I Will Be the Greatest Knight

At the sound of his wife yelling, Henry instantly stopped and shot her a curious glance.

Irene’s shoulders slumped in relief.

"We can only get a little bit closer," she explained quickly. "The last time I was there, I slipped on the ice, and if I didn’t stop, I would have gone underneath one of those boats. I can only imagine what would have happened then."

Henry smiled. There was something heartwarming about having someone he cherished so much care for his well-being. Her genuine fear of losing him was met with his own similar feelings.

"Just a bit closer then," he responded.

Irene nodded.

After a while of going west, Irene slipped off of her horse and Henry did the same.

"If those are boats, does that mean we’re near the sea?" Henry asked.

Irene looked down at their boots.

The snow was still tall in this area, and they sank down to where it was around their ankles, but she knew there was likely a lot more underneath based on how high it went up to the boats this time around.

"Actually, it’s underneath us," she explained. "It’s just that the sea here is frozen over until you get further southwest. I’ll show it to you when we find shelter."

"I would like that," Henry admitted.

Their eyes never stopped for long as the two observed their surroundings, and they continued to walk for a bit longer.

"I still have such an urge to climb onto these boats and explore," she admitted. "Maybe one day I will get brave enough. They seem to be in good condition, but I can’t tell if just a bit more weight would be too much for these ancient ships. As far as I can tell from writings, these are the very ships that brought some of the first Sunstoian people here."

"It’s unbelievably, really," Henry admitted. "I’ve never seen ships that were so intricately carved—and I’ve seen a lot of ships, considering the peasant village overlooks the ocean. Most peasants knew to avoid the water because it oftentimes meant death if you weren’t there to fish. Except there were mostly cliffs, so it wasn’t worth the risk most of the time."

"The carvings are out of superstition," Irene admitted. "You’ll find carved in the ship the same symbol I have tattooed on my arm. My ancestors were worried about their souls."

Henry could only marvel at her words as he looked around the ships.

"I suppose this is as close as we ought to go," he finally said.

They were about thirty feet from the closest ship.

"Unfortunately, yes," she admitted. "For now. But that’s alright because it will only take us another hour or two to get to the nearest township. That means we will have a place to sleep inside if we can find a house we’re able to open."

Henry’s head turned. All he saw around them was snow, but Irene hadn’t led them astray so far this trip—well, at least not when she was under the wyrm’s magic.

The two of them returned ot their horses and mounted.

"A bit further," Irene assured Sammy as she patted his head.

As they went along with Henry following Irene, she could tell that her husband was getting a bit confused at her insistence that they would stay indoors tonight. The further they went, the whiteness of the snow never seemed to cease. She recalled having a similar feeling when she first arrived in this area.

However, she was aware that there was a township up ahead; her hope was that there would be people there.

Considering the lack of smoke rising into the sky, she knew it was just as abandoned as it was the last time she was there.

They finally made it to the hill she recognized, still unsure if it was rocks or frozen, tall grasses as they began to get higher and higher. The horses’ hooves made it to the crest of the hill and, finally, houses came into view.

Henry pulled off his face scarf; Irene did the same.

"I didn’t want to get myself too excited," Henry admitted as he observed the lumps in the snow that turned into buildings the closer it got to the center of the small village. "The snow seemed never-ending."

"It’s snowier than it was last time I was here," Irene admitted. "The buildings on the outskirts were a bit more visible, but we don’t have to worry."

"And why is that?" Henry wondered.

Irene gestured for him to follow, and she pulled the scarf up on her face once more.

The Commander was given a taste of the Sunstoian architecture the further they went into the heart of the village. More and more wood was revealed to him the shallower the snow go towards the center because there was another hill at the very heart of the village.

He realized all the buildings in this region were similar to the small cabin they slept in first. The A-frame roofs went all the way to the ground. It was understandable because it seemed most efficient with such heavy snow, and all of them still stood despite having no maintenance done to them in what was likely decades.

The more Henry observed, the more he wondered if they ought to adopt something similar in Chemois, where he planned to develop it further within the wall he was having built. While the snow wasn’t like this, there was still plenty of it.

Perhaps it could be a hybrid of two styles. Something a bit Sunstoian, but still appropriate amidst people from Peroda.

A smile spread across Irene’s lips as they finally made it to the largest building and center of the village.

Breaking Henry out of his thoughts, she said, "Tonight we’re going to live like village leaders. Help me get the snow away from this door so that we can get inside and start the fire.

In front of them was the large building where Irene found solace before. Unlike the small hunting cabin that only felt like a palace because they were travelers who had been beaten up by the snow for weeks, this time it truly did look like a palace.

They both eagerly dismounted their horses and got to work, opening up the place they would stay for at least tonight.

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