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Aegald
They had marched on through most of the night. Though their troll pursuer had not elected to follow the two as they (and the thought never escaped Aegald as they trudged on in silence) ventured even further off their path, the woodsman could not help but flinch at every disturbance in the vast timberland. Eäna, as talented as she had been scaling the foothills and more rugged terrain thus far, did not help in his paranoia as she managed, seemingly, to split every branch, crunch every pine cone, and disturb every pile of needles on the forest floor. Wasn't he the blind one when the sun set?
Though when at last the morning came and his vision regained its natural acuteness, Aegald was simply too exhausted to truly take advantage of his heightened senses. He made sure to step with extra care as they went, but foul-ups were inevitable. A twig here, an accidental scuff against an overturned rock there. What did people see in these woods? The game was nonexistent, and death was certain the further into the woods one ventured. The Tygan was not for any woodsman to suddenly pack up everything to tackle, no.
"We need rest, Aegald."
Eäna's sudden remark sent a jolt down Aegald's spine, shooting a hand to his sword handle. He had suspected another elf, perhaps worse, but his grip around the weapon, an inch or so pulled from its sheath, slackened and the sword slid back into the leather without a sound. To his fortune, she did not notice.
"Come, let's make a promise that the next welcoming place we come across becomes our new camp." A pause followed. "And by welcoming I mean advantageous and adequately protected from the elements, hmm?"
May as well add a feast table stockpiled with enough provisions to keep an army fed, he mused, but knew better than to say it. Regardless of their likelihood of finding safe haven in these woods, she was right: they needed a place to find respite and build up their strength again.
So, with lofty expectations in mind, the duo redoubled their efforts. Some time passed as they pressed further into the Tygan, navigating fallen logs and eerily similar terrain until, finally, something stuck out among the brown trunks of pine trees. At first glance, Aegald had thought something about the angle of the sun, or perhaps just the nature of the woods, had made some trees appear grey in the distance ahead. Then he noted patches of green irregularly weaving through and around what appeared to be cracks in the trunks. A glance to Eäna confirmed his suspicion that, perhaps, there was something more to these irregularities. Before Aegald could speak, his companion had muttered something he couldn't quite discern and wandered off in the direction of what Aegald could now see were ruins of... something.
The woodsman followed suit behind Eäna, sword in hand. If a fight was awaiting them, he doubted in his current state he could much other than fend off a few blows, but the weight of a weapon had its way of bolstering his wavering confidence. The pair turned the corner of a tree that dwarfed its fellows, roots sprawling into a complex terrain of its own, trunk knotted and bulging with the weight of decades, if not centuries, of age. Perhaps this tree had even seen an entire Age come and go, resting here undisturbed, alone from the world. Beyond the gargantuan tree stood a decrepit archway at the peak of a flight of stairs so eroded that they may as well have been a stone hill. A temple, but to what? Something told Aegald not many holymen wandered this far out of their way for prayer.
He was vaguely aware of Eäna, still musing on the sudden discovery, but he was too preoccupied gleaming what he could from the interior of the aged structure.
"What do you think, Draugan or Ylraan?"
"Draugan," he replied, voice cracking from lack of use. He cleared his throat and continued. "Stonework's too good."
Before he could venture off to the doorway and take his first look inside the temple itself, he noted that his companion had begun to instead investigate the perimeter of the temple. He hastened himself to join her, and the pair made full circle around the temple without much of note. The designs that wrapped around the doorway had been repeated along the edge of the external support beams, though the elements had made them little more than ridges in the otherwise smooth (albeit cracked) stone. There were, as was often the case in the 'civilized' world, no glass windows. Instead, the remains of heavy wooden shutters sat in square holes cut into the sides of the temple, well out of reach of someone standing on ground level.
The rear of the temple held a small shrine, overgrown with moss and lichen, standing no taller than to Aegald's torso. What little metal could be seen between the green growth was rusted and riddled with holes. They had paused to identify the shrine's dedication, but to no avail. The opposite side of the temple had proven to be nearly identical to the first, with the same impressive windows and evidence of detailed stonework.
Fifteen minutes had elapsed, and the duo stood once again in front of the doorway.
Aegald sheathed his sword and strung his bow as Eäna patiently waited beside him. Satisfied with his handiwork, he strung an arrow and, alongside his counterpart, crept up the stairs to the temple. Though, no doubt, if anyone had wished to ambush them they would have done so while the heroes had examined the shrine, he felt it best not to simply walk in unprepared. Pulling back on the bowstring as he thrust himself into the temple's main hall, Aegald shot a wide glance over the empty floor. Nothing. Just statues and decaying pews. At the opposite side of the doorway stood a large stone mural whose paint had long since chipped and peeled away, leaving in its place carvings that must have been a depiction of some deity or epic scene of conquest so many years ago.
"Way I see it," Aegald spoke up. "I can get us some wood for a fire, might find a well that isn't frozen here, too. If'n I can't, we'll just have to melt snow again."
He paused, then chuckled.
"And see if there isn't no dire hare to shoot while I'm at it."
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