A05 - The Hut

     A stretch of gold began to appear on the horizon directly in front of them when William began his descent.  To the left there was a stretch of dark green that almost looked black.

    Lanix sensing his curiosity said, "In front of us are the Fields of Ren, to the left the Swamps of Ix."  Simon vaguely remembered her mentioning that she was from there and didn't envy that origin.  As they got closer it looked darker and darker.  The limbs of the trees reached out like long fingers ready to snatch them from the sky.  Fortunately, William redirected his aim to the edge of the golden fields.  

    They landed next to a lone tree on the edge of the swamp, it was one of just a few that was more green than black.  There were a few shoots of the golden wheat around their feet and just to the right of them the golden wheat grew taller than Simon by at least a foot.  

    Lanix dismounted and pulled Simon down after her.  She took a long, deep breath with her eyes closed. "I never thought I'd miss the smell of the swamps, but I suppose fifty years in the desert will do that."  She noticed Simon's eyes widen yet again, "Crossing the Empress comes with its punishments.  I suggest against it."

    Simon nodded.  He had only been in the desert a couple of days and already knew he didn't want to go back.  But he also had no idea where to go from here.

    Lanix turned to him, "Follow the edge of the fields where the wheat stays knee-high.  If you keep walking, you should find the shelter just before sundown.  There will be food and maybe a change of clothes.  Wait there until the Ren family finds you.  Shouldn't take more than a week or so for them to find you."

    "Wait, you aren't coming with me?"

    Lanix laughed at his naivete, "No, and trust me, you don't want me anywhere near you when you come across, well, anyone.  Now get going or you'll get stuck in the dark."

    Lanix turned to William, "Poladel William."  The beast shrank and parted.  The pieces fell to the ground back to their original shapes.  She handed the deer half back to Simon, "Good luck."

    With that, she turned and wandered into the blackness of the swamp.  Simon was tempted to follow her but between her warnings and the fear that struck him just looking at the trees of the swamp he decided to take the path of the short wheat.  His first steps were hesitant and he questioned every move, but as he noticed the sun moving closer to the horizon he picked up the pace.

    The scenery didn't change much.  He stuck a bit closer to the stalks than the trees because the ground was slightly firmer and as his legs and feet grew tired, he didn't want to get stuck in a surprise patch of mud.

    Dusk came more quickly than he'd expected and he still hadn't found the shelter Lanix had mentioned.  Maybe she had made it up just to get him to leave her alone.  He took a dozen more steps before it was totally dark.  He shrank to the ground knowing that it would probably be better to remain still in the darkness than lose his way completely.  He took out his canteen and took a long drink.  He noticed something curious about it, even though both he and Lanix had taken several drinks from it the water came all the way to the top.  Maybe it was another gift, either from the Empress or the Ancient Deity, he didn't really care who it came from.  He laid back on the ground looking up at the sky and the dancing stars.  He wondered if the tomatel were real and if that is what he had actually seen the other night.  His tiredness soon overcame him and he fell asleep.

    Simon was jolted awake by the feeling of something pushing on the bottom of his shoe.  He sat up quickly and blinked his eyes to see who or what had found him.  Next to his feet was a young girl, a few years younger than him perhaps, she had curly dark hair and darker eyes lit by a single lantern that she held up to get a good view of Simon.

    She twisted her mouth trying to figure out who or what she had found.  She finally spoke, "You sure make funny noises when you sleep."

    Simon cleared his throat, unaware that he snored when he slept, "Sorry."

    They looked at each other for a while trying to decide if the other was a threat.

    Simon finally spoke, "Are you from the Ren family?"

    She laughed a cute, little butterfly laugh, "Of course not, do I look anything like a Ren?"

    Simon shrugged unsure how to respond to her question.

    She continued smiling, "My name is Entor," she stretched out the sound of the 'o'.  Looked at him and still saw the confusion on his face.  So she continued, "That means I'm from the Forests of Tor."  She emphasized 'tor' this time.

    Simon picked up on something, "So you're named after your region?"

    "Or the region is named after us.  Honestly, I don't know what came first.  You really shouldn't be out here on your own.  I was sleeping in an abandoned hut just a few steps from here when your weird sleep noises woke me up. I knew I probably should stay put, but at the same time, I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep.  And I've been staying in that hut for several days now and had never heard anything like that.  Actually, I don't hear much of anything out here.  It's pretty quiet, sometimes too quiet.  So you should get up and come with me."  She reached out her hand to help him up, but never took a break in her monologue, "You see this place is pretty desolate, no one comes through here anymore.  It used to be a trading route between the Ix and the Ren but they had some kind of quarrel and no one comes through here anymore."  Once she saw that Simon was on his feet and ready to walk she led the way and continued without a pause, "I mean, I'm not really supposed to be here either.  See, I'm a Tor and should be in the forests, but my family is, well, not good, so I left and now I'm here.  I'm not really sure where to go from here but alas, here I am and here I shall be until I figure out something."

    They made it to the hut and it was much smaller than Simon had expected.  Entor opened the wooden door and exposed a wooden bench big enough for two people to sit and a floor space about the same size.  There were wooden crates under the bench that looked mostly empty.

    Entor turned to Simon, "I've been sleeping on the bench, you can sleep on the floor.  There's an extra blanket in that crate.  There was some food here when I got here but it's mostly gone now.  This place was a mess when I got here.  It looked like someone or something had poked holes in the roof and the sides.  The latch on the door was broken and food and other things had been thrown about the cabin and around it.  I cleaned it up the best I could.  I imagine the Ain found this place and ransacked it.  They're the only ones who do things like this and they're also the only ones who refuse to eat bog nuts."  At this she pulled five nuts from a pocket in her plain brown dress.  "Want one?  They aren't terribly tasty, but they fill the stomach well enough to fend off hunger."

    Simon noticed his stomach grumble at the sight and hadn't recognized how hungry he really was, "Thanks,"  He took one and ate it.  Entor was right, they tasted like raw eggs and dirt.  He winced through the taste in order to get something in his stomach.

    "Yeah, I tried to warn you that it isn't too good, but in this region, that's about all you'll find to eat.  That is unless you want to catch wheat mice and roast them.  But I don't like that.  For one thing, they're way too cute to eat.  For another, there really isn't much meat on them.  It's not worth the hassle, so bog nuts it is until we go somewhere else."

    Simon perked at the word "we."  His previous companion couldn't get away from him and now this one already seemed to attach herself to him.  He wasn't sure what to make of it, so he popped another bog nut into his mouth.

    She handed the remaining nuts to him, "Here, you can have the rest of these, I'm really tired from collecting bog nuts all day so I need to get some sleep.  Is there any way for you to not make that sleep noise that you make?"

    Simon blushed, "I don't know. I didn't know I made a sleep noise."

    "Well try to stop if you can ok?"

    "OK."  Simon knew the only way that he would be able to stop is if he didn't sleep.  He tried to stay awake until he knew that Entor was definitely asleep and then he slept.