Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with the next chapter in this wonderful story by Olthadur, entitled

The Pilgrimage of Virtue

Background music by Smartsound

Chapter 7, “Resolute to Vertas”

We stayed in Resolute for a few more days while we discussed our options for the next leg of the pilgrimage. The morning before the day we left I went to the Bell of Courage devotional and sat at the edge of the fountain. I was reflecting on what it meant to be courageous, and what the Soldier did in the pass, when the Elder slowly walked up and joined me.

“This has been a good journey, has it not?” he said, slowly leaning on the fountain.

“We are not yet half way and already one of us almost died,” I replied.

The Elder nodded slowly but did not look remorseful. The Farmer, noticing us, walked over to join us.

“The world is not a safe place. It never was, and it will never be,” The Elder said.

“But isn’t that what the outlanders are here for? To make this place safe again?” The Farmer asked.

The Elder looked up, taking a slow breath. He watched as the shattered moon began to set.

“Make it better,” he said, slowly, “fix what was broken, help us – perhaps. But they will never make a safe world. Such a thing does not exist. It cannot exist,” the Elder said. In a slow motion he turned, deliberately, and looked up at the carved bell above us. “They don’t seem to suggest they will fix everything. They teach Courage. Courage to leave the places we know and journey to places we have never been. And there is danger in that. If they were going to make us all safe, they would never need to teach us Courage.”

When we got back to the inn, the plan to leave South Paladis was shared. We would head west and make our way through Vertas Pass. Our next stop for provisions would be Vertas. Many thought it was a dangerous plan. The elves of Vertas may not want us there, there is rumour that the elves have been quite violent recently. The rumour started an argument, and we all reconsidered the safety of our pilgrimage. We did finally agree that if we were serious about the Virtues, we would need to have the Courage to continue.

Unlike Nightshade Pass, Vertas Pass wound up into the mountains and was known to be quite cold. There was talk of bears wolves, and elves on the pass. If the animals didn’t kill us, maybe the elves would. And if not that, then the cold.

It may be foolhardy, but we had Courage. Maybe it was the actions of the Soldier, or the fact that we were in Resolute, with the Bell of Courage and the statue of Grannus, but we all agreed that we would take this dangerous leg of the journey.

We arrived at the base of the pass before nightfall. We were already frozen. We built a fire, huddled together under blankets and were spent. Our bodies shook in an attempt to warm us. No stories were shared that night.

We were nine frozen, achy travellers who awoke and ascended into the Vertas Pass that morning. Even though we were tired and cold we needed our wits about is. The pass was populated by hungry animals.

Luckily, we only encountered the wolves. I doubt it was the worst thing we could encounter, and I don’t think we would want to encounter anything else. They were very large, hungry wolves, and when they ran, they were incredibly fast. I did not imagine that such an animal could be that fast.

We bested them with raw meats that were purchased in Resolute, throwing them at the wolves, feeding them with meat rather than our own flesh.

“Don’t run,” the Soldier reminded us, as we moved as quickly away from the wolves as we could without running.

After the wolves we thought we would have much more ...