𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 | 𝐆𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐒𝐎𝐍

15 ⋆✶⋆The Words Left Unsaid

"I could imagine they'd leave an outpost, or maybe even a village," mumbled Gilan almost to himself as we were riding past countless abandoned mines. "But I have never met a Celt who abandoned his mine, as long as there's still a grain of metal to be found."

Big black holes in the mountainsides, propped up with wooden stellages, a few buildings circled around the entrance. There wasn't a sign of life for miles.

In the afternoon we passed a pass and saw in the valley that stretched out before us the neat terraced houses of Gwyntaleth. There was a slim tower in the middle, where a temple stood - the Celts had their own religion, in which gods of fire and iron were worshipped. There was also a sturdier tower, which was supposed to defend the city in case of an attack.

We were too far away to see if there were people in the streets. But I did notice that there wasn't any smoke circling out of the chimneys. And what was even weirder, according to him because I had missed that small detail, it was dead silent.

"Silent? Why is that odd?" asked Horace.

"Normally you'd hear all kinds of forging sounds - Kling- Clang- Bash- Boom," Gilan said. "The Celts don't just delve iron ore and charcoal, they process it as well. The wind is coming from that direction, so we should be able to hear the forges, even from this distance."

"Well, let's take a quick look then," Will said and he rode on again. But Gilan put up his hand and held him back.

"I think we have to go forward alone," he said slowly, his gaze fixed on the city below us. Will's eyebrows shot up and his eyes got big.

"Alone?" he asked, and Gilan nodded.

"You said it yourself yesterday, that we weren't exactly hard to miss when we rode into Pordellath. Maybe it's gotten time to become a bit more careful. There's something going on and I want to know what it is."

The small Ranger's apprentice looked conflicted for a second, but then he looked at me already by my mentors side. He furrowed his eyebrows and gestured to me. "Why are you taking her then?"

Gilan turned a bit in his saddle, to look at me and then shrugged. "Because she's my apprentice, of course."

"And what are we supposed to do in the mean time?"

"Prepare everything for the night," said Gilan. "But no campfire. We'll have to do with a cold meal until we know what's going on here. We'll be back before dark."

With that he turned Blaze around and pressed his heels against her belly. We rode over the pass, towards Gwyntaleth. Both of us didn't say anything the whole ride.

"This town also looks completely abandoned." Gilan said as we were walking through it, "Where did these people go?"

"Maybe I chased them away." I promptly said. This evoked a burst of laughter from the tall Ranger next to me. His laugh was loud and deep. If there was anyone in a twenty kilometer radius, they would've been alerted to our presence.

"With your archery skills I'd run too," he doubled over from the laughing, "you're a hazard to society. You might break their window!"

"Hey!" I squeezed his side and he immediately squirmed. He narrowed his eyes at me and then started smiling mischievously. I saw where this was going.

"No!" I started running, but he had already pulled me back by my waist. A warm feeling erupted in my stomach when I felt his arms around my chest. He seemed to realize how close we were too, because he suddenly stopped. I could hear his breath getting slower.