We left about an hour after we woke up. The village was mostly still asleep, barely anyone was out on the streets. In the lead there was Bert, and Felix, sitting in front of him. Since riding with me was not the best idea and Goldie was wearing armor, it was really the only choice we had.

But, speaking of armor. At first, Goldie was riding right beside me, trying to keep an eye on “the suspicious one”, but he constantly was falling behind. Funnily, it was not my fault.

Although I was a rookie in this horse riding business, the animals we got were pretty smart, so they kept their pace on their own. Soon he started falling behind so much that we actually had to stop and wait for him. The golden armor was simply too much for the poor animal. We had to either travel at snail's pace or somehow deal with this, which was not easy.

First idea was to just leave it behind but that was immediately shut down by Goldie. Although battered and melted, be refused to part with it.

-Is it magical or something? We can't travel like that, you're gonna kill the horse!

-I can walk if necessary! I am not leaving it behind! This is the best armor I own and it was not cheap!

-It is enchanted then - Bert sighed heavily. - Why couldn't you buy an enchantment that makes it weigh less or something, now we have to deal with this…

-It isn't. I am not gonna trust some sketchy enchantment to protect me!

-What? But you have an enchanted weapon!

-There is a difference!

-In what? Amount of metal?

-That too!

-Okay, let's calm down a bit… - I stopped them both before they started yelling so loud they would be heard back in Kalkano.

-Shut it! No one asked for your opinion! You took the best horse for yourself, get me stuck on this useless animal and now act high and mighty!

-If you're gonna help me swap mounts I am more than willing but I think we all know it's not the issue here.

-Tsch.

-He is right - said Bert, scratching his head. - Say, can't you really leave it behind? We can mark the place and I will send someone to bring it to the capital when we arrive.

-And get it stolen by someone? No.

-How about this then: take it off and we will spread the weight between us three. - I proposed.

-The idea is commendable, but we don't have anything to carry it in. And I am not gonna hold a plate chestpiece on my lap the whole way. There is no real option here, Caleb.

-Grrr…

-Come on. I swear I will send someone for it. I will even pay you back if it gets lost.

It took a good half an hour to convince him, but he finally let go. Now we had to find a good place to hide it and mark it somehow. We weren't too far from the village, so we had to be doubly sure that the hiding place was good enough, Goldie made sure of that. We stepped off the track for a while and went off deeper to the forest. I say deeper, but we were surrounded by the trees so densely that I couldn't really tell the difference if we were just beside the road or a kilometer away. Bert found a nice and hollow tree trunk, lying on the ground that would make a perfect place for a hiding spot.

-How is that for a place?

-I suppose it should be fine…

-Good. Now get that piece of junk off.

-Don't call it junk!

But he obediently started slowly taking the armor off, piece by piece. It was a bit harder for him than it should be, due to various dents and some melted pieces, but he somehow managed to remove all the pieces, besides his boots.

Now that I think of it, it was the first time I saw him without armor. Not like there was much to look at. Under the metal he was wearing a white, one piece suit, tied on the back like some kind of corset. From the fight and the travels it was a bit dirty and charred but looked like it was made of some good quality cloth. He was surprisingly thin though, without armor he looked a lot less muscular, to the point that I started wondering how he even was able to move in that hunk of metal in the first place.

-Also, why is he here? - That one was directed straight to me. To be honest, I was wondering the same thing. Not like I was interested in keeping his belongings safe, it was really not my business. I had a suspicion though.

-Don't you trust Mr. M… I mean don’t you trust Mor? I honestly was hoping to hire him to bring back your armor later.

-What? No thank you, he's just gonna take it for himself.

-Hire me? I don't remember mentioning that I am some kind of mercenary.

All of this idea seemed a bit weird all of the sudden, but I dismissed it for now.

-You aren't? It's a shame then. I don't really want to hire some outsider for that… Oh well.

-Outsider? Over my dead body! If I have to, I am gonna do it myself!

Bert sighed heavily, hiding the rest of the armor in the hollowed part of the tree.

-Of course you will. Let's leave that talk for later, allright?

We went back to the road where the kid was waiting along with the horses. Along the way, Bert marked a few trees with his dagger, to later find the place. After he finished - and after a bit of assistance for me - we all were back in saddles and on the way to the capital. This time we were a lot faster, although my inability to ride a horse definitely didn't help. No one was really talking, even the kid. He tried to strike a conversation with his partner in the saddle, but, since he was trying to guide us through the forests, he was not very chatty.

Speaking of, the road we were traveling on was slowly getting smaller and the forest denser, which was a bit weird. It was definitely not a road that a whole caravan would be able to travel through. I even mentioned it to Bert, but he did not have an answer, or rather ignored me. Though the denser the forest got, the more concerned he started to look. Soon the road was just a path in the grass, and the forest - jungle.

When the grass started reaching our knees, even Goldie started getting worried.

-Are you sure it's the right way? - he asked, looking around. - I don't remember us passing this place. And this grass…

Right. We were in the middle of the dense forest. Usually, I wouldn't expect any grass, just some dead leaves and such on the ground, but I learned that this place was a bit different from what I was used to, so I just accepted it as a norm.

