Lord Graystone of Dys looked down from his observation tower at the lush green countryside, and smiled. The heroes were doing the gods work, destroying the undead that haunted the continent. They were following his map of the most haunted places. But they were slower than he liked. To slow for his plan. The undead needed to be cleansed. For the gods, and for his family. His precious wives, his three children, and his unborn. He glowered at the greenery in front of him. He raised his voice in a bestial scream, and watched the startled birds in the wood break cover and flee.

  He turned from the beauty of the outdoors, and returned to his studies. The ancient book from the Heretics Forest. A tome of power and truth so terrible that it had killed the last three owners. He sat in his favorite chair, an old straight-backed thing, with a lumpy cushion, and opened the tome to page three, beginning once again to analyze the language that wriggled across the page.

  Under Graystone’s work table, in the deepest of shadows, the echo of a worm, smiled.

  -

  45th of Arah,

  Tiny sprouts of grass are growing along the side of the road, and the trees are budding. The green of spring is upon us. The sky was a beautiful cloudless blue all day today, and the light made the world warm. My heart was almost as full as a baked potato. Speaking of, stuffed baked potatoes are one of my new favorite foods. Had one at the inn we stopped at for lunch. I say inn, but it was really just a pub with a couple of beds in the back. The food and ale were delicious. Maybe I’ll take up brewing when we settle down…?

  46th of Arah,

  It rained today. All day. The going was very slow due to the roads starting to wash out in places.

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  49th of Arah,

  Three days of heavy rain have destroyed several roads and a bridge. The floodwater ate the ground around the land supports, and sucked the whole thing downstream in a matter of minutes. The power of nature is nothing to sneeze at.

  51st of Arah,

  The river has settled down to the point that you could almost swim across. I think we will seal the wagon and attempt to cross in the morning.

  52nd of Arah,

  Most of the day was spent sealing the wagon, but the crossing only took an hour. I don’t want to do that again anytime soon. About half way across the river a big swell almost capsized the wagon. Not what I wanted to deal with. At least everyone, and everything, is fine.

  56th of Arah,

  We have arrived at Decallowbo, Smootfones Province, Deepfalsia. It has a population of some 33,000 people and is surrounded but grassland. It is spring and the month of planting begins tomorrow. We will only be staying one night.

  If the weather holds, we will make Staglever, in the elven kingdom of Heartglenia in three to five days. The King’s Highway is usually well maintained, so the only issue is the weather.

  1st of Samue, the month of Planting,

  We made almost thirty miles today. It would have been more, but the city was a pain to exit. Apparently, some international crime boss was spotted yesterday, and the guard was in an uproar looking for him. Poor bastard needs to keep a lower profile. Should be another day and a half to the elven border.

  The only reason we are going to the elven lands is to visit Brianna’s parents in Littlestar, the countries capital…I wonder if I’m still banned from the country…Stupid elven god.

  3rd of Samune,

  Turns out I am allowed in the country. While “god what’s his name” hasn’t rescinded the order of my expulsion and ban of re-entry, the King is still my fan. I have a fear of being entangled in some kind of politics when we reach the capital. I don’t care that I “am” a noble now, I still don’t like politics. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I should have hired someone to bring us in country illegally, now I’m going to have to deal with state dinners and all that rubbish. At least the chest has appropriate clothes in it for the occasion.

  Brandy is off visiting friends and relations in the woods; I don’t know how long she will be gone.

  It should take between six and eight days to make the capital.

  https://www.narrativity.fun/ this June. Amazon made the mistake of giving me a credit card (I need an adultier adult!). Fishing season will open soon. I'm looking to make a website for my writing, and could use some suggestions about what there is for no/low cost hosting out there that a beginner can use. I will be restarting the live reading in a few weeks, so keep an eye out for that; I will also be starting to do "shorter" vids on YT, reading my chapters individually (hopefully that will take off).

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