***
Echo glanced ahead. The road was clear for many miles, but a village could be seen by it on the horizon. Echo sighed. The village was a marker for their journey. It meant that they only had a little over four more days to go until the Silver Forest, which was where the band of robbers supposedly were. And then it would be eight days back... fifteen days until he could see Ariff and Orlania again...
Anwynne looked down, still pondering over Rogan's discourse with her. Had her story, referring to the prisoner here, made any difference? Had Rogan detected its true meaning? Well, it had definitely gotten to him. There was no doubt of it. His swagger had been broken, at least for a moment, to show Anwynne's victory.
But then, had she really pulled anything over him? She still couldn't puzzle out his story. A boy...Who had Rogan been speaking of? Did the person even exist? Or was the story merely a distraction? But then, he surely didn't want her to be distracted from his proposition, and it was he who had interrupted the story after all. Then had it merely been to catch her off her guard with a re-asking of his question? Anwynne shook her head to herself. No, it hadn't seemed like a simple diversion... Somehow it felt like it was more than that... But what then? What had he meant by it?
A boy who had lost his best friend... lost in a war... a war that had raged for years... Hmm... Could Rogan have been speaking of the Great War, between Belestine and Nistria? It had only ended seven years ago, and had gone on for eighteen years before that. It could have easily been the war that Rogan had spoken of...
Was the story even true? And if it was, how did Rogan know it? Perhaps... Perhaps he had known the boy of whom the tale spoke...? Or, perhaps... Anwynne glanced down uneasily. Rogan had said the boy was not unlike the man in her tale... Perhaps the boy... the boy was the same person as that man... Rogan's prisoner. Perhaps this was why Rogan had cut the story off - merely because what had happened to the boy next was a terrible imprisonment at his hands.
Anwynne shuddered. If it was true... Only a boy...? She blinked away a furious tear. Only Rogan could be as inhuman as this.
***
But then, had she really pulled anything over him? She still couldn't puzzle out his story. A boy...Who had Rogan been speaking of? Did the person even exist? Or was the story merely a distraction? But then, he surely didn't want her to be distracted from his proposition, and it was he who had interrupted the story after all. Then had it merely been to catch her off her guard with a re-asking of his question? Anwynne shook her head to herself. No, it hadn't seemed like a simple diversion... Somehow it felt like it was more than that... But what then? What had he meant by it?
A boy who had lost his best friend... lost in a war... a war that had raged for years... Hmm... Could Rogan have been speaking of the Great War, between Belestine and Nistria? It had only ended seven years ago, and had gone on for eighteen years before that. It could have easily been the war that Rogan had spoken of...
Was the story even true? And if it was, how did Rogan know it? Perhaps... Perhaps he had known the boy of whom the tale spoke...? Or, perhaps... Anwynne glanced down uneasily. Rogan had said the boy was not unlike the man in her tale... Perhaps the boy... the boy was the same person as that man... Rogan's prisoner. Perhaps this was why Rogan had cut the story off - merely because what had happened to the boy next was a terrible imprisonment at his hands.
Anwynne shuddered. If it was true... Only a boy...? She blinked away a furious tear. Only Rogan could be as inhuman as this.
***
