“Get in!”

“I-I’m going, gods!” Larion squeaked, as Cruck’aa prodded him into the back of his wagon. He followed as Larion hopped up and jogged to the center of the room and jumped into a cushioned chair. Across from him, next to Serena and in his own chair, Pavel yelled to the front.

“You’re good Jo!”

The snapping of reigns echoed from the front of the wagon. Horses whinnying, it picked up and resumed its normal course, having slowed down just enough for everyone to climb in.

It had taken the rest of yesterday to gather up the remaining three wagons and to figure out what to do with most of the wealth that lay scattered about the road. Serena had missed most of the arguments, as she’d crawled into the back of the remaining wagon to sleep off her soreness; when Werond had woken her back up, the sun had already set. Pavel and Torno wanted to unroll one of the ornate rugs into the back of the wagon, along with the remaining silks that had survived her wagon’s destruction. Evidently, the wagon was to be used as sleeping quarters for the remainder of the trip.

Werond had filled Serena in on much that she’d missed as they waited for Pavel and Torno to shove the rug into the wagon. Though much of the caravan had been destroyed, they’d been able to salvage what little remained of the food wagon, finding just enough rations to get them comfortably to Waterdeep, should they catch something to eat that night. And thanks to Cruck’aa, they did.

Through mouthfuls of salted deer, Werond had informed her that, along with Cruck’aa, Pavel, and Jo, she was now rich. Larion had wet himself when Pavel came walking down the embankment, and promised away his entire horde of wealth, should nothing happen to him. Pavel had no intention of hurting the pathetic man, despite his attempts to hide under one of the bodies but couldn’t refuse such an offer. Thus, the front wagon of the depleted caravan, Larion’s remaining wagon, now belonged to the four of them, along with everything in it. Larion didn’t seem broken up by it whatsoever, and from what Serena could see, as he assisted in gathering the rest of the spilled wealth, the once three-time wagon owner seemed almost relieved; he’d later confessed that he planned on running once they reached Waterdeep, and the massive amount of gold would only slow him down.

The news had shocked Serena; the vast amount of wealth that had been scattered over the road was a huge amount, but to promise away an entire wagon of it stunned her. A further shock came when Werond off-handily mentioned that she didn’t want a cut, and that whatever Serena promised to pay her at the end of the trip was more than enough. And no amount of arguing could change her mind.

Werond had switched topics as Serena kept asking for reassurances, informing her that much of the wealth that was spilled had been recovered, though there remained a plethora of coin hidden in the grass and trees. Much of it had been stuffed into the back of Lasfelro’s wagon, with everyone agreeing that it was his and Jemna’s cut.

And that, as Werond had said as they crawled back into the now cozier wagon, was all that Serena missed. All that remained was for everyone to get a good night’s rest, before they finished the last leg of the trip to Waterdeep.

Though Jo and Pavel took first watch that night, rotating out with Cruck’aa and Torno, the back of the wagon was still cramped; when everyone had woken up the next morning, not a soul seemed well rested.

Breakfast had to be eaten on the move. Pavel had forced the three wagons to move at daybreak and claimed that he didn’t want to waste any more time. After a small cremation and moment of silence for those who didn’t survive, Jo took the first shift driving the lead wagon. Torno followed close behind in what had been dubbed the “Sleeper Wagon”, with Lasfelro and Jemna following some feet back in their own. The rest of them ate their breakfast of cold, slightly dirty bread, all bunched together in the back of the Sleeper, before they hopped off, and jumped into the back of Larion’s old wagon. Pavel had wanted to talk.

Somehow, the night before, Pavel had found cushioned chairs amidst the piles of wealth and had arranged them in a circle in the middle of the wagon. He and Serena were already in their chairs by the time Larion sank down into his, trying to look as small as possible while facing them.

Cruck’aa plopped down next to Serena, beak hanging open. Try as he might, Cruck’aa failed to hide his amazement at the sight of the massive treasure room and all its splendor, coin piles touching the ceiling and all manner of wonderous and expensive items poking out of them. None of it phased Serena, however. She had seen better.

Werond stayed behind, citing a need for more sleep and lack of desire to listen to whatever Larion had to say.

Serena frowned. She couldn’t blame her, but despite only being in the next wagon over, she couldn’t shove aside the thought of Werond not being with her.

“Alright,” Pavel said, leaning back in his chair. “I believe I can speak for everyone when I say that we’d like answers. On everything. The cult, wealth, Azbara, everything. Least you can do, I think, for us saving your life.”

“Alright, uhm…” Larion said, flattening himself even further in his chair. “w-well, where should I start?”

“Really?” Cruck’aa asked with narrowed eyes. “I would imagine from when you were contacted by the cult, you idiot.”

“R-right, right!”

Larion sucked in a deep breath and held it. He released it after a moment, his voice now steady.

