Age of the Dragons: Shouken's restoration #1

Chapter 7

Dawn__Old Sidel woods__

"What do you think happened here?" A Red Dragon soldier asked his comrade, both on horseback as they examined the dented tree and the boulder that may have caused the dent.

"A rock slide?" His comrade replied, confused as to what exactly could have caused the dent.

"There are no nearby cliffs or small hills, rocks don't move on their own you know" he replied.

"Hey! You're right! Could this be related to the letter the captain sent to our division?" His comrade asked.

"Possibly" he replied and dismounted his horse and lit his torch to search for any possible clues until he waved the torch over some stray tracks "there! Horse tracks" he yelled.

"I'll send word back to the captain" his comrade replied.

"Not yet, let's follow the tracks and see what we find" he replied, put of the torch and mounted the horse again "hya!" He commanded with a whip around the horses rein, his Comrade followed suite as they rode up ahead following the horse tracks.

Old Sidel borders___Crimson woods

Madam Saghirra's cottage_

"The pendant must not go into the wrong hands, here's an old map that still has a few places wiped off the modern maps and some money if you need to get some supplies and. . ." Both boys chuckled "what's so funny?" She retorted.

"Sorry, it's just that this is what mum would do if she were here" Choryrth smiled.

"Oh. . ." The old lady smiled "I may not have kids but I've had to handle some myself" she replied proudly "now take the map, money and cloaks let's be on our way" she said to the boys, Mako grabbed the items and stuffed them in his leather bag while Choryrth wore the pendant around his neck and hid it inside his shirt.

"Shall we?" Mako said.

"Of course" Madam Saghirra replied as they exited the cottage, both boys had grabbed their horses along while madam Saghirra had given them a small tablet pass and directions to the docks where they would be boarding the ship. The small tablet was a pass for at least four individuals to board the cargo ship so she figured it would come in handy. While the boys rode off she took her time to clean up the tracks leading to her cottage and then away from her cottage, with her head upheld she now had hope. All she had to do was wait to see the Earth dragons insignia when Choryrth would finally restore the Earth crystal.

"We will win this war" she assured herself with a satisfactory smile.

The sun wasn't out yet as the boys rode to the docks, it was quite a busy place for so early in the morning. 

"Well. . . It's now or never" Mako said as they slowed down their horses in approaching the ship.

"Tickets please!" A hefty man barked with his hands outstretched as both boys dismounted their horses.

"We have this" Mako said and showed the man the tablet.

"From the northern parts eiy?" The hefty man asked, examining the authenticity of the tablet.

"Y. . .yea?" Mako replied.

"How many of ya?" He asked.

"Just me and my brother" Mako replied as Choryrth waved with a nervous smile.

"And the horses?"

"We can take them along?" Choryrth asked 

"Are you planning to walk from the upper south boarders to the main town?" The man laughed.

"Definitely not" Mako chuckled.

"Get in" the man said, handing over the tablet to Choryrth and paved way so the next in line would come forward.

"Wow, this might be our tickets to every ship ride from now on" Choryrth said and handed the tablet back to Mako who replaced it into his bag.

"I think it's a free northern pass for four people" Mako said smiling.

"Well, thank goodness we didn't run into any problems" Choryrth replied as they made their way into the ship where another hefty man in an overall took their horses to the lower deck while both boys headed up.

While they awaited the ship to be full the weather had become a bit clearer and the first wolf howl could be heard from afar, the ship was then closed leaving some individuals who didn't get to board crying and or bickering, just like Saghirra had said, the cargo ship had to move before sunrise.

"I think this ship does illegal shipments" Choryrth said as the ships bow closed up, creaking with a burst of steam.

"Why do you think we're in a cargo ship and not a passenger's ship?" Mako chuckled and took out the map Saghirra had given them "this map is actually easier to read, the upper south is somewhere around here so we should be where we need to be before noon" he pointed out.

"I'm supposed to be looking for the Earth crystal first?"

"Yeah but we can't get a ship going to the western regions directly so we have to find a way on our own but first we'll need to get to the upper south, the main town is inhabited by the Jylis clan" Mako explained.

"Nature Elementals?" Choryrth asked.

"Yeah, the last time I was there with my dad for a trade I was really amazed. It's almost as big as a city, could be a province now and I think I remember one of my dad's friends there. . ." He folded the map "that is if he's still alive"

"Is he a warrior too?" Choryrth asked.

"He's a trainer, his vine techniques are off the hook. Maybe he could teach you a few moves" Mako said.

"You're right, I'm supposed to be able to bend the five elementals but I'm stuck with Earth" Choryrth said and leaned on the rails, the ship was quite noisy and full of people who were either workers or eloping passengers like them.

"Slowly. . .we just started, you'll get the hang of it" Mako replied.

"So, did you check out the plans you stole?" Choryrth quickly changed the subject so as not to depress himself more than he already felt.

"No, but I brought it along. With the whole running away stuff and fighting with you I couldn't get the chance to look into it"

"Oh. . . Ok" he sighed.

"So, I didn't mention but mum gave us a hundred gold coins so I've added madam Saghirra's twenty to it, it should be more than enough to last us for the entire fall right?" He asked.

"Assuming we don't spend on frivolous things" Choryrth laughed, Mako laughed along.

___________________________________________

Noon_

Old Sidel__Crimson woods__

"The trail ends here. . ." The Red Dragon soldier said and dismounted his horse.

"He must have known we were unto him" his comrade replied and jumped off his horse.

"We'll have to send word to the captain like that" he replied, agitated at how much time he had wasted.

