I flopped down onto the bed in the inn, exhausted.

I had learned, well I had learned a hell of a lot.

I was sure now that I could make myself some furniture that wouldn't fall apart as soon as a breeze touched it, I was also sure that if I hadn't spent the day with Jessep that whatever I would have attempted to make would have been worse than useless.

I might as well have just thrown twigs onto the floor and piled my things onto them to keep the twigs mostly in place.

I was so tired though, I had never really considered just how much work was needed for making the simplest of things. Well, I knew that they obviously required some work but the effort required, not just physically but also mentally to keep everything precise was staggering.

There was so much forethought that actually went into just making a simple chair or table and especially when doing so was a job and not a hobby.

The amount of effort you put into focusing your precision was huge because if you made one wrong cut or nick in just the wrong place, the entire thing could have to be started from scratch.

You couldn't present an absolutely perfect piece, except for that one scratch on it, to a paying client.

They had paid you for it after all.

They didn't pay you for something that was almost perfect, they wanted exactly what they paid for.

I had ended up, under Jessep's supervision, managing to build a small stool.

It was useless when it came to actually selling it and we had thrown it into the scraps pile shortly afterwards but there was a satisfaction to be had in creating something from nothing.

I hadn't just learned how to make the stool though, what I had really learned where some basics in woodworking.

For example, one of the first things I would actually have to do is cut down or find some dead standing trees for lumber. I wouldn't actually be able to use them right away either, they would need to dry out for a long time.

I still needed some furniture though so the things I managed to build would actually only be temporary until the lumber was ready to use.

Then once the dried out lumber was ready, I would have to mill it by hand or rather with my tools.

I'd milled what was basically a piece of scrap raw wood, and it was not easy.

Edges needed to be straight and so you needed to plan out where to cut to get the most out of the raw wood and that was only after you had debarked it.

You needed to get all the angles straight on the cuts otherwise, you would either have to start again with a new piece or spend a long time slowly chiselling then sanding away until it evened up.

Sanding wasn't even something I had considered, nor had I considered any kind of treatment for the wood afterwards.

I'd expected to just somehow turn a tree or two into some kind of rustic looking but polished and worn furniture.

I was an idiot.

I'd actually ended up coming back to the inn once during the day, I'd returned with the tools I had bought from Bill the blacksmith and the book on woodworking and furniture building.

They had both been inspected thoroughly by Jessep and several of the other workmen who had occasionally come over to see what we were doing or to poke fun at Jessep.

The tools had been met with approval by all but the book had been snorted at by those who could read.

While I had been 'practising' with several different tools at Jessep's insistence, he had actually been reading and writing in the book.

He'd written small notes in a passable hand, small tips and occasionally crossing out entire sections of the books contents.

He'd had me basically cut pieces of wood and fit them together in a number of different ways then explained as he sat there with the book, the different merits or faults with the different types of joints.

Of course, he complained how useless I was the entire time and cursed me half-heartedly for 'condemning' him to this.

To him and the other workmen, it had been a mildly amusing situation but to me it had been an eye-opener and some very valuable lessons.

I'd even put a few of my own notes into the book, mostly they had been explanations of what some of the more technical terms actually meant.

Once, even Marley had come out to watch me and suddenly Jessep had gotten very active in showing me some easier or 'proper' way to do some things.

I'd caught Marley smirking a little as he turned away.

Having to carry back my tools and even the book had seemed like a small torture considering how much my arms and back ached.

I ached in muscles that I didn't even know I had but oddly enough I didn't mind too much as I lay on the bed.

I ended up falling asleep without going down for an evening meal.

*************

The next day I actually bought another chest. I'd had it brought it back to my room and had headed back out with an empty pack to buy several more things.

The first couple of things I'd bought were three small rolls of different 'grits' of sandpaper and several bottles of different kinds of wood oils and waxes.

They were actually being to be stored in one of the mostly full chests because I had a different contents in mind for my new empty chest.

