The rest of the day was relatively uneventful and we left Rettif the next morning. For the next couple of weeks, we passed by two small towns, but neither of them were even as big as Befson. After that second town, Dennis said we wouldn’t be seeing another one for another two weeks. However, only a week later, while traveling along a road through a forest, we saw smoke rising up above the tree tops. Dennis checked his maps and saw that there weren't supposed to be any villages or towns there. He decided to take a detour to check it out. The detour was fairly difficult considering the uneven ground and the trees. While going there, we were stopped by a pair of men wearing leather armour and carrying shortswords. Dennis got out of the carriage.

“Who are you?” one of the guards asked.

“I am just a traveling merchant, as I’m sure you can tell from a quick perusal of my wares.”

“Why are you here?”

“Like I said, I am a merchant who is traveling northward to reach the Nature clan’s territory to do business.” The two guards started to whisper to each other.

“Does that mean you intend to go through Reapers’ Pass?” Reapers?

“Yes, I’m already cutting time pretty close before the fog rolls in there.” The two guards spoke to each other again and one of them nodded.

“Very well, you may pass.”

“Thank you.”

The wagon started up again and we reached the village in about fifteen minutes. The village was in a large clearing in a forest next to the mountainside and all of the buildings were made of wood and only one-story high. Dennis browsed around a bit and shook his head.

“I don’t think I’ll be getting any good business here but it’s already getting late so we’ll stay here for the night.” Dennis set up shop anyways but nobody was interested. After about an hour, a group of people wearing leather armour returned to the village along with a small wagon. I also noticed that they all had shortswords on them as well. However, one of them seemed to be different from the rest and my eyes felt drawn to him. He was dressed the same, but he had some rolled up paper in one gloved hand and there was just something about the air around him. I didn’t want to go over to them, but after seeing so many guards, Tasha got really excited and ran over there. I followed. Tasha went right up to one of them and started to examine his armour.

“Uh…hello?” the guard said.

“Oh, travelers?” the ‘special’ man said. I caught up to Tasha and replied.

“Yes, we are stopping by here for the night. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all!” he said. He then extended one hand. I looked at him and saw that underneath his leather helm, he had long black hair and dark brown eyes. He also had the smoothest complexion I had ever seen on any man thus far. “My name is Jack Free; I’m sort of the leader around here.”

“My name is Braith.” I shook his hand. “I’m just an escort.”

“An escort named Braith, eh? Never heard that name before.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“And this is your daughter, I presume?”

“Yes, this is my daughter, Tasha.”

“Nice to meet you too,” he said, extending his hand to her as well.

“Okay,” she said, shaking his hand, “Can I see your sword?”

“My sword?”

“Yeah, it looks really cool!”

“Why do you say that?”

“I don’t know. It just does.” I took a closer look but I did not see much of a difference between its sheath and the others. Although, I guess it just kind of gleamed a bit more than the rest.

“Well, if you insist, you can look, but please don’t touch it.” He unsheathed his shortsword and my eyes widened. At the base of the blade was a pair of crossed blades: the mark of the Battle-Hardened. Tasha’s eyes widened too but unlike me, I think she was more focused on the quality of the blade. Jack noticed my eyes and smiled.

“You noticed the brand?” he asked.

“Uh…” He laughed.

“No need to be so nervous!”

“Well…are you Battle-Hardened?” I asked.

“Nope,” he replied with a smile. Huh? “I’m a Farseer.”

“What?”

“You’re one of those magical guys?” Tasha asked. Huh, was that I described them to Tasha?

“Well, yes, I am one of those magical guys,” he chuckled. “Now, I assume you are wondering why I have this sword.”

“It’s because he’s a hero!” one of the guards suddenly exclaimed.

“Yeah!” another one shouted out. The others started to clamour until Jack raised his other hand to silence them.

“Pardon that; I’m sure you’re a bit confused by it. Well, you see, I took this blade off a Battle-Hardened officer. You see, he and his company wanted to come here to eliminate this poor village even after the war ended.”

“But then Jack wiped them out and saved us all!”

