173 City of Refuge (1)

[Just past midnight]

Lars froze.

Based on his estimates, he was now barely 10 kilometres away from the town he was headed to. But as he drew nearer and nearer to his destination, he was also slowing down - firstly to conserve energy as he did not know what to expect once he found the place, and secondly because he did not wish to be caught by surprise a second time by hostile forces.

Logically, whether it was more goblins (which he had seen traces of in the form of messy camp sites, foot trails and the excrement) or humans, the chances of him encountering sentient life grew greater the nearer he drew to the town.

For that reason, he had been ascending a small green hill covered in trees that was roughly 30 metres higher than the surrounding lands with the intention of discreetly spying out the area.

As he crested the hill-top, he startled some birds from where they were perched on the tree tops and quickly ducked in case he drew anyone's attention.