Chapter 4: An Unexpected Pit Stop

Landar

It snowed again on the second day of our trip. It wasn’t heavy enough to force us to stop, but it did slow us down. It created a profound silence in the woods as we passed by. It felt as if a heavy blanket had been laid over the whole world.

It was a beautiful sight, but an eerie experience.

And one of the reasons I didn’t spot the bandits before we walked right into their trap.

The other reasons involve me fiddling with my journal. I was close to figuring out how to connect it and my scanning ability more closely. It wasn't’ until I started incorporating the rune for connection in my mental image of the two spells that it started working. I smiled as it came together. Like a missing puzzle piece just waiting to be put into the correct slot. I tested it on the Farmer.

Alies: The Farmer

Current Condition: healthy, no major concerns. No magical effects noted.

Health: 100%

Foundations

Physical: Strong

Spiritual: Moderate

Mental: Moderate

Cores: None etected

Level: ???

I had included the level concept in the spell only because I had heard about it before. Peasants and farmers whispered of it when drunk after a hard day's work, the dwarves I spoke with refused to comment on the concept. And the one noble I had in my life was . . . well, unreliably strange would be putting it kindly. So i included it as a placeholder for the information once I was able to understand what I was looking for.

“Yes!” I nearly shouted as I pumped my fist.

“What?” Farmer chuckled. “Did you suddenly get good news then? Did a pigeon come with a letter I just didn’t notice?” He was smiling at my antics clearly confused.

That was when the arrow appeared in wood of the wagon seat between us with a heavy thunk. “Woah!” Farmer shouted as he pulled the draft horse to a stop, then raised his hands in the air. “Do as I do boy.”

I complied, lifting my hands into the air and waiting.

Four men with drawn bows appeared out of the trees along the side of the road. “Hail travelers. Its growing late, I must have mistaken you for a deer on the road. I trust you two are both alright?”

The man who spoke was clearly the leader of the little group of thugs, the others snickered at his words and differed to him. “Yes, we’re good. The boy has some quick reflexes.”

“Ah, that’s good to hear, friend. Well, it’ll be dark soon. I’m sure you two could use some rest from your travels. I’d be happy to show you to a little camp some of our friends run to help people like yourselves stay safe this close to the capital. For a modest fee of course. With so many travelers, on so many roads, bandits are out in force. You should be careful.”

I gave Farmer a questioning look as he stroked his scraggly beard. “It is growing late.”

“It's barely noon,” I whispered. “What is going on?”

“Be quiet boy, let me handle this.” I nodded and sat back. Resting my hand on the sack of goods I had taken with me from my forge.

“Lead on friends. We’d be happy to rest in a settled camp tonight.”

And so the four men lead the way. As we followed behind them, I spotted four more men each armed with various weapons, join the group from off to each side of the road. Eight bandits then. A group I wasn’t sure I could take without endangering either myself, or Farmer. The ax on my belt almost hummed with my desire for violence. But I suppressed the urge. Now was not the time.

It didn't take us long to come up to a small fork in the road. A trail almost too small for our wagon wound its way away from the main road and deeper into the woods. “Camps just up the road a ways. I’m sure you can find it from there. Vin runs it, you’ll like Vin.” The leader of the bandit gang said, as he and his men disappeared back into the foliage. Their green, black, and brown clothing allowed them to blend in almost seamlessly with the surrounding forest undergrowth.

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With that we continued onto the small road. I could feel the eyes of the supposed hunters on me as we moved over the shoddily constructed road. Eventually we came to a small clearing, where several other groups with wagons, carts, and plenty of people had set up camp.

A large woman who had been cooking over a massive pot held over a fire at the clearings center came to greet us. “Hello travelers!” Her accent was thick, clearly the kingdoms common language was not her first. “I am Vin. I run camp, cook food, have guards. Welcome. Your site there, well water there.” She pointed towards an empty section near a small well at the back of the clearing. “No bothering others, no steal. No fight, unless I say. And you have nice stay. Okay?”

I bit my tongue and let the farmer deal with it.

“Aye lady. How much for the night?”

“Half gold.” She looked proud at announcing her price as if it were fair, instead of literally highway robbery.

The farmer stammered for a moment. “Uh, I'm sorry lady. We don’t uh. Well, that would be almost all we have.”

The woman frowned. And looked behind us as if expecting to see another cart or wagon. “You alone?” Farmer nodded. The woman frowned.

“One wagon, one night. Two men?” She looked between us, and the farmer nodded. “No one else?”

