The Persecuted

Chapter 11

The season was turning from hot summer days to the chill of autumn and the rains it brought with it. The group had left the kingdom of Haskel and entered the kingdom of Baneholm, but in practice that did not mean much for them. The occasional patrols still stopped them from time to time to ask questions. Tess handled them without issue and never did they ask any of them to remove their glasses. Not after seeing her green eyes.

The first few times Adan was nervous, hand resting on the hilt of his sword, ready to jump into action, but after the third time he started to relax a bit. But he didn't fully drop his guard. No one else in the group did either. Sitting next to Jonas he could see he was relaxed, but still had a weapon on hand. On the second time Kal popped out from the back of the wagon with a sturdy crossbow in hand, cocked and ready to fire. They were all ready to fight should things go wrong, but they managed to hide it well.

The group passed villages, never staying at them more than a night and even they they stuck to the outskirts and kept to themselves, save for the few whose eyes allowed them to mingle. It was how they got information and sold their goods while restocking on supplies. Those stays were the most dangerous times. You never knew when some villager would wander into the camp and see something they weren't supposed to.

But they were worth the risk because of everything they could gain.

It was those stays that gave them information about the dukes missing children and how the search was going. Just before crossing the border to the other kingdom they heard the bodies had been found. News like that travelled fast, but it was still a week or two old bit of information. The fact they seemed to have no clue about the culprit had Adan sighing in relief. It meant he was safe and Gan had not gotten involved in the matter in any undesirable way.

He hoped the old man would continue to be safe.

They also heard rumours of a World Destroyer, but it was quickly deduced that they were in fact the same rumours that had brought the group to Adan. More worrying than that there was some talk about deteriorating relations between the kingdoms of Seven Frost and Baneholm, that, if true, could hinder their way to the secret base. If worst came to pass they might find themselves going through a war zone and that posed its own problems and dangers.

Adan sat on the drivers bench, cloak wrapped tightly around himself to keep the wind at bay, reigns loosely in his hands. Driving a wagon had not been that hard to learn and the horses they had were the calm sort that didn't need much guiding. Looking up at the sky he could see the dark clouds they were headed for.

“We're going to get drenched,” said Jonas from next to him. Looking at the horizon you could see the grey curtain of rain the fell ahead of them.

“Looks like it,” said Adan. It wasn't so bad. They had wagons for cover. No more sleeping under a bush and hoping it would keep at least some of the rain away.

Nora's wagon rolled on in front of them. Tess rode next to it. Since departing, Adan could count with one hand how many times he'd seen the blind woman. How she could bear staying inside the confines of the wagon for so long was beyond Adan. He'd grown up wandering under the open sky so staying inside such a small space had him feeling anxious after a few hours.

Why didn't I feel like that with Gan? Maybe it will change with time.

“Heads up,” said Jonas and pointed forward. Tess was riding off and as Adan looked past her he could see three wagons coming their way with several people riding along them for protection.

“I see them,” said Adan. Jonas peeked inside the wagon and gave Kal the warning. He'd have the crossbow ready for trouble. The glasses he was wearing today weren't the black kind. It wasn't a sunny day so instead he had ones with yellow lenses. Not as good as the black ones at hiding his eyes, but as long as there wasn't direct sunlight coming at them they were good enough and let him see the world more clearly.