Wen felt drowsy. Joining Rockland's caravan had been interesting at first, but the days of travel were starting to wear on her. There hadn't even been a bandit attack.
Arland, Rockland's brother, had told her that that was because the caravanserai would have sent out their guards if that happened. The bandits didn't want to get wiped out for a few days' worth of frolicking.
She perked up a bit as she caught a glimmer among the rocks up ahead. Her wagon was second in line, following behind one of Rockland's supply wagons. This one was slightly bigger and fiercer looking than the others.
It looked like a sleek little missile on wheels. The body was conical, but still huge. It was covered in overlapping sheets of some thin metal that had runes inscribed on it. The driver sat in a small cubicle near the front, deftly maneuvering the giant horses that were pulling it.
The first time she saw it, Wen wanted to pull out her easel and paints. It was just so interesting a topic!
However, she couldn't because they hadn't really stopped since she'd joined the caravan and the road guards had fixed the road. By the time they stopped every gameday, it was far too late with no good light.
Wen thought about getting up earlier, but the early morning wouldn't do it justice. Such a painting demanded hot, scorching midday sunshine. Wen could just imagine it. The sunlight would glint off the metal, casting rainbow shadows that just begged for her to crack out the new paints she'd bought a few weeks earlier.
They were special paints the mage had told her when she bought them. He was researching light and dark and had assured her that using the weirdly colored paint would help her with that.
Wen had been itching to use it but had so far not found a suitable subject.
Then she'd stumbled across the statue.
Wen sighed and leaned her head back, staring at the sky. Her little pair of horses, now dubbed 'Blue' and 'Grey' due to the colors in their hair, plodded on slowly. Unless she pulled on the reins, they weren't going to stop.
Wen turned her attention back to the gleam. As they came closer, they could see that it was from a sword sheath strapped to a young man's waist.
He was accompanied by a female dwarf and three smaller people. At least Wen assumed that it was a female dwarf from her size and the pickaxe on her back that was crossed with a giant hammer. If it was her, Wen was sure that she'd be bowed under the weight of just one of the weapons.
The three smaller people were cloaked, their heads slightly bowed. They stood obediently behind the man who must be the leader of the group.
"Ho, the caravan!" The young man said, waving an arm.
The caravan started coming to a halt. Wen could hear the snorting of the blue oxen that pulled the majority of the eight wagons. The only reason they didn't pull the first one, Arland had told her, was that the first one was linked to the horses that pulled it.
It was a special spell that only let the horses tug it along. Without it, it would be far too heavy for the oxen.
Wen had nodded at that explanation. Mages were weird. They fixated on the strangest topics. Then she had to smile at herself.
She was an artist. She could remember just sitting and watching the tiny rainbows in a drop of rainwater and then trying to recreate the effect.
Wen had won an award for that picture and a scholarship to her university.
"We were wondering if we could book passage to Crestfield?" The young man turned towards Rockland who was slowly walking towards him, flanked by two of his guards.
"And why would you be flagging down a caravan instead of already traveling in one?" Rockland asked, eyes narrowed.
Wen watched as the young man's expression changed subtly. It wasn't overt, just a tightening of the skin around his eyes. Whatever he'd been through recently had tempered him, it seemed. The dwarf next to him reached into her pocket, muscles tensing.
"The last one wasn't as reputable as famed," the young man finally said. "Wanted more than we were willing to give once out of town jurisdiction."
Rockland nodded thoughtfully. There were caravans like that around. Wen had only joined his because he had his younger brother tagging along. The boy was barely in his teens and clearly excited to be on his first outing.
Bandits tended to leave vulnerable family members at home. Well, at least the ones who ran shady caravans did. Disappearing passengers would be investigated by the caravanserai offices who kept track of the passenger logs of the caravans. If the passenger was reported missing, then they would investigate.
Then again, it was only if they got reported missing. The caravanserai offices oversaw hundreds, if not thousands of caravans across the continent, not just in Guntershaven. Unless they were being audited by the main offices, they weren't going to bother looking.
