Chapter 43: Forty one

The flow of time was difficult to track when traveling through the tunnels, only the small time piece I carried helped give me some hints as to how much time had passed. I’d been riding for a full day and into the next night, passing three intersections on my journey, each one leaving me with a decision of what path I should take. 

Did I continue riding towards Hathus or explore one of the other unknown locations? In the end, I continued following the markings that indicated I was traveling towards Hathus. I needed to find my brother, not only to let him know I was okay, but also to retrieve my things. 

According to the last set of markings, Hathus was only another two miles away, and I was looking forward to getting out of this horrid tunnel. The air down here smelt stale, and like horse manure, which was trampled into the tunnel floor, but that was nothing compared to the stench wafting from my own body. Days without bathing, and the humid environment of the tunnel had me smelling fouler than anything I’d ever smelt before in my life, digital or otherwise. 

Even with the stench, I still preferred riding in the tunnel over riding through the desert. Plus, I’d found some really interesting plants growing in some of the resting chambers and along the walls of the tunnel.The mushrooms were of particular interest with their pink luminescent glow.  

I’d given up trying to hold the squirming Leonidas in my lap barely ten minutes into the ride, and after crawling all over the saddle, the feline lizard had curled up on top of the saddle bags to nap. During a break to feed and water Arion, I’d pulled a woven basket from the bag at my thigh and after unfolding the basket. I strapped it to my saddlebags with one of my tunics as bedding.

As I got closer to Hathus, the tunnel became filled with more people and I soon found myself following a slowly moving crowd up a steep incline. From the conversations flowing around me, most of these people had traveled to Hathus from other locations seeking to trek across the sand sea to visit the newly located dungeon. 

“Looking for a dps.” A loud voice called, and a few others joined it, shouting out their own requests. 

Well, that’s something I haven’t heard in Kaledon yet. I thought in amusement, as I finally got my first glimpse of the outside world. 

And it’s nighttime. I grumbled, having been hoping to finally get a glimpse of the sun after so long in the dark. 

As I rode out of the tunnel, I passed a shorter line of people who were preparing to enter the tunnel and noticed they were paying gold to a guard standing near the entrance. 

So there’s a toll for using the tunnel, which I apparently bypassed when I dug my way in. Oh well, I doubt I’m the first person to cheat the system like that. 

Is the toll why we didn’t use the tunnel? No, I doubt that is the case. Then again, if the tunnel only opens up in towns, then I’m guessing the entrance for the tunnel was somewhere in Valonia. That must be why we didn’t use the tunnel, it was because we couldn’t access it due to the guilds poor reputation with the city. 

Seeing the group I’d been following dismounting their horses, and the group ahead of them also off their horses, I did the same. As I walked away from the tunnel area, the sound of lively music filled the air, and the scent of food teased across my senses. 

Hathus wasn’t anything like I’d been expecting, there were no buildings made of stone, wood or any other resource typically used to build homes. Instead, I was surrounded by rows of colorful tents, in all shapes and sizes. Ornate braziers atop carved stone pillars were set at varying intervals, the dancing flames casting the town in a warm orange glow. 

“We should pay for a camp site before we explore.” A girl from the group ahead of me told her friends, and I decided to continue following them, as it seemed like they knew where they were going. 

The group approached a man wearing light brown robes, standing behind a wooden counter in an open-sided tent. A flag hanging from the roof of the tent identified the man as a town official. Listening to the conversation going on inside, I learnt that camping sites could be rented starting at five silvers a night for a basic camp site. The most expensive was ten gold a night for a camp site with a perimeter alert enchantment, shared access to a well, and an animal shelter, which meant not having to use the towns stable. 

As the group left, arguing amongst themselves about which was the best option. I moved into the tent and paid thirty gold for three nights in one of the larger sites. Receiving a wooden tag from the man which announced my camp site to be fifty seven B, I returned to Arion and headed in the direction the man had indicated. 

Leading Arion away from the rows of tents, I skirted around the outside of the town to the left and soon found myself in an area with hundreds of wooden posts. After several minutes, I reached the large camping sites whose numbers appeared to start at three hundred. Working my way along the rows of tents, I finally found the one marked fifty seven and let out a sigh of relief. 

The shared site was marked by a thick rope running around the perimeter and at the rear of the camp site there were two pens with a canvas roof covering half the space. A line of stones ran down the center of the camp site, separating the area into two sections. 

Better than nothing, I guess, from what I saw the so called ‘stable’ was also just pens exactly like this one. 

With Arion settled into the pen with his muzzle buried in a feed bag, I put his saddle and tack away into the saddle bags, before carrying them out of the pen along with the woven basket containing Leo. 

Once I’d used a high grade mana stone to restore my tent, and another high grade stone on the furnishing crate, I rolled out the tent on the ground. 

I’ve only got one high grade stone left. That concerning thought plagued my mind as I pushed the stakes into the ground, not even bothering with the mallet as I shifted the earth around the stake. 