Rather than heading for the shops, I headed for a large open market that was filled with stalls. It was nothing compared to the grand market back in Clearwater, no strange magics or exotic stalls but rather plenty of more normal things to buy.

I had seeds, sure.

They would be fantastic once or if I could get them to grow, but I wouldn't get full by eating the seeds themselves and that is all they were now, all they would be for a while.

And so I set about buying up food.

Not very much fresh food, at least not fresh foods that wouldn't keep.

I ended up with a plethora of different travel rations, enough to keep a small company of troops going for a while.

Between trips back to the inn with a full pack, unloading and heading back out I found myself with quite the collection.

Travel rations, hard cakes, a few wheels of cheese, several large sealed jars of various pickled things, some root vegetables and fruits that, while they wouldn't last forever they would last for a month or more if I kept them stored properly.

I even bought myself two bottles of wine and a very small cask of ale.

I had had to return to the inn right away to drop those off.

I had never drunk anything alcoholic before and was actually curious what they were like, I hoped they were good because they took up a lot of room in the chest for what they were.

Rather impressed with myself, I headed back out of the inn in the direction of Marley & Hall's. While it wasn't exactly the end of the work day, still a few hours from now, I was actually going to find Jessep because of one of the things I had bought while out at the market.

I was feeling pretty good and in the spur of the moment, I had decided that I would buy him what was the most expensive bottle of wine. It's expense was actually relative because it was the most expensive bottle of wine at the particular market stall I had been at at the time.

While I doubted that a nobleman would even allow such a bottle onto his property, it was definitely worth getting Jessep a gift for all I had learned yesterday.

All of that aside, I was equal parts nervous, excited and worried.

I would find out when I got to the work yard if my travel carriage would be finished today.

If it was, then tomorrow I would be leaving.

There is always a fear in the unknown, everyone knows that, but you still feel it anyway.

I just hoped things would go as I hoped.

When I arrived at the work yard, I walked around the small office building without actually going inside for once. I headed towards the open bay door of the huge warehouse and walked inside.

I spotted Jessep right away, sitting in the exact same place I'd found him yesterday. He look slightly surprised to see me.

“Hey, I thought that yesterday was a one time thing!” Jessep said rising his as if in surrender and the workmen around him laughed.

Grinning I walked over.

“It was, or at least I think it was.” I admitted as I lowered my pack to the ground and reached inside. “I just came by to give you this.” I said as I pulled the bottle of wine out and presented it to him.

“What's this for?” Jessep asked, surprise in his eyes even as he accepted the bottle.

“Just to say thanks.” I told him. “I get that it was just a bit of fun for Marley but I actually learned a lot yesterday, even if everyone is right about you.”

“Right about what?” Jessep demanded.

“That's you're the laziest person in the town.” I told him with a grin and the others laughed.

Jessep smirked then laughed too.

“Alright alright you lot.” Jessep said to the others. “I'm lazy, so what's your excuses for sitting around here?” He said to them before turning back to me and hefting the bottle up.

“I didn't expect this Al, I didn't think I taught you all that much, but thanks all the same.” Jessep told me and I just nodded. “So your rolling bucket is going to be finished today, eh?” He questioned but was clearly changing the topic.

“I hope so, Marley said it would probably be finished at the end of the day if nothing went wrong.” I told him and he gestured for me to follow him.

We walked down the clear path back down to the other end of the warehouse just as we had yesterday.

Jessep looked thoughtful as he idly spun the wine bottle in his hand.

“You still have that useless book on you?” Jessep suddenly asked and I nodded. “Well hand it over, I'll put a few more things in it that I probably should have done yesterday, that is if you're planning on sticking around until the end of the day.”

Even as I paused to pull the book out of my pack I spoke. “Do you actually ever do any work?” I asked him with a small grin.

He answered my grin with one of his own. “I've actually been working most of the day, we stopped about ten minutes ago to wait for some lumber to be cut down to size.” He admitted.

Shaking my head slightly I handed him the book and we reached where my travel carriage stood.

Marley raised an eyebrow upon seeing me then raised both of them when he spotted Jessep with the bottle of wine.

