Nearing midday, we were ready to leave the Hirzula Inn and continue our journey to Aureo. Our stay had been delightful. The service was impeccable, the rooms spotless, and the food... well, let's just say the chef possessed a truly inventive palate. And, as a bonus, we'd made some wonderful new acquaintances.
We were especially grateful to Adrianna for recommending the Hirzula. She'd also suggested, should we actually make it to Aureo, that we extend greetings to her grandfather, Giovanni Goat, in Königsburg. Despite his position as a court painter for the Elven Kingdom, Giovanni was surprisingly approachable, especially during events like the upcoming State Founding Festival—a week away! He traditionally held an open house at his estate, showcasing his latest masterpieces. His work was legendary, drawing huge crowds each year.
To reach Aureo, we needed to go to Winterward, just outside the north gate—the transport hub for Aureo-bound travelers. Winterward was famous for its eclectic carriages. Many were customized beyond recognition, some even eschewing horses for more... exotic beasts of burden. Wild animals, even the occasional tamed monster, pulled certain carriages.
The air buzzed with the shouts of competing drivers:
"Aureo bound! Two seats left!"
"Over here! Fastest ride to Aureo!"
"Nonsense! Beat my time, and your fare's refunded!"
The competition was fierce. Some carriages were flamboyant, adorned with intricate carvings and vibrant paint schemes. Others exuded an air of refined elegance, prioritizing comfort and luxury. And then there were the... unconventional options—carriages pulled by creatures that defied easy categorization.
"Manfred, that one! It looks so plush!" Fleda exclaimed, pointing to a particularly opulent carriage.
"Hush! It'll cost a fortune! We need something affordable," I chided, my gaze sweeping over the chaotic scene.
We were on a tight budget. I still felt a pang of guilt over my earlier reprimand of Manfred, but necessity dictated our frugality. We only had enough for food and lodging for the next week.
Then, an elderly elf approached, his weathered face etched with kindness. "To Aureo, my dears? My carriage is swift and sure..."
His carriage was unremarkable—plain wood, no embellishments. But the beast pulling it was unique: a massive muskox, standing patiently. It wasn't exactly a speed demon, but it was affordable.
Five Gulden—the cheapest option by far. We climbed aboard. We were the only passengers. The carriage itself was... well-worn. A few small holes marred the wooden floorboards. The driver, a wizened elf, set off at a snail's pace.
Creak... creak...
The sound of groaning wood was unsettling. I doubted this carriage would last a week. Adrianna had said the journey to Aureo usually took two or three days. This... this looked like a week-long ordeal, at minimum.
Suddenly, the rhythmic thud-thud-thud of hooves echoed behind us. Two horse-drawn carriages were engaged in a reckless race. The word "reckless" barely captured the sheer audacity of their speed.
"Out of the way, old timer!" one driver yelled.
"Move it!" the other bellowed.
The racing carriages bore down on us. The old driver, startled, swerved sharply. A collision was narrowly avoided.
CRASH!
"Oof!" I yelped, bracing myself as the carriage lurched violently.
The muskox, surprisingly strong, steadied the carriage. But then, something unexpected happened. The old elf, his face contorted in fury, whipped his muskox. The beast, clearly surprised, bolted.
"Moooo!" the muskox roared.
Fleda shrieked, startled by the sudden acceleration.
We were suddenly hurtling forward. I was utterly bewildered, yet... strangely exhilarated.
"Faster, old man! Faster!" Manfred shouted, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He was practically vibrating with glee.
The carriage, defying all logic, held together. Ten minutes later, one of the racing carriages appeared in our rearview. It was clearly losing ground to its competitor. We were rapidly gaining on it.
"Get him, old man!" I urged, joining Manfred's enthusiastic encouragement.
"Aye!" the old elf grunted, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.
"On your left!" I yelled, as we overtook the other carriage.
"What?!" The driver, clearly taken aback, lost control, his carriage veering wildly to the right. Fortunately, it was empty.
***
Two hours into our madcap race, we finally halted beneath an ancient pine. The arrogant coaches lay far behind—one wheels-up in a snowdrift, the other limping with a cracked axle. Justice tasted sweeter than Adriana's honey cakes.