I need to be careful and not lose any of my items again, otherwise I won’t be able to reform them. I should have been smarter and brought more from Gaia, but I didn’t think I’d be needing so many. Darius said mana stones could be collected in dungeons, so maybe I should go with the others into the dungeon. Who cares what that stupid dwarf and elf think, they can go screw themselves. 

 Tent pitched and furnishing crate unpacked, I carried my saddle bags and Leo’s basket into the tent, depositing both in the dining room section of my living quarters. Lifting the lid of the basket, I found the little feline reptile still gnawing at the roasted lamb shank I’d bought from one of the stalls I’d passed on the way to the administrators tent.

Deciding to leave Leo to finish his dinner in peace, I made my way out of the tent in search of the well and noticed that the previously empty site next to me was now occupied by the group I’d been following earlier. 

I guess they decided to get the more expensive site after all, I wonder how much the stable fee was? The Orc in their group seemed to think stabling the horses would be cheaper than paying for a site with its own pen, yet here they are with all three horses. 

“Ask her,” a female voice hissed, and I felt my ears twitch as I heard the group softly arguing in low voices. 

“You ask her, it was your idea.” The tall female Orc snapped back. 

“I’ll ask her.” A third voice sighed, and I had the sudden suspicion they were talking about me. 

As I lowered a bucket into the stone well, the sound of footsteps approaching confirmed my suspicions and I looked up to see a blue skinned girl with pale white hair and pointed elven ears walking towards me with a determined stride that faltered when she noticed me watching her. 

“Hi, I’m Viv.” The girl said, shoving her hand towards me with a bright smile.

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“Kadia.” I responded cautiously, shaking her hand.

“Sorry to be rude, but my friends and I were wondering if you only had the one horse?” 

“Why?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at the girl suspiciously.

“It’s just we have three horses, and the pens are small. So we were wondering if maybe we could put one of our horses with yours for the night? We’d pay you, of course,” the girl said, her words coming out in a rush. 

Glancing over to the pen where the other two were unsaddling their mounts, I saw that the horses did look rather squashed together, especially considering one was a Clydesdale. 

“So long as it isn’t the Clydesdale, you can pen one with Arion. Don’t worry about paying.” I told the girl, waving away her hand as she went to reach for a pouch on her belt. 

“Arion? From the greek myth?” The girl asked, looking over at where my stallion stood. 

“You know, you’re the first person whose known that without me telling them.” 

“History was my favorite subject in school, flunked just about everything except for that and gym.” 

“It was the opposite for me, gym was my Achilles heel.” I admitted with a grimace as horrid memories of being forced to run laps around an oval while a pudgy old man yelled from the sidelines filled my head.

“Er, did you want to join us for dinner? To repay for letting us pen our horse in with yours, I mean, if you want to that is.” 

I hesitated for a second, glancing over at the girls friends who were watching us intently. Shouldn’t she ask her friends before just inviting someone to eat with them? 

“I’m good,” I told her with a polite smile. “I bought some food from a stall earlier which I’m planning to eat.” 

“Oh well, if you change your mind feel free to pop over.” Viv said, and I nodded, keeping my smile fixed in place as I headed back to my tent with the bucket of water. 

After another two trips to the well, I’d refilled my water flask, the three water bladders stored in my bag and my two largest pots. It was as I was filling the pots, that I remembered the Raptor fat I’d been rendering when I left my tent to chase after Leo.

 I wonder what happened to it? 

Filing that away as a question for later, I put both pots on the flat top of the furnace and yet again discovered something I was missing. 

My firestone was in the furnace and now it's either with the others or lost completely. With a groan of annoyance, I conjured a ball of fire and sent to hover in the furnace to heat my water. 

Once the water reached a temperature I was happy with, I proceeded to do my best to clean away the layer of grime coating my skin, and ended up needing to make a second trip to fill a third pot with water to wash my hair. As I worked soap into my hair, I vowed to find some way to install a bath or shower into my tent.

Clean and feeling a thousand times better than I had since my crazed run through the desert chasing Leo, I headed out to the horse pen to remove Arion’s feed bag. Reaching the pen, I found the blue skinned girl named Viv and her Orc friend leading a gray horse towards the pen. 

“Hi Kadia, this is Nim and this is my horse Chiron.” Viv called out. 

 

“Thank you for allowing us to pen Chiron over here,” Nim said by way of greeting, and I shrugged with what I hoped was a friendly smile. 

“It's no bother, I’m sure Arion will enjoy the company.” I assured her as they led Chiron into the pen with Arion. 

After the horses were settled, and I’d removed Arion’s feed bag the girls moved back to their own tent. Before they left Viv repeated her offer of dinner, which I politely declined. Returning to my own tent, I made my way into the living area and sat at down to eat the lamb kebab I’d bought from the same stall that sold me the shank I gave to Leo. 

I hope Markion isn’t too worried about me, and that Zosimos is okay. 

Finished eating, I scooped a fat bellied Leo out of his basket, and he let out a soft sound of annoyance at being moved. Carrying him with me to the sleeping area, I crawled onto the futon and curled up with the sleepy kittenish lizard under my arm.