We were off before the dawn broke having spent another peaceful night without meeting any adversaries. Gerrex was the first on his horse, being able to see better in the dark than anyone except Karl, and he rode out to scout ahead while the rest of us finished our morning porridge. The hills were not as tall, although they were still impressive, and we found the way easier. It was obvious we were almost through the foothills.
The clouds were already beginning to pile up in the sky, great towers of white that dominated everything and cast their shadows upon the ground. I made my way through the troop, talking to each one and telling them about the days plan. Spirits were good, especially since I told them we would stop to camp if rain looked imminent. Nobody likes to pitch camp in the rain and I didn't tell them that I was mostly thinking of myself. I eschewed tents and preferred to sleep under one of the wagons or by the fire. I had, over the years, developed an affinity to be able to see what was going on around me. I often awoke at night, sleep being an elusive mistress, and I would make sure all was well before drifting off again. If we parked the wagons before the rain fell, I would have a dry place to sleep.
Helena kept looking at me with expecting me to answer her request one way or the other. To be honest, I had not made that decision. On a personal level, she and I did not really get along and she had about her an air of superiority, the product of parents who had more coin than most and an indulgent attitude toward their children, no doubt. However, Charles seemed to be more adaptive. He took in all the instruction about fighting he could from his superiors and he practiced constantly. Even now, he was walking beside the large wagon and batting at a bundle of rags hanging from a flexible willow stick Brey had tied vertically to the frame at the back corner of the wagon. The bundle swayed and bounced on its long cord like a fish on a hook from the motion of the wagon. Charles laughed with others when the bundle hit him in the face, but he kept up his practice, trying to improve his aim and strengthen his sword arm. It was, I reluctantly admit, a clever training aid thought up by Brey.
Brey and I had not said more than half a dozen words to each other since we began hour trip in earnest. I planned on keeping our situation that way, if I could help it. Finally, as the sun neared midday, I rode close enough to the smaller wagon for Helena to call out to me.
"Oh, are you going to keep me in suspense all day?" She demanded in exasperation. Amenaruu, who was driving the wagon, raised one eyebrow in curiosity, but said nothing
"Patience is not really one of your strengths, is it?" I asked back, not expecting an answer. "I have been giving your request a great deal of thought. I am constantly drawn back to the fact that you and I do not seem to be on very good terms. If I agreed, we would be stuck together for years."
"Should I be preparing to perform a wedding ceremony?" Amenaruu asked with a smile.
"Ha! It is not quite that bad, friend priest," I responded with a laugh. "Maid Helena and I are discussing if it would be to our mutual benefit for her to become my apprentice in the Arcane Arts."
"I think that is an excellent idea," said Amenaruu. "She needs to be taught and you need someone to teach."
"I do not understand that last part, Amenaruu." I replied genuinely puzzled.
"It is simple," he replied, "it is obvious that you have magical talent and that you are comfortable in what you know. But knowledge is not meant to be comfortable, it is something that needs to be challenged continuously. I have seen you stare at your magic symbols until you are grabbing your head from the pain. I can tell you with great certainty that teaching is an excellent way to learn. I think having the responsibility of teaching will facilitate your own development."
"You see," piped in a hopeful Helena, "teaching me is in your best interest!"
"What if you make me so angry that I turn you into rabbit and eat you?" I asked, half serious. "I am certain that you would be a great vexation to me."
"That is a chance that I am willing to take," she replied as she stuck her tongue out at me.
"Helena," I replied to her with great seriousness, "you realize that as my apprentice, you would not be allowed to pursue your own life? That is one of the reasons why apprentices are engaged at a young age so when they are fully trained, they can start their lives. You would be bound to me and only me. You would have to give up starting a life of your own, I mean no husband and no children."
"Oh," Helena said quietly and then looked back at where Brey was riding his horse next to her brother and she bit her lip. It had been obvious to all that she had feelings for the warrior, and I am sure she was retaining some long term romantic notions about him."
She looked down at her feet and did not say any more so I told her, "Think long and hard about this before you ask again. The power is there for you to claim it, but there will require sacrifice. It always does."
With that I turned my horse away from the wagon. It was then I saw Gerrex returning his horse in loping gate. I spurred my horse and went out to meet him. I looked back and saw Dimitri following quickly behind me, for he had spotted the Orc as well.
"What news?" I asked in Orcish just as Dimitri reigned up beside me.
"There are a number of wagons on the road and I have spotted fresh dung from many animals on the road. They are heading in the same direction as we are," he informed us.
"Are they war parties?" I asked as I assumed the worse. "Or are they refugees?"
"I think neither," Gerrex said with a shake of his head. "They are not war parties and many are families, but they do not have the look of refugees. I have seen them smiling and laughing at each other."
"There must be a fair or a market happening, then." Dimitri supplied.
"Why do we not go and find out. Gerrex, I am afraid that you might scare them, so I would ask that you ride with the wagons while we go and find out what is happening."
I rode back and told everyone what Dimitri and I were doing and then I raced my roan mare back to where he was waiting and we cantered along the road. Before a half hour was up, we ran into a family in a small cart. There was a father, a farmer, about my age with plain weatherworn features and his eldest son, both of them were armed. The father had spear and the boy had a hunting bow. There was a woman holding a small baby and several other curious children peering at us from over the side of the card. There must have been at least seven in the cart with the man and boy walking along beside their ox. There were cautiously cordial when we rode up, but Dimitri soon had them charmed and they relaxed and they told us of the fair and market in Sternberg.
"Early in the season for a market," I said, knowing there would be no harvest to sell.
"Aye," replied the man whose name was Jell, "but we have one anyway. When the winter snows are upon us, travel is difficult, and we enjoy meeting with our neighbors when the weather turns fair and we will see a number of weddings being settled on in the next three days."
"How about you, lad?" Dimitri asked the boy with a grin. "Do you have a girl you fancy?"
The youth turned bright red at the ears and shook his head and looked away, bashfully.
"I am thinking you are not telling us the whole truth," Dimitri teased the boy some more, "but we will not hold it against you."
They boys ears got even redder and we laughed at his discomfiture.
"What brings you to this province, if not the fair?" Jell asked us.
"We are going to plains above Sternberg," I said, "scouting for a hunt. Some merchants back in Gensmot are thinking about bringing in a bunch of wagons in the fall and gathering meat to be shipped back to Gensmot and then to Varis, they are buying supplies for their army. It looks like them and the Assem are going to war again."
"It seems they are always at war," remarked Jell.
"It does seem that way," I agreed. "Neither of them can see past their hatred for each other long enough to stop killing each other."
"That is the way of this world," Jell remarked sagely. "But it is a long way to ship meat, all the way back to the Gensmot."
"Yes," I replied as I nodded, "we will need to find need to find a salt deposit in order to preserve the meat. That is the main thing we are looking for on this trip."
We talked only for a short time before Dimitri and I rode back our companions where I informed them of our cover story and chastised them readily not to reveal what our true mission was.
