Roadblocks and grim realities

The next morning, Quinara wakes me early now fully dressed in her mostly dry winter gear, "get up runt we need to get going" I nod my approval and begin getting up and putting on my own clothes. As I am rolling up my bedroll to affix to my pack I hear Quinara take a deep breath before almost hesitantly speaking "I shouldn't have snapped at you last night", I almost couldn't believe my ears, an apology from Quinara? She continues "I told you about my other scars you weren't to know", I can see in her eyes that she was being genuine as well as how uncomfortable she was to be apologising. "No I shouldn't have pushed you on it" I say also apologising, Quinara nods in approval and I breathe a sigh of relief that last night was water under the bridge.

We make excellent headway following the main road on the way to Corviet, the storm of last night seeming to have given way to soft snowfall which while cold was far preferable to the heavy rain of last night. Any feelings of solid progress however where about to come to a grinding halt, "get down runt" Quinara says yanking me off the main road and behind a tree. I comply hiding down to make myself hidden from view "what's going on?" I ask in a hushed tone, as Quinara pulls a looking glass from her pack and looks ahead "see for yourself" she says handing me the telescope, I take a look down the road and see a roadblock partitioned ahead ran by the city watch with a bulletin board of wanted posters, my heart sinks as I see an artists sketch of a meek looking man with a ginger mane, underlined with a warning about the fact that he was traveling with an orc. "Fuck. Lord Baxter must have sent Ravens" I say "you think?" Quinara says remarkably calm for someone who is in as much danger as me now, "so I guess Corviet's off the table" I say solemnly thinking about how if the city watch have wanted posters and checkpoints they would actively be hunting us. "What? No" Quinara scoffs "b-but they have wanted posters for us" I stammer back, "Yeah you think your lord hasn't sent Ravens with the bounty poster to all major cities? Of course he has runt" she explains, "b-but the city watch" , "relax runt, they're only going to be checking at checkpoints, once we're in the city we will be fine" Quinara reassures me. "But what if we run into the city watch while we're in the city?" I ask nervously, "eh they'll probably ignore us, you think they have every wanted criminal and bounty memorised? if they're not searching they won't find us" she states with the kind of confidence that can only be born from experience.

She leads me further afield and once we're a solid distance from the main road she pulls out her map, "right so we're here" she states pointing to the main road we came from. "Let's assume all roads have checkpoints" she states confidently, "that means we need a new way into the city... How strong is your stomach runt?" I look up from the map to see her gaze firmly on me "Um probably not great" I answer honestly, I had lived a very sheltered life after all, "ok so we'll rule out the sewers" she says much to my relief as entering a city through it's sewers sounded like hell. "What about this runt?" she says pointing to the Corviet woods that spanned to the North-east of the cities walls, "we go through the woods to the outer wall and sneak in here" she says pointing to where the Hysin river met the city. "You're asking for my opinion?" I ask stunned that she would give my input any thought after all she said on the road what she said goes, "I'm asking do you think you could manage this?" She states clearing up that she was asking for my opinion, but only to see if I thought I was capable of this "yeah I think I can" I answer her.

With a plan now in action we double back from the main road and begin heading east traveling towards the treeline in the distance. "Runt once we're in the woods you stay close to me at all times" Quinara decrees, "there's wolves, bears and gods know what else is in there. Could even be fairies", "wait fairies are real?" I say wondering if she was being genuine or taking advantage of my lack of world experience, "yeah real cunts" she says without a hint of sarcasm. "How so? I thought they were magical guides of forests?" I ask recounting the stories I had been told, "yeah they magically guide you to your ****" she quips back "listen if you ever see a glowing light or any of their other tricks don't fucking follow them runt, it's bad news." It seemed almost laughable like it was one elaborate joke to convince me that fairies where both real and an actual threat but she spoke with such genuine disdain and severity in her tone that I actually found myself believing her statements.