After the tents were loaded and the wagon and carriages were hooked to the horses, we headed back to the bridge. It was still very early in the morning, but the guards were out on the bridge already. Five men with white painted armor and green under clothing stood at attention holding long poleaxe halberds. There was one other man, a bit shorter and rounder, but he looked like a happy guy.
"Good day to you all, and welcome to the Tarcord Crossing, five gold per Carriage and ten for the wagon. That's a fair price to sleep safely for one night in the wilderness, right?" The little man asked Gastbo.
The bridge was wide enough to fit four wagons on so we had all lined up beside each other. I could hear Gerald muttering something about gouging, but then he horked-up spit, and I stopped listening. Lesha was sitting beside me and we had brought blankets and pillows, it was a bit cooler than normal and there was some fog out.
Mei was curled up on the bench sleeping in Gloria's lap. She was slowly running her fingers through Mei's hair while looking out the window. Gloria was smiling, and I knew it was more than because she had a good night. Mei was no longer a half-grown child, she was a woman, just the same as the rest of us, but she was still Mei for the most part.
I heard Gastbo complain, but in the end, the guard captain was paid his twenty gold and we proceeded across the bridge. So far, this was my favorite part of the trip, the mountain would have taken first, but the bandits ruined it. No, the rushing water and the very smooth stone we traveled over were relaxing, and I slowly drifted off.
Suddenly, we stopped, I was asleep, ugh...what's going on? I had put my arms out to the side, bracing them on the carriage, and I stopped both Lesha and me from toppling over. The fog was very thick, like rolling into the cabin thick.
Gloria was already opening the door, but Mei was still rubbing her eyes.
"What happened?" Lesha asked, rubbing her eyes as well.
"I don't know, stay with Mei, and I will go with Gloria," I told Lesha as I got up and followed Gloria before she disappeared into the fog.
"Stay back here with everyone, I will go with Gloria," Tim said, disappearing into the fog.
It was very quiet, and I wasn't liking the zero visibility. Suddenly, Gloria and Tim were back, jogging and breathing heavy.
"Is everything okay?"
"Hmm, hard to say, there was a tree down on the road. Might have just been a fallen tree, but if there are more, we could have just walked into a trap," Tim said when they were close.
"Do you think they will put the logs back to keep us from running and try to trap us? That makes sense, but is there another way for us to go? And is this place always this foggy?" I asked, looking around, but then I could see off in the distance the sun starting to break, and sighed in relief.
"There is your answers, I am going up front, but I think that Corbit should get in the back with Lesha and Mei."
"I will ride up with you, K. I don't know if seeing will make this better, I think the tree was something else, like a way to slow us down. This area has strange and dangerous things. These are swamps and there are giant crocodiles that like to eat horses, but they stay dormant in the fog," Gloria explained to me across Gerald and he just nodded along.
That was when the sun started to really break free from the clouds and the fog was starting to get burned off.
We had to stop again, another tree, and the fog was starting to clear, but that's when I saw what was going on. There was a tree knocked down every twenty to thirty meters down the road.
"This has to be the work of one of those girls, can't we just kill them?" Gloria asked me with a raised eyebrow that made Gerlad laugh.
"No, we don't know which one did it, and they are both pretty strong, so it isn't like we can just go and do that. They might be acting crazy, but we know them somehow. Right now, I think we should focus on what's important."
There were four massive long gray scaled lizards with long broad mouths. They had long teeth poking out and looked very angry like something had woken them up, lucky us. I looked over and Gloria looked at me.
"Cut the trees with your sword and we will have to run ahead. They will just have to keep up," I told Gloria and she reached back for her sword.
We both ran forward and I drew in the chocolate mint blood that left a cool and fresh taste in my throat. Gloria burst forward, running with her big sword towards the tree. A single strike split it and then she kicked one side before running ahead, and I kicked the other at a giant crocodile getting close.
"Keep going! We will clear the way, protect the ones in the back!" I said as I ran forward and kicked another log out of the way, hitting another one.
After almost an hour, we finally broke from the swamp and back out onto the open plains. I was really glad that we wouldn't have to come back this way, that was more than enough of an experience.
The trip had taken most of the day, and it was already starting to get into the afternoon. Hopefully, we could make it to a town or something, but Gloria told me that we would be sleeping outside for the next three days, and I sighed. The trip the rest of the day was uneventful, but near the end of the day, we stopped at a place that had a wagon and a man with a donkey.
"Howdy strangers, can I interest you in some of my fine items?"
