Departure

We met up again at the crack of dawn near the village square. All eager to get our journey started. But to our surprise and great shock, we were not infact the first who had gathered in the square. In fact it was positively buzzing with activity as 5 wagons were being loaded. The first of which was actually a rather fancy coach. Which bore the heraldry of the Colline family. Next were three normal sized wagons that belonged to the merchants that were going to accompanied us to the Hillfields. Alongside with the mercenaries that were hired for the caravan’s protection. And last but certainly not least, was our cart. We had actually received it yesterday as a farewell gift. Along with the draft horse that Alistan had lovingly named Thorin, after a dwarven hero of old.
 
As we approached the caravan, our attention was immediately drawn to the shouting of an older elf, who was busy coordinating the various preparations. Something that struck me as odd right from the very beginning, was his silver beard. Which to me was a rather sad and shocking reminder of just how shallow my knowledge was of elvenkind. For I had no idea or ever questioned whether or not Elves were even capable of growing beards. It just never occurred to me based on the things that I had heard about them. But as we approached him I quickly recomposed myself. He introduced himself as Onvyr and explained that he was hired as the leader of this caravan. He also admitted that while there were a few mercenaries present, he could always use more help in making sure that we reached our destination safely. So he asked if we were willing to act as scouts. Either by going on ahead and making sure that everything was safe, or by holding up the rear and making sure that nothing attempted to ambush us from behind. Both myself and Liliana were quick to propose that we would take the lead of the caravan. And while I cannot say for certain as to why Liliana wished for this, I’m guessing that it was similar to my own reason. You see, I knew that if I was at the head of the caravan, I had the largest change to be the first to lay eyes upon the city of Keralon. To be the first to see the grandeur of its silver walls in the distance. That is why I wished to take on that scouting role.
 
After the preparations were complete, we were just about to set out when we noticed that the fair sheriff Edna was running towards us. Sadly she did not have a real chance to give us a final goodbye yesterday and was pleased that she made it just in time. She gave some last minute advice for our journey and also presented us with a small token of her affection for us. Namely a magnificent longbow that she had acquired a few days earlier. We gratefully accepted this gift and seeing as the longbow is my weapon of choice, decided that it would be using it for the time being. Which was most fortuitous I must admit, as I later learned that the bow, called Stormwind, carried a small magical gift. Namely the power to harness the winds around it to push back a foe hit by one of its arrows. And with that, we said our final goodbyes and started with our journey.
 
The journey to Hillfield would take us about 5 days. Or at least that is what Onvyr told us. Now for the most part, the first day was rather uneventful. We made good progress, only really stopping around noon in order to have something to eat and give the horses some time to recover. It was during that break that I was finally properly introduced to the Colline siblings. Edward was the first to join us and he made a rather good first impression. Unlike his father, he was less focussed on rank and freely interacted with us. He explained that he actually wanted to join us the day prior during the festival and trial, but his father insisted that those things were not for the nobility to concern themselves with. Something that he somewhat regretted. I made a note to, while not revealing all the secrets, maybe give him a shot at solving the riddle later. Just to give him a little bit of an idea on what it was like.
 
As this was happening, Luke decided to take his chance and approached Elsa, who was still in the coach, in order to invite her for a walk around the camp. Something that she readily agreed to as she interlocked her arm with his. Leaving Luke with a rather satisfied grin on his face as he escorted her and Alistan with a rather confused one. Following the old saying that love is a battlefield, it seemed that Luke had won the second battle for the heart of Elsa.
 
The rest of the day was roughly the same as the previous part. With the only difference being that Elsa and Edward decided to join us in our little cart. Seeing as there is only so much excitement to be had inside of a carriage. This monotonous routine continued right up to the point where we were about to halt for the evening. Both Liliana and I spotted a plume of smoke in the distance, indicated the possibility of a small campfire. Either belonging to fellow travellers on the road or less upright individuals. Not wanting to take the risk of leading the caravan into a possible dangerous situation, I volunteered to scout ahead in order to see what was up. It took a while, but eventually I located the small camp. Finding both a fellow traveller, who was wearing a rather magnificent red hat, and a group of Reynards, who were armed to the teeth.
 
Now I will freely admit that what happened next, was both stupid, idiotic and even suicidal on my part. For you see, it was obvious to anyone that the traveller was being shaken down for coin and that things were starting to escalate when he did not have enough of it. The smart thing of course would have been to lay low and wait for the rest to arrive before engaging them. But I feared that in the time it would take them to arrive, they would have already attacked and killed the poor man. And the idea of someone dying due to my own cowardice to act, even in unfavourable circumstances such as these, was simple something that I could not stomach. So I decided to reveal myself to them. Now if the Reynards were shocked of seeing me suddenly approaching, they did not show it. And seeing as they outnumbered me, I figured that the best course of action for me was to simple stall for time by keeping them talking. Maybe even intimidate them with the idea of a large group approaching to scare them off.
 
But sadly their impatience and lust for coin grew the better of them and weapons were quickly drawn. Now I did my best, but there were simple too many of them for me to fight off on my own. So they quickly managed to swarm and overwhelm me. It was only the timely arrival of Ileas, who had run ahead of the rest and Sylvesse that saved my life. Otherwise I would be here to tell you this tale. This caused the battle to quickly turn in our favour. Especially when the rest of us joined the fight and Reynards fell to our blades and magic. We expressed our gratitude to Sylvesse, who quickly took his leave before the rest of the caravan joined us and tended to both mine and the man’s injuries.
 
He introduced himself to us as Robert Talespinner. A bard and fellow traveller to Keralon. As you can imagine, he was more than pleased at our intervention. Even saying that he would turn it into song. Both I respectfully stated that there was no need for that. Instead when Onvyr arrived, we suggested that it might be in his best interest to join on our travels. Seeing that there was safety in numbers after all. Something that both Onvyr and Robert agreed with. And with that we finished up our first day on the road to Keralon.