Caef arrived at Vrethka after a few hours of travel. The journey had been hard in a way, his body still weak from grief and the long walk, but he had pushed through. He had no choice. Gonnb was gone, and the only thing left was the need to move forward.
The settlement appeared on the horizon as the sun began to dip low, casting long shadows across the land.
Vrethka was not a barony, not a kingdom either. It was something older and more self-contained, a tribal structure that had existed long before the borders of the current kingdoms had been drawn.
Several hundred people lived here, their homes clustered together behind a wall of sharpened logs. The wall was not grand, but it was functional, designed to slow down attackers rather than stop them entirely.
Caef had been here many times before, trading grain and livestock from Gonnb for protection along the border road.
