Chapter 4: Like Pieces of a Puzzle

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Audra

  The morning sun beamed through the back of the wagon and into Audra's face. She squinted her eyes and stood up before stretching to get rid of the cramps in her neck and back. She peeked out of the back of the wagon, they were surrounded by forest but they had found themselves on the side of a dirt road. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she walked out of the wagon to have a better look around. The horses were unhitched and drank water from a nearby river. The forest was dense but the wagon seemed to be following a small trail, off the beaten path, stray beams of sunlight shot through the brush above her.

  "About time you woke up." She looked around to find the voice but couldn't seem to find its source. Felix let out a disappointed sigh, "Up here, dumbass." She turned her attention towards one of the trees in front of the wagon and finally spotted Felix lazily reading a book on one of its branches, his left leg hung limply below him.

  "Where are we? I had the impression we'd be in Nevenal by now." Audra claimed, folding her arms.

"We're close, those stupid animals can't go two hours without taking a break though." He said, nodding towards the horses.

"They're not stupid animals, they have feelings and needs just like you and me. And if we need to take a break, that's fine, let them take a break." Felix sighed and rolled his eyes before returning his attention to the book in his hand, "What are you reading?"

"Doesn't matter. Let me read it and don't interrupt me. It's getting to the good part." He said, turning the page.

"Look I'm thankful you ran the goblins out of Kiaveen but….you're a total ass." Audra pointed out.

"Why be thankful for something you can no longer experience? Did you forget that there's going to be Dragon Raiders hunting you down after a group of them had just been killed?" Felix asked.

"Yes I am completely aware of how shitty things are right now. Thanks for reminding me." Audra said before walking to the river and sitting next to the horses.

  The river flowed with vigor and power. It was crystal clear, allowing her eyes to see every fish that swam past them. A snake began to slither through the water until it stopped, poked its head out of the water and looked at her. Her head suddenly felt like it was about to collapse in on itself, her vision quickly grew dark until it was completely gone.

  When Audra's vision returned she was standing in armor, a steel kite shield strapped around her left arm and a saber hung in a scabbard on her left waist. Before her lay a black serpent partially in the water, partially on the ground. She was only just taller than its head. She walked towards it and ran her hand over its smooth scales. Its pale purple eyes watched her in fear though it made no move to get away from her. The creature began to speak but she couldn't make out the words, her mouth started to move but the sound that she heard was nothing more than wind. The serpent appeared to chuckle before darkness grew around her vision once again.

  Audra rubbed the sides of her head before looking back to the snake in the water, it flicked its tongue one last time and then began to swim away. Unlike the vision from the night before, this one only lasted perhaps a few seconds.

  "What's going on? You hit your head on the ride last night?" Felix asked, closing the book with an audible thud.

  "I'm fine, I just have a lot to think about." Audra claimed.

"Well get your mind off of it and help me hitch the horses back up." Felix demanded. Audra glared at him but decided to help anyway. "Just get in the back and be quiet, we'll get to Nevenal before you realize it."

  Audra was quiet through the journey, the only sound between them was the creaking and rumbling of the wheels on the wagon. Bored from the silence Audra decided to look in one of the bags that Felix had taken from the men he had killed, she saw a bag of jerky and decided to slip a piece of it into her mouth while she rummaged around the bags. Eventually the bag produced a small wooden box, within the box was an incomplete puzzle of wooden blocks. It seemed like it was one move away from completion but the piece that was missing was like a square with a smaller square jutting out of it while the piece that remained was a long L shape with a small bottom leg. She dumped the blocks out of the box and began to put the pieces together until she was put into the same situation as the previous owners of the puzzle. The only difference was the missing block was on the other side of the box.

  "Well this is confusing." Audra whispered, taking another bite of the jerky before she continued to exchange pieces until she was right back where was but the missing piece was on the other side.

  "What'd you find back there?" Felix asked, a hint of curiosity was carried in his voice, something else besides his normally monotonous attitude.

