“What is going on?” Saleh spoke after closing the door. His voice was a bit low. Trying to keep quiet, so Cassie wouldn’t be able to hear them even if she lowered the sound isolation.
“I don’t know yet.” Jessica was looking around. Not stopping, she simply pointed as the snow wolf.
Not being winter, there was no snow. It was unlikely to stop the snow wolf from fighting. Nor did it seem to affect its most important aspects. It could still pull the carriage, along with it currently sniffing the air as it twitched its ears from time to time.
It was clear that the wolf had sensed something from smell or sound. However, there was not a clear indication of what they were up against. There were no abnormal signs. In all of the fights before, the creature had shown some hesitation. Before it made itself small, when it encountered anything before hiding in the snow.
Right now, it appeared as if it wasn’t even sure it had sensed anything as it continued to try to smell or hear whatever it had originally found alarming.
Looking around them, they were not too far away from the area they had been in when they were attacked by the wolf pack. Now, without snow, there were a few sections of higher elevation. Small trees randomly spread around as there were a bundle of them in close proximity in patches.
Overall, there was a good line of sight of everything in their surroundings. Allow them to make out a good distance around them. Neither they nor the snow wolf were able to find anything in the end. After about five minutes, the snow wolf seemed to give up as it turned to look at the two of them. Sitting down with a completely relaxed posture, indicating everything was fine now.
They continued traveling for a few more hours. Having been prepared, both Jessica and Saleh had gotten some extra food for the snow wolf. Using it to bribe it into moving faster than it normally would otherwise.
Possibly only being paranoid, it wouldn’t hurt to create distance. They were never able to identify where the gaze that had watched them near the end had come from. In fact, the gaze didn’t linger and only showed up once.
As night fell, they were sitting around the campfire. Cassie was ranting about not being able to enjoy a starry sky, or a bed.
“I will spare no expensive. If mother can’t do it, I will hire Isabel to come to Mercury City. How much do you think it would take?” There was a very serious expression on Cassie’s face as she turned and asked Saleh.
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Scratching his cheek with a bit of embarrassment, “I don’t know. While I don’t think everyone has such formations, I do believe it is part of the tribe formation. I don’t think it will be possible to replicate it unless you redo the entire Mercury City formation.”
Cassie looked as if that was troublesome, believing it to have come to an end. They soon heard her mumbling under her breath, “Redo the entire formation? That will be a bit expensive…”
Neither Jessica, or Saleh, knew what to do with what they just heard. Even though Isabel was a higher up of the tribe. What they had wasn’t exclusively considered well-to-do. In terms of expenses to redo the formation of an entire city, that was way outside anything they could do.
Jessica on the other hand was a bit puzzled. Cassie was playful. Though she didn’t seem like one that would lie. That was to mean, to her, redoing the entire formation of Mercury City appeared to be something feasible, even if a bit out of reach. That alone was enough to speak of the financial power she possessed.
After watching Cassie enter the carriage, Jessica couldn’t help but ask, “What you think about earlier?”
“She has too much money.” He smiled, seeing the stare he was receiving he could only shake his head, “I don’t know. There was no obvious evidence that there was anyone following us, and we only felt that gaze once.”
“I think we should take precautions. Are you good with driving tomorrow without sleeping?”
“Seems reasonable. Though, are we sure they will attack tonight? It might require multiple nights. By that time, it will be impossible to hide signs of sleep deprivation.”
“We bought enough extra feed. Also, Cassie hasn’t said anything about the obvious increase in speed. So we can consider that consent. At most, we will need to stay up two days. By that time, without showing any obvious signs, they won’t be able to keep up.”
“And if you’re wrong?”
“Then it won’t matter if we’re right or wrong. Won’t even matter if we’re awake or sleeping.” Jessica’s meaning was rather clear on this. Without further ado, Saleh nodded.
Since she was the driver, it was Jessica’s turn to sleep early. Therefore, she moved, while there wasn’t great cover, they still used the top of the carriage as a point to guard and keep watch.
As night descended, the night seemed to be one they wouldn’t have gotten sleep even if they wanted. Jessica was meditating, as she didn’t believe that she would see or sense anything before the snow wolf.
With darkness as a cover, it was possible to sit cross-legged on the carriage without any problems. This also meant that everything around them was also dark. On this day, Saleh had the fire wither slightly.
Allowing the top of the carriage to be hidden in the dark. There wasn’t much point in going without fire. If they were being followed, the fire would not be the reason they were found. Instead, this would alert the enemy that they were expecting attacks from intelligent beings.
Jessica opened her eyes as she turned to look at Saleh. He, too, looked at her. Having confirmed it wasn’t just them. The two looked at their surroundings warily. Something about the area had just turned dangerous.
Worse, the snow wolf was not making a single sound. Unlike during the day, Cassie had already explained. The wolf was trained to give them a sound cue instead of a visual, like it did when they were moving during the day.