FireBlade28: Nah, I would, since I know you on here. First impressions are everything to me 😉

FireBlade28: Also, you like swords and blades and knives. Anyone who likes weapons that much is very trustworthy! (I have a weird way of judging people, I know)

@FB, Thank you! Good perception!

@Astro, 😂 You'd like my friend then, he has a room full of swords, knives and katanas which he makes himself out of wood and metal.

I feel like poor Rhion is getting absolutely thrown under the bus. We'll have to see whether he deserves it or not.

DragonRider: That’s cool! I don’t actually like making swords or wielding them, but I enjoy looking at them

@D_R, wow, that sounds like I dude I could chill with, sometime later in my life I'll buy a sword I have one specifically in mind already 😂 thankfully its only $218

today i saw an actual chicken cross a real road, anyway how's your day

Well... at least I read it before 6 came, so I'm not that late. Anyways, I have my guesses about Rhion, but I'll keep em to meself.

I see chickens cross the road quite frequently actually

i hadn't realized other people had opinions about Rhion as well XD

Well, good news, I'm conquering my procrastination and hopefully throwing VI out today.

I think everyone has an opinion about Rhion 😂 Poor fellow, really being thrown under the microscope.

*Chapter VI

Four is Even More Company*

It was a full day before the inn keeper’s wife would let Armica out of bed. A further two days before Armica herself felt back to normal. Her cough was gone, the burns on her leg were wrapped and clean, and her head no longer pounded with each motion. Armica had been half afraid that Marie and Dafydd would run away but with their barn destroyed they had nowhere to go.

Glancing at a calendar on the wall, Armica counted off the days she had lost. At this rate, she would barely be in time to meet the men in Brimnston.

“I have to start at once,” she thought aloud. “Preferably today.”

“Miss Armica?” The door slowly creaked open to admit Marie, Dafydd slightly behind her.

“Come in, Marie, Dafydd,” Armica said, smiling. “You’re just the people I wanted to see!”

They scooted in and sat beside her on the bed. Armica placed an arm around each.

“Now I know you don’t really have anywhere to go,” she said, “and I am about to go on a journey, to Brimnston. Now if you’d rather stay here you can, it won’t be an easy trip, but I can look after you like I promised.”

“You’re nice, Miss Armica,” Marie said, “nicer than most folk. Dafydd an’ I’ll come with you. When’re we going?”

“Today, if I can arrange it!” Armica said joyfully. “Oh, children it’ll be such an adventure.”

“Yes!” squeaked Dafydd, lisping slightly. “Me’s never been on journey!”

“Welcome to the adventure!” Armica hugged each tight.

“Adventure!” a voice said from the door. “Can I join?”

There stood Rhion, grinning wide.

“Rhion!” Armica said, standing to shake hands.

“You’re leaving?” he asked, disappointment in his gaze.

“Yes,” Armica dropped her eyes from his. “I’ve already been here too long. I need to get to Brimnston before the end of next week.”

“And you’re planning on taking these two,” he indicated the children, “with you?”

“Where else will they go?” Armica said. “They’ve already agreed to come.”

“You’re amazing, Armica,” Rhion said genuinely. “Let me come with you, I can help you with Marie and Dafydd and protect you all. The Fields are no easy journey, I tell you.”

“I can’t ask you to . . .”

Rhion laughed. “You’re not asking, I am. I’ve got nothing to keep me here, I lost my job a while back. Maybe I can find work in Brimnston. If you don’t let me come with you, I’ll just happen to be travelling the same way.”

Armica grinned, then sighed. “Alright, I know when I’ve been beaten. Come along, then. Mind, I do tend to talk a lot.”

Secretly she was quite pleased. Rhion was strong, pleasant and brave. He would be a great companion.

The morning was full of preparation. Armica paid the inn keeper’s wife and bought mountains of food while Rhion went out to purchase a pack pony. Marie was quite intelligent for her age and Armica let her make an inventory of everything they had.

Due in no small part to Rhion’s excellent managing and organising, they were on the road by mid-afternoon. The sun was hot, but the cool wind breezed around them. Rhion walked ahead with Dafydd and Marie on either side, Armica stayed with the pony who she’d named Cap.

Armica couldn’t believe the landscape around her. At the crest of every hill, she’d pause and survey, but always it was the same clear, open prairie. No trees, just empty wasteland. Lonely.

The hike was fun, yet difficult. The hills rolled like waves on the ocean, there were always more beyond. Dafydd grew tired after several kilometres and Rhion hoisted him on Cap, taking some of the pony’s luggage himself. Marie walked with her brother and Armica found herself ahead with Rhion.

“I can take some of that,” she offered.

“No,” Rhion replied, shifting his load. “You’ve got enough and I don’t think you’re quite strong yet.”

“Don’t be silly,” Armica scoffed.

She fell silent. She wanted to talk, but she wanted to say something intelligent and meaningful, not her usual prattle with Niger and Fort.

“It appears you misled me, Armica,” said Rhion, “when you said you talked much.”

“Well I usually do, with my cousins,” Armica replied, shielding her eyes from the bright sun.

“Tell me, where do you come from?”

Armica glanced up at him. “South,” she said. “I was raised in a small village called Tref-Afon. It’s on the banks of the Nozama River.”

“What’re you doing all the way up here?”

Armica hesitated, unsure of what to say.

“Never mind,” Rhion hastened to assure. “If it’s private, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry.”

“It’s just, I’m not sure what Niger would want me to say,” Armica replied.

Rhion nodded. “Fair enough.”

When evening came Rhion was satisfied with their progress. Armica unloaded Cap and hobbled him while Rhion found wood somewhere and used it to build a roaring fire.

“Won’t that attract people to us?” Armica asked.

“Maybe,” Rhion replied, “but it’ll keep the wild creatures away.”

Dafydd curled up close to Armica after they’d eaten. “Dis’s nice,” he said. “Tell us a tale, Miss Armica?”

Armica smiled at him and pulled Marie close too. She spun into a story she’d always loved, The Legend of the Star-maned Stallion. Conscious of Rhion’s gaze, she infused it with all the wit and excitement she could, until the two children dropped fast asleep.

“You really love those children, don’t you,” Rhion asked wonderingly.

“They remind me of my own siblings,” Armica said, fighting down a choke. “I used to tell them that story. We all loved it.”

“Where are they now?”

Armica looked far into the distance, to the south. “I don’t know. For all I know, dead. That’s what I’ve been told, anyhow.”

Rhion took the children and wrapped them in their blankets. “I’m so sorry, Armica. I can’t imagine what that’s like. You’d better get some rest. We still have a long journey before us.”

End of Chapter VI

I’m just imagining Rhion sneaking off at night and having a secret meeting with hooded figures… 😂

Rhion seems sus... meaning sustainable.

He also seems suspicious.

Also, Armica's thing about wanted to say something more intelligent is so real 😂

And I beat both Gman2 and Fireblade 😉

Whats up french fries? I see D_R has posted another chapter!
@Green bean you beat me because at that moment I was 40 mins away from my computer feeling like death.

anyway I shall read then give a response.

Ah very good, it seems to me that Rhion is some sort of strider...

@Astro, Who, Rhion? Never . . . 😂

@Greeny, Congratulations!
Yeah, I relate to that particular sentence.

@Fireblade, French fries???? What are you, Amer-nevermind
Come to think of it, he does give that sort of vibe.

i keep forgetting this place exists every once in a while

@BandB, Me too 😂

like right now

You can't have forgotten about it right now, you're on it!