The sun has fallen to the west, the only color in the sky was dark blue from the moonlight. It seemed like we needed to cross through a forest if we wanted to make it there fast, a shortcut straight to Blackburn. The carriage felt smoother than before, I didn’t know if it was because I got used to it or we were traveling on a grass field. Since the incident with a certain carnivorous plant, neither Alberto nor Fayette had spoken a word. Alberto was looking out of the window this entire time, trying to not make eye contact with Fayette. Fayette was crying for an hour straight after the incident while apologizing to me, but right now, she was sitting next to me in silence. I looked at my bandaged hand, Fayette was able to heal it a bit, but a burning sensation was still there on my hand. How long is it going to take to heal? The air felt more quiet than usual, the atmosphere was awkward, how long is it going to stay like this? I looked out of the window, it was darker than I thought it was, is it midnight already? I couldn’t even see the forest that the carriage driver mentioned, which made me question how the carriage driver could see the way in this darkness. I tried to find the moon from the window, it was an eclipse. The brightness of the moon here seemed inferior to Lunae Lumen.
“Do you ever rest, Mr… Driver?” I asked the driver, breaking the silence.
“We drivers only get around 4 hours of sleep while on the job, we don’t sleep until around 2 AM. And it’s Jacob.” He replied.
4 hours. I wondered how people can function with only that little amount of sleep. I certainly wouldn’t be able to fight my best without at least 5 and a half hours. Speaking of sleep, I turned to Alberto to ask him a question, trying to clear the awkwardness from the atmosphere.
“Hey, Alberto, why don’t we sleep in turns, so that one of us can keep watch.” I clapped my hands and forced a smile on my face as I said that. I didn’t want the awkwardness anymore, especially if we were going to travel together for an extended period of time.
“Well, if we do take turns, then that pixie better not fly away after spotting a glimpse of a flower,” Alberto said in the most judging tone I have ever heard from him. Why is he so angry? Things happened, she didn’t know.
“I already said sorry!” Fayette yelled out.
“Give her a break! Things happen. No need to get into it.” I said, trying to calm the situation down.
“Whatever, yeah sure, we will take turns. I will take the first watch, you guys should sleep.” He lowered his voice and turned away. Well, that’s that.
“You should sleep, Fayette.” She laid down on the seat next to me and closed her eyes. Being small has its perks huh. I closed my eyes, trying to get some sleep. The thoughts in my mind kept on swirling around, however. Why am I not mad at Fayette? Normally, I would be mad if someone were to mess up during a job. Then my mind reminded me of the cult attack and my life. My life was a dangerous life, death is in every corner. Perhaps I didn’t want the last conversation with a friend to be an argument. I slowly dozed off, the last thing I remembered before falling to my slumber was the sounds of the horses striding through the grass field.
“Hey, wake up,” A hand touched my face roughly, trying to wake me up. I opened my eyes to see Alberto in front of me. “It’s your watch, Fayette will take the last watch. It’s been around hours since you slept.” I scrubbed my eyes to wake up completely. Something felt different, I couldn’t feel the slight rocking of the carriage anymore.
“Why are we stopped?” I asked Alberto, he never answered me. His eyes were closed as he slept on his seat. He must be so tired, falling asleep as soon as he closed his eyes. I looked out of the window to see the driver sleeping. Even in the dark, I could see a giant forest right in front of us. The trees were as gigantic as the giants. There were howls and strange sounds coming from the forest as well, Blackburn lies behind this forest? Who knows what kind of monstrosity they have in here? Since we were right in the outskirts of it and will be entering it when we started moving again, my body forced itself awake to stay on guard.
One hour into the guard, nothing happened. The wind was calm, the air was quiet, there were only natural noises in the forest. It was surprisingly calming, the scent of grass, the moonlight shining down on the carriage, it was quite a peaceful scene. That calm feeling did not last long when my body flinched as a light came out of the forest in the corner of my eyes. I put my hand on my ax in case it attacked me, whatever it was. My sweat dripped from my cheeks as I nervously tried to get a glimpse of the creature, a glowing deer! I breathed out in relief, as I relaxed from my tensed body and released my ax. The glowing deer was beautiful, it had no antler on its head, but its back was lined with green dots that glowed in the night. The glow gave the deer an aura of light similar to the one Fayette had. It quickly met my eyes and ran back to the forest. Maybe not everything this forest holds are monsters.
On the second hour of the guard, I could see a white owl. I took the adventurer’s silver badge on my chest and smiled. Owls, the symbol of magic, and also the official Royal Sigil. The owl flew from branches to branches, until suddenly, they flew down onto the ground and caught a mouse and flew away. I have never paid attention this close to nature before, perhaps because I grew up with mostly swords and shields, or in my case, axes. Still, the air was peaceful, there was nothing dangerous happening.
In the final hour, it was just silence. The forest became quieter and quieter as the night progressed. It was almost creepy. Strangely enough, it kept me awake. It was almost Fayette’s turn, but I think I will let her sleep for a bit longer. I wonder what her story is, how did she end up with us? Unlike Alberto, Fayette didn’t really seem to have a goal. She requested to join us out of nowhere, and I took her along because I thought a healer would be good to have. Everyone has their reason. I chose to believe that thought and brushed it off. One more day, and we get to Blackburn. I checked the noble’s carriage to see if they were fine. They were stopped as well, but their driver was nowhere to be found. That’s strange, where is the man? I quietly walked over to check out the carriage. I could see the door of the carriage being opened, and something was moving. My heart rate started rising, what if something happened? I finally got to the carriage, the creature didn’t seem to have noticed me, so I grabbed it by its hands. It turned out to be the driver, with his right hand in the pockets of the noble. He got startled and tried to escape from my grip, but his strength fell short.
“Shhh, why are you doing this?” I whispered to him judgingly.
“Please good sir, I just wanted some pocket money. I won’t do it again sir, please don’t kill me.” He whimpered. Through all of these noises, I was surprised that the people in the carriage didn’t wake up.
“I won’t harm you unless you try to steal from my client again,” I said, thinking that we still needed him as a driver for the noble. He nodded and hurried back to the front with the horses. I shook my head and quietly closed the carriage door. There are the rich, and there are the poor. The only reason why I let him go was that I did not want to delay this any further. Nobles like this Baron will kill anyone who wronged them. I walked back to my carriage, it was about time that I woke Fayette up for her guard. I walked to Fayette, she had a troubled sleeping face, as if behind all of that happiness lies a sad story. I touched her lightly to wake her up.
“Your turn, if you see anyone, wake us up,” I told her.
“O…K,” She said, half asleep. I got back to my bed to try and get some more sleep, eventually, the fatigue came to me as my eyes were filled with darkness.
