When Azrael and James rocked up at the village, James’ ‘some lads’ seemed to mean the entire village. Almost everyone that had been at the celebratory banquet had rocked up to the lake shore, making Azrael wonder if there wasn’t another some other celebration he’d missed.

As the two of them arrived, the gathered crowd let them pass, revealing three wooden crafts. The first two were small fishing boats that Azrael had occasionally seen on the water, but not paid much attention to, but the third was one he hadn’t seen yet before. It was larger than the two small fishing boats and had a flatter hull – more of a small barge than a boat. All three were obviously prepped for the expedition with food, water, blankets and miscellaneous supplies.

Though there was some bowing, it wasn’t as tedious and longwinded as usually, due to the general excitement. This suited Azrael very nicely and within twenty minutes Azrael, James and seven others were on the water.

They’d decided to travel with a smaller craft in front and behind the barge. Nolan and one other newer villager sat in the front craft, while Kaira and Rudy – both of whom Azrael had trained with a spear – brought up the rear. As for Azrael, he was on the barge with James, Durkov and two other dwarves. Honestly, if it wasn’t for James’ massive frame and his ridiculous sword there might have been space for another person. Each ship let the strong current of the waterfall carry them across the lake to where the river started, using oars to gently correct their course.

Azrael away from the still waving villagers and turned his gaze to the lake, watching streamers of morning light spear downwards, before becoming lost in the deep below. He still held his suspicions about having a hidden aquatic monster slumbering at the bottom, but if it existed it hadn’t shown itself or harmed any villagers – yet.

Late morning passed into early noon when Durkov guided the barge towards the left riverbank, which made Azrael extremely glad. Somewhere along the line the excitement of exploration had worn off, quickly lost to the monotonous sight of tree lined riverbanks and he’d come to realise that the gentle rocking of the boat made him slightly queasy.

Though the oars were out, speeding along their journey downriver, there wasn’t actually a proper need for rowing. This allowed Azrael to just zone out and focus on the water rippling out from the side of the boat in an attempt to control the feeling. The breathing technique for [Meditation] had also helped him somewhat, but now, with the chance to get back onto solid ground again. He took it.

Making it to the riverbank before James stepped off and rocked the boat, Azrael was surprised to see that there were signs of habitation and work. Trees had been felled to make a single sturdy cabin, while the stumps had been pulled out to make a clear path between the river and a small quarry. A fire pit was just beside the cabin, looking freshly used.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Azrael turned to find Durkov standing beside him, though whether he was referring to the cabin of the quarry he wasn’t sure, He was fairly certain though that he wasn’t refering to the firepit. Durkov either didn’t require an answer or politely ignored Azrael’s silence, before turning to the rest of the disembarking crew.

“We’ll break here. Half an hour.” He said with authority, before remembering who was standing beside him. “With the Lord’s permission of course.”

Azrael smiled.

“Permission granted.”

It was afterall Durkov’s expedition and, as it turned out, his quarry.

“It’s a good spot” Durkov spoke as they sat down for a short midday meal. He pointed at the quarry with one hand “No cracks or faults, just good solid rock. It’s a tad denser than the stuff near the village, but easier to get at and also a wee bit tougher, but not too hard to carve with proper tools and technique. Good colour too.”

The other two dwarves nodded in agreement and Azrael decided to follow suit, acknowledging the dwarf’s words. It wasn’t like he was gonna ask for a in-depth explanation of what made a good rock a good rock. And if a dwarven [Stone Mason] said it was good enough, it was good enough. Like, what even was a good rock colour?

Later, when they pushed off again and resumed their journey, Azrael realised that the existence of the quarry also explained the existence of the barge, as well as why all the oars in the craft were dwarf size.

The rest of the day… well, it honestly made Azrael wonder how the early explorers did it – sitting in a boat all day.

The monotony of trees was one thing, the rocking of the ship was another. While the monotony was something he could deal with and it was often broken up by the occasional sighting of deer, boars, birds and other wildlife, the queasiness was slightly more difficult to manage.

Despite it being a barge, when James moved the barge moved. Big boat moves when big man moves – physics. And James, it turned out, moved a fair bit when animatedly singing and swapping drinking songs with the dwarves.

It got bad enough that Azrael actually decided to just run alongside the boat, under guise of ‘exercise’. He was glad nobody commented and everyone simply seemed to accept his statement.

Near sunset, they made camp at a random spot, tying the boats so that they wouldn’t float off in the night. The camp itself was simply a set of outdoor blankets and sleeping rolls set around a central fire.

Currently, the fire was being used to cook dinner. Earlier in the day a boar that Azrael had stumbled across had decided to charge at him. There had been something strangely nostalgic about the situation – until he’d speared it with a quick [Stone Spike]. Now he was watching Kaira and Rudy prepare it. After a day of travelling he was ready for it to cook over the fire and charge right into his stomach.

And when the boar eventually finished cooking on make shift skewers, it vanished faster than he’d believed possible. Yes, James might have gotten slightly more than his fair share, but a quick use of [Lord’s Insight] revealed that Kaira’s skills as a [Herbalist] worked wonders in combination with her experience as a [Field Chef]. He was almost tempted to hunt a second boar, just to be able to taste it longer.

It was late though, so he grudgingly put the idea aside and rolled up in one of the blankets, leaning against a tree near the fire. Having drawn the third watch he let the crackling sound of the fire lull him to sleep.

It seemed he’d barely closed his eyes when the night was split by the sound of shattering bones.

His eyes flashed open just in time to watch James smash his sword through a skeleton. The shattered bone shards sprayed everywhere, landing back in the dark forest. At the edge of the dim firelight, several other white figures approached, clattering.