The wind swept across my face as I raced through the forest atop my horse. My quarry was a wild boar, who is currently being cornered by me and my horse. Despite the speed of my horse, I was still able to survey my surroundings. Using this knowledge, I herded the boar into a clearing. 

Once the obstructive trees had mostly been left behind, I charged my horse towards the boar. When I closed in, the spear in my hand punched into the skull of the boar. Normally one would wear down the swine, but I had utmost confidence in my weapon, strength, and skill.

I hopped down from my horse and began to field dress the kill. After removing the organs and bleeding it out, I decided to keep most of the meat along with the heart, liver, and kidneys. I could have kept the intestines to make sausages, but I really don’t want to go through the trouble of cleaning them.

Hauling the kill back to our camp took a little while, but I think my effort will pay off. Even though all the hunting and fishing we’ve been doing has slowed down our travel pace, I have no intentions of abandoning it. For one, Sekh and I have outright stopped purchasing meat rations when we prepare our supplies. Our meat intake has become solely provided by wild game. If I really wanted, I could even accumulate enough smoked or salted meat to sell when I reach a settlement. More importantly, hunting and fishing makes travel a lot more fun.  

“Welcome back,” Sekh said excitedly when I returned to camp. “So what are we going to eat today.”

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, though I’m certain the same thing applies to women.

“Sekh, can you get some firewood?” I asked her. “I’m going to be doing a lot of cooking today. I found some apple trees to our west. Get plenty of wood from them so I can smoke the boar here, and get some apples if you can.”

“I’ll get to it right away,” Sekh replied cheerfully. “But you didn’t answer my question yet.”

"My bad,” I told her with a grin. “Dinner will be boar heart and kidney stir fry with onions and bell peppers as well as loin roast. I’m going to smoke the belly and legs, while I’ll make liver paste with the liver and parts of the shoulder. The rest of the meat will be salted so we can eat it later.”

“Azel, I love you,” Sekh said as she went off to get wood.

Sekh and I really have a tremendous appetite for meat. Admittedly we’ll be spending a few days to finish this entire boar, but this pig should be able to feed nearly two hundred people for one meal. Which means I have a ridiculous amount of work to do.

I quickly got to work making two makeshift smokers by creating a wooden frame in the shape of a triangular pyramid with a hide sheet covering the sides. I bought these two hide sheets back in Jericho for a total of 30 nummi, since I had anticipated that I would be smoking meat during our trip. After making multiple firepits, I got to work seasoning the loin, belly, and legs. The rest of the meat would be plainly salted instead. 

“I’m back,” Sekh announced as she arrived with our two packhorses laden with wood as well as a few apples.

“Sorry about this, but I have more work for you,” I told her apologetically. “First set up fires with the wood that you got at the firepits I made. When you’re done, I’d like you to wash the vegetables that I set aside near my bags. Take your time, however, there’s no need to rush.”

“Gotcha,” Sekh replied as she went off to do her tasks. 

The spices that I was working with are pepper, paprika, powdered onions, powdered garlic, dried thyme, dried rosemary, and salt. Of all those, only pepper is particularly expensive. Salt is panned from the sea to the east and the other spices are all locally produced throughout the eastern part of the world. 

After seasoning and salting everything I needed to, I decided to make some liver pate while the spices soaked into the meat. Unfortunately I didn’t have milk to soak the liver in, but I’ll just compensate with more garlic and onions. To make liver pate, I sauteed the liver with garlic, onions, butter, pepper, minced shoulder meat, and wine. After cooking the mix, I added some bread crumbs and chopped up the mixture before cooking it over the fire in a metal container. 

“Azel, is there anything you don’t know how to cook?” Sekh asked me as she chomped down on an apple.

“Actually there’s a lot that I don’t know,” I informed her. “My expertise is mainly on cooking and preserving wild game, since it’s a useful skill to have when you hunt.”

“You did a lot of hunting before right?” Sekh continued.

“Yeah, it’s a favorite pastime for nobles in the Marches,” I told her. “In fact, the Aswar I served made me live out in the wilderness for around a month or two.”

“Why?” Sekh inquired curiosly.

“It was punishment for me being arrogant,” I said with a laugh. “Apparently I stepped out of place and insulted the son of some high ranking noble for being ass with a sword. So I was dumped into the wilderness to learn humility.”

“I don’t think it worked at all,” Sekh joked.

“You’re actually right about that,” I chuckled. “I ended up enjoying my time quite a bit and actually got really fit during my time in the wild. My teacher was so amazed that he forgot to discipline me after.”