Wen had learned all that from the forums. Reading them helped pass the time while she was traveling. If she was offline, then Rockland would let his brother drive her wagon.
The one time she'd let them do it, she'd come back to find a guard poking at one of the wrapped statue pieces. He had offered her a smile as he moseyed back to his usual position, but the incident had stuck in her brain.
As had the fact that Arland had been sitting on the driver's seat, shivering and hunched.
Somehow, Wen had the idea that Rockland wasn't aware of whatever had happened between his brother and the guard. He doted on Arland, eyes flashing with pride whenever he talked about the boy.
"We do have space in our passenger wagons, but only in the commoner sections," Rockland reluctantly admitted. "You can ride to Crestfield and no farther."
"That's fine. We have another caravan to catch," the young man admitted. He glanced at the dwarf who relaxed, hands slipping from her pockets.
Wen turned her attention away from the conversation. She studied the rocks surrounding the caravan. Perhaps the environment had helped the little party escape the bad caravan.
Wen glanced back at the contents of her wagon and then looked up at the sky. They'd been lucky so far that it hadn't rained. She didn't have a roof to the wagon though Rockland had suggested she invest in one when they reached the next way-town.
Her attention was distracted as the little group trooped by her. One of the hooded ones glanced up at her, and she caught the faintest sparkle of gem before it turned its head away and scurried after the rest.
Wen's lips parted just a little. Inspiration!
*****
Cora laid on the ground beside her field, staring at the sky. Just a few inches from her, small sprouts of red kerneled corn was peeping through the dark soil. The corn variant was her current favorite thing to grow.
Right now, she was on the very cusp of level 9. Once she harvested this field, she should gain the level.
Cora admitted that she hadn't been as diligent in growing things or mining things or doing anything that might make her level grow. If she thought about it, it was all the brickmaking she had to do. Granite blocks were needed to make nearly all of them.
Granite blocks weren't the most common thing in her mine. From the forums, she knew that that wasn't the case with other mines. Even the ones in Cochran had spat out the large blocks regularly.
She sighed. Kylen had sent her a note saying that he had to change caravans. He hadn't said why which was worrisome.
Cora closed her eyes. Between her thoughts and the moire that the barrier imposed on the sky, she was getting a bit dizzy.
Then she jerked her arm. Her eyes flew open. She turned her head to see a little man made of grass standing there.
He couldn't have been much more than a couple inches tall. He stood there, arms akimbo and what would be his head cocked back as if laughing uproariously. A smaller figure was tugging at him, looking from him to Cora judging by the way its little head was swiveling.
"May I help you?" Cora asked, fighting back a smile. The small prick on her arm just barely itched.
He was just adorable!
The grass man's head lowered back down. There were two tiny black dots for eyes. He patted the small leafy hand tugging at him.
Whatever he said, Cora couldn't quite catch. His voice was so high and squeaky.
"Would you like to guard my garden?" Cora asked, smiling.
The grass man cocked its head and then nodded. The smaller one hid behind him, peeking at her.
"You can bring whoever you want to work here," Cora added, trying to fight off the giggles.
She really fought not to laugh. The grass man ticked a lot of the boxes in her head related to adorable, whimsical and joy.
The grass man clapped its little frond hands. Then it nodded at the smaller person behind it. They trudged off.
Cora's attention was distracted by Blue's arrival.
"Oh! Did you see?" Cora asked, still smiling.
"See what?" Blue asked, rising up on her haunches and idly scratching on her favorite old oak.
"There were grass people! So cute!" Cora enthused.
"Grass people?" Blue glanced at her before climbing the tree. "Honestly, Mayor?"
Cora sighed and went back to watching the sky. It was so interesting in the game.
*****
[Global Announcement: All Hail the Queen! The rebirth of the Queen of Green has occurred! The Ent species has been reborn!]
Players gathered in groups to discuss, both online and in the forums.
In the mage cities, a few mages were distracted by the announcement before hurriedly rushing into their libraries, looking for research materials.
And in other areas, certain groups clustered together, making plans both light and dark.