The kingdom of Saval is behind us. We are back in the wilderness, traveling north as suggested by Alkaar. He believes the passage will be near the area where the mountains to the west and east come together, so we’ll reach the mountains, and then follow them to the passage. Hibimage estimated this might take him within 100 nura of Habbar, and found amusing the thought that he might have lived that close to the passage all these years without knowing it. Dawn is also in agreement with Alkaar’s assessment of where the passage might be located since she claims she saw it from a distance after traveling north along the range of mountains east of us. I still don’t believe her tale of riding a giant bat. It sounds too ludicrous, although I do sometimes wonder if it actually is true. How else would Dawn quickly travel through this land, and be able to recognize the passage from a distance?
Morlo issued his final farewell as we left Juranda this morning, and plans to begin his journey back south tomorrow. The next few years will be extremely busy for him as he carries out Zhethou’s instructions for the Guard Exemplars. There’s also the issue that the law of his land won’t permit him to travel beyond its borders, but I don’t think he’d let that hold him back if he desired to continue traveling with us.
Alkaar doesn’t have the same travel restriction as everyone else living in Saval since he’s joining us as an official envoy to the Great King. The downside is he doesn’t have much experience with the wilderness in this part of Etnyben since he’s spent most of his time in the cities, so there’s no telling what dangerous wildlife we’re going to encounter.
Before leaving Saval, I should have attempted to obtain horses. Riding allows much faster travel, and even if we weren’t riding, horses still make decent pack animals. I’m sure each of us would relish the ability to carry more supplies with less personal effort, and it would certainly ease the journey for the older folks among us. With the prefects providing free of charge any supplies we needed, I certainly regret not requesting horses.