Banu didn't say anything for a while, he could see Elora was angry. Her arms swung briskly at her side as she stomped heavily ahead, her pale face was a flushed pink. He had not heard what Mirild had said to her, but it couldn't have been good. Running to catch up with her, he grabbed her forearm gently, "Elora, hey slowdown. Tell me what happened? Maybe I can help."

She stopped walking and looked up at him thoughtfully. She wasn't ready to tell him as that meant she would have to tell him about the dreams and her strange behaviour. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but after all, they had only known each other for a few short days.

She shook her head and sighed.
"It's nothing, I just overreacted, don't worry about it".

Banu looked disappointed at her lie for a moment before his face morphed into a familiar grin. "Well, now that you're all fixed up, we should get moving, Istath is just up the hill." They both looked up at the tall mountain hanging over them. "And then we can figure out where to go from there."

Elora agreed with him, although she wasn't so sure she knew why. She had come all this way. For what? To get away from Virion and his men, yet she couldn't hide forever in Istath, they would come looking. Deep down she had this nagging feeling that this is where she needed to be heading, why, she couldn't explain.

The hours of the steep climb flashed by as Elora got lost in her thoughts, her legs propelled by an overwhelming anxiousness to go somewhere. She couldn't help thinking the coin was connected to it, it was always in the centre of things and things had been off ever since it came to be in her possession.

By the time they had reached the first building in Istath, both of them were breathing heavily and had foreheads lined with sweat. The air quality was thinner and Elora had the funny sensation of being underwater. To call Istath a village would be very generous. The stone buildings built into the mountainside were half-destroyed and aged. Some were missing walls, doors and even roofs. A group of large men walked past them, carrying stones to attempt to fix some of the buildings. The landscape around them was a sea of grey, the buildings, the rocks and even the bare trees sported the dull colour.

Atop one of the depleted buildings sat three strange creatures Elora had never seen before, their screeching was loud, almost like a bird. "What are those?" Banu turned to look. "Arg those stupid creatures are Aardcivets. They're naughty scavengers, a real pain in the butt." Elora looked at them uneasily. "Don't worry, they're harmless...Just watch out for their talons." He told her, walking off ahead, leaving her standing there. She watched them fascinated for a moment. Their bodies were small and covered in thick brown fur. A long-tail curled around the branches of a nearby tree, on their hands were long sharp talons, curled under the fur. They looked sharp and not something she would have liked to cross paths with.

Not wanting to be left with the Aardcivets she quickly caught up with Banu, keeping a wary eye on the small animals sitting on the roof. He led them up the hill to a small building that sat at the very highest point of the village.

The local tavern. The glass windows were grimy and fogged up. Upon entry the inside wasn't much better, Elora had thought. A large wooden bar housed a small collection of coloured bottles filled with liquids she knew she would not enjoy.

The barkeeper grunted his greeting at them as they entered, the two other men in the room turned in their seats and just stared openly. Elora took a seat at one of the tables closest to the raging fire, warming her poor feet. She waited and watched as Banu got himself a drink from the barkeeper, nothing for herself. The walls were devoid of any paintings or signs, the floor had one threadbare rug that looked like it was once a brilliant blue many many years ago.

The chair creaked as Banu sat down opposite her, a jug filled to the brim. He offered her a sip, she declined. Not wanting to waste time beating around the bush, Elora spoke.

"So now that you have taken in all that Northern Realm has to offer, where are you going next Banu? We're literally at the end of the Northern Realm."

He took a slow sip, watching her over the rim of his drink. "There's something I need to do in Alzoh. That's in the Southern Realm by the way." He tapped his fingers against the tabletop, thinking. 

"It's where I'm from actually, the Southern Realm. I'm not sure where it is you're going, but perhaps I can take you there? From there you can make your own way. It would be nice to leave this blasted cold weather!"

Elora considered his offer carefully,  thoughtfully and weighed up her options. She couldn't stay in the Northern Realm, Virion would eventually find her it was only a matter of time, it wasn't particularly large. If she went with Banu she could always leave him when they got to the nearest city. So far he has proved himself as trustworthy.
"Okay, Alzoh it is!"

Banu chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Don't get too excited girl, we still have to cross the Terberis Cliffs."

"Terberis Cliffs! You must be a pair of crazy fools to be thinking of going through there."

A loud voice boomed from across the room. A large man, who was wearing a shirt so tight the front threatened to split open from his large belly. He lumbered over to their table and sat down with a loud thump on a chair, spilling half his drink over the table and down Elora's pants. Ignoring her disdainful stare at her sodden pants, the man continued. "You folks must be mistaken, you don't just go through the Terberis Cliffs. I've heard that terrible monsters live there." Elora sat up straighter, "Really?" Banu rolled his eyes at the two of them.

The man leaned forward eagerly, obviously pleased to have a captive audience. "When I was a young boy my father told me about this strange man who arrived in Istath one day. He carried no bags and arrived on his horse. This man marched into the tavern and declared that he was looking for men to escort him through the cliffs.
Only one person volunteered, the village drunk. Poor bugger probably didn't even know what he was volunteering for."

