The sun was setting over Mego as Hugh and Elody packed up the wagon. Sam was inside, double-checking the inventory whilst the other two did the physical labor. The wagon was almost full this time, heavy crates and barrels taking up most of the space inside, leaving only a small area to traverse. While Elody and Sam could sneak through, Hugh would be confined to the front cabin.
“You know, Sam?” Elody began, “I didn’t really think that this would get much. I’m glad it did though, if it means we leave sooner.”
“What, this?” Sam said, gesturing to the burgeoning wagon with his pencil. “This is alright, I suppose.”
“Alright?!” Hugh and Elody echoed.
“Mhm.”
“Handling this was taxing enough,” Hugh complained.
“Wait, where would we even put any more?” Elody wondered. “There’s just no more room. Kind of puts an upper limit to how much money you can get at a go, doesn’t it?”
Sam tutted and waved the pencil in a naysaying fashion.
“Sure, there’s a lot of stuff,” Sam said, “But it ain’t worth much. It's actually worse for us, since having so much weighs the wagon down, and those beasties up front only pull so hard.”
As though in understanding, the beasts snorted derision.
“Where are we going, anyhow?” Hugh asked, now finished with his labor. “You have only called it a large city. You have not told us anything else about it, not even the name.”
“Oh, I saw it on the maps while we were planning! It’s a place called Hearth. It's almost straight north of here.”
“An easy trek, then.”
Sam snorted at this, earning a look from the other two. Elody gestured for him to elaborate, but he only rolled his eyes, and clambered into the cabin, emerging a moment later with the relevant map in hand. He used the wagon wall to smooth it out and make it visible, only for the corners to curl up. Elody took one of the corners, and Hugh did another as Sam pointed to the map.
“Arright, so. We’re here, yeah?” He said, pointing to a tiny dot marked “Mego”. From it, only a few lines radiated out, the largest web of roads much further into the territory. As Elody pointed out, due north of Mego was a more detailed icon of a town, labeled “Hearth”. It was located on the northernmost point of a mountain range that stretched to the east, then south, making a natural border between the Snif territory that made up the bulk of this map and the Rhyth territory on the map’s edge. Small round marks indicated a small area of foothills surrounding the mountain range. A little south of Hearth, where the mountain indication gave way to hills, was an unmissable star.
Sam traced his line up the road out of Mego, emphasizing that the road was anything but straight, curving around hills and then making a wide, circuitous approach to Hearth before zig-zagging into the mountains.
“See this ugly thing?”
The others nodded understanding.
“Screw this road. We’re going the fun way,” Sam declared as he pulled his finger back to the penciled in star. A small line connected it to the main road just before it deviated into a severe curve, implying there was a new or small road connecting them.
“We’re gonna go this way. It's their Sky Ferry, and we’re gonna use it to skip half the trip there!”
“I like shortcuts,” Elody said with an approving look at Sam, “But why’s it not on the actual map?”
“Because the Sky Ferry didn’t exist when this thing was made!” Sam responded. “Its not like this map can just be updated with magic.”
He paused, stopping to think about what he had just said. “Hey Hugh, d’you think you could make a map that gets magically updated like that?”
Hugh gave Sam a bemused look.
“I have made a lucky guess at magic that lets me understand your ridiculous demand and a rock that falls apart. If there’s a way to do it, I don’t have the skill,” Hugh stated.
“Well, maybe there’s something we can find in Hearth for ya. Don’t get yer hopes up though, Hugh, it’s a town not big on magic. It does magical things without the actual magic.”
“Magic… Without magic?” Hugh repeated.
“That’s right! They use things pushing other things to make yet more things happen! I don’t really get it, if i’m bein’ honest, but they sure can make wonders with their tricks. Take this neat little toy for example.”
Sam pulled out a medallion from his pocket, then pressed a button as the clamshell top sprang open. Inside was a twin dial, with a long, thin needle and a short, fat needle. Each were pointed in different directions. After a moment, the long, thin needle jumped forward by a small, but noticeable amount.
Hugh goggled at the pocketwatch, while Elody merely looked at it with confusion. To her, the object was an interesting oddity, but nothing with any value in her eyes. To Hugh, however, it was like a box of gold coins had been opened in front of him.
“It tells the time,” Sam explained, noting the twelve notches around the rim. “Each big notch is an hour, or five minutes.”
“How do you know which is which?” Hugh asked.
“Long hand is minutes, fat hand is the hour. See now its… 8:55 in the evening.”