“Okay. I was approached by some…cultist members, I guess, back in Baldur’s Gate. They had a proposition for me. They needed a huge amount of treasure and coin moved from the city, across the Trade Way, and into Waterdeep; because I’ve made the trip before multiple times, I was their prime candidate. Now, I didn’t like these guys from the beginning, something seemed off. But I’d be damned if they didn’t pay up. Thousand gold up front, and another thousand once the job was done. More than a year’s contract for me. So, I accepted. Don’t look at me like that, how could I not? It was a lot of gold.” He scratched his neck. “Well, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and that hit doubly hard when they showed up with three wagons full of the stuff. You all see this,” he gestured around himself “it was ridiculous. Still is! I freaked out. Way too much money, and not enough details, and I wanted out. Too, too fishy. One of the cultists, nicer than the rest, offered to fill me in on everything so I wasn’t in the dark. Which…helped, I guess.”

“What were the details?” Pavel asked.

“Just how they planned on getting everything together. The horde was going to the Mere of Dead Men, if you’ve ever heard of it. Apparently, there’s a giant in some floating castle – I know, I didn’t believe it either – and he’s holding a horde of…treasure, I guess, for the cult. Guess he’s an ally or something. There are other caravans full of gold and fancy weapons coming from all over the coast, and they’re all headed to the Mere. Once they load everything up, they plan on flying the castle over to a place called the Well of Dragons. Apparently, the horde is going to be given to a dragon or something? I dunno, he wasn’t too clear on that.”

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“I told you.” Serena signed flatly; frustration rose in her chest as Cruck’aa shook his head, though Pavel seemed convinced.

Before she could ask why Cruck’aa still looked unconvinced, a thought popped into her head; Serena signed at Larion, “Wait, were you going to go through Waterdeep then? Because I think the Mere is above it on a map.”

“Oh no!” Larion shook his head. “They inspect the carts and take a cut from what the contents are worth. We would have lost a huge chunk. Oddly enough, they really don’t care if you’ve got giant piles of gold, just so long as they get their taxes levied. No, they told me to park the wagons outside the walls at night. Apparently, there’s an inn that has a tunnel that leads to the outside of Waterdeep, and they watch it pretty religiously.”

“Really?” Pavel asked. “That’s quite the security concern.”

“Of course! That’s why it’s hidden pretty well. Apparently, they’re paying off the Thieves Guild for its usage.”

“Well, I’m sure the guards over at Waterdeep would love to hear about that.”

“I’ll be honest, I think they already know.”

“What?!” Cruck’aa yelled. “That’s absurd, you’re calling the guard corrupt?!”

“H-hey hey,” Larion said, raising his hands. “not all of them! Just…some I think.”

“If it’s only some, then why isn’t the hole plugged up?”

“I don’t know! I was paid to carry the stuff, not think about other things!”

“Okay!” Pavel yelled. “Enough! That doesn’t matter now. What about Azbara? How did you know him?”

“Oh!” Larion said. “Right. Him. Well, when they were getting everything together, the nice cultist told me that there’ll be a contact waiting for me in Daggerford, and that he’ll hitch a ride with the caravan from there. Now, why Daggerford –”

Larion began to prattle on about something called logistics, and why Azbara had decided to join at Daggerford instead of Baldur’s Gate. The thought of him and his firebolt made Serena roll her eyes; she had no want to listen to anything about the man.

Without saying a word, she stood up from her chair and walked towards the back of the wagon. Cruck’aa and Pavel seemed too engrossed in what Larion was saying to throw a word her way, as Serena opened the back flaps, and carefully hopped out of the wagon.

She almost tripped onto the road, her body screaming in protest as she caught herself. It felt as though she’d been run over by one of the wagons, so hard had firebolt smash into her chest. Serena knew she should be resting more, but damned if she’d do it in the back of Larion’s wagon and listen to him.

In front of her, on the second wagon, Torno almost seemed asleep at the reins. She blinked her eyes open as Serena stepped off the road and out of the wagon’s path.

“Still awake?” Serena signed as Torno rolled up to her.

The guard gave a sleepy grin.

“Unfortunately.” She replied. “Gods, going from guard duty to driving, dunno how the teamsters did it.” Torno looked back as she began to pass Serena. “Should be thankful though. Lucky to be alive, I suppose. You hopping on?”

“Yup, feel like sleeping.” Serena signed and rubbed her chest.

Torno stuck her thumb up and turned back towards the road; with a tug on the reins, she slowed the wagon just enough for Serena to clamber aboard, her chest aching from the effort.

As she hoisted herself up, Serena glanced at Lasfelro’s wagon behind them; he and Jemna, both on the driver’s bench, were in a heated, one sided argument about something that Serena couldn’t hear. Lasfelro gave her a small wave, one that she returned, as she pulled herself into the wagon, and glanced around.