“So you were a wildman in the past?” Sekh teased.

“Ever since I was born,” I remarked. “See, my family’s miniscule holding is a small village in the mountains. So you could say I grew up on the frontier.”

“Honestly, you’re closer to a wild animal than I am,” Sekh said in amusement. “But, I’m always happy to eat what you make.”

That night, dinner nearly incapacitated the two of us. We had greedily eaten so much meat that we could hardly move for a few hours after. At least it made falling asleep very easy.

The following day, we continued our trek along the Skamander river. In about another day we should be able to turn west towards Synon. Our westward movement should also consist of about another day’s worth of travel.

As Sekh rode atop her horse and I walked beside mine, Sekh began to make small talk.

“I’m a bit curious,” Sekh began. “I heard a lot about your past as a hero and you’ve told me quite a bit about your youth. But what do you think would have happened if you hadn’t become a hero?”

 “That brings me back quite a bit,” I said as I scratched the back of my head. “Well if I hadn’t become a hero, I’m almost certain I would have joined the royal Aswaran cavalry regiment.”

“Really?” Sekh asked in amazement. “Is that royal guard unit similar to the one in Fars?”

“Pretty much,” I replied. “But I think I was a model candidate for the royal cavalry regiment.”

“That’s a bold statement on your part,” Sekh said wryly.

“It’s not,” I informed her. “I did tell you that I was one of the best warriors for my age in the whole nation. More importantly, my family is part of the lowest nobility and I’m far down the line of succession. That’s what really matters to the king.”

“How come?” Sekh inquired while tilting her head.

“It means I’m not considered a threat to the royal family,” I sighed. “People like me are deemed safe because we lack the ambition of the greater nobles. And even if we did have such aspirations, our lack of connections and name make it harder to gain such things. Similar to how foreigners are popular picks for royal regiments for the Zayid and Iasor houses.”

“I see, so you would have made it big time anyway,” Sekh said cheerfully.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’m pretty sure I would have been able to climb to an officer position in no time. If I didn’t die from some bullshit and court politics were stable, I think I might have been able to become the commander of the royal guard.”

“Your family must have been really proud of you,” Sekh remarked.

“I guess,” I replied bitterly. “I could already see them hungrily eyeing my prospects. All the potential favors and renown just because I made it in life. Even though they hardly ever supported me, I could already tell that they were planning to milk me for everything I was worth.”

“That sucks,” Sekh sympathized. “For me, my family has always been a source of comfort. I can’t even imagine how my life would have turned out without them.”

“I should correct myself,” I added. “I hate most of my family, but some of my younger siblings are pretty great. Even if they bothered me from time to time, they still tried to become their own person. Plus they were really fun people to be around.”

“You’re sort of a downer, you know?” Sekh critiqued. “It’s like you always remember your negative memories before the positives.”

“That’s true,” I admitted. “But I do firmly believe that it’s because I’ve had more negative experiences than positives. Anyways, I’m curious how your life would have gone if Ahriman didn’t plop down from the heavenly plane.”

“Nowhere near as interesting as yours,” Sekh laughed. “At the rate I was going, I think I would have likely moved out to find work in a human settlement. Maybe find a cute guy and bring him home to meet my parents.”

“I think the latter might happen anyways,” I remarked.

“Yeah, I’ll introduce you to my parents when the time comes,” Sekh replied. “But back to the topic from before, you must have cared a lot about your abilities as a warrior, right?”

Hopefully she'll completely forget about introducing me to her parents for a while. As I am now, I'm not sure how I would fare in said situation.

“It was pretty much everything I had,” I told her. “I had no money, no family connections, just an attractive face and an impressive skill at arms. Like the hero of most folk tales. But I never became that hero.”

Sekh just gazed silently at me while I complained about the past. Well I don’t blame her, I wouldn’t really know what to tell myself in this situation.

“But I think the issue lies in my self imposed image,” I continued. “I based too much of my identity on being some great warrior and hero. And everything came crashing down when I couldn’t reach my goal. Honestly, I never cared about love as much as I cared about being a hero.”

“But it still mattered to you,” Sekh observed.

“It did,” I admitted. “But that’s just because of my ego. I always wanted to become somebody in the world. I didn’t want to be known as just another member of the lowly house of Ashot.”

“Well things did turn out that way in the end,” I continued with a snort. “Ironic don’t you think?”

“I guess,” Sekh said while shrugging. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can really defend you on that.”

“And you shouldn’t,” I told her wryly. “No matter how you look at it, I was the architect of my own fall. Even if people gave me the brick and mortar, I was the idiot that built it all up.”

