Rysteilla The journey north

Journey North

            As I traveled north, I found myself slowly coming back.  I still was not able to use my paladin armor and my holy avenger but I carried them for they represented a part of my former life.  I wore studded leather and defended myself as need be with a sword that I had found.  I worked for a living, I cleaned barns, weeded gardens, and whatever would feed me for that day.  I was living life as I had not lived in years.

              I remember one family in particular; I was very close to reaching my destination in the north.  They were a simple family living on the edge of the frontier.  Frost giants and dire wolves roamed in the parts on a regular basis but yet the family still stubbornly clings to their piece of land.  I stayed there a few days for there had been a particular bad raid of wolves and they were grateful for the extra sword in battle.  I asked them why if they constantly had to deal with these wolves;  they move closer to civilization and let the guards help.  "Freedom", the head of the family stated.  Freedom?  I was puzzled.  "Yes, here we are boss of ourselves.  We are can support ourselves, we grow our own food, and the wolves only attack in the wintertime so we have the summertime where we can live for us.” 

I later came to understand what the family was trying to tell me that for all those people who lived in comfort behind the walls of the cities there was a better life out here on the edges of the land.  It was real, beautiful, harsh: but the family would never leave their piece of freedom.  They had discovered that the beauty,  of love, friendship they experienced in the summer months was worth the constant raids by the wolves and the other winter creatures that roamed the harsh lands of their home.

About two weeks later I was well into the interior of the waste when I encountered the worst snowstorm of my life.  It was during that time that I rediscovered myself and my purpose.  That day it was eerie, completely silent, even the woolly rhinos that I had encountered and avoided around were in hiding.  They knew that they did not want to be caught in the middle of this storm of storms.  I quickened my step searching for shelter, a small cave, a rocky cliff some where I too could hide.  Eventually I found a small cave which did not have any other occupants though I would have shared a cave with a pack of dire wolves just to get out of the storm.  I pulled out everything I owned and layered it for the temperature was dropping fast.

I curled up in a tiny ball trying to keep warm and try and get some sleep, but the wind outside the cave was blowing and howling so hard.  I stuffed my fingers in my ears and that helped a little and I fell into an uneasy sleep filled with dreams of wolves, snow, lightening bolts, and being crushed by raging rhinos.

I woke up suddenly to an eerie silence and I realized that I could not move, the front of the cave had collapsed and was filled with snow.  Panicked I started to dig my way out of the icy cocoon. Hours later I poked my head out into a blinding snowstorm, the wind lashed and blinded me I tried to duck back in the passage.

As I was thrashing around the wind took on a new sound.  It sounded as if someone was calling for help, or saying my name. No one knew where I was and I shook my head and looked out into the blinding snowstorm.   There was a faint light coming towards me.   I stared at it stuck within the pile of snow that was all around me.  And then something heavy collapsed on top of me shoving me further into the snow.  I struggled and fought with it and in the end I realized that it was human. It was someone else that needed help and shelter from the storm.