It was only about another hour before we reached the edge of the wildlands. In that time, I had made all the bodily changes to myself that were required, much to the wonder and amusement of the others, particularly the brothers, who saw fit to poke fun at me and ask if I had lengthened other parts of myself in a not-so-subtle allusion. I admit that I laughed at it, not just because it was funny crude humor, but because that was probably something I could very well do, and I found the whole idea of it ridiculous.

The trees started to thin, the roads improved from the beat-up trails that we were on, and signs of others having passed through this area became more present. I only hoped that we would not run into any patrols while exiting the wildlands. As far as we could see, there was no one down the road or anywhere nearby, and it remained that way for the next half hour. Well, at least it seems like I still have a little luck. As we traveled, I heard Kala start talking to the others in the back of the cart.

“Stop tugging at your collar.”

“But it’s aggravating, and I have an itch I can’t reach.” It was Jorn’s voice that replied.

“You have to get used to it, tugging at your collar is seen as defiance and usually punished by a beating. Unless you want to force James to do such a thing if someone catches you, stop.”

There was a dejected sigh but no more arguing from the back seat. There will have to be an adjustment period for them, and I hoped they would all get over it fairly quickly. The last thing I wanted to do was to get physically violent against them in the name of maintaining my disguise.

Shortly after that conversation had ended, we encountered our first Thrainian patrol. A group of six soldiers were walking down the road in the opposite direction from us. I could feel the tension in the cart rise exponentially the closer that we came to encountering them. Readying all my excuses for what we were doing out here in case they asked, we got within speaking distance.

The patrol gave a once over of the cart and the occupants in passing, and apparently seeing nothing objectionable, kept walking. The moment they were out of earshot, there were many sighs going around the cart. We got off easy on that one, and if we can just get to a village or town then we probably won’t be questioned by any patrol as we continue deeper.

There were luckily no more patrols going down this specific road, and signs of civilization were starting to pop up. Fenced-in bits of land that probably served as pastures for livestock appeared alongside the road. The animals within were strange, at least to me. It was like someone took the size of a cow, added a pig-like face, and slapped on a fairly large tail to top it off. I wondered if I had ever eaten it before with all the meat that the chef had prepared back at camp. Maybe I could get an opportunity to eat some by itself later.

After the pastures came the farms. Rows of crops, be it those that sprung from the earth or from vines spread out over the land, each bearing their own respective harvest. Farmhouses were built next to the fields to allow those who worked the fields a place to rest their heads after a long day.

More and more houses appeared the farther down the road we went, and eventually the main part of this sleepy little village came into view. A quaint little place with very few houses larger than what was needed to house a single family. There weren’t any of the amenities that I had seen in larger Thrainian towns, such as streetlamps, and the general decor could only really be described as rustic. The total population of this place probably didn’t exceed a few hundred souls.

There didn’t seem to be much reason to stay in this village, might ask around for rumors on where I could acquire some bulk crystals for resale, but after that we would have to find a town with a banker's guild building. I told Holdrem to pull over on the side of the road, out of the way of the general traffic of the village.

Once we were at a stop, I jumped off the cart. “Wait here, I'll be back in a little bit.”

Kala was quick on the draw for responding. “Yes, sir,” she said with a short dip of the head. An obvious show for the Thrainians who were in the area, and one that the others picked up on after a moment and parroted her response. It felt extremely weird for them to be talking to me like that, but that was just something that I would have to get used to.

She returned to sitting and cast her gaze downwards, as if she suddenly found the wood floor of the cart to be extremely interesting. The others, however, were looking around a little, trying to be subtle with it, yet nonetheless keeping their surroundings in check. Kala ended up giving the brothers a small kick in the shins while clearing her throat. She made some small gestures with little shifts of her head downwards to communicate that they should just copy what she was doing. In the end, they caught on to what she was trying to say and assumed a similar position to her.

I was a little nervous about leaving them alone, but in a small little place like this I didn’t imagine that there would be too much trouble. I walked around for a bit, trying to find a person that might know about what I was looking for. Eventually, I spied a pair of farmers, one middle aged and the other seemingly at the end of their teen years, loading up a cart of their own with food products. They would probably know about the surrounding towns and villages if they sold their food to them.

Okay, you’re a merchant, you’re a merchant, you’re a merchant... I psyched myself up for the interaction and got myself into the general character I had trained to emulate. I stood up straight, shoulders back, stride measured and confident, and I approached the pair of farmers.

“Afternoon to you gentlemen. How does the day find you?” Cordial greeting with a question of wellbeing to establish rapport with them. The training I had done with Dart was still fresh in my mind, and while my execution was probably a little more mechanical than I had intended, it seemed to have worked.

