Lee leaned across the constellations as he gazed across an expansive green plain. It was his first view of what was on the other side of the massive wall.

Vibrant, luscious green grass swayed in waves as a cool breeze swept over the immense plain. There were several dirt roads sprawling outwards from the wall, each connecting a few miles outwards into a singular wide road. He spotted some wagons lined with a white canvas kicking up dirt as they traversed onwards toward their location.

The sight was beautiful. It didn’t have any of the magical or fantastical views Neldam had, but it was more of a natural beauty. Something much more familiar than what Lee was used to in the Shadowgrove.

All of this would have been a sweet and delightful memory if not for the squabble happening behind him.

Glancing over his shoulder with a forced smile, Lee saw, and most definitely heard, Wall Commander Timberson giving an absolutely vicious talk down to the four… cadets? Fellow Soliders? He wasn’t quite sure. Lee inspected each of the four as they each had very different attitudes.

The first one was Jeremy. He stood a little shorter than Lee, only by a few inches, and had medium-length golden-blond hair, wavy but mostly straight. He was apparently a noble, given his original introduction. He was by far the most put together as he stood at attention and held his posture and gaze resolutely as he was talked down upon.

To his left was a younger girl, maybe eighteen or so. She did her best to copy Jeremy but was obviously just following his lead. She repeatedly flinched or swiveled her eyes away from Tomas Timberson every time his ire was directed toward her. She was lean and had red hair done with what Lee would describe as a pixie cut. Her muscles were easily defined across her skin, and most curiously, she wore glasses.

This was a first. Lee never saw much, if any, glassware in Neldam. The thing that immediately jumped to the forefront of his mind was that if they had glasses, they knew how to fix poor vision. If that was the case, why didn’t they have spells to fix it? He inspected the glasses some more and found that they must not have been as well fitted or as sophisticated as the ones he knew from Earth, as she occasionally had to break her rigid attention to slide them back up her cute, small nose.

He tore his gaze away from the mystery of glasses as he inspected a slightly taller man, seemingly in his mid-twenties. He looked average. His shorter brown hair was tucked out of his face behind his ears, and he was slumped forward. He was either not taking the talk seriously or was just numbed to it at this point. Something Lee most definitely believed. He occasionally yawned and patted his hand over his open mouth, causing Timberson’s eye to twitch in annoyance.

The last member of their small group was… The only words that came to his mind were pathetic or pitiful. The man was an absolute mess. He was either in his late twenties or early thirties; it was hard to really tell because of his disheveled appearance. If his unkempt brown scraggly beard and absolute disregard of anything other than the bottle of alcohol he occasionally took a swig from was any indication, this man had issues.

Lee didn’t miss the occasional predatory glance toward Jeremy from him either—a worrying sign.

A heavy weight settling atop Lee’s head knocked him out of his inspection. A large shadow blocked the midday sun from overhead as Lee flicked his eyes upwards. The innocent large ball of yellow feathers, apparently named Kooco, decided that his head was a perch.

“Please get off my head.” Lee glumly asked.

Without a moment of pause, Kooco immediately responded in childlike glee. “Okay!”

Kooco flittered his wings as he ever so slowly descended in a corkscrew through the air around Lee.

When she landed, she just stared at Lee with her large oval eyes. Lee stared back and was the first to break away, causing a little trill to escape her beak. She shuffled over and sat on his feet instead.

“Your name is Kooco?” Lee asked.

Kooco tilted her head backward to look at Lee's face as she excitedly responded.

“Yes! My name is Kooco! Meriah has named me so, friend Lee Barnes!” Kooco tilted her head innocently as she finished.

Lee was about to ask what sort of creature she was when he paused.

“I never gave you my name?” Lee stated questioningly.

Without breaking eye contact or losing her glee, she responded.

“That is correct, friend Lee Barnes! You’re very smart! I like your glowly eyes!”

Lee was about to ask how she knew his name when Wall Commander Timberson approached, followed by the four others. Jeremy looked very enthused even though he had just been thrashed by words alone not a minute ago, causing Lee to raise an eyebrow. Timberson gave a formal salute and casually dropped an absolute bomb on Lee.

“These four will travel with you for the foreseeable future.”

Lee casually looked from Timberson to the rest, then back. He blankly stated. “Do I have any say in this?”

Timberson fiddled with his mustache as he waved his hand towards the four. “You’re free to enter the Kingdom and go wherever you please…”

He paused before he continued less confidently. “... someone with your amount of prestige shouldn’t be without protection. We, the Kingdom of Thexis, would be remiss if we didn’t show our hospitality.”

That was such a load of horseshit that Neia probably caught wind of it. At first, Lee wanted to refuse instantly, but after thinking about it a bit more, it might be helpful to be around locals—Especially a noble. If Lee wanted to spread a good word about Dark Elves, a noble would be a good starting spot. He could also use them for directions and.., if he was being honest, he was somewhat lonely after traveling for two weeks alone.

