FreeHolds Adventure, Cycle 3 Part 3d
It took another two days to reach the old Pwhanna low-house, Adwin had not been pushing the horses, if anything their pace had been leisurely. On the rise of land behind them a mounted patrol of Sharlok’s men waited and watched, about half a yat away.
A handful of armed men and women appeared across the top of the rocks. They wore leather armour, were armed with spears and an assortment of other weapons. Mokha and Adwin were recognized by some of the locals. Adwin spotted Teller, who he had helped rescue from the bandits last year. He came to a slow stop and Sefla rode up close to the wagon.
Teller greeted them, “Mokha, nice to see you. Though I have to admit I’m a bit surprised you came back this way.”
“Well, I managed to get a couple of new instruments and thought I should return Lef’s lute.”
“Ha. I’m also surprised they let you through.” She indicated the mounted soldiers in the distance.
“Yeah, we told them we were on our way to Willik’s Hold.”
“No one has been getting through Aramy. Things are bad there, a sorceress had taken hold of everyone’s mind.”
“We had heard.”
“We’re also expecting that bunch and their friends to attack Lekas soon.”
“Yeah, Sharlok’s army is camped outside Wikkersak. It sounded like they would be heading this way any day now. I hope you’re not intending to make a stand here. They outnumber you about a hundred to one.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening. We’ve a few folks holding here, a dozen more at the ravine and others out patrolling. Just trying to keep them away from Lekas, we don’t want them getting a look at our defences.”
“I’m not sure Andisal’s little keep counts for much of a defence.”
“We’ve been busy.”
“No doubt.”
Adwin piped up, “I wish we had known before we left GreensBridge, we might have been able to bring supplies.”
“Don’t imagine they would have let you bring supplies to us. The thought is appreciated though.”
“Are we able to continue?”
She scrunched her face up, “One of us will have to come with you, Andisal doesn’t want folk just wandering around, not that you’re strangers or anything, but that’s what the lady wants. So that’s what we do.”
“Alright.”
One of the men spoke to her quietly, occasionally pointing at the sky, Teller gave a nod then said to Adwin, “Luk says there’s going to be rain tonight and likely well into the morrow. You might be better off waiting here where you’ll have some shelter.”
Adwin looked around at his companions, Mokha said, “That low house isn’t going to shelter us much, especially since it’s already sheltering them and whatever supplies they have.”
“I think we’ll head on. We’ll get as far as we can today. Then we’ll see what the rain’s like.”
“Fair enough, I’m going to send Luk with you.”
After a few moments Luk joined them, he declined Adwin’s offer to ride with them, saying he felt more comfortable walking. So while the wagon trundled along at a modestly quick pace, Luk ranged to the south and north, typically staying in sight of the group, but he was more concerned with scouting the countryside as they made their way towards Lekas.
Masri rose a couple hours before sunset, there were only a few clouds in the sky and the wind had picked up from the northeast. Despite his best efforts, Adwin could not place Luk. He did not remember him from his visit to Lekas last year. The setting sun cast long shadows ahead of them and there were scores of small birds flitting through the grass, feeding on the plentiful insects.
The next time Luk came up alongside the wagon Adwin suggested travelling on after dark. Luk gave a nod, “Kallen will be up, near half full, after sunset. There should be enough light if you take it slow, at least until the clouds roll in.”
“Do you think Sharlok has people out this far?”
“He might. If I was him, I’d have scouts trying to keep track of our movements and preparations. We try to make it hard for anyone to do so. We’ve had a few of them large spiders up this way, they don’t seem too interested in us. If you corner them or surprise them though, they will fight.”
Sefla asked, “I’ve heard a couple people say the spiders are as big as a horse. Is that true?”
“Can’t say for sure, the couple I’ve seen were as big as a middle-sized dog. Plenty big enough, as far as I’m concerned.”
Sefla was disconcerted, “Disgusting.”
“Yup.”
Adwin took the opportunity to ask, “You must be from one of the outlying homesteads? I don’t remember you from last year.”
“About a yateer to the southeast of Lekas, a little hamlet called Butts Roll.”
“Odd name.”
He shrugged, “I guess.”
“Is there many that have pitched in to help fight Sharlok?”
