Gentle sunlight pushed its way through treetop leaves and looping vines which hung across trunks and branches. Squirrels chased each other through the trees while raccoons fled the cart’s path as it rumbled through a path beaten by countless caravans. The ram’s hooves pounded rhythmically against the dirt in a somewhat hypnotic pattern. It was warm, much warmer than the tunnels of the mountain city Azken had spent his life in. Yet it was a comforting warmth which assailed his eyelids, attempting to force them shut. He rubbed one hand over his eyes and looked back in the cart. Yuria slept peacefully amidst the gentle jostling of the provisions and cargo.
“Azken, lad” Gilius tapped Azken’s shoulder, “let me break down our trip. We are about four days travel away from Marazek. We will ride during the day and sleep when the sun goes down. Nights will be spent at established waystops which have been fortified and have their own permanent guard.”
“What do we do if we arrive at a waystop well before dusk? Should we push through or wait out the extra hours?”
“While I don’t expect that to happen, in such an event we wait. I’ve taught this to Yuria, but you should know it too. Always travel at the speed of sense, if you rush you lose time or don’t arrive at all.”
“The longer we spend on the road the greater chance we run into trouble though, right?” Gilius grinned and laughed dryly,
“Thats why you’re here. Now keep your eyes open, I don’t anticipate any trouble until tomorrow, but we can never be too careful.” They rode on in silence, only taking short breaks to feed and give water to the ram. After the first break, which was in the late morning, Yuria awoke. She yawned and stretched on the back of the cart before sitting down and beginning to work on something. Azken couldn’t see what it was past the cloak and her frame, but he could hear the sound of metal sliding against metal and chorded rope tensing against itself.
“Are you working on something back there?” Azken asked behind him. He cast his gaze to Gilius beside him as the older dwarf answered his silent question,
“She’s too focused to hear your right now lad. It’s her little project that she gets so engrossed in the rest of the world seems to disappear. Don’t take it personally.”
“But what is it?”
“I’m sure you will see in time.” He set his sights back on the road ahead.
“You didn’t mention earlier, but I believe I should know what our cargo is. I should also like to know I will be paid.” Gilius’s eyes hardened for a moment before returning to normal.
“Smart lad you are, asking these things when I have no reason or place to walk away. We carry an artifact recovered from a derelict fort far south of here. We are bound to deliver the artifact to the Rune Academy”
“Rune Academy? Not The Scribe Academy?”
“Nay, the Rune Academy. I’m not surprised you haven't heard of it; they are secretive especially to outsiders. Its formally called The Order of Worldly Carvers but most I’ve met refer to it as the Academy.”
“What do they teach at The Scribe Academy then if this Rune Academy also exists?”
“Well lad, scribes learn at The Scribe Academy. They write down messages and the like for others. I would think that the name speaks for itself.”
“And the Rune Academy?”
“The experts in carving runes all come from there. They take stone and steel and make it more than natural.” Azken felt his cheeks flush as shame and embarrassment rushed in.
“I must be honest I intended to join The Scribe Academy once I reached Marazek.”
“Nothing wrong with wanting to be a scribe lad, same way there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a cart driver or caravanner. Our way of life is supported by those little jobs, not everyone can be a famous warrior or find a new vein of ore. Someone needs to mine that ore and someone needs to craft that warrior’ armaments.”
“I wanted to be a Rune Carver.” That stopped Gilius in his tracks, his expression went from one of pride to the shame that comes from a misunderstanding,
“Then you would have been disappointed.” The two sat in awkward silence while Yuria continued to tinker away behind them. They stopped for lunch sometime after the sun had hit its zenith, then continued on their journey. Azken noticed a clearing through the trees just as the sun started to set, it was the waystop. The site itself was little more than a box of wooden walls with a guard box on each corner. A gate was situated on each side and guarded from above by two dwarf rangers. Each one had a long axe on their back and a crossbow in hand. Their uniform was a drab brown cloak over a set of leathers and a badge with two numbers divided by a slash. Azken would later learn those numbers represented the number of waystops away from Haldmar and Marazek respectively. The cart was allowed through the gate and camp was made. Yuria had snapped out of her trance and put away her project. She was now tending to the ram, brushing its hair and making sure it had enough food and water. Gilius and Azken sat around a fire and were in the process of preparing dinner. Azken made to break the silence, but Gilius beat him to it.
“I know you asked earlier lad, two hundred and fifty gold coins.” Azken cocked his head and stroked his beard. Sixty odd gold a day for what had so far been easy work was a good deal. Some small part of him wanted to try and haggle based on hourly rates and hazard pay but that had always been more to his brother’s strength.