"A really cool puzzle. I tried multiple different ways to solve it but the end result is almost always the same, a piece missing and the last piece won't fit." She replied.

"Get it from the bags? Keep it, not like they'll need it anymore." Felix said, even after she saw him kill those people his heartlessness still shocked her.

"Hey, who are you supposed to be? I know you're Felix but you haven't told me much about yourself."

"What happened to me telling you to be quiet?" He sighed. "My name is Felix Zephyr, I work with the Royal Knights, what I do as a Royal Knight is my own business so no questions about it. Now do you mind staying quiet unless something important or interesting happens?" He asked harshly. Audra turned her focus away from Felix and back towards the wooden enigma on the wagon floor.

  Audra eventually grew bored of the puzzle, she'd have to solve it at a later date, her new attention turned to a leather bound journal in one of the bags. She opened it up and quickly scanned through a few of the entries, though took note of how some of the pages seemed to be ripped out of it.

  25/4/337

  Dear Jade Corando,

  I'm not sure how much longer I can be sane around this Deran guy anymore. He's absolutely terrifying I tell you! We hired a Daosr for a few hundred gold, don't get me wrong he was well worth every piece, but I have trouble sleeping around this monster of a man. Huge stature and kicked a tree out of the ground because his turkey got burnt by one of the Cro'ak. His veins turned red and his eyes got all bloodshot, I swear his blood was glowing. Super nice guy but he gets angry really easily, he's absolutely terrifying. Not sure how much clearer I can make that. Anyways I'm going to try and get some sleep, can't wait to see the family again.

    -Love Sero Corando

  Audra recognized the name Sero, it was one of the guys that had kidnapped her yesterday. That explained why a lot of pages were torn out, he was writing to his sister in MetalEdge, the northeastern tip of Tristal. He still had a long journey ahead of him. She felt sick to her stomach, that man was waiting to get back to his family, even though he was doing terrible things he still had people he cared for. She turned the page and read the next entry.

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  Dear Jade Corando,

  We've been having a time with these Cro'ak,I know the boss wants them starved but what we have to do is just cruel. We'll be getting to Kiaveen in a few days, where we can dump another one of those things. Hopefully we can keep a Dragon alive. After that we'll head to the east and drop the last one somewhere between here and there. After Kiaveen I'll be heading home, it's been too long since I've seen your beautiful face. I wonder if my letter will make it to you before I do. Consider it a race I guess. I can't wait to see you, my beautiful wife.

    - Love Sero Corando

  Audra's mouth opened slightly, she closed the journal and pushed it away from her. She felt even worse, he hadn't been writing to his sister, instead he was writing to the family he was building. He was just trying to make a living in a rough world for him and his wife.

  "One of those men had a wife, you know that?" Audra asked.

  "Not surprised, a lot of people marry young these days thinking they've found the one...who are we talking about?" He asked, uncaring as per usual.

"One of the men you killed last night. I'm thankful you saved me, but how can you kill without a single hint of remorse?"

"Oh no, I can't believe I did that...that's just...so bad...why are you telling me this?" He asked.

"Because, life isn't something we should have the choice of taking from people or not." She claimed.

"You complain an awful lot, I saved your life. Be grateful and shut it or I'll make sure you share the same fate as the people from last night." His voice was sharp and filled with venom, Audra held her tongue and sat back down.

  A few hours passed before the wagon began to slow down. The smell of freshly made food began to waft towards Audra's nose, calling her to come take a bite.

  "We're here, you can look through the front, I won't bite." Felix claimed. Audra climbed to the front end of the wagon and poked her head through to see the town she had been taken to. They were about to go down a decline, completely off course of the actual road, so she got a good view of the layout. There was a large wooden building, possibly a tavern, that was connected to the rest of the town by a dirt road. The road lead to a large square with a large amount of shops and vendors. On the northern end of the town houses lined the streets surrounded by trees. On the southern side lay a large lake, a couple of boats floated peacefully on the surface of the water. Dense forest surrounded the town on all sides, forest existed within the town as well, giving it a much more natural feel. But Audra knew that with this amount of brush within the town gave way for monsters to intrude more easily.