“Drinking at work now?” Marley asked Jessep who just laughed and pretended to stagger.

“I gave it to him, as a thanks for yesterday.” I told Marley who seemed to accept this, though I don't think he actually believed that Jessep would be drinking on the job. The bottle clearly wasn't open after all.

“Well, you'll be happy to know that we're pretty much finished here.” Marley told me with a wave towards the carriage. “The only thing left is to add some tie handles to the bed for your straps then sort out the paperwork.” Then seeming to remember he correct himself. “Or rather pay for the rest of it.”

“Do you want the coin now?” I asked but Marley shook his head.

“We'll do that in the office later on, you'll still need to sign for a receipt though, even if we didn't write up a contract.” He told me.

“That's no problem, I've got the coin with me anyway.” I answered.

“Big spender is this one.” Jessep quipped and showed Marley the bottle.

“You might be right.” Marley said. “You shouldn't have wasted so much coin on this one.” He said to me, gesturing to Jessep who looked unsurprisingly and over-dramatically wounded at the words.

“I managed to accidently learn a few things from him yesterday though.” I told Marley playing along. “Besides he's going to rewrite an entire book for me.”

Marley laughed then pulled a pencil out of a pocket and threw it to Jessep.

“You'd better get scribbling then.” Marley told him and Jessep sighed once more but sat down at one of surrounded worktables and flipped open the book.

I hung around, listening to the small talk between Marley and his workmen, occasionally joining in myself. Jessep handed me back my now slightly improved book just before Marley lead me to the office.

I paid up the other half of the coin I owed, I signed a receipt and tucked my copy away in my pack.

Rather than heading back to the inn to get my mule and bring it back here, we agreed that I'd come for it first thing in the morning so that it was out of the way and the work shop section would be clear for the next project on the list.

We shook hands once more and I returned to the inn, barely able to sit still while I ate my evening meal.

The sense of anticipation was building within me.

************

The next morning, I walked next to my mule.

I hadn't bought a saddle or tack for it as I wouldn't actually be riding it. I arrived at the work yard and endured the good natured ribbing from the workmen at my mule but we all knew that with the small size of my travel carriage that a mule was more than enough to move it along.

I didn't see Jessep but Marley was there and helped be hitch the mule to the carriage, I got the impression that while he was glad to have the work space cleared up be had offered to help just for the sake of helping out.

I appreciated it all the same.

I promised that if I ever needed more work doing that he would be the first person I came to see, we shook hands once more and I set off on my new travel carriage back to the inn.

When I arrived, I had to ask the innkeeper if he minded getting his sons to help me bring down and load up my chests onto the carriage.

He agreed that they would do it even before I offered to pay for their help which is why they both seemed so surprised to receive a gold coin each afterwards.

With no real use for my remaining coin and being in a good mood, I was freer with it that was probably necessary.

A gold coin each for moving a few chests and tying them down was a ridiculous amount to be paid but I just smiled, with a flick of the leather reigns the placid mule moved forwards and I and my carriage were pulled along with it.

I was finally on my way to the mountain, even as I left the walls of Moreland's Rest and passed the fields I had to keep myself from grinning and looking like a fool.

I kept an eye on the mule but he seemed not to care about the weight he was pulling along, I made sure to stop and let him drink from a pan I filled with water. We made steady progress if not quickly and when the sun began to set I pulled to a stop by the side of the road for the night.

The mule accepted the dense oat cakes I gave him when I had tied him to a tree on a long length of rope. He even drank two more pans of water as soon as I raised them up to his mouth without any fuss and I knew I'd made the right choice in a mule rather than a horse.

For myself I ate one of the travel rations, tough hardbread, tough dried meat and hard cheese. I was glad I could make my own water but it did fill me up and the dried meat and hard cheese had flavour at least, even if not very much.

Using one of my bedrolls for the first time, I slept away the night without a fire and even managed to wake up feeling slightly rested.

*************

My first look at Diggin had me slightly worried.