-This makes no sense, but I am sure this is the right way…

-I don't know how you planned to pass this with a whole caravan… - I said, looking at the dense forest and grass. - We can barely pass through by ourselves.

-It was not like this before…

-Or maybe we are just lost.

-No, I traveled on this path countless times, I wouldn't…

-Well, as long as you can get us to the destination, I don't mind. This place is kind of charming.

I was not just saying that to cheer him up, I am not that kind. It was refreshing, seeing such grassland. Although still covered with trees, it was something new from the usual forests I kept seeing all the time.

Confused, Bert decided to continue leading us in the same direction anyway, sure that we were still on the right track. And apparently he was right. Soon the grass started to recede and we were greeted by the regular forest floor again, along with the path we were supposed to be traveling along. Relieved, we picked up the pace, and soon we were back to our original speed.

About an hour after that weird grassland, we made a brief stop to let our horses rest and to eat. By "eat", I mean to recharge with those mana fruit. This time I discreetly hid my portion in my bag and sat silently, observing everyone, slowly sipping water from the waterskin that each of us had by the saddle.

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Bert was still looking a bit puzzled by our encounter with that grassland, but tried to hide that to not worry, I guess the kid, because he was definitely not fooling anyone else. Kid, still clutching his book, resumed his attempts to strike a conversation with him now when we stopped.

Goldie, on the other hand, was looking a bit worse for wear. His earlier confidence was nowhere to be found, left behind along with his armor. He looked the most tired of us all, which was weird, since he hasn't done anything at all.

After a bit of a break, we continued our journey. We were gonna be traveling for a while and stop for the night when we reached some river called Iom that apparently would mark half of our journey complete. Sadly, even though we didn't have any unexpected breaks, the night started to fall, but the river was nowhere to be found.

-Ok, we are stopping for the night - announced Bert when we arrived at some small clearing in the trees.

I looked around, but the river was nowhere to be seen, or heard for that matter.

-I thought there was supposed to be a river here, but I can't hear shit.

-It's getting dark, we are not gonna travel like this - he replied and pulled out a familiar crystal that lit up with a dim glow.

-You think this is enough light?

-This is the only decent light source I have, unless anyone has a better idea, let's stop for now.

-Well we have a certain flaming sword - I said, looking at Goldie - but using that wouldn't be smart in the middle of woods. Well, whatever. But what about water? I am fine, but…

-I can survive without food and water for more than a week! - exclaimed suddenly Goldie.

-What are you, a camel?

-A what?

-Never mind. I am sure you can, good for you. But you are not alone. We have a minor with us, and don't forget about horses.

-We will be fine - said Bert calmly. You forgot about my magic?

With that he pulled out his bow again.

-Visinqo lyp hmedou. Nemjimohot tehuk.

He conjured about ten arrows looking pretty much the same as the ones he used to fight.

-It's pure ice. Those aren't very useful as ammo, but as emergency supplies they are more than enough.

-Huh.

With that, he started to slowly chip down with his dagger on one of the arrows, letting the ice scraps fall into his waterskin. It was a bit unusual, but it worked.

I was not that patient, so I took two of the arrows, broke off both ends and shoved the remains inside the waterskin.

-Or you can do that… - he said, looking at my display of laziness.

-What I am curious about is how are you gonna make the horses "eat" that. Going to melt it? Do you have a bucket or something?

-Nah. It's easier than you think.

With that, he approached his horse with one of the arrows. He broke it like I did and presented it to the animal. At first, it was confused, and licked his hand along with the ice. As soon as it realized that it was ice that he was giving it, it happily bit down, crunching it like it was candy.

-See? Horses are pretty smart animals.

-Yeah… Almost like they have been trained…

He did not acknowledge my remark, just continued to feed arrows to the horses, so I decided to drop the subject.

-By the way, how many of those mana fruits do you have?

-A few. It should be enough for us to arrive at the capital.

-Should?

-Well, according to my memory, we should be near a river, but we aren't. As you noticed. So we might be slower than we should, but we will manage.

Meanwhile, Goldie and the kid were trying to "refill" their waterskins with arrows, one with better results than the other, so he went to help them and left me to my own devices.

We spent the night camping around the glowing gem, like it was a campfire. Goldie volunteered to be a guard during our rest and said he will wake up someone else later so he can have his rest too. We spread around the light similarly like last night: Bert together with the kid, using his book as a pillow, me a few meters away from everyone, and Goldie just near the glowing gem. At first he was observing me, like he was waiting for something. I tried faking sleep as much as I was actually trying to fall asleep, and so he lost interest and turned his back to the light, looking somewhere into the forest. At least he was vigilant. If, for a chance, he was actually telling the truth and was able to go without food and drink for as long as he told us, he might very well be able to not sleep for a while. I mean I've seen weirder things, most of them were thanks to magic in some way, so I could at least try believing him in this aspect.

Hah, who was I kidding. It didn't even take an hour for me to hear loud snoring. He fell asleep, sitting up. I fought off the massive urge to sigh loudly and sat up as well. It didn't look like he was gonna wake up any time soon, so I might as well take over from him. Not like I was planning to fall asleep anyway.