What amazed us was that the old man's muskox could run at such speed for a full two hours without a break. It was truly impressive, especially considering it was hauling a heavy load behind it. Even a horse would struggle to maintain such a pace while carrying a significant weight.
Although the day was still bright, the muskox was beginning to show signs of fatigue. So, while we waited for the old beast to regain its strength, the three of us decided to take a short stroll.
By chance, we wandered to a frozen creek slicing through the woods. Sunlight fractured on the ice, turning it into a mirror of frosted evergreens. Manfred gaped. "It's like... a road made of glass!"
Without wasting any time, we instinctively decided to have some fun sliding on the ice.
"Woohoo!"
Manfred was the first to dive in. With uncontainable enthusiasm, he kicked off his shoes and slid toward the river. However, due to the incredibly slick surface, he ended up slipping instead. The sight of him tumbling made Fleda and me burst into laughter.
"Ahahahaha!"
Thud!
Just as we were enjoying our laughter, a snowball suddenly flew through the air, hitting both Fleda and me squarely on the head.
"Direct hit!" Manfred crowed.
Fleda's eyes narrowed. "Flectet uacuam gestat! Gelaverit tenebit et inimicos tuos!"
Whoosh!
He emerged spluttering, eyelashes frozen. "C-cold!"
A massive snowball struck Manfred while he celebrated his victory. It seemed Fleda had lost her patience. Seeing how much fun it was, I joined in, hurling endless snowballs at Fleda before taking off in a playful retreat.
"Ambush!"
"Sis!" She whirled, but her outrage dissolved into reluctant laughter as I dodged behind a pine.
We became children again—slipping, throwing, breathless with giggles that echoed through the crystalline forest. Even Fleda's precision wavered; a wayward Script blew away the old elf's tobacco pouch.
"Demonspawn!" he bellowed, collecting the mess his tobacco made.
The muskox watched us with bovine disdain, chewing her cud as snowballs arced overhead. When Manfred attempted to ride her like a siege engine, she deposited him neatly into a drift.
"Traitor," he mumbled through a mouthful of snow.
Once harmless, the snowball fight descended into pure chaos—Manfred buried beneath a lopsided fortress, Fleda sprawled breathless on the ice, and me half-trapped under a snowdrift shaped suspiciously like a troll's backside. Laughter still rang in my ears when the scream pierced the woods—high, panicked, and desperate.
Instinctively, I jolted awake, pushing myself out of the snow that had covered me.
"Stay here!" I barked at Fleda, already digging free.
"Like hell—"
"Protect Manfred!"
The scream sounded like a woman in distress. Glancing back at Fleda and Manfred, who were still sprawled out on the ice, I quickly moved them beneath the tree for safety and rushed toward the source of the sound.
"Hiii! Don't come closer! Hush! Hush!"
Not far from the base of the hill where I had been resting, I spotted an elven woman surrounded by a pack of wolves. My heart raced at the sight, and without a second thought, I leaped from the hill—
"Eh? Ah!!!"
—then immediately tripped on a root.
As I rolled, I gathered a mound of snow around me, creating a large snowball as I went. By the time I crashed into the clearing, I resembled a sentient snowman.
"Ow..."
My vision was blurred, and my body trembled from the cold. Perhaps it was because I was buried under the snow. My head throbbed painfully, as if it might split in two. Yet, the image of the young woman in peril pushed me to rise and dig myself out of the snow.
"Hey! Are you okay!? Don't worry, I'll—"
"Ah...?"
What was happening? I was certain that just moments ago, the woman had been cornered by a pack of hungry wolves. But now, the scene before me was completely different.
Wolves lay unconscious in a perfect ring, their fur dusted with frost. At the center stood the elf, glaive taller than herself planted triumphantly, with a little bit of blood speckling her ivory parka. Her cropped blonde hair gleamed like gold; cheeks flushed rose against alabaster skin. A warrior goddess carved from winter itself.
Then she sneezed.
Thud!
The glaive slipped. She fumbled, stepped on her own scarf, and face-planted into the snow.
