How could there be even more people than what he was already seeing upon the streets? It was mind-boggling. “Why couldn’t the town build out into the field?”
“It keeps the town away from the forest, providing a sort of barrier so their children or animals don’t wander in, or can at least be caught before they do.” She almost had to yell the words above the noise of the overcrowded street. “Come on, hurry up! If we don’t hurry, this week’s supply of honey will be gone before we get there.”
She was quick and small, easily navigating her way through the mob. Garren groaned, forcing his way through the horde after her and trying not to knock anyone over along the way.
Up ahead, he could make out a large fountain with a grand statue of a woman upon it. That had to be the market square.
When he finally pushed his way out into the opening of the square, he quickly realized it was going to be near impossible to maneuver his way through it. The town’s center thrummed with life, pulsing like a beating heart, the streets simply the veins feeding it with the townsfolk. The sight only intensified his thoughts of Sardorf needing to build out further. The people were like weeds, growing and sprouting from every nook and cranny around him.
Villagers crammed around merchant carts overflowing with spices, tapestries, fabrics of every color, smoked meats, and fresh vegetables. For how far removed this town was, they certainly seemed to be thriving. No matter how far behind they were in advancements, architecture, or clothing, the village of Sardorf seemed far more alive and joyous than any place he had visited before.
The air in the town center was sweeter–a mingling of florals, rich mossy earth, and delicious treats. Garren looked down to say as much to Oriana, but she was gone.
“Well, shit,” he sighed, looking out over the sea of varying red and auburn-colored heads. Garren raked a hand through his own dark locks scattered through with gray, so different from all those around him. “I guess now’s as good a time as any to find some answers,” he muttered and headed into the fray.
He made his way to the beautiful stone fountain in the very center of the square. It depicted the scene of a woman delicately etched with details of flowers wrapping around her like a silken cloth, one welcoming hand held out, and the other wrapped around a stalk of wheat. It could only be a depiction of Linea, the goddess of nature and the harvest.
A few young lads were at its base, playing with the water, giggling and splashing it at one another. Garren found that much could be learned from children; they were a wealth of information, always listening to the adult conversations around them and spilling secrets like an overturned bucket of milk.
Garren took a step closer and was suddenly hit in the face with a spray of icy cold water. The three boys froze, staring at Garren–the strange outsider–with looks of fear on their faces. But Garren only threw his head back and barked out a loud chorus of laughter. “Well, that’s one way to wake a person up,” he chuckled. “Thank you, lads.”
The boys looked between one another, eyes wide, before joining in with Garren’s laughter and coming round the fountain to stand beside him.
“Sorry mister,” said a boy with large blue eyes and two missing front teeth.
“We were just having a bit of fun,” the freckle-faced boy next to him added.
“Say, mister,” ventured the third, whose bush of orange-red hair almost swallowed his head whole. “Where did you come from? You’re not from around here.”
“I’m from a city far south of here called Cirus. It’s a land of sand and sparkling blue seas. Where the sun is hot and it never grows cold.”
“What’s a sea?” the freckle-faced boy asked.
Garren was taken aback slightly by the question until he realized these children had never seen the sea. He felt a sudden sadness for them, trapped within this small world by a dark, unnatural forest.
“Haven’t you ever heard of or read about the sea?” Garren inquired. Surely, there were storybooks about pirates and creatures who lived in the ocean somewhere in this town.
“No,” the boy with two missing teeth shook his head profusely. “We don’t like to read.”
“Blah, yuck!” the orange-haired boy chimed in.
The third nodded his head profusely in agreement.
“It’s a large body of water,” he said, composing himself. “Think of a million fountains put together.”
Their faces took on a look of wonder, and Garren’s heart ached at the sight. He loved the sea more than anything. All that vast, endless ocean, spread out past the horizon. It made him feel free and alive. It was the one place he could truly breathe away from the cloying world of demons. Most of them, anyway.
Long ago, before the death of his parents, he wished to sail across the ocean with dreams of discovering what else was out there. He had imagined grand new lands full of mystery, sights never before seen. New discoveries to share with the world broadening their horizons. And what a discovery he had made. An entire town lost to time, erased from history. It was extraordinary.
“What’d you come here for?” the orange-haired boy asked, pulling Garren from his wandering thoughts.
“Did you actually make it through the forest?” the toothless one added, mouth hanging slightly ajar.
“Yes, I did,” he answered first before adding, “I came to learn more about your town and the forest.”
“How did you make it through?” all three boys eagerly shouted in unison.
“Have any of you gone into the forest?” he countered.
