The next morning came far too early. Before the sun had even touched the horizon, a carriage and a wagon were sitting in front of our house. They tried to let me sleep longer, but there was just too much noise for me to stay asleep.
“Violet, come here I have an important job for you to do.” My mother said when she saw me peeking outside my door. I walked up to her and she picked me up and put me on a chair in the kitchen. She then placed a bowl of porridge in front of me. “I need you to eat this entire bowl of porridge.” I made a face at her and she chuckled. “We are going to have a long day so you mustn’t be hungry.”
As I sat and ate my porridge, I watched my mother and father make several trips in and out of the house. There were several wooden boxes and cloth bags that my parents had packed last night. After the majority of our belongings were packed, my mother went into my room and came out with the rest of my clothes and bedding.
It looked like everything small and portable was being packed in our wagon. The larger furniture was being left alone, but all of the smaller items were coming with us. When I finished eating, my bowl and spoon were packed as well after a quick cleaning. While they were occupied, I attempted to use my sneak skill to get outside to see what was going on. I think my mom was waiting for me because she immediately caught me when I exited the house. “Not so fast, young lady.”
She caught me and carried me to the carriage. “Do not leave this carriage. Your father and I are packing up the last few things and then we will be on our way.” After she shut the door, I was left alone to explore my new space.
The carriage cabin was small. There was one door on the left side of the carriage. On either side of the door were windows with heavy curtains drawn across them. There was enough room for four adults to sit facing each other on padded cushioned seats. On the right side of the carriage, there was a table on a hinge secured to the wall with a latch. Once the latch was moved, the table should cover two-thirds of the cabin. The latch is too high for my two-year-old body to reach or I would have already been playing... I mean investigating it for science! There are also two more curtain-covered windows on the right side of the cabin.
After hours (a few minutes) of waiting in the carriage, my parents joined me in the cabin and we started moving. It did not take long before we reached a clearing outside of town where the other families that were going with us were gathering. Looking out the window, I started counting the extra wagons that were coming with us. Every family had a carriage and a wagon with their personal belongings. In addition to those, there were 5 extra wagons packed full of supplies in the clearing with us.
“Mommy, what kind of animals are those?” I asked, pointing at the horse-shaped cats that this world used to pull vehicles. “Those animals are called amberclaws. We have domesticated them for thousands of years to train them to pull our wagons. In the wilds, you can still find their feral cousins.”
“Why does he have a funny thing on his face?” I asked again. I am enjoying the ability to ask why a hundred times a day. I speak a little bit better than Sky does but I cant easily dumb down my words. I am still very careful to not use big words. After a sigh, my mother answered, “Just because an amberclaw is domesticated doesn’t mean it is not dangerous. I don’t want you to go anywhere near them. Amberclaws eat meat and you would be a quick snack for one of them.” I make sure to play around and make a scared face.
[Skill increase: Acting +1 (22)]
It has been a while since I have gotten a skill up in Acting. I look forward to many hours of one-on-one time with my parents to continue to level that skill. Level 22 of that skill gave me 2530 experience points. I have gotten to the point where I have almost convinced myself that I am a child with some of the stuff I have said. I can only allow myself out of character when I am alone. I don’t want to be taken away from my parents for being too smart. I need to think of a way to ask about the nobles.
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When the last family arrives at our gathering point, we all get out of the carriage for a group meeting. A large brown-haired man is standing on a log so he can be seen as he addresses the group. “Listen up folks. We have a long journey ahead of us and I have no doubts that our children will drive us insane by the time we get to where we are going.” The group chuckled at this. “Our esteemed noble has put me in charge of this expedition and I want to make sure we get there safely so we can come back as soon as possible. We will be stopping at inns every night for the first month of our trip, but unfortunately, the last half of our journey is all wilderness. Make sure you know where your tent has been packed and if you are missing any supplies be sure to get them in one of the towns we stop in.”
“Thank you, Corrin! I am happy I wasn’t picked to lead.” A red-haired man named Ardon jokes. Jade giggled as her father’s beard tickled her neck.