“Only our horse ma’am.”

She sighed as if disappointed, then nodded. “You not a caravan. Yes?”

“No ma’am. Just us. From a small town further west, in the foothills up yonder. That’s it really.”

“Good. Then you take up small space. Half silver. Fair?”

The farmer nodded. “Fair ma’am. I take it your guards aren’t meant to scare folk on the road?”

She looked shocked, and then annoyed at the suggestion. “My boys cause trouble? Scare you?” Vin demanded, and Farmer nodded, before pointing towards where the arrow had lodged itself in the seat between us, and then lifting the arrow he had dug out of his wagon seat.

“If that’s your son, he’s got a good eye for the bow, but a terrible eye for a mark.” Farmer chuckled lightly. “He musta saw our wagon, our bags, and thought we were what we ain’t.”

Vin scoffed, and looked behind us annoyed. After a moment she relented and unfolded her arms and began gesturing around the camp with a large ladle.

“Boy has bad eye. Yes, is true. I speak to him. He not meant to scare, only tell folk about my place. Sorry if he scare you. Water there, food there but not yet. Still cooking. You need shit, you dig whole and then fill back up yourself. Yes?” Farmer nodded. “Good. If only all like you, then no problem ever. Go, take place. You pay when you come get dinner when I ring bell.”

Farmer looked at me, and when I met his gaze we both couldn’t help but chuckle. As farmer urged the horse on, we picked up our conversation in whispered tones.

“Musta thought we were rich folk with all the bags.”

“Or easily intimidated into taking up a spot.” I said. “Vin doesnt’ seem like a bad lady though.”

“No, her lot aren’t usually. They get into trouble like that a lot though.”

“Her lot? What do you mean?”

“She’s one of the traveling folk. Her entire clan will probably take up winter quarters in this very clearing once the snows get too deep. But right now they're trying to make some extra coin first. Probably trying to save up to afford a proper trading license for the Duchy. Then they can visit the cities, and larger towns. Not just the little shanties and towns out here in the middle of nowhere. They get a bad reputation, because their young get into trouble like all youth do. But because they got no roots, people think all of the traveling folk be like that. But they ain't any better or worse than any other folk.”

We pulled into the spot we had been told to take, and jumped down to begin taking care of the horse. “You get Clare, and I'll set up our bedroles.”

***

Once our camp was up, Clare the horse was cared for, and the snow moved away from a small fire pit we had dug, we really didn’t have much else to do. Farmer closed his eyes and got a nap in the back of the wagon. But I couldn’t do that. It was too bright, and I was too well rested to trick myself into sleep just yet. So I iddled my time away going into the woods behind the clearing.

I took my sack with me and ended up cleaning and prepping many of the items just in case we had to fight our way out of this strange situation. Though I was pretty confident it wouldn’t come to that. Half a silver for protection, food, and the prospect of some kind of entertainment for the night was expensive to be sure. But it wasn’t literally robbery.

Eventually that task was done, and I found myself drawn to the center of the clearing. There I found several of the traveling folk, some who had been members of the little ‘hunting party’ that had extorted us to come to this place, were iddling around the large stew pot that Vin was cooking with.

“Hail lady vin” I said as I joined the group.

“Foods not done, go away until I ring bell.” She pointed towards a triangle-like instrument. “Then come. Yes? Go away.”

“Yes, and it smells wonderful. I was actually wondering if your, son?” I pointed at one of the hunters who had been standing on the road during their traffic redirection efforts. “Wanted to do some light sparing. I haven’t had a partner in a while who could keep up, and they all look like they know what they’re doing.”

“Sparing?” She asked clearly confused by the term. She looked to one of the much younger people around the cook fire who translated my words into a language that was quick, fast, and clipped and reminded me of when i’d heard those with a Caribbean accent speak Spanish. Insanely fast, and yet somehow easily understood by anyone who had even a weak grasp on the language.

At least, I assumed the young man was translating. He could have just been insulting me for all I knew. Though from the look of pure demand on the woman's face, I wasn’t sure anyone would have had the bravery to so much as abridge the words of another when she needed a translation.

“Ah. boys will play with boys. You ask him. He say yes? That’s fine. But know, he excellent hunter. Even ask other guests if they want to watch and bet. Good business in odds. So, what you say? IF you win . . . hmmm. You pay half what you owe when come to dinner. You loose, and pay double. Full silver. Yes?”

I thought about it, and then nodded. “Sounds good to me. Lets talk about rules . . .”