Grim stopped at the foot of the hill, catching his breath to lower the stress upon his little body. He was soaked in sweat and dirt. He liked the feeling of sweat sticking on his clothes. He was not, maybe sometimes, so fond of the foul scent of sweat, however. It was also not preferable to his aunt and father whom always said that a Dryflame ought to be noble and clean. He still didn’t know the reason behind those words.

With small sounds of grasses and bushes moving, Conall appeared behind him. No dirt or dust could be seen on her pure white fur. She was agile and strong, at least more than himself. Yet it also seemed unreal, as to how she achieved that level of reflex he could only guess.

Big bro once said that they were quite formiba-furmida...formidable?

He turned to look at Conall’s eyes. She was pretty intelligent it seemed. She sat down with an expectant pair of eyes, awaiting a response from Grim. Brother also said she protected me from bugs lots of times. That could be the reason she was living down the hill. There were many different types of bugs on their hill, although not poisonous they could be plaguesome.

‘’Alright Conall what do we do?’’ Conall rubbed her head with her paw, in deep thoughts. Does she think in wolf language or our language? Grim didn’t even know if there was any kind of wolf language but it seemed feasible. Maybe she is thinking with barks? Or it could be the language of wild tribes and beasts at the southern continent. That’s far away from her homeland...

‘’Woof!’’ She told and turned towards the east. There were plenty of flowers and long grasses juxtaposed, going all the way towards the north-east of villages of local settlers. Beyond that field lay a wide dirt road and several small, hazy figures of mills and houses right outside Pale city. However, it was hard for Grim to pick out even the houses of villages from afar.

‘’City is pretty far. It might take a day long on foot...’’

Conall stood up and lowered her head, her long and wide back shoved up to air. ‘’Ugh, my butt is gonna hurt again.’’ Grim lamented. He hopped on her back and felt a stingy sensation from his lower body. Conall’s fur was sharper than it looked, maybe close enough to the burdocks’ tip.

Conall released a small growl. ‘’I’m holding tight already.’’ Grim replied,’’ Don’t you feel it?’’ Conall didn’t give any response. She shook again as to test Grim’s grip then started to run. She was a lot faster than Grim’s full speed fear sprint. A power of Whiteling wolf was not to be underestimated, she tried to prove. Alas, she chose a wrong target.

Even though his legs and butt was itchy, it was quite nice to feel the surges of wind on his face. His blue eyes sparkled under the sunlight. He missed the times on those fancy wagons with his brother. After an hour in, while they passed through the small village, something caught Grim’s eyes. It looks...empty?

There were over 20 families that lived inside the village of Drymill. Seasons were quite unforgiving, it could snow at the middle of autumn in here. So houses were made with girthy walls of stone and oak. He wondered how those normal men could carry stones of hundreds of kilograms and make houses.

Maybe it was his father’s help?

Although Grim didn't know them personally, his father would occasionally come over to this and other villages. The kind and old uncles and aunties here and there supported their food and other supplies for a long time. ‘’They were living here even before our grand grandfather settled at the Dryflame estate!’’ said Deroc once.

They are still sleeping? It must be cozy

Even while he was thinking, Conall left the vicinity of the village. Mills were built not far away from the village upon a small section of river Alca, where freezing currents of water fell down from mountains far away. The stream ended after it reached the Pale coast’s shore and mixed in the Great Ocean.

*********

Finally! Grim thought as people started to appear on the wide stone paved roads. It took longer than 3 hours to get here from the villages. Whiteling wolves may be strong but a youngling like Conall had little power and speed. She was a bit faster than a adult horse but with a weight like Grim, it slowed her down.

It was tiring for Grim too, as constantly holding his grip on Conall was taxing. His muscles were sore and in pain with a small tremor passing through him with every movement. He stopped Conall while muttering again and walked on foot.. He could see the silhouettes moving in and out of the city. Some carts and wagons passed by his side and left towards the other roads. A group of mercenaries greeted him although Grim didn’t know who they were. He just smiled and kept going.

Walls of the city were quite high, maybe ten times bigger than Grim. Their length was only visible from afar, as he couldn’t see the end of the walls in here. Still it was pretty long.

After reaching the gates, although there were still some dirt on his clothes, a person among the crowd recognized him and Conall instantly.

‘’Grim!’’

Grim looked at the person. His face was of someone familiar. That broken nose and narrow jaw covered in masses of dirty brown bristle was unforgettable, especially because the person in the case was only a bit older than eighteen.

‘’Cartman!’’

‘’Yes it's me, Cartman.’’

‘’I know who you are dummy.’’ Grim laughed and pulled Cartman’s hand. He was much older than him, Same age with his big brother Aeneas. They were childhood friends so Grim also had the chance to meet and play with Cartman. Although he remembered little of it as he was just a little baby at that time.

He had a deep trust in this man, however, not only because he was someone related to his Uncle Truman but Cartman was also one of the guards working in the city. Quite prestigious among the people he was as a great youngster and swordsman. Also known by many pretty sisters but Grim didn't know why.

‘’You didn't come alone, did you?’’ Grim knew the origin of the question. Everyone told him not to be alone outside the house. They always said it was bad, immoral, dangerous and so on. Irritating But he didn't dare to disobey his father and aunt...maybe only a bit.

‘’I came with Conall.’’ Grim said and turned around to spot a white dot among the crowd. ‘’Oh, she is there.’’ He pointed towards her. Conall turned around at the same time and came next to him. ‘’Good girl,’’ Cartman patted her head with a smile.

‘’So you guys are just hanging around?’’ Cartman inquired, as this was the only explanation he thought of. ‘’Mhmm,’’ Grim nodded.’’ Since you came here, what about coming with me? Mr.Truman was asking around for me a while ago.’’

‘’Yes! Let's go to uncle Truman’s place!’’ Grim shouted. Many pairs of eyes shot at him but retracted back again. Irresistible effect of a cute face and smooth clothes was enough to crush every weak heart. ‘’He will also be happy to see you maybe!’’

‘’What maybe you meanie! Uncle Truman is the best!’’ Cartman just snickered and left with a whistle. ‘’Cartman! You bully!’’

*********

Pale city had a strange order of building. It seemed systematic from outside with each house planted like a row of spikes carefully. Nonetheless at the inner section of the city everything was irregular and misplaced. Houses had floors and storeys and sizes that differed from building to building. It gave off an ancient feeling of peace with the grey landscape they were constructed upon, one of the first lands of Ras continent to be civilized.

Passing through two and three storey buildings and stores with the annoying Cartman, Grim and Conall reached in front of a warehouse. It was also two storey high. Vibrant and cool colours merged together to create a magnificent piece of work made out of purple iron. It showed off a monstrous amount of wealth and pride with a width enough to cover four houses. It was simply majestic.

The sign fared not better among these extravagant wastes of golden coins, with a wooden block written ‘Truman’s Goods’ hanging from the entrance’s top with a small string tied together. A bell rang with them stepping inside. Before Grim could see the same purple and blue walls of the inner section of the building, a two meter body with a feather covered head covered his vision.

‘’OOOOOOOOH MY CUTE NIECE!’’