Chapter 1 - Cobblestone Glen
Cobblestone Glen was a small village compared to most of the towns and cities in Adrien. It was originally a rock quarry, and the village had grown as the workers settled down and started families. Taverns and shops had started out as simple street stalls, and over time what had just been a bunch of huts and wagons became a full fledged village with homes, businesses, and even a church. It was a lovely place, nestled up against the base of Mount Wulfgar and surrounded by the Adrien Forest.
As the first rays of sunlight pierced the ancient and dense forest, they touched the edge of Cobblestone Glen. The sunlight transformed the morning dew into brilliant specs, giving them the appearance of lustrous crystals, hanging by the millions from the trees and covering the entire town in a bright sheen.
At the same time, a tall and fair haired young man with brilliant blue eyes, Ulric, was making his way to the village gate, and marveled at the beautiful morning scene. As Ulric moved his gaze towards his destination, he saw that Wayland and Gideon were already waiting for him with impatient countenances, so he quickened his pace to catch up to his friends and start their day.
"About time you got here, we've been waiting for you all morning" chided Wayland in his deep baritone voice. Puberty had been kind to Wayland, and his voice had already lost the cracking and sudden changes in tone pitch that many of the other young men in the village still had to deal with at this age. "What took you so long, did you eat breakfast and take a nap afterwards?"
Gideon chimed in "He was probably dragging his feet in an attempt to see Cynthia, hoping to catch her before she headed off to the fields this morning!" Gideon was a year younger than Wayland and Ulric, with a portly appearance and round face. None of the telltale signs of adolescence had struck Gideon, which caused him to look much younger than 16.
Ulric's face turned a deep crimson color. Everyone in the village knew he had attempted to court Cynthia, only for her to turn him down. He had been the center of his friends' jokes and teasing ever since the debacle. Wayland started to speak, when Ulric cut in, "Okay you two, that's enough. I overslept is all, so can we just get on with our day's venture?"
Wayland shrugged his shoulders and turned indicating he was willing to drop it, and slung his quiver of arrows over his back and picked up his bow. Gideon grabbed the fishing gear they would need for their little expedition and attached it to his pack of gear. Wayland and Ulric had to assist him with getting the rather large and precarious pack situated, but after a little rearranging, Gideon was ready to proceed. Ulric, already having his gear pack comfortably positioned on his back, was ready to go. The trio of young men were the first villagers to depart for the morning, so they had to get the watchmen to open the gate for them. The gate was always promptly closed at sunset each night in order to keep wild animals, and other dangerous entities, from attacking in the deep set dark that permeated the entire forest at night.
As they reached the edge of the forest a few hours later, their destination came into view: Frost River. The river was bitterly cold, having formed high up in the mountains and fed by a combination of springs and snow melt. Frost would often form on the boulders and rocks near the river edge over night and in some places would not melt away until mid day, even in the warmest months, thus earning its name. Only once the river had reached over three quarters of the way to the coast did the water finally turn warm enough to comfortably bathe in during summer months. The three young men were set on hunting game near the river and testing their luck with the trout and other fish that called the river home. If they were lucky, they would each be carting back 20 to 30 pounds of meat, some for their families, some to be sold to the butcher.
From the edge of the forest, it was a short walk to shore of the river, and if it weren't for the density of the trees they would have been able to see the river much sooner. Wayland set down his pack and turned south, intending to try and snag a deer or perhaps a turkey with his bow. "I will see you two in a couple of hours, sooner if I bag something big, so don't take too long to catch any fish, otherwise you will both have to return empty handed and I will get all the glory!" Gideon and Ulric both rolled their eyes as they were setting up a couple of bait lines in the river. Wayland was a braggart, and not without merit, he was a very skilled hunter, but his friends occasionally did get tired of hearing about how good he was with a bow. The two of them also intended to work some cast nets as well, so they felt confident that a mess of fish was soon to be in their possession.
Wayland had only been gone about a an hour when Ulric noticed him returning with a pair of pheasants and some grouse. As he approached, there was suddenly a burst of noise and movement on the far bank of the river, causing all three of them freeze in place and stare out across the river. Branches snapped and animals squaked as a mass of large specters crashed through the underbrush. Suddenly a herd of wild boar came spilling out headed straight for the river. The river was too deep and too fast moving here for any animals or men to ford, so when they got nearer to the edge of the river, they quickly turned south and skirted the river.
"What in the world could have stirred them up so bad? There aren't any bear around here, and other than people, I don't know of anything else brave enough to tackle a herd of wild boar." Ulric nodded in agreement with Gideon's comment. Wild boar were fierce and powerful animals. They were solid muscle and bone, and when fully grown they weighed twice as much as a man. They also had razor sharp tusks that they used to slash predator and prey alike. Wild boar were notorious omnivores, who were just as happy eating a berry as they were a child.
Suddenly the hair on the back of Ulric's neck stood up as he noticed something else moving in the bushes. "Quick, move to cover and get down", he whispered to Gideon. He motioned to Wayland to take cover as well before darting after Gideon.
Gideon and Ulric bolted for a large boulder nearby, and hunkered down behind it. Wayland was too far away for Ulric to speak to him, because he didn't want to shout and alert whatever was in the bushes to their presence. Luckily Wayland saw Ulric motion to take cover and did the same, lying down on his belly behind some tall Voracious grass, so named because the leaves had tiny little spines on them that seemed hungry to slice open flesh if you rubbed up against it. The grass was thick and stood thigh high, so Wayland was well concealed sidled up against the growth and laying on his belly. His only fear was that he couldn't really see what was happening on the far bank without exposing his position, so he resigned himself to relying on Ulric to let him know when it was safe to move.
Ulric was frozen with fear when the figures finally stepped into the light.