The pair seemed rather surprised to be suddenly accosted by me, and maybe a little nervous as they noted my attire. “The day is well, sir. Is there something you need assistance with?” the older of the two farmers replied to me.

“Indeed, there is. I was pondering if either of you might lend a fellow purveyor of goods some information on the market?”

The older gentleman scratched at his beard for a moment before replying. “I’m not certain how much help we might be to you, sir. We don’t often travel far to deliver our goods, the risk for a small group such as us is rather high.”

That seemed like something I should be aware of. “Trouble from the wildlands?” I inquired.

“Occasionally, but there has been a recent rise in banditry from our own as well. Rumor is that they are protestors of the war among other things that have risen to violence in the last few years.”

So, the Thrainians aren’t exactly a unified front? “Protestors? I can scant recall the last time I heard someone speak ill of the war efforts.”

The man chuckled a little. “I’m not sure from whence you hail, sir, but those from the cities don’t have to live on the front lines of conflict. Many have lost their homes to the war, and they see no benefit from its continuation. We are mostly farmers out here, we do not normally earn enough to afford slaves, and the few that do usually end up losing them as we are close enough to the border that they might simply run away. All we have seen of this war are crushing taxes and blood.”

I got a general sense of the mood that these small villages must have. The lower castes of society are getting caught up in the fighting and either just trying to ride it out or growing increasingly sick of it. Maybe the sentiment might extend somewhat to the middle class, but I had a feeling that it wasn’t as prominent.

The older man waved off the line of conversation. “Forgive me, sir, I went off on a slight rant. You wanted to ask about the market?”

I cleared my throat, getting back into my original conversation. “Yes, I simply wish to know if you have heard any rumors of where one might acquire crystals for resale.”

“Crystals, hmm.” He took a moment to think about that. “Well, if you are looking for natural things such as that then your best option would be to go to the mining towns. There’s one about three days from here by cart. Ferotol, I believe the name was. If you follow the east road and take the fork towards Voltrum, it should eventually lead you to the town.”

“Interesting to know. I also have some business with the banker’s guild. Might you know where the nearest representative building is?”

“You’re in luck in that regard, Voltrum actually has one in its sea of buildings. If you move fast and experience no interruptions, you should arrive late on the second day from here.”

I gave the man a polite dip of the head. “I thank you, sir, you have proven most helpful.”

“Think nothing of it, sir. Safe travels to you.”

“Safe travels to you.” I repeated before turning on my heel and walking away, leaving them to continue their work. I made my way back to the group and was relieved to see that nothing had happened in my absence. This little stop had proven useful, and I was feeling a little more hopeful now that I had a destination laid out before me.

Informing Holdrem that we would be taking the eastern road, he cracked the reigns and started driving the horses in that general direction. Once more, we blazed the trail onwards towards our goal. I informed the rest of the team what I had learned, and we began discussing the general plan from this point on.

“Once we get to Voltrum, we have to set up for a little while to scout out the building and come up with a plan. It will most likely be up to me to see what the insides look like, but you guys should keep an eye out for any patterns of activity around the outside. There’s not much we can do until we get there and see what the situation is, but you should spend some time mentally preparing yourself. If anyone has any thoughts or ideas, I would love to hear them.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Everyone appeared to be deep in thought, though no ideas flowed forth from them. I expected as much, everything was mere speculation or opinions until we actually got a look at the place. In the meantime, we rolled down the road while doing whatever we could to pass the time. Holdrem was of course busy with driving the cart, Jorn took to whistling a tune that I was unfamiliar with, Otar snatched a piece of old wood from the side of the road and started whittling it with some of the tools we had, and Kala alternated between observing what Otar was turning the piece of wood into and asking me questions about how the natural world around us works.

We came across a few other travelers along the road. Some of them were merchants driving their own carts, others were small groups of people travelling on foot, and then there were a couple of patrols that made their way through the area, policing it. We kept moving until dusk when we were forced to set up camp for the night.

As everyone relaxed and ate their dinner for the night, I stepped away from the fire a little to enjoy the crisp night air. I watched as the rest of them sat around the fire and enjoyed some light conversation with one another. Just then, a buzzing sound strafed me a little bit, making me flinch before the cause of it stopped in front of me.

It was another one of those pale fairy creatures that I had seen a long time ago, or maybe, it was the same one. “Oh, hey little fellow. You’re not the same one I met before, are you?” It just hovered in front of me with a strangely familiar yet alien smile upon its tiny lavender face that fell firmly in the uncanny valley. “Are you hungry? Do you want something to munch on?”

