By bolgerjc
“I suggest we go through the mountain pass,” Timothy spoke up.
Marina nodded at the wisdom of the idea because the pass would allow them to get around the army of Dreze. It was too difficult to move an army through the narrow hazardous trails in the mountains. Dreze would want to travel by water or over the paved roads of this land to keep his soldiers from worn down from the travel. Two travels could make it through the mountains but even they would have to be careful because of the dangers of the hill giant tribe that stalked the mountains.
They were slow-witted creatures who were a greedy and gluttonous creature with great physical strength. Hill giants loved picking on creatures smaller than them and at over ten feet tall in height most creatures were dwarfed by them. A tribe of them had recently been preying on those who traveled the trails through the mountain.
Marina wore a lot of clear signs that she was a magic user because the foul smelling creatures fear magic. It was one of the few things they were vulnerable to so they usually tried to avoid any spell caster they encountered but on occasion, they tried to crush them with rocks from a distance. These mountains certainly had enough rocks for them to crush ten thousand magical users.
The Ghost Mountains were rumored to have been created in a great battle between the Gods and a Titan. All of the stones and boulders on the mountain were said to be the coagulated blood of the slain titan. All of the stones on the mountain were stained a red hue but Marina doubted there was any truth in the stories. She thought all of the violence over the years in the mountains was a more likely cause, perhaps there was a curse on the mountains from the Titan all of those ages ago that caused so many to fight in these mountains.
These mountains were named for all the ghosts that haunted the range. She had never understood why so many had fought in these mountains because there was little of value here. No crops to grow, precious metals to mine or valuable gems to collect yet great seas of life had died and washed over these rocks. She didn’t see how it was possible that large armies had done battles on these narrows passes but a rusted helmet or a broken blade reminded her of the truth of the stories.
“May the Gods grant you passage into the afterlife,” Timothy quietly stopped and whispered to some unseen presence.
“Any ghosts I should be worried about?” Marina asked nervously.
He shook his head, “Just some shades that needed help finding the path but we have to be careful because there is a lot of spiritual energy in the air from all of the ghosts. Ghosts are generally harmless but there are things that feed on them that are far from harmless. These lands are ripe for demons or devils stalking the grounds.”
