The slow clip-clop of the horse’s hooves put Brandt into a sort of trance. A state of mind, which he was oh so familiar with - the winding road, the views, changing as if in a kaleidoscope, rolling clouds, and so forth. He tried for a while to analyze his companion’s behavior, but couldn’t concentrate, so with a sigh he eventually allowed his mind to drift. For whatever reason his thoughts always came back to the next larger checkpoint of their journey.

The free city of Isdelburg.

He knew it well, having been there frequently on business. The city always seemed too large for its good. Squeezed onto a narrow wedge of land, where two large rivers, the Niesse and the Orda, met. The Orda considered the larger of the two, continued from this point onward as a two-kimer-wide swampland, slowly meandering through the Maargardian Plateau. Due south, upstream, both rivers went through dense forests, with only isolated pockets of civilization, all the way to the Soutwals. Suffice it to say, Isdelburg had a fortuitous location of being the first, the last, and by extension - the best place where crossing Orda was still practical when trade was concerned. Just about any tun, cart, sack, crate, vat, or bottle of merchandise from Maargard to Cammot, and vice versa, passing through the bridges leading to the peninsula. All this made the city very, very wealthy.

…and contested. Both the Kingdom and the Paladinate claimed the peninsula as their own territory, trying to gain control through the usual mixture of force and corruption, but in the end, neither could make the city surrender its fierce independence. The visible monument of this rivalry took the form of no less than four fortresses built around the city, two by each power, officially ‘to watch’ the city. This made Isdelburg itself one of the best-guarded cities in the known world, to the intense benefit of everyone involved, but without it being recognized.

Because, as the saying goes: “The Commerce must Commence”.

Since they left Sheridawn Brandt’s companion seemed… busy. Mostly with whatever the tanai ought to usually be busy with. From the hoomin’s perspective, this was either: staring absentmindedly into the void, floating around a point of interest, or scribbling something furiously, muttering incomprehensible words about some or other observation he had made.

After watching the same scene unfolding several times over, Brandt had to admit that the tanai’s talent for telekinesis was impressive. The bookkeeper seemingly had no issues hovering a piece of parchment, an inkwell, and a quill and making notes all at the same time, whilst floating alongside the Nord. All this was achieved with his hands kept hidden deep in the sleeves of his robe. The first time Brandt saw the tanai do just that, he could not help but stare for a long while, mesmerized by the spectacle. Even now, several days later, he frequently caught himself throwing a glance.

As they continued westwards and the density of the traffic increased, Brandt noticed that tanai’s attention shifted from the landmarks and environment to people. There were now many more Southerners on the road, with their ruddy skin and straightforward gaze, and an occasional Maargardian, easily spotted thanks to their flashy chaperones and tall caps. Their distinctively different clothing and mannerisms seemed to fascinate Anh, up to the point where the bookkeeper almost caused them to be thrown out of one of the inns, where his excessive ‘observations’ spurred a ‘gardian merchant’s bodyguard to jump at the tanai. It took Brandt some effort to calm the situation. Trawins’ behavior increasingly reminded him of a child in a candy store, but fortunately, after the incident at the inn, he restrained himself to only respectfully observing from a distance.

The days went by, and both travelers settled into a routine. They started early - Brandt made such a factual rule - usually no more than a candle after dawn. Then they broke their fast with whatever was available from the kitchens, then returned to the road. They usually had a break around midday, eating rations and resting in a layby or a tree grove for around a candle. Then back on the road again, reaching the next planned inn just before bivset. Brandt tried to keep a brisk pace but without unduly tiring the animals. Karrlsons were known for excellent stamina, but even they couldn’t canter forever.

They were now on their fifth day since leaving Sheridawn, and the third day since they left the Gisean Plateau and entered the endless flat grasslands, covered at this time of year with sad, yellowish, dead carpet. This practically featureless environment, as Brandt knew well, stretched to the Orda River and was only occasionally broken up by small clumps of bushes, narrow strips of deciduous woodland, mostly following some or other stream, and punctuated by various examples of hoomin habitation, from lone homesteads, through agricultural villages, small settlements built around roadside inns to an infrequent occurrence of a market town.

The traffic kept steadily increasing. Practically every tract and path joining the main road seemed to either inject another merchant with a laden mule heading towards Isdelburg or swallow caravans going in the opposite direction. Regularly, twice a day, a King's courier pushed past them in a hurry, going in one direction in the morning, and back again in the afternoon.

They had only just finished their midday rest and couldn’t be traveling for more than half a candle, when Brandt, from his vantage point, spotted a deadlock not that far ahead. Several carts, horses, and men stood unmoving in the middle of an empty field, seemingly for no reason at all.

-” Impressive” - he muttered under his breath.

-” What’s impressive?” - chipped in the tanai.

-” We still haven’t seen either the Lower or Upper Bresland castles, but the construction is already here”.

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-” Construction?” - the bookkeeper perked up - “What construction? Where?”

The traffic started to slow down. Brandt wiggled in the saddle and patted his horse on the neck.

-” Some ten years ago the King decided to build a stone road from Isdelburg all the way to Sheridawn. To help facilitate the trade.”

-” Ambitious, but not unheard of.”

Brandt glanced at his companion and frowned.

