Almost a day and a half later Berri came to a broken wagon wheel, near the impression of a road, not far from the impression of a foundation. The foundation and road were old, mostly buried, offering little more than a slightly higher point of reference on the plains. The tracks of horses, wagons and people using the old road were a curiosity and the broken wheel was free wood to burn. The dung was days old for that matter and would burn well enough also. There were berries near the foundation and more, other berries in the grass, a bit further from the remains of whatever building had once stood here. The caravan had not stopped here any longer than it had taken them to replace the wheel. Berri was arguing with herself if she should stop or press onward to the hills, as had been her original intent for the days travel. The most interesting thing about the wagon wheel was that the hub and radials had once been painted bright green, maybe it had been from someone’s house-wagon, but the wheel seemed small for that, so maybe this wheel was from a circus wagon. It had been a long time since she had seen a circus, nearly five years back.

She looked to Horse, who was munching on grass, then she sat down and started eating the strawberries, they were very ripe, warm and sweet. Yummy.

Her brain stopped racing a bit, it had been a while since she had eaten. From a sitting position she looked around the area again. The spot would make a good camp, though there was no sign anyone else had done so. Perhaps the proximity to Madden Hills discouraged people from utilizing the location, a fire would be seen from the northwestern part of the hills easily enough, come dark. Maybe the undead would come out of the hills and curse whoever camped here, though she figured it would more likely be bandits.

She took the time to gather some blueberries, found a couple of dead apple trees buried in the grass near a collapsed well, also buried by old grass. Maybe the well had gone bad and poisoned whoever had lived here or someone had come from the hills and poisoned the well. All the little apple trees that had tried to grow here had died young, likely because the grass had overtaken the area, probably not poison. The blueberries were not quite ripe, but that meant they should survive the rest of the day in the pouch she decided to put them in.

Berri took the remains of the wheel and lashed it to the baggage on Horse, then tucked the pouch of blueberries to one side of the wheel, hoping they would not get crushed. She gathered Horse’s lead, “Come on friend, let’s go see what the Madden Hills are all about.”

Not long after she was underway the land began to rise, the ripened grasses of the plains gave way to lusher vegetation and some brush, periodically large stones dotted the gentle slopes leading into the hills. At one point, to the southwest she spotted what looked like three Pwhanna low-houses and a small herd of two hundred bleek deer. Eventually she came to the crest of the slope and could see proper hills ahead of her. She chose the highest of the nearby hills and made her way to its peek, the incline was much steeper, there were a few scraggly pines on the slope, a couple dulmak and lots of rose bushes. She paused briefly to gather some of last years rose hips.

She made it to the top of the hill as the sun was sinking below the western horizon. Above her the sky was a washed out blue-grey colour and to the west the distant clouds were vibrant with reds, purples and rusty oranges. There was a lone standing stone, whatever had once been engraved on its surface was too worn to be legible. There was a fire pit, lined with head-sized stones. She hobbled Horse on the flattest part of the crest and laid out her bedroll near the standing stone. She ate travel bread and blueberries and watched the nearby hills as darkness settled. It was warm enough that she did not need a fire. Soon she was able to pick out a number of campfires across the hills south and east of her position though nothing that might have indicated a village or town. After a while she lay down and counted stars until she was asleep. As usual, her dreams were vivid.

Berri woke shortly after sunrise, snippets of her dreams jumbled around inside her head. By the time she had relieved herself, eaten, brushed Horse and gave her some oats most of the dreams were gone, like wisps of smoke in the wind. Only the most vivid dream had stayed with her; a shield, emblazoned with a stout tower, smashed by a mighty orc with a heavy axe, while a dozen people or so ran in fear across a field as their homestead burnt behind them. Those dream fragments stayed with her throughout the morning as she made her way deeper into the hills.

Near late morning Berri came to a fair sized stream and took the time to replenish the water skins. Then she stripped down, washed her clothing and herself, fishing for a while as the clothes dried. At one point from further down stream she heard a fast moving horse, then the distinctive clatter of it crossing a wooden bridge, she listened carefully as the noise receded. After catching half a dozen fair sized trout she put her clothes back on and followed the stream until she came to the bridge. Stout wooden beams spanned the stream, the road ran roughly north to south. She took the southward track and soon came to a small crossroads with a nearby cottage. No one seemed to be around. There was an old faded way-point stone and a much newer wooden post with signs pegged to the top part. A crow took flight from the sign post as she approached.

Upper Madden and East Madden were to the east, Madden Circle, Madden Bridge and Middle Madden to the south, Lower Madden and Madden Lake to the southwest, while the road she had just came down lead to White Falls and Madden Brook.