There were a few cleared fields on the approach but it was the small 'village' or settlement that caused me a little concern.

It really was small.

Most of the buildings were homes, they looked more like what a log cabin should look like but made with stone.

There were only maybe ten actual streets.

Quite a few of larger buildings that were mostly on the edges of the 'village', were clearly places of work.

I wondered if they even had an inn I could stay at?

I could see the few larger buildings better as they were closest to me, some had steady streams of smoke pumping up out of them and I guessed that was where ores were melted down.

After getting a few odd looks from people as I rode into the village I managed to spot an inn, or at least what I thought was an inn. The 'stable' behind it was actually much much larger than the inn itself.

I soon found out why.

Only about a quarter of the 'stable' was actually a stable in truth, the rest of the warehouse sized room inside was for storing wagons, carts and other things.

Some of them were loaded with things and others were empty.

The cost to put my small travel carriage in there for the night was three times more expensive than the cost of stabling my mule and renting out a room for myself to sleep in.

I paid the coin, of course I did because I had so much after all, but it had still been a surprise.

The 'stable-hand' had explained to me that with so much coming in and going out of Diggin, the only real way to keep the inn making money was to charge for secure storage of goods to those who came and went.

Being so small, the only people who actually lived in Diggin were people who worked in the mines or doing something else related.

They didn't have many people to make businesses boom with so few other people here and so the costs of certain things were vastly different.

I spent the night in the small inn and at least the food was good, though that may just have been because I'd been eating travel rations for a while.

I was up early the next day because this was the trickiest part of my plan, if it didn't work then I would have serious problems.

Once more on my travel carriage I directed the mule to pull us south out of the small village of Diggin and soon enough the roads and cleared trees that surrounded the village were gone and my struggle started in earnest.

***********

I was at the base of the mountains of the Clearwater Ridges, I had a narrow 'path' before me. The mountains were to my left and the trees of the Moreland Forest to my right.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

With no actual roads or even tended land, my only route lay in the narrow strip between the two as I headed south.

The ground was rocky, there were small stretches of clear grass here and there but mostly it was rock studded grass, dirt or gravel.

I kept having to stop and let my poor mule rest because even the tough beast struggled.

Pulling the carriage up and over the uneven ground, around large boulders and occasionally back into the trees when there was no other option, doing my best to find small routes between everything

It was very very slow progress but it was still progress.

Four days.

That's how long it took until the fear, that had slowly been building in my head, came to pass.

One of the wheels gave out and broke, the carriage dipping down, the mule cried out at the sound even as I cried out from being thrown to the ground to my right.

I had been surprised the travel carriage had even lasted this long but I had hoped for the best even as I'd grown increasingly worried.

I felt hot tears on my face, not tears of pain but of frustration.

After four days of exhausting travel, my plan had come to nothing.

I had no idea how far I was from my mountain because being so close to the ridges, each mountain in the range was almost indistinguishable from another.

I screamed in frustration and after a while of silently shaking and stifling my sobs, the sound of the complaining mule had me moving again.

My mule wasn't harmed but he was still being pulled slightly down by the broken travel carriage.

I untied him and brought him closer to the trees where I attached him to one of them on a long rope.

It was getting close to the end of the day so I started making camp out of habit.

I moved through the small tasks numbly, feeling wrung out by my failure.

I filled a pan with water and set it down for the mule with a couple of the big oak cakes, then I started collecting wood for a fire, eventually I sat before the small source of warmth as the sky darkened and I wondered what I would do.

I thought long into the night before eventually falling into an exhausted sleep.

When morning came, I had arrived at the only plan I could think of that didn't involve either abandoning everything or turning back without the carriage.

I unstrapped my chests and dragged them off the travel carriage onto the ground. It was hard work but eventually I had the four of them just inside the treeline.

The first was opened up and I was slowly filling the first of my three travel packs with the contents of the chest.

When I had filled them up as much as I could, I spent even more time tying two of them together. With one of the blankets from my bedrolls folded up and placed over the mule's back, I set the two packs over it, the ropes on the blanket while the packs hung down each side.

