“I’m glad to see that you are well,” he said, smiling from behind his cloth mask.

“It’s good to see you too, Crowseer,” Adam replied. “At least, I think it’s good.”

“Thank you for allowing me to stay within the tower,” Crowseer said, having dried himself off with a tap of his cane to the floor.

“Of course. You’re always welcome around our camp.”

“It is a great fortune that I’ve met you.”

“It is?”

“I have some business with the Iyr.”

“May I inquire as to what?”

“It would be best if you didn’t know.”

“Sure.”

“Thank you.”

Adam wasn’t sure if he should have Crowseer stay with the cart, or Umbra. Eventually, he decided to take Nobby, Brittany, and Vonda. He trusted each of them, and other than Vonda, they didn’t have an important task assigned to them.

‘Jurot and Kitool should be able to bide for time if something happens…’ Adam thought, cleaning his armour. He looked over the cart towards the items that were covered by the tarp. So many of the items were the souvenirs, while some were food stuffs. ‘Do I have my priorities correct?’

The storm continued to pass through the night. Umbra remained atop the tower, opening an eye as she stared out towards the small group of Storm Giants who were staring at the towers. If there were so many towers, it meant there would be quite a few mages, something they probably needed to keep an eye on. However, they stared towards one of the windows, where a crow glared at them, and they retreated away from the area.

‘What a shame,’ Umbra thought, watching as a decent fight slipped away from her grasp. She closed her eyes and went back to relaxing.

The next day, the rain was gentle, but Adam decided against moving through the rain, instead waiting for the next day.

Omen: 2, 20

The land around them was still wet from the rain, but they could travel along the road without much issue. Adam was glad that Aldland had spent the effort in making a road even to as far as the borders of the Iyr.

‘Good to try and invade them, but also lets them know where you’re coming from,’ Adam thought, staring out ahead. He glanced over to Umbra, still laying on the driver’s seat of the cart. “You really liked the storm, eh?”

“The rain was soft,” Umbra replied, simply.

“Yeah?”

“The breeze is cool.”

“Right.”

“If we had more drinks, I would have enjoyed it more.”

“Next time I’ll be sure to bring more drinks so you can enjoy the storm.”

“If only there was a fight.” Umbra let out a long sigh.

‘She really is his daughter…’

The group made their way westward towards the Iyr. They passed through the first village without many issues. The villagers were keen to see what was within the cart, but upon hearing they were gifts for the children in the Iyr, their curiosity slipped away.

“You want to spend some time with your family?” Adam asked Brittany once they were within her village.

“No.”

“Alright.” Adam had noted that she had barely mentioned her family, and from what he saw whenever they passed by, she didn’t spend much time with the villagers.

As the group passed the river just before the village closest to the Iyr, Adam eyed it up. “Hey, Nirot, what’s with this river?” Adam asked, having thought little of it each time he had passed it, but with it now raging so harshly, it was something he couldn’t ignore.

“It is the river which heads south, then east to South Aldland.”

“Ah,” Adam said, nodding his head. “Is this the one that the other river joins down to the south?”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Yes.”

“Isn’t there another river that joins it too?” Adam said, trying to recall. “From the mountains?”

Nirot had originally thought Adam meant that particular river, but realised he meant the Iyr’s river. “Yes. From the high hills.”

“Right, right, yeah… passed by Rock Hill, I think?”

“Yes.”

“To Every Green, right?”

“Yes.”

“Ah…” Adam slowly nodded his head, trying to form a mental map in his head. “Then it goes to South Fort, right?”

“Yes.”

“Near the Awakened Forest.”

“Yes.”

“Mmmm.” Adam continued to nod his head, noting the plants around the river were no more, having been swept away by the flooding river.

‘If he’s asking about the river, he must be calm,’ the young Iyrman thought.

The third village greeted them the day after, with the Chief approaching the group. With so many mounts, she had half expected it to be a party of adventurers, the kind that call themselves adventurers, but are more like rowdy fools, but it was just Adam and his group.

The short woman planted her staff firmly into the ground, and rested her weight against it. She was bundled in thick furs, wearing a shirt of scale over her torso, with a belt wrapped around her stomach to keep it pinned to her. She carried a blade at her side, one made of the darker steel from West Aldland.

“Good evening!” Adam called, having made his way to the front. “A pleasure to see you, Chief Merl.”

“You as well, Adam,” the Chief replied, shaking his forearm, before doing the same for all the Iyrmen. “I’m glad to see that you are all safe. If you’ve come now, the storm must have hit you.”

“It sure did,” Adam confirmed, chuckling lightly, before noting the fences nearby were broken. “Did it hit you?”

