Sekafi walked beside the wagon in the rain, her feet covered in mud. Again. Aspen, the little fart, sat comfortably in Salabil's carriage, protected from the weather. Still, it was faster this way. Hiaashaqwi walked on the other side and she couldn't see him from here, nor hear him over the creaking of wood and the constant hissing of water and mud splashing with each step of the horse. She peered ahead, the road winding onward between the trees. The forest would give way to the plains soon enough, but for now, the coming night, overcast sky, and tall trees made it hard to see much more than a few feet ahead. Two lanterns glowed in the front of the carriage. Part of her wanted to douse them, their light announcing their whereabouts to everyone while simultaneously blinding her. She frowned.

'Hey? You alive out there?' Aspen poke his head out of the small carriage window, his pale face filled with worry and probably guilt at leaving her out in the rain.

She grinned. 'Nope, I've drowned at least ten times by now.'

He smiled. 'Good good. Then I don't need to force you to take a bath when we get back home.'

She snorted. 'You insinuating something, pointy-ears?'

'He raised his hands and leaned back from the window. 'No, no. Nothing at all.'

They shared a laugh. Then a noise drew her attention back to the road ahead. She narrowed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. The air smelled of mud, the forest, wet horse. Was there a hint of something else?

'Wait here,' she warned and pulled the reins of the horse, stopping it.

'What's up?' Hiaashaqwi asked from the other side.

'I'm not sure. I'll take a look.' She stepped in front of the carriage and the lanterns' blinding light and let her eyes get more accustomed to the dark. Something occupied the road ahead. She stared at it. Something long and bulky. Carefully she stepped closer to it. It didn't move. Was it an animal? She sniffed again, but couldn't discern anything specific. Stupid weather. Winds buffeted her and rain fell into her eyes. She sneaked closer, walking right up to the thing.

'Well, damn,' she muttered. 'Just a log.' A large tree log. Laying across the main road from Yaarpa. At night. She drew her golok and surveyed the woods. Swaying branches and rain and shrubs. Maybe it was nothing? She glanced back to the carriage, noting how Aspen and Salabil looked out from the windows, and how Hiaashaqwi had approached halfway between her and the horse.

'What's going on?' Aspen called.

'Maybe nothing. Or, could be an ambush.' She walked back to the others, keeping her ears peeled for noises from the forest, and told them of the obstacle.

'Doesn't sound good,' Aspen concluded.

She nodded. 'Anyway, we have to get it out of the way if we wanna continue.'

'I can help with that,' Salabil offered and stepped out of the carriage.

'You're welcome to try,' Sekafi said, wondering what the woman could do with the large log. Had she prepared for something like this? Seemed unlikely.

Salabil walked with her to the log, and the others followed behind despite the rain. The mage removed a smooth flat stone from her pocket, a rune carved into it, glowing with a golden light. As she raised it, the glow intensified, casting its light across the large log.

'Step back!' she yelled, startling Sekafi.

She jumped back, her golok raised before her instinctively, ready to fight whatever Salabil had seen. Nothing happened. 'What...'

The log shook. Someone behind it? She took a ready stance. Impossibly, the log raised itself on long, folded legs ending in weird clawed feet. Sekafi gasped, staring in disbelief. What in the world? On the right end of the log, two long sprouts came out, twitching. No, not sprouts. Antennae. A rounded, armoured face with large protruding eyes of many colours folded out from the opening, its large mandibles opening and closing.

'Sekafi! Get back!' Aspen yelled, his voice cracking into a high pitch.

The monster turned its head to watch her silently. She wasn't sure what to do. Something in her held back, delayed the attack she had prepared for. The light wavered as Salabil moved, shadows leaping. Sekafi held her ground, gripping her golok hard, her hackles raised.

The monster chirped, looked towards the forest and plodded off, its log-like long body clumsily wobbling on the weird many-jointed legs. Sekafi breathed a sigh of relief. The thing wasn't interested in fighting, it had probably just been disturbed from its sleep.