Knowing this was the best I could hope for, half of the day already having been and gone, I closed up the mostly empty chest, picked up my own heavy pack and me and my mule continued our journey southward.

We stopped more than a few times as I set down my burden, I even took of the mules packs during those breaks, though I didn't think the weight was all that much to him, it just felt wrong to rest while he stood with his packs still loaded onto his back.

We walked most of the rest of the day until I froze in place, spotting something not a hundred paces ahead of me.

The remains of a small fire by the trees, I looked around, up towards the mountain to my left and thought I started to recognise the shapes of the stone.

This was it, this was the place!

This was my mountain!

I let out an involuntary cry of joy and set my pack down.

I managed to run over to the old fire remains just to check that it really was there, it didn't vanish or turn into something else so I sat myself down feeling weak with relief.

After a few minutes, I brought the mule and dropped pack over, though the mule hadn't actually stopped but instead had continued to slowly follow after me.

I unloaded him and the two of us ate and drank.

I spent the evening in front of the renewed fire, coming up with my next plan of action.

It wasn't a very complicated plan but it was definitely a hard one, if not in execution then in the amount of time and effort it would take.

The next days dragged by, seeming to stretch on endlessly.

I'd emptied my packs, piling my things just inside the treeline and headed north again, back the way I had come.

My mule and I walked side by side, back to where the carriage had given out and where my chests stood.

I'd rest briefly then begin packing my packs once more with the contents of the chests.

Then we'd turn back around with packs newly filled and spend the rest of the day carrying what we could back.

Slowly the chests emptied and the piles of my possessions grew at the other end.

Over and over again this repeated and the only thing that changed was that I ran out of oak cakes for the mule a couple of days in.

I had to start feeding him from the fresh veggies that I had brought with me, almost all of them were gone by the time we were done.

I struggled to come up with a solution for the empty chests themselves and in the end all I could do was place one on the poor mules back and walk along next to him, keeping my hands on the chest to stop it from shifting too much and falling off.

The hard and heavy bulk on the mule's was awkward and I felt bad for my beast of burden.

After we got the chest back to the small camp I'd made over the last few days, I made sure to feed and water my mule, letting him rest while I started sorting my things.

I'd known before we were even half way back with this empty chest that I wouldn't be going back for the others.

I had this chest here and it would do for storing most of the books. I could keep most of my food in two of the packs and the rest of my food that didn't fit would have to be things that didn't really need the extra protection.

The jars of various pickled things would be fine, even the wheels of cheeses were already wrapped tightly in their wax paper.

Everything else I had could manage being outside for a little while at least.

I got another fire started, sat and ate.

Soon enough I drifted off to sleep.

The next day after feeding and watering my mule, I set about preparing for the next step.

I used one of my knives and the small woodsman's hatchet to cut some poles from nearby branches and with these poles and a little rope, I started to build the small frame of a shelter.

I spent a good portion of the day working on my small camp knowing that I wouldn't be leaving until the following day anyway.

I used two of the of my bedroll blankets as a kind of canvas to tie down over my wooden frame. I ended up with a kind of half tent around my supplies and the chest.

With the blankets being the dark faded green colour being the colour they were, I thought they blended well into the forest.

Even if I was still only just in the treeline and the only thing being on the actual treeline itself was my small fire pit, it would be hard to spot.

I arranged everything in my half tent and set down my remaining bedroll along the open front to face the fire.

I just had to hope it didn't actually rain because while the blankets would resist water a little, they wouldn't prevent it from eventually soaking through, I was also counting on the trees above to provide any extra shelter they could.

Tomorrow I would be heading back to Diggin with a mostly empty pack, my bedroll and my mule.

************

Two days later after following the treeline north, I reached Diggin once more.

I had two things I needed to do, I needed to see about buying some more vegetables, almost all of the ones I had were gone, having been fed to the mule.

The second thing and the thing I was a little unsure of was that I'd be parting ways with the mule now.

