Starting after the Happy Harvest Miss Tessa’s combat training ramped up and got much worse. Especially Milly, Tilly and I usually limped back to bed bed with serious injuries.

The regeneration healed them until the early morning, but generally we woke up drained and at some time in the morning the wounds were completely gone and our mana pool started to fill again.

This set us back considerably because our usual chores were hard to finish without mana at all. Feeling drained was bad as well and we were unable to finish our assigned tasks most of the time, which resulted in harsher training in the evening.

I managed to get my hands on a few maps and started to make a set of maps with all details I could remember. They were not fancy, but I hoped they would help once we were going to leave. With some help from Tilly and more practice they got more readable over time. Most of the maps are from the western part of the claws. The north-eastern part was an uncharted wilderness and the maps of the border to Arhithrea weren’t really detailed. At least the mayor roads and cities and some landmarks were part of them.

Winter’s Edge and Seeding Sprawl passed without anything noteworthy and the beginning of spring had nearly passed without news about the Arhithreans. The mountain passes could be still closed though.

It was lunchtime on 28. day in the early spring in the year 3044. Caroline and Milly were already at our table. When I saw Tilly approach from the staircase she looked tense and agitated. She sat down at the table and we started to eat.

“What’s bugging you?” Milly stirred her steaming stew.

Tilly shook her head while she got her own bowl. Milly gave her a concerned look.

“Let’s talk after lunch.” I started to eat my stew.

“The training is a pain in the ass !” Milly fumed and changed the topic.

“Yeah. The night is barely enough to get rid of the bruises.” I looked at Tilly.

She nodded.

“It seems she focuses on you three.” Caroline inspected the stew on her spoon closely.

“She definitely does.” I frowned.

After lunch we left for our room. We had a few minutes to spare.

After I closed the door we sat down on the bed.

“The Arhithreans arrived! At least some of them!” Tilly looked at us clearly flustered.

“How have you found out?” Milly grabbed her shoulder.

“Are there more details?” I looked at Tilly.

“I found a dropped paper on the floor in the room I had to clean. As I picked it up I saw that it was a report about a dozen Arhithreans arrived by ship yesterday evening. They left the town this this morning in small groups. They were well armed, but not wearing heavy armor. The small groups vanished between the villages along the roads. The reporters suspected them to monitor the roads out of town and as there were two missing it was proposed they monitor the port.” Tilly pressed her lips together and looked at me with wide eyes.

“I think this is our call to leave and there is no reason to change our plans at the moment. We should leave as soon as the ring is on it’s way.” I looked at Caroline.

“I get the ring and find a reason to go down into the town as soon as possible. There is a ship which leaves tomorrow morning and which is a good choice in regard of it’s destination.” She got up and opened the secret door to Miss Tessa’s room.

After a few moments she vanished through the door and came back a few moments later and closed the door behind her again.

“Good luck!” I smiled at her.

“Let’s continue with out daily duties.” Milly went to the door.

“Let’s do that. The best time to leave is after the training. Yes we will be exhausted, but we will get a head start before anyone notices we’re gone.” I got up and went to Milly.

“Since a lot of servant will notice it in the morning the information will be in town in no time.” Tilly crossed her arms below her chest and nodded.

“Let’s go back to our duties.” Milly opened the door.

I headed to the laundry where I had to to help out until dinner. The afternoon felt like it would never end. I buried myself in my work.

Leaving means the time ahead would be an interesting time. A time to stand on our own feet. A time with plenty of hardships. I was going to fight to my last breath to keep it that way. In some ways I was looking forward for the time here at the castle to end. It won’t be easy, but I won’t miss being bossed around all the time.

As we met for dinner Caroline smiled smugly as she sat down at the table.

As we looked at her questioningly she simply smiled.

“Tonight!” she mouthed.

We had to survive the training somehow, and then we would head out on our own.

The training was brutal as usual the last months. Totally drained we limped back to our room. Instead of falling into our beds we started to pack everything we needed and left our room after we were done. Carefully we checked the hallway. There was no one here. We entered the storage room without any problems.

Being able to see something in total darkness was pretty useful. The sight was a bit blurry, especially if something was moving fast. We reached the secret room beside the library. Caroline changed into the mail shirt. Milly had made a gambeson for underneath and we all picked a weapon from the ones we found here. Tilly took the spear, Milly the short sword, Caroline the hammer and I took the ax. We had no shields unfortunately, but we weren’t able to acquire them without raising suspicions. Maybe Loraline had more luck.

