The cask of black powder was heavy. At least it was heavy enough that we decided to carry it in a sling between two of us so we could make better time down the mountain. Of course, when we got closer to town we would have to resort to transporting it with one person so as to not stand out in the memories of others. I really wanted to get in, do the deed, and get back out. My plan was to use my ring to appear as someone else entirely and then change my appearance back once I escaped. It would have the soldiers looking for ghosts and that was just the way I liked it.

We got an early start the next day. Besides the powder and our normal equipment, we also took a little bit of the unrefined gold. I wanted to have spending money if we needed it. We took only the gold that was fished out of the stream. We didn’t need anybody looking at gold ore that was worked out of rock with evidence of a pickaxe and asking questions. Nope, we just found a little bit of gold in a stream. There is nothing to see here. Move along. If I was pressed for details by someone, I would tell them we fished it out of the stream near where our company camped. As a matter of fact, I was planning on dropping off a few scant nuggets by our camp site on the way past. And just like that, I would create a gold rush with all the attendant civil unrest.

With only the three of us, we had to be more careful of the other occupants of this stretch of forest. Our plan was to only fight if we absolutely had to. We needed to be in good condition to make our escape. The Captain was not a very patient man, so we needed to get this done quickly, at least quickly enough that we wouldn’t find the rest of our company slaughtered when we returned. I had told him that, since we were being careful, it might take us two days to get back to town. I budgeted two more days to get the lay of the land and sabotage the gate and another two days to evade and pursuit and return. Then, I added one more day for good measure. Our deadline was one week. Although I wasn’t in love with every member of our company and in fact didn’t even know all their actual names, some of them had become friends. I didn’t want them to suffer for my indolence.

As we traveled, we took turns carrying the powder but we also let one person range a little way ahead looking for threats. I was never that scout. When I suggested that I take a turn, Bowen and Aleyda laughed at me. I don’t think that they had a tremendous amount of confidence in my observational abilities. Nope, I was the guy who carried the powder, step by step and mile after mile.

We made decent time down the slope. We did have to stop a couple of times to let something particularly nasty clear the path. One time, it was more of those large lizards that we had fought earlier in our trip. They were sunning themselves out on the path out of the tree cover and didn’t look like they wanted to move. So, we waited and then waited some more. Just as I was about to suggest that we fight them and get things over with, we heard a crashing in the forest in front of us. We caught sight of the back of an even bigger lizard. This one was bipedal, stood about fifteen feet tall, and crashed into the other lizards before they even knew then were under attack. Its gnashing teeth took a chunk out of one of the lizards blocking our path and then the chase was on. The large lizards, who were now clearly prey, scattered off the path in multiple directions. The bipedal creature followed the wounded one. After the sounds of bellowing and crashing had subsided, we slipped on past. I didn’t want any part of that larger lizard. I was not certain if I was eaten and digested whether I would be coming back.

The other time we waited was to avoid the largest elk bull that I had ever seen. Hell, it was the largest I had ever heard of. It stood about eight feet tall at the shoulders and seemed to be righteously pissed off. It bugled and pawed the ground looking for something to vent its obvious frustrations on. Honestly, it was more moose sized than elk sized. I knew that elk, especially during rutting season, could be mean and nasty. We just moved up the trail a little bit and waited. Checking again after about half an hour, it was gone as if had never existed in the first place. When we traversed that section of the forest, we tried to move pretty lightly. I didn’t want to give the thing an outlet for its sexual frustrations.

All in all, though, even with those delays we made better time than I expected. As night was encroaching, we had made it to the main trail. We didn’t run into any companies on our way down. I suppose it was too late in the day for expeditions to be headed out and we moved slowly enough with my burden that we didn’t overtake anyone. Guess who got to carry the cask when we got there? You’re right, it was me and it was hard work. The thing was reasonably heavy but it was also damn awkward. I had to wrap my arms around it and hug it to my chest. Before long, my shoulders were burning and my back hurt. I wondered if I could get Aleyda to give me a massage when we stopped for the night. If I asked, instead she might just give me a beating.

“Shall we just stop at our old camp for the night?” I asked the others. “I need to seed the stream with a small amount of gold anyway.”

“Are you certain we can’t just press on to town?” Bowen asked. “I am sure we could pay someone for accommodations there and it would be safer.”

“That’s a half an hour of travel or more after dark,” I replied. “I wonder how many people camp out on the side of the path trying to find easy marks for a little mugging after it gets dark.”

“I suppose you have a good point there,” he said. “I was hoping we had seen the last of that campsite.”

“As was I,” Aleyda said. “But James makes a good point. It would be ridiculous for us to be this careful all the way down here and then lose our only tool to get the job done.”

“We can sleep in the slave pen,” I said. “At least that has some sturdy walls and anything that comes at us can only reach us from one direction.”

“I really hoped I was done sleeping in slave pens as well,” Bowen said.

“Where do you think we will be staying on the trip back home?” I asked.

“You can be really irritating,” he replied.

It was decided, then. We headed down the path to our camp and set up to sleep in the spacious slave pen that Caider decided we needed. He was nothing if not optimistic. Thankfully, the previous occupant had confined his bodily waste to one corner of the pen, so there was enough room to bed down. Before we slept, we ate more crappy trail food and then I tossed a few small gold nuggets into the stream. I didn’t ask for that massage.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Of course, we kept watch during the night. Once again, I lost the dice roll and got middle watch. I owned the dice. Why did they hate me so? Maybe Yahg was right. The others had to be cheating.