I planned to sell him though after all the time we'd spent together, I was beginning to admire the placid beast but the simple fact was I couldn't care for him, not once I eventually got back into the mountain.

I didn't strictly need to sell the mule because I didn't need the coin, but if I just offered him to someone for free then they would be suspicious of why I was just giving away a perfectly healthy mule.

I also didn't want leave the mule with someone who would mistreat him, I'd prefer someone who already had animals and besides after all the hard work of the past week or two, I thought the mule deserved a rest.

I took the mule to the only inn to be stabled, I paid for a room for the night too.

It was the end of the day now so there was no use in trying to find someone right now, I got myself a meal from the inn and slept the night away.

The next morning I found myself in the 'trade' part of the small village though it was only a single street with shops rather than entire district.

I went about buying up replacement food being careful that my pack didn't get too heavy.

I asked a few people if they were interested in buying a mule but while a few asked some questions, none were really that interested and I was losing hope.

It wasn't until I came out of one shop and I almost walked into a cart that I got a real chance.

“Watch it boyo!” The wiry old man on the cart called down to me.

“Sorry, sir!” I called back and stepping away a little from the cart. “I wasn't paying attention.”

“Knew that already.” The old man told me but I was looking at the two horses tied to the cart and the donkey that was tied to the opposite side.

“Hey.” I turned back to the old man. “Do you want a mule?” I asked him.

Looking at me strangely the old man answered. “Want a mule? Or do you mean buy a mule? What are you going on about boyo? You trying to tell a joke or something?”

“No, no, no!” I said quickly waving my hands. “It's just, I've got a mule and I need to sell him before I leave.” I started to explain and gestured to his horses and donkey. “I see you might be able to take care of another animal, I've been asking around to people who look like they can actually take care of him but no one is interested. There's nothing wrong with him but at this rate, I don't think I'll be able to even give him away.”

I sounded defeated by the end of my words, even to my own ears.

“Sorry for bothering you, sir.” I sighed out and turned to leave.

“Hold up!” The old man called out and I turned with a small hope rising up inside, something must have shown on my face because he sighed at me then climbed down off his cart. “I'm making no promises but I'll hear you out. Why are you trying to get rid of your mule and what's the catch?” He asked.

“There's no catch, sir.” I assured him and hoped he could hear the truth in my words as I continued. “It's just that I'm leaving soon and I can't take him with me, I can't just abandon him after all the hard work he's done for me and I don't want to leave him to just anyone. I'm not lying, sir, I just want to make sure he gets a good home before I have to go. That's all.”

The old man looked at me for a while before he spoke.

“The mule stolen?” He half asked, half guessed.

“No, sir. I bought him myself in Moreland's Rest.” I answered.

“And you're sure there's nothing wrong with it?” The old man questioned further.

“No, sir.” I said. “I mean, I'm sure there is nothing wrong with him, at least as far as I know but I'm not an expert. He isn't sick or lamed and he works hard.”

“Hm.” The old man was silent as he thought over my words then seemed to come to a decision. “I'll have to look the mule over myself first but if...” The old man looked at me pointedly before speaking on. “And I do mean, if, there's nothing wrong with him and he ain't stolen then I might be able to pay you a little to take it off your hands.”

“I promise you, sir!” I said excitedly “He's not stolen or sick! He's stabled at the inn, you'll see he's really healthy and well behaved...”

The old man raised his hands and cut me off. “Enough of this, I'm not a sir I'm a farmer!” He told me “My names Brigg. Now get on the cart and we'll go see this mule of yours.”

I closed my mouth and did exactly that, it didn't take long to reach the inn in the small almost village and Brigg only took slightly longer looking over the mule before he seemed satisfied.

“Well, he's healthy alright.” Brigg said as we stood in the stable.

“So you'll take him?” I asked.

“You sure he's not stolen boyo?” Brigg asked me once more while staring at me hard.

