“I like walking through a foreign city,” Cobal said. “I’m learning that just now.” They had already picked up several things and were going to get a cart with some horses next.
“You know, there are cities in my old world where you can’t even really walk.”
Cobal looked at Mana confused. “You’re going to have to explain that one for me.”
“So, imagine a city that’s so incredibly crowded that the roads are just filled from left to right with wagons and carts. Now imagine those carts also go about five times as fast and the city is bigger than every city in Blueyerd combined.”
Cobal’s eyes grew wide. “You’re making this up.”
Mana shook her head. “There were billions of people living in my own world and there would be massive cities that have multiple millions living in them. Those cities would become so busy and congested that there would be no safe places to walk. You’d have to take a car, a fast wagon, to get anywhere, even if you only had to go a small distance.”
“That sounds awful.”
“It’s not great. Luckily this wasn’t really the case where I lived. The town I’m from had less than twenty thousand people living in it.”
“That’s still relatively big.”
“I suppose. Not for our world though.”
While they were talking they reached their destination. Cobal was a little bit worried that their purse wouldn’t suffice. They’d brought enough money to get by, but he didn’t want to bring a fortune. He had no idea how expensive a wagon with horses to pull it would be.
“Good morning travelers, looking for something in particular?” A stout looking man with a shiny bald head approached them immediately. He looked like he’d not just been selling wagons and horses, but also lifting them. His arms were the size of Cobal’s head. He had a wide grin on his face.
“Well, we are about to travel to Marsolin from here. We came into the harbor just today and we’re looking for some practical transport to get us there. There’ll be three of us traveling, but there’s a chance we’ll be more people on our way back, so something that can hold a few extra folk would be nice.” Cobal looked up at the sky. The weather had calmed down significantly after the snowstorms they encountered on the sea, but the chance of rain was definitely growing. “And if it’s something with some covers, that would be extra nice.”
“I’ve got you covered, please follow me.”
They followed the man through the front of the store, which seemed to be mostly filled with accessories like saddles, clothing and even some storage chests to put into your wagons. Cobal guessed this store was aimed towards merchants. “How is business?” He asked.
“Well, you know, people travel more when war is on the horizon, so I’ve been selling more inventory than before. But war is also a sign of harder times to come, so it’s a bit of good and a bit of bad.” He laughed. “If I sell enough wagons, maybe I can retire and move up north if it ever gets dangerous here, so I hope you’ll be part of that endeavor.”
Cobal laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.” He felt a little bit guilty. His father was the one that declared war on this country in the first place, but obviously he couldn’t mention that to this random merchant in a hostile country. So he kept his best friendly smile on his face as the man showed them the different options. “And this one here, I think it’ll be perfect for you. It’s got enough room for two people to sit on the front bench comfortably, and if you really need the space you can fit a third person. Then the back is not so large that it takes up a lot of road space, but if you squeeze in you can definitely fit eight folks in there. I wouldn’t recommend having more than three or four though, since it’ll get cramped and uncomfortable. So you can comfortably fit in five or six people, and almost double if you really must. And since there’s only three of you, as you mentioned, you have enough space to put all your luggage down. Not to mention,” he continued before either of them could get a word in, “the cover is of high quality, rain resistant fabric that’ll keep you dry even in the most extreme rain. It’s tied to metal pitons that are bolted deep into the floor of the wagon so that the wind won’t destroy it either. It’s a marvel of craftsmanship, if I do say so myself.”
“It does look like what we’re looking for, I will admit that, but I worry it’s outside of our means.”
“I’m sure we can work something out. You wouldn’t have walked into my store if you had no means of buying my wares.”
Cobal grinned. “You’re on to me.”
“So let me make sure of what you’re asking of me,” the vendor said. “One wagon, horses included, as well as all the other things one might need for a journey on the Rildar road, correct?”
“Correct, and since we’re buying the entire package, I’m sure that’ll be reflected in the price, won’t it?”
“That can be arranged. This wagon right here, since it’s a quality model, does run for around sixty gold pieces. I can get you two of my older horses. They’re not their strongest anymore, but for what you’re asking of me they’re more than enough. I’d say they go for three gold pieces each. The rest of what you’ll need, reigns, saddles, water barrel, storage chest, extra fabric and some repair materials will normally cost you around six or seven gold. So that would total a little over seventy gold pieces.”
Cobal did the math in his head and realized that he would have more than enough gold to pay for it all. It would be a significant portion of what they had on them, but it wouldn’t cause them to go broke either.
