Waiting for Spring - Part I

Chapter Nine

Surrounded by men, or by fools? I swear by family grave the council is made up halfwits and dumbstruck tossers, bovine the lot of them. Lord Tristan? A man that cannot even count the number of fingers on his right hand. Four... It's four. And Brandon? Is it not time for that haggard to die? His age surpasses what I would not even give a bloody mage. And Dortan, a mere farmer, dishevelled beard and dirty hands full of blisters. I shudder at the thought.

-Excerpt from a journal, Lady Tess of Eastdock, Windsor council.

It was warm outside, enough for April to strip off some of her leathers. The constant walking made her feel dizzy and the farther down the path she came the more the leaves had fallen. It created a psychedelic pattern of colours and shapes that dimmed her eyes. It sometimes became a big blur in front her and she almost tripped on her own feet several times. A sickening feeling emerged inside her stomach after a while. How long is it left?

The trees grew thinner the farther she travelled, hinting that the fringe of the forest was just around the bend. It was not the case however and it felt like an eternity had passed since she left the cave.

April's thoughts were stuck on the battle. It was all so very clear. Steel and blood. Her ears still rang. The screams still echoed inside her head. Most of all the dying man's eyed haunted her. Occasionally the execution came to her mind.

It bothered April that it felt like if she had changed, that her mind had changed. So much had happened in the past days, so much misery and destruction. The ordinary days were no more and they would never come back. April sighed at her mirthless thoughts. She hoped that things would sort themselves out somehow. At least she had a goal now, even though it mostly felt like a leap of faith.

As the trees became more and more scarce the fringe appeared in the distance. Finally. April became unsure if it was good or bad that she had reached it. Everything she had known as her home and family was now beyond her, ashes blowing in the wind. She stopped a couple of feet before the slant and looked back. A tear slowly made its way down her cheek. Maybe one day I will come back and see it again, once everything is back to how it was.

Goodbye.

The slope was steep and April skidded halfway down the grass, gravel and fallen leaves. The trees now lay behind her and a vast and plain field was in front of her. It was immense. A couple of oaks stood mighty and proud out there, but well scattered. Flowers and bushes were rare and everything was just yellow grass as far as the eye could see. It was strange how the forest just ended. It was not quite what April had expected. Was this really Idwallia? It was certainly not the view she had been conjuring up in her mind all this time.

What probably once was a road appeared a little bit northeast of April's position and she began walking towards it. It was just stones that had been dug into the ground and not much more, but it sufficed as a guide. She began walking down the cobble, despising the thought of more tiresome marching.

In the distance farms and windmills finally peeped up. April wondered if she would reach Mill today or if she was going to have to walk all night. She did not want to stop and rest here. Ancestors know what could happen, and stopping at a farm was not an option. Mill had to be reached today, or tonight at worst.

It did not take long before she had reached the first of the farms. Before the actual farmsteads and windmills she had passed a couple of corrals in which cows and tame deer browsed. She had found it peculiar at first. One of the deer, a female one that wasn't as hefty as the forest ones were, had even put its muzzle out over the fence and seemed to almost beg to be patted. The ones in the forest were always so skittish, even the ones near the village.