Journey Preparations

With a contract decided upon, we left the temple and headed towards the market. The streets became narrower as we walked and the crowds denser, horseflesh brushed against me, and I heard the shouts of coachmen calling for people to clear the way. Criers stood at street corners, calling out the latest news for the passers-by, I heard no news of devils or the shadow gates.

We reached the busy square of the adventurer’s market; it was crowded with new adventurers who were stocking up on their gear and equipment for their contracts. It was difficult to see what was for sale through the mass of bodies, but eventually we stopped at a stall which was selling weapons. Korin and I didn’t need anything, having my sword and his axe that we had found in the dungeon. We purchased a quarter staff for Cleo, it was made of wood with metal ends, carved with runes that we were assured would provide protection to the user. For Sara we purchased a sword, it was nothing special and we hoped that she wouldn’t have need to use it, but she had become quite proficient in our practice with Orion. Rayall also had a sword of his own, so we didn’t buy anything for him, he hadn’t said where it had come from, but it appeared shortly after our lesson with Crynthiel and Nallis.

Armed for the contract we then moved onto other stalls, we purchased two tents that we could spend the nights on the road in, a supply of dried and salted food that we could take with us, and then some armour for each of us. I doubted that the food would last long enough for the journey there and back, though the concept of eating dried and salted food for nearly two weeks was not appealing. I hoped that there would be game to hunt near the roads and fresh food that we could purchase in the village.

Supplies in hand, the three of us returned to the house, trying not to drop any of the items we had just bought. Rayall was in the sitting room waiting for us with Sara asleep on one of the sofas. “Hey, we were just going to go looking for you” I said as we laid down the armour and the weapons on the table, Korin took the food into the kitchen. Cleo walked over to where Sara was sleeping and sat down beside her, stroking her cheek gently.

“That’s okay, Sara came to the temple and got me. She collapsed almost immediately when we got here, what happened?” curiosity was strewn across his face as he looked at me.

“Yeah, she was up all night healing me. I had a little trouble with some people after we left the bar. I don’t exactly have the tolerance of elves either, so I couldn’t defend myself” I explained to him, and he nodded his head.

“So what is the contract that you have found for us, she mentioned that you left to get one” he asked as he sat up, giving his full attention now.

“It’s a rogue adventurer with a small army of monsters holed up near a village. It’s about a weeks travel from here and is paying five hundred silvers, so about a hundred each. We only need to kill or arrest the adventurer and just kill the monsters if we can. But we still get paid if we don’t kill them though” I told him as Korin entered the room, having finished storing the food.

“Ay, we got food and supplies. I think we can make our plans now and head out tomorrow, or even today if there’s still light” the diminutive man said, examining the sword that we had bought for Sara.

“I have something that could help” Rayall said as he unfurled a length of parchment, “I got this from the temple of Cleonora, it will help to plan our journey” he showed us a map of the kingdom. It stopped at the spire in the north with simply an endless wasteland beyond, at the cerulean sea in the west and the borders of the Dwarven and Elven kingdoms to the east. The south sprawled for a while but eventually lost its detail as it went into the uncharted lands.

Cleo seemed to get a bit excited at the sight of the map and got up from Sara to look at it. “We’re here” she said as she pressed her finger to a spot in the shape of a star in the human kingdom of Eldria. “That’s Alynthir, and I think the village that we need to go to will be around here somewhere” she showed a spot to the northeast, it was unmarked by a star like Alynthir was but showed a swathe of trees nearby.

“Yes” Rayall agreed enthusiastically, “If we can get a wagon, we should be able to make the journey in five days. We will pass near a town on the second day, about here” he pressed his finger to another spot on the map, this had a small image of a house there. “And if our target is in a cave, it would be around this area” he made a small circle with his finger in the forest near the village that we were going to.

I had never been very good with interpreting maps before; I had assumed that the amount of time that journeys would take would depend on the distance to the destination. Hearing Rayall and Cleo enthusiastically discuss it, I learned that was not the case. We would have to account for the different terrain we crossed, the state of the roads, any hills that were in the way, guessing whether it would be faster to cut across untamed land or to follow the road. I left them to it and allowed them to decide on the route that we would travel, I figured it would be for the best not to get involved when they started arguing about how well a wagon would be able to cross a craggy stretch of land.

