Everyone woke up bright and early the next morning. After eating a quick meal, they left Wakefield and continued their journey according to Maddison's directions.
Wakefield was at the very edge of the Ruudon Province and the Atlantia Province, which bordered Helheim and the Sacred Forest where Fas Sheras resided. Because it was up north, the air had turned arid and cold. The ground, unsuitable for sustaining many crops, did not possess a lot of farms. What few farms existed grew fields of hardier vegetables like spinach, leeks, kale, and parsnips.
Maddison was now in control of the carriage. She drove along the dirt road for a couple of kilometers after leaving wakefield, and then steered the land dragons off the beaten path and onto a rugged ground.
The ground was covered in a layer of snow, not enough to hinder their progress, but enough to let Caspian and Elincia know how cold it was. They were already bundled up inside of a thick quilt blanket. Christo had also sneakily used this opportunity to share a blanket with Cassidy, who blushed heavily but still accepted the young man's advances. Even Sylvia had wrapped a blanket around herself.
"It's so cooooold!" Christo complained in a loud voice that made everyone wince.
"Eeek! Christo! Don't wrap you arms around my waist like that! You're body is freezing!" Cassidy complained.
"I can't help it! I need someone to warm me up, and Caspian is snuggling with Elincia!" Christo said as he hugged the maid, who squirmed and blushed at his advances.
"There's no way in this life or the next that I will ever share my body heat with you," Caspian said to Christo as he wrapped his arms tighter around Elinica. "That said, if you're going to sexually harass Cassidy, I am going to hit you."
"Urk! That's harsh! That, sir, is in violation of the bro code!" Christo complained.
"I've never heard of this bro code before. I'm pretty sure you just made it up."
"Cassidy," Elincia suddenly said, "is Christo bothering you?"
Everyone remained quiet as their eyes locked onto Cassidy, who suddenly flushed an even deeper shade of red when she realized the entire party was paying attention to her. She glanced at the bright-eyed and grinning young man. Then she looked at the others. Slowly, she settled down and looked like she was trying to hide inside of the quilt.
"He's not... bothering me really. I was just... shocked..."
While Caspian and Elincia accepted that, Erica looked at Christo with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you trying to court my maid?" she asked.
"M-Mistress Erica!" Cassidy shouted.
"Yes, I am!" Christo said with exuberance lacing his voice.
"CHRISTO!" Cassidy's shout was even louder this time.
Sylvia watched all this with a complicated expression on her face before, slowly, she shook her head and looked back out the carriage window.
Maddison had led the carriage all the way to a small mountain. Of course, small was a relative term. It was still large compared to them, with an elevation of somewhere around 825 meters at least. It was covered in a thin layer of snow and featured no paths through which the carriage could pass. As she led the carriage around the mountain, they reached a small cave that was just large enough to fit the carriage and land dragons inside.
"We'll keep the carriage here for now," Maddison said as she hopped off the driver's seat. Everyone else disembarked as the woman looked at them, hands on her hips. "My place is up about halfway up this mountain. There's no path to walk up, so we'll have to climb part of the way."
"Ugh," Erica groaned. "I hate climbing. Derek, I'll let you carry me."
"It will be my pleasure, Lady Erica!" Derek's eyes shone with an abnormal light as a delighted smile flashed across his face.
"Do you want me to carry you?" Christo asked Cassidy.
"I-I'm good." Cassidy looked away.
"You sure?" Christo looked at her uncertainly. "If you trip and fall, you might end up breaking something."
"Ah... in that case, I might accept your help for some of the climb."
"Heh heh."
"I'll carry you, Tiffa," Collafloore offered, but Tiffania shook her head.
"I want to ride of metal man," Tiffania said, gesturing to Derek. Collafloore crouched on the ground and began drawing circles in the dirt. Caspian could have sworn he saw a black cloud hovering over his fellow half-elf.
"Okay, everyone. Follow me," Maddison said.
With Maddison still in the lead, the group made their way out of the cave and began traveling up the mountain. The first half of their travels were easy. They just needed to follow the slow incline as they passed between numerous large rocks. However, the further up they climbed, the harder it became. It wasn't long before Erica was being carried in the arms of Derek, who also had Tiffania sitting on his shoulders. Collafloore was following behind them and glaring at Derek.
"WAA!!"
Their party stopped when Cassidy tripped over a rock and nearly fell, but Christo quickly caught the young woman and scooped her into his arms like a husband carrying his newly wed bride. Cassidy's cheeks, already pink from the cold, gained a darker and more vibrant hue, but she didn't resist his help.
"Do you also need help?" Caspian asked Elincia as the two of them followed behind Maddison.
"I'm fine for now," Elincia said with a smile.
Caspian nodded as he climbed up a large ledge, then turned around and offered his hand to Elincia, who accepted the gesture, allowing him to pull her up. When she was safely standing beside him, he turned and offered his hand to Sylvia. The woman looked at it in surprise. However, she soon placed her hand in his, and Caspian pulled the woman up as well.
