Banli, Razrim and Tadek finally found Tadek's two horses Argone, and Arhere, a way's into the forest, in a natural clearing that had thistle bushes all around it creating a decent looking grove. They were grazing on berries from multiple large and lush purple, green and blue bushes. Tadek excited that they had been found, gathered up their reigns and with the help of Banli and Razrim scouting ahead, led them back to their makeshift camp. Moments later Tadek had them reconnected to his merchant's carriage and offered Banli a seat beside him. Banli picked up Razrim and gently deposited him inside the carriage. If badgers could smile Razrim would be smiling right now. He jumped up on one of the inside benches and looked out the wooden framed window and went to the task of cleaning himself.
The road travelled deep into the forest and it wasn't long before it became more narrow. this caused a problem as the recent rains had created a lot of mud and the wheels on the carriage were now slogging through it all. This would have been fine but Argone and Arhere came to a complete stop and simply would not go forward any further. Tadek scratched his head as this was unusual for even his horses. They had not travelled too long on the road and the horses were well fed. He was unsure of what to do next. He looked to Banli and shrugged his shoulders with indifference and resigned to getting out of the carriage, so he could determine what the issue was. After a good look about he realized why the horses had stopped. In the mud a belt of metal spikes barely visible ran the entire width of the road. They would have absolutely destroyed the wooden wheels of Tadek's merchant carriage. Not to mention damaging the horses hooves. As Tadek was thinking about how to go about correcting this an arrow thudded into his carriage roughly three feet away from him. "Ambush", he yelled to Banli! He quickly dove to the ground on his left side.
Banli reached into his cloak's folds for he was already aware that something was not quite right. He pulled out a parchment looking scroll and began reading the magical text on the scroll. As he was doing this another arrow thudded into the carriage much closer to where Tadek had stood. A loud bang could be heard and then the entire party of Banli, Razrim, Tadek and the horses disappeared, to only reappear about three hundred feet back on the path. Banli had used a switch up scroll which allowed you to go back a short distance from where you were. It had three uses. The text for the first use on the scroll now vanished leaving two more lines of text to still be used. Banli yelled out to Tadek,
"We must go back where I think I saw a fork in the road. If we take that we may be safer from that almost successful ambush".
Tadek nodded his approval, although he generally was not a fan of magic of any kind, he did have exceptions and it seemed this Banli fellow was one of them. Tadek turned the carriage around by guiding the horses carefully and with purpose. This gentle coercing took a few moments as they were spooked from all the action that had happened to them moments ago. Tadek back tracked towards the pastures looking for the fork in the road Banli was talking about. Eventually finding the fork in the road the party opted to go down the other road in the fork. Turning down that road they rode on for a few hours until sundown, with no further incident.
After a while they came upon a bunch of large willow trees. These trees towered over a reasonably sized clearing that had a pond situated fortuitously right in the middle of the clearing. This created a perfect place for them to stop for the night. The wind had picked up greatly and a light misty rain started to fall. Both Tadek and Banli pulled their cloaks more firmly about their bodies and decided they would make camp here and discuss their next plans for tomorrows trip. Banli set about fixing a cold meal of more cheese bread and wine. After all a fire would be difficult to maintain in the rain and the smell of savoury food cooking would be a most unwelcome invitation to any scoundrels in the vicinity.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
This time it was Tadek who reached into the carriage gently extracting Razrim out of his comfy position, gently depositing him on the ground. He then lifted the lid to the bench the badger had moments ago taken residence upon. From within the bench Tadek pulled out three black looking spikes and walking across and out from the carriage and campsite thrust them into the ground with enough force to ensure they were imbedded deep enough to do their job. He then turned the top of each one, one at at time, in sequence. Moments later a mirror image jumped up about 20 feet high right into the trees and completely covered the camp so that if anyone was to look upon their direction they would simply see an open clearing and a reflection of the pond. Technically it was magic but as Tadek liked his safety a lot he was willing from time to time to utilize magical equipment to his benefit.
Banli approved by grinning like crazy and patting Tadek on the back once he returned to camp. They then settled in for a peaceful slumber with Razrim scouting about their immediate area, making sure to not go beyond where Tadek had placed the spikes. A tall figure in a green cloak with a bit of a limp walked right passed the clearing trying to make up for lost time. He was paid to watch Banli and Razrim and report back to his employer. This would not make his employer happy that he was not doing his job well. With a big huff the tall thin man exhaled loudly and continued quickly and awkwardly on his way. He was oblivious to the the fact that the person he was seeking was merely a few feet away form him.
The rains continued throughout the night picking up intensity as often spring rains will do. The wind had also come out of nowhere making every effort to dance with the rain. Travelling at this time for anyone would be extremely difficult, and very time consuming. Although everything was damp, the smells of a fresh rainfall were unmistakable. The pungent fragrances of wild lavender and scochi (a bright yellow berry that over time explodes off of the branches it resides on leaving a strong honey like smell permeating the air.)
Banli and Razrim woke, to no more rain and subsided wind that was now only a light breeze. Large clouds moving quickly through the pockets of sky they could see from where they stood. Banli had opted to sleep under one of the massive willow trees right by the edge of the pond with Razrim nuzzled in beside him. Tadek had slept in the carriage. They had talked the night before about attempting to get to the town of Westerly before nightfall. westerly was approximately a quarter of the way to Athramas. Westerly was a supply village mostly for people on their way to other notable places. Being that it was a large hub of activity itself, it had become over the years a notable place in and of itself. Once a year having a notable event to celebrating the travelers that went through it. They called the event "Merrydin". Tadek and Banli refilling their leather water bottles within a small stream that fed the pond at their camp, they then broke down camp and once again climbed onto the carriage. Of course they did this after they had fed Argone and Arhere some grain, and had given them a good combing.