Heart of Hearts

[BaldurAnthology]

"If we're goin south, Ah remember a jetty that holds a wee boat. Been there for how knows long, but it's functional. Ah used to use if for fishing. Ah suggest we use tha' tae git across the lake." Byron says, and starts walking.

[Flipout6]

"I've got enough supplies to last me a couple of days, but maybe we should get more, just in case? And we have Koralina to worry about. She either needs to learn to hunt or learn or she'll down all our meat in a single night. I'll see what they have here, and then I'll go buy some more food." Thorand said. He ran some calculations in his mind. If the trip took a week or two, then he would get enough food to last at least himself until then. He'd found that rope had always come in handy, so he'd bring maybe thirty or forty feet of it. The wilderness could be treacherous, and if they needed to navigate a gully or canyon, rope was the only way they could do it. They could use the blanket he bought as bedding for Koralina, but he didn't know if Cecilia had a bedroll or any travelling supplies at all. He still had plenty of gold from his time in the Varden, but he couldn't afford to get all of them supplies enough to last a trip to Du Weldenvarden. Good thing he'd gotten himself a belt with lots of bags for storage in the last town, because he was going to need it. He turned to the shopkeep.

"Do you have forty feet of rope?" Thorand asked.

"I have rope, but I'm not sure about forty feet, sir. I'll getcha all we have." He disappeared into the back, and came out with a large coil of rope.

"Hey, that's exactly how much I need! Thanks. Here, this should cover it." He slid twenty gold coins across the table, and then waved him farewell and joined Cecilia outside the shop. "I got us some rope. I don't think Koralina will be big enough to fly us both to Du Weldenvarden even by the time we reach it, so we may have to navigate some canyons." He said.

[tokyobiohazard]

Cecila smiled her jagged grin and tightened her sword belt. "Now, let's be off before you die of old age and I've got a house-sized dragon in my bag." She ran toward the town gates, a bit too quickly, and stopped herself. She was used to having elven companions. She decided that Thorand would need a horse sometime soon.

[Flipout6]

"Woah, there! I'm unfortunately not an elf. If you want me to keep up with you, I'm going to need to buy a horse. I didn't see any stables or anything coming into the town, so we may have to walk." He smiled at Cecilia's old-aged comment. "I won't be dying of old age anytime soon. I've only lived through 25 winters, I still got plenty of time and fight left in me." He caught up to her. "I'll follow you. You know the way much better than I." He gripped the sword at his side, a longsword that could be used in conjuction with his shield. The sword, as well as his armor and shield, had served him very well during the war, particularily during the battle at Uru'baen, where he had felled twenty-six men atop the horse he rode into battle with as a cavalry soldier, named Thaig.

"It'll be good not to have to worry about Galbatorix's soldiers out on the road. Travelling was a nightmare during the early days of the war, where Galbatorix dominated the roads. It got worse when Murtagh and Thorn dominated the skies."

[AurianaValoria1]

Koralina was oblivious to all around her, still sleeping soundly in Cecilia's bag.

[tokyobiohazard]

"I only saw what happened near the end of the war, when the elves marched out of Du Weldenvarden. I had been hidden in the forest for so long that I didn't go back with the rest of the elves... Though I wasn't alone in that, I think." Cecilia stepped past a large rock, and another. She stopped outside a stable and pointed at the horses inside the pens, "Your last chance to get a horse... Though, I don't think they would be very agile in the forest." Edited August 6, 2012 by tokyobleach

[Flipout6]

"Good point. Hold on a minute." He walked off of the road and into the main house, and came out about a minute later with a somewhat chubby, scruffy man with three bags of feed in his hand leading him around to the stables. He opened the gate and led a medium-sized, brown horse around, prepared it for travel, and handed the reins over to him.

"Her names Bessa, sir." He said. Thorand handed the man a sack of coins, and dropped it into his outstretched hand.

"Thanks. I'll take good care of her, I promise." He flashed the man a winning smile, and led the horse out to the road. "That put a dent in my finances. Good thing I only take some of my pay with me for the road." He mounted the horse, as gently as he could, and stroked the horse's mane. It didn't seem to mind, so he kept it up. He wasn't planning on getting rid of the horse anytime soon, if ever. "Let's go, then." He said to Cecilia. "Run for as much as you want, just slow down when the horse begins to tire." He grinned again. It felt good to be on a horse again, and maybe somewhere along the road the horse and him would develop a man-beast relationship.

"Well, there's a difference between us, then. I've been with the Varden since just before things really began to gather steam. I was only with them a few months when Farthen Dur was attacked by the Urgals. I'm a Varden long-timer. Even Roran Stronghammer didn't join the Varden until about a quarter of the way through the war, after the battle of the Burning plains. That was an ugly battle, when Murtagh first appeared and killed that one dwarven king. Not the first monarch to fall during the war."

Edited August 4, 2012 by Flipout6

[tokyobiohazard]

Cecilia's features adopted a downcast look, and she nodded, "Yes. We did indeed lose more than one monarch. Though the circumstances do help to relieve the sense of loss, I suppose. Come, let us leave this place."

[Flipout6]

"I know what it's like to lose a well-liked monarch. The day Murtagh was kidnapped was the day Ajihad died. Although I imagine its much worse for the elves. You live much longer than us, which means that your leaders probably serve for a much longer period as well, so you'll have a lot more time to get attached to them. I was there when the late Queen Islanzadi died. Or, rather, I watched. The lord must`ve been powered with Galbatorix`s magic, because it took the combined effort of most every Varden soldier in the city to bring him down, including some of the siege engines. He was the one that killed Islanzadi. Roran eventually killed him. Apparently some magic stone or something was hidden under his armor, gave him unbelievable strength. At least, that`s what people say. Islanzadi managed to keep him occupied for a good while, though. She could really fight. She died a hero." Thorand reassured her from the back of Bessa, the horse. "Now, we can start runnin' anytime. I imagine Bessa's gone stir-crazy, needs some exercise." Edited August 7, 2012 by Flipout6

[tokyobiohazard]

"Yes, let's." Cecilia began running, then, her sorrow fading with each step. After a few minutes, she had reached the fringes edge of the forest and yearned to reach the black-needled pines several miles inside. Those would mean they were getting close, but it would most likely take them at least twenty-four hours to get that far inside.