I look across the bridge. A few bodies lay on the ground but the guard around the bridge seems to be rather scarce. I am rather disappointed. Despite this bridge being rather small it is still made of stone and it would be a waste of time to destroy it. 

Though the bridge does look rather aged. 

“I am tired, how about you Nathaniel?” William asks me. I am also exhausted. This constant state of movement and action has begun to wear upon me and I have noticed that I am beginning to grow facial hair. 

I never thought about it but it doesn’t look good. It is all thin and patchy. Most of it doesn’t even connect and do anything but look bad. William is also growing a beard as well. Though his actually looks far better than mine. 

“I feel the same. I cannot wait to get home.” I tell him. I look ahead of us and away from the bridge. In the distance I see the main Arrian road. Paved with stone and flat, something that I am missing really well. 

William urges his horse forward and follows the men as they carry on in their march.  I follow behind him listening the sound of feet hitting the ground. It takes half of an hour before we reach the road. 

I look either way. There is hardly anybody in sight. Perhaps they stopped using this path because they knew that we would be here. Perhaps the reason is simply that it is in the middle of the night with a half moon shinning down upon us. 

“Do you think they will catch up with us?” I ask William. I suspect that they should be on the move fairly soon after realizing that we are on the move. We are almost there, so close to getting out of this place. 

“Who knows. Depends on how much they want to catch us. They may or may not succeed.” He answers my question. I can’t see his facial expressions because he is in front of me but I hear the indifference within his voice. It seems that he doesn’t want to tell me what he truly thinks. 

I have been getting an off putting feeling from William for a while now. He seems less like a person with a bright future ahead of him but more like someone preparing for his death. I look towards my bag knowing that inside of it is a letter. 

He gave this to me because he thinks that he won’t make it out alive. But I do not see a future where he doesn’t make it and I do. I do not want a future where that is the case. I reject the very notion of it. 

I look at the forest towards the north. So many different types of geography in Arria. Some areas are farmlands. Some areas are hilly while others have a lot of rivers. I wonder why this is the case. 

“These are new. Weren’t this nice when I was here during my youth.” 

I look over to him and away from the forest. I look down at the stone paved road. Despite a bit of wear and tear the road did look fairly new and fresh. I wonder when they built this and how long it took. 

It isn’t something that I would have ever attributed to the Arrians but I have learned something from my time here. The Arrians really like their stonework. Though there is a vast variety of age when it comes to their structures. 

I guess I shouldn’t harp on this too much. The country is rather large and most of the older structures seem to be more obscure. “This is the way to Belnuo?” I ask William. He lifts his head up slightly. 

“Yes, though we won’t be seeing it. We will probably leave the road before that. Why do you ask?” 

“Just curious on this most holy of cities. Is it really as grand as they seem to make it out to be?” I ask William. He lowers his head slightly and remains silent for some time. I don’t think even a single city in Allonia is clearly as valued as Belnuo is to the Arrians. 

“I don’t think it is all the special in of itself. It merely is the center, where both their emperor and pope live. Besides, there are some impressive places there.” He says each sentence slowly as if he is thinking through what he is saying before he says it. “It isn’t all that different from any other big city in the world.” 

“That makes sense, they do tend to think of themselves as special.” I mutter under my breath. It must have been quiet enough because William doesn’t respond, although he might have just declined to comment because it is fairly true. 

“They are a proud people. Slightly misunderstood by many.” He responds. 

Not entirely sure that he is correct. Misunderstood? I seriously doubt that to be true. 

A/N: Long day at work today and I won't have a day off until Friday (I have gone to work every day since last Thursday). I might end up uploading my next project Wednesday instead of Glory be to Arria depending on how much work I get done. The prologue is done but the rest of the story is still in the works.