"Hu... Hu... What a terrible day!"
"Damn it! Son of a—"
As her face remained buried in the snow, she muttered to herself, unleashing a torrent of curses about her unfortunate fate. She continued this for a while before falling silent.
My head still spun slightly, but I tried to approach her.
The thick snow beneath my feet made my steps sound loud and clumsy. Realizing something was approaching her, the woman quickly got up and began searching for her glasses, which had fallen when she slipped.
"Hiii! Forgive me, wise wolf! Don't eat me! I probably don't taste good!"
Instead of greeting me, she mistook me for a wolf. She curled into a ball, spectacles askew. Oddly enough, why was she begging for mercy if she thought I was a wolf? It was hard to believe she had just subdued a pack of hungry wolves in mere moments.
"Hey! You! I'm not a wolf!"
With a hint of annoyance, I called out to her, trying to clarify my identity.
She peeked through gloved fingers. "...Eh? Ah! I'm so sorry!"
"Thank goodness you're not a wolf! I don't like fighting those creatures!"
As soon as she heard my words, she lifted her head and met my gaze. For a moment, I was taken aback by her stunning beauty. Her eyes stunned me the most—pale blue, like sunlight through glacial ice, magnified by oversized round spectacles. Delicate ears poked through messy bangs, their tips red from cold. Even smeared with snow, her face belonged in frescoes—high cheekbones, a button nose, lips bitten raw from panic. There simply was not a trace of imperfection on her face.
Why am I flustered? I'm a woman too! I scolded myself, acutely aware of my battle-hardened frame next to this woman's willowy grace. Her snow-dusted lashes fluttered as she awaited my response, all delicate collarbones and porcelain skin. My calloused hands suddenly felt too large, too rough.
"You..." I gestured to the fallen wolves. "Did you...?"
She scrambled up, nearly braining me with her glaive. "Oh! That! Yes! Well—sort of? I tripped, and the Law activated, and—" Her voice squeaked like a rusty hinge. "—poof! Wind Law! Not that I meant to, obviously! I was just trying to scare them off with—with menacing poses!"
"If you dispatched those wolves so easily," I said, eyes firmly shut to avoid her disarming gaze, "why tremble like a leaf? Can't you just kill them and move on?"
"It's... complicated." She took a moment to gather herself, brushing the snow off her face and adjusting her large round glasses that had slipped down her nose. "The Sacred Verisat Texts forbid killing unless absolutely necessary. Surely a High Elf knows this?" She stammered, her voice quivering slightly.
Shit. My childhood evasion of temple lessons backfired spectacularly. "Right! Of course. Silly question."
She tilted her head, her blue eyes wide with surprise. "You're strange. I've never met a High Elf, especially one who skips scripture."
"And I've never met someone who apologizes to wolves mid-mauling."
Her laughter tinkled like wind chimes. "I'm Alruna Gaede." She curtsied, glaive nearly impaling her foot. "On journey to Aureo for the Nito Trials. Unfortunately, my funds... evaporated in some circumstances." Her smile turned sheepish. "Along with my map and compass."
"So... you walked here? Alone?"
"I-in my defense, desperation breeds foolishness!"
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Behind us, a wolf stirred. Alruna yelped, diving behind my back.
"They're waking up!"
"They're concussed."
Her grip tightened on my sleeve. "Concussed wolves hold grudges!"
The sunlight caught her eyes wide, pleading, puppyish. Damn it. It wouldn't be weird at all if a tail suddenly appeared from behind her back, wagging wildly.
"Fine," I growled. "You'll ride with us. But no theatrics, no wandering, and no activating wind Law near the muskox."
Alruna lit up like a solstice lantern. "Truly?! Oh, bless your thorny heart! Now I won't have to go through that hell again!"
"Thorny?!"
She clasped my hands, oblivious to my grimace. "I'll be quieter than a church mouse! Frugal as a—"
"Just... don't make me regret this."
I took a deep breath. My pocket money, which was already very little, was now being depleted by the addition of a new travelling companion. Meanwhile, she seemed very happy with my decision.
***