Coming to the Eastern Gate, the group found the captain of the guards finishing his inspection of two large empty wagons that looked much like large prairie schooners with coachmen seats much like that on carriages. Turning around and noticing the party, he rushed up to them as he spoke. "These are the wagons you requested. We are still gathering horses if your Holinesses are willing to wait."
Spartacus shook his head as he smile towards the guard. "No need good sir. You can send the horses back, we already have creatures to pull the wagons." With a wave of his hand, green light fell towards the ground, causing the roots that made up the Tree Warriors to sprout up. However, the roots took on an entirely different appearance from the Tree Warriors, instead taking large and sturdy stallion shapes. As the town guards watched, four large Rooted Horses appeared, two of them taking a place side by side in front of each wagon. After taking their positions, a couple roots around their necks grew backwards and wrapped themselves around the trace¹ of the wagon. Finally they stamped their "hooves" and made a weird huffing sound mixed with that of a tree's groan.
The children rushed up, admiring the Rooted Horses as they began clambering into the two wagons. Spartacus hopped up onto the coachmen's seat on the first wagon while Ian climbed up on the second one. Orion climbed into the back of the second wagon along with Quixi as Sylvia, excitedly, took the seat next to Ian. Stephanie and the elf sisters climbed up into the first wagon as Hunter climbed up next to Spartacus.
Crawling quickly, Stephanie got up against the front board right behind Hunter. She smiled as she gazed up at him, and he unexpectedly turned around with a smirk as he reached his arm back and took her hand, squeezing gently. Looking back into the wagon, Hunter saw that there was enough room for the children, and quite a bit of the supplies, however between the two wagons, not all the crates would fit.
Turning to Spartacus, Hunter spoke, "Brother, we should also bring back our wagon as there isn't going to be enough room for all our supplies."
Spartacus nodded before he waved his hands and two more Rooted Horses grew up from the earth, latching onto the wagon that was still sitting outside of the Eastern Gate from when they brought all the children to Adenville. Then a Tree Warrior about one meter tall grew out from the earth before clambering up onto the little wagon.
Giving a last look over the caravan, Spartacus nodded and reached out his hands towards the Rooted Horses. Quickly, thin and bendy roots grew from the collar of all six Rooted Horses and created a strong but supple reins, allowing Spartacus and Ian to drive the wagons. As for the Tree Warrior, it technically didn't need these reins as it held up it's hands causing them to grow forward and imbed itself into the Rooted Horses, connecting them all on a neurological level.
Giving a light shake to the reins, the Rooted Horses began pulling the wagon at a strong and steady speed. Ian's wagon fell in line behind Spartacus' and the supply wagon became the third in line. Spartacus looked quizzically at the Rooted Horses, thinking to himself before turning to Hunter. "How fast do you think these guys are going?"
Hunter smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "To be honest with you, math and calculations were not my strong suits back in school."
Spartacus laughed when he heard this as he looked back at Hunter. "But how where you able to gauge the distances before hand?"
Shaking his head Hunter spoke. "No clue, it was just like a gut instinct. I do know that regular horses can walk between five to eight kilometers per hour, so if we are unlucky enough it will be at most an hour and a half since that waterfall is a little over five kilometers away, plus the factor of terrain."
Spartacus nodded and became silent as the two watched the forest while they listened to the children talking and laughing behind them. Still holding Hunter's hand, Stephanie ended up falling asleep against the fore board, and as her body tilted slightly, she ended up resting against Hunter's back.
Tarenia chuckled slightly as she looked at Spartacus, desire and want evident in her eyes. Repositioning herself slightly, Tarenia also leaned herself against Spartacus' back, and closed her eyes with a contended sigh. Seeing this Asani crossed her arms and hmphed quietly out of slight jealousy towards her sister.
Detecting all that was happening in the wagon Hunter laughed as he looked at Spartacus who was blushing as he felt Tarenia's breath on the back of his neck. "You know brother, I feel like we are both being taken advantage of here. I wonder how they plan to compensate us for our inconveniences."
Hearing this, both Asani and Tarenia sat up right and blushed as they looked at Spartacus. As for Stephanie, she was still soundly asleep, enjoying her fantasies as she lied against Hunter's strong back.
Spartacus looked at Hunter with a raised eyebrow and a teasing smile. "How my women compensate me doesn't concern you little brother. However, you are clearly enjoying being used by your girl, so why can't I?"
Hunter and Spartacus burst out in laughter as they heard a sharp eek, and a muffled gasp come from the two elf sisters behind them. The older children, having stopped and listened to the conversation, burst out into raucous laughter as they began lightly teasing the two sisters. Looking back, Spartacus found both sisters covering their faces as their pointed ears, slim necks, and dimpled cheeks became bright red.
Speaking softly, Spartacus stared at the two elves with mischief in his eyes. "I must say, red is such an attractive color."
Asani uncovered her face and glared at the two brothers, sticking out her tongue as her face became even redder. "You two are nothing more than big jerks." She turned away and began looking out the back of the wagon, only to find Ian and Sylvia laughing at her "misfortune".
Everyone could quickly hear the waterfall as they finally cleared the trees and entered the clearing they had called home for nearly a month. The three wagons pulled up into the clearing and formed an ark, allowing for them to not have to worry about turning around for when they got ready to leave.
As the children began climbing out of the wagons and running off towards the river or the cave to play, Orion looked up at the sky before his face froze in shock. "Wow, we really made good time! By the sun it appears to have moved only that of half an hour at most!"
Hearing this, the other three brothers stopped as they too became shocked. Spartacus looked at Hunter with his wide eyes. "I thought you said that it would take around an hour. Even going at eight kilometers per hour, we would not have made it here in less than half an hour. How fast are these horses?"