He locked eyes with Jeremy and saw the mild pleading look on his face. He sighed as he locked eyes with Timberson. It was obvious to all around that the reason was complete bullshit, but Lee decided to make it easy on them.

“That sounds wonderful.” Lee looked away from Timberson to scan his new companions.

“My name is Lee Barnes, a traveling healer. I hope we all get along.” Lee tried to give a genuine smile, but from the looks the other gave him, it must have looked forced. They winced.

Jeremy took a step forward as he released a giant held in breath. He held his right arm over his heart as he gave a very formal bow, bending over nearly ninety degrees.

“Jeremy Blight, third son of Jeremiah Blight, Lord of Felispar. A pleasure.” He took a step back, returning into line as Meriah took a step forward.

She also gave a bow, hand over heart. When she rose, she pushed her glasses up and stuttered out a greeting.

“Meriah Camp… A friend of Kooco is a friend of mine.” She turned back into line, causing the yawning man to step forward and continue on the bowing tradition.

“Belgrate, no surname. A pleasure.” He returned back, but the last member didn’t step forward.

The older man took a swig from his bottle and just grunted and gave a nod. Lee just gave him a look of pity, which the man didn’t enjoy. Jeremy spoke up after some awkwardness.

“That is Kendri.”

Lee kept his eyes on Kendri for another second before he looked away toward Timberson, seeing him furious—a vein throbbed on his forehead.

“I was planning to leave as soon as I could, but if these four need to gather their things, I can do a round of healing for your… Troops?” Lee hoped that was the correct word.

Timberson’s furious expression flipped around to one of concern. He started to shoo the others away to grab their things as he spoke.

“They are well trained and ready to depart whenever the need arises…”

Lee watched as they stumbled and rushed down the hatch they had come up from. Meriah actually came back up to pick up Kooco and drag him down the hatch as well. Lee turned to look blankly at Timberson, causing him to sweat.

“... Also, we wouldn’t be able to afford your impeccable services. Our funding is limited as we must spend what we have on resources to function and for defenses.”

Lee wasn’t planning on being asked for any pay, but it seemed that Timberson assumed that it was a given. He merely nodded his understanding.

Timberson led Lee down the hatch, and after traversing the narrow and damp halls of The Wall, they arrived out on the other side— no purple grass whatsoever.

There were some stables and barn-like buildings attached along the wall at multiple intervals, holding wagons, tools, handcarts, and the like. Timberson whistled loudly, and another nervous soldier appeared. They had a small discussion about securing a wagon, and soon enough, a wooden wagon with a white top, similar to what Lee would have expected during the Gold Rush of America would look like, appeared.

Lee inspected the wagon, finding it obviously used but not damaged. When he made his way to the front, he saw the animals that pulled it.

At first, Lee thought that they were horses. But, upon further inspection, they had a few differences. These horses had more angular features and small, beady black eyes. They still had the same fur, mane, and tail, so their appearance didn’t throw him off too much.

That was until one opened their mouth, revealing a coiling mass of rippling flesh. Its forked tongue shot towards the ground like a frog, yanking a chunk of grass from the ground and carrying it towards its mouth.

Lee side-eyed Timberson, seeing that the man had no reaction toward the horse's feeding habits. Lee had to use Identify.

Lee narrowed his eyes at the horse and gave a long hum. Timberson caught the sound and strode over to inspect the horse as well.

“Are there any issues you have with the horse? We have many others that could be used as a replacement.”

Lee continued to stare at the horse, and he could have sworn the small beady eye stared back.

“The horse is fine. Don’t mind me.”

As he finished, he saw the small, beady black eye swivel away from him.

Suspicious…

The door they came from was opened, revealing Jeremy, Meriah, Belgrade, Kendri, and Kooco. They all immediately started putting their various belongings into the back of the wagon without any further instruction.

They didn’t seem to have much, a bag or two each. He noticed that Meriah didn’t seem to have any at all. He was about to ignore the peculiarity of it when he noticed the familiar-looking bag hanging on her waist. That caused Lee to show some interest.

Soon enough, everything was loaded onto the wagon. Timberson spoke to each of the four soldiers joining him privately before coming over to speak with Lee one last time.

“I hope you enjoy your stay in the Kingdom of Thexis. If you have any needs or concerns, every city has a garrison fit to hold a platoon. Those with you shall see you through.”

Lee hopped into the back of the wagon, settling down next to Jeremy on a rough plank seat. He gave thanks to Timberson and waited for them to be on their way.

After around thirty seconds, Lee looked around the back of the wagon, counting the number of people. They all looked at each other in silence. Lee spoke up.

“So, who’s driving?”

They all looked at each other awkwardly.