The town of Lwid stood near the entrance to the Mountain Region, in a flat area between two high rising cliffs. A narrow path known as Ice-Fill Path leads to the town that the region founder created. The path was usually filled with snow or ice as the name suggests, but now that it was summer the path was filled with dirt and rocks.
Lwid itself was just like all the other towns in that region. The homes and businesses were cut into the two cliffs on either side of a large town square at the end of Ice-Fill Path. Some homes rose up three stories; all that could be seen of them were windows and doors. During the colder months mountain deer hides were used to keep in the warmth. The hides were also used to pin family seals above the doors. Each seal was similar, a circle with a custom design inside. Businesses had seals that represented what was sold there. The Lwid town square consisted of a large barren area where town activities took place. Small shrubs and grass sometimes sprang up in late summer.
Each family looked slightly different from one another in the town. When Lord Lwid came from Memoria he was sent with two boatloads of people from all other parts of the nation, while the other lords and ladies were sent with people from the surrounding areas from where they were from. Lwid liked the idea of taking many different people with him. He often called the Mountain Region the conglomerate region.
The town itself was the hub of the entire region. Many travelers pay their respects to the namesake in a cave at the far side of the square where a stone statue of the lord resides. Many of the merchants from the Merchant Region come to Lwid to pick up merchandise to sell back home. In fact, Lwid is where Mith’s mother was headed when her body was found in a cave near the Bay-Mountain-Royal borders.
On this particular day the citizens of Lwid were greeted with an unpleasant surprise. A group of about two hundred people all dressed in yellow marched their way into their town square. They were led by a man who wore a five-colored jacket with rolled up sleeves and oversized pants, his shoulder length dirty black hair flowing behind him. He had tattoos in random shapes up and down his arms. The strange man had a small rope around his neck attached to a large black pouch. It was obvious that he was hiding something inside it with the way it was held, but nobody knew what it was.
The Lwidians ventured out of their homes and businesses to take a look at the ensemble. Some laughed at the sight of such a messed up group of people all wearing the same thing. Others, who knew by what they wore who they were, did not laugh. They assumed it had something to do with the other regions turning into deserts. They had decided that the roses must have been taken, but did not want to take their claim to the palace. They thought that they had nothing to worry about since nobody, not even any of them, knew where their rose was. When Lwid hid the rose he dug out hundreds of tunnels all over the mountains, and hid the rose at the end of one of them. The only ones who knew which tunnel led to the rose were the king and queen in the palace to the southwest.
The leader of Lwid, and all of the Mountain Region, was an old man named Azmi. He usually slept in on days where he did not need to travel but found it hard on that particular morning. He had awoken when he heard the sound of hundreds of feet approaching. After dressing he made his way to the square to see what the fuss was about. He wore long green robes, faded from age.
“What is the meaning of all of this?” He asked the man in the five-colored jacket. Azmi was followed out by several especially large, especially mean looking body guards.
“I am Gyrd, who is a servant of Oldo, the future leader of the island.”
Azmi looked to Gyrd in disbelief, he had never heard of such an insane thing in his entire life. “You are mistaken; your master is never to be leader. Where are you from? These people look as if they are from the jail.”
Gyrd paced in front of Azmi, as he had seen Oldo do on occasion. “Give me the rose and nobody loses their life.”
“My sad friend, I am sorry to tell you that the rose will never leave these mountains. I do not even know where the rose is. Only the king and queen know.”
“I think you’re lying.”
“You can think anything you want, but the truth is that I do not know where the rose is.” Azmi was beginning to get worried. Not for the rose, which he knew was safe, but for his people. He believed that the strange man in the old guards clothes was not in his right mind and would soon attack.
“Then it looks to me like I need to visit the king and queen. But I will stay here for the time being.” Gyrd looked to the mountains up above him and then back to the town around him. “I like this place, I will live here for now. You will provide my helpers here with shelter and food and in exchange I will not kill any of you.”
“Excuse me, end our lives? You cannot come into a peaceful town and say such things. We have no weapons.”
“But it is the fact that you have no weapons and are peaceful that we can do this. Now where is my shelter?”
Azmi fought back the urge to yell at Gyrd. Instead he chose the passive way and led Gyrd into his home. The bodyguards with him urged Azmi to reconsider, but he quietly told them that everything was going to be alright. Once inside Azmi secretly told his most trusted guard to rush to the palace for help. The man agreed and silently left the region using a small path that few knew of.