Leaned against the side wall, legs wrapped in silk, head leaned against the canvas, Werond sat by herself, a bottle in hand. The remaining food had been stuffed into a small chest, shoved against the back of the driver’s bench, and evidently Werond had found an unopened bottle.

Serena frowned and crawled over to where Werond sat. Her teamster cracked an eye open as she plopped herself down next to her.

“Oh, didn’t hear you come in.” Werond said quietly; her voice was steady, though Serena could smell the faint stench of booze on her breath.

“Are you drinking by yourself?” Serena asked, before tugging the silks off of Werond and wrapping them around both of them.

“Not if you join in.”

“Werond.”

“Ah, sorry. Yeah, I was. Here.” She handed the bottle to Serena, who set it to the side. “I didn’t have much. Shouldn’t be doing that though.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen what it does to people at Mom’s bar.” Serena scooted closer and leaned against Werond, resting her head on her shoulder. “You okay though? You’re not drinking because of…the other day, are you?”

“I…no, I don’t think so. I feel like I’ve gotten over it, already, I guess. Is that bad?”

“I don’t think so. We did our best, gave everyone a proper send off. Not much else we could do, I suppose. So…it’s not yesterday?”

“No.”

“Then what are you drinking for?”

“It’s nothing. Honest.”

Serena raised her head and turned towards Werond; her face was twisted in a scowl.

“It doesn’t look like it.”

Werond shifted about uncomfortably.

“Well, it’s…complicated and…” she sucked in a breath. “There’s a lot going on in Waterdeep for me. I’ll be busy when I get back, won’t have a whole lot of time with you and everyone else. Job makes me anxious too, lot of work difficulties and I get really short when I come back from these things because there’s so much paperwork and the last thing I want to do is offend you or anyone else and –” Werond cut herself off, and rubbed her face. “Sorry. It’s mostly my boss. He’s an asshole.”

“Why? What’d he do?”

“Can we not talk about this?!” Werond suddenly yelled.

Serena jumped and inched away, hands to her chest. Werond’s face immediately turned a shade of red.

“Gods, sorry. I didn’t mean to yell, gods damn booze is…” She rubbed her face and sighed. “I’m sorry Serena, it’s just a sore spot for me. Didn’t mean to yell like that. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Sorry I pushed your buttons.”

“No, don’t be, you had no idea. It’s not your fault.” Werond’s shoulders slumped, as somehow, her blush deepened. “I-I’m sorry…can you come back? I’m a…feeling sorry for…myself…but if you don’t want to…cause I yelled, that’s –”

Serena scooted back before Werond could finish, and leaned into her, placing her head back where it originally was. She readjusted the silks so that they wrapped around them both, as Werond leaned her cheek against Serena’s messy hair, and wrapped an arm about her waist.

“Thanks…sorry.” She mumbled.

“It’s fine. It was an accident, you just scared me was all.” Serena grinned. “I was going to come back anyways.”

“Well, if I do it again, don’t.”

“Werond.”

“Ah, right, sorry.”

They lapsed into silence as the wagon continued to roll on, rocking every so often as Torno hit a bump in the road.

Serena frowned. She knew virtually nothing about Werond’s job back in Waterdeep, only that it and her boss made her miserable. This was the first time she’d raised her voice at Serena since they’d been together on the caravan. That alone worried her; she and Werond had a good relationship, so to suddenly yell at her…

Those familiar fingers of warmth began to spread through her chest, the heat of the silks suddenly becoming too warm.

“Hey,” Serena signed, forcing her thoughts to something new. “what’s that place you want to take us to in Waterdeep? Is it another bar?”

Werond laughed. “Yup, you guessed it. I figured we could all take a night off, after all this. My treat.”

“I think we could pay for it now.”

“Nope, my treat. For getting me back to Waterdeep.”

“Alright. Will it be better than the last one we went to?”

“In classiness? Not even close. But it’s much more fun than the Lady Luck.”

“How so?”

“Well,” Werond released her waist, and slowly dragged a finger down Serena’s leg. “if I told you now, it’d ruin the fun, wouldn’t it?”

Serena’s heart leapt into her throat.

She leaned her head away. “No, you can’t do that to me!” Serena signed, as Werond smiled. “Just – tell me why it’ll be fun! Or just do it now, I can’t –”

Werond reached out and placed a finger on Serena’s lips, shocking her into silence.

“I can’t do it now darling, there isn’t enough room.” She said with a wink.

Serena held her stare as Werond pulled her hand back, vividly aware of her own blush covering her face.

After a moment, Werond cocked her head.

“You know,” she said. “that doesn’t stop you from talking, does it?”

Serena narrowed her eyes.

Then burst into a fit of giggles.

Werond leaned her head back and laughed along with her.