As the group continued their journey, they soon came upon a small cottage surrounded by several meter tall cliffs. It was very... shabby. The walls were made of rickety-looking wood, the roof was made of thin metal sheets, and the door flapped open and shut because it possessed no lock. It did at least have a chimney, and from the smoke rising up, it looked like a fire was warming the inside.
Even though Caspian was shocked by how ramshackle this cottage was, he said nothing.
"What a dump."
Of course, Erica had no trouble stating exactly what was on his mind.
Maddison rolled her eyes. "Like I care what you think, but since this place is such a dump and you're obviously too good for it, you can stay outside in the cold."
"Bitch."
"Cunt!"
"You know, it's kind of funny seeing someone else argue with Maddison," Caspian said to Elincia through their bond.
"I bet you're just glad she's not picking on you."
"A little."
The two sorceresses argued all the way to the front door before Maddison pushed it open and stepped inside.
"I'm home," she called out.
As Caspian stepped inside with the others, the first thing that hit him was the smell. It reeked of alcohol. His nose wrinkled as the heavy scent of booze filled the air. As he and the others tried to adjust to the scent, Maddison closed the door behind them and forced it shut, locking the heat inside.
The interior of the cottage was a smell. It was a room room place that could barely fit 10 people. A bed filled one corner of the room. A table sat in the center. There was also a very small magitech stove, a portable kind that could be used during travels. That was about the extent of the furniture in this place.
Sitting on a stool by the fire was a hunched over figure, an elf with long and ragged black hair, covered in a worn out quilt. His ears twitched when Maddison announcer her arrival. Turning just head, he looked at Maddison with bloodshot eyes. As he gazed at the pink-haired sorceress, he seemed to realize that she was not the only one present. His gaze soon shifted to the others.
Caspian felt a moment of discomfort when those bloodshot eyes focused on him. A look of recognition had flashed through the man's gaze, but then those eyes moved on, pausing on Elincia before finally landing on Erica. They remained on the woman for a long time. Several emotions seemed to flicker, everything from shock to hatred, though no emotion remained on his face for too long before all emotions died out.
"You're back," the elf said in a raspy voice. "I was hoping you'd never return."
"Such a pleasant man, you are," Maddison said as she stepped further into the room. She then turned to the others. "This pleasant elf you all see before you is Dranor. I don't know squat about him, but I found him on his deathbed about a month after leaving the forests around Parume and decided to save him."
"I wish you'd just let me die," the elf, Dranor, mumbled.
"As you can see, he wasn't very grateful," Maddison added. Then she turned to Dranor. "These people are here because they need your help. The silver-haired one is Sylvia de Floresca. You might know her. The others are--"
"I know who the others are," Dranor interrupted. He focused once more on Caspian, Erica, and Derek. "At least, I know you three."
None of the three he stared at were idiots. There was only one elf who could possibly know all three of them. Caspian recalled the elf woman who tried to assassinate over one year ago back when he had been acting as Erica's temporary knight. Now that he was remembering the fight, that woman had mentioned the name "Dranor" just before she died.
"You are the husband to the elf who attacked me in Dorehan Tower," Caspian concluded.
Dranor fixed his tired eyes on Caspian. Several seconds passed before the man closed his eyes and sighed.
"So you are the one who killed my Vanya. I had always suspected it was you since her job was to take your life while I killed that sorceress over there."
"Are you planning to take revenge against me?" asked Caspian, placing one hand on the hilt of his sword. Christo and Derek tensed as they also prepared to draw their weapons.
Dranor watched all this happen with blank eyes before he snorted. "Killing you isn't going to bring my Vanya back. And it wouldn't make her happy either."
Caspian removed his hand from his sword as Christo and Derek also relaxed, but then Sylvia stepped forward and frowned.
"Can someone please explain what is going on?"
Since no one else really knew anything about what happened, Caspian did his best to bring the ones not in the know up to speed. He told them about the assassins who'd been targeting Erica's life when he was assigned to guard her, how he fought against an elf who was skilled in nature manipulation, and even how the woman had run herself through on his sword. While Dranor pretended not to be listening, his ears twitched when Caspian mentioned that last part.
"I understand the situation now." Sylvia nodded. "I remember reading the report about what happened, but it was very brief because someone is terrible at writing reports." She glared at Erica, who merely stuck out her tongue.
"Excuse me?" Elincia suddenly walked up to Dranor and clasped her hands in front of her. The older elf looked at the young woman as her ears wiggle nervously. "I was hoping you could help us. Could you please guide us to Fas Sheras?"
"I refuse. Go find someone else," Dranor immediately replied, causing a chill to spread through the small cottage.
***
I'm sure a lot of you already figured out who the elf was going to be. I wasn't very subtle.
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