For a while, the two of us continued our trip without talking. After a few minutes of silence, Sekh spoke up.

“Are you sad, Azel?” Sekh asked gently.

“Not anymore,” I said as I gazed towards the horizon. “No point in moping around too much, I’d rather just keep moving.”

“I’m glad,” Sekh said in relief.

An hour before evening that day, we met a trio of travelers who were also headed towards the city of Synon. The group consisted of three young men who are farmers on their way to sell their produce in the city.

“Can we join you at the campfire?” one of the men asked.

“Sure, always nice to have company,” I replied. “You guys plan to eat dinner with us?”

“If it’s alright with you,” the man responded.

“Sounds like a plan then,” I concluded.

“Much appreciated,” the man told me. “It was really fortunate for us to happen upon you. The roads are dangerous so being in the company of mercenaries really soothes our minds.”

I feel like he isn’t considering the possibility of us robbing his group, but maybe he’s just trying to get on our good side. Well I have no intention of extorting them; however, I would like to eat some of their produce. 

“How about we both chip in for dinner?” I proposed. “I’ve got some pork ribs being marinated as well as some loin roast. In return, I’d like a jar of olives and you can share some beans with us.”

The three men exchanged looks for a moment before happily agreeing. Dinner that night felt even better than before. Partly because of the additional company, but also because of the olives.

“So how are we going to keep watch?” I asked our party a while after dinner.

“How about two of us take the first shift?” one of the farmers proposed. “Then you two can take care of the second shift.”

“Seems great,” Sekh chimed in.

Just as I expected, Sekh wants to use me as a hug pillow. 

"Sorry, but I have to decline," I answered. "How about one from each party does the first shift then continue that for the second. That way we won't have to worry about anyone doing anything funny."

"Fair enough," the farmer conceded.

Sekh pouted silently. Evidently she understood my reasoning but was deprived of her favorite pillow. 

As I stood watch during the night, I could see the faint flicker of torches off in the distance. But the distance was too far and I was unable to make a meaningful observation. When I asked the farmer who was on watch with me to look, all he did was get worried and tell me that wasn't able to see much either. Unfortunately it looks like I have to wake up Sekh, since she's the only one with good night vision.

"Is it time already?" Sekh asked groggily as I shook her awake.

"Not yet, but there's some lights in the distance that I'd like you to investigate," I answered apologetically. 

Once Sekh had finished getting up, and complaining while she did it, I pointed her towards the direction of the lights.

"I believe those are people, correct?" I inquired as Sekh peered around at the far off light.

“Yeah,” Sekh replied. “They’re armed, but I don’t know if they’re bandits or militia.”

“Let’s go get a closer look then,” I decided.

The two of us slowly crept towards the faint light in the distance. Once Sekh got close enough, she signaled me to stop. All I could see was an orange glow and black silhouettes, though I think Sekh was getting much more visual information than I am.

“False alarm,” Sekh told me. “I can see them wearing heraldry with a bull. I think they’re soldiers patrolling the area.”

“Any blood or damage to the uniforms?” I asked.

“Not at all,” Sekh responded. “Maybe a bit of dirt here and there, but the uniforms are maintained.”

“I can take over your shift now that I'm awake,” Sekh said as we began walking back to camp.

"Sorry about bothering you," I replied. "But I guess it's better to be safe than sorry."

Well I am glad that things didn't take the worse possible turn. However, the fact that guards are patrolling the roads in such a fashion is a clear sign of the haphazard nature of this region. 

It was during the afternoon of the next day that we came upon the city. Synon originated as a sort of marketplace and gathering ground in this region. As such, the city was fairly plain looking. The circular timber walls and cobblestone roads looked a little worse for wear, though the presence of newly constructed buildings were a clear sign of hope for the city.

We parted ways with the farmers after entering the gates. Their group headed towards the marketplace, while Sekh and I journeyed towards the castle. From what one of the gate guards told me, the address on the package is a building near the Doux’s castle. 

Said residence is a gated house, complete with a few guards stationed outside. From the looks of it, the men aren't city watchmen but private soldiers. Despite their thuggish appearance, the two private guards were very courteous and I was able to deliver the package without issue.

Unfortunately when I went to the castle, I was informed that the local Doux was currently out surveying his territory. Well I have no intention of waiting a few days to meet him, so I decided to hit the road once more with Sekh. After failing to find a job at the Labor Bureau then buying a few supplies for 2 nummi, Sekh and I left the city.