Podge rested his hammer and tongs to eye Phoenix walk out the doors. He shrugged, “I guess he just wanted a fire.” He thought, “Poor fellow.” He grasped his hammer, rotated the sword over with the tongs and began pounding again.
Phoenix was riding down Ruddy road before twilight. The clouds had given up their rains and the sun met them on the horizon to fill in the silver linings with brilliant amber. It was normally slow going but Logan's delicate hooves navigated the holes and mounds that encompassed the narrow road (and gave it it's name) with ease, even without new horseshoes.
He had been in Pladue by evening after a hard ride from Donsifer. It didn't take long to find out where to look for the bandits. After their victory over the Pladue guards Edvar's men had become boastful and they were no longer a secret to the townspeople and neither was their hideout. The way to the fort could be seen not a league away from the ruddy road by the Stinging Marsh.
Phoenix rode steadily towards the great wooden fort, his red hair waving in the wind. With him he carried his longsword and a shield that bore the crest of a phoenix- fire bird. He stopped Logan more than a stone's throw away as he decided to pause and eye the fort up for memory.
Cedar beams with carved tips walled the inside courtyard with ramparts on all sides judging by the heads that poked up from behind the pointed tops of the beams. The rear rampart could be seen from further back as Phoenix rode in and it was much larger than three or four shoulders abreast indicating a roof to cover rooms below. One of which had to contain Rithevan if he wasn't with the others as Phoenix was suspecting.
“Rithevan could never have participated in the fight with the town-guards. That would have been far too drastic for him to change so much.” He thought. The adrenaline flowing through his veins burned like the fire that he possessed. |
