The Master of Uradan

In this desertic area, heated by the sun all day with nothing but rocks, pebbles, and sand stretching toward the horizon, a new sight materialized a distance away.

Under the sunlight, in the hazy smoke of the heat, hills were standing in the direction the two clans traveled to. After their duel, and since these two groups were heading to the same mountain, they naturally took the road together.

Even if the relationship between these two clans should be a bit complicated at least, Rohan rapidly found out it wasn't the case at all. Although they were far from being friendly to each other, they both showed cordial manners.

It was as if the death of their clan member wasn't the fault of the Blackwolf clan, that it was simply a fatality no one could protect against. The result was thus the absence of tension between everyone, and the carts of the two clans mixed in a sole group, going to the south.

Rohan, situated in the middle of this strange group, was still mounted on his horse as he braved the heat of the sun. This horse, Barakas, was since the start of this trip probably cursing its master, as it stood against this heat every day.

The two months inside the luxuriant forest, it had enjoyed life like never. Each day it was sleeping, eating the delicious green grass, and didn't have to have anyone on its back. And now here it was, again, under this furnace, eating dried herb its master gave to him and drinking warm water.

It could still remember the paradisiacal life it had when he was under the city, taken care of by several people, and treated like a king. But since this man had begun its master, all of that had disappeared. Now, there was only pain and an infinite march under this damn sun.

While the horse was dreaming of better days, the hills were coming closer.

They were small, with a path in the middle as if a gigantic sword had cleaved a mountain. The cliffs around the path large enough to let several clans go through were a few couple meters high. It would be an easy feat to escalate it, but it was obviously impossible with the carts pulled by the karags.

The moment the horse with Rohan on its top put a hoof inside this small canyon, the temperature instantly fell. It was still hot, but it felt as if there was a fresh wind caressing their faces and cooling their minds. Horse and humans almost shared the same expression on their faces.

Vegetations could be seen all around, as high trees were growing here and there, surrounded by dried grass and rocks. Most of the area was under the shadows of the cliffs which protected the clans from the sun.

Rohan took out his cape enveloping his face and looked in front of him with interest. The path seemed almost infinite, and this canyon stretched in a straight line. It wasn't even possible to see the end of it.

From the information Deidros had given to him, it was one of the paths connecting the external ring and the internal one.

The two clans continued forward without the need to stop. Just like that, they left the desert filled to the brink of rocks.

Rohan was looking forward to leaving this path and entering the internal ring. Deidros had explained to him that once they entered this area, they would be able to perceive the Kolmos mountain far away. The young warrior couldn't help but feel excited to see it.

Since he was born, he had only seen that many places. He rarely leave this house, and he had never put a foot outside his duchy. The only time he had to do so was for the war, and that certainly wasn't a good experience.

Due to his lack of experience, because he had never traveled around, he had never seen snow. He had already read about it in countless books, and that was the same for the sea and oceans, but he had never seen it with his eyes.

Since the chief clan, Darias, had already declared the mountain was obviously with snow on its peak, Rohan felt excited. He wasn't here to sightsee or to lose time and watch around, but he wanted to experience it with his sight and body.

In any case, the coldness of these small and white particles was currently attracting him far more than the burning rocks he had seen for days and weeks.

As Rohan was nearly ready to make his horse sprint at full speed, a yell came from one of the carts at the spearhead of this group divided by two clans. As one man, every karags stopped abruptly.

Rohan could see the one who had just yelled leave his cart and rushed forward to look carefully at the ground. He had already seen this man, he was a member of the Blackwolf clan but he couldn't remember his name. He never had a good memory for names anyway.

The two chief clans jumped off in unison of their respective carts and headed with a small group of people to the front, where this man was crouched and looked to the ground. Curious, Rohan directed his horse to this scene and put away his book. As he approached, he saw that the expression of the man waiting for the two leaders wasn't happy at all.

The young warrior jumped off his horse and walked leisurely, as a serious discussion reached his ears.

"Are you sure of yourself?" Darias spoke solemnly to the man standing in front of him.

"Without a doubt chief clan, see for yourself, I am sure you will all agree with me." Before the man could even finish his sentence, Darias as well as a few others rapidly passed through him and crouched on the ground.

Rohan could only walk as he was interested in what was happening. He nodded his head to the Greybat chief clan as the two of them stood next to each other. One was there by curiosity, while the other could only erase himself in front of the powerful chief clan.

They watched together on the ground, and Rohan was trying to understand what they were saying. The men bent to talk to each other with a muffled voice, so it was impossible to hear them from where he was.

He tried to stretch his neck on what was on the ground, but apart from the ground, the grass, the sand, and some rocks, there wasn't anything else. Before Rohan took a few more steps to see what it was, the old man next to him almost yelled inside his ears.

"The footprint of a dracass! How is it possible?!" He rushed forward without minding his position and crouched along Darais and the other members of the Blackwolf clan. They were still vigorously talking to each other and didn't care about this old man.

All of them were acting as if a terrible catastrophe was hanging above their heads. Countless questions popped inside his mind as Rohan advanced to look closely at the ground.

He had hunted for two months inside a forest, and while it wasn't enough to truly learn anything, it was sufficient for the young warrior to perceive a faint mark on the soil.

Whatever beast it was, it should have terrifying claws.