Mastery Is Earned

After mooring the boat at the stretch of shore closest to the main road, Raymond had Henk and Mara disembark and rest on the bank while he went up to the road alone.

He waited for more than half an hour before two villagers finally came toward him with a cart. Raymond immediately went to meet them.

The sight of an armed man covered in blood startled the villagers. They exchanged an uneasy glance and called to him from a distance. “Please don’t come any closer, sir. What do you want?”

“I mean you no harm.” Raymond stopped where he was. “Where are you going?”

“We’re going to Elmbridge, sir,” one of the villagers replied. “It’s only firewood and reed mats. Nothing valuable, sir. We’re taking them to Elmbridge to trade for grain.”

Raymond immediately realized what they thought he wanted. “How much is all of that worth? I’ll buy the lot.”

“All of it?” The villagers exchanged another glance, scarcely able to believe what they had heard.

Raymond went straight to the point. “One of my companions is injured. We need a ride on your cart.”

“Well...” The two murmured to each other for some time before one replied, “If someone’s hurt, we’ll certainly help if we can. These goods aren’t worth much. We’d only get a little over forty copper coins for them on a good day.”

“Forty copper?” Raymond nodded and took out a silver coin. “Here’s a silver. Take it and come with me.”

Their eyes lit up at the gleaming coin. They hurriedly agreed and drove the cart after Raymond toward the place where Henk and Mara were resting.

Raymond glanced at their load. It really was nothing more than firewood and woven reed mats, worth very little. The sight reassured him somewhat, but he still asked with an air of casual interest, “Which village are you from? That’s a decent horse you’ve got.”

The horse was short and stocky, a draft animal used to pull carts. Judging by the villagers’ circumstances, they should not have been able to afford it.

One of them gave a rueful smile. “The horse and the cart both belong to the miller. We’re only borrowing them.”

“I see.” That explained it. Raymond quickened his pace.

The three reached the shore together. Henk lay resting against the trunk of a thick tree, while Mara stood nearby with her bow on her back and a shortsword in her hand, watching the villagers warily.

“Half-orcs!” the villagers blurted in alarm. They immediately clapped their hands over their mouths and said no more. They seemed terrified of half-orcs.

“Here are my companions. Help me clear some room on the cart,” Raymond said.

“Sir, we...” The villagers hesitated. Neither had expected his companions to be half-orcs.

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Their reaction angered Mara. She tightened her grip on her weapon and glared at them, a low growl rising in her throat.

An idea came to Raymond as he noticed their frightened expressions. He moved closer and spoke quietly. “As you can see, neither of my companions is someone you want to cross. If you want to leave now, you’ll have to see whether they’ll let you. But don’t worry. I’ll make it worth your while. Get my companion to Elmbridge, and I’ll give you another fifty copper coins.”

He drew a handful of copper coins from inside his coat and divided them between the two villagers. “Please. Help us out.”

The extra coins visibly excited them. They exchanged a glance and finally nodded their agreement.

Raymond and the villagers pushed the goods as far to one side as possible, making room on the cart and spreading reed mats across its bed. He and Mara then helped Henk sit on it. With the villagers’ help, Raymond also moved the three crates from the boat to the cart.

The villagers drove while Raymond and Mara walked beside the cart. Together, they returned to the main road and headed toward Elmbridge.

Elmbridge lay about twelve miles inland from the northwestern shore of Deepwater Lake. It was a small town that had grown up around a bridge and a market, considerably smaller than Blackstone. Blackstone lay west-southwest of Elmbridge, and the detour meant the journey from Elmbridge to Blackstone might take nine or even ten days.

Raymond learned all this while talking to the villagers along the way. The detour would take them farther out of their way, but they seemed to have little choice. Fortunately, the town had everything they needed despite its size. There were inns and stables, as well as a physician who could treat injuries. Mercenaries between jobs and passing caravans also occasionally stopped there to rest.

Raymond did not expect to find work that would take them back to Blackstone. But if a caravan happened to be heading that way, paying to travel with it would be a good option. At least it would make their journey home safer.

“Hey, human,” Mara called quietly from behind the cart.

Raymond frowned and walked around to join her. “What is it, half-orc?”

“If you ask me, while there aren’t many people around, we should just deal with those two...” Mara moved closer and drew a hand across her throat.

Raymond gave her a look of distaste. “You’d better break that habit. There are better ways to solve most problems. If you want to become part of society, you need to learn to live in it.”

“Why would I want to become part of human society?” Mara asked, puzzled.

The question caught Raymond off guard. He had never really considered that. Henk had willingly traveled south to earn money, but Mara apparently had not chosen to come to the Kingdom of Goldvale. She had been held as a slave in Brightwater, and Raymond did not know how Bram and the others had rescued her.

“What do you plan to do now?” he asked suddenly.

“Huh? Me?” Mara thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I’d like to go home and see my parents. I wonder how they’re doing. I’ve heard the Orc Scourge is bad in the north. I don’t know...”

“What did you say? The Orc Scourge?” Henk suddenly stirred from where he had been reclining on the cart, his face filled with alarm. “It’s started this early in the year?”

Mara glanced at him. Seeing him grimace in pain, she said, “It’s only something I heard. I don’t know for sure.”

“What’s the Orc Scourge?” Raymond asked curiously.

Henk was so worried that he did not even hear the question. He simply stared into space.

Mara sighed and answered instead. “It’s what we call the orc raids. They come down from the mountains and steal our food and supplies. The fortress troops protect us, but they can’t defend every village. The orcs don’t raid every year, though, and most raids happen in winter. This year is different. Even where we live, we’ve been hit by drought. It can only be worse for the orcs in the mountains.”

“I see.” Raymond nodded gravely.

He knew about the drought that spring. Even the Kingdom of Goldvale had suffered, let alone the already impoverished Duchy of Nightraven. It had sent grain prices soaring that year and was the main reason there were so many more refugees, with people from other countries continuing to head south.

Perhaps that was why Henk had come south to earn money as well.