Orlando could feel the air grow cold. They had started their gradual ascent towards the hills. The canyon bed elevated little by little and they were now taken through a path that transitioned between the red rocky desertic plain into a stone scattered hilly terrain. Orlando had to make frequent course changes according to the amount of stones and other obstacles that lay in their path and it was getting a little strenuous for the mules to keep delivering the same amount of energy, he could sense. He glanced behind him to see that the sun was on its to disappear beyond the horizon.

"We are stopping, the mules are getting exhausted," he said while simultaneously pulling the ropes and bringing them to a halt.

"Is it fine to stop here?" Beatrice asked, looking around, a little worried to retire in such a foreign and unfamiliar place.

"I doubt anything worse than what has already happened can conjure on the same day," Orlando said while releasing the mules from their harnesses. "If what Jonathan said is the case, there shouldn't be any villages anywhere remotely close. We have successfully delayed our arrival to the mountain village. I think instead of continuing shortly after a meal, we should spend the night here. It would be cool for a change, cooler than the nights we are used to." He smiled. "But perhaps someone should keep an eye on everyone and the surroundings while we all rest. I can't turn a blind eye to how we were deliberately spied on our last venture by that brat, and how he threatened us for it! There's no telling there's not anymore of them lurking in the shadows right this very moment."

"Orlando. You cannot skip sleeping," Grace reprimanded. "It has been a tiring day and especially after everything you've done, don't feel the need to stay awake. Moreover, they clearly fled away, being scared by whatever the girl mentioned. I don't think they would follow us after that."

"Grace is right, you know," Beatrice backed her up. "You should listen."

Orlando looked at both of them one by one, then sighed. "Well, fine!" He went behind the wagon and took out the food supplies.

They ate as the sun set into a brilliant vermillion ocean, if only for a moment, as soon after, the ultramarine engulfed it from all around. The hovering entities of doom were back, their reddish dull glow doing the littlest to ease them, if not quite the opposite. It was an eerie silence all around and sharply cold. Not too much, but significant.

"The nights here are definitely colder," Jonathan said while bringing out the hay pillows and mats for sleeping.

Mary yawned. "Brother, could you bring me some water?"

He looked at her and nodded. "Sure." He got up.

"There, in that barrel. It is still full." Orlando pointed.

He watched Jonathan rummage through the numerous items before getting to the barrel.

"Orlando!" he called alarmingly.

Orlando quickly got up and went to his side. "What? Too heavy for you to lift?" He snickered.

"Quite the contrary. It seems to be empty."

"What are you saying?" Orlando was stupefied.

"See." He opened the lid of the barrel to give him a clearer view.

"There is only so little of it left at the bottom. But how?" Orlando muttered, unsure of how this could be possible.

Suddenly his eyes spotted something. A pebble in the corner of the barrel. He flitted his eyes to the side to see a small hole.

"Those bastards!" He slammed his fist on the wall of the wagon.

Jonathan gave Mary the little water that remained.

She drank with a guilty countenance. "But there won't be any left for you all."

"It's fine. I will look for a water source," Jonathan said, with much difficulty of accepting that statement himself. Rivers were scarce, and the only one he had known all his life was on the way to Sepiden. But they were not moving on that path. Going there was not an option.

He got up and fished out his Book of Salvation from his bag. He opened it, stood still for a moment, then closed it. "Orlando, we would need a fire."

The fire glowed with striking ferocity and provided a much needed warmth to Jonathan's group. Jonathan opened his Book of Salvation, getting a much better view this time with the new light source, and he searched for blue lines on the map, even fine ones.

Grace sat next to him and placed a hand over his shoulder. "Let me help you in bringing the water," she smiled warmly and looked at the map, "Did you find a stream?"

Jonathan hummed and looked back at the map and said, "If I am not wrong, all the factors indicate that we are here, at the foot of this hill, belonging to this series of hills that form the first range of lesser mountains. Yeah, the formations match," he looked around. "There! This stream is about a mile from here. The journey won't be steep. But it maybe littered with stones so we need to be careful."

"I should lend a hand as well," Beatrice offered. "Orlando, you can proudly look after the carriage and Mary while we are gone. That should satisfy you."

Orlando snorted and rolled his eyes as Beatrice giggled.

"Alright then, let's go!"

Through a heap of rubble made of boulders and fallen trees, led a narrow path through the crack between the hills. The path was just as described by Jonathan. It was a bit challenging to walk on fast and they had to be cautious of each of their steps.

"These hills have been standing for long. They are degrading down, leaving detritus on the floor," Jonathan said to himself while continuing to move through the ancient place, taking a good look at the surroundings, two buckets in hand like the others.

The moon was shining in the corner of the sky, crescent and half obscured by the rushing clouds.

"Those people who attacked us, how can they be so cruel? We got lucky to find this water source. I can't imagine dying of thirst." Beatrice was very offended, to say the least.

"They probably wanted to eliminate us. Rather than killing us off in bloodshed, they chose this path. There is something that they are afraid of, more than us ganging up on them in a revengeful fight. They could have brawled with us, but instead they let us go," Jonathan said. His face was etched with curiosity.

"They are heartless, regardless. And what is there to be afraid of us? Those words still don't make sense to me," Beatrice said turning to him, then facing back in front.

"There is a lot we don't know. There must be a reason behind all this. And I have a suspicion. What that girl saw, was not anything we could see with the naked eye. I am pretty sure she had access to some sort of magic," Grace theorised.

"It may well be true. Maybe there are other people who possess these odd powers, not only the old men that visit Anabel's village." Jonathan was having fun speaking about these things. To speculate over what could be was fascinating and it only aggravated his thirst for knowledge.

The stones were becoming rounder. They were nearing the location of the stream.

They hurried. Jonathan raced through the narrow crevasses and emerged out into the open. It was a wide area, where far in the distance he could see higher mountains.

The sound of water splashing, he could hear it. "It's right in front," he hollered to the others.

They acknowledged him with a nod and the three of them briskly walked up to the stream. It was far shallow than they had imagined and could not even be called a river. But still it was a water source.

"Ugh, the water is not as clean as our accustomed river," Jonathan said just by dipping his finger in.

"It's cloudy and there is some threadlike- wait. What are these?" His eyes opened wide as he spotted the thin threads of a darker coloured liquid form vortices and flash by his side as quickly as they appeared on the other. But they were frequent.

Jonathan looked at his friends. They clearly got what it indicated.

They walked deliberately in the direction opposite to the flow of the stream. But they did not have to tread far.

A horde of bodies were stacked right in the middle of the stream and drops of blood seeped through the gashing cuts placed at the bellies and chests, dropping rhythmically into the water.

Stench of death had enveloped the whole place.

Jonathan looked upwards. There in the skeleton trees, vultures guarded their full course meal, while yet others circled above in the sky. The moon had slipped out of view.