Corrin is Sky’s father and the oldest of our group. I would place his age around 35. Sky is his second child, his first child, Amanda, was taken to boarding school when she turned twelve years old. From what I have overheard, all children are taken from their parents to attend school when they turn twelve. Once a month, children on good behavior are allowed to go home to visit with their parents for a few days. Amanda will not be able to see her parents for a long time because of this assignment.
“Alright you jokers, everyone get loaded up, and get this show on the road!” Corrin said while chuckling.
And so begins this nightmarish journey.
Stolen novel; please report.
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The journey did not take two months, it took three. One of the bridges that we were going to use was washed out causing us to backtrack and go out of our way to cross at a different crossing. Rain was a constant companion for us, it must have rained a third of the time we were traveling through the wilds. It was a very difficult journey for all involved. I may be 26 mentally (24 years from before), but my body was that of a two-year-old and I had WAY too much energy to be cramped in a carriage for the entire day.
The months here are longer than those I was used to on Earth. There were still twelve months, but each month lasted forty days. That makes each year 480 days so while I was only two by their counting, I was a lot closer to three by my old standards.
We made regular stops for restroom breaks and to stretch our legs but there is only so much running around you can do on a ten-minute stop. We ate porridge for breakfast and stew for dinner, but we did not stop to cook lunch so we snacked on strips of jerky.
Each day, my parents would trade-off trying to teach me my numbers and letters. It was very difficult for me to not let on that I had learned my numbers already and that after the first few times of them showing me letters, I was proficient with them. They had brought this world’s version of a blackboard with them so they could let me draw and learn to write. This allowed me to gain Drawing and Writing skills. I have not written more than just letters and some small words that they wrote for me to copy. My name was one of the first words they had me write a million times.
When I was not writing on the blackboard tablet, they entertained me with puzzles. The geometric-shaped pieces were painted and wooden. It looked homemade because the painting on the finished puzzles left much to be desired. I had to match the pieces based on color because the picture was hard to make out even after I had completed it. I spent much of my puzzle time daydreaming while bringing up images of the tablets I had memorized with Visualization. I could not translate the tablets yet, but it was a brain-consuming activity I could do without giving myself away.
Level
17
Age
2
Experience
(15100/15300)
Health
150/150
Stat Points
80
Skill Points
3
Strength
10
Constitution
15
Dexterity
12
Intelligence
53
Wisdom
45
[Traits] [Skills] [Magic]
[Basic Skills]
Acting
28
Climbing
15
Drawing
5
Language - Common
MAX
Mathematics
20
Meditation
17
Running
5
Writing
3
[Novice Skills]
Sneak
10
Visualization
20
I feel like this journey has been holding me back from advancing some of my more physical skills. Sleeping in the same room or tent as my parents has curtailed my after-hours activities. Tonight is our last night on the road. The adults were talking about reaching some kind of barrier tomorrow.
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Our day starts as it normally does, we wake up, pack up our bags and then I follow mother over to the cookfire to get breakfast. The women have a rotation on who gets to cook for each meal to share the chore. The weather has been kind to us this morning and the sun has come out. While the women and children are gathered at the cookfire, the men are breaking down the tents and storing luggage in the wagons. After everyone has eaten, we climb into our carriages and start the caravan moving for the day.
We had been moving for about two hours when I started to feel static in the air. I could hear the other children crying in the distance but decided not to copy them. I started slapping my arms and said “What is that?” It was my father who answered, “We are on the outskirts of the barrier. As far as we can tell it is not harmful, just uncomfortable. It will start to get a little stronger as we move closer to the ruin, but I have read that after a day you get used to the feeling and it no longer bothers you.” He went on to explain that we should be thankful for that barrier because it keeps all types of animals from venturing too close. Not even rodents or spiders have been found in the ruins.
It took a little past midday for us to reach our destination. My skin was bothering me, but it had already gotten to a manageable level to tolerate. Mother was talking to father on the way in that she heard the barrier was the reason a permanent outpost has never been built close to this site. Many people could not adjust to the feeling of living inside the barrier for any length of time. Was my father reading propaganda put out by the nobles? I trust my mother’s gossip over anything that was printed to read.
Stepping out of the carriage, I was in awe at our surroundings.