The wagons were loaded and moving South. After the heavy storms of the preceding days, small, gloopy puddles remained on the track that passed as the main road to the capital. The sky was overcast with worrying clouds, skittering the horizon. The journey was due to take up to a week of gruelling travel.

Klem had joined Todds' wagon. Todds' mum and dad were upfront. Klem and Todd were both dangling their legs over the back. It was a bumpy ride.

Klem was showing his new bow to Todd who looked on in jealous wonder. He was just itching to shoot it at something. Uncle Bob had given him a small quiver of precious arrows. These arrows were the real thing, and Klem would only use them with care. Practice, would be with his old makeshift ones.

Another reason for sitting at the back of Todds' wagon was Grace.

Grace Stubbins was the girl for Klem. He had always been fond of Grace, and recently he wondered if his feelings were deeper than fondness. She was in the wagon behind them, riding upfront with her mum and dad. Her hair was the colour of the sun, and her face and eyes shone when she smiled at Klem. Klem smiled back but was too shy to hold her gaze for long.

"I think she fancies you" Todd looked at his friends' quickly, reddening cheeks.

"Do you think so?" Klem stuttered hopefully.

"She is okay I s'pose, but Alexia is prettier." He gazed a few wagons wistfully further down the road.

They both stared into space dreamily for a moment. Then Klem diverted the clumsy conversation.

"Uncle Bob told me some stories last night. Did you know he has met the 'Witches of Missing Mountain'?"

"No! They don't exist do they?" Todd expressed his disbelief.

"Yup. I believe him. He says they enticed the soldiers he was captain of, to desert the army and stay to marry them. That must be some strong magic they have. He didn't know about the stealing children bit."

"What about the missing mountain story? That can't be true?" Todd shuffled his backside to help against the bumping of the waggon.

"He wasn't sure about that. His men had some strange experiences, though. I suppose that is just a story too. What do you think is going to happen about our apprenticeship feast Todd?" Klem continued.

Todd looked confused for a moment and replied. "It will still happen on our birthdays, it will just be in Kingsport now and not in Nocton."

"But we won't be in the village, some things happen differently in the capital. The apprenticeships will not be the same? They are not there now. Our way of life will be changed. we will be lucky if there is any work at all." Klem was beginning to realise that this upheaval affected more than just his home and family. It also affected his future.

"Oh darn Klem. I don't know. Never thought of that. I s'pose we don't have to rush into stuff now then? That may be a good thing. I don't suppose it will be much of a feast either." Todd looked glum. "I may just ask my folks if they know what will happen to us."

Todd stood up carefully on the bottom step of the wagon and went towards the front leaving Klem staring at Grace. Klem wanted to speak to her right now. He was going to lose his chance, once they got to Kingsport it would be over, time was running out. He settled for a wave and another of her heart fluttering smiles. He was never going to have enough courage. Usually, he was not shy. Initially, he may be awkward in some social situations. He usually broke the ice by doing something silly like pretending to call like a razorgull or roar like a monster. Now he was older though, this didn't go down so well. He ended up being made fun of and had started to get teased. Becoming a young man with a fast brain came with its own new problems. He looked shyly away from the friendly smiles of Grace. He hunkered down his head and took out his coloured bugs. They would take his mind off things. All this upheaval was too much for him. He liked routine and order. He felt his eyes water and kept his view on his bugs so no-one could see he was upset. He now wished he was on his families wagon so he could hug his mum. She would know what to do.

He hoped Dorky would be okay. He had whooped with joy when he heard he was coming with them. Dorky had curled himself up in Bob and Ethel's wagon. They were further to the back of the wagon train. He hadn't taken a lot of persuading to leave the village on the wagon. He understood that something was happening, something bad rather than good. He felt the nervousness of the exiled villagers. He wasn't about to give up Ethel's pie crusts for anything.

Grimwald and captain Sharpe rode past Klem. Their war ekwids at the front of the column of villagers wagons. Both dressed for fighting. Grimwald with his mighty war hammer strapped to his back and his smaller sword by his side. All fenland men were at one with the ekwid. Grimwald looked at home in the saddle of the great beast. His knee-high leather boots splattered with the mud of the trail and his usually tied back red hair was today loose to his shoulders, giving him a wild-man countenance. Chainmail covered his leather trousers and jerkin. Klem was thankful they had such men to guide them.

Nervousness was in the air. Klem had heard that the last scout to report had told them that there had been a possible sighting of the enemy only half a days' ride from Nocton. Meaning it would be a close race if they were following them to Kingsport. The hope was that the enemy would find food and livestock near to Nocton and camp there until their next move. Each update from the scouts was becoming increasingly important.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

As the light began to dim the wagons were carefully directed off the track into a clearing. Every few flights or so in the forest track trees had been cut back to allow large convoys of travellers to pull up and put in for the night. Here they circled the wagons and made up campfires to prepare some food.

It was not the way Klem had hoped. There was no singing and dancing on this trip. The journey was not the adventure he had hoped for. Everyone looked glum and appeared full of dread that danger lurked nearby. It made him jumpy and fidgety. He found it difficult to focus. Even the pull of the flickering campfire did not focus him. He felt like running again but in the dark, it would be more than foolish. He stared into the fire with a feeling of frustration.

Sleep was far away. Klem's fast mind always struggled to slow for sleep. Everyone else seemed tired by the journey and slumbered quickly. Klem finally succumbed as a raindrop splashed on his face. He crawled under his familys' wagon and curled into fitful dreams.

