by Allan Joyal
I stopped and stepped off the road. “Keep moving,” I told Amalya. “I’ll warn everyone to keep our herds away from this water.”
Amalya nodded, but Victoria paused by me. “What could be wrong with the water?” she asked.
I just shook my head. At the same time a shadow passed overhead. I looked up to see a pair of what looked like ducks descending toward the water. The first one landed on the water.
Immediately, the water seemed to form tentacles that lashed out and wrapped around the bird. It squawked in terror and then vanished under the water. The second bird tried to stop its landing, but another tentacle of water whipped out. It caught one wing of the duck and dragged it beneath the surface of the water so quickly I stepped back in shock.
“Never mind,” Victoria said quietly. “I can understand why we need to stay away. What is that?”
“I have no idea,” I said as I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart. “I’m just very happy that we had that creature with us. I would have stopped for water and…”
Victoria nodded. I noticed her face was white. “What happened to those ducks would have happened to one of our herd animals, or even one of us. We are alive thanks to that strange green creature.”
“Keep up with the cart,” I said. I turned and started using my left hand to wave for the remaining carts and herds to continue moving. “Do not approach the pond!” I shouted repeatedly as the rest of the caravan passed by.
When the last wagon passed, I joined the end of the caravan. Lydia and Aine were walking side by side. The two ladies had their crossbows on their shoulders. I noticed that the crossbows were in their unready state as the girls chatted merrily. It soon became apparent that both were pregnant and discussing baby names.
“Shouldn’t your men know about this?” I asked.
“Mine does,” Lydia said. “But he still worries that I’ll leave him, and I guess telling that your wife is pregnant isn’t done on Jord. Or at least he believes it isn’t done.”
“Al knows,” Aine said. “He’s just afraid to tell you. He said that it will mean I can’t help much when we finally find a place to call home.”
“I hope we can start doing that soon,” Lydia said tiredly. “Ron do you really plan on having us march to the far coast. I mean do we have any clue how far that is or how far we’ve already traveled?”
“We’re making good time, and it’s been nearly thirty days since Saraloncto,” I said. “We’ve probably traveled five hundred miles at the very least.”
“Five hundred?” Aine gasped.
“I remember reading that mules could pull a cart at three to four miles per hour for ten hours a day,” I said tiredly. “If we’ve been doing eight hour days, that’s at least twenty four miles a day. We could easily have done more than that though as I have no idea how long we marched each day.”
“Wow,” Aine said. “We’ve probably walked more since we arrived here than I walked in my lifetime on Earth.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
I was about to say more when there were shouts from the front of the caravan. I stepped to the side of the road and looked in their direction. I immediately realized that the canyon was gone. Instead the road was turning back to the east. I could see the beginnings of a forest about a half mile to the east. The surprise was that the road drove directly into the forest.
Aine touched my shoulder. I glanced at her and she nodded. I broke into a run and took off towards the front of the caravan. As I approached, I looked more closely at the forest. The road remained no more than ten feet or so wide, but a twenty foot wide expanse of grass spread out on both sides of the road before any trees grew.
I had reached the front of the caravan and slowed down. “How?” I heard Hencktor ask.
Cimbra looked at the road. She had been walking with Shaylin and turned to the young woman. “Is there a spell to detect magic in any of your books?”
“There is one, but I never had time to study it,” Shaylin admitted.
“How long do you think it will take to learn it?” Cimbra asked. “Could you do it quickly?”
“Now?” Shaylin asked. “I know the basics, but I won’t be able to use any of the refinements. For now, I’d only be able to prove that there is magic.”
“I think we already know that,” I said. “It’s probably another relic from the empire to provide grazing for any herds moved along the road.”
“Why only here?” I heard Hencktor ask.
“Because there is a crossroads here,” Soldrin shouted. “The other road isn’t in good repair though. Look.”
I noticed that Soldrin was pointing at a point just before the trees started. The crossroads was visible as a wider spot in the pattern of stones, but the other path was torn up. I could see a huge stack of stone tiles lying next to the road we were following.
“It looks like they removed the other road for some reason,” I mused. “Probably during the fall. They wanted to prevent the orcs from using the roads to overrun their defenses would be my guess.”
“Which way do we go?” Hencktor asked.
“Let’s keep going to the east, unless the kobold refuses,” I suggested. “The road has to lead somewhere, and we really need to find some real hills. The badlands we just went through would be a horrible place for the kind of home we hope to create.”
“Why?” Jeff asked, as we start moving again. “That last valley didn’t look too bad. We camped peacefully there.”
“It couldn’t have supported all of us,” I said. “We need far more open land than was available there.”
Jeff nodded. “I guess that makes sense. But how much longer must we travel?” he asked. “With all the walking, I have to guess we’ve traveled for more than a thousand miles since we appeared on that mountain.”
“Probably closer to fifteen hundred, but not in a straight line,” I said. “Honestly, if we could find a good valley, I’d be willing to stop. I was hoping we’d end up close to the ocean though.”