'Sekafi, get back here!'

She looked back. Aspen and Hiaashaqwi stood side by side, Aspen beckoning for her, all the while keeping his eyes on the beast. Salabil stood calmly watching, holding the glowing rock in her open hand. Maybe it wasn't as dangerous as she'd first thought.

'What was that?' Sekafi asked as she joined the others.

'It's a Journeylog,' the mage replied with a smile. 'They're rare creatures, but usually docile.'

'Usually?' she sheathed her weapon and glanced back in time to see the thing vanish into the shadows between the trees.

'Yes. Unless they have eggs to protect.'

Sekafi shuddered. 'Basically, it's a gigantic insect then?'

'Yes. Pretty much.'

'Well, better than an ambush. Let's get moving.' She was happier than she let on to have avoided clashing with the monster. She was prepared to fight, but would rather save her strength for later. A battle was sure to come soon and she'd like to be able to be her best self at that time.

Aspen and Salabil returned to the comfort of the small carriage. Sekafi and Hiaashaqwi continued the trip on foot, guarding the others. They continued far into the night before setting camp at the outskirts of the forest. Thanks to Salabil's cooking stones, they were able to have a warm meal, despite the pouring rain.

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Two days later the tired group arrived outside the palisade of Toin Caas, the rain still fell but no longer poured. The road leading from the city, once hard and cracked, had transformed into a wide mud path. Long before they could make out the guards by the gate, they saw a group of people milling about outside. They could make out a few ikelos and minotaurs in the group and assumed the rest were non-humans as well.

'This doesn't bode well,' Aspen muttered.

'I think you're right,' Salabil replied beside him. She leaned out the window on her side.

Aspen wondered how they'd get back into the city. It had been bad when they left, now it could only be worse.

Tensely he waited, staring out the window as they neared the group. Moments later, the small crowd took notice of them and stood, facing them. Aspen swallowed, wondering what would happen.

A large black minotaur walked up to them as they drove past and walked alongside the carriage. Intimidated by its size, Aspen didn't dare say anything. But she soon broke the silence.

'Headed to the city?'

Aspen nodded.

'You'll be turned away. You know.'

'We feared as much. How much worse has it got?'

She tilted her large horned head, regarding him, her dark brown eyes attentive. 'It's bad. They might shoot at you from the towers.'

Aspen glanced towards the palisade, then back to the minotaur. He noticed her back and one arm were crudely bandaged. She nodded at his questioning look.

'They fired at me when I tried to speak to the guards. But you guys might be luckier, being slightly more human. At least you in the carriage. Them though.' She nodded towards Sekafi and Hiaashaqwi.

A knot tightened in Aspen's stomach. He couldn't allow that to happen.

'Only humans are allowed?' Salabil asked.

The minotaur's eyes hardened as they met Salabil's gaze. 'Yes. And pure elves and dwarves. At least so they claim. Though if they don't like your appearance, they can turn you away anyway, claiming you're half-breeds.'

'Well then. Let's stop here and allow me to prepare,' she said, turning to Aspen.

'Prepare what?'

She smirked and indicated the rune on her forehead.

Aspen nodded, a hopeful smile daring to appear. He jumped out of the carriage and called for his friends to gather.

Salabil spent some time pouring over a book she had brought, then she mixed an ochre powder with water and starch in a small clay pot, creating a thick paint.

'Come here,' she ordered and beckoned for Sekafi to come first, hiding from the rain under a crude lean-to.

Sekafi raised an eyebrow at Aspen before approaching the mage. He shrugged.

'Stand still,' Salabil muttered as she raised a brush and dipped it in the paint. 'It's important that the details are correct. And try avoid touching it before its dried properly. It'll smudge and the effect will be lessened.'

'What're you doing?' Sekafi asked, following the mage's strokes with the brush on the front plates of her armour.

'Creating a disguise. Now be quiet, please,' Salabil said, staring at the rune she was creating.