Near the end of my watch, I heard movement in the camp. It was a clear night and with the dim light provided by the crescent moon and the stars dotting the skies, I saw two humanoid figures move down the pathway into the camp. Then, I heard snatches of conversation.

“I am telling you,” one of the figures told the other. “I heard this company cleared out and moved higher up the mountain. They obviously left some things that we can sell. Then we get away from this accursed place with something to show for it.”

I quietly woke up Aleyda and Bowen. Thankfully, neither spoke or cried out when they were shaken awake. The rustling around when they sat up must have been louder than I thought, though, because I heard another voice speak.

“Quiet,” it said. “I heard something moving.”

I quickly bent down to whisper in Aleyda and then Bowen’s ears. “I got this,” I said. “Close your eyes.”

Then, I reached for my magic. I had spent so much time using it under the mountain that connecting with it was easy. I really needed to find some time to try to develop some other abilities. But for tonight’s purposes, my one ability was enough.

The clearing suddenly lit up like it was dawn. I could see two orcs who looked down on their luck just inside the entrance to the clearing.

“Run!” I bellowed, pouring as much power as I could into my magic. “Run, or be consumed by the light!” Then, I put my head down and went jogging towards them.

Now, you all may be made of sterner stuff than the two orcs were. Maybe you would have stood and fought. But these orcs had obviously been beaten down by their experience here on the island. In the light, they looked malnourished and skittish. As I moved towards them, they turned and bolted, running out of the clearing and up the trail. I pursued them for a short distance. I wanted them to run and keep running, never to return.

Then, I extinguished the light and made my way back to our camp. I blundered around getting there since my night vision had been blown but I made it eventually. Aleyda and Bowen were sitting there trying to stifle their giggles. They weren’t having much luck, though.

“Run or be consumed by the light,” Aleyda said. “That’s the best you were able to come up with?” That set Bowen to laughing even harder.

“Fuck you both,” I grunted angrily.

“But I thought you only had eyes for me,” Aleyda responded.

I walked over and began lightly headbutting the wooden stockade. By this time, Bowen was laughing so hard I though he was going to pee himself.

“I think we need to relocate,” I said. “I wouldn’t put it past those two to come back with others.”

“Just … let … me … get my ... breath … back first,” Bowen managed to gasp out.

“Shall we just head into town?” Aleyda asked. “It should be early enough that most of the muggers should be gone.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” I said. “We do need to stay on our guard, though.”

After Bowen had wrestled himself under control, we packed up and headed out to the main trail. Even though the two-legged threats may have retired for the night, there was still an island full of critters that were nocturnal hunters.

We had made it about half way back to town when we came upon a couple of familiar looking orcs resting by the side of the road.

“Stay away from that camp back there,” one of them told me. “There is some sort of glowing creature that lives there now.”

“Thanks,” I said, trying to disguise my voice a little. “We’re headed to town. Want to come along?”

I heard Bowen stifle a laugh.

“What’s wrong with him?” the other orc asked.

“A horse kicked him in the head when he was young,” I said. “He has some peculiar reactions.”

I could almost hear Aleyda’s teeth grinding together as she tried not to join Bowen in his laughter.

“Sure, we’ll walk with you,” the first orc said. “Safety in numbers and all of that. I don’t suppose you have any food to spare? Our company got wiped out and we have had a hard time recently.”

I reached in my pack and handed them each a piece of mystery meat jerky. They were obviously famished as I heard them each choke once or twice on a piece that they had not sufficiently chewed. As we walked and chatted further, I was a little bit ashamed of how I had driven them off. They were obviously in great need. Finally I spoke.

“I bet if you go back to that camp during the day, the creature you saw will be gone. My grandma always used to say that there were scary things that haunted the night but they couldn’t stand the touch of the sun.”

“Do you really think so?” the first orc asked.

“I do,” I said. “My grandmother was rarely wrong.”

About that time, we had made it to the outskirts of town. The orcs thanked us for the food and offered us wishes of good luck in the future. Then, they headed off to their camp.

That left us in town in the early morning hours without a clear destination in mind. I knew there were likely rooms for rent but I didn’t know exactly where they were located. The activity in town looked diminished somehow. What had once been a lively little community seemed much more sparsely populated than it had in the past. Glancing out into the harbor, I saw fewer ships than I expected, the lanterns that they had on their bows and sterns marking their positions.

I guess when they great powers came to blows over a place it was time to cut and run. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that option.

As we headed deeper into town, we walked past the site where the transport gate was being built. Even at night, there was a squad of tired looking guards securing the place. Finding a way to disable the thing was going to be a major challenge.

We wandered around aimlessly, stopping at any business that was still open and asking about a place to stay. The businesses that were still open were all taverns and drinking halls. Even those establishments were less populated than I expected. Finally, at the third place we stopped, the bartender told me that they had rooms available in an adjoining structure. The price he quoted for the room was three gold a night. I didn’t have the energy to haggle and paid for two.

There was no furniture in the room that he led us to. There were three interior walls, one exterior wall with a window and a bare, roughly finished wooden floor. It looked like a converted storeroom. I didn’t care, though. We all settled down to rest. If things went well, tomorrow would be a busy day.