It had been half a day since Rouen left the tavern. He walked down a dirt path deep inside a forest. A small piece of paper was folded up in his right hand.

To his right he heard the steady of trickle of water from the river flowing parallel to the trail and the wind whooshing past his face.
 
That however, was all he hard besides the soft scrunch of dry leaves against his boots.

[i]“This is strange. No sound of any birds or wildlife. I don’t even hear a gadfly. What is going on in this forest?”[/i] he wondered. His swiveled his head looking at the eerily empty forest. In the horizon, Rouen could see the setting sun slowly retreating behind the mountains. Soon the orange light would fade and darkness would descend.

[i]“Whatever, I’m almost there,”[/i] he thought and unfolded the paper. It had drawings of landmarks and trails in the nearby area. Land Navigation and creating rough maps was one of the basic skills he learned in his time as a squire. He had been in the area for a few weeks and took the time to mark some terrain features.

[i]“Now if I’m right this cave should be a hundred imperial units from where this river ends,”[/i] he thought. An imperial unit was a hallmark from the days of Deardmadtha rule. Rouen begrudgingly acknowledged that a standard of measurement was one of the few good things that resulted from their empire.

He looked ahead and saw a pond that the river poured into. A beaten path could be seen through the brush.

[i]“Well, at least I know where this cave is,”[/i] he thought. [i]“And it probably isn’t abandoned.”[/i]

Rouen folded the paper and put it in his satchel. He pulled a stick with some rags wrapped around it on one end. Removing a glove, he let one finger near the wrapped end of the makeshift torch. Small sparks arced from his finger to the cloth, causing it to smoke and then burst into flame. New light lit up the area around Rouen.

[i]“ Let us see what haunts these woods,”[/i] he thought putting his glove back on and holding the torch up high.

He walked down the beaten path with the lit torch. The sun finally disappeared behind the horizon and nightfall descended onto the forest.