An hour after the sudden detour, Alistar had to stop to rest. His bare feet were sore and bruised from stepping on fallen branches and countless twigs. There were many bushes in the area, especially where the light broke through the upper canopy. After wading through dozens of sprawling thickets, both he and his uncle were covered in tiny cuts and scratches.
Every ti they had forced their way through a fresh wall of bushes, Alistar had clutched at his secret pocket to make sure that his dirty clothing didn't snag and tear open. The crystal hidden within was his only belonging, a beautiful yet deadly stone that commorated the day that he and Kaila had found that tiny cave within the crevice. Growing up in a crystal mine, he'd learned that magic crystals could fetch high prices, and although he was reluctant to part with it, he fully intended to sell it once he and his uncle finally settled down. In order to free the rest of his family, he couldn't afford to be selfish.
Throughout their walk, Alistar had spotted two more barkwood spiders, three robins, a blue jay, several squirrels, a fox—which he'd mistaken for a dog—and dozens of other birds. Despite the dire straits of their situation, he never missed out on a chance to learn more about the wondrous world around him. He voiced every question that ca to mind, and committed every response to mory.
Even as they idled within a tiny clearing, nibbling on foul cheese and hard bread, he continued to unload all of his curiosities. He could tell that his uncle was growing tired of playing teacher, but the contrast between his current surroundings and the ones that he'd left behind was too stirring. He couldn't help himself. Still, he knew that his uncle had a lot on his mind, and so decided he'd finish off with one last question.
"Uncle, where are we going?"
"To the nearest river," sighed Raidon. "The river will take us to Malford, since the village is built around it. We can catch fish once our rations run out, and there'll be no shortage of water, so long as we don't stray too far."
Fishing!
Alistar had always wanted to try catching a fish. He wasn't sure what he found more exciting, the thought of seeing a fish, or the prospect of trying to catch one.
His mood drained away once he saw the sombre expression on Raidon's face. He didn't have room for excitent. This was a matter of survival. Although the world outside of the mines was nearly too amazing to handle, he had to keep a level mind and had to make sure that his sudden bursts of enthusiasm didn't get the better of him. Less than an hour ago, he'd carelessly stood next to a spider that could have easily killed him had it felt threatened by his presence, all because he'd been curious.
"I see." Alistar ran his fingers over the soft earth beneath him. "How do you know where the river is?"
"It's vaguely parallel to the trail we were just on, though it's a few leagues away. It's a lot easier to walk along the riverbank than through the forest, but there's still a chance of running into other creatures that've co to drink from its waters. Other animals know this too, so it isn't uncommon to encounter predators in the area around it."
"If that's where they get their drinking water, then I can't see them being too far off." Alistar had been thirsty for the majority of his life. The slaves in Crystellum were only allowed to drink three tis a day, once during each alti and once midway through their work.
"Don't worry over it. I used to be in this area quite often. I had friends in Hatsford and in Malford, and it was in their company that I would hike those distant peaks." Raidon's eyes lit up as if he had suddenly recalled sothing important. "Actually, there used to be a ga trail not far from here. If we can find it..."
"What's a ga trail?"
"It's a path that's been cleared by animals. If it's still there, then I won't miss it."
"We're almost out of water."
"Only a few people know about the trail, and it'll take us close to Malford. We can make trips to the river once the waterskin is empty."
"Okay." Alistar climbed to his feet. They still hurt, enough to draw a wince. Walking wouldn't help with the pain, but ti was of the essence. "I should be fine now. I only needed a mont."
Raidon patted him on the back and took the lead, taking hold of Alistar's hand. It wasn't long before they were breaking through a monstrous patch of densely-grown bushes, leaves tickling them from all angles as twigs and branches snapped in protest at the sudden intrusion. It took almost a minute to clear them, ti that Alistar spent hoping above all else that there weren't any barkwood spiders within the spindly cluster.
What's that sll? It's horrible!
Alistar covered his nose with his free hand, his uncle slowing, suddenly hesitant.
"Is sothing wrong, Uncle?"
"Be on guard."
