Chapter 1
Scouts are heroes, and dead scouts even more so. A ceremony is held, and their names are carved into the stone at the entrance of Haven. There are many names carved on the wall. Too many.
Our Scholar is busy chiselling Celina’s name on the wall. She was my friend. We became Scouts together, went through the training together. Now she is dead.
I knew she was missing, but we wait before we have the ceremony, just in case. We always hope that they will return. There isn’t a body to entomb. There never is. The Ergotis Beasts devour everything, even the bones.
We cry when a child dies or an elder, but never for a scout. They are not mourned, they are honoured. Heroes.
I am leaving on a six-cycle scouting mission as soon as the sun rises. I am no longer afraid. I was the first few missions but soon enough you just accept the fact that you are destined to die, sooner rather than later.
The darkness presses in on me, and I cannot drift off to sleep. I keep thinking of Celina, hoping she didn’t suffer. Hoping that one day, I will not suffer when my time comes. The Ergotis Beasts sometimes play with their food before they... Think of something else! Just don’t go there, Seren. Think of anything else.
Just before sunrise, I get up, checking and rechecking my supplies. I know I should still be sleeping, and that I will regret this in the next six cycles.
The gate guards bows to me as I walk out of Haven. Scouts are honoured and respected. I nod back and wait for them to open the heavy steel gate.
“May the path to our salvation open before you.”
I acknowledge the greeting with a nod as the gates close, leaving me outside. Just me. A small sliver of fear slithers down my spine. No! I volunteered to be a scout. I wanted this. Well, all scouts have to volunteer, but that is beside the point. I decided that this is my path in life!
One last time I check. Sword. Axe. Corn Cakes. Map.
Lesson one of becoming a scout. ‘The maps are only a guide. Use them as such. If you depend on them, you are lost.’
That lesson I learned the hard way. It is one thing to hear the mountains change, and it’s another to experience it first-hand.
I know the area around Haven very well. It never changes. Neither does Haven, but the further away you travel from here, the more it does.
I will never get used to the silence out here. In Haven, you hear life around you. Children playing. Woman singing. Live... Damn, the passage I was planning to take is now closed. A rock face too high to climb is in its place. Double back and find another way. It’s not like I haven’t done this before.
A few steps back and a small passage has appeared in the rock face to my left. It was not there when I first walked this way, of that I am sure. I close my eyes and commit to memory the position of the new passage.
Lesson two of becoming a scout. ‘Be precise with your observations. Accurate maps are more useful.’