“We prepared against it, but it still exceeded our expectations,” Merl confirmed. “Though it did not cause much damage. Some of the harvest was unfortunately ruined, but we will make do.”

“Need any help?” Adam asked. “We’ve got a few days to spare to assist.”

“No, no, couldn’t bother you with that,” Chief Merl said, smiling politely. “Come in, tell us about the adventures that you’ve had.”

“We’ll tell you some of them, since you wouldn’t believe the others,” Adam said, sighing.

“That is up for me to decide.”

“Well, partly, because it’s information for the Iyr,” Adam said. “So if I told you, I’m not sure how they would feel.”

“It’s that important?”

Adam turned his head to the woman he had brought along. Then he turned his head back to the Chief. “Do you remember the…” Adam closed his eyes. ‘If I tell her about Asa, wouldn’t that put her in danger? She also probably knows Strom, but it would be awkward if she knew about Umbra.’ “Yeah. It’s that important.”

Merl eyed up the young woman nearby. “Is that your wife?”

Adam coughed, almost bursting out into laughter. “No! Definitely not! I mean, she might be beautiful, but…” Adam thought about his children. ‘Wouldn’t it make sense for her to be my wife though? The daughter of my friend. Part Dragon, so she would know how to raise the triplets. She seems to like the Goofs, so maybe she’d like Goblins too?’

“Well, let’s get you situated, and you can tell us all about the things you can, and not the things you can’t,” Merl said, seeing the thoughts on his face.

“Oh, speaking of which…” Adam smiled wide. “Nobby joined the tournament.”

“Oh?” Merl replied, staring back at the large boy. “How well did he do?”

“Let’s get some dinner made and we can discuss some more,” Adam said, smirking towards the Chief. Adam handed the Chief’s granddaughter the payment for their stay, thirty gold. The Awakened Wolves had gone with Jurot, Lucy, and Mara, to hunt some food for themselves, and had returned within a couple of hours, when the party was in full swing.

Amira remained silent as she sipped some of the grain wine from the villagers, her eyes falling to Dunes. She had heard the various stories a few times, from Dunes, from the Iyrmen, and now from Adam, who had certainly been the worst at telling the stories in many ways, but when it came to speaking as though his companions were above the clouds, there was no one better.

How did he say it?

Hyping up?

“I told you, didn’t I?” Adam said, looking to the younger Merl. “Nobby here is not only an Expert, but he came first place in the Noonval Tournament.”

Merl couldn’t deny that, and not only couldn’t she deny it, she couldn’t diminish the victory either. It was one thing to win the tournament of the youngest section, which was full of the weakest of warriors, but it was another to win first against half a dozen Iyrmen.

“How did you do it?” Merl asked.

“I said I’d do it, so I did it. There’s always something along the horizon for me, what with how much Fate likes to play with me.” Adam sighed. “Some stuff happened.” He sipped some of the grain wine, which had been mixed with some fruit. It tasted different to the grain wine of Red Oak, the drink from the village far sweeter. “And when I say some stuff happened, I mean something crazier than fighting multiple hydras at once.”

“Does that kind of thing always happen to you?” Merl asked.

Adam reached down to his amulet, feeling the symbol of Baktu. “Do you know who made this amulet?”

“It must have been a fine crafter.”

“A fine crafter?” Adam replied, raising his brow. He glanced to the side, towards the Iyr’s lands beyond the river. “That’s putting it lightly. This amulet wasn’t exactly made by a crafter, but…” Adam sipped more of his wine. “You wouldn’t believe who made it, and you wouldn’t believe that we also met with a niece of his.”

“What is so special about his niece?” Merl asked, before looking towards Umbra.

“No, no, she’s not a…” Adam paused. “Well, she was something like a God from where she was from, but she’s not the God I’m talking about.”

Merl’s eyes snapped to Adam. “You have to be careful with your words, Adam.”

“Careful?” Adam grinned wide, tapping his amulet gently. “With this around my neck?”

“Just because you carry an amulet of Baktu around your neck, it doesn’t mean he will grant you all his protections.”

“If the God of Death went so far as to gift me-,”

“Adam,” Jurot said, holding out a small clay bottle of wine to pour some into his cup. “You cannot say more.”

“Whose going to stop me?” Adam replied, his cheeks flushed red, huffing out with a sigh.

“Please.”

“Hmph! Just because you’re my brother, it doesn’t mean you can stop me from talking! Freedom of speech! Freedom of speech! You can’t take away my freedom of speech! You can’t take it away unless I disagree with it!” Adam howled with laughter at his joke, almost beginning to cry from his laughter.

Merl looked to Jurot, wondering what Adam was talking about, and wondering what he had been talking about previously, to the point that even the Iyrman would choose to interrupt. ‘It couldn’t be…’