33 Risen#re

It was a scary time in Willcolly, what made it even more scary was that it was supposed to be a happy time for them, but word had been spreading for a few days now that the road to Willcolly had become the hunting grounds of some powerful bandit group.

Others claimed that it was an orc invasion, and the taverns were filled with men drinking and shouting that the orcs were trying to take back their old land.

The word about the orcs were the most troubling, and they had seen a survivor no believed the boy at first, he seemed a little of his rockers, but as the weeks passed by no new merchants came up from Riverfall and very few were still coming down from Proge, most of them were making the village of Willcolly their final stop, before turning around.

The outside of the village was ablaze with fire, it was night time and the moats were lit, it was naturally a far distance from the village walls, no one wanted the village burning down, but the fire provided a sense of light and security to the people.

The moats were usually only supposed to be lit during the winter, that was the time that they had to deal with the beasts coming down from the mountains to hunt for food, but with all this talk about orcs on the move, they decided to lite the moats.

It's easier to kill what you can see, or so the saying goes.

"Bosh, there's something out there," a guard started saying, he was standing a little away from the others, who were busy drinking and playing dice, he was usually the same, but this talk about orcs had him on edge, better to face the bastards sober, that way he could at least stab a couple in the gut.

Bosh was the guy in charge of the guards, well it was a village so they didn't really have much a guard, just villages that rotated the duty and Bosh could be said to be experienced with a sword, he did guard caravans for a decade before he returned home to settle down.

Bosh took a swing from a ceramic jar and looked around, before turning to Naz, "Naz lad, you're to on edge, before you know it you'll be hearing the crickets mating call as a war anthem," Bosh said and the others started to chuckle.

Bosh sighed, but that was when everyone heard a loud thump from ahead, and they all jumped up, two of them grabbed their spears, Bosh grabbed his sword and Naz ran behind them as he nocked an arrow and held his bow at the ready.

The gates were shut ahead of them, but they could all see through the various gaps, it might have been night-time, but the moats were burning bright making it easy to see the surroundings.

That's when they all saw a man, a very short man, he was wearing a cloak so they couldn't see much, other than his legs.

He wore boots that were covered in fur, and there were several daggers attached to his thighs and one short-sword and one long sword attached to his waist.

With a glance they could tell that the man was an experienced adventurer, from the way his gear was attached to his body and the dangerous air around him, it was obvious that he was a dangerous character, but the guards held their ground without backing down.

"Who goes there?" Bosh asked loudly his voice carried over clearly.

"I'm just a wondering traveller, Lirian is my name, I've been traveling for a long time and I'm in need of a room for the night," Lirian said through the gates.

"Lower your hood first," Bosh said grasping his sword firmly.

Lirian gripped the hood and threw it back, revealing his messy black hair that almost reached his shoulders and his new face that held a lot of his old face, it just added a bit more of a masculine touch, making it impossible to mistake his gender.

The guards all sighed in relief as they saw the black hair, they didn't hold their weapons as firmly as before, but they kept their weapons ready, it never hurt to be extra cautious, and they did find Lirian odd after all he was wearing a blindfold.

"How did a blind man make it here alone?" Bosh asked curiously.

"You shouldn't underestimate what a blind man can see," Lirian said mysteriously, not giving any real answer, "Might I enter, as much as I'd like to chat, I'd like even more to get some rest," Lirian said in a tired voice.

"There has been trouble on the roads for weeks now, how did you make it here alone? And, how did you cross the moat?" Bosh asked ignoring Lirian's request.

Lirian sighed, he wasn't expecting his actions to cause the people to be so afraid, in a way it was similar to how things used to be in the past, but at least he was able to converse with the guards rationally.

"The moat might be a long jump, to most people, but it was easy for me to clear, I believe you all heard when I landed," Lirian said, the thump they heard was from his landing.

"As for the roads, I did notice something strange, there were less merchants and caravans on the roads, and those that I came across, had many guards, has something happened on the roads recently that I'm unaware off?" Lirian asked with concern, he had to make it look like he was genuinely surprised.

"I see," Bosh said lowering his sword, and he opened the gate to allow Lirian in.

"My apologies friend," Bosh said as Lirian stepped in, "There has been word of a group of Orcs, raiding the caravans on the roads we haven't had any one come to our village in almost a week, everyone's a little on edge, fearing an attack" he explained to Lirian.

"Orcs?" Lirian asked this time feeling genuinely surprised, so far he'd met humans, but he wasn't to sure about what other races were on this world, and he didn't look anything like an orc, even his stature was far to tiny to ever be considered a child orc let alone an adult.

Bosh shook his head, "It's just a rumour, but there were a few survivors of the attacks, none of them saw much, but they claim to have seen a figure with silver hair," Bosh explained.

"Ah," Lirian nodded in realisation, it seemed that the orcs here had underwent some mutation to give them silver coloured hair, it wasn't exactly a new discovery, all races tended to develop variations over time.

"Are any of those survivors still here?" Lirian asked curiously.

Bosh shook his head, "The merchants that were here at the time, took the survivors with them up to Proge, better to report the trouble and use the survivors as proof, to get the town to take the trouble seriously, that way they'll send out a squad of cultivators to clear up the road," he explained.

Lirian nodded and turned to the group of guards who were all listening attentively to his conversation with Bosh, "You lad," Lirian said pointing to the one called Naz, "You have sharp ears, you heard when I jumped," Lirian commented, Lirian had purposely made noise when he jumped and landed, while they all heard him land only that one heard him jump.

"How'd you know?" the guards asked in surprise, they all realised that Naz's reaction earlier was because he actually heard Lirian.

"I told you that you shouldn't underestimate what a blind man see's, but more than that you should never underestimate what a blindman hears," Lirian said pointing to his ear.

Then he turned to face Naz, "Lad show me to the nearest inn, I need some rest and hot food," Lirian said tapping his cane against the ground as if he was growing impatient.

"Lad?" Naz questioned, "I doubt that you're much older than me, honestly you might even be younger than me," he said to Lirian but still started to guide him in to the village.

"Hahaha," Lirian chuckled, "I'm old enough to call even the oldest ancestor whose name you remember lad, let alone a brat like you," Lirian said in an amused tone, but a silence followed his statement, and all the guards looked at him in shock.

"You're a cultivator?" Naz suddenly asked, with a completely different look in his eyes.

"Come now lad, no need to gawk, show me to the inn," Lirian didn't give them a direct answer, even if he said yes it technically wouldn't be a lie, as he used to a be cultivator, and even if they didn't believe him with a simple snap of his fingers, he'd be able use energy control to completely wow them.

To ordinary mortals, cultivators were legendary figures, the warriors that fought for their lands, and that kept their lands protected from invasions.

After Naz came to believe that Lirian was a cultivator, he showed the most respect and courtesy that a commoner would know how to show as he escorted Lirian through the village.