Chapter 2 - The road ahead

Grayford Snowyfield - First day after finding Arbell

The carriage was dragged by Claire while others were walking close in a perfect self-disciplined formation. They would take turns to drag the rolling vehicle avoiding excess fatigue and pressure on any soldiers. That in itself was an amazing display of bonds between those individuals.

Sitting on the carriage, Maya was looking at the silent blank-staring Arbell who still didn't quite recovered from last night. The former was at loss, not finding the right words to engage in a discussion. Next to the women, was a few trunks, packed with tents and military equipment. One thing seemed out of place : a sword sitting in its sheath, binded with severals chains and straps. It was lying there thanks to Albert who happened to find it, not far from where they found the red-haired woman body.

"Commandant, I have to report finding this… sword. My guess would be that it’s her property."

"It indeed looks quite strange. What would be the use of such unusable weapon ? Could it be that kind of weapon ?"

"I don’t know, my commandant."

"Take it. That won’t be a problem to store it on the carriage. We can't afford leaving anything here anyway."

Despite being next to it’s supposed owner, the blade didn’t get much attention. Arbell’s thoughts were actually pretty far from it. Save for the thoughts, she couldn’t even bring herself to ask, afraid of acknowledging her current situation. Besides, save for Fredrick and Maya, everyone else looked at her with suspicion, although she was being pretty ignorant about the origin of this mistrust. From time to time she would have memories of her friends, colleagues or family and tears would drop on her cheeks.

After a long time spent in silence, Claire stopped dragging the carriage. It was time to switch up the roles. Fey who was the next, came closer and whispered : 

"Hey, Claire. The woman has been crying from a while now. Maybe you can try to speak to her." He kept up with a grin "after all you made her cry." 

"What ?! You ... It was an accident !" She replied, her cheeks turning red. 

Getting a more serious look, Fey kept up his explanation : "We won't know anything more if we don't try to speak with her. Maya is still at loss, making you the second-best choice to talk with her."

"Only the second, uh. You gonna pay for that. I'd advise on watching your back for the next few days."

Freed from her obligation, Claire didn’t paid any mind to the military formation, jumping on the carriage next to Arbell. The red-haired woman didn't pay any attention to the newcommer, she didn't even glanced in her direction. But that wasn't enough to discourage Claire who decided to engage the conversation :

"Do you like sweets ?" The question couldn’t be more absurd for Arbell. She didn’t expected to be questioned about this at all and looked at her, dumbfounded. The soldier revealed from her pockets some mysterious berries. An offended voice resonated : 

"Woah ! You cheater ! How come do you have Moonb- Aouch !" Poor Albert just got hit by some unknown ammo. 

"Hey that hurt ! No kidd-" Another strange ammunition hit the mark, prompting him to close his mouth and closing the whole matter at the same time. Grumbling and checking the mysterious ball sniping on him, he discovered it was the incriminated sweets. Still annoyed he mumbled something on the like of "Humph, that's how you’re buying my silence". Still, he didn’t dared to raise matter any further.

"So ? Are you hungry ? Those are Moonberries ! Maya you can have some too."

Arbell was at loss but couldn’t help asking "Moon…berries ?"

"Oh ? Moonberries don’t grow in Grayford ? What a shame… Then you should absolutely try them, they are sweet and tasty."

Arbell didn’t know what to do with that extended hand - holding berries - that was just before her. All things considered her tummy was absolutely empty, she cried a lot and, even though she wasn’t aware, her body had made a long travel before ending up in that carriage. Therefore, she decided to take the berries and taste it.

"It’s good." she couldn’t help but commenting that sweet flavour that was spreading in her mouth. Just when her tummy was rumbling.

"Hehe, have your way, I still have plenty in my secret hideout !"

eClaire. Know that I overheard that. I’ll ignore it right now, but I’ll have to check any items that doesn’t fit the ´needed’ part of our expedition."

The woman had a very pronounced swallow before slowly turning back to Arbell who was wolfing down on her reserve.

"Eheh, I guess I can be safe if the proof are gone." softly said Claire before increasing the tone "Glad you find your appetite again." Stopping on her bloody feast - she had juice all over her mouth -, Arbell raised her head and decided she should at least get some information on her whereabouts. A question was left in her mind since she woke up, and that helping hand was just enough to give her the courage to ask it : 

"You talked about... What was it again... ? Grisfort ? What is it ?"

Claire was about to mention her memory loss but she abstained from addressing the issue. She took a lesson in regards of what happened earlier when she mentioned her red hair. 

"Grayford is the country we’re currently travelling." as she began explaining this stuff, Fredrick slowly approached, also breaking for good the ideal self-disciplined formation. Claire didn’t mind and kept on "We found you in their land, wearing their military uniform. That leads us to believe that you’re a citizen or even a soldier of their country." hearing about Grayford, some images bursted in Arbell’s head once more . She still couldn’t make sense of it as it was blurry. 
Fredrick added : "We were in the area to spot for any suspicious activity. Far from me the idea of sticking the suspicious etiquette on you, but the fact that you were horribly wounded was plenty enough for me to act. I decided on getting you back to Enberfelt, reporting this incident."

