060 – Getting New Bearings

The roads being well traveled, the Kingdoms being in a state of gearing up for war, and low intensity skirmishes already taking place among the Baronies to their south, Caspian suggested they go as quickly as they could. The mules were a bit put out over this, but came along as they were urged. The daily magic lessons continued as best Caspian and Rox could manage.

They turned left at the city, changing from the north-south highway to the east bound one. The terrain quickly took them past the first coastal range, and into the upper valleys.

At one way stop they over heard conversation that many of the usual bandits had fled their usual haunts, flushed out as martial discipline was put into place, as a step to martial law and full war.

As they sat around their own camp before retiring, they discussed this. Rox was able to contribute some of what she had learned while in the palace. Their conclusion was to be as nondescript as they could, and get out of the way as quick as they could.

Another conversation at a subsequent way station reported that the war between these two kingdoms was threatening to draw surrounding communities into it. Some of the Dukes and Barons in the southern of the two kingdoms were anxious to throw off their King, whether by monarchical removal and succession, or by leaving the kingdom and forming up a new kingdom under a new monarch. One of the Dukes was campaigning to become King, and shift the existing territorial lines.

They crossed into highlands. As they rode along, Steven was lost in his own musings, and Caspian looking entirely the wrong way when Rox quietly pulled her bow off her quiver and strung it. Then she pulled three arrows from her quiver and slipped off her horse without it breaking stride. Notching an arrow, she slipped into the brush off the side of the road.

Caspian turned and stopped his horse, then caught the reins of hers as it went past stopping it, and the mule tied behind it. Steven also pulled his up.

Steven looked around trying to spot his wife, and whatever had caused her to disappear. He noticed Caspian looking intently off the right side where Rox had disappeared, but otherwise being as still as he could. The horses simply took the moment to rest, putting all four feet under themselves and settling their weight. Cyrril stalked partway off of Caspian’s shoulder, looking in the same direction as Caspian. Steven looked at Cyrril, then in the direction both the dragon and mage were looking.

Steven could see scrub and brush, and a large stand of local trees. Then suddenly his perception and focus shifted and nine of the local deer came into sharp relief standing among all the vegetation. He could also see a handful of the local squirrels and other birds, but the deer stood out. All nine stood at alert, looking toward the horses on the road, about forty yards from the closest. After a moment, the farthest one away and then like dominoes the rest from far to near turned away from the horses and started toward the trees.

The one at the farthest to Steven’s right suddenly lurched and tried to lung, but an arrow in its side hindered it. Caspian paused a moment, then turned to Steven.

“You want to go help her, or shall I?”

Steven thought a moment. “You’re better at slaughter and render, I can hold the horses here.”

Steven rode his horse up next to Caspian’s as Caspian dismounted. Caspian handed two sets of reins to Steven, and then stalked into the brush. Cyrril leaped from Caspian’s shoulder to the top of the pack load on the mule Rox led.

Rox reappeared at the side of her downed kill and shortly she and Caspian were working the animal over harvesting the usable meat. The scents disturbed the horses slightly, and Steven noticed that most of the local game was likewise agitated, stirred but not shaken.

As they worked, Caspian took the moment to quiz Rox.

“Do you know what you have just done?”

“I harvested some fresh meet. I trust it will be palatable and healthy to eat.”

Caspian took this in, but it was not his lesson. “That is not my point. Were you aware of using magic?”

Rox paused, as he continued working. “No,” she said tentatively. “It’s been some time since I have hunted. I spotted these as we came along, and thought to try myself. I slipped off Dace, and crept as quietly as I could. I did feel myself slip into a hunting mindset, and did my best to move as quietly and invisibly as I could.”

“You shrouded yourself with magic, camouflaging yourself so nothing could see or hear you, and you did it without actually casting anything.” Caspian interjected this as she thought.

Rox looked back at the path she had evidently taken to get here, rehearsing her actions in her mind. She then looked back to Caspian working on separating the usable from the unusable.

“Wow. I didn’t even think about it.” Rox was surprised with herself. Then pleased.

As Caspian’s signal, Steven brought the horses over and the meat they were taking with them was wrapped and loaded. Steven noted that a bit under half of the animal by weight was left behind. Remembering his experiences with Abey, this was not a surprise. They did not try to take the hide, mainly as they had no means or desire to deal with it.

Caspian and Rox rinsed themselves off in a stream nearby, and they were on their way, leaving the remaining carcass for scavengers to finish off.