Hunter stared at the Rooted Horses as he contemplated, trying to figure the calculations in his head. His jaw dropped as he turned his head towards Spartacus. "With out the terrain to worry about, regular horses could walk five kilometers per hour. So us reaching here in half an hour would imply that we were travelling at ten kilometers per hour. However add in the factor of terrain and going five kilometers per hour would lead to us reaching here after an hour and a half at least; but even with terrain we still reached here around half an hour, implying that we were travelling faster than ten kilometers per hour."
Ian walked up to Hunter as he softly grabbed him by the shoulders. "Okay, but can you tell us, how fast we were going, exactly?"
Hunter contemplated for a short while before he responded. "A regular horse can walk between five to eight kilometers per hour. It can trot at eight to thirteen kilometers per hour. Judging by the time passed, and the distance traveled. I would have to say that the Rooted Horses' walking speed is equivalent to a regular horses trotting speed. So they can walk around thirteen to fifteen kilometers per hour."
Orion sucked in a sharp breath of air as he looked at the Rooted Horses attached to the wagons. "Damn, those things can run as fast as a car if they really wanted to try. I would hate to face one of those things with a warrior mounted while in combat, especially if I were a regular person."
The other three nodded as they looked at the Rooted Horses.
Spartacus finally looked away and shook his head sadly. "It's a pity that going at those speeds would definitely cause the wagons to collapse."
The brothers nodded as they looked at the wagons again before turning around and going into the cave to begin loading all of their possessions into the wagons. A couple of the older children began helping carrying out the multiple crates, putting most of them in the old wagon to allow more room for the children in the other two wagons. After a couple of hours all the of their possessions had been loaded into the wagons, the children then loaded up into the wagons as well.
The brothers took their positions again and began their journey back to Adenville; where they planned to buy a map and last minute supplies before they began their journey to Siol.
After nearly another half hour, the caravan returned to the East Gate of Adenville, finding the guard captain waiting for them at the gate. With a slight smile and a nod of the head he said, "We figured you guys would be back since no one had records of you buying a map towards Siol. Besides, a lot of the people want to thank you all for what you did for us, so not only has the bishop turned this week into a holiday week, but they've also been collecting all the gifts so they can give them to you all."
Hearing this Spartacus nodded as they guided their wagons into the city. Hunter looked up at the city wall, not seeing any of the Tree Warriors. Hunter leaned in and whispered into Spartacus' ear, "Brother, where are all the Tree Warriors?"
Spartacus smirked before he spoke. "The couple hundred Tree Warriors have set up roots in the river, and have made themselves to appear like trees. Should Adenville ever be in danger again they will awaken and rise out of the water to help defend it."
Hunter smiled as he nodded, listening closely as they drove past the Hangman's Finger. "Very wise of you brother, but what if we or our allies are the ones attacking this town? Quite frankly, I don't think I would be able to live peacefully in this world with a nation like the Yechen Empire existing since they clearly are human supremists and enjoy torturing and enslaving everything else."
Spartacus scowled slightly as he contemplated what Hunter had said. "The Tree Warriors are under my command, so if that situation should ever occur, they would help us siege the town. However, I do believe that if these people learned that we were their enemies, they would instead surrender instantly, as they know how powerful we are."
Arriving at the church, the caravan found many of the residents gathered and waiting for them. As the brothers hopped off, the bishop came walking up to them with a large smile on his face, and in his hands was a very large and newly made map. Giving it to Spartacus, he winked as he looked over everyone. "This is to help you on your journey. It's a combined map of the western part of the Yechen Empire, and the Eastern part of the Kingdom of Siol. It should guide you true in these lands."
As he swept his arm towards the crowd he laughed merrily. "We wished to give you all gifts of gratitude as thank you so everyone has contributed. I hope you don't mind."
After saying this, the crowd began cheering as a group of burly men began bringing forth chests full of items that the people had gathered. The first five large chests brought forward was filled to the brim with food, the top of which was short lasting but very sweet food, a favorite amongst children. The brothers shook their heads as they just smiled slightly. The next large chest brought forward was a chest filled with many gold and silver coins. Then the burly men brought forth several barrels filled with different weapons, clothes, and some jewelry for the children.
"Since you children have not only saved us, but also gave us a large plethora of wealth from all those goblin cores. We, the people of Adenville, felt that we should give you the best of what we owned as gratitude for your service. We hope that fate favors all of you on your journey and that you may bless us of your presences again in the future." The bishop laughed as the apostles brought out a few crates from the church as well. Inside three of the crates was twenty bottles of holy water each, and inside the last crate was several religious texts pertaining to the gods they worshipped, and paper and ink incase any of them wished to write.
The brothers loaded all these items into the last wagon, making sure that the crates of holy water, and all their money was loaded onto the middle wagon so they would be easier to protect. As for the younger children, Spartacus allowed them to take a few of the sugary treats each so they could enjoy them before they loaded back up into the wagon. As the wagons began meandering down the streets towards the Western Gate, the sides of the road became crowded as the residents lined up to say good bye to the angels and their family with cheers and throwing flowers into the air. If one were to enter the city at this time, they would think that the city lord had just gotten married with how excited and lively the crowd was.
Hunter looked at the map, frowning slightly as he tried figuring the distance between Adenville and Siol. He looked at Spartacus as he folded the map up and handed it to Stephanie, who tucked it away into a waterproof bag. "It'll take a couple weeks for us to get to the Dunham ruins, and then from there it's about another week and a half to get to the border."
Spartacus nodded as they left the Western Gates, following the sun as it began setting behind the hills and trees.