Rhiannon saddled up Goddess for what felt like the last time. Though Camelot was bright and shining just like it always was, she couldn't help the sinking feeling deep in her stomach that something bad was about to happen... Something that could ruin their peaceful kingdom forever.
She shook off the feeling with a shake of her head. She wasn't about to let such depressing thoughts consume her, not when there was still so much hope for the quest she was about to embark on.
With a final tug on her saddlebags, and making sure she was wearing her pack and it too was secure, she climbed onto the horse's back.
"Let's go!" She yelled happily.
QUEST STATUS
Food remaining: 27/27 YOUR HP: 30/30
OOC
My character's name: Rhiannon Character's journal link:Here~ BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF MY CHARACTER: "Ri" is a pale, slender, young girl with long layered pink hair tied with a ribbon. Her eyes are as pink as her hair, and are usually set in a blank expression when not in battle-mode. (See avatar and Legacy Alt art.) Rank of character: Knight-Apprentice Sacred Points obtained: ???/100
They took off at a brisk pace, throwing caution to the wind and dashing through the rocky landscape at a healthy clip. This time, Ri looked at the massive canyons with a bit of awe at nature and its beauty. She still couldn't shake the terrible feeling, and the world seemed to agree with her, sending dark storm clouds to follow them through the sky.
The road didn't become much narrower as the other paths on the journeys she had taken on. Instead, this road seemed to be made of cracking earth, while massive rocks piled high on one another waited for its next victim like a patient cat. With no warning and no way out,the clouds suddenly began to dump buckets on top of the unstable terrain.
"Hi-yah!" Rhiannon rode Goddess harder, hoping to make it through to the shelter of the forest, when a rockslide fell from a cliff. The rain and mud mixed together, creating a river of slurry as it ran down the side of a mountain, the massive wave threatening to pull the white horse and her rider down to the canyons below.
Goddess screamed as the current swept around the horse's legs, attempting to drag her deeper. Ri pulled on the reins, trying her best to steer the horse back to the path, not being able to guide her on the ground for fear that she too would fall victim to the canyons.
"Come on! Come on! Come on!" The knight-apprentice prayed, pulling harder as Goddess forded the murky water to the other side. The horse went through easily enough, but her hooves weren't standing on very stable ground, and a section of the path gave way, making the horse fall and a saddlebag slide off the cliff like a duck floating on a river.
"YAH!" Rhiannon dug her heels into the horse's side, and together they ran through the path, eventually making it to the safety of the Winding Forest.
Their ordeal over, and with the sky still pouring water through the tops of the trees, Ri decided their best bet would be to wait out the rain. They took shelter under a large and very old tree, its canopy thick with rain-deflecting leaves and the grass surrounding it feeling rather soft, and very dry. She took off her things from Goddess and the white horse fell to the ground with a flop, exhausted from the journey. The young knight held her neck in a grateful hug, stroking the tired horse with loving pats.
"You did great today." She reassured her, kissing the horse on the top of the nose before reassessing her supplies. During the landslide, it seemed like the only thing she had lost was a saddlebag of food, but thankfully it wasn't very full. Ri leaned against the tree's trunk thankfully, taking a moment to eat and enjoy the sound of the rain thundering against the ground.
It wasn't a moment later that something rather large decided to show itself.
A massive spider sat in the branches above, looking down at Ri with a multitude of dark eyes snapped its large jaws hungrily. It almost seemed to be shaking with cold and it inched its way closer, attracted to the food in her hand. The knight sighed.
"If I give you this, can you go somewhere else?" She asked it with hope. As soon as it came close enough for Ri to see it was covered in a thick coat of bristles, Goddess jumped up, whinnying and pounding the ground with her hooves to try scaring the spider away. The knight tossed her food without a second thought, needing her hands to grab the horse and calm her horse down. The spider seemed to understand. It crawled down the rest of the way and only paused to lift the bread and cheese with its mouth, scurrying into the rain. It was never seen again.
Grateful for being on the back of a horse, Ri entered the Dwarven Mountains with caution. The rain had let up, its barrage slowing to a steady mist and the cold turning it into a gentle snowfall. She could see the mountain peak clearly now, their quest almost complete, when they managed to trigger a booby trap, the axes swinging down to take their final bite from the girl. She reached for her sword, but she wasn't fast enough, and the weapons cut across her old wounds, their blades leaving a large 'X' across her back.
The biting cold made her body shiver but felt great across her open back. They made it to the top of the mountain without any more incidents, though now Ri was not only cold, but terribly injured. It would be hard to find anything in this thick blanket of snow...
"That looks terrible." came a familiar voice from a large rock. The wizard had been sitting there the whole time, his kind face lit with the help of a torch.
"Its not so bad." The girl replied with a wince as wind came sweeping across the air, digging its claws into her wounds.
"I can help." He held out his hand as she jumped off her horse. A faint green glow lit the center of his palm, building in brightness until it covered the snow with rejuvenating light.
Her back began to tingle, as if it were incredibly itchy, then subsided as her back healed on its own, sped up by the wizard's magic. The wound all but disappeared with his help, leaving behind a new set of scars on top of the old ones.
"Thank you." She said sighing.
"It was nothing. You don't think I climb all these mountains for nothing, do you?" His eyes glittered through the shadow of his heavy cloak. "I've seen many a great knight fall prey to these silly quests. And I'd rather not see any more. Here, you're going to need it." He handed her one more pack, this one larger and heavier than all the rest.
Then suddenly, the snow gained strength and the wind kicked up something fierce, causing Ri to shield her eyes from the biting cold. Once the gust died down, she looked up to find the wizard was gone yet again.
She opened the pack to find food, as he usually gave her, but something made her look closer. And there, glittering even in the dark, sat a pair of shoulder guards, their tops encrusted with a multitude of shimmering black opal.
Though she was grateful for the wizard's help, Rhiannon felt a twinge of sadness. She didn't even get to say goodbye.