The Upper south regions__The boarders

"This is your stop right boys?" The hefty man from before asked.

"Umm. . .yeah" Mako smiled.

"Alright, you two be good okay" he patted both boys on the back.

"Sure will" Choryrth smiled.

"Come on let's get our horses and get moving" Mako said and pulled Choryrth along.

"Grab the shipments and load up the carriages!" The man's voice trailed off as they went down to the lower deck.

In no time both horses were galloping their way from the port and up the hills with their prospective riders. The boarders were pretty far from the main town, they would have to cross two villages and past the bridge leading to a certain island, the journey could take a whole day but they needed to be at the first village at least before nightfall. 

Rhino village__

Luckily before sundown they had made it into the first village, a small sad and quiet place that looked like it had been abandoned for years, as the horses retired into a trot before coming to a stop just at the entrance of the town, both boys dismounted their horses and decided to stroll around. Some malnourished children could be seen playing around with some malnourished farm pigs, it was clear that there wasn't much of the harvest as everything seemed Abandoned and dry.

"Wow, this place isn't much of a village I expected" Choryrth said in a calm, soothing voice yet full of pity and emptiness.

"I wonder what happened here?" Mako replied as they approached a food vendor.

"Good evening young men, you don't look like you're from around here" the skinny man said.

"No. . . we're. . ." Choryrth paused.

"Travellers. . ." Mako completed.

"Yeah! What happened here?" Choryrth said.

"Hunger had struck our village like a plague, the Earth crystal looses it's effect everyday and it makes harvest quite frustrating" he sighed.

"This is bad. . ." Mako said and took another glance behind while Choryrth lowered his head.

"As if not enough our neighbouring village no longer take part in trades. . . I heard they must have abandoned the place" the man further explained.

"Excuse us. . ." Mako said and pulled Choryrth aside "we have to revive the Earth crystal fast" he whispered.

"I know. . .look at all these people" Choryrth replied, sad and angry at the way things have turned out while he had just learnt about himself.

"Let's buy some food and ask him if he can tell us where the road leads to the main city, in two days we should be out of here" Mako whispered.

"Ok. . ." Choryrth agreed as they went back to the vendor.

"We'll take the dumplings sir" Mako said.

"How many?" The man asked.

"Six. . ." Mako replied.

"It's not that good. . .but it's edible" the man replied.

"We'll take it" Choryrth replied and managed a smile "so um. . . we're on our way to the main town, which route do we take from here?"

"Ah. . .the main town is down the left hill once you exit this village, but you might want to spend the night here and move tomorrow morning" he replied while wrapping up the dumplings.

"No thanks. . . we're kind of In a hurry" Mako replied and retrieved their order.

"I'm just saying, these parts are not safe at nights for travellers like you" he sighed "the peddlers have mentioned encountering cursed men in these paths, some didn't live to tell the tales"

"Cursed men?" Choryrth asked.

"Pfft!" Mako waved off "Those are just myths I've heard since my childhood" he replied.

"But they aren't myths" the man replied, sounding convincing.

"Well then we best be on our way if we don't want to encounter the so called. . ." He sneered ". . .cursed men" 

"Mako I think we should listen to him" Choryrth said, unsure of what to do.

"Have you seen any one of these Cursed men?" Mako asked in a rather mocking tone.

"No, but people. . ." 

"Well, there's your proof" Mako interrupted and dropped a gold coin before heading towards his horse.

"Be careful out there" The man said to Choryrth.

"We will" Choryrth replied and turned to leave.

"Wait! Your change!" 

"You can keep it" Choryrth replied just before he mounted his horse, of course Mako was already on his way out.

The hillside__sundown

Clop. Clop. Clop.

"Mako?"

"Hmm?"

"Who are these Cursed men?" 

"Don't tell me you believed what that vendor guy was blabbing" he laughed and took a bite out of one of the dumplings which he immediately spat out in disgust "he was right this tastes awful!"

"I just wanna know. . ."

"Well. . ." He wiped his mouth clean and tossed the remnant to the grass paths on his right ". . . Cursed men could also be called demons in modern terms, it's the curse of Gaundallas that turns people into demons, people who believe or may have accidentally had a feel of the new world order. They're just myths the elders told when I was little so we could stay indoors, it stopped few years before you came to us" he explained.

"Myths? The vendor sounded so serious though" Choryrth replied, his voice shaking with the cold shivers he felt.

"Hey. . . I'm telling you, if there's anything mysterious then it's the collectors, they inhabited parts of the lower south regions before but the Red Dragon soldiers who took over must have eradicated them all" he assured his brother.

"What are collectors?" Choryrth asked 

"Oh brother. . ." He sighed "you're more clueless than I thought" 

"It's ok if you don't wanna tell me" he puckered his lips and threw his face to the side embarrassed.

"Collectors are dangerous animals, or I'd prefer the term demons. . . there's treasure collectors, soul collectors and pretty much any scary thing you can imagine collecting from a human" he tried to remember what he had learnt attending the tribe lessons back home "although the treasure collectors are harmless at first, you could become their food when you steal from them or touch something they've looted and they'll hunt you" he said sounding spooky like the elders did when telling the stories.

"Ok. . .that's enough freakishness for one day" Choryrth retorted and exhaled whatever fear he had bottled up in himself.

"Hold on!" Mako exclaimed as he brought his horse to a stop.

"What?" Choryrth asked as his horse came to a stop on its own.

"Look over there" Mako pointed.

"It's. . .smoke?"

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.

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