Arbell was getting the gist as they explained the situation. She understood that it was not the world she used to know. She also understood that her current body was not her own… Furthermore, it seemed the previous owner was from a certain country named « Grayford ». Ironically, soldiers who were currently escorting her were not quite in friendly terms with their neighbours.

Arbell started gathering her thoughts : No wonder I'm getting the suspicious look. 'Spy' can very well be written on my forehead. At least, they believe in my memory loss and Fredrick seems to trust me enough to not deliver me as a spy. Still, I don't know what would be the correct way to act : Should I keep going with being a Grayford's fellow with a memory loss ? Not like they would believe i’m an inhabitant of another world anyway…

"Fredrick, what is going to happen after we get back ?" asked the girl, knowing that her fate will be determined there.

The commandant looked at her in silence for a long time, like he was gauging if that intel should be given. He finally replied : "To be honest, I don’t know. I’m not sure how the Council will handle this situation, there's no precedent after all. I can pledge for you to my superior but the other parties sitting in, that would be in fate's hands… Especially for the Clergy"

"A council ? A Clergy ?"

Upon hearing such words. Arbell was at loss. She certainly knew those ones but wasn’t quite able to understand what would be their definition in this world.

"You don’t remember ?" asked Claire.

"Or perhaps such instances of power don’t exist in Grayford," added Maya.

"Anyway, you don’t really need to understand what it means right now. That would be too much complex, especially considering your situation," interrupted the commander. "The road is still long to reach the gate."

"Probably four or five days if we go at a decent pace," explained Maya.

"That long ?!" interjected Arbell who wasn’t used to long travel by foot. "And I’m getting carried here, doing nothing."

"Not at all, that was our decision to bring you back." with that said Fredrick went back to his initial position. It wasn’t long before Claire decided to follow his example, getting scolded by her comrades for her long leave. Both Maya and Arbell were left alone in the carriage.

"Uh... Maybe... If that’s okay for you, I can maybe teach you some stuff about herbs, that way you can contribute a bit."

"Herbs ?"

"Oh ? Oh... ! That's right ! You fainted before I could introduce myself properly. I'm Maya Flitzel, an herbalist, also I'm not part of the army and usually branded as a civilian. I act here as a kind of... doctor ?" After a few coughs she finished her inquiry : "So ? What do you think ?"

I see, so that's why there was no hospital, nurse or any kind of modern medicine. They have herbalists to treat disease or other health trouble. At least I can maybe be useful to them if she teaches me how to provide some first aid techniques. Getting finally aware of her own predicament, she accepted the herbalist's offer by nodding.

The smile she got in return was enough to ease Arbell's worry and soothe that roaring anxiety built up in her tummy.

Maybe I can just start to be used living here. Not like I've other choices anyway. Feels like I'm 'free' prisonner. Feels weird.

 -------------------

It was nighttime, three figures were speaking inside a tent.

"Whose shift ?" said Regulus

Everyone looked at Albert, still present in the tent.

"Finished mine a short while ago, it's the commandant's shift right now."

"The commandant ?" Fey was looking at Albert with a dubious look.

"Yes, should have been Claire's but she has been exempted. Said it was better in case something happens in the women tent."

"That damn witch !"

"The matter is closed. Stop whinning Fey, it's actually a clever move." Rebuffed Regulus

"That damn witch..." whispered a totally down Fey.

"Anyway, I won't call the commandant's decision into question, but don't you find Arbell's situation quite strange ?"

"You mean her wound, right ?" Replied Albert

"Yes, how did it got healed back... ? At such point that nothing is left. Not even a scar. I obviously trust in Maya's skill, she's a very talented herbalist and have some medical knowledge I wouldn't dare to defy... But the truth is here. Even she is at loss regarding that matter."

Fey who stopped crying in a corner, joined the conversation again with the most serious look he could display : "There's not much possibilites left. The human body can't regenerate that way, there wouldn't be any death otherwise. So..."

"...Either she has something that allows her to heal her wound..."

"...Or she's an Aspect... And that would be extremely troublesome."

=== Temporary Author's Note #2 ===

Astorede here, hope you enjoyed the ride ! 

As promised, this chapter was released fast enough to compensate with the long wait between the prologue and ch.1... The next two chapters are finished, as usual. I just need to look out for mistakes and correct a few sentences. Ch. 3 will be online around wed. or thu.

No more character introduction (6 was a lot, phew !) but a lot of interesting intels were delivered here, still probably not enough to figure out the most important stuff (imagine a grin on my face, as I write this !). At least we now know where the squad is heading to. I wonder what could happen on their way...

Oh ! I almost forgot ! I've a gift for you fellow readers. Nothing amazing but it should help to visualize the world I'm trying to build : a map !
I loved watching the map of fantasy books such as "The Wheel of Time" or "The Lord of the Rings". It was interesting to pinpoint where the heroes traveled... As well as all the places left to see. Anyway, the map (don't expect anything fancy) should be uploaded at the same time of the 3rd chapter.

Thank you very much for choosing and taking your time to read this chapter, that means a lot for me !

Until next time, cheers !