Shadow slowly trotted up the road, carrying Elijah and Lily on his back. They had been riding for days and Lily spent much of that time asleep. She had noticed that despite the long and – in her opinion – mind-numbingly boring ride, neither Elijah nor his horse appeared to grow weary. After riding a bit longer, Lily began to grow tired and soon fell asleep. Not long into her nap she was awoken by the sensation of falling and being abruptly stopped. She looked around and noticed that half of her body was off the horse and that the only thing stopping her from falling was Elijah’s arm around her waist.

  “Easy there, kiddo,” Elijah said with a grin. He pulled back on the reins to stop Shadow and gently helped Lily off of the horse. “You nearly fell. I don’t know what you were dreaming about, but you jerked towards the side like you were trying to dodge something. It’ll probably be for the best if we make camp around here for the night so you can get some proper rest. Some sleep could do Shadow and me some good too.”

  Shadow raised his head and whinnied in agreement. Elijah smiled and patted his old friend on the neck before dismounting.

  “How come you and Shadow don’t seem sleepy? You’ve been awake for nearly a week and Shadow’s been carrying us around all that time,” Lily asked sounding annoyed.

  Elijah chuckled as he led Shadow to a clearing by the road. “A lot of your questions will be answered once we make it through the Tundra. Some answers must be experienced and can’t be given with words.”

  “I hate it when you talk in riddles,” Lily snorted walking alongside him.

  “Then you’re really not going to like my master,” Elijah joked.

  After walking for a bit, Elijah found a suitable place to make camp and hitched Shadow to a nearby log. He took bed rolls and a fire starter from his saddlebags and began to make a fire as Lily lay out the bed rolls.

  “You have a master?” Lily asked in astonishment, her eyes grown wide.

  “Well of course,” Elijah said with a grin. “What? Did you think I trained myself?”

  “What’s his name? Is he a better fighter than you? Will we see him once we make it to the Tundra? How old is he? Does he have powers like yours? Will he…”

  “Slow down, one question at a time,” Elijah said after getting the fire started. “His name is Dín Zal?, and he is the current Grand Master of the Shades. To answer your second question, undoubtedly so. Though, and you cannot tell him I said this, but he has lost some of his speed with age. However, he is still plenty fast enough to defeat pretty much anyone in singles combat.”

  “Wow!” Lily exclaimed with her mouth slightly agape. “And how old is he?”

  “Patience kiddo, I’m getting to that. But first you asked if we would see him once we get through the Tundra. I can guarantee you the answer to that question is yes. Master Dín rarely leaves the Night Hold, and to answer your previous question, he will be three-hundred years old pretty soon.”

  “How is he still alive!” Lily blurted out.

  “That is something you will learn after we make it through the Tundra,” Elijah said with a laugh, knowing that his answer would undoubtedly annoy Lily.

  Lily scrunched up her face in annoyance, then after a moment continued the questioning. “Mister Elijah…you keep saying ‘through the Tundra,’ what does that mean exactly? Isn’t the Drendal Tundra the most northern part of the world? How can something be beyond it?”

  Elijah paused for a moment, trying to think about how to explain what he meant. “While you are correct that there is nothing beyond the Tundra, what most people know as the Drendal Tundra is only a fraction of what exists. It’s a bit hard to explain without showing you, but for now let’s just say there’s a type of wall we must go through in order to reach Night Hold.”

  “How are we going to go through a wall?”

  “Don’t be concerned. Anyone who is a member of the Shades can pass through, and since you’re with me I can grant you safe passage.”

  “Can you tell me more about what the Order of the Shades does?”

  “Hmm, you sure seem to be full of questions now. We stopped so we could rest. Why didn’t you ask me any of this during the ride?”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Don’t lecture me,” Lily said trying her best to put on an intimidating face.

  “Okay, okay,” Elijah said with a smirk. “But after I answer this last question, we are going to sleep. Lay down and try to get comfortable.”

  Lily moved her bed roll next to Elijah’s and lay down next to him. Elijah looked down at the girl and gave a small smile.

  “You see, long ago the Order of the Shades was founded,” Elijah continued to tell Lily about the histories and duties of the Shades for several minutes before his story was interrupted by the sound of the little girl snoring. Elijah pulled a blanket over her shoulders and whispered, “Sleep well little one.” He then began to meditate as Lily slept.[1]

  ***

  The next morning Elijah packed up the bedrolls and fire starter. He and Lily then mounted Shadow and the three of them continued riding north.