I took some of the food I had and tore off a piece for the little one. It eagerly flittered over to my offering and snatched it from my hand. After it had taken a bite, it hovered closer towards me before landing on my shoulder and sitting on me like I was a perch. I probably had a stupid smile on my face as I watched it eat and dangle its legs off me, kicking them out slightly. Then, more buzzing sounds started to get louder.

Two more fairies appeared out of the gloom of night, though they kept more of a distance from me than my little passenger. “You brought some friends this time, huh?” I broke a little more of the food I had and held it out for the newcomers. They approached cautiously and I kept as still as I could be, just like the first time. Once in range, they both quickly grabbed the bread and retreated out of reach.

I smiled while taking a bite of my food and watching them all eat. It was a magical feeling, no pun intended, to be eating dinner with a group of fairies. Moments like this reminded me just how different this world was from my own. The two new ones slowly became more comfortable with me as we ate, flying closer to their friend on my shoulder and making small chirping and clicking noises. I wondered what they might be talking about, but my magical translation effect was not triggering with them, so it must not be anything that would make sense to me, or maybe they were just considered closer to an animal than a person, and thus it just doesn’t work on them.

Suddenly, a loud cry came from the direction of the fire. “James!” Kala yelled at me from her position before shooting up. This caused all the fairies to scatter, even the one that was resting on my shoulder. I clicked my tongue in disappointment as I watched them disappear into the dark. Kala ran up to me and started talking in a frenzy.

“James! You didn’t swat at them did you? Did you hit one? Gods, did you kill one!”

I put up my hands in a placating manner. “Relax, I just gave them a little food and watched them eat. Nothing happened, and they seemed quite content.” Kala let out a sigh and looked immensely relieved. I cocked an eyebrow at her. “What’s the big deal anyway? They seemed rather harmless.”

“James, those were naderlings, they might seem harmless individually, or in small groups, but they have long memories and a very close social structure. If you hurt one, then they will all harass you, steal from you, and generally make you uncomfortable whenever they see you. And if, gods forbid, you kill one, then you’ll be targeted by the swarm, hundreds of them hunting you down and tearing at you with their sharp teeth until you die.”

Suddenly my friendly little encounter with them seemed a little more chilling than before. I suppose they never really did show me their teeth whenever they smiled, which is probably a good thing, because I got the feeling that if they flashed their teeth, they intended to use them. I shook off the chill that Kala’s explanation had left on me before continuing.

“Well, I had no intention of hurting them from the get-go, and one even felt comfortable enough to sit on me, so I guess we are friends of a sort.”

Kala huffed a little and gave a small shake of her head. “That’s fine, I guess. Just, whatever you do, don’t hurt them.” I simply nodded and returned to the fire with her to finish eating. After dinner was over, we all turned in for the night. I swore that I heard buzzing sounds off in the distance before I finally managed to get to sleep.

We rose early the next morning at the crack of dawn. Camp was broken down, the fire smothered completely, and tents packed back into the cart before we all got on the road again. The road was still mostly clear this early in the morning, the only signs of life being the occasional wild variety of animals darting quickly into and out of view.

We had mostly been travelling across open plains and fields, sometimes coming across patches of trees here and there. Now on the horizon, however, was an expanse of trees that clearly marked the start of a forested area. We pushed into the shade of these old trees that grew tall and thick, feeling the noticeable change of temperature as we did.

The undergrowth and flora that sprouted up around the forest was interesting, at least to me. Strange mushrooms grew out of old fallen trees, some reaching quite colossal sizes. The flowers were colorful and contained unique patterns upon their petals that were beautiful. A lot of the plants were still glistening with morning dew that occasionally dripped off an outstretched branch or leaf as the sunlight refracted from within the tiny orbs of water. It was a pure, natural landscape, with the road being the only disruption to its form, by all accounts, beautiful and tranquil. So why did I feel on edge?

Something was off, I could sense it, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it. Nothing appeared to be out of place, and no one else was suddenly feeling hyper-alert in my group, so why the hell can’t I relax? “Everyone,” they all turned their heads towards me, “keep your eyes open.”

Concern spread amongst them. “Why? What’s wrong?” Otar asked.

“I’m not sure, I just feel on edge for some reason. It could be nothing, but just stay vigilant.” Everyone was now keeping an eye out, scanning the surrounding forest for anything that was wrong.

