The morning of the departure, the stables were abuzz with workers flitting all about. It was more people than Gwen had seen at once in her entire life. Stable hands saddled the horses as strangers loaded the wagons with boxes. Maxwell Waggoner stood in the middle of the swarm, directing the drones this way and that with loud, clear instructions. For a moment, the cacophony of movement and sound threatened to overwhelm Gwen’s enhanced senses, but then she adjusted enough to hear herself think.

“Gwen!” Frederick’s booming voice muscled through the din.

She turned and saw the rest of the guards standing near the back of the main building. They all wore leather armor and carried various weapons: swords for Irina and Frederick, a battle axe for Bo, a spear for Erik. Bows and quivers all around.

“This is for you,” Erik said as Gwen drew close. He held out a bundle of stiff leather. “Courtesy of Old Man Waggoner.”

“Don’t call him that to his face,” Bo advised.

“You don’t know how to use a bow, right?” Frederick asked.

“Hold on,” Gwen said. It was all too much at once. She took a moment to catch up. “Don’t worry, I won’t call him that. No, I don’t know how to use a bow. Not well, at least. And thank you for the armor, but I don’t know how to use that either.”

I’ll help, Irina signed. Stay still. The captain took the armor from Erik and began strapping it onto Gwen.

“You won’t be quite as flexible with it on,” Erik said, “but it’ll make most hits way less deadly. Except if you let them slip a blade in the joints, but that’s on you.”

“Erik...” Bo said, rubbing his forehead.

“Sorry. It’s true, though. Watch out for daggers if anyone gets close. They slip in there really easily.”

“I’ll be careful,” Gwen promised. Ideally, she could use her staff to keep any attackers plenty far away and not have to worry about it. Irina had shown her that wasn’t always possible, but she’d also taught Gwen how to react when her opponent got past her guard. Hopefully the armor wouldn’t be necessary.

“We figured you wouldn’t know how to use a bow,” Frederick said. He pulled out a crossbow with a strap on it. Attached to the strap was a quiver of what looked like miniature arrows. “These are easier to aim when your target isn’t far away. Take longer to reload, but it is what it is. You know how to reload it?”

Gwen didn’t, so Frederick gave her a quick explanation, with unhelpful but funny interjections from Erik. By the time she understood it, Irina was done strapping on the armor. Gwen did some stretches to test it out. Like Erik had said, the stiff plates made it harder to move in, but not by too much. She could work with this.

A horse neighed behind Gwen, and she realized she might have overlooked a serious problem. “Is it okay that I don’t know how to ride?”

Irina signed something, and Erik snorted.

“What?”

“She says we’ll tie you,” Bo said.

The blood drained from Gwen’s face. “You’ll what?” It had to be a joke. How could she guard the caravan if she was tied to a horse?

“She’s kidding,” Frederick said. “The horses are just for pulling the wagons. They’re too rare down here to buy for us guards, and even if the boss man could afford them, he’d have to find guards who know how to ride. No, we all get to walk alongside the caravan. Two on each side and one behind.”

“Oh, thank...thank Celia.” Or whomever had Celia’s ember now. Gwen had no problem with walking, especially with Ryland’s ember to keep her energy up. Riding would have been another thing altogether. The horses were beautiful, but if Gwen was being honest with herself, they also scared her a bit. Animals weren’t supposed to be that big and fast. That was the purview of monsters.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Speaking of which... “What are we supposed to guard against? I know bandits, but do we have to worry about monsters too?”

“Monsters?” Frederick asked. “No one’s seen a monster on Ascangen for half a century. They hardly even cross the Wirt.”

“One of them did last month,” Gwen said. Had it really only been a month? She’d been attacked, trained, taught to smith, been robbed, visited a temple, trained some more, and now she was about to leave the Roots for the first time in her life. That was easily five years’ worth of experiences stuffed into five weeks.

“Really?” Erik leaned forward, eyes sparkling with curiosity. “Did it attack your village?”

“It attacked my brother and I. We were grazing our sheep a couple miles from the Wirt and it charged us. It looked like a boar, but it had tentacles, and it was the size of a cottage. My brother lost his eye protecting me.” Part of Gwen reveled in the shocked looks on the other guards’ faces. She was finally the one surprising them with her experience.

“I’ve got a hard time imagining you needing protection,” Frederick said.

Even I would need help against an angry house, Irina signed.

“Steffan--my brother--was the one with the sword,” Gwen said. “It was before I had this staff.” All true, but hopefully enough to keep them from realizing the real truth: that Gwen hadn’t known how to fight at all back then.

How did you get away? Irina asked.

“There was a fort close by. They saw the thing and were able to scare it off with a ballista. Patched up my brother’s eye, too.” Gwen hoped Steffan was all right. He had to be, after she’d given up so much to keep him safe.

“That sounds terrifying,” Erik said, running a hand through his pale hair. “We’re lucky monsters never really climb the tree.”

Bo frowned. “Do you know what made it cross the Wirt in the first place?”

“I’m not sure,” Gwen said. She’d wondered about it, but without more information, even the Ember of Wisdom couldn’t help her figure it out. “It had some wounds, so maybe it ran across to avoid being hunted?” But what would hunt something like that? Even trolls would be scared of it. “Or maybe it got in a fight with another monster.”

“Well,” Frederick said, clapping his hands together, “you won’t have to worry about any monsters where we’re going. It’s just bandits and the occasional crime family.”

“Crime...family?” Gwen was sure she’d misheard.

“Like bandits, but with culture,” Erik said with a chuckle.

“They’re more organized and don’t just steal directly,” Bo said. “They also run protection rackets and that sort of thing.”

“Protection rackets?” Gwen was right back to being the inexperienced one.

“They come up to a shop in a place with a lot of crime,” Erik said, “and they say stuff like you got a nice shop here and would be a shame if something happened to it and we can keep it safe for the right price. If you pay them every month, they make sure none of the other criminals damage your shop. If you don’t pay them, they damage your shop themselves.”

“What was that accent?” Frederick laughed. “You sound like an Einer with a bad cold.”

“Is that not what they sound like?” Erik asked. Gwen couldn’t tell if he was being serious or feigning ignorance to annoy Frederick.

If it was bait, the large man didn’t take it. “They won’t sound like anything if they get in our way.” He rested his hand on the pommel of his broadsword. “Not with the five of us.”

Bo nodded. “We’re more skilled than your average criminal.”

“True,” Erik said. “Besides, if there’s too many of them, we can always find a cave to hide in.”

“That’s it!” Frederick said, lunging for Erik. His hands closed on empty air as the scrawny man hopped out of reach. “You get back here!”

“Catch me yourself, Sir Arsonist.” Erik stuck out his tongue.

Frederick shouted and gave chase.

“Are they going to be okay?” Gwen asked. Frederick seemed truly angry.

They do this every time, Irina signed.

“It’s how they let out stress before a job,” Bo said. “I give it three minutes until they’re tonguing.”

Irina pulled out a coin and held up four fingers.

###