The road towards Dunshelm. We were heading in the opposite direction from our new friends. If we were to meet up with the harpies without making a detour back to the woods, we would need Celine’s help.

Knowing this I called her. “Celine, can you come back?”

Within seconds she reappeared in one of the empty seats. “I’m back master! What did you need?”

“We need to organise where to meet up with the harpies…” I glanced across to Serin.

She nodded. “Go on Theo.”

“Can you help Celine?”

“Of course, I can master.”

“Thanks…”

Liz was already unwrapping her map. “Let’s see, where can we meet that won’t draw too much attention… Hmm this should do.” She pointed out a position on the map. “What do you think Serin?”

Serin leant forward to get a better view and studied the location. “I think that will be fine. We’ll be far enough from the town there. I doubt anyone will be watching.” She turned to Celine. “Will you be able to direct the harpies there.”

Celine looked at the map. “I will if that’s what master wants.” She turned to me expectantly.

“Please, I’ll make sure you have a good feed afterwards.”

“Yay! I’ll head to them right away.” She poofed out of exitance the moment she finished speaking.

With Celine gone, Serin reached towards the driver’s hatch and slid it open. “We should fill Rosa in on everything before we meet up with the others.”

Beth nodded. “Good idea. We don’t want to give the poor girl a fright.”

The sudden appearance of a small flock of harpies might be a shock for her. Somehow, I had a feeling that she would be accepting of them. She was quick to take to Celine after all.

Serin shifted a little closer to the driver’s hatch so she could speak easily to Rosa. “Are you okay to talk Rosa?”

Rosa said something to Altria before moving closer and turning towards the hatch. “I am, it’s pretty easy going for a while. What did you want to talk about?”

“I think we should let you in on what’s happened since we last met, before our new friends arrive.”

“Please, go ahead.”

Serin quickly tried to summarise the events of the last days so that Rosa was brought up to speed. This included how we gained the extra members of our party, Aetherin and the harpies.

Rosa quietly listened as she tried to take it in. Her expression looked serious as Serin told her about the shrine. “So, it was as you feared, no perhaps worse.”

“It looks like it, but we still need to verify a few things once we return.”

“I see…” She glanced inside the cabin of the carriage, her expression changed, and she giggled a little as she looked at me. “Well Theo, it seems that you’ve been quite busy again. A real recruitment drive, adding all of these women to your party.”

I shrugged. “Well, it just sort of happened. I didn’t set out to do it. It was the circumstances that came up on our quest.”

“I know, but you do seem to end up in these circumstances a lot.”

“I know….”

 The usually calm Rosa seemed to have taken it all in her stride. After we had finished talking it over, she turned back to her horses and the road.

We carried on the road leading away from Silthorn for about another thirty minutes, until we came to a small fork in the road. We took the small track that left the main highway. It was a route that looked to be rarely used.

The track led away and started to curve around a small rise. Soon enough we were out of sight of the main highway. This was exactly what we wanted. We continued for another ten or so minutes, until we started to slow down.

Just to the side of the road, there was a small and secluded meadow. I could already see through the carriage’s windows, that the harpies and Celine had arrived ahead of us. They were sat in a group a short way from where we stopped and were patiently waiting our arrival.

Once we stopped pushed open the door and stepped out of the carriage.

Celine got to her feet. “Master!”

“Hi Celine.”

“You took longer than we thought. I was starting to think I might have to come for you.”

I laughed. “We can’t travel quite as quickly as you or the harpies.”

Serin had followed me out of the carriage, she stepped forward to speak with the harpies. “We should lay down how things will need to be from here on in. The road ahead is only going to become more populated. There are going to be fewer and fewer places we can talk like this. It’s important we lay down the ground rules before we continue.”

Enna was already nodding in agreement. “I understand. We’ll need to be careful from here on, we’re ready to do as you ask.”

“Thanks…” Serin looked over their group as if thinking things over. “It shouldn’t be too much to follow. The main thing is that you keep out of sight, and if you are seen hopefully no one will link you to us.”

“Yes… What did you have in mind?”

“I’d like you to keep to the air as much as possible. High enough so someone on the ground would struggle to tell you apart from birds.”

“If the weather stays like this we should manage.”

“Then there is meeting up… We’ll need to identify places we can meet to talk ahead of time. It will be hard to plan them all right now, so I think we’ll have to rely on Celine for that.” Serin turned to Celine.

Celine seemed to get the gist and was nodding. “It doesn’t seem there will be another way to do so. I happy as long as it’s what master wants.”

“Please Celine.” I replied.

“Of course, master!”

“Thanks.”

Serin looked to be happy with this. “Thank you Celine…” She looked back to Enna. “Is this acceptable for you?”

“It is.”

“Good… One more thing, even if you spot us in trouble from above don’t head straight for us. It may only make matters worse.”

“But what if you need help?”

“Celine will ask you.” She turned to Celine. “You can reach them in the air, can’t you?”

Celine’s small wings spread open, steadily expanding to twice her height. “I can.”

“Great! I think that is everything we need to discuss for now.”

Enna looked a little surprised. “Really, that’s everything?”

“Yes, there’s more we’ll need to iron out before we make living arrangements, but I think this will suffice for our journey.”

“If you’re sure…”

“I am. We’ll contact you ahead of time before we stop for the evening. I’ll try my best to find us a spot where we can all meet for the night, but I can’t promise anything.”

“That’s fine with us, just as long as we know what’s happening.”

“I’m glad you understand….” Serin looked to me. “We should head back inside and get moving again.”

I nodded. “Okay…” I waved to the harpies before turning back to the carriage. “Come on Celine, you’ll need to be with us.”

“Okay master!”

She hurried as she followed Serin and I back to the carriage.

The three of us climbed inside.

Rosa’s carriage was by no means small, but it was starting to become a little cramped. It was lucky that Altria was riding up front with Rosa. As it was the seating was full, any extra passengers would mean starting to share a seat.

This was all well and good, but I was keenly aware that I would soon need to feed Celine again. She had already made a few trips today and I doubted she would be able to travel again without. We would either need to make a stop at the side of the road, or carry on inside.

I knew none of this would bother some of the girls, it defiantly wouldn’t bother Celine herself. That being the case, there was no way it wouldn’t be awkward.

After the three of us were seated, Serin leant forward towards the open hatch. “We can set off again Rosa. We’ll need to return to the road.”

“Okay…” She hesitated. “Aren’t they accompanying us?”

“They are, but it will be at a distance.”

“Is that alright? Aren’t they part of your group?”

“Yes…” Serin sighed. “Not everyone will be as accepting of them as you are. Most people would be sent into a panic if they spotted a flock of harpies…”

“I suppose so!”

“It’s for their own good, as much as it is ours.”

Rosa pulled on the reigns and the carriage moved forward. We slowly turned before heading back the way we came and towards the main road we had left earlier.