15. Dragging

After almost two long days of work, the four of them had a good lunch offered by Valorum. By the end of it, he said:
- "We here at Menialainem are very grateful with all the work you have done, it has been an amazing help." - he touched his mustache - "And I wonder, would you be willing to do more to help us?" - Isabella was fast:
- "We are honored by your request, but we must refuse. We have a tight schedule and we must press on" - she looked at this eyes - "in the future the kingdom can better lend its help, but for now, we will ask for argonite and make our leave" - he replied:
- "I must insist a little, you are changing our lives." - he put his hand on his chest - "we still have a lot to work in our town and you are very generous and capable" - she again was fast:
- "Again, we are honored, but we must press on." - she looked around, there were some important townspeople - "of course you will honor your part of the deal and in the future the kingdom will help more" - now, Valorum was a bit cornered and gave up:
- "Of course, it is my honor" - he asked one of his assistants to get the argonite according to Caoilainn's request. After all was done, he saw them out and said:
- "Lady Isabella, Caoilainn, Richard and Mazanlold, thanks a lot for the help, we expect to see you again soon" - they saluted Valorum and left the village.
- "So, let's hurry, Lonenol is not close and we must make it there before night falls" - Isabella rallied them and they continued.

They arrived at Lonelol during sunset. The once green valley was painted orange by the sun and the shadows already crept in, creating a gorgeous contrast. They could complain about how the travels were tiring, but certainly not of the views and they beauty they could behold. Caoilainn sat down on the ground saying:
- "That's it for now, let's wait for the full moon" - she loosened her body and looked down. Her blue dress seemed like am umbrella unfolded into the ground. Following her, Isabella also sat down, not before using her sword as support and Richard lied down. Mazanlold kept standing, alert to danger. Isabella said:
- "You can sit Mazanlold, we can make shifts" - he only said:
- "I will stay here" - Isabella sighed but said no more. The four of them kept silent waiting.

Later, the full moon rose illuminating the dale in a new pale light, enhancing its lushness and creating a beautiful contrast with the shadows. Isabella and Richard got up to find the hollow while Caoilainn stayed on the ground. Mazanlold was standing, still not budging, but his eyes were red and tired. It was not long before Isabella said:
- "There" - she pointed at a big patch of shadow - "that seems like a hollow, let's take a look." - she went and they slowly followed her, until they reached the hollow. Caoilainn approached it and, using her staff, she lit a small fire to look inside. Exactly as expected, there were brown roots with small purple patches. She said:
- "Well, we found it. Let's get inside." - the four of them entered the hollow. Caoilainn approached the roots and they observed her. She knelt, closed her eyes intensely and opened them again. - "We will have to wait five minutes, so that the moonlight greets us here" - and so they did.

As time passed, the moonlight crawled towards the roots, toning them with a gray shade and making the purple patches shiny brightly. Following the light, Caoilainn put the argonite on top of the roots and started the alchemic process. She drew her runes and before their eyes, the argonite turned into liquid, spread in the roots and the roots dissolved, revealing a glass bottle with a paper inside. Caoilainn sighed:
- "Yes, another paper" - She opened the bottle and the four got close to read. One side of the paper had an alchemic circle and the other had yet another riddle. They quickly skimmed over the text. Noticing no mention of "Lonelol", "dale", "hollow" or anything similar to that, Isabella looked at them and said:
- "Let's get out and rest, right?" - they agreed instantly and left the cave.

In a few minutes, they were on the edge of Lonelol and Isabella said:
- "We are tired and far from any towns, let's find a place to camp and call it a day" - before they could accept this, Caoilainn pointed at the horizon:
- "Isa, can you see those lights? Doesn't this look like a town?" - they looked at some warm lights no more than twenty minutes away. Isabella was puzzled:
- "I won't deny this. However there is something off" - she touched her chin - "I know a lot about our land and maps and I've been to lots of places. I've never heard about a town here."
- "And how did we miss this place when we went to Lonelol?" - Richard said touching his glasses - "I don't remember seeing it before."
- "Maybe you were too tired to notice" - Mazanlold cut him - "Maybe we all were too tired" - Caoilainn replied:
- "That's very possible, even my vision has been a bit fuzzy. Moreover, it would be better to stay at an inn than in the wilderness" - Isabella said:
- "I cannot counter these arguments." - she leaned her head - "but this seems strange, I can't shake this feeling" - Caoilainn continued:
- "Well, it looks like a town and can be more recent. I don't see why we shouldn't take a look."
- "In the worst scenario" - said Mazanlold - "we can camp near there instead of staying in the town" - he tried but could not hide his tiredness.
- "Well" - Isabella lifted her arms - "I give up, let's go" - Richard also silently accepted. They went for the town as fast as they could, while a chilling wind filled the night.