The Pass by Zion Kistler (books to read romance TXT) 📖

and Treaf decided to join the conversation, or at least just listen.
They were all talking about various things, like all of the different Magical Beings, and Treaf immediately became interested when the Elder started to explain each and every one in detail. First was the Grath, which Treaf guessed was the first one he ever made, and then the Leather Black dragon, and then the Garland, and many others beside which Treaf did not know about. Some of them, however, he knew the description, and had probably seen it in the battle.
After a few more minutes Treaf finally noticed that the sun was not out, for it had become cooler. I guess we’ll be camping soon, he noted, looking around him. His neck hurt, and his hand was tired of holding the bow. Even if we do get attacked I doubt it would be much use anyway, he thought, and then looked down on it. He had a bad feeling about putting it away, but then quickly decided to do so, for if something unwelcome suddenly leapt out of the bushes he would ride up and slash it with his sword.
There then came a sudden gust of wind which blew Treaf’s hair all around himself, and in this wind it was cold. Goosebumps appeared on what little skin Treaf had exposed, and he suddenly realized that in a way he hated the cold weather. Ones’ legs would freeze, and you could get very immobile because of the stiffness in one’s legs
The rest of the way to Treaf seemed very silent, and when a horse made one of its odd sounds it was surprising. After a while Treaf grew very uncomfortable, and when this happened he wanted nothing more than to stop for the night. But he guessed that it was probably only five in the evening, and they would probably stop riding only when it was difficult to see.

Then something unexpected happened. Malock called for a break, and Treaf and the others stopped at his order. They were now beside a large and natural build up of rocks, for there were fallen trees and the roots had grabbed all the dirt when it fell.
“What now?” Treaf muttered to himself after he got off of his horse. He then walked over to a large upturned root and tied the rope to it. Malock then said, “We’re gonna stop here. There is probably not going to be any better place, so don’t protest.” He walked off towards some of the other horses. “Oh, yes—and we’re having dinner.” Treaf did not find this shocking at first, but then he realized that they usually did not have dinner when they traveled. Only two meals a day was not nearly enough for Treaf, but he understood why they would usually have it set up that way. They sometimes had it after a surprise attack or if everyone was particularly warn out, but they had just started the journeying tat very morning.
After a few minutes of tying the horses they began undoing all the bags, and after they were all down, they began taking everything out of them, (except for the weaponry packs, of course.)
Shortly there came a smell of food, which was steak and a few other things. It smelled very delicious to Treaf, and his mouth was watering tremendously when a plate half full of food arrived in his hands. He quickly started eating it, and even though he stuffed many things into his mouth at once he could still taste everything. Others were acting basically the same way, and in no time they were all done.
Treaf first walked over to where all the plates were going to, and saw that only tow people were there to put all of them away. He snickered and was glad that he was not one of them.
He then made his way to the pack that had been on his horse, and he took the tent out. After setting it up, (which took a very short time,) Treaf went into it and read with what little light there still was. By the time he had to stop he had only read eight pages, but his eyes were tired anyway, so he dropped the book and fell asleep.

That night he had no dreams. His rest was undisturbed save a few times that eh awoke with starts for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and in the early morning he realized that he was fully rested.
He got up when he heard others doing the same, and he felt particularly dazed. He had not bothered with taking his shirt off, and so he went outside. Once he had closed the flap behind him and crawled out there came a very cold feeling as the air met with his skin. He was actually very surprised at this, and wanted just to go back inside the tent, but that was really not an option, and he thought of how funny it would be if he had done it.
Making the best of it, he pulled the hood on his thick cloak over him and buttoned up his overshirt fully. Others had basically fall gear on, but Treaf did not want to go through the trouble of finding that in his pack, so he told himself that shortly the sun would come out and it would be warmer.
After Treaf had taken down the tent and put it into the pack, he lifted it onto one shoulder and walked over to where the horses stood. Someone was hunched over putting down a bowl of water for on of them, and Treaf recognized that it was Mildo once he faced Treaf.
The doat actually didn’t look energetic in the least bit today, and for some reason Treaf was not glad of this.
“Didn’t sleep?” Treaf said, untying his horse. Mildo nodded, and then said, “Did you?” Treaf said yes, and then turned around when someone called his name. It happened to be Malock, who said, “Treaf! Come over here and help with breakfast. I’ll put the packs away,” and with that Treaf said bye to Mildo and went over to where Malock was previously. He started helping Sloyd fry some fish, cut bread, and other various things, and he was happy with this, for occasionally he was able to eat a few of the scraps when Sloyd wasn’t looking.
In a few minutes the food was ready, and Treaf did not call everyone over but let them find out was going on for themselves; for he was too busy eating. His helping was larger than some of the other’s, for he had snuck in some extra. I think I’m gonna continue helping with cooking, Treaf decided as he happily ate a very plump sausage that had been fried to the crisp with a certain sauce the flavor that he was not aware of. As he did this Mildo came over, and his eyes widened as he looked at the food. For a second he paused, and then he ate even more quickly than Treaf.
By the time that he was done, Treaf was actually very full, and he had warmed up considerably.
Others had not put their tents away or packed, so Treaf spent this time walking around their camp and doing nothing. He was not bored, however, and by the time it had gotten warmer he noticed that the last bags were being put on the horses. He immediately walked over to his horse and got on it. He was the first to start riding towards the road, but he let Malock take the lead from there, since he would probably get in trouble if he didn’t.
He drew his bow and loaded it, and then they continued southeast down a road that was certainly plagued with danger.
Treaf wanted something interesting to do, so he reached into the back by his side and pulled out the book about Mourgorth. He opened to the page where he had left off, for the corner had been folded.
That chapter was about the different things that he had done in the Dark Lands, the gruesome magic, and some of the creatures that he had experimented with. Eventually he came out with a rather small army, but each thing that he created, (which he called Dark Hoods,) were equivalent to eleven normal soldiers. Treaf had grown excited at this, thinking that since he had killed a Dark Hood before he was equal to eleven of Malock. But in the next paragraph it said that this of course had been a very long time ago and that nowadays they were not as powerful. But he had also made a large race of dogs called Alkerons, and some of them had escaped, migrating further north until they became comfortable in Gandria.
The ones that he had kept, however, were even bigger and more powerful, and they were known as Trial Dogs. He sent them to attack certain trade routes, but no one had known where they came from, and thus he was undiscovered. Treaf by now was very pleased with the book, and all coldness of the morning was now irrelevant.
There was also a failed creation that had not been known before, and these were called Radjaks, and Treaf knew that he had heard the name before, but after a little more reading he seriously doubted it, since this had never been known outside of the Dark Lands. These creatures were small, and very strong, and their purpose was to fly and absorb the blood from people’s necks. There was however one problem with them, though. They were made for a special purpose of getting the blood, and thus abstracting the oxygen from the blood, along with the carbon and other elements that were necessary for life. If they had taken too much blood, however, their own bodies would become much too hard and oxygenated for normal life, so they would die as if paralyzed.
These were the only three creatures that he had made at the time, and after that he had stopped his work, and after a few more pages the chapter ended.
By now the sun had come out, and the temperature was probably no more than sixty degrees. The forest was much louder than it had been the previous morning, but still there was not much noise other than the birds, people’s voices, and other various things that indicated the presence of various things. I wonder what else Mourgorth has made by now, he wondered, and closed the book. Mildo was just behind him, and he said, “What were you just reading?” The voice was so unexpected that Treaf felt shocked, and then he said, “The book I brought from Gandria.” Mildo nodded. “I’m surprised you’re reading that,” he said, and Treaf grimaced.