Just as they began to erge, his uncle released his grip and disappeared with a startled shout. Overwheld with alarm and worry, Alistar rushed forward with a chorus of snapping sounds and tore free of the looming thicket.
"Uncle!"
"S—stay back, Alistar!"
Raidon had fallen into a wide pit that was approximately ten paces by twenty, which sat hidden within the centre of the large mass of bushes. It was clear that a great swathe of plant matter had been removed and the hole dug in its place, though it took Alistar a mont to realize the reason.
Countless bones and tattered clothes covered the bottom of the pit, the rough, sackcloth clothing shredded to a point where it was no longer salvageable. He recognized it as the sa material that he and his uncle wore.
Before the full weight of their discovery could descend upon him, Raidon climbed out of the grizzly graveyard and dragged him back into the thicket, though not before Alistar recognized a decaying body that lay off to the side, or at least the pieces that were left. The woman had passed away the day before, though he had been unconscious when she was carried away from her sleeping area in the Resident Cavern. The lower half of her body was missing, gnawed away by wild animals, whose tracks lined the periter of the pit and trailed off into misshapen sections of the foliage. The foul stench followed them, now horribly pungent, as his uncle rushed back through the loose path that he'd cleared.
Once they broke free of the wall of bushes, Raidon wheeled around to look deep into Alistar's eyes. "Forget what you saw. Promise that you won't think of it ever again."
Alistar nodded, at a loss for words. His uncle knew how seriously Alistar took his promises, and said no more on the subject. They took a detour around the thicket, neither speaking a word as they continued on their way.
After discovering the pit, it took them an hour to find the ga trail, which was a thin line of matted grass and trudged earth. It was a single pace wide, and thinned severely at tis. Traversing this rugged trail was easier on Alistar's feet than cutting through the forest, and they covered a lot more distance as the day slowly clawed by. Sotis the trail beca nonexistent, where shrubs and undergrowth spilled onto the path or the fallen trunks of large trees forced them to ander.
It was difficult to tell, but it seed as if the quality of sunlight was changing. Occasional glimpses through random holes in the foliage revealed that its position had been slowly sagging westward.
It really does move!
The sun was very interesting, but then again, so was everything around them. The forest had a fresh and crisp sll, full of life and nature. The sll would change in different places, and each ti they passed a flower that his uncle deed harmless, Alistar would sll it eagerly. Flowers were very beautiful and they reminded him of his mother, which made them prettier still.
The variety of slls was new to Alistar. He had only ever slt a handful of scents, predominantly sweat and unwashed bodies, the runoff of burning torches and lit candlewicks, the grainy aroma of his daily als, and the musty fragrance of earth and minerals.
Once evening arrived, he and his uncle stopped to share another snack of stale bread and old cheese, which had recently begun molding over. Most people would refuse such an unattractive al, but to Alistar and Raidon, who had eaten the sa tasteless gruel for almost a decade, it was a nice change. They had to ration their provisions with care, so they only ate the bare minimum that was necessary to calm their grumbling bellies.
Their al was cut short when Alistar spotted another spider, this one large enough to completely cover a man's head. He pointed it out the mont that it appeared from behind the trunk of a nearby tree, and Raidon imdiately ordered him to remain as still as possible. The large arachnid cut across the trail and headed off, disappearing from sight within seconds without seeming to notice them.
Letting out a pent-up breath, his uncle told him about the spider that had just passed by. It was called a red pouncer, and it was easily provoked by quick movents. Though its poison wasn't fatal, it could jump over ten paces, and its bites brought about a terrible rash. So far from civilization, such a developnt wouldn't bode well for them.
They didn't talk much in the coming hours, for his uncle's pale complexion didn't exactly invite any questions. Raidon had seed uneasy ever since he'd fallen into that pit. Alistar had poured all of his ntal fortitude into pushing that mory into the farthest recesses of his mind, but knew that he would wear the sa face if he allowed himself to think about it. Thankfully, there was plenty in the area to distract him from such thoughts.