Black hair tied back with a long brown coat, the merchant was leaning against his wagon with a languid smile. He wasn't overly tall, just a bit taller than me, but when I looked closely at his coat, I could see that it was made from very fine material. I wonder what kind of merchant would be sitting on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere?
"The kind looking to meet the right people!"
I was startled and glared at the man, but he put his hands up.
"Calm down, you had the look, so I assumed that was what you were thinking! I don't mean to get off on the wrong foot! I'm Dyse, nice to meet you!" Dyse said, giving us a bow.
"What are you peddling?" Tim asked, walking up.
Lesha and I had come over to talk to the man when he called, and so far he seemed harmless. The part about him guessing my thoughts was a bit disconcerting, but that could be explained by my transparent expression I was probably giving off while I thought.
"Well, you look like the type of man that knows his way around a sharp point, so I think that I have just the thing for you! Check out these bad boys!" Dyse pulled out a heavy-looking roll of black cloth about six centimeters wide.
"Ooo, what's that supposed to be?" Tim asked in an overly enthusiastic voice that I hadn't heard from him before now.
"Oh ho ho ho! This my friend is the Belt Knifer! Try one! See that tree over there!" Dyse handed Tim one of the black rolls and pointed at a large tree about ten meters away. "Put the loop on your hand and whip it out at that tree!"
Tim didn't ask any questions but instead looked at the rolled cloth, examining it. After he slid it onto his wrist, Tim whipped the roll forward with an underhanded motion at the tree. I watched as it extended out, and with my good sight, I could see small pocket-like bumps running down the cloth.
When it was fully extended, it made a quick snapping noise, and then eight small blades flew out of the pockets. Every one of them thunked into the tree, and I thought poor Tim's only good eye was going to fall out of his head. The whip snapped again and rolled back to its original shape of being curled up.
"Pretty cool, huh? You can wear them as belts, and they will stay on, then you can just whip them out! Not ideal for close combat, but from the jingles coming from your coat there, I would say your close range is pretty good!"
"What do I owe you for this?" Tim asked while staring at the strap rolled up in his hand with awe.
"Let's just wait about prices, I got more stuff! We can talk about deals and favors after you see what I got!"
Dyse turned and dove into the back of his covered wagon and started to bang around looking for something. I looked over at Lesha, but she just shrugged at me.
"I don't know, he seems harmless, but something about him seems familiar. Not like I know him, but someone like him. It's hard to explain."
"No, I feel the same."
Hm, that feeling was of a certain pervert, and now things were making sense about the name, but not why he was giving us stuff. This had to be the God Dyster, but what would he be doing all the way out here? Whatever it was, nothing good could come from dealing with other gods, but I wanted to wait and see what he wanted for whatever else he was going to bring out.
"Ha! Found it! Or It's! And you figured me out! Good, no more charades!" The God of Disaster said, jumping out of his wagon with an armload full of small ten by ten-centimeter boxes. "Now, before you go turning me away just because big tittied Healia is your God! I'm not asking you to come and support me, but I would like you to help me get rid of a certain thorn in my backside lately!"
Corbit, Gloria, and Mei had come over now, and I looked over to Gloria to see what she thought. That was a waste of time, she looked like she was ready to go back and get her big sword. Mei was not even paying attention, and Corbit just looked lost.
"What do you have in the boxes and who do you want us to get rid of?"
"These? Leveling rings! Once you put these bad boys on you will be able to see how much experience you have and it will show you your skills! Isn't that exciting?!" Dyster was jumping up and down now, nearly bursting with excitement.
"Hey K! I heard of those rings! They go for five hundred gold each, and he isn't kidding about the other stuff. The ring not only shows you your skill but makes it easier to use them. There are ten boxes there K!" Tim chirped at me, in almost the same excited tune as Dyster.
Stupid men, that is why Dyster gave Tim the Belt Knifer's first! Now he had one of our own cheating for him, but Tim wasn't wrong. If the rings were that good, then I would be acting dumber than the men getting excited over sharp pointy things.
"Okay, so we take the rings and such, then what? What is it that we have to do? Are you going to get us to kill someone?" I asked with suspicion.
"You don't have to kill them, but you might have to, it's a bit of a pickle! Giyadel has sent followers to my city and they are causing trouble. So, I need them to Vamos, git, gone!" Dyster said, making a shooing motion with his hands.
Oh, this was just asking for trouble.
[Author here! Please vote if you like the book! helps me out more and I will release more chapters if we can get up there! Thank you in advance!]
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GOT IT