Some curious onlookers gathered beside them, whispering and pointing. Aspen worried they'd do something when the effects of the magic were revealed. Maybe they'd all demand to get to use it too? He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he studied the small crowd. Ikelos, minotaurs, and half-breeds. Half-dwarves, a half-elf, a man who looked almost like a half-elf, but somewhat different. His hair almost shone golden and he had a childish, smooth appearance and large eyes. Fairy? And there stood a short half... goblin? He peered at the young girl. She had an odd greenish cast to her skin and rather big ears. Maybe? Was it possible? He shrugged it off. It didn't matter. She had become an outcast with the rest of them, despite only being a child. He glared at the watch towers by the entrance to the city. How could things get so bad so fast, he wondered? It was crazy.

'There. Now you, sir Samandar.'

Aspen looked back to Sekafi as Salabil started painting a rune on Hiaashaqwi's chest. Sekafi walked up to him, still under the protective lean-to roof, her arms held out from her body in an awkward way. He snorted and she bared her teeth at him.

His eyes drifted to the rune. He blinked. Did it even do something?

'Well?' Sekafi asked. 'See anything different?'

'No?' Aspen frowned. Blinked several times. How odd? He rubbed his eyes, feeling like a blurry film had set over them.

'Well, that sucks. No point in this if it doesn't work.' Sekafi placed her fists against her hips. Human hands. What?

'Wait...' Aspen looked at her face again. Sekafi looked like a human. A very big human woman with short ochre hair and light brown eyes. He stared, and she cocked her head in her typical way, her ear flicking. No, wait... Confused, he looked at Salabil, then back again. Just a large human in Sekafi's armour. How unsettling. 'Uh... you look, different,' he stammered. It was as if his eyes told him a human stood there, but his brain refused to acknowledge it and imposed the image of Sekafi on top of her.

'You look pale. Paler than normal, I mean. What do you see?' Sekafi said, frowning.

'You're... uh, a human. Kind of.'

'Kind of?' She almost crossed her arms over her chest, but stopped herself halfway through the motion, and ended up flapping her arms weirdly.

Aspen couldn't hold back a laugh, despite the fighting images in his head. Surely this wouldn't work. It would be impossible. The guard would see right through this.

'Salabil,' he said and turned to address the problem with her when he was brought up short. Before her stood a tall, red-haired, tanned man he didn't recognize. 'What...?' he breathed even as the onlookers applauded and cheered.

Salabil straightened and sighed in relief. She looked back and smiled at his dumbstruck expression. He clapped his mouth shut.

'Looks like it's working,' the mage commented.

'B... but I can see Sekafi, kind of...' he protested weakly, realizing the red-haired man was Hiaashaqwi. 'Why does it work on him, but I can see her?' He glanced back at Sekafi to make sure he still saw the double image.

'It has to do with familiarity,' Salabil explained. 'You know her too well, and despite the magic deceiving your eyes, you know it's her. If you know someone intimately, it reduces the spell's efficiency. Same if you see the person right before the rune is applied. You did both. A person's affinity with magic can also determine how well it works.'

'Does that mean it's harder to deceive another magician?' Aspen asked, wondering if that'd give them problems along the way.

'It can. But it depends on what kind of magic they're used to dealing with.'

He nodded. Still some hope of her magic working against Master Owadro then.

'Well? Don't just stand there. It's your turn.' Salabil beckoned for him.

He had forgotten he had to do it too and stuttered, making Sekafi laugh. He was too used to getting away with being human enough, most of the time. But no more. Brushing his hair back behind an ear, he stepped forward.

When they had their runes, and the paint had fully dried, they got back to their positions and continued towards Toin Caas. He sent a quick prayer to the god of luck, hoping their ruse would get them in. It wasn't until they stopped by the gates, he recalled the goblins. Where were Mirok and Kassem? Had they gotten into trouble trying to get in? He cursed quietly as the guards came up beside the wagon, barking at everyone to get out.