“Will, wake up, you are on... Are you ok to round up the animals? if you like i can give you a hand” asked Arwin.

“I can get all the animals up to the house, but I will need a hand to hitch Flow up to the cart”

“what cart?” asked Arwin in surprise.

“My uncle has, well he had, a cart to take produce to the market. What about the guards?”

“Don't worry we checked them, they won't be waking till morning. Come to think of it neither will the Dorsal's.” laughed Raya.

“Can i get you come and help me Raya? It would be quicker if you walked behind the animals while I led them, the sheep should follow me fine, but the cows may need a bit of a hurry along.”

“Sure, she replied but you will have to tell me what to do,” said Raya.

Arwin interrupted and suggested that they should take a look at the cart. The cart was not much to look at but was well built for hauling loads.

“Can Flow tow the cart through the Forest?”

“There is a cart track that goes into the Vior not far from where we camped. I think it joins the road that leads to the Bastilion mines just before it meets the main road west. It's pretty rough but I did see a cart come through last autumn. Flow is patient and strong, she could pull the cart almost anywhere.”

“Change of plan then,” said Arwin, "let's leave the animals for the moment and see what we can liberate from the house.”

There wasn’t much of value, but they took blankets, some cooking equipment and whatever food they could find. Before they left the house with the last load Raya poured some powder into the water jug.

“What's that?"asked Arwin.

“It's a laxative, it should buy us some more time in the morning” she said grinning, “shall we take their swords and helmets, Reha could re forge them?”

“Let's leave them I think they will be in enough trouble as it is.” said Arwin. Out in the barn they found more worthwhile plunder. They loaded sacks of grain, horse oats, corn and onion seeds. Will bought out two axes from the woodshed and a shovel. That’s all I can think of” he said as he threw them on the cart.

Flow was awake and watching the goings on with interest she seemed happy to see Will, especially when she was offered a bucket of oats. She cooperated nicely when they harnessed her to the cart even though it must have seemed strange to her to do it in the dark of night.

“We are going on a bit of a walk, and you will need your strength girl” Will said reaching up to Patt her neck.

Raya and Will left to round up the animals. They approached the cows with their giant dark bodies with steamy breath rising around their heads.

“Those cows are giant, how can we possibly get them to move.” said Raya.

Will laughed and slapped one gently on the bum. “Off we go.” and to Raya's surprise it did.

They herded the cows towards the farmhouse collecting the sheep on the way. Will had a tame sheep named Flossy that he hand raised last spring. She came happily to his call leading the flock along.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“If you follow behind the flock, they will move a bit quicker.” said Will. He gave Raya a stick.

“Swish it around to make some noise if they slow up and yell out if it's not working.” Raya found herself swishing her way behind the sheep and cows thinking that maybe she had missed her calling.

When all the animals were in the roadside paddock Will went to the barn to collect Flow.

“Um I can't lead Flow and herd the other animals at the same time. Which of you is good with Horses?” silence “Oh well you are taller Arwin, take the reins and lead her along, she should follow you just fine.”

Arwin took the reins but couldn’t get Flow to move.

“You want to try Raya? You are everyone's friend” suggested Arwin.

Raya swapped the reins for the swooshing stick.

“Come on Flow, good horse” she cooed, and they were off.

“You do have a special gift” marveled Arwin. Arwin was busy swooshing the cows when they passed the Dorsals house, “We don’t have to worry about waking them up” she laughed.

Will guided the heard into his friend's farm and they made their way along its northern boundary where the gates had been thoughtfully left open. The last gate led towards rough grazing and beyond it the Voir. A sack was tied to it with a note reading. Keep well Will, good luck on your journey. We will split the heard in the morning. The first I will get my man Patric to push along the main road past your old place. The other I will herd over your tracks on the farm, then on as far as the northern woods first thing tomorrow morning. In the sack were two loaves of corn bread.

“Dinner” said Will excitedly.

“Better late than never, thanks Thom,” said Arwin.

They ate on the way wanting to put as much ground between them and the farm as possible. There were five moons glowing in the sky so finding the cart track was easy enough. As they walked into the forest the light dropped and the animals were unsettled. Arwin was kept busy swooshing and “cha cha cha ing.”

After a few hours Will came back to the others yawning. “I don’t think that it is worth driving them any further tonight the animals are getting grumpy.”

“With Raya's special diarrhea mix sending them to the toilet and your friends covering our tracks we should be right. Well done, you two.” said Arwin.

They all agreed it was time to turn in and piled onto the cart for well deserved sleep.

Raya woke early in the morning. The animals were up and grazing, spread throughout the forest. She started to panic then calmed herself. Will said he knew what he was doing, trust in him, she thought. She set a wee fire to make breakfast then woke the others.

“What time is it? And where are all the animals?” said Arwin startled.

“It's only just past sunrise, breakfast is on and I'm sure Will has done this before.”

“So wise you are for one so young... You too Will” His woke with his hair was sticking up everywhere. “So wise, yet so disheveled” she laughed. “Let's get on the road as soon as we can.”

By the time the first rays of sun pierced the forest the small procession was well on their way.

Back at the farm two soldiers were desperately holding their butt cheeks and fighting for the toilet. One couldn’t hold on until his turn and ran around the back of the barn when he noticed the animals were gone

“ooh noooo, this is no good” he groaned just getting his pants down in time.

Walking shakily back to the house he noticed the hoof marks and cart tracks leading up to the road. Just as a large herd of cows was driven past, obliterating any hope of seeing which way they had gone. Normally he would have run out and stopped the farmer then checked road ahead of them. Today he could barely climb the stairs to the porch before his bowels threatened to explode again, he couldn’t even muster a wave as the friendly farmer paused to bid him good morning before carrying on whistling merrily along behind his cows.

Flow seemed to get the idea and was happy to plod along behind the flock, especially with some delicious oats and pats of encouragement. This meant that Arwin and Raya could both swoosh and “cha cha cha” on either side when needed or take a rest on the cart when not. They traveled with their bows ready, Raya had her sword ‘queen bee’ at her side Arwin carried a large woodman's axe on her belt. Will, who was leading the procession, carried a hatchet for clearing small branches from the track. They traveled this way slowly moving deeper into the Vior, there were signs of wolves and even a paw print of a mountain lion. Old tracks but still were worth paying attention to.

“I always tie my food up in a tree well away from my campsite when im deep in the Vior, but I think any predators would go for the sheep before us” said Raya

“I agree,” said Arwin. "But I still think a fire is a good idea. We are supposed to be hidden but if anyone has found our tracks then they won't be hard to follow whatever we do.”