“I think so. I’d rather not talk about that. No offence, I don’t really know you folks.”
“I understand.”
“I’m going to do a sweep ahead of us, while there’s still some daylight left.”
Luk moved off at a jog. Adwin suggested that Mokha and Sefla should secure the extra tarps across the wagon to better protect their luggage and gear from the coming rain. If it rained, Adwin was not sure Luk’s prediction was accurate. Nothing about the sky suggested rain to Adwin. Still, better safe than sorry, “Cal, can you get my green poncho?”
“Sure.”
Onward they rolled, Adwin encouraged to horses to a faster speed, he doubted they would cover the distance to Lekas, but if there was a hard rain coming he did not want to get stuck on the road. The sun set, the wind blew and Kallen slowly rose, providing a greenish tinge to the land around them. Coyotes yapped and howled in the distance. Calathy sang for a long while, sad ballads and moody love songs. Periodically Luk would return to the wagon, he said little through most of the night. At some point Mokha fell asleep and Sefla sat up on the bench between Adwin and Calathy.
Adwin was very aware of the woman beside him, her smell, the way her shoulder rubbed against his arm. He did his best to ignore the pleasant sensation and was startled when she addressed him, “Adwin?”
He cleared his throat, “Yes?”
“Was it you who paid for our healing, lodging and the tailor? After we’d been attacked.”
“Um, yes I thought it was horrible that you guys were attacked like that. I wanted to help.”
“It really was a help. All three of us were wallowing in despair. We’d been talking about leaving GreensBridge. Everything was so expensive and people had been giving me and my friends a hard time since the uprising. Your generosity brought us out of that despair and gave us hope. For the first time in a long time it did not feel like the entire world was against us.”
A bit bashfully Adwin tried to downplay the situation, “It was easily done. By chance I’d found myself in a situation where I had a lot of wealth at my disposal. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
Calathy added, “He’s good that way,” There was a note of pride in her voice as she continued, “He gave a lot of money to the Temple of Mercy to help feed people in the Grey and set up an endowment through the university to fund the education of a dozen people per year.”
Sefla said, “Well, at some point I’d like to demonstrate my appreciation. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Um…” Adwin was not sure what to say.
Calathy sighed, “I can think of a few things that would be nice.”
An awkward silence followed, Adwin was glad it was dark enough that they could not see how much he was blushing.
Masri was close to setting before they noticed the clouds moving in above them. Not long after that Kallen was obscured and it became too dark to proceed as they had been.
Luk returned, “Likely best to stop here, though we’re not overly far from Lekas.”
Despite being tired Adwin really did not want to stop, “How far?”
“Eight yat, maybe a bit more.”
“We’ve a couple good lanterns. I think I’ll lead the horses if you can walk along ahead of us.”
“Sure, I can do that.”
So Adwin stopped, everyone disembarked from the wagon and walked around a bit, Mokha seemed mostly asleep on his feet. With Calathy’s help Adwin found the lanterns Tipper had purchased, they filled them with oil and fiddled with the wicks and the reflectors until he was satisfied he was getting as much light from them as was possible. Calathy sat on the bench with the reigns in hand, Adwin walked with the horses and Luk moved ahead of them, two pools of orange light in what had become a very dark night.
Mokha and Sefla had squeezed in under the tarps, between a couple of travel chests. There was no point in everyone getting wet.
A while later it started to rain, not much for the first while, just a gentle drizzle. The going was slow and the horses were not very happy, no matter how much Adwin told them what a great job they were doing. The rain gradually started falling a bit heavier and the tops of the lamps sizzled and hissed. It was the longest eight yat Adwin had ever walked, he had not even realized that the sky was gradually brightening until his lamp went out. Lekas was not in view yet.
When full day had settled it was still a dull grey with low clouds and a consistent rainfall. The road had become slick and the surface had softened a bit, but thankfully the rain had not been too heavy. Adwin was soaked and exhausted. So much so that when he noticed the earthen walls, deep ditches and cloaked sentries that now protected the approach to Lekas, he was too numb to be overly surprised. He was more concerned with getting some hot food and about a days worth of sleep.
Despite being so weary, he could not help but notice how sombre everyone was.
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