“Er, well, yes, that happened. I assure you the battle was not as spectacular as they make it out to be; I nearly lost my life.” The guards began to clamour again before Jack silenced them. “Anyways, that’s the story.”

“I see. So, now you have guards on patrol to keep the village protected?”

“Only for now! But soon, we’re going to find a way to keep us protected forever!” one of them shouted at. Jack raised his hand to silence him, but for just an instant, I thought I saw Jack’s expression stiffen.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Nothing?! We-” This time, Jack actually turned around and the man shut up.

“Just nothing. Now, I’m sure you’ll be wanting to get some rest if you want to leave early in the morning. You wouldn’t want to be caught in the fog in Reapers’ Pass.” Jack prematurely raised his hand when he said the last part.

“Yeah, we will.” I went back to Dennis’ wagon, pulling Tasha, who wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation at all. Back at the wagon, I saw Dennis going through his maps again. Briefly, he looked up.

“Oh, welcome back, Braith,” he said before looking back down. “Find anything interesting about this place?”

“Actually, quite a bit.”

“Mhmmm.”

“For example, the village is led by a Farseer called Jack Free.”

“Mhmmm.”

“Apparently he protected the village from an attack by some Battle-Hardened soldiers.”

“Mhmmm. Argh, none of my maps have this village marked! Oh, I know! I can just mark it down here, and then, when I travel the continent, I can have a new map made! Yes, that’s a brilliant idea!” Dennis started marking his maps with his fountain pen. He then looked up at me with a grin, clearly oblivious to everything I just said.

“Yeah, great idea.”

“Do you think there’s something else around here?” Tasha suddenly asked.

“What do you mean?” Dennis and I asked at the same time.

“Well, those guards and that Farseer came back all at once. Isn’t that really strange timing for patrols? Also, the first two guards we saw weren’t with them.”

“R-really? I hadn’t noticed.” The things that Tasha notices almost scare me sometimes.

“Farseer? There’s a Farseer here?” Dennis asked with surprise.

“Yes, Dennis,” I sighed. “There is a Farseer here by the name of Jack Free.”

“A Farseer by the name of Jack Free…” Dennis started to stroke his chin. “Hmmm, that can’t be right…no, it can’t be…”

“What are you talking about, Dennis?” I asked.

“Well, if I recall correctly, there was a certain Farseer who supposedly had the surname Free.”

“Who was this person?”

“He was one of the Reapers.”

“Reapers?!”

“Oh, you’ve heard of them, Braith?”

“Not really, but go on with what you were saying.”

“Well, among the Reapers, there was a Farseer who used the element of wind. He was publicly known as Wyvern, but there were some rumours that said his real surname was Free. Hmmm, I guess it wouldn’t be too surprising to find a Reaper here, since we are near Reapers’ Pass. But, maybe it’s still just a coincidence.”

“Dennis, what is this about Reapers’ Pass.”

“Well, it got the name because it was there that the Reapers displayed their powers to the fullest. Small armies, human, Battle-Hardened, and Farseer, would try to go through that valley, but were completely crushed by a group of mercenaries known as the Reapers. That’s how it got the name.”

“Hey, someone answer my question!” Tasha shouted out, a bit annoyed.

“Oh, right…Dennis?”

“…What was her question?” he asked.

“I asked if there was anything else around here.”

“Anything else? Other than Reapers’ Pass I don’t think there is.”

“Maybe a mine or something?” she asked.

“A mine?” I asked.

“Well, that wagon had some pickaxes and shovels in it.” Yes, I taught Tasha what all that was. Even drew sketches of them. I needed to teach something to make up for what I forgot from Science and Social Studies.

“I’m surprised I didn’t look at what was in the wagon.” Although, I did remember how fixated I was on Jack Free. “Anyways, mine or not, I’m sure they’re hiding something. Or at least that Farseer Jack Free is.”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re leaving in the morning,” Dennis said.

“Aren’t you curious, though, Dennis?” I asked.

“We are actually on a pretty tight schedule right now, Braith. Reapers’ Pass gets really foggy around this time.”