-” Something like this has never been attempted before.”

-” Tanais has been building stone roads since the Early Vhirise.” - dismissively claimed Anh - “Child’s play. But I’m not surprised it took six centuries for the hoomin to catch up.”

The man huffed in exasperation but then forced himself to calm down and pondered how to respond without antagonizing his companion. But at the same time, he felt the urge to cut the lanai down to size, since his disrespectful attitude towards hoomin steadily intensified over the last few days, and Brandt started to feel annoyed about all this.

-” The technology is not unknown. The scale is.” - he said finally.

-” How so?” - in a blink of an eye Anh’s attitude shifted from dismissive to interested.

-” The road will span a couple of hundred kimers. It gets built in segments, using at least three layers of prep work, which includes building a compacted earth bypass for the carts. For everything to go smoothly, a large quarry has been established up the Niesse. The stone is being delivered by boat.” - Brandt recounted the facts slowly and with clarity, as if he were instructing a child - “Gravel and sand are moved up Orda from the pits just outside Gnorlitz. All this is offloaded on the eastern bank of Niesse, using a purpose-built riverport just up from Isdelburg. Caravans of carts transport it to the construction site day and night.”- Brandt glanced at the tanai, mostly to judge his reactions. He seemed to be listening with great attention -” Here’s the impressive part: judging from what we can both see here, they have laid over seventy kimers of the road in just under three years. This is way ahead of schedule.”

Anh didn’t respond, only caressed his goatee for a while.

-” This is… indeed… impressive.” - he said finally. Then added with a hint of racial pride - “I’m willing to bet that the Tanais Constrvctvm Corpvs (im Vhirs Excellsio) is proud of its achievements here.”

This time it was Brandt’s turn to be dismissive.

-” The entire project is undertaken solely by the Kingdom of Cammot and funded thanks to Zerstbank’s loans. None of Tanaiis’ organizations were ever involved.”

-” Really? Not even one engineer?”

The hoomin shrugged.

-” Really. Not one. However, there was a sizable contribution from Sheridan’s Zeim. They’ve done most of the surveying and inspections before the construction commenced in earnest and still provide engineers and advisors.”

-” Well then. It is indeed impressive. Hoomin, almost on their own, getting something done instead of arguing with each other.”

Brandt smirked and shook his head slightly. There was something unpleasant in Anh’s demeanor here, like an age-old adversity or maybe a hint of bitterness, and the hoomin decided not to dig deeper to find out. But on the other hand, he couldn’t resist plucking that string just a little bit more.

-” I am now wondering how well the other part of the project is progressing.” - he added jovially.

-” What other part?”

-” If I recall correctly, there were plans for another quarry upstream of Weisa, to facilitate road laying from Sheridawn side as well, speeding up the process. We haven’t seen anything as we left, so I guess there is a delay.” - the floating bookkeeper grumbled something unintelligible. Brandt hid his smile and looked ahead - “Whatever the case may be, we should arrive in Isdelburg a day after tomorrow. Unless the construction slows us down.”

At this precise moment, the traffic finally ground to a halt. He couldn't tell exactly how many people waited in front of them but there were at least a dozen horses and mules, some open carts with canvas-covered loads, and something that looked like a noble’s carriage.

A man carrying a spear in one hand, a kettle helmet in the other, and dressed in a blue and yellow tabard leisurely walked alongside the road, speaking to each traveler in turn. Brandt looked him up and down as he closed in. The hoomin was a Midlander type, about fifty years old. He had a grey, tangled woodcutter’s beard matched to a similarly sized and colored mane of hair sticking out from underneath his helmet padding. When he reached Anh and noticed that the tanai’s feet were not touching the ground he squinted and hesitated, but quickly regained his composure.

-” Sorry for delay sir.” - he said, directing his words towards Brandt, but glancing uneasily at the strange floating person - “We’re building the Stoneway No.1 to Isdelburg. We’ll let you through as soon as they…” - he pointed with his chin back where he came from - “...clear the blockade. Some stones fell over to the pass”

-” Can’t we just go around?” - asked Brandt.

-” You can try, but I wouldn’t risk it. The ground is thick mud over here and we haven’t made a pass that far yet. Better to…” - the guard stuttered, seeing Trawins float up several mers. He put his helmet back on and scratched his neck -” Umm… wait a little. I guess.”

-” Thank you” - said Zerster. The guard nodded and went away, shaking his head and still peering back at the flying man from time to time.

Having nothing else interesting to do, Brandt looked around, this time noting additional detail. Directly in front stood a large cart drawn by two horses and steered by a peasant wearing a saggy straw hat and a thick, fur vest over simple linen clothes, which had seen better days. The cart was open-topped but its contents were covered with a tarred canvas, as was the standard. The Nord's gaze slid further up front, where a pair of travelers, not unlike Brandt and Anh, sat on their horses, chatting loudly. Their Cammona speech was tainted with a heavy Maargardian accent. Even further still, past a few laden mules and horses accompanied by their drivers, there was a richly ornamented carriage, laden with coffers on the roof. A barely audible melody, played most likely on a lute, emanated from inside. This carriage completely blocked the line of sight, so Brandt shifted his attention towards the surrounding landscape, but just at that moment Anh floated back down.

[tbc]