The next morning, no one shook my shoulder, which was a positive change. Instead, I was awakened by some insect crawling on my nose. Without opening my eyes, I tried to shoo it away, but it persisted. When it crawled up my nose, I sneezed, which finally woke me up. I heard a stifled laugh and saw the brothers sitting next to me, with Bob running a blade of grass across my face, tickling my nose. Tim grinned happily at me.

“Yes, yes, good morning to you too,” I said grumpily. Yet my mood wasn’t actually that bad. It was still relatively early, but already completely bright, and it promised to be a wonderful summer day again. I looked around.

Rieg was working on the campfire, Nigel was on his way to the stream with the cooking pot, and Orthok was nowhere to be seen. “Get some more firewood!” the sergeant called out to us. Fittingly, I needed to get into the woods anyway. We set off, with me running off to the side for a bit and disappearing into the bushes for a moment.

When I rejoined the boys, Tim was teasing his brother about Mary again, and the situation seemed to escalate quickly. Bob was already all red in the face and was about to throw a tantrum. Tim probably realized this too and quickly changed the subject, “How about you Jason, do you have a girlfriend?”

“Um...yeah, I do.”

“What’s her name? Is she pretty? How long have you guys been together? Have you kissed her yet? And she you?” the brothers bombarded me with questions. The argument was instantly forgotten.

“Her name is Amy and she’s picture perfect, at least I think so. Actually, she’s not really my girlfriend, not yet. We’ve only gone out together three times so far, but it’s really shaping up well.” I almost added that we talk on the phone a lot, but luckily, I remembered who I was talking to in time.

We just found a dead tree that had fallen and started breaking off the branches and throwing them into a pile. In the process, we were making quite a bit of noise and not paying attention to our surroundings, so we wheeled around in surprise when an unfamiliar voice sounded behind my back, “Help! Please, help me!”

With these words, a battered man struggled out of the bushes. His face and hands were full of bloody scratches, his hair disheveled, his once neat clothes filthy and torn. He seemed to be very afraid, his gaze wandered unsteadily back and forth and he kept looking back over his shoulder as if he were being followed.

He stumbled toward us, begging incessantly, “Help! I need help... I need protection...” As he got closer, he scanned us with his eyes and suddenly cried out hysterically, “Weapons! Where are your weapons? You must have weapons!”

Alarmed by this noise, the sergeant suddenly stood beside us. In his right hand, he held a spear about five feet long. “What’s going on here? Who is this?” At the sight of the weapon, the stranger seemed to calm down somewhat. He continued to mutter about needing help, but no longer looked around in panic. The boys and I grabbed the firewood we had collected and we all walked back to camp together.

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Orthok had made some herbal tea in the meantime and now gave the stranger a cup with it. Greedily he took a sip and scalded his tongue, surprisingly it seemed to make him come to himself. He looked around and finally really took notice of us. “Thank you, thank you so much!” he said in a slightly trembling voice. “I am Dragos, a merchant from Harthum. Everyone in the merchant district knows my name!” He tried to stand up proudly but lacked the strength to do so. Right now, he didn’t look like a wealthy merchant at all.

“What happened?” asked Rieg, also drinking some tea from his cup.

“We... my caravan had stopped for the night. We were just about to go to sleep after dinner when we were attacked by an animal... a monster!” The merchant’s voice was now trembling more strongly again. “Before we could react, it attacked and killed my men and then jumped the horses. I was fortunately just... well, answer the call of nature... I fled without paying attention to the direction. All night I wandered through the woods until I happened to come across you.”

“You were really lucky then,” the hunter confirmed. “The woods here are pretty much untouched, if you had wandered in the wrong direction, you wouldn’t have run into anyone for days.”

Dragos nodded nervously and held onto his cup. “Please, you must accompany me to my caravan. You are powerful warriors, you have weapons, the monster will not harm you!”

It was obvious to the brothers that they were already ready to leap up and jump into the noble quest. Orthok, on the other hand, remained calm. “Tell us more about this... monster. What kind of beast was it, how big was it, how exactly did it attack?”

“I don’t know exactly,” said the merchant. “I was just, you know, doing my business in the forest... It was dark, I barely saw anything... There was a shadow, like a big dog... a wolf maybe? Probably not so dangerous either, for brave men like you, with excellent weapons, in daylight...”

“Not so dangerous?” snorted Rieg. “How many men did you have with you?”

“Just my assistant, Jack and three wagoners. We were tired after the long ride, almost fell asleep... it just went way too fast. I’m sure the monster ate the horses and left again... I’ll pay you for the escort!”

The sergeant didn’t look convinced. “Orthok, a word.” The two men moved away from the fire so that we could not overhear their conversation. After a brief conversation, they returned.

“Forty silver each for Orthok and me,” Rieg said harshly. “Three silver for each of the recruits. The mage speaks for himself.”

Nigel had probably not expected that. He seemed to struggle with himself, then said uncertainly, “For twenty silver, I’ll come too. I’m still in training.”

The merchant’s eyes widened. He gasped and was about to complain indignantly about the prices when he realized he was not in a good bargaining position. “Deal,” he said only in a clenched voice.

We quickly finished breakfast, packed our things in the cart, and went on our way. The sergeant sat on the trestle with Dragos, his spear at hand beside him, while the merchant acted as a navigator. Nigel and I sat in the back of the wagon, Orthok forming the rear guard with the brothers. Bob and Tim armed themselves with the fighting sticks we had used for practice the night before, and looked very belligerent to the sides.