Elody looked towards the receding sunlight on the horizon, before looking back at Sam with a flat look.
“Now don’t be like that,” Sam chided, “Surely you can appreciate how this could be helpful when you’re inside! You can’t always see outside, this can help! On days where it's cloudy and overcast, yer still able to manage time! You can al-”
“Sam, I’m not a customer. You don’t have to pitch to me,” Elody interjected.
Sam cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed. “Arright. Not used to proper employees rather than clientele. Where was I? Right, the Sky Ferry.”
He jabbed his finger back to the star to bring the conversation back on track.
“Its a big ol’ gizmo that they were building last time I was at Hearth. That was a few months ago, and it was nearing completion. Supposed to lift up an enormous platform and send it through the air up and down the mountain. The stated purpose being for importin’ additional ores and exportin’ the metals they make, but they mentioned it’ll take passengers for a fee.”
“We will fly?” Hugh asked in wonder.
“Somethin’ like that!”
“The same way that thing ticks?”
“Somethin’ like that!”
Pieces connected in Hugh’s mind, paths opening where previously there were only clif faces.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“May I examine that watch?”
Sam opened his mouth to object. The pocketwatches he had purchased were both rare and expensive- something he saved to sell to rich clients who he thought overvalued their time. Letting someone so seemingly oafish as Hugh touch it sent a shiver up his spine, but as he thought about the work that Hugh had been doing, he reconsidered. If Hugh was able to make one of these himself, that could bring in far more money with very little initial cost. If this watch was the price for future gains, then it was a pittance.
“You know what, Hugh? It’s yers now. Enjoy,” Sam said, extending his hand and dropping the pocketwatch into Hugh’s.
Hugh’s eyes went wide, and without any words, bowed deeply to Sam and immediately went for his tools, before coming out wearing a sober expression.
“Forgot that it was still dark out, huh?”
Hugh nodded an ashamed acknowledgement as the other two shared a laugh.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
They set off with morning light- 6:30 according to Hugh’s new timepiece- making their way towards Hearth. The pace was slower than before, but the beasts of burden were used to such heavy loads. The cart moved just about as quickly as any of them at a very casual stroll, allowing them to walk alongside it for stretches of road. Despite the slower pace, they were making good time. Without having to stop to bushwhack through patches of forest or scrubland, the constant movement saw them along the road.
As the trio traveled together, all three began to lower their guards around each other. They had been traveling for about two weeks now, and as they all talked to pass the time, they each grew to know one another better.
Elody, naturally, talked about her home, Ade. She talked about the people she had known and the experiences she had of running her pharmacy. The troubles of running a business in such a place as Ade was a common topic for her to discuss. She also spoke frequently of Rudolph, her apprentice, and how much she missed him. Other times, she would share an embarrassing or amusing story that involved him.
“Oh, you should have seen him this one time,” Elody said, trying to talk through her own laughter, “Rudy had only been with me a few months, and he managed to bump his foot into a shelf, knocking off a vial of this horrid-smelling foot balm off, and he managed to catch it- except the bottle smashed right in his hand! Oh he came crying to me, hopping on one foot since he apparently hurt it when he kicked the shelf. He was so scared I was going to kick him out over that! But a bunch had also splattered onto his face somehow- So here he is, hopping on one foot, goo all over his hands and face, smelling like hell, so I can’t help but laugh as he’s crying and begging for me to keep this sorry state!”
Elody wiped away tears as the other two laughed uproariously at the ludicrous situation.
“And that’s why we keep the smelliest things on the bottom shelves now!” Elody said, to top her story off.
Hugh tended to do some of his runecrafting work whilst he listened to either Elody or Sam talk. He didn’t talk as much as the other two, but even so, chimed in with his own stories from his home. His tended to be filled with bittersweet memories of the people he grew up with and only left two weeks ago. Coming from such a small village, he knew everyone by name. Essentially all the names meant nothing to the other two, but still, they listened eagerly. Or rather, Elody listened eagerly, whereas Sam made a good impression of listening eagerly. Internally, he was focused on other things.
He also spoke about how he became interested in magic, and why Maril took him in. To the others’ surprise, it was about how he broke the rules, rather than followed them.
“I was still quite young, mind you-"
"Yer still young!" Sam interjected while Elody couldn't suppress her laughter.
Hugh gave Sam a flat look as he began his story again.
“I was very, very young, maybe seven or eight summers old. Maril had brought the village together as she wanted to share some of her insights from her readings. She had a staff that she used to amplify her voice, and this very same earpiece.”
Hugh pointed his ear for emphasis before resuming.
