The landing

To Theron, there was no way getting around the fact that Faeria was to the east of his and Sofia’s current position. And the ferry offered both a safe haven for spending the night, and a point of crossing the river that was situated much closer to their current position than the nearest ford.

Even if the border station could stand an attack much better, there was also a larger risk of it being attacked.

So it was to the landing that they would head, Theron informed Sofia, who gave it a moment’s pause and then agreed with his reasoning.

In silence, they began to move once again; working their way through the forested hills towards the river.

The one main problem with choosing to head for the landing was that it was further to go than the ranger outpost, and the terrain also became flatter the nearer they came to the river, bringing back the problem of having to navigate around the flooded areas.
Sometimes there were simply no reasonable choice to simply wading through the water, and hope that one wouldn’t run into something nasty lying in waiting below the surface.

And so it was dark when they finally reached the ferry landing, and both Theron and Sofia were virtually soaked, their bodies starting to react to the dampness of their clothes in the rapidly cooling night air.

Getting inside as fast humanly possible would be a good thing, Theron decided, and simply strolled down towards the small house that stood not far from the primitive ferry. It had managed to go unscathed through the flooding due to it being located on one of the many hills that were alongside the lenght of the Uhlan.

Under more ordinary circumstances, he would have been more careful in approaching the landing, but not this time. Behind him, he could hear Sofia struggling to keep up with him while at the same time trying to avoid producing any loud noises.

The latter was a task that proved too difficult, and their arrival had to have been noticed, if there actually was anyone inside the house.
It soon turned out that such was the case, for the door to the house was pushed open when Theron was merely a few yards from it, and a woman, holding a crossbow, appeared before them.
“Stop right there!” She cried out.

Stopping dead in his track, Theron looked at the girl and soon recognized her.
It was Kaie; that much was obvious. Even if her body had matured considerably during the last two years, developing an appealingly feminine touch that her loose cotton dress could not hide, her hair was as fiery red now as it had been back then, and her face had the same inviting features; bright green eyes, red lips that were ripe and full and a near spotless complexion.

“Kaie!” Theron was actually thrilled to see her again, not only because of how she had developed physically since the last time he saw her.

This made Kaie give Theron a scrutinizing gaze, taking several seconds before lowering her crossbow and giving him a weak smile.
“Theron.”

Then, after another short interlude, Theron felt obliged to ask Kaie where her father was.