The Foundling Saga: Revelation by S D Bowring

eating from a food wrap, noticed that Cormic had a fish-knife, a hammer and a bar used for levering. He was also packing what looked like a leather harness with wooden hand grips attached to long lengths of twine. He put his head through this harness, brought it around his shoulders and tucked the rolled lengths in the waistband that came with the harness. It looked like he was ready to pull a cart with it.
    He told the watching Keller that it was easier to wear it than carry it. Keller also noticed that he had two solar plas lights that he had traded for at the Arpo. These powerful torches were a marvel and only needed an hour of sunshine to provide almost a full night of light. Keller knew that he would have had to sacrifice a lot during this trade. However, it extended the amount of time he could safely track down any remaining treasures whenever he visited the old towns.
    Travelling more lightly the pair left their new temporary home and climbed a nearby wall, making their way over to a well laden apple tree. There was plenty of choice, and although many seemed to be maggot ridden there was enough choice to pick some decent apples. They took two each which Cormic scanned. “Just in case, you never know.”
    They made their way to the old highway nearby. They paused occasionally to take in the surroundings before moving off again.
    Keller wondered about a large concrete structure that sat on the side of some collapsed buildings. It had clearly been larger than most dwellings.
    “What was that for?”
    “That’s a vehicle storage area, Keller. It will have been stripped of anything useful a long time ago. Our best bet is to seek out the properties that had underground storage. Many of them are windowless and have not suffered the same invasion of plants, however some have filled with water and are fruitless to search in.”
    “They must have had a vehicle each”.
    Cormic inclined his head as though imagining this. “They probably did. Didn’t seem to do the much good in the end though”, he mused, “they had vehicles for fighting too.”
    “Yes, Tanks. With giant guns on top,” recalled Keller from a story his aunt told him from one of her books. She had probably meant to teach him a sober lesson from history but in truth it just gave him nightmares at the time.
    They continued along one of the old highways, sometimes following animal tracks through the undergrowth. They stopped after an hour or so for a drink and surveyed their surroundings until they came to some taller ruins.
    “These ruins either side of us look like the concrete market places that I have seen elsewhere in this town. The upper floors have collapsed, but they are vast inside. Maybe the lower two floors are intact. Let’s have a look in here - but keep your wits about you as you enter as the vegetation may hide pits or holes of various kinds.” With that, Cormic headed towards the ruins with Keller keeping up just behind him and already deciding to walk in his footsteps to keep safer.
    As they clambered over the ruins and into the darker areas, it became difficult to see ahead. Cormic passed Keller one of the solar plas lights. “Tuck it into your tunic for now. If you think you are going to fall, make sure this light has a soft landing as it’s probably more valuable than the two of us put together,” he remarked ruefully.
    Keller was impressed with the solar plas light as Cormic surveyed the area in front of them. It was far superior to using fire. The light travelled the entire length of the level they were on.
    To ensure they had an additional purpose to this temporary absence, Cormic was determined to come back with items to trade. Keller was equally determined to find something of value in the vast wilderness of ruins in the town. He felt they had an advantage over other Outsiders in this area since it was rare for Outsiders to have access to a plas light, and this should allow them to reach some rarely visited remote and unlit