We had taken the discussion downstairs to the basement and laid the map out over a table whilst Sara continued to sleep. Korin decided to sharpen his axe on a whetstone and then did the same for Sara’s sword.

At last, we had finally settled on a plan, both for the journey and how we would proceed in the village. We would ask the locals for directions to the cave and take some time to scour the area, it would do no good for monsters to approach us from behind once we entered. We would take out the foes in our way but try to get to the target as quickly as possible, if he could communicate with the monsters then they would be more organised with him in the fight. If we were lucky then some of the creatures may even attack each other without him in control. Then we would see what kind of monsters were there and either kill them or get out of there.

“Do you still have the wagon that we came here in?” Rayall asked Korin, “It would be better than hiring one for the trip”

He shrugged his shoulders, “I left it at the temple of Soras, I don’t know if it’s still there though. Not like I paid anything for it anyway”

Rayall nodded, “Okay, you go and see if it’s there and bring it back here, Aucus, you still look like you need to recover from your injuries, go rest with Sara. Cleo, will you help me ration the food?” Cleo nodded her head and went up the stairs. I was surprised at how quickly Rayall had taken charge of organising the contract, I was happy with it though and accepted my role, going upstairs to lie down as Korin went out with a grumble.

He returned shortly after with the familiar wagon and left it outside as he went in to check on the rest of us. It was not even midday yet, the sun was still rising in the sky and most of our preparations were complete, it looked like we would be leaving that day. We loaded the supplies into the wagon, folded up tents, sacks of food, and ourselves. We decided to wear the armour as we travelled, if we were accosted on the road then we would have no time to change into it.

The armour was leather, studded with iron, the shoulders also had a small plate of metal, covering the area between the neck and the shoulder for added protection. It was a little uncomfortable to travel in, but it was better than being cut open by a bandit. We woke Sara shortly before we left, letting her get as much rest as she could.

I locked up the house and we all got into the wagon, clattering down the streets and out of the city, taking the road northwards.

At the start of the journey, Cleo had given me some more healing whilst we let Sara fall asleep once more. I didn’t know how she did it, the wagon pulled by horses shuddered over the road as it was pulled along and we seemed to be constantly jerked around by the motions. My bruises healed quickly enough and by the second day of our journey I could hardly feel a thing.

At night we would halt the wagon and pull it off the road for a bit to avoid obstructing the way of messengers travelling in the dark. We pitched our tents and decided that Korin, Rayall, and I would share one tent whilst the girls could have the other. The thin sheets of canvas were hardly thick enough to keep out the sounds of Sara and Cleo as they enjoyed each other every night. On one occasion they invited me to join them again and we shared a few pleasurable hours together. It was not so pleasurable the next day when I was **** to listen to Korin complaining about the noise and detailing every sound that he had heard. If a blade had cut my cheeks at that time, then I would surely have bled out.

Sara and I also took to the woods in the evening whilst the others set up our campsites, we hunted for whatever fresh meat there was to be found in the nearby treeline. We didn’t manage to find much, it seemed that most animals had learned to stay away from the roads, but we caught a rabbit on one night and a badger on another.

Rayall was correct and on the second day, the road that we were following led us through a town. We stopped briefly to stretch our legs and buy some fresh supplies. I couldn’t say how grateful I was to eat some fresh fruit and get a meal in me that wasn’t skinned and cooked at a campfire. We continued our journey without incident after we had eaten and followed the road for a while more.

There had been reports of bandits operating on a stretch of road that we were approaching so we were **** to cut across a hilly field that stretched for some considerable distance until we could re-join it a point that the bandits were not operating in. That had added a half day to our trip, but we agreed that it was better than placing ourselves in unnecessary danger.

We continued that way, travelling by day, hunting and setting up camp in the evening, whilst we slept at night. We would talk around the fire and share a few laughs over our excuses of meals, letting the horses graze on the verdant pastures. At night we would take turns staying up and keeping guard over the others.

It seemed to be a peaceful journey, the last night passed, and we travelled to the village, expecting to reach it in the evening. Of course, being an adventurer could never be that simple.