Raidon eventually decided that it was better to make for the river before sunset, so they left the trail and recommitted to wading their way through endless underbrush. The treeline ca to an end several hours later, drawing up to a great deposit of water that was in fact the most that Alistar had ever seen in one place. Just like the path that led away from the mines, the river was so long that it seed to thin out with the distance, until it faded into a tiny speck at the tip of the horizon.
"Alistar," his uncle smiled, "care for a bath?"
He slowly turned his gaze upon the glistening current, which caught the sun's dying rays like a long, shimring mirror. He had never taken a bath before. He stripped out of his clothes so quickly that they might have been on fire, and carefully placed them along the riverbank. Once his uncle had stripped down as well, Raidon checked the area for any possible threats. The mont he confird that they were alone, he beckoned Alistar into the gently flowing waters, which they entered side by side.
"Ah!"
The water wasn't quite cold, but cool enough that Alistar yelped in surprise when he took his first step. According to his uncle, the river was two paces deep at its centre, so they stuck to the areas along its edge. Many rocks littered the riverbed, several protruding above the surface. They found two that were large and flat-surfaced, the pair only about an arm's length apart. Together, they each picked a rock and took a seat above the gently flowing waters.
"I forgot what this felt like," his uncle said with a half-hearted smile. It seed as if a great deal of weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Following Raidon's lead, Alistar cupped water in his palms and then washed the sweat and gri from his body. He finished off by dipping his head into the current and ridding his hair of the gunk and grease that had stained his shaggy mane for as long as he could rember. The result was that, for the first ti since perhaps the monts that followed his birth, he was completely clean. He took comfort in his newfound cleanliness, and marvelled over the refreshing sensation.
"How is it, Alistar?"
"It's incredible! I almost feel like I'm doing sothing wrong."
Just when it seed that his elation might leave him, his body was enveloped by a sudden wave of water. Another smile had slipped onto Raidon's face, this one more sincere, as he sent another pillar of water in Alistar's direction.
Catching on to his uncle's intentions, Alistar returned the favour with jubilation.
They splashed around for nearly an hour, chasing one another and wrestling within the shallow areas as if they hadn't a care in the world. Alistar had never laughed so much, nor had he ever encountered so much fun. To feel the water on his skin and to enter without worry of wasting the supply—a lifeti of daydreams hadn't prepared him for the joy that he felt during these monts. As if the experience wasn't amazing enough, Alistar spotted several fish flitting by as he climbed out of the river to dry off. He'd had so much fun playing with his uncle that he had forgotten to keep an eye out for them.
After they had dried off and dressed in their dirty clothes, they began walking along the sloping span of grass that separated the river from the treeline. They would sleep on the riverbank tonight, as it was safer than in the forest, if only by a little.
They chose a relatively level plot of grass to camp out on, though Alistar wasn't prepared for the magnificent spectacle that was the night's sky. Lost in his thoughts, it wasn't long before his worries flitted away, as he beca entranced by the celestial portrait that the heavens painted in the sun's absence. The stars smiled down at him, twinkling like the flas of a thousand distant torches, each and every one seeming to stare back at him from the deep darkness that lay between them. Most captivating of all was the pale, blue moon that had risen to replace the fleeing sun, a great mass that faced him with its foreign glow. This light was cooler to the touch than that which the sun gave off, gentler, more inviting.
Kaila, he thought sadly, I wish you were here to see this.
He was filled with conflicting feelings. Although today had been the best day of his life, it had also been one of the worst. He had experienced so many things for the first ti, all of them life-changing and monuntally impacting. But he had done so without Kaila, who'd shared his lifelong dreams. While it was difficult not to enjoy this wonderful new world, the experience left him sowhat embittered without the presence of his mother and the rest of his family.
Such thoughts rekindled the embers of passion that ward his chest, and set his resolve afire once more. The world outside of the mines was beyond amazing, but he had a purpose that he couldn't, that he wouldn't let himself be distracted from.
Alistar's first night on the surface ended with a spectacular view of the starry skies, the gentle sounds of the river in his ears, and a strong sense of purpose burning in his heart.
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