Sitting beside Sarah and taking in the forest after the quake, I can hear birds still flying in circles, awaiting potential aftershocks and land animals acting rightly nervous. It may take an hour or so before they're all back to something like normal. I'm still shaken a bit from both the quake and our discovery. The latter has me worried as a magical tome doesn't usually make itself as known as this one, even to a mundane or non-magic-user like Vic. Then there was the light that dissipated so quickly after the lock was undone. I can't shake that it might be either sentient or programmed to call out to any sentient beings within a certain radius.
”What did you find in the woods?” Sarah asks, snapping me out of my meditation.
”A bunker of some sort,” I reply, “though we didn’t get much chance to explore it beyond a room or two. All we found was the box.”
”Any hint of who left it for you,” she continues her inquiry, “or what’s in it?”
”We can discuss that together when we get to Kaland.” I answer, bluntly.
She gets quiet and I realize I’ve responded more harshly than intended. I adjust myself in the seat slightly, not really sure how to come back from the faux pas. Eventually, she looks at me and lets out a small sigh. She nudges me and points to a family of giraffes at the edge of the tree line, as we cross into savanna before hitting the grasslands where Kaland lies. The giraffes continue munching on apricots, though I see one pluck a fruit from the tree and turn to look at us before turning back to its meal source. I smile at her, and we continue the next hour in something between small talk and genuine conversation. Here and there we spot some other animals such as hippos off in a watering hole and a cheetah chasing a warthog diagonally away from us on our left side.
Moving along two hours later, I hear something creaking in the back, some quick rustling, and then a loud thud. Looking back through the flap, I see Reddan picking themself up from the floor and sitting back up. It becomes quickly apparent from Vic’s laughing what had occurred. It seems Reddan had fallen asleep and in order to stop it, Ferrik had kicked the bench, startling him and causing him to roll off onto the floor. I chuckle slightly and shake my head. With those three together, there’s never much of a dull moment. Reddan looks to me with wounded pride and then back to Ferrik, their face stretching from vaguely humanoid to that of a feline Shifter, and snarls at him before lying back down and resuming their generic Changeling aesthetic. It’s odd to see, given how docile and charismatic Reddan typically is, how intimidating they can be when necessary.
When I turn back around, Sarah’s staring out onto the trail as the savanna becomes fields of tall grass. I think I see some foxtails bend and sway with the movement of something walking through, though it’s not tall enough to get a clear visual.
“This is what I look forward to every time we go out into the field,” she says, breaking the silence, “all of this natural beauty.”
”I agree.” Replying to her, I add, “Seeing what unspoiled lands there are just outside the city always reinforces why I became a Ranger.”
”Why a Ranger instead of a Druid,” she asks, “what about that life spoke to you?”
”Oh,” I reply, “Is this the part where we’re trusting each other and opening up?”
”It is if you answer my question,” she responds with a sarcasm I didn’t expect, “because if you answer honestly, I just might have an answer for your questions.”
”Well, it’s not terribly complicated,” I begin, “I’ve always felt a call to adventuring and to Nature at the same time. I grew up as a disciple of Carravus, the god of Nature and its bounty. My parents were farmers, but they got hit by Goblins a few times while I was growing up. We had to learn to defend ourselves from them, so it just seemed natural to follow both paths as best I could after I’d learned how to fight.”
”I don’t know that,” she says softly, “but I guess my reasoning is less meaningful after that. I loved nature and after spending long days in my mother’s garden I found that I had more than just a green thumb. Instead, I had what you might call an understanding of plant life and animals.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
”See now,” I responded, nudging her slightly, “we’re getting somewhere after all. See how nice it is to open up?”
"You know I can knock you off this wagon at any time," she side-eyed me, "and make you walk the rest of the way?"
"I had not thought of it that way," I said, "point taken."
"I've never heard you talk about your family," she said, trying to restart the conversation, "are you actually from Kaland?"
