The world of Alterra was one that held many secrets. Those who strode upon the ground might have issues dealing with the things that hid just out of sight. Those who flew high in the air where the clouds were born might miss obvious things that they would have seen were they below the canopy of the forest. Thus it was that Scott had suggested a course of action that had proven to be most beneficial.

High above the forest the eyes of a dragon watched over the slow but steady progress of the caravan below. Scarlet sought signs of life that would potentially prove dangerous to Scott and the trader his team had sworn to protect.

Deanna roved the trails ahead, her speed and excellent senses would allow her to be the eyes inside the forest. She might have been an office worker for the most part, but she was still a demi-human bunnygirl. They had the senses of a rabbit, and the intellect of a human being.

Scott's little group was not the only security that the caravan had. There was also a small mercenary force made up of several amazon groups and a scant few human adventurers. Every wagon also had a trained gunner riding shotgun, or in Scott's case the shotgunner walked beside the wagon.

No one anticipated trouble on the trail with this number of guards, but that was often the case with caravans. Sometimes bandits did not care about numbers, and predatory monsters rarely cared about anything but fresh meat.

The only problem that Scott had with the caravan was the fact that it was an actual wagon train. There were motorized vehicles in this world. Hell, he had ridden the bus in order to reach Ervice. What was with the horse and buggy deal? Couldn't these people afford a van or something? What about a paid cargo company or a train?

His thoughts were voiced to the man who had hired his group, Galrin Tomas. The older man responded with a bright smile. "Well, that would be nice but a transport car is so damned expensive that it's hard for us small time merchants. There's no train to where we're going either."

"I suppose you don't trust shipping things?" asked Scott.

Galrin laughed. "No, and neither should you. If it is just one or two inexpensive items they usually make it through alright. That much is true whether it's by truck or magical means. When you have a cart load of stuff to trade, a few things tend to fall off of the back of that truck or portal transport."

A slight nod of the head was Scott's answer. It made sense. "There's no truck rental in this land?"

"Truck rental? What do you mean, lad?" asked Galrin curiously.

"You know, a company allows you to pay a small fee plus security deposit to drive their truck, and then you return it to another area where that company has a local office."

Galrin shook his head. "No, it would be a terrible risk. I think I know what you're talking about, but the only sort of thing that I can recall hearing about that works like that is the hourly movers in some of the large cities."

"Hourly movers?"

"Yes, they let you borrow a moving truck for an hour so you can move from one part of the city to the other, but the vehicle completely dies if you leave the city gates. You have to pay for a few hours in advance because the truck will die on you when time runs out." said Galrin.

"Ah, so something like that only happens in the big cities?"

Galrin nodded. "True, much easier just to hire someone to move your stuff and ride along with them if you live in a smaller town."

"They don't do that for moving stuff from town to town?" asked Scott.

"Yeah, I spose they do. That goes back to the shipping companies, though. Can't really trust 'em. I've known people who hired shipping companies and ended up having the company rob them blind and leave them in the middle of nowhere." said Galrin.

"Seriously? There has to be a way to tell that's going to happen!"

"If only that were true. There's major movers from one location to another, but they have shipping schedules and high fees. They don't always work well with us small merchants since we need to sell when we need to sell."

Galrin took a breath and sighed. "We're stuck moving things ourselves or hiring a smaller shipping firm. Smaller firms sometimes end up being bandits."

"Do trucks and vans cost a lot?" asked Scott after a moment of reflection. He would like a vehicle, though it would need to be pretty big to haul Rowan around unless he simply left her in one spot and summoned her.

The old merchant inclined his head once. "It's not a bad expense, but they cost more to maintain than a horse and cart. Plus, most towns have an entrance fee that has to be paid when something like that comes rolling up to the gate."

"I see, so you would have to pay every time you enter a town?"

"Depends on the town. Most of the bigger cities have a special transport and freight pass that you can buy. Have to buy one for every major town, though, and they only last for a month most of the time. A few capital cities have passes that last up to a year, though."

"Why do they charge for trucks entering a town? Don't they charge for carts?"

Galrin shook his head then glanced over to Scott. "Not usually. Thing is, a horse and cart aren't likely to cause that much trouble. A horse can be stopped with a paralysis spell fairly easily if it goes wild." He became thoughtful for a moment before he nodded his head once more. "A high-speed truck can usually only be stopped by blowing it up, or if there's someone around who specializes in stopping mechanical devices. That's a rare trick compared to other mages."

Scott rubbed his chin. Anti-technology mages were rare. That might be something to look into in the future.

While Scott and Galrin continued their conversation, Rowan kept pace alongside of them. The speed of travel was slow for her, as the horses only plodded along. Still, it was nice to be near her master and out on the road.

