Jamal watched as Brat was slowly changing into the wolf form from the national tournament about a month ago in the flat plains of Saputa. They had been traveling for three weeks, and during that time, life was great. He remembered leaving the bag by the firepit the night he returned and quickly retrieved it before anyone had a chance to check it inside. That information could not get shared, no matter what.
Overall though, life was still great for everyone. They were all getting along, and so far it would only be about another week or so of travel until they finally reached the port city. The last safe stronghold in Saputa, Jamal had noted had plenty of resources for the journey ahead, and information he would personally seek for himself. But for now, he was doing a training session with Brat, which they started the week before to keep their skills sharp since it was only them to fend for.
"Okay, now what we want to do is maintain the form for as long as possible," he explained, once he finally completed it.
"It's not that hard. How come you aren't trying this either. Ula told me how you can't even hold the one you used against Leon for more than five minutes."
"Don't worry about that for the moment. We'll leave in, oh, about ten minutes if you can hold it that long."
But Brat was right, what good would it be if he was in a longer fight, and he got worn out? He needed to start practicing soon, and carefully as well. He continued to watch as Brat moved around the grass with ease, as he watched the time cautiously. Finally, ten minutes had passed, and Jamal shouted for him to come back. Brat instantly left the form with no effort as he walked in front of Jamal and towards where the carriage was at.
The walk was silent, as Jamal could, at last, see the carriage. Approaching it, he could see the long river alongside the road they were going to continue pressing forward to reach the city at last and get some actual rest. They'll be there soon, and he couldn't wait. He approached Ula, who was finishing cleaning the remaining clothes in the river.
"Hey, how you feel?" he asked, sitting next to her.
"Fine," she replied back, as she put the final shirt in a basket from the carriage.
"We're so close to the city. I wonder what it will be like."
"Hopefully alright."
"That's all you can say? Is something wrong?"
"No Jamal, it's not that-" she began to say before Brat called towards them.
"Guys, look at this for a second." Hops asked again, once they were close enough.
He was pointing at a line which was their final path until they reached the city.
"There's nothing wrong," Fonda added, who was with him the entire time.
"No, but we need to cross the river at this location here." he pointed at a shaded area.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Jamal inquired.
"Says it a dangerous point to travel through past that."
"But isn't this the road to the town?" Ula added.
"Well, based on the map, that was sixty miles ago to the main road."
"You did not just bring us all the way here." Jamal fumed, looking at the driver, who was drinking something from a flask, "Oh my goodness. Didn't you hire someone who knew the way there? "
"I guess he got lost."
"No time to wait then, let's get some miles in before it's too late," Jamal said, going towards the driver to tell him to turn around, then getting inside the carriage.
No one objected to this, and they very quickly packed up their belongings and began the turnaround the other way. How much time was lost was unknown, but hopefully, it wasn't too much.