Chapter 43: Chapter Forty-Three: Off Again

Lillia looked over the kitchen as we stood there talking.

“Er, I wanted breakfast, but I can’t eat in here when it’s like this. Can you at least wipe the table and floors? Before Serin gets up please. I’m going to sit down in the living room for a bit.”

“Sure, sorry.”

She was right it did need a bit of a wipe around in here. There was a mop at the side of the room, I grabbed it and gave the floor a quick wipe while Altria washed the tabletop over with a cloth from the sink. With everything now nice and clean again I went to get Lillia to let her know that it was safe to come back in the kitchen. As Lillia came to join us, I could hear Serin moving about upstairs and making her way down to join us as well. A minute later and the entire party was in the kitchen.

“Uh, am I up late?” Serin asked as she joined us.

“No, not at all. We were all just up early.” I reassured her.

“That’s good.” She said with a smile. “You’re looking pretty fresh this morning Theo. Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, was nice to sleep in a normal bed again.”

“He’s full of energy this morning.” Added Altria.

“Just can’t wait to get back on the move.” I said laughing slightly awkwardly.

“I’m glad you feel that way Theo.” Lillia said speaking up. “Because we need to head out and get on our way. I would have liked to make it to our next camp yesterday, but the events in the cave have held us back. We have another three days on foot to cover. I’d like to make up whatever time we can.”

“Good thing we’re all up early then.” Serin said chirpily.

Everyone seemed to have benefitted from the night’s sleep inside and not having to take turns on watch. After yesterday, everyone’s positivity seemed to have returned. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised, the others were all seasoned veterans and had all developed coping mechanisms for living with this kind of work.

Just as Lillia wanted there was no hanging around this morning. As everyone was already up, we quickly made and ate breakfast. Then it was time for a quick gear check before we headed out. Just as we were gathering our things to leave there was a knock on the front door. Being the closest I opened it to find the village elder, Archibald stood on the doorstep.

“Morning.” I said greeting him.

“Good morning Theo. I see that you are all nearly ready to leave.” He said peering inside.

“Yeah, we plan to leave in a couple of minutes.”

“About that, there was something I wished to speak with you all about. Do you mind if I come in?”

“Sure.”

Archibald stepped into the living room where everyone was assembling their gear and getting ready to head off.

“What did you want to discuss? I’m afraid that we really have to leave this morning.” Asked Lillia.

“I understand. I haven’t come here to ask you to stay again. I’ve actually come about something else.” Explained Archibald.

“Okay, what is it?”

“Once a month we send goods to Lintz to sell, and well the road there is dangerous at times. With everything that happened yesterday, people are worried about the trip. We had a village meeting last night and we decided to ask if you would be willing to accompany the carts?”

“Hmm… Well, we don’t have any training spots I planned to hit on the way, but I was still hoping we would find a chance for Theo to gain another level on the way there…”

“I don’t mind, after yesterday I must be pretty close and if we go with the carts there still might be an opportunity.” I added butting into their conversation.

“I suppose so.” Lillia mumbled still deliberating.

“We couldn’t pay you much, but you would all be able to travel in one of the carts and it would be much quicker than taking the trip on foot.” Archibald elaborated further.

“See, if we get there sooner, surely there will be an opportunity to train a little before we enter the dungeon?” I asked.

“There should be… When will they be ready to leave?” Asked Lillia.

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“They’re outside now, just finishing up loading the carts.”

“Okay. We’ll travel with them.”

“Thank you! Everyone will feel a lot safer with you four as their escort. About payment, will this be enough?” Archibald asked while pulling out a small pouch of coins.

“There’s no need, the transport will be payment enough.”

“But…”

“We’re going that way already and getting there sooner will be a great help to us. So please think nothing of it.” Lillia insited.

 “I can’t thank you all enough, for everything you’ve done. I’ll go and tell the others the good news.”

With that Archibald headed back outside and over to the carts. They were currently being loaded with the village’s goods for sale at Lintz’s market.

“Okay, it looks like we’re getting a lift. Are you all ready to leave?” Lillia asked turning to the group.

Everyone gave affirmative nods as they loaded their bags onto their backs.

“Good. Let’s go and take a look at our transport then.”

I pushed open the front door and the four of us headed out into the village. It was just a short walk down the road from the front door to where the carts were still being loaded. These really were just carts that were used for transporting goods. They were open topped, low sided and the only seats were at the front where the villagers sat to control the horses. They all looked pretty old and rickety, I wasn’t sure how comfortable they would turn out to be, but at least we didn’t have to make the rest of the way on foot.

We were greeted once again by Archibald as we approached.

“Here, this way, please put your gear in here.” He said indicating the last cart.

There was a total of four carts. The first three were all nearly full, the fourth cart only had a few items in. This was the cart that we would be riding in. We all lifted our bags into the cart that Archibald had indicated. By the time we were done, it looked as if the villagers had also finished loading up the other three carts. One of the villagers came to Archibald after she had loaded in her goods.

“That’s it sir, we’re ready to go whenever the Adventurers are ready.” She told him.

“Thanks Janet. Go and tell the other we’ll be ready to move in five minutes.”

“Will do.”

Janet ran off to tell the others. It looked as if most of the drivers would be women. There were two per cart, the lead cart there was on old man sat with one of the ladies.

“Here you might as well climb aboard. They’ll be setting off shortly.”

“Thanks. You heard him, climb on everyone.” Instructed Lillia.

We all piled onto the cart. Just as I had thought, it was an old and rickety thing. There were a few sacks of flower dotted about the thing, I think these were supposed to serve as our seats and cushioning. Once we were all aboard Archibald headed up to the lead cart to give them the go ahead to head out.

The old man in the front cart gave a flick of his reins and the carts rolled into action. We bumped along on the cobbled street as we left the village, all of us waving to Archibald as we passed. A minute later and we were out on the country road. This was little more than a dirt track and no more comfortable than the cobbled street. My ass was already starting to ache from the bumps. I had to wonder what it would be like by the time we reached the town.

“How long are we going to be sat in here?” I asked turning to Lillia.

“We’ll be lucky if we make it to town before Nightfall.”

“That long…”

“Unfortunately, don’t worry, you’ll get used to the bumps eventually.”

I hoped she was right.

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