  "Aren't they worried about being attacked?" Audra wondered aloud, not directly asking Felix but hoping he had an answer.

"A lot of the people who live here are retired Knights and Royal Knights. If a monster shows up they can handle it, not to mention just about everyone here knows basic combat skills. Surely you're going to find someone that can teach you more than you were learning at the Barracks in Kiaveen." Audra nodded her head before looking at him in confusion.

"How do you know I was going to the Barracks?" Audra questioned.

"We're stopping, I'll get you a room for a week, past that you have to handle the payments on your own. So I suggest you get acquainted with the town and find somewhere to work before the people here kick you out on the street." Felix said, avoiding her question. 

  Audra sighed as Felix pulled the horses to a stop in the middle of the road. He hopped off and walked into the wooden building she assumed was the tavern. Looking at the sign that hung above the door told her she was right.

  "Dragon's Dinn...sounds...homely?" Audra questioned herself.

  "Hey you need to get out of the road!" She looked forward and saw a man walking towards the wagon, he wore a dark gray shirt, with a leather breastplate over it, and black loose-fitted breeches. A sword hung from his left waist and a shield was strapped to his left arm. He was tall and had really dark brown hair, almost black. He ran towards the wagon with a smile on his face.

"You gotta park that thing out of the way, we can't have you blocking the road, someone could show up any second." The man may have been telling her what to do but at least he was friendly about it. He smelled...different.

"I-I-I didn't park it...Felix!" Audra called. She could practically hear his sigh.

  "What!" Was the only response she received.

"You have to move the wagon!" Audra declared. He exhaled long and slow as he walked out of the tavern and hopped back into the driver's seat.

"Where to?" Felix asked.

"Just over there, I can get the horses unhitched as long as you park it near the barn." The man said, pointing to a fenced-in clearing with a barn. "I'll get the gate open for you." The man said as he ran towards the parking area.

  After parking the wagon Felix dropped from the driver's seat and began making his way to the tavern once more.

  "Thank you for cooperating with us, we hope you enjoy your stay in Nevenal and if we can help you with anything please let us know." The man claimed, bowing to Felix. He then walked over to the horses and unstrapped the shield from his left arm revealing a shiny arm of silver scales. That would explain the smell.

"And you would be?" The man asked as Audra hopped out of the back of the wagon, as he unhitched the horses.

  "I'm Audra." She greeted, looking away from him.

"Vasuki Odol. I work at the Dragon's Dinn, you seem a bit more friendly than your friend in there." He wiped his hand on his breeches and held it out to her, looking her in the eyes. She looked at his honey colored eyes for just a moment before looking directly above his head as she shook his hand to greet him. He was really sweaty, as if he had just finished exercising.

"I don't really know him that much, met him not too long ago."

"Yeah I get that. So how long are you staying in Nevenal?" Vasuki asked.

"At least a week, that's as much as he's paying for me. After that I'm not too sure." Audra claimed.

"It'll be a nice stay, always is." Vasuki claimed. Audra was finally beginning to relax when her stomach growled loudly. Vasuki gave a small chuckle, Audra smiled embarrassingly and began to walk away.

"When was the last time you ate? That would make an actual Dragon jealous." Vasuki asked.

"I ate some jerky on the way here but not much besides that."

"How about I get Mai to fix you something to eat while I load all this stuff up. What's in the chest by the way? I don't like the smell coming from it." Audra's heartbeat quickened.

"Felix saved me from some Dragon Raiders. It's filled with scales. I promise it's not ours." His eyes showed he was curious and understanding.

"It's a rough world out there. Go to the tavern and we'll make sure you're okay." Vasuki declared as he continued working. Audra turned and began to make her way across the road to the Dragon's Dinn, she was safe, at least for now.