Caspian and Rox talked shop the rest of the afternoon, with Rox practicing various spells, following Caspian’s lead. As The Sorceress had been discovering, Rox was not inclined to the formalities of casting, moving directly into the actual projection of organized energy. The theory Caspian developed as to why this was, was manifold; one, as being of elf stock, mana was as ready to her use as water to a fish; two, with her academic background in building things, Rox had an instinctive and well trained grasp of understanding how and why things worked; three, with her martial arts training Rox had a well disciplined mind, and so could keep her focus and attention where it needed to be. The result was that magic was coming to her naturally, limited to her imagination. But the danger to this was that she might try to handle too much and get herself, or someone else hurt by it.

At the boarder of the kingdoms the next morning, both sets of guards at the crossing stations tried to press the horses into service. Roxanne talked the guards down with some fresh meat, and got the trio on their way partly by getting the guards into a bidding war for the horses, and the trio slipping out as they argued.

The highlands gave way to high plains and easier travel. But all the locals were still on edge at news of the neighboring kingdoms gearing up to fight. As they went east passing ranches and farms, a forbidding range of mountains spread across the horizon.

The road turned south for a ways, before coming to a large town that sat beside a crossroads. A fair appeared to be happening, though as they got closer it turned out to actually be two different caravans encamped. One was a heavy freight train, loaded with minerals and ore, coming from the east highway. The other was a company of The Black Wolf Traders, carrying textiles, from east over the mountains.

Caspian insisted on stopping, before turning east. Rox and Steven humored Caspian, put the horses and mules to pasture, paid for lunch, and sat down to a community table.

As they talked at the lunch table inquiry was made of the highway east and further. The heavy-freighters could only report on things up to their mines in the mountains that bordered these high-plains, on the east horizon. The Wolves reported that things were under stricter control and patrol related to the war drums to the west. In the further east kingdoms, the bandits had gone to ground for the same reason. As it sat, the two trains had decided to join up before heading out to the south west, and were taking a day to sort things out and get everyone rested.

Lunch finished, Steven and Rox gathered up Caspian and their horses, wanting to head east. After some discussion, Caspian convinced them to rest for the afternoon. The animals could use the time off, and they could use more supplies; here was a good place to get more. So they shopped. Within a few hours, they were able to barter off most of the game meet that Rox had harvested previously.

Journal of Steven Caplan: Day 71

A high mountain rendezvous? We are at a larger way-stop, with two wagon trains.

We have been a week and a half on the road, and a week into someone else’s travel plans, but I don’t have any real way to judge how far we have come. Horse speed over time, but I don’t know the speed, beyond 'faster than walking', particularly with the elevation changing we have done. We have crossed one kingdom and gone nearly as far across a second one. A tall mountain range stands before us.

This all better be worth it, I would rather be heading directly after my kids. At least we seem to be south of the primary storm track, for now.

The foothills were quickly traversed, as the road intersected with and paralleled a river. It followed the river into the mountains, and around the first two peaks, before the river’s path became impassable. The road then took a generally southeast track as it climbed up the mountains. The change in elevation was quickly showing in the effort of the animals, and to spare them, they walked for the afternoon. Evening found them in a high valley, with peaks on every side. Just by the elevation it was cold that night, and Caspian consented to using his tent.

Steven was able to set up a panorama shot of several mountain peaks and the stars behind them.

The next day they stopped in a mountain village. Caspian went to worship and the Caplan’s turned the animals out to pasture. The Caplan’s then went for a hike on a trail one of the local children pointed out, that climbed the nearest peak. At the top, the vista was both new and old, as The Caplan’s had regularly summited other mountains near their home in Nevada.

To the west, they could see the coastal ranges they had already crossed. To the north and south were approximately parallel ranges. To the east, after several more ranks of this range was a large plain, with another set of ranges peaking over the far horizon.

Descending out of this range, they again saw the plains that stretched to the horizon. Caspian was singularly unimpressed.

“These are only the northern western plains. There are three large expanses like this and several smaller ones as you go across the continent at this latitude, along with the usual lakes and water ways. Most of the major rivers run north. We will cross one that runs south before it turns west. The mountain range we are heading to is part of the group on the horizon, and a bit to the south.”

Steven took this in. “So what is the plan?”

“Head east, on this highway and turn south at or for the Kimid Mountains. From there we head to the Shalalerin Mountains”