“For the salt?” Jeff asked. “Couldn’t we mine it? I hear a lot of the salt sold on Earth is mined from huge deposits under one of the Great Lakes.”
“We’d have to find the salt,” I said. “And I have no idea how to do that.”
“Couldn’t Shaylin cast a spell to search for a large deposit?” Jeff asked. “I mean, it would be a useful spell.”
“She might be able to learn or develop one, but she doesn’t know one like that now,” I said. “Meanwhile, I see that the kobold is heading towards the forest. I guess we should follow.”
Chapter 26: A Disturbance in the Forest
We followed the kobold. It watched us continue on the road and then dashed for the trees. At first everyone was sure it had led us into a trap, but rather than entering the trees, it turned and walked in the shade. Occasionally it hooted as it moved.
There were a few answering calls, but they sounded foreign. One series appeared to frighten our kobold, and it dashed through the grass and onto the road. For the next several miles it stayed close to me as we continued to travel.
The road showed a bit more wear as we marched into the forest. Stones would be missing or even eroded away. The carts and wagons slowed a bit. They had to maneuver around the worst voids, which slowed their progress.
Gertrilla and her herders took advantage of the wide grassy verge that followed the road. The herds were allowed to spread out into the grass, grazing as we continued. The animals preferred to stop to graze so the herders moved them ahead of us and then allowed them to graze while the carts caught up. I worried some about the children charging ahead, but Lenoir and Krysbain moved to lead the herd before I could voice my concern.
The Kobold ignored the antics of the herd. Most of the time it kept pace with the lead cart as it scampered along the tree line. Occasionally, it would vanish into the trees only to return after just a few minutes.
It was about midday when the road opened up. We found that we were passing between two ruined s
tone buildings. Once again the kobold dashed back to the carts and cowered, clearly unhappy about the left building. I watched the building closely as we passed.
Nothing attacked us, but I felt that someone or something watched us pass. Gertrilla had taken the herds around the right building, so they never got close. Al, Hencktor, and I kept our bodies and weapons between the ruin and our wagons as they passed.
The forest appeared to pick up on our tension as the birdsong that had accompanied our journey faded away. I was puzzling on this, when the last wagon passed between the buildings. Al, Hencktor, and I started walking forward when Esme screamed.
I risked looking over my shoulder at the woman. She was pointing at something behind the left building. The corner of the ruin blocked my sight, so I trotted forward to get a clear view.
There was a large spider web covering several of the trees just past the building. In the center of the web was a huge furry spider. It watched us intently with eyes that looked to be larger than my fist. The creature made no move to leave its web, but turned as we moved down the road.
I walked backwards, keeping it in sight as we left the ruin. I noticed that our kobold ran over and left a still squirming bundle on the ground in front of the spider. The monstrous spider bared its fangs, but allowed our kobold to retreat before pouncing on the bundle.
“What was that?” Esme asked once we had lost sight of the ruin. “Yesterday we saw spiders being ridden like ponies. Today we see a spider that appeared to be larger than I am.”
“Still light though,” Natalie said absently as she put a hand on Esme’s shoulder. “It was hanging in front of the web.”
“They appear to be used by the kobolds a bit like we use horses,” Al said. “And perhaps as guardians. I’m sure that spider’s bite isn’t pleasant.”
“More things to worry about,” I said with a nod.
Everyone in the caravan was tense after our walk through the village. Krysbain reported that he had seen evidence that multiple kobolds had been in the area shortly before we arrived, but we never saw a sign of them. The possibility caused Gertrilla to bring the herds back from their grazing and keep them in sight of the caravan for the rest of the day as we continued to walk through the forest.
We were beginning to worry about finding a good campsite when Lenoir, who had remained near the front of the caravan, looked up suddenly. She held up a hand for silence as she turned her head.
“I hear a river,” she said. “It’s ahead of us somewhere.”
I looked over at Krysbain worriedly. We had experienced a few spring showers in the last ten days, but the bigger concern was still that rivers would be flooded by melting snow. The forests here weren’t completely impassable, but we’d have to cut a path for the wagons, slowing our pace to a crawl. This river could prove to be a huge obstacle to our march.
Lenoir waved again. “I’ll scout!” she shouted.
“Stay on the road!” I called back. “The local tribe hasn’t bothered us while we are on it. But watch the woods.”
Lenoir flipped me the bird as she ran ahead of the group. I heard giggling from the coeds as the young woman quickly became a speck on the road. Natalie and Esme exchanged a high five as I passed them and headed back to the front of our caravan.”
I noticed that our kobold companion appeared unconcerned by the sound. It was engaged in a hooting conversation with a grayer kobold that had come out of the trees. It was clear that the gray one was extremely agitated about something.
“Lenoir get back here!” I shouted, hoping the young woman would hear me.
Hencktor and Lawus appeared to share my unease. Lawus stepped away from the cart he was guiding and looked around. “Haydee! Bring your herd up and combine it with the rest of the sheep. Boys, I know Gertrilla is in charge, but get your slings out and watch the trees. Something is wrong.”