He stopped for another swig of his drink and licked his lips.

"Anyway, the next morning both of them set off on foot. Everyone from the village had gathered to see them off, probably curious to see the men crazy enough to cross the cliffs." He paused for effect.

"What happened to them? Did they make it through?" She asked, eager to hear the rest of the story.

"Well, a couple of days had passed with nothing new, when one late evening the poor drunkard came running back down the hill. His screams woke the whole village, my father had said he had never heard a man scream so before in his life. When they had managed to calm the man down, he refused to talk. He kept rambling on and on about something he had seen, no one could understand a word of it.

For weeks they tried to get him to talk, but he wouldn't. Search parties were sent as far as the entrance to see if they could find the other man." The man stared off, his eyes lost in a trance and then he blinked and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Some people say that King Ylyndar made it so that no one could enter and exit The Northen Realm..." Elora frowned at his words, only one way in, one way out.

"That's why you don't cross the cliffs." He said matter of factly. As she sat listening to the man's story something else had begun to bug her

"Banu, how did you cross the realm?"

"Finally an excellent question. You see, in the South, magic doesn't just exist, it's perfectly legal and everyone practices it. I had spent many years with my tutor practicing portal manipulations." Banu, seeing their confusion added. "It's a type of magic that deals with time, it's a lot more difficult than conjuring up basic spells and illusions."

The man still looked sceptical about what he was saying, a familiar emotion from the Northern people, Banu observed. "I was messing about with a couple of my friends; we were trying to open up different portals. It was stupid really; we were still learning and were unsupervised. Unfortunately, one of them figured it out and created one without realising it, I fell through it."

"You said you were here to see the North, to visit Wirenth?" She accused him just as another thought crossed her mind and she smirked at him. "Aha so that's why you want me to come along, you're scared of going through the cliffs by yourself." Banu looked sheepish.

"Okay, you got me. Besides visiting sounded a whole lot better than saying 'oh I was being stupid and accidentally teleported myself to a different realm.' I was embarrassed." He explained.

"Why can't you just open up a portal here? Then we won't have to cross the Terberis Cliffs?" She suggested this could make their journey a whole lot easier and faster.

"It's not as simple as that. Firstly, I think you missed the point, I can't open existing or create new portals I'm not that advanced." He took another sip, the golden liquid dripped off his chin. "Secondly, even if I could, I wouldn't be able to. Magic has been erased from your realm, magic needs a source, well strong magic like that.

In the South everything is a source of magic, the ground, the trees even the people. Magic is woven into the very foundations of the Southern Realm, it's strong too, considering it's been there for thousands of years. Without it, magic cannot thrive, like in your Northern Realm."

"How do you know magic has been erased? How do they even do that, erase magic?"

"I can feel there's no magic. They say the magic was removed by Warlocks, King Ylyndar's great-grandfather made a deal with the Warlocks, in exchange for the Northern Realms magic they would grant him unlimited wealth and power."

"What! He just gave away the realm's magic for wealth?"

"You can't be surprised; he was notoriously greedy. Anyway, it didn't last long, as everyone knows, Warlocks can't be trusted. He woke up one day and his wealth was gone, that was the day the Nmerion War began."

"What did the Warlocks do with the magic?"

"Who knows, they probably used it for themselves to become more powerful. They tend to keep to themselves these days."

"There's absolutely no way to create a portal then?"

"No, unless we had a Warlock, whom I wouldn't want to meet with either."

"So, we have no choice but to cross through the cliffs." She said determinedly. "It's almost impossible" interjected the larger man. She smiled at him. "I guess we'll just have to try". Banu snorted into his drink, her naïve optimism never failing. The large man shook his head sadly he had tried to warn them, and walked off out of the tavern.

"What's it like growing up with magic?" Elora asked Banu, fascinated by the idea.

"It's hard to describe I guess since it's all I've ever known. It's exciting and scary, learning new spells and conjures can become handy at times."

"What kind of things do you use magic for? Besides fire."She remembered the other night. Banu looked thoughtful. "All kinds of things, simple things like levitating objects to creating spells that assist with healing." Elora sat in awe. She tried to imagine what life in Wirenth would be like if magic still existed. Perhaps things would have been very different, maybe her parents would still be in her life.

That night Banu had bought them lodgings in the tavern, two separate rooms. Her room was simple, with a single bed in the centre and a small table with a washbasin. The bed, although wobbly, was clean. There was a knock at the door and then it was swung open by Banu. In his arms he carried a scrunched up bundle of material which he dumped on top of her bed. "Here, I got some better-suited clothes for you." He said eying her thin shirt. "We'll leave first light tomorrow morning. Sleep well."

 "Goodnight and thank you!" she told him when he shut her door. She would be lying if she said she wasn't scared for tomorrow, everything she had heard about the cliffs made her want to turn around and run away. But she knew she had no choice; she couldn't stay here and spend the rest of her life in hiding. How was that any better than her life in the prison, she would always feel trapped in the Northern Realm. This was her only way out, he was her only way out.

Too tired to wash her face, she kicked off her shoes and climbed into bed. Tomorrow will be a long day.