Traveling alone had always been a double-edged sword. The feeling of isolation, of lonely freedom in your own thoughts could be pleasant at times; and at other times, when wolf howls became louder and snarling emerged from the nearby bushes, pleasant couldn't be further from the truth. But as I trudged through stiff-limbed corpses, moving aside any dead men attempting to block my path, the atmosphere was neither peaceful nor terrifying.
It was eerie.
Seeing their faces, the hollow eyes and sunken cheeks of souls taken too early, sent a chill passing through me; and not from the freezing mountain weather, either.
The pass grew much calmer following the battle, resulting in an overall uneventful journey to the end of the pass. Upon sighting a wooden gate guarded on both sides by pairs of Protaxian soldiers, I believed the hard part to be over.
I was wrong.
Strolling up to the gate guards, I stopped a few feet out of range of their barbed spearheads. The one on the left asked, "Who are you? State your business here."
Formality stood strong, despite their losses. My mouth opened to reply, but the words suddenly caught in my throat. Any notion that this would be an easy task fell apart right there, taking my relaxed demeanor with it. The soldier gave away no hint of recognition, but I knew he'd figure it out too quickly for me to avoid the issue.
Me and the left guardsman had met before.
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