The Ride For South: Day Two

Neil sighed as the sun's rays washed his face.

They had to pass through the Ayndale Woods to get to the towns of South. The stretch of woods was unexpectedly vast, and it felt like they were riding in circles for hours. The creepy grey trees, with their dying leaves, stared at them, which unnerved a few of them. 

"Um…guys… Doesn't this feel creepy? The trees and all that…" Neilus was shaking. 

"Says the brave guy." Tara mocked him.

"My momma has told me that it's healthier to feel every emotion once in a while." 

"Yeah, right." She sighed, unbothered.

The horses had slowed down in pace, and now they were trotting through the woods; however, Vegas was way ahead; they were able to see her vaguely in the distance. The little white pony was underestimated by its size, just like Vegas. 

"WAIT UP, V!" Neil yelled out from his lungs, but she wasn't able to hear. 

"Leave her be... How far are we from your town, Tara?" Yin asked. 

"Um… An hour or so…" 

Tara wasn't the type of person to stutter or tremble over words unless the topic of South was brought up, and Neil figured it out.

"Tara? What's ya town like?" He asked her with a rather interrogative tone. 

"Um…it's fine. Not much to say." She ended abruptly.

"Neighs!" 

Even her horse neighed and shook.

They say horses can see through our skin. 

"Is it really boring, even with witches wandering around?" Colt joined.

"Witches!?" Lars brightened with excitement, making his horse shake. 

"Um… I got my Mage ring from a witch when I was very little." She informed.

"Cool!" Lars and Yin both exclaimed. 

"That goes to say that there were even female Mages, but we were all so biased to not believe it." Erik voiced his opinion.

"We were dumb." Lars agreed. 

The people of the East always had an ugly ideology about women and their limitations. 'They are for bedding and cooking.' Meanwhile, in utter contrast, there's the North, who have been worshipping a female goddess who was not even real, and that clearly showed how people from different places had different views on things. 

"What's the name of the town?" Yin asked. 

"Tenby's Mark." Tara responded immediately.

It was a small town, smaller than Rovestone, and far poorer. Only a handful of wealthy merchants lived on Tenby's Mark, as they thought of it as a growing business with great potential because Tenby's Mark was famous for its steel mine and spices. Many richer cities and towns from around the Realm traded from here, but they ended up cheating them for their poverty, thus leading to a much lesser profit for the workers of Tenby's Mark. 

"Ah, man." Tara thought to herself. An invisible disturbance that was mixed in the air troubled her. Her heart pumped faster and louder, and her face was visibly drenched with sweat that dripped down to her black hoodie. She softly panted, not wanting to attract any attention.

"Are you okay, Tara?" Neil was concerned.

"Fuckin' dammit!" She yelled inside her head.

"Um… Yeah. I'm okay." She notified him.

...

"Hey. She's stopping." Lars pointed his extended hand at Vegas, who was further away from them. 

"Why'd she stop?" Yin said softly, and they all halted next to him.

"Maybe she's waiting for us." Neil threw in his assumption.

Suddenly, they were able to see Vegas unsheathe Juno.

"Let's go." Yin commanded everyone as he smacked the leashes on the horse and kicked Neigh-Chang to fly through the wind, and the others followed.

They didn't waste a second.

And the eight of them rode like the wind.

The horses neighed loudly as they zoomed.

One by one, they withdrew their weapons.

Yin and Destiny.

Colt and his Longsword.

Neil took out his.

Mathen and Brody drew their Jian swords.

The young Mages activated their rings.

…

They kept getting closer to Vegas, but there were no enemies in front of her—in fact, nothing.

They forcefully halted their horses, encircling her. 

"What's the matter?" Yin exhaled, panting.

Vegas pointed Juno at the muddy ground.

"Huh?" 

Their eyes widened in confusion.

There was an old man, his face buried in the mud, barely breathing. His torn cloak was sprayed with blood, dry and black as night.

"You think he's alive?" Vegas asked.

"Barely." Yin responded.

Mathen and Brody trotted their horses near the old man's body.

"Hey, mister! Can you hear us?" Mathen slightly poked the man's back with his sword.

His body shook, but he still remained there. 

"Brody, turn his body over." Mathen commanded him while the others watched.

Brody got down steadily from his horse and rolled the man over.

…

"AHHHH!" The old man screeched like a dying rat.

Brody jumped and fell to the mud from what he saw. 

The old man's right eye had been gouged out and left hanging. His bald head had patches of grey hair tinted with dry blood. His face was covered in mud. The man's right arm was half-cut, and he cried loudly.

"God." Everyone exclaimed as they felt their hearts broken by the poor man's condition.

"OHHH GOD! KILL HIM! KILL THAT MONSTER!" The old man cried, covering his gouged eye. His spine was visibly twisted.

"Feed him water!" Yin ordered it immediately.

Brody shook away his fear of the old man's disfigured face and whipped out the satchel of water from his bag.

He walked closer to his face and lifted his arm to feed him.

"NOOOO! I DON'T WANT ANYTHING! JUST KILL THAT FUCKING MONSTER FOR ME! PLEASE! PLEASE!" The old man pushed the water away and begged.

"Who is the monster, sir?" Yin inquired politely to the half-alive man.

"THE MONSTER WHO RAIDED OUR TOWN, TENBY'S MARK! THE MONSTER I TRIED TO PROTECT MY DAUGHTER FROM! THE MONSTER THAT MADE ME WATCH THE TORTURE OF MY DAUGHTER! THE MONSTER WHO PLUCKED MY EYE! KILL THAT FUCKING MONSTER! KILL THAT MONSTER AND SAVE MY DAUGHTER, PLEASE! KILL THAT…" 

The old man's voice was stopped abruptly.

They all turned to their left-hand sides. 

It was Vegas.

Juno was inside the man's chest.

"Vegas! What's wrong with you?" Yin and the others fumed.

"I put him out of his misery. He was already dead before." Vegas spoke softly and continued to casually trot past the scene.

They were silenced. 

They knew she was not wrong.

It was the most noble thing to do.

"Yin. I know that monster. If this sign is not enough for you, I don't know what is. There are plenty of other great and worthy warriors who are way stronger and kinder than that fuckin' waste. We don't need him." Erik tried to be convincing.

"He will pay for everything." Yin said that and whipped the leashes.

Everyone was now together, and they rode for several minutes, finally crossing and exiting Ayndale Woods and its raging mist. The area was getting damper with a cool breeze, though the warm sun pleased their skin, making them feel a little bit at ease. The enigmatic aura of the woods escaped from their bodies as they caught sight of tall and tropical trees. Both sides of their paths had slopes and cliffs, and the area was devoured by a forest biome. The chirps of the insects and monkeys waxed their ears.

They finally saw smoke in the sky. 

…

"There." Tara extended her hand.

In front of them was the entrance of a busy town, swarmed with knights in armor and people in chains. 

Tenby's Mark.