The centaur gazed out at the horses and the other people in the small caravan. There were six wagons, and around ten people walking along behind the carts while they carried small bags and backpacks. For a moment she had a thought along the lines of her master's questions for Galrin. If that was all those people were carrying, why had they not simply taken the bus?

Rowan glanced over to her master while he engaged in animated discussion with their employer. Scott walked along beside the man's wagon easily enough, but that did not make her feel better about the situation. A centaur had her pride. She was no mere horse. Centaurs only took their mate upon their backs in one fashion or another. Scott, for all his charms and deft hands, was only her temporary master while they decided what they wanted.

She looked away from him and sighed softly enough that she was not heard by anyone. It would not be wise to continue on that train of thought for the moment. They had a job to do, and she had a sense of self-respect to maintain. Even so, the occasional stray thought would cross her mind that involve her master riding her bareback at a hard gallop across the grass lands. When those thoughts rose up a goofy little smile crossed her normally stoic lips. There was even the occasional bit of drool for her to surreptitiously wipe away.

Once, the image cropped up so strongly that she murmured, "Yes, hold on tight and ride me hard master..."

"Hmm?" asked Scott as he looked toward Rowan. "What was that?"

Her eyes widened and she coughed a little. "Nothing... My throat's a little dry, master." She looked around quickly then up into the air. "Ah, it seems that the sky is quite blue at this time of day."

Scott offered her a flat expression for a moment then he looked up at the sky. She was right. It was quite blue.

The slime queen, Aruna, was perhaps the oddest member of the security forces. She did not move quickly enough across the ground over long distances to keep up with the caravan. Instead, she was allowed to ride inside of an otherwise empty large clay pot. She would get to surprise any would-be bandits greatly by playing mimic guardian. Admittedly, the fact that she could actually fit inside of a clay pot had been a surprise for Scott and company.

Aruna could have quite a bit of mass if she wanted to exert full power. Her mass was generated by her unique magical slime queen powers. She had a strong talent for magic, though her only other truly great ability other than creating more mass was for acid generation. There was a possibility for further development of magical abilities in the near future as she regained her lost levels.

Once she had joined with Scott permanently, she had reverted to level one. Her level was the lowest out of the bunch currently, though she was still among the most powerful. Out of the girls, only Scarlet's fire abilities posed any actual threat to Aruna due to the extreme resistance to physical damage that her race enjoyed. Unless her core was damaged by a physical attack, such attacks were practically useless.

Truth be told, however, the slime queen was too busy napping to be of any real use at the moment. It was hot and she was rattling along inside of a pot. There was little to do in that situation other than sleep.

Time passed quickly. Soon, the travelers were only a short few hours from their final destination. However, they were long into the heat of the day and the horses would need to rest for a while. The caravan reached their agreed upon first stopping point and people began to tend to their animals. The merchants who had traveled on foot chose to rest in various locations, and many people had a meal.

Deanna came back after a short time, and she had a break with everyone else, save for Scarlet. The dragon opted to remain alert for the time being.

Aruna continued to sleep in the pot while Scott and the other girls shared their meal. Mina sat next to her master and smiled sweetly at him for a moment while she nibbled on her salad.

Scott glanced at what she was eating then looked over to Deanna, who was surprisingly eating a beef steak sandwich. "Weird, the cow eats rabbit food and the rabbit eats a cow."

Mina pouted at Scott. "Don't tease me... so much."

"You can tease me again if you like." said Deanna sweetly, before she took another bite of her sandwich.

Rowan swished her tail from side-to-side and ate her sandwich as well. The dinner conversation seemed like it might be quite amusing today.

For a time the conversation was as interesting as it had seemed that it would be. The girls all spoke of their interests, and a few goals were shared. Scott mentioned his thoughts on the subject of building a mercenary force. All went well until near the end of the lunch break.

A sudden loud burst of sound echoed through the area. One of the people near the front of the caravan fell back heavily against a cart then dropped to the ground. Scott barely had time to blink before he was up shouting orders. The caravan was under attack.

Scott shouted "Aruna!" and summoned the sleeping slime queen forth. She appeared in a bright flash of light, and sluggishly began to form into a humanoid female shape.

The sound of dozens of guns firing echoed through the clearing. She reacted quickly despite her surprise. Her body mass exploded outward due to the shock of suddenly being thrust into such a situation. Her natural reaction to confusion and danger, though unintended, provided a needed wall between the armed gunmen and the group.

Scott's first duty was to Galrin and his team. Scott did want to help the others in the caravan, but he had his priorities. He gave orders to each of the girls and laid out a quick plan for them to use in order to protect their meal ticket.

"Aruna, form your