“I don’t see anything,” Piemal said flippantly. I glanced over to see the two boys moving purposefully towards the trees. Both had their slings hanging from their right hand as they moved to the outside of the herd.
“Ron?” Gertrilla called out. “None of the animals appear frightened. Why are the kobolds so upset?”
I looked up at the trees. A wind was moving the leaves as we continued to advance. Looking around it soon became clear that the wind was blowing in the direction we were walking. “They probably can’t smell whatever it is. The wind is blowing towards the flowing water Lenoir heard,” I observed.
Hencktor ran up to me. He was carrying one of our axes. As he trotted up he pointed over at the two kobolds. The gray one was trying to drag our companion into the forest to the south of the road. Our companion creature fought him off and dashed out onto the road.
The gray kobold gave one more hoot of dismay and then ran into the forest. The kobold who had been with us for just a day ignored this, but did creep close to the lead cart and hid in its shadow as we continued to advance.
“Whatever is ahead is known to the locals and will likely be very unfriendly,” I said.
“What do we do?” Hencktor asked.
I raised my voice. “Everyone get your weapons out. Gertrilla we may need your herders to use their slings, so I’d gather all the animals in one herd. If you are driving a cart, be prepared to have to move quickly.”
“Why don’t we turn around?” Hencktor asked.
“It would take the rest of the day just to return to the edge of the forest,” I said. “And the other roads were torn up so we’d be back on the dirt.”
“We could enter the trees,” Hencktor mused. He then looked north at the forest that had followed the road for the last few miles. “Or not. I forgot how close together the trees are.”
I started jogging to the front of our caravan. Everyone was quiet and tense, listening for any sound. Even the animals were being quiet. The river was growing louder, and I could see a shimmering in the distance.
Lenoir was jogging back toward the caravan. She waved frantically. I broke into a run and caught up to her. The young lady had her sling out and was watching the trees.
“What happened?” she asked.
“When we kept moving, our guide’s friend started to panic ,” I said. “You got to the river?”
Lenoir nodded. “There is a bridge. It looked to be in good repair, but I didn’t cross to check. I did see that another road connected to this one.”
“Which direction does this new road run?” I asked.
“It heads south following the river,” Lenoir said. “Why?”
“The other kobold ran south when it fled. I’m trying to decide what that means,” I said.
“I can show you what I saw,” Lenoir said. “Let’s go back to the bridge. It’s perfectly safe.”
She turned as we jogged back to the river. We stopped before setting foot on the stones that made up the bridge and looked around. I could see that the crossroads was just across the river.
“See, nothing is here,” Lenoir said. “That kobold was panicking in an attempt to delay us.”
I was still looking at the bridge. It seemed to have a sheen of wet moss on its surface. After two days of walking down a road that was in good repair this was a bit of a surprise. I knelt down to look at it as someone ran up to join us.
“What is that!” I heard Krysbain shout.
I stood up quickly and ran my head into Krysbain’s outstretched hand. He stepped to the side and then pointed across the river. Lenoir had gasped, so I turned to see what they were looking at.
The road beyond the bridge was a mess. The wide berms of grass we had allowed the herd to walk down were gone. In a couple of places huge circular craters replaced part of the roadway. I heard Lenoir gulp. “Maybe the kobold had a point,” she said quietly.
I stepped forward and looked down the river at the other road. It started to curve away from the water after only about one hundred yards or so, but appeared to be usable. I did detect some smaller craters in its surface.
“Krysba
in, what could make those holes in the road surface?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I can see some of the broken pieces of stone scattered about, but no human could have done that much damage.”
I sighed. “Fine, here’s the plan. We wait for the carts to arrive and then cross quickly. Put the herd in front, so no one gets hurt if the cattle panic. Several of us with weapons will cross first and move so that we block the road east. Everyone else moves quickly and takes the south road. Once we are on the road, we’ll look at setting up someone to scout.”
“Ron, it’s late, we could camp,” Krysbain said.
“I’m not sure that we want to. Right now it appears like we might not have been noticed yet. If we move fast we could escape. If we stay, we might wake up and find something waiting on that side of the river.”
Krysbain frowned, but nodded. “I’ll check it out now,” he said. Before anyone else spoke he had crossed the bridge and was crouching on the other side examining the ground. I noticed that he spent a considerable amount of time looking at one spot before moving forward to the first crater we could see.
Lenoir said nothing, but dropped into a crouch and crept across the bridge. She nearly slipped on one patch of moss as she joined Krysbain on the other side. She immediately moved to the south and started looking at the fork we were planning on taking.
“What do we do?” Amalya said quietly. I turned to see that the carts were just a few feet away from the bridge. I waved and called out softly. “Quick meeting. One person from each cart and two herders.”
Just a few moments later, Heather, Amalya, Gerit, Verval, Corwar, Gertrilla, Mary, and Victoria were standing in front of me. Most had grim expressions on their face as Krysbain and Lenoir continued to scout across the river.