“That sounds like a good deal, I’ll take it.”
“Good lad. Now get Yuria, the food is ready.” They ate and talked about the road ahead. Yuria laughed at Azken not knowing about scribes and carvers training at different institutions and a pleasant night was had by all. Gilius and Yuria retired to their tents, leaving Azken alone by the cart. He was to sleep with the cargo so as to be ready in case anything happened. He tried to lay in the same spot that Yuria had occupied that morning but found it too tight a fit. After switching positions a few more times he ultimately settled on sleeping atop a large, flat crate. He settled in to sleep and found himself staring straight up into infinity. The ceiling of stars which covered the whole world spread itself out before his eyes. It was enthralling to witness the cosmic dance as the far-off lights leapt and flew from point to point in their unknowable patterns. He tried to pick out the brightest one of the lot and settled on one far to the north. The last thing Azken saw before the peace of sleep overtook him was a large blue streak which zipped from one horizon to the other. He half remembered a lesson from long ago and the name of the light came to his mind, the comet.
“Wake up Azken, it's time to go. Papa wants to reach the next waystation early and if we get delayed at all we will arrive late.” Azken opened his eyes to see Yuria standing over him. “Papa said to be on the lookout today and to have your axe ready.” He sat up and looked around. They were the only travelers awake and the sun had not yet risen. Gilius had already hitched the cart to the ram and was talking to one of the rangers near the gate. Azken took the chain shirt and helmet out of his bag and slipped them on. He unhooked his shield and put the engraved axe on his belt. The weapon had seen his grandfather through enough wars to buy his own mine, it would see him through this journey. After some internal deliberation, he removed his helmet and set it down next to his seat at the head of the cart. He and Yuria were sharing some dry bread and jam when Gilius returned.
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“I spoke to the rangers who just got back from patrol, they didn’t see any trace of an ambush on their route.”
“Does that mean it is safe?”
“It means no one is waiting for us. Let's get moving.” They settled into their positions, with Gilius and Azken in the front on the bench and Yuria sitting on the back. She dangled her legs over the rear and kicked back and forth. Azken asked back and she turned to face him,
“Not working on your project today? You seemed so focused on it yesterday.”
“I don’t need to; I think it works well now.” She tapped a rectangular object on her back under her cloak. “It’s ready to go in case we get into a fight.”
“So, it’s a weapon?”
“One of my own design.” she beamed with pride,
“I hope you won’t need to use it.”
“If we get lucky lad, if we get lucky.” They rolled along, Azken and Yuria made conversation about the flora and fauna which surrounded them. Once again, they stopped after noon for lunch. As they were packing to get moving again Azken heard, or rather felt, a rumbling. He hushed the other two and dropped to one knee, placing one hand on the ground and the other on his axe. He felt it for sure this time, a rhythmic thunder echoing through the very earth. As best he could tell there were six of them, and those six had four legs each.
“What do you think they are Gilius, some kind of quadrupedal monster?”
“Worse than any monster lad, stag riders.” Just the mention of the mounted raiders sent shivers down Azken’s spine. Although he had never seen a stag rider before, his mind was filled with tales of their speed and ferocity. He had seen caravans leave Haldmar one hundred strong reduced to a single cart upon their return. They lamented being ambushed and detailed how a much smaller force of stag riders had broken their lines and picked them off wagon by wagon. “Yuria, load up and stay on the cart. Lad, get ready to fight.” Gilius grabbed a two-handed hammer from the cart while Azken donned his helmet and drew his axe. He put his back to the cart and prepared himself. The riders were audible now, the hoofbeats of their mounts ringing through the trees under their war cries. Both sounds grew louder and louder until the source broke through the tree line.
The stag riders were in some ways more threatening than what Azken imagined and in some ways less. The riders themselves were almost twice the height of an average dwarf but not nearly as well muscled. They wore suits of armor which looked like the bark of a tree had encased them. Upon each of their heads was a crown with antlers and a mask which matched their armor. Most of the crowns had two antlers but one, which belonged to the rider in the back of the formation, had two sets of two. Azken reasoned that more horns made that rider the leader. Each rider held a polearm which was long enough to reach from the top of their head to the ground when mounted. The mounts were true monsters. Each one stood a few inches above Azken at the shoulders and had a head and antlers above that. Their antlers, while long and many-pointed, had been sharpened into spiked edges. The stag riders charged in an arrow formation, with one in the first rank, two in the second and three in the third. They rushed past the back of the cart and disappeared back into the forest on the other side of the path. Yuria took the opportunity to draw her project from its casing. It looked like a crossbow but had a large box over the top where the bolt would normally go. The stag riders burst through the trees again and charged straight for the cart. Yuria whipped around and pulled the trigger on her weapon. There was the sound of metal straining before a bolt ripped from the crossbow and punched straight through the chest armor of the first rider. He went limp and slumped off his mount. The following ranks split and began to circle the cart, poking in with their polearms and prodding for weakness. Gilius deflected the attacks with his hammer while Azken kept his shield ready, battering away any stabs and slashes on his side.
