Search the Valley Road

Aron ignored the bad feeling in his gut and listened to reason. The Pikeman was right that the Demon Lord might be hiding somewhere in the valley below, either plotting an ambush or simply to prevent Aron from surveying and strategising. The Demon Lord wasn't dumb, just fiendish. So, moving with caution and keeping their eyes open, Aron and the town militia descended into the valley via the main road.

After 4 hours they were still only half way along the valley road, and it was slow going because they were anticipating an attack from behind every tree or fallen boulder. Being on edge for so long wasn't healthy and Aron could feel his nerves becoming more frayed with every step. Maybe this was part of the Demon Lord's plan, he thought, to psychologically wear him down before the fight even began. But the pit in Aron's stomach had only grew, and he was growing more and more certain that something terrible had already happened.

Then he heard a voice that filled him with dread.

"Mr. Steelside, Mr. Steelside."

The boy was once again approaching him with speed but this time, rather than running, he was sitting a top a wagon. It looked like a trader's wagon, but the driver was no trader.

"Samuel," he called on the boy, as the horses where brought to a stop beside the trio. "Do you have news from town?"

"Yes," Samuel said, and hung his head. "Your wife is missing."

"Missing? What do you mean?"

"A friend of your wife from the market went to see her today, having heard that you had come here to face the Demon Lord. But when she arrived she found your wife's clothes on the bed and her coat still in the closet. She checked the market and told the Mayor but no one has seen her. It was the Mayor himself that tasked me with coming out here to find you. A trader from the market offered his wagon, to bring you back quickly."

Aron cursed himself for not trusting his gut and not heading back earlier. If his wife was truly missing, and at the hands of of the Demon Lord, then they had a sizable head start on him. But not all the details made sense to Aron yet. The clothes on the bed, made it sound like she was naked. But why?

Those questions could be answered later he told himself, as he readily agreed to head back to Coh in the wagon. He jumped up top to ride along beside Samuel the Guild Assistant, while the Pikemen got in the back. Samuel turned the horses and rode hard and fast back to the town.