"Hey, Roan. you collected everything you need?" Zek shouted as he readied their cart to start their journey. The cart and mule were their loyal servants having been with them since they had left their village in a fit of rage.
They had left their village with nothing more than the cart and a couple of coins in their name. A humble beginning of their new life led them through many villages where they traded, bartered and acted as travelling merchants. They bought and sold things and earned money.
And that was what they had been doing at the village named Flakir and were returning to Tolaga to restock. It was a coincidence that probably saved Roan's life as this road had shallow traffic. Very shallow traffic.
"Yes. I think so." Roan replied from the back of the cart loading a bag on it which had things he had collected from his friends and the mission item, boar's ears that they had killed.
"Okay then. Hop on. We're leaving." Zek said as Roan and Alvis climbed on the back of the cart while he climbed into the driver's seat at the front.
"Hyaa." He cried spurring the mule on to walk.
"Creak"
The creaking of wooden wheels was the only sound on the quiet forest road. The creaking sound travelled farther away and Silence reigned as the array of corpses below attracted scavenging birds.
A gust of wind brushed past two graves creating a small whirlwind of dust and dried leaves.
"Are you by any chance thinking of choosing him, my lord?" A voice rasped his voice sounding almost the same as the creaking of the wooden wheels. The owner of the voice was a young man with blood-red eyes and hair and just as red lips on a pale, sickly face. He had company beside him, a very regal-looking man adorning a golden robe with vertical red stripes.
"I'll just be watching him for now." The man said. He was a middle-aged man with a beard and long shoulder-length hair which kept being blown by the wind. His already narrow eyes narrowed even more as his bearded mouth revealed a slight smile.
The men stood at the branch of the tree as their expensive-looking clothes fluttered in the wind. They never moved an inch as the cart travelled further away.
"Keep your eyes on him...but don't interfere." The dignified man ordered as he glanced at the young man beside him from the corner of his eye.
"As you wish, my lord." The young man bowed and replied in a smooth and soothing voice this time instead of the raspy and creaky voice like before.
The dignified man nodded his head. He then flicked his hand and vanished leaving the other man alone.
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"You are from Tolaga, right?" Alvis asked Roan as they sat on benches inside the cart which rocked side to side as they travelled through the dirt road. The sound of creaking wheels and whips cracking filled the surrounding.
"Yes." Roan nodded while nibbling on a piece of bread, his face gloomy and his mind elsewhere.
"What does your father do?"
"I don't have a family."
"I'm sorry " Alvis winced as he apologized. He glanced at Roan's face which was like a dark cloud in the sky with tear stains running down his brown eyes. Dark skin and blonde hair covered in dirt made him look even more miserable.
"So tell me about you guys," Roan asked saving Alvis from the awkwardness.
"Ah, we are just travelling merchants. we buy here, sell there. that kind of thing." Alvis said, his hands animated waving around.
"We are about to arrive." Zeks' voice cut through the conversation announcing a very important piece of information for Roan.
Roan and Alvis glanced at the road ahead where the trees thinned until a wall appeared in their vision.
The walls were probably around 10 feet tall, adequate for defending the town within those walls from any danger be it a monster horde or a siege. The walls had a single huge gate which had thin traffic.
They arrived at the gate pretty fast unimpeded by the lack of other carts and carriages. After a minor check-up by the guards stationed at the gate, they managed to enter the town. The cart travelled through the stone wall into the town through the muddy road. The squelch of mud being stepped on, people's chatter and animal cries filled the surrounding as the three entered the town.
"Where do you want to get off, roan?" Zek asked as he manoeuvred the cart through the occasional people walking through the road. The cart travelled through the crowd of wooden houses in the commoner's district.
"Just there." Roan pointed to an intersection and said. Zek slowed the cart as he pulled on the rein of the mule. Roan got off and said, "Thank you, guys, for your help."
"It was nothing, Roan," Alvis said from the back of the cart, waving his hands.
"See you around, Roan," Zek said with a nod and they rode away leaving Roan on the bustling road of the Tolaga town feeling empty and exhausted.