Berri went to the cottage, called out a loud hello and knocked on the door. No one came to the door or from around the back. There was no lock on the door, but Berri was not just going to walk into someones place uninvited. She decided to wait for a while, talking to a local would help her orientate herself.

Horse wandered around the property eating grass and swishing her tail in an effort to keep the flies off of her. After a while Berri went to Horse, who had gone around to the back of the property. She pulled their supplies and gear off and fed her friend the last of the withered carrots and parsnips. She took the time to give Horse’s coat a good brushing then decided to comb her mane and tail. Horse seemed happy with the attention and pranced around for a while after she had finished the task.

The back of the property consisted of a small oven, stone circled fire pit, the well, a shed with a scythe and a number of sickles. A couple of narrow recently used paths crossed the yard, one lead to an outhouse near the edge of the treeline and continued into the woods. It looked like a woman or small man lived here with a dog, judging by the tracks. There were plenty of insects buzzing and lots of small birds darting around.

Berri wandered along the treeline for a while, gathered an armload of dead sticks and tinder, then went to the fire pit. After a brief effort she had a fire going, she collected her fish and the broken wagon wheel. A handful of crows flapped into the area, alighting in the trees around the yard. Berri talked to the crows for a while, they croaked and cackled back at her, but she did not really understand them. After cleaning the fish she took the innards and dumped them on a lonely rock. She gathered some green saplings and returned to the fire. The crows were quick to descend on the offered fish bits, they argued among themselves and gobbled down their meal.

Berri cooked and ate her fish. Sadly the cabin’s owner had not returned in that time and she had seen no one else along the road. She ate all the fish. She slept, only waking near dawn the next morning. She drew more water from the well, cleaned herself up a bit, found Horse, repacked the supplies and the gear.

She led Horse down the south road which wound its way through a narrow valley and eventually started up one of the larger hills she had seen so far. Around the middle of the afternoon she came to Madden Circle, which appeared to be a ruined amphitheatre on a small plateau about two thirds of the way up the hill. Along the eastern edge of the circle were a couple of handfuls of small buildings, some carved into the hillside. A few dogs gave notice to her arrival, barking and yapping until a gruff word from one of the local men put a stop to the din.

Roads continued uphill around the northern incline and downhill to the south, winding into a sizable valley with plenty of trees through which she could see a small river and a few stretches of cultivated land. There was smoke as well, indicating a larger village, though the terrain and trees screened the buildings from sight. She made her way to the centre of the old amphitheatre, sat on a moss covered column and waited.

There were a number of people around, though most of them did little more than glance at her with guarded looks. A small number of children had collected at the far edge of the old amphitheatre, they watched and occasionally made faces at her. She made faces back at them, some laughed, one girl ran off and a grubby boy of six or so years would occasionally throw something in her direction, though he seemed to be having difficulty finding the range.

Berri ate some jerky, Horse flicked her tail trying to keep the flies away as the sun edged slowly to the west. Most of the children wandered off, the rest of the locals seemed content to ignore her. One of the dogs came to her, sniffed around a bit, but seemed nervous of Horse and moved off to a sunny spot a few paces off. After a moment the dog did a couple tight circles and then laid down on the sun warmed stone.

Berri yawned and considered how safe it would be to take a nap herself. Certainly the locals had not been very welcoming, though she did not get the impression they were hostile. She dug out a thin cotton shawl when the biting insects started bothering her, draped it over her head and waited. She was beginning to think she should have followed Ijah’s trail eastward when the dogs started barking and yapping again. After a few moments the dogs settled and Ijah came into sight, she stood on the upper edge of the ruined amphitheatre and regarded Berri.

Berri waved, “Thought you had lost your way.”

Ijah glanced around, then came down to where Berri was, behind her a number of the locals appeared. They held staffs and in one case an older man had a short sword stuck in his belt. Berri stood up and gathered Horse’s lead. Ijah advised in low tones, “I do not think we’ll be welcome to shelter here for the evening. Best we move on while there is still light.”

Berri scanned the locals gathered at the edge of the old amphitheatre. A couple more joined the others, one with a strung bow, though the arrows remained in the quiver at her hip. They regarded Berri and Ijah with distrusting looks. “Yeah, alright. The road south is over this way.”

They made a slow exit from Madden Circle and headed into the valley below, the locals had followed at a distance and kept an eye on them until they had made it into the trees part way down the slope. Within the trees the twilight was near darkness, they proceeded with caution until they came to a spot with less of a slope. They hobbled Horse, put down their bedrolls and sheltered from the insects under their blankets.

Ijah seemed disinclined to conversation and Berri knew not to babble when the Kereshi was in a brooding mood.

—