  “Are we going to stop anywhere else before we get to the Tundra?” Lily asked after a little while.

  “Now you’re just full of questions, huh?” Elijah replied with a joking grin.

  Lily responded by turning her head towards him and looking at him through the corner of her eye. Elijah slowly shook his head.

  “As a matter of fact, we are. There’s a town called Hearth where we will stop to rest and resupply at the inn before continuing into the Tundra. It is the last town along the road going into the Tundra from The Midlands.”

  “Do you know the people there?” Lily asked turning back around to face the road.

  “Yes, very well. I stop their whenever I am going to or from Night Hold. Why do you ask?”

  “Just curious,” Lily shrugged. “Is the inn’s food any good?”

  “I think so, why?” Elijah asked, squinting his eyes in annoyance.

  “No reason,” Lily quickly responded. Clearly not wanting to answer the question.

  “Do you have a problem with my cooking? Because if you do, I can ask Master Dín to prepare food for you.”

  Lily turned to face Elijah with a hopeful look on her face. “Is he any good?”

  Elijah gave her a serious look. “When I was young there were many nights where I’d rather have just eaten the snow.”

  Lily turned back around and shivered at the thought. Elijah quietly chuckled to himself, knowing that he was not exaggerating, and knowing that soon Lily would agree with him.

  ***

  After riding for a few more days, Elijah and Lily finally arrived at Hearth. It was a mostly quiet and quaint town of fewer than one-thousand people. The buildings were simple yet sturdy, designed to withstand the brutal snowstorms that often came down from the Tundra. The weather was already much colder than Lily had ever experienced, and they had been riding through snow flurries for the past few days. Elijah had already wrapped Lily in his coat, but the girl was still shivering. The years of living at Night Hold had made Shadow and Elijah both virtually immune to the cold, but Elijah knew Lily would need much warmer clothes if she was going to survive her first trip through the Tundra.

  “We are going to stop here before we go to the inn,” Elijah said, steering Shadow towards a shop called Fare Weather Wares.

  “What for?” Lily asked, so cold that she could barely form the words.

  “To buy you some warmer clothes. At this rate you’ll freeze before we even make it to the Tundra.”

  Elijah climbed off Shadow and hitched the horse outside of the shop. He helped Lily down and both of them entered.

  “T?p’ta mǒ’pnü,” a gruff voice said from behind the counter.

  “C?n’hy h?n’z?,” Elijah replied.

  As they approached the counter Lily froze from a mixture of astonishment and fear. In front of her stood a full-blooded Orc standing nearly seven foot tall, weighing over four-hundred pounds of pure muscle, with grayish-green skin, pointed ears, and two tusks protruding from his lower jaw. The Orc began to smile, walked around the counter, and embraced Elijah with a hug.

  “It’s good to see you, Elijah. S?n b?’??”

  “I’m doing well, Ar?k. I see you’ve made quite the impression on my companion.” Elijah and Ar?k turned to look at Lily who was still standing completely still. “Don’t worry Lily, Ar?k is a good friend of mine. Remember that time with the mǒ’son?” Elijah said, jabbing Ar?k with his elbow and laughing.[2]

  “Don’t remind me,” Ar?k responded glumly.

  “You’re and Orc!” Lily blurted out.

  Elijah smirked a bit as Ar?k turned around to face Lily. She immediately tensed up. Ar?k then got down on one knee, bringing their eyes to almost the same height. He gave her a big toothy smile and place a large and rough hand on her right shoulder.

  “Aye, I am, but don’t worry. I won’t eat you. Hell, do you think I could with that one there protecting ya?” Ar?k turned and glanced at Elijah.

  Lily untensed and Ar?k stood back up.

  “Now, what can I do for you?”

  [1] To learn more about the Shades and their members see Appendices F, G, and H.

  [2] Ar?k and Elijah are speaking Orcish with each other. T?p’ta mǒ’pnü means welcome; C?n’hy h?n’z? means hello, friend; S?n b?’? means how are you; Mǒ’son is a type of creature similar to what the humans in Terra would refer to as an Ice Wraith. For more information about pronunciations see Appendix A.