"She said she had spoken with some of the larger creatures around our village, and had struck a deal with them- that they would protect us if we left offerings for them. Up until then, wolves and bears had been raiding our food, and it was a major milestone to reach an accord with them.”
“Wait,” interjected Elody, “I thought the earpiece only translated things? How’d Maril talk to them?”
“I get it,” Sam said with a roll of his eyes, “Yer gonna say 'that was the problem' and you showed up to Maril and knocked out an early version of that choker and super impressed her. Right?”
Hugh grinned. Even now, the broad, muzzle-mouth grin of the Frostwalker was an intimidating sight, the broad slabs of teeth on full display.
“Oh, she definitely used the staff to talk to them. I was a kid, however. All I knew was that staff seemed like a lot of fun, and I stole it.”
“No way. No fracking way, I can’t see you, Hugh, being a little cutpurse!”
“I did! I stole it right after her speech, took it home and tore it apart. I destroyed it as I tried to figure out how it worked.”
“There’s the Hugh we know,” quipped Sam.
“So, what happened next? Did you get away with it?”
“Well,” Hugh said, scratching the back of his head, “At first? Yes. After I tried to repair the staff and made it screech loud enough to wake the dead? No.”
“That Maril lady musta been pissed.”
“Actually, she was incredibly impressed. Even if I broke her staff, I could have done much worse. She saw how interested I was in learning about how it worked, and took me under her wing after that,” Hugh explained. "When it broke, most of the fine carvings were disrupted. I was able to re-create it, and used the earpiece that Maril gifted to me to infer the rest. It took many years, but I eventually succeeded."
Hugh pointed at the inscribed plate upon his choker to emphasize his point.
“So wait,” Sam asked, “If you were doing that fer, what, over a decade, how come yer village wasn’t filled with magic doohickeys?”
“Ultimately? I guessed, Sam. Learning magical crafting is a tedious affair, and I had very little to show for it, even now. I only have two points of reference, and I still don't understand what I'm doing. Every time I try something, its different than last time.”
“I suppose that makes sense. What if you tried to remake the staff today? How would you fare now?” Elody asked.
Hugh shook his head.
"I have tried to copy these before, Elody. It is not so simple. What became this choker was one of many attempts. I don't know why that one worked and the others did not, because I am guessing."
They continued to talk and discuss the details of Hugh’s new profession. He rather enjoyed the attention to his work. Even if he felt himself rather novice at this point, he liked that there was someone other than Maril in his life who cared about what he did, rather than regarding him as someone who can’t let something go.
Sam did not speak nearly as much as the other two, mostly keeping to himself and updating his inventory. He made quips and comments plenty, but seldom offered any anecdotes to share. The stories he did share were essentially all gossip and hearsay, offering no real insights into his past.
“It’s like you’re trying to be some mysterious stranger,” Elody teased.
“Ain’t nothing to talk about, that’s all,” Sam insisted. “What, you want me to regale you with tales of how I cut some fantastic deal and made a ton of dough?”
“Sure!”
“Great, here goes. One time, in Wella, I came in with a big ol’ shipment of lumber from downstream right after a huge storm wrecked a bunch of their boats on the lake, so I sold them the lumber at double price. Happy?”
Elody blinked at Sam as he started and stopped his story in the same breath.
"Sam?”
“Yeah?”
“You suck at storytelling.”
“Well gee! If only I knew that and kept my trap shut! But noooo, y’all needed to pry into my mysterious background,” Sam said with a huff. “Now you know I’m just a boring man with a boring history.
“Wait,” Hugh asked, “What kind of storm was it? Was it a blizzard, or a thunderstorm?”
“I ain’t know! All I know was my wood sold well!”
Sam was getting quite flustered now, and even started to turn a little red.
"Yeah, Sam. And who’d you sell the wood to? What were they like?” Elody added to the teasing.
“How am I supposed to remember that kinda detail!”
“I hope you're not losing your memory with age, old man,” Hugh prodded.
“How old even are you, anyways? You never did say, Sam.”
“I ain’t old!” Sam refuted. “I’m thirty in a month- same age as you, Elody!”
“You're the one who cracked the joke about Hugh being a kid. That makes you the old man, old man,” Elody said with a grin.
By now, Sam was thoroughly red, and stood up.
"Y’all are children! Hugh, get back to work. Elody, take the reins. I’m walking for a bit.”
WIth that, Sam huffed out of the cart as the other two burst into laughter.
“You heard the old man, Hugh, we got work to do!”