The man from the front of the caravan stepped down off of his cart. They were portly and wore colourful clothing with a travelling coat covered in pockets. As he advanced towards the group, one of the guards stepped near the man.
“Be careful caravan master. They could be with him.” The guard cautioned with a healthy grip on a spear.
“Nonsense, look at the state of them.” The titled caravan master flapped his hand in dismissal. “They’re obviously in distress from being kidnapped. The clothes they have, the lack of any adventuring gear, the odd armor the transmigrator is wearing.” The caravan master ticked off these ‘facts’ on his fingers. “That transmigrator took everything they had into their dimensional space before threatening their lives. Its pure luck we were able to deal with him when we did.”
“If you say so caravan master.” The guard fell into step with the caravan master, his spear making a thud with every second step. “But they still might be dangerous.”
Paul eyed the others near him and whispered out the side of his mouth. “Follow my lead.”
The caravan master and guard came close. The guard eyed them warily but the caravan master was much more open.
The caravan master spread his arms wide to say. “You’re safe now.”
“Thank ye kindly sire.” Paul got out. “Me and mine friends here were waylaid most foul ere’ these past few days. Tis’ most fortunate you and yours happened upon us in our most needed hour.”
The caravan master’s face split into a grin. “Always nice to be appreciated. Where were you all headed?”
“We can’t rightly say sire.” Paul shuffled his feet. “That transmigrator stole more than our things. We think they stole our memories and skills.” He glanced towards the others.
The other three nodded with Tim adding. “That’s correct. I can’t recall anything past this forest we came out of.”
The caravan master gave a sad smile. “Ah that’s rough. I can only offer condolences for the hard stuff, but on a more practical side please let me offer you a ride into town. We’re only a few hours away.”
Paul nodded happily. “That would do us a turn of good sire. We’re quite lost at the moment. Getting our bearings is most welcome.”
“Then get yourselves to the rear most cart. That one should be most empty. We’re heading to the town of West Green at the moment. Seek me out when we arrive and I’ll set you on your ways.” The caravan master gestured to the guard. “Bernard, if you would escort them.”
“Yes caravan master.” Bernard the spear wielding guard confirmed.
With a wave, the caravan master turned away towards the head of the caravan. Bernard gestured with the spear for the group to walk ahead towards the rear.
Paul in the lead, Tim, Mark, and finally Francis, walked towards the final cart. Before they arrived the command to move echoed into the air. This rearmost cart was mostly empty at the moment, a scant few sacks of some granular material within. Bernard and the man currently driving the cart had a quick discussion which ended with handshakes between them and Bernard jogging to the front of the caravan.
“Hop on up if you’re hopping.” the cart driver said. “We’ll be moving soon. I hear the other horses stepping.”
Paul and Mark hopped up to sitting on the end easily. Settling easily against the side boards.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Francis gave Mark an eyeful saying “a bit of help?” To which Mark reached down and picked Francis up like a child. An indignant squawk was all Francis could do in the moment, before accepting the help.
Tim placed both hands on the edge of the cart and hoisted his body in. The cart groaned and creaked under his weight.
Paul got a far away look in his eyes before asking. “What are you made of? I just got the feeling like you should be heavier.”
Tim glanced over as he was settling in. “Bit of a personal question, but it says Hematite, which I feel is a kind of iron ore.”
Paul had the decency to look embarrassed. “Ah right, we haven’t had a moment to ourselves at all yet. I’m Paul.”
Tim replied. “Nothing to worry about. My name is Tim. Why’d you say I should be heavier?”
“I’m imagining you as a statue made of stone, and a factoid about stone density just came to me. If you were solid I think this cart would have flipped.” Paul said. “Are you hollow you think? That might explain things.”
Tim thought for a moment, before rapping his knuckles on the side of his head. “Don’t think I’m hollow, probably something to do with magic.”
There was a lull in the conversation that Francis decided to fill in. “Name’s Francis, not Frank, not Francois, Francis.” He turned to stare at the last person to introduce themselves.
“I’m Mark. I think I already mentioned that I was a farmer before all this happened.” Mark gestured towards everyone else. “What about you all?”
“Yeah I was kind of curious about that.” Tim perked up. “I was a park ranger, but the background says ‘Wilderness Guide’ which I suppose is mostly correct, but not perfectly accurate.”
“Probably attempting to reconcile something modern with something old.” Paul mused. “Mine says ‘Advisor’ but I was IT support. I can somewhat see the connection. How about yourself Francis.”
“I want you all to know that I take offence at what it has labelled me.” Francis prefaced. “It’s called me a Scoundrel. But I was a... person who liberated worthless pieces of canvas and paint from unsuspecting people with more money than sense.”
“You were a thief.” Mark stated bluntly.
“I was a man of the people who robbed from the rich.” Francis sniffed in false outrage. “Speaking of man of the people. What was up with that fancy talk back there Paul?”
Paul blanched. “I... uh... just felt that was the right thing to do at the time. What with where we were and how everyone looked.”
Francis pressed. “That from all your ‘played it all the time’ phase?”
“You might knock it now, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy in the future.” Paul defended his sinful past. “Just you wait.”
“I think I’d rather not wait right now.” Francis sat up a bit straighter. “How about you take a moment and key us in to what you think will happen.”
Paul sat there stock still as the cart bumped along the path. Tim reached over to give him a nudge when Paul broke out of his thoughts to say. “OK, what I think will happen is fairly simple at this point. First, we finish this ride and talk to the head guy who gave us this ride, be thankful.”
Mark muttered. “Talk to the man in the pocket coat.”
“Second, we’ll not have whatever papers they expect for identities.” Paul held up his fingers with the animal claws. “So we’ll have to get new ones made. Probably some kind of local government that can do that. You recall that goddess mentioning the blue boxes. Probably something to do with that.”
“Get papers.” From Mark.
Paul opened up his thumb to join the other two fingers. “Third, I think that’s where things open up. We’ll have to decide on what to do next. So that means jobs or work.”
“Talk, Papers, Work.” Mark listed. “Seems straight forwards to me. I’ve got the feeling that any farm around here could use extra hands.”
Francis scoffed. “Yeah you look like you’d fit right in there, but me? I’m no good for farm work. Maybe as a last resort.”
Tim spoke up. “I don’t object to that kind of work. But have you guys not read that thing? I don’t think we’re expected to just do farm work.”
Paul looked uneasy. “Yes, that does seem to be the expected thing from us. I can see it in the blue box. It’s just always there. ‘Kill God’. We may not be able to escape that geas.”
“Fancy word there Paul, explain it for us mere common folk.” Francis gave Paul a raised eyebrow.
“Oh ‘geas’ is just a fancy way of saying magically compelled quest. I think when the goddess said ‘officially charge’ there might have been a bit of power behind those words.” Paul crossed his arms and stared at the sky. “If that’s the case, then we might really have to try on that whole ‘kill god’ thing.”
“Could be worse.” Mark started.
“How?” Francis quickly asked.
“We could still be dead.” Mark rebutted.
And with that, silence descends over the group. The bright sunny day and sound of rolling carts being the only other thing the group could focus on.