"Yeah, we are," I answer with a sad smile on my face, "my parents raised my sister and I there. At least until they passed and I had to raise her. She was 14 and I'd just gotten into the academy at 16, so I was already somewhat trained. It came in handy since my dad got turned pretty quickly and there were suddenly three of them for my mother and I to contend with. She went down pretty quickly and only one, the elder due to the grey in his coat, got away in the chaos. After that, we sold the livestock to a family friend, and I helped Elizabeth through school and finished out my timing. She's actually engaged to Matthew, our friend's son."
"I'm so sorry to hear all that," Sarah nearly whispered, "but it sounds like both of you grew up okay, despite the loss of your parents."
"We managed just fine," I replied somberly, "but there were definitely rough times. Matthew's a good guy and I think Elizabeth enjoys being able to raise livestock again, especially since she grew up with some of them anyway. She's definitely looking forward to having children, though. I worry sometimes that we both grew up too fast."
A lion's roar brings me back to reality and I quickly fumble through my pouches and pull out a sprig of spruce and some leaves of mistletoe. Sarah is kind enough to produce a magical flame and I'm left with the ashes in my left hand. Placing the spruce in the same hand and clasping them together, I mutter a few words in Elvish and cast a spell to make us seem like little more than a rolling dust cloud along the cart trail. I whisper to the others in the back that we need to keep quiet, as there is a pride of lions near us that might test their numbers against us should the spell fail. Ferrik and Vic nod to me as Reddan mumbles in his sleep, which I take as acknowledgment given the options. Looking forward again, to check our surroundings, Sarah seems to notice a rattlesnake crossing the path ahead. Not taking any chances she softly speaks her own string of arcane words in her native tongue and conjures a bit of wind to toss the serpent into the brush where it can be heard slithering away. With the clear and present dangers now behind us, I keep my head on a swivel for the next hour, in case any other natural dangers present themselves.
The savanna becomes grasslands and my nerves relax, due to how easy it is to see danger approaching. The high grasses lower themselves over time and become less than knee height to the average adult human. Out in the middle distance, I see a briar patch with a few hares peeking out and investigating the world outside their home. A coyote trots up toward it from the other side and the jackrabbit's ears twitch. It frantically looks around as the coyote circles the thicket. In a last kinetic moment, the hare turns and hops back into its overgrown fortress as the coyote dashes toward it, failing to stop itself before colliding with the brambles. The predator yelps, struggling to pull itself from the thorns. After a minute or two of struggling, he hobbled away in search of easier prey. A perfect example of life in the wild; a sunny afternoon could easily spell disaster if you're not quick enough on your feet, and even a sure thing can end unexpectedly.
An hour later, I'm greeted by the sights and smells of the farms as we approach Kaland. I can smell a few ovens baking bread and the occasional pig to prep for the evening’s dinner. The grasslands give way to seeded fields of wheat and corn, as the road we're on becomes a much more obvious dirt road leading toward the high walls of Kaland. Cows, goats, and children can be heard, and the faint sight of the three church steeples can be seen peeking over the city's walls. Every major sense is filled with a longing to be back home, even despite the short time we were away. The stones in the road rustle the card just enough to rock Reddan from his slumber as I hear his snoring end and a quick yelp of pain as I imagine he hits his head. Vic pokes his head through the flap to get a better view and inhales deeply, taking in the scent of fresh bread and roasting pork.
We arrive at the gates to Kaland and the guards wave us through, recognizing the three of us. The large portcullis opens slowly and the horses pull the wagon through, making their way up the eastern Mainstreet at Sunrise Gate and toward the Town Square. Rumbling through the cobblestone we exit the open grasslands we've been in for the last few hours. The city grows and streets get narrower as it swallows us up. The grey and grime of Kaland, while welcoming is still too urban for my tastes, but it's good to be somewhere familiar all the same. Four long blocks later, Dakota and Argenta pull us into the stable area of the Guild Hall, where we can safely stop and get out of the wagon. Ferrik takes the chest as the rest of us grab our gear and head toward the guild's offices, ready to get some information and our first payment as adventurers.