“So, what if it gets foggy? It’s still just a valley.”

“Fog attracts all kinds of trouble; trouble that we won’t even be able to see before it’s too late. If we leave early in the morning, we should be able to get through Reapers’ Pass without worrying about any of that, though.” I really didn’t want to just up and leave but I did agree to escort Dennis so I remained silent. Tasha did as well and we went to sleep.

Early the next day, before dawn broke, Tasha woke me up.

“W-what is it, Tasha?” I asked before yawning.

“Dad, I really think we should stay here.” I blinked a few times and sucked the inside of my mouth a couple times.

“Why?”

“I had a dream last night.” I suddenly became more awake.

“Y-you did?!”

“Yeah…”

“What was it about?! Did you remember more about your past?”

“No, I mean, I don’t know?” I cocked my head to the side. “I don’t really remember what happened, just the feeling. The feeling that something is going to happen here, and very soon.”

“And that’s why we have to stay here? Why? To stop it? To witness it?”

“I don’t know. I just feel we have to stay here until that time comes.” I pressed my hands to my eyes and took a deep breath. “Do you not believe me?”

“It’s not about whether or not I believe you.”

“I guess I just sound…crazy or something?”

“It’s not about that either.” I arched my back in the carriage seat and looked over at Dennis. “Okay, we’ll stay. I’ll tell Dennis when he wakes up.” Almost on cue, Dennis started to stir. He slapped himself in the face and then opened his eyes while yawning. He jumped back a bit in his seat when he saw both of us staring at him.

“Woah! Well, you two are sure up early…”

“Dennis, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it, Braith?”

“We’re staying.” Dennis stared at me without any expression for a moment.

“This again? No, Braith, we’re going. When the fog rolls in it sticks around for weeks; I can’t wait around for that long.”

“No, I mean, me and Tasha are staying. You can go on without us.” Dennis’ jaw dropped a bit as he looked at us incredulously.

“What? Hey, aren’t you in a hurry somewhere? Can we really afford to waste your time here?”

“I set off in the first place for Tasha. If she says we need to stay, then we’ll stay.”

“Well, okay, but maybe you don’t remember, but you have another…seventeen days left to escort me for!”

“Seven days.”

“What?”

“We don’t need the map, just the compass. I’m willing to pay off the remaining seven days in coin.”

“This was a special deal, Braith! I gave you a reduced price in return for your escort. You’ll need to pay a lot extra for those remaining days!”

“How much?” Dennis leaned into his seat and started thinking. His mouth curled into a small smile.

“A thousand copper. I won’t take one coin less.”

“Deal.” Dennis continued to look at me with that small smile before his face started to twist.

“What? I said a thousand copper! I know you don’t have that much!”

“Actually, I do,” I said very calmly. I took out the bag Lars gave me and counted out twenty silver coins. Dennis stared at the coins in disbelief. Then he looked at me, mouth still open.

“How long have you had that much?”

“My friend gave it to me before I left.” Dennis started to take quick breaths. “I’d like to have that compass now.” Dennis clenched his teeth.

“Fine!” Dennis took out a briefcase under the seat, opened it, and threw me a compass. “You know, Braith, I hired you because I could sense you had a strong set of morals. It’s dangerous being a merchant, you know?! It only takes one bad decision to ruin you!”

“And I thank you for placing that much trust in me. However, this is something I have to do. Perhaps, in the future-”

“No, there is no future between us! Braith, I’m going to become one of the wealthiest merchants ever, and you’re going to regret leaving!” His face was red and contorted with anger but I maintained a nonchalant expression as Tasha slightly shrunk back. I put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I wish you the best of luck,” I said genuinely.

“…Get out of my carriage.” We grabbed all of our luggage and got out. Dennis roused the wagon driver and they quickly left.

“I didn’t want that to happen,” Tasha said sadly. I hated this parting too, but I did not let it show. I know now that it was constantly feeling regret that made me so stagnant in the past.

“It’s fine. Come on, let’s see what the village is up to.”