I started listening to the forest. The night was calm and warm, you could hear some small night animals roaming around, but besides that, and snoring, it was peaceful. If any animal was curious enough to get closer to our camp it was promptly scared away by either the light or our not-so-golden-anymore noisemaker.

Or so I thought. At first I started hearing more and more rustling coming from the forest. It kinda felt like some animals were getting spooked by something. I didn't pay much attention since it was really nothing that weird. But as I started hearing those noises closer and closer to the campsite I started getting a bit suspicious. For a while I even considered hiding the glowing crystal, just to be safe, but I decided against it. After a while the noises stopped and the forest around got very quiet. It was a bit ominous, but not as much as what I noticed a while after. A humanoid looking shapes, looking towards our camp. It was dark, and in the dim light of the gem I couldn't really pick up their features or even be fully sure that they were actually there, because every time I managed to spot one of those, after a closer look, they appeared to be just some weird accumulation of trees, shrubs or grass. In any case, it was unsettling. I wanted to pass those sightings as some hallucinations or illusions made by my tired brain, not used to this lack of sleep, but I couldn't help but have some doubts in the back of my head.

After the night had passed, I woke up my companions, and without much of an issue we continued our journey. Well, Goldie had some issues with me "taking the night watch from him without his permission" , but after reminding him that it was him that had fallen asleep on guard duty, he gave up.

The next day was a bit boring, that is until the first break. We stopped around midday to give a bit of rest to our mounts and have a talk.

-So we have a bit of an issue… - started Bert, sitting under a nearby tree and gesturing for the rest of us to do the same.

-As you all know, we should've passed by a river yesterday, or at worst today, and as you noticed - he nodded towards me - there is no sign of it.

-We are lost? How is that even possible? - said Goldie, half mockingly, half serious. - The great Bert, caravan master, lost in the woods near the capital. What the hell.

-Yes, seems impossible, doesn't it? - he replied, not caring about the tone of his voice. - It keeps bothering me. I was pretty sure that I followed the same exact path we took to get to the coast in the first place. Don't you agree, Caleb? That up to that weird patch of overgrown forest everything seemed all in order.

-Now, since you mentioned it…

-And even more - he interrupted - don't you feel like the path that we followed after that weird patch of forest looked familiar as well?

-What are you trying to say? - he asked, confused.

-Say, Mor - he turned to me. - And you too, Caleb. In your travels and adventures, have you heard of a river just disappearing in such a short amount of time? I am not sure if it's even been a few weeks.

-Impossible - Goldie immediately stated, sure of himself. - I have traveled far and wide and haven't heard anything about something like that! Not even a legend!

-Not really, no - I replied, indifferent.

-Let me rephrase it then. Do you think it is possible?

-Hmm. Well, I can think of a few scenarios… - I replied after a moment of thinking. - But all of them are so far-fetched, especially in a place like this…

I was mostly true. I had some ideas how a river would have dried up in such a short span of time. One was especially close to my heart, but I think even mentioning it would've meant a lot of questions in itself. To keep it short, in my previous job we sometimes used large masses of water to test certain fire spells. Some of those also "mysteriously disappeared" during one night. I was pretty sure that it was not the cause here, the aftermath would be quite obvious.

-But let's start with the basics. Can we assume that this is not some natural phenomenon? Like dry summer or something?

-In my life I have not heard of Iom ever stopping its flow. I don't think it ever had, really. I don't want to be grim, but if it ever would, it would spell a great calamity for the whole capital.

-You both are mad - said Goldie suddenly. -Trying to shift the blame on some unknown calamity, instead of admitting your own failure. And you - he pointed at me - are enabling him.

-Just having a discussion, that's all - I shrugged.

-We are lost. Admit it and stop spitting some doomsday theories. You are scaring our companion - he pointed to the kid.

That was true. In our ramblings we kind of forgot about the fourth member of our party, who was sitting next to us, listening with a concerned expression on his face.

-Don't worry! I will save you from this incompetence! I will lead us to..

-Ehm. I am sorry to interrupt your speech - said Bert standing up - but I still outrank you. And I am still a leader of this group.

-And you failed as one! As an adventurer, it is my duty to save you and bring us safely to our destination! - replied Goldie, eagerly waving his broken sword around. - I now hereby announce that I shall be the leader of this operation from now on and lead us to victory!

-What victory? - I asked, trying to hide my grin.

His speech was ridiculous for me, especially when it came from a man dressed up in some dirty-white pajamas waving a half-melted piece of metal.

But before he could answer me, Bert suddenly changed his mind.

-You know what? Sure. Lead us. I don't mind.

I looked at him, confused.

-Go ahead. Lead us out of my so-called blunder - his face changed suddenly to even more serious, almost scary for some reason. - You know what that means, right?

I saw this face before - when he threatened me back when we still had a whole caravan.

Goldie looked at him.

-Of course.

-Why so serious all of the sudden? - I asked, a bit unsettled.

He instantly changed back to his usual self.

-Ah, don't worry. I just don't like when my underlings think they are smarter than they should. But I am always willing to give someone a chance.

-That did not explain much.

I didn't get an answer to that.