“I promise you, he's not stolen. I paid for him myself.” I told him again. “I bought him from Mart just outside of Moreland's Rest. He's Captain Holt's cousin's husband. Captain Holt even told me about the place, he's definitely not stolen.” I trailed off because as soon as I'd mentioned Captain Holt's name I could see the change in expression on Brigg's weathered face.

“Holt told you about it then?” He asked.

“Yes, I bought him from his cousin's husband, Mart. You could even go there to ask about the mule Al bought from him but I can't wait around for that long.” I told the old farmer raising my hands in a vaguely helpless gesture.

I don't know specifically what decided it, but the old farmer seemed to finally be convinced.

“Well. I guess I believe you but if you're lying to me you'll have Holt himself coming for you, especially since you brought up his name.” Brigg warned me. “He's not the kind to take that kind of insult to his name.”

“I know.” I said quietly. “Captain Holt is a good man.”

There was a brief moment of silence but Brigg broke it with a tone the was clearly changing the subject.

“Just where are you going anyway that you can't take the mule with you?” Brigg asked me.

“The mountains.” I replied, intentionally making it sound like I meant I was travelling over the mountains to the other side. My small deception worked as Brigg replied.

“There's easier ways to get to Clearwater than climbing over those mountains you know?” Brigg told me.

“I know but that's the way I'm going.” I told him firmly and after a moment he nodded.

“Fair enough. Well then, how much you want for the mule?” Brigg asked me and I shrugged. Brigg sighed at this then pulled out his coin pouch.

He started digging around in it and casting me suspicious looks before finally pulling out eight silver coins and some coppers.

“This is as much as I can give you lad.” Brigg said sounding a little put out. “I've just sold my wares but the rest of my coin is already spoken for. I'm not trying to swindle you, you understand? But I just can't-”

I raised my hands and cut him off this time.

“I accept.” I said quickly then spoke on. “I'd have given him to you for free if it wouldn't have made you more suspicious. I'll accept the coin. I don't really need it but I do want the mule to end up with someone who'll be fair to him.”

Brigg the old farmer pulled a sour face before handing the coin over to me.

I gave the mule one last rub along the top of his nose and awkwardly said goodbye to the placid beast while Brigg watched, then I left.

My pack was full, the mule had a new owner and I still had to make it back to my mountain in time for even more hard work.

So I didn't stay in Diggin for another night but left right away instead.

************

A young boy moved along the western side of the Clearwater Rides, skirting the edge of the Moreland Forest.

He carried a large and heavy looking pack and wore a determined expression on his young face.

Onwards he moved until a couple of days later he stopped by one particular mountain and moved into the trees.

In those trees, a small bounty of things lay under the cover of a simple shelter and it was here that the boy rested for a time.

On one morning, while the sun was still casting it's first streaks of light upon the sky, the young boy began climbing the mountain, a pack on his back and shortly after starting had sweat running down his brow.

The boy reached a spot part way up the huge mountain that looked no different than any other part but the boy seemed to know this spot as something more than simple stone.

A small but remarkable thing happened as the tired boy waved a hand.

The stone moved.

It shifted, like flowing water, out of the boy's way to reveal a dark opening that lead into the very mountain itself.

The boy vanished into the darkness of that opening but returned a short time later only to make his way back down the mountain, undoing everything he had just struggled do.

There was one small change though, the change was the pack the boy carried, which had appeared emptied after the boy's return from the darkness.

Down the mountain he went and back to the small camp, he barely seemed to catch his breath before another pack was exchanged for the empty one and the odd spectacle repeated itself.

Back and forth, up and down with only pauses as the sun set.

Once the night was banished again, the boy would continue his relentless task, the hard climb and his burden upon his back.

Slipping, losing his grip to the shale and even just being overbalanced by his burden, the boy rose each time no matter the number of scrapes and bruises.

Each time he continued onwards.

Many days passed by before the last of the camp's small bounty was gone, then the camp itself was gone and the boy made another trip back up the mountain this time dragging a single chest tied to a rope behind him.

The boy entered the dark passage once more, but rather than returning with yet another emptied pack, the mountain closed itself up and the boy remained in the darkness of the mountain's heart.