“That all sounds very reasonable, but like you already said, I’m sure you could cut us a nice deal for the entire package.” Cobal gave his best princely smile.
The horses that were slowly walking their new wagon to the inn that Eliana had booked looked fairly strong, even though the seller had admitted that they were getting up there in age. After some friendly back and forth, Cobal ended up paying sixty five gold pieces for the wagon and horses. This was a little over half of his remaining funds, but it would make the journey to Marsolin much more pleasant.
Eliana was already several drinks in when they arrived at the inn. She welcomed them there with a bright smile. “Got everything we need?” She asked.
“Yeah, wasn’t too difficult. We got a great wagon as well, should make for a smooth ride.”
“Good, good, I brought some things we might need too. Come, sit.”
They sat down and Eliana turned her attention to Mana. “Do you have pirates in your old world?”
Mana shook her head, then paused. “Well, I don’t really know much about them, but there are still some people around that are pirates. But probably not in the sense that you know them in. The only commonality is probably the usage of ships.”
“That is a shame, it’s a great way to live.” She thought for a while. “How about cultists?”
“Well, that is an entire can of worms I don’t know if I want to open.”
“How so?”
“For starters, there is proof of the gods existing in your world, correct?” Mana asked.
Cobal nodded.
“There isn’t in our world. At the very least there is no irrefutable proof. There are people who claim that the signs are undeniable or that they’ve seen things, but at the end of the day, there is no clear sign that they actually exist. That is why a lot of our people also do not believe in gods. I certainly didn’t, back then.” She took a sip of the drink that just arrived. “So what we consider a cult, and what you consider a cult might be similar, but it seems so far that the cults here actually have something or someone with real power to believe in. In our world, a cult was generally a group of people that followed the teaching of a single – often very charismatic – person. This person would tell them he’d spoken with their god or all sorts of things. These stories regularly ended in tragedy. I never got involved with them though.”
“Sounds complicated in a different way.” Eliana let out a deep sigh. “Things are never as easy as they seem, no matter where you are in the world, or even what world you’re in.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
“After we leave town tomorrow, it’ll be a while before we get to a town again. Since we’re circling around Rildar, it might be almost two weeks before we go into a big city. Before the afternoon is over, make sure you have everything you need. I have things like rations and tents and all that, so that stuff is covered.” She finished the rest of her drink. “I’m going upstairs to take a nap.”
“What are you thinking about?” Mana asked.
Cobal had not realized how quiet he had become until Mana’s question pulled him out of it.
“What?”
“You’re making a serious face, are you thinking about something important?”
“I’m just worried, that’s all. Eliana seems to be a bit, how do I put this politely.”
“Mentally unstable?” Mana suggested. The main room of the inn had mostly emptied out by this point and the bartender had gone into the kitchen, so no one was listening in on their conversation. Besides, they weren’t talking very loudly.
“That’s probably the most accurate way to put it.”
“I know what you mean, she seems like a nice person, but there’s a part of her that worries me, as if she can snap at any time.”
Cobal nodded. “I think that’s the same problem I have with her. I hope it’s nothing that ends up getting in our way. She’s been a surprisingly good ally up until now and I doubt Dionil would send us to her if he didn’t think she would be a great help. But there are a few things about her that I wonder about.”
“How long did Dionil say it was since he last left the forest?”
“Decades at least.” Cobal replied
“How old would you guess that Eliana is?”
“Maybe thirty at the oldest.”
Mana nodded. “So we have a woman that looks like she’s around thirty, who is an old friend of a man who hasn’t left his house in more than thirty years. You see what I’m saying?”
“She’s older than she seems.”
“Exactly. Now, I’m not from this world, so there might be species or forms of magic that can facilitate a slower aging process that I’m unaware of, but she’s not an elf, I can tell you that much.”
Cobal thought about this for a while. There were many creatures that lived much longer than humans, but none of the ones he knew of looked as much like a human as Eliana did. “I don’t know, I don’t have all the answers. But I trust Dionil and his judgment, that much is for certain. If she is something different from what she seems to be, I’m sure she has her reasons.”
Mana nodded. “That’s probably the best way to think about it.” She let out a deep sigh. “I suppose it’s time for an early night, I doubt we’ll sleep comfortably for a while, traveling for the foreseeable future.”
“Agreed, best get some good sleep now.” He stood up and walked to the counter to pay the rest of their tab to the innkeeper, who had since returned from the kitchen and was cleaning some glasses with a cloth. After that the two walked upstairs and at their separate doors wished each other goodnight.
Opal Kaharis 