“Bad news,” said Yuria in a meek voice, “The gears jammed, I can’t fire again.” She sounded on the verge of tears. The remaining two horned riders broke from the circle and formed a line on Gilius’s side of the cart while the sole four horned rider stopped a distance from Azken. He stopped for a second and Azken thought they locked eyes, then he charged. He spurred the mount and leveled his polearm at Azken’s head. Azken brought his shield up in time and took the attack head on. The force of the blow knocked the shield from his grip and sent him sprawling on his back. His head knocked against the cart causing his sight to go blurry for a moment. When his vision cleared, he saw the cart begin to tip and Yuria leap off over him. After a moment he understood what was happening and scrambled to get clear as the other stag riders toppled the cart. Azken narrowly avoided the rain of crates and barrels before pushing himself to his feet. He staggered out of the way as a stag barreled down on him and lashed out with a backhand. He caught the mount just behind its leg joint sending both the beast and its rider crashing to the ground in a heap. Azken approached and easily parried a panicked stab from the rider’s broken spear. He surged forward, catching the rider’s shoulder with his free hand and burying his axe deep in its head with the other. He pulled the axe free then felt Yuria crash into him from behind sending them both to the ground. She was moments too late to protect him fully from the second rider which had come up behind them. Its spear had cut a gash in the back of his free arm, and he heard Yuria squeak in pain. The rider ran past and circled for another pass at the duo. Azken shifted the young dwarf off his back and took stock of her wound. There was a large gash where the spear ripped through her cloak and left a long but surface level wound across her back. He picked himself up and turned to face the oncoming rider, his vision running red from pain and rage. The stag lowered its head and charged, preparing to gore the dwarf. Azken rooted himself and prepared to take the beast’s charge. It covered the distance between them in a moment and tried to rip upwards with its jagged antlers. Azken bellowed a Warcry and caught its head. He surged forwards against its massive bulk, his muscles screamed their protests but were silenced by fury. Azken slid backwards as the beast tried harder and harder to push through his grip, yet Azken held firm. He twisted and pushed, throwing all his weight into the shove and overbalancing the mount. It toppled pinning the rider’s leg. Azken was upon the rider before it had a chance to get free. He laid into its chest and head with his axe, attempting to exact a terrible revenge. He was so consumed by the complete destruction of this single stag rider that he missed the rider leader charging from behind.
The leader’s polearm caught him square in the back. The blow launched him back towards the cart. As he flew, he caught sight of Gilius on the back foot trying to fend off the slow advance of two stag riders. He had one on each side prodding for an opening and would soon run out of space. Azken landed on the top of the now sideways cart and struggled to sit up. The strike would have killed him if not for the chain shirt he wore, but his cloak was ruined. He struggled to get the remaining scraps of fabric off with his left hand, then stood up to face the rider leader. Standing on the cart, he was at eye level with his opponent. He squared himself and the leader spurred his stag. The leader swung his polearm at Azken, but he found nothing there. The dwarf had lunged forward and with the last vestiges of his strength, attempted to strike down the leader. His axe met the leader’s left arm and planted itself deep within. Momentum carried Azken, without his axe, into the box which contained the artifact they were to deliver. The leader exclaimed and shouted something in a language Azken couldn’t understand before riding off into the woods. Gilius had gone down under the two rider’s attacks, and they had moved on to see to Yuria. Azken fumbled around, reaching for anything he could use as a weapon, until his hand found its way through the broken top of the box and gripped its contents. He drew the thing from the box as he rolled to his feet. It was a metal staff slightly shorter than Azken, with an axe head on one end. Above the axe head was a spear point and opposite it was a curved point similar to a pickaxe. Along the edge of the weapon head were carved many large runes which started glowing blue as Azken gripped the staff. Holding the weapon in hand, Azken felt a calm was over him. He could no longer feel the pain from his cuts and bruises. He strode forward and with a single slash of the new weapon, cleaved one stag rider clean in two. The extra length allowed him to easily reach the rider and the blade passed through armor, flesh and bone with ease. He took another step and stabbed upwards with the spear point, taking the last stag rider through the chest and dragging it down to the ground. With a final overhead swing Azken buried the pick head into the rider finishing it off. He looked around and, seeing no more enemies, collapsed next to Yuria.