I was still trying to puzzle out this feeling, narrow down exactly what was making me feel this way. There were no strange smells, the path was clear, there was no sound from anywhere, and the... wait, sound. The forest was quiet, deathly so. Even while we were traveling there was the occasional flittering of birds or skittering of some small creature in the underbrush. Right now, everything was still, the trees barely even made a sound as they were only disturbed by the slight wind.

My heart started to beat a little faster. I began to feel overwhelmed by dread, like a small animal being circled by predators. I reached for my sword, gripping the handle firmly as I prepared for anything to happen. After a minute of nothing, I began to feel like I was truly being paranoid for no reason, then a resounding twang broke the silence.

I snapped towards the sound only to get hit by something in the shoulder. I fell off the side of the cart and landed roughly on the ground, rolling ass over teakettle before coming to a rest in the dirt. There was an arrow sticking out of me, and I cursed as my adrenaline spiked, blocking out the pain that would have undoubtedly been there without it.

I was vaguely aware that Kala screamed something before jumping out of the cart after me, but she was drowned out by the chaos that erupted around us. The forest came alive with bodies that emerged from the brush, all clad in some form of camouflage or earthy colors. Kala helped me off the ground just as the first few approached with some spears. I pushed her behind me and went to draw my sword, grunting as the arrow in my shoulder limited my range of movement in a painful way.

One charged me and made to thrust his weapon at me. With a long weapon like a spear, it's best to get within its reach if possible. I could barely manage the range of movement necessary to bat aside the spear. Stepping past into striking distance, I made an attack of my own, but the assailant was holding my sword up with his own weapon, so instead I delivered a left hook to his jaw. He was knocked unconscious and possibly had a dislocated jaw.

The second one came at me with a similar thrust that I also managed to parry, though it seems he had learned from his predecessor and instead pressed the attack, charging and ramming me on my injured side. I stumbled backwards and fell on my ass. With more space between us, and me in a poor position, he readied another attack. I couldn’t properly parry from this angle, nor could I launch an attack, so I fell back onto the good old tactic of fighting dirty.

I grabbed a fist full of dirt and flung it at his face. It succeeded in temporarily blinding him, and I rolled to the side as the spear head embedded itself in the ground where I had been. Taking the opportunity, I coiled my leg back and unleashed a kick right into his gut. You could hear the air being forced out of him as he was knocked onto his back, coughing and retching.

When I got back to my feet, I surveyed the situation for the first time. Kala was huddled next to the cart in a defensive manner while Jorn, Otar, and Holdrem were in the back of it, armed with some tools and trying to keep the rest of the marauders at bay. The bandits had their weapons pointed at them but didn’t seem all too intent on pushing closer or even attempting to take jabs at them. It was odd, but I didn’t have much time to think about that as a second twang sound was heard and I lost most of the use of my left leg.

I stumbled and used the cart to catch myself. A new arrow was now protruding from my calf, having made a clean puncture wound in one end and out the other. I couldn’t put much weight on the leg anymore, and when I did it screamed in pain at me. My fighting ability was now severely limited, and the situation was looking increasingly desperate with us outnumbered at least three to one.

The only thing I could do was hobble over towards Kala and hold my sword out at them to keep them back. We were completely surrounded now with no way to escape. At this point I didn’t care if the mission failed. Maybe I could convince them to let us walk away and they could have all the supplies. A small price to pay if it meant that everyone would live.

Before I could even begin to negotiate, someone gave me the out I was looking for. “Surrender, and you will live!” one of the bandits in the back called out.

I decided not to appear too desperate, but still open to the idea. “You promise that you will not attack if we put our weapons down? Can I trust your word?”

“Bandits you may consider us, sir, but we are not bloodthirsty and have our honor as well. We will not kill any who are unarmed, of this, I assure you.”

There was no choice or argument to be made. If we fought, then Kala and the others would just die a pointless death, and that was something I could not abide by. “Fine.” I let my sword drop to the ground. The others in the cart who had weapons looked nervous about giving them up, but eventually relented and dropped their improvised weaponry as well.

Those in the cart were ordered out of it while Kala and I were moved to join them, me being practically dragged over due to my limited mobility. I was deposited on the ground next to everyone else and tried not to pay too much attention to the arrows sticking out of me. However, my adrenaline was fading and the stinging pain from the wounds was starting to come to fruition.

The bandit who had spoken now stood in front of everyone and threw back his hood. His face was well proportioned and handsome with a slight stubble to his chin and a light scar over his lip. His hair was dark brown and messy, and his eyes matched the color. He didn’t give me much attention and instead looked upon the others with a pious expression. After a second had passed, he opened his mouth to speak.

“Congratulations, slaves, today you are free.”