Overnight the worst thing that could have happened, happened. The storm hit and hit hard.

Raindrops as big as acorns were falling. Turning the small puddles on the road into rivers of running water. At first, the water followed the wheel tracks already there, but it soon burst out of these, creating mudslides. Creating desperate rivers of mud.

Slowly the convoy moved forward. The pace slowed to match the conditions, and no amount of urging would speed the distressed ekwids. Their bellows became more frequent as their feet constantly slipped on the worsening trail.

Wagons skidded from side to side in perilous danger of coming off the track altogether.

Klem's thoughts were everywhere. Changes were happening to him too fast. His family were all anxious about moving. Connie was just at the age where she could understand that her parents were worried about the future. Mo was oblivious to the upheaval; fortunately for her. Jed knew all that was happening. He looked at it all as a big adventure. Klem just didn't know how he felt. Knowing nothing would ever be the same again and returning to the village was an ever-dwindling aspiration. His way of life was going to change, and the uncertainty of it all made his head spin.

Scouts on fast ekwids were appearing alongside the wagons more frequently now. All the men with ever-increasingly worried looks. Klem noticed the anguish, lines on their exhausted, trail wearied faces.

He was now sitting on the back step of his family's slow-moving wagon, and he spent his time pondering his future and staring at the rain splashing, steadily down onto the leaves of the tall yukoya trees that overhung the progressively treacherous way.

This part of the trail became very narrow as if the dripping wet trees were closing in on them. There was no break in the heavy storm clouds and now every day of travel became a race against the mangorians.

Dad sat up front, concentrating on keeping his waggon moving, and the nervous bellowing ekwids safely on the trail. The trail should soon become a more reliable road in the next day or two, and his hopes were on getting there safely and then being able to up the snail's pace. Grimwald moved up and down the waggon train encouraging the drivers. Klem saw through the wild man's confidence. His fierce green eyes were giving away the seriousness of their plight.

Near constant driving and the anxiety of his people had taken its toll on his dad. He was more aloof with worry. Asking him about the future was of no use. He had become gaunt with the focus of getting his family to safety. Mum was not capable of taking her turn at the reigns -sleep for his dad was a limited luxury.

Connie and Mo had been made a 'den' in the back of the cart in a safe space made by his mum, amongst the many belongings piled high there. They slept or played quietly in their sanctuary from the perils of the journey. Jed, for the most part, sat upfront with his dad. Mum divided her time between sitting up front and trying to keep the girls from becoming bored.

Three garrison scouts rode past Klem and his family. His dad glanced from the road to the scouts and quickly filled with dread. A mangorian arrow was protruding from the shoulder of one of the men!

Something was happening. Klem could see that the garrison soldiers and scouts were moving to the back of the wagon train. They must be engaging the mangorians! They must be very near.

Klem became frantic. There was an air of desperation, the speed of the waggon had slowed slightly. He tried to look through the waggon up to the head of the convoy but couldn't see anything past his dad.

"Dad! Dad! What's happening?"

"Quiet son. It's alright!" Ambrose turned, his haunted face looked directly into Klem's eyes and then at the rest of his family. Telling Klem wordlessly not to frighten them with his glance.

"We are going to go off the trail son. That's all, nothing to worry about. Grimwald is turning us off two by two into the forest. We will make our own way through now. We must hide and hope. It is our last chance. they are too near. Be strong. I am proud of you son. Be strong."

Klem took a deep breath. He must stay strong. He would not show his fear.

It was the turn of the two wagons in front of Klem to move off into the dense wood, the carriage in front was Ethel and Bobs'. Dorky's head could occasionally be seen bobbing along to the rhythm of the cart. There was no clear trail through, so it was important to find a path into the woods wide enough for admittance.

The wagon in front of Ethel and Bob turned off okay and made it to the edge of the trees. It slowed to manoeuvre the rough terrain in front of the woods. It hit a large rock with its back wheel. Klem heard a loud crack as the axle split away from the cart and the waggon rolled onto it side. Bob and Ethel's cart following it tried to re-compensate to go around it but there was no way past, its back wheels skidded in the slippery mud and stopped. It ended, one-half on the trail and one-half, off it. Ekwids bellowed, people shouted.

There was no room on the trail for his dad to drive past. Watching from the rear Klem fidgeted and twisted. His dad had to swerve, leave the trail and go through unknown obstacles off to the right of the track. To get past the broken cart. The back wheel shuddered on the turn and flung Klem off the back step twenty spans off into the wood on the right. Thunk! Head-first into a solid yakoya.

without noticing, his dad righted his wagon and carried on along the trail waiting for his turn to change course. He didn't want to leave Bob behind, but stopping would mean holding the rest of the endangered convoy up.

****

Todd was in the wagon behind, sitting up front, with his Mum and Dad. He saw Klem fly off into the wood and let out a cry of anguish. His parents saw it happen too. Todd stood up on the front plate of the wagon, grabbed his mother in a hug. Gave a look of determination to his Dad, grabbed the sword to his father's side and leapt after Klem, roughly at the point he had seen Klem enter into the trees.

"I love you!" He shouted after his distraught parents. They couldn't stop the wagon for fear of slowing the others and agonisingly, with heavy hearts had to let him go.

"Go to Kingsport, son. We will meet you there!"

Todd hoped that would be so. Then they were gone.

What has that idiot boy done now? He thought. He had a promise to keep and Ambrose had paid him well. Maybe not enough though?