Finally we took our bags with some provision.

“Let’s go!” I started to climb down the shaft with aching limbs. I was not sure it was a good thing to get used to all the pain. At least the regeneration would take care of the wounds and bruises sooner or later.

Carefully we followed the passageway into the dark. Nobody had any mana left for a light spell since the healing drained it as fast as it was replenished. At least the pain faded a bit when it happened.

Generally the air was damp and the narrow passageway as well. The stones were roughly hewn and later the low ceiling was held by an simple stone arch set on masoned wall. Sometimes the floor was covered by a puddle.

Finally we arrived at the end of the tunnel. The stone closing the entrance was heavy, but we managed to push it aside with some effort. We closed the passage behind us again, which was easier since we could handle the stone better with everyone able to help.

“It’s raining.” Tilly looked out of the small entrance of the cave.

“That’s actually not that bad, since tracking us would be more difficult as long as we avoid deep mud.” I looked outside.

“Let’s try to get out without damaging the shrubbery too much.” I pulled the hood of my cloak over the head.

We carefully left the cave. Since we were in the forest the rain wasn’t too bad. Finding the right direction would be a challenge though. Since I had a good idea where the coastline was the general direction was clear.

“Let’s head this way!” I pointed away from the coast.

I started to move in the indicated direction. The others followed me without a word. For a while, I lost track of time, since I was drained and tired we reached the edge of the forest.

In front of us was farmland divided by large hedgerows. In front of us was a meadow. There was a small gap in the hedged on the far side of the meadow.

“Let’s find a farm track.” I started to cross the meadow.

“Why a road?” Milly followed me closely.

“It’s the easiest way through the hedges. Hacking through each of them in our way would leave a track very easy to follow even after a few days and would slow us down considerably. They can’t watch every field track with the number of people they had. Keep your eyes open though.” I looked back at her with a grim smile.

We found a small farm track behind the hedge and followed it to the next crossroads, where we continued in the direction closest to our destination.

It would have been nice to be able to see the Claws for direction, but we have to cope with it. At least the rain would hide us from prying eyes.

We continued to walk to the dark rainy night. It was cold and slowly the boots were starting to get wet. We passed a few houses at a distance. Dogs were a thing at farms and we wanted to avoid any attention for now.

Hours later it started to get brighter. The mountains were still hidden behind the rain. At least the cool air kept us awake for now.

“Are you sure we’re heading into the right direction?” Caroline looked at me while we had a break under the overhanging roof of a barn near the way.

“Not really. The weather is bad for that, especially since I don’t know this area.” I looked back with a grin.

“We didn’t see the road to the lodge yet.” Tilly yawned trying to chew on a piece of cheese.

“My mana is still empty.” Milly stretched her arms over her head.

“We should rest sooner or later.” I looked at the barn.

“Let’s continue for a while.” Milly started to pack her bag again.

We continued our way through the fields. There were only a few people outside since the rain continued to around noon.

“There are the mountains!” Tilly jumped and pointed ahead.

The clouds had cleared a bit. I could see the mountain we should heading to after a while. Since it was roughly in the direction we traveled we should be good.

“We seem to be roughly on track.” I stopped and looked ahead.

“How long does it take to reach the forest?” Caroline asked as she stepped beside me.

“Not before dawn. Since we were not really fast tonight it will be dark when we arrive there.” I started to walk again.

Fortunately everybody was quite fit. Soon my mana started to regenerate and I started to feel much better. I was still tired, but the pain and draining was gone. Milly and Tilly looked much better as well.

Later the sun came out and with the sun more people appeared.

“Let’s have a nap at that barn.” There were no people around at the moment.

“Good idea.” Milly looked at me with small eyes.

“We sleep two at a time and the others keep watch.” I arrived at the barn.

The door wasn’t locked and it was mostly empty. We found a place in the corner with a rest of hay.

“I’ll take the first watch with Caroline.” I looked at Caroline.

She nodded.

We removed our wet clothes and Milly and Tilly fell asleep as soon as they hit the ground.

Caroline and I tucked them in as good as possible.

We sat there quietly most of the time for the rest of the day. As it went dark we woke up Milly and Tilly.

It didn’t take long to fall asleep.