristan Pass, and the rain stopped when she reached there. The water was high as her boots. She went past the hills to the east, and then northeast to the grassy plains. Suddenly, Lora found herself with an arrow through her shoulder. An archer had decided to kill her. A second arrow came, but she was ready for it. She dived across and rolled laterally, grabbing her bow. Another arrow came, and missed, and Lora took one of her arrows and fired. The archer had moved, but the arrow was too quick and hit him in the arm. Had he not moved, it would have pierced his heart. He removed the arrow from his arm, as Lora did the same, and fired another arrow. Avoiding all the enemy's successive shots, Lora ran up to him, and, when she was close enough, fired a mortal shot.
Lora tore the bottom part of her dress to bandage her shoulder with it, and at the same time allowed her legs some liberty. It was dawn, and Minoc was not very far away. She would surely arrive by the next day. Being so near, Lora decided to visit the site where Mandrake Root was first found, so she headed northeast.
She arrived at a small swamp after a couple of hours, and walked into the shallow, marshy waters. She thought that searching for mandrake using her hands might get her poisoned, since only her boots protected her from poisoning. Then she also remembered another thing; she could only acquire the root at night! So she recovered her lost sleep near the swamp, and, at night, she went back in to find the mandrake. Although nobody sent her to find mandrake, she thought she could make some money with the precious root. With her sword, she poked into the waters and dug up some roots carefully. Putting them in a bag, she went west past a river, walking in the darkness of the night. Having already slept that day, she could not sleep in the night.
By the next dawn, Lora had walked north to the mountains around Minoc, and could see the town. She lay to rest before approaching the city, and ate some fruit. Next, she got up and went to Minoc.
© by Daniel D'Agostino 2002-2025