Shadows over Nothross | Page 7

quite mean."
Facyr grinned. "I wouldn't worry about that. We're not exactly rookies what comes to dodging fireballs, anyone can do that these days", he said.
Faira's grin seemed as cunning as Facyr's. "Correct you are, Facyr. I'd say this will definitely turn out interesting."
"I'd surmise you are accepting this task, then?" Aleln asked.
"Of course," Facyr said. "It's not like there's much else to do in Anchorfall these days either. I'll rather go teaching evil wizards a good lesson rather than patrol around in a city where absolutely nothing of interest is happening. Besides, this is supposed to be Jenyr's company, and as you heard, he was keen to help you even without hearing the details personally. So yes, we're going." He turned to his friends. "You'd better get packing!"
"Well, this is just as we hoped", Aleln said with a smile. "Uh, so Jenyr won't be coming himself?"
"No, he's got hands full with his duties with the City Guard." Facyr assumed an expression that could only be though of as bitter-sweet. "He's rarely of use to us as mercenaries, I'm afraid, but I suppose his greatest use is to unleash a horde of constables on unsuspecting crooks just at the moment we have found them and think there's nothing we can do to stop them from escaping. He has a lot of respect in the Guard, but I can't just imagine him going personally fight a huge band of orcs." He smiled.
"So, when are you ready to leave?"
"As soon as we're done packing, which is fairly soon, because knowing how much interesting little trivial things we have at hands here," Facyr said with a slight sigh, "we haven't yet got around unpacking the things from our last journey."
Chapter 3
The journey had started right that same afternoon without incidents, which was always reassuring. Aleln and Realn had prepared the journey back home in detail, and all the friends needed to do was to hoist their travel packs on the backs of their horses. They didn't need much travel gear, and the only person to really slow down their pace was the resident bookworm of the group, who didn't prefer to move too far without quite a few books.
Gnedrnygr spent most of the pauses in the journey studying his books, mostly ones concerning history of Colemia. He tried his best to keep others from reading the tomes in question. He even decided to specifically tell Faira to focus on her spell book rather than these fascinating tomes, knowing his trunk's lock had been picked before when he had specifically told her not to read something. And this time, he didn't even have a trunk to keep the books in.
The travellers proceeded along the eastern highway toward Bergluchia, then north toward Nothross as they passed the border and eventually reached River Furin. The road to Furinel was kept in good condition and was frequently watched over by Varmhjelmian and Furinelian patrols. The road was easy to travel, though the whole journey still took over three weeks - the distances in northern Furinel were astounding. But the weather was on their side; only in a few occasions they were bothered by light rain, but mostly, the skies kept clear and the warm summer weather only cheered them to go on. During the travel, Aleln and Realn led the way, and Facyr eyed around to keep the possible trouble from surprising them.
They camped along the road, and talked about mundane matters around the camp fire; Aleln and Realn were relaxed and friendly, and even when there was no longer the need to hush like in the city, they insisted the adventurers forgot the titles and call each other by first name, just like, as they explained, they did with all of their closest underlings anyway. This move was particularly welcomed by Facyr, who had, during his entire life, shown an unnerving tendency to descend to such friendly terms in any and all situations.
The night was falling once again upon the travellers. They set up their camp in one of the gorges by the road that passed through the hilly forests. Climbing on top of one of the hills, they could see, far in the distance, the mountains rising above the woods. The evening sun coloured the leaves of the woods with vibrant colours, with the wind bringing some nightly chill. It seemed that even when it was already definitely summer in Anchorfall, here north, the past winter was still trying to keep its feeble grip.
"Well, distant part of the world we are in", Facyr said, and turned to his friends. "Has any one of you ever been here?"
Faira shook her head. "I've only been to the southern Furinel."
"My experience with Furinel is limited to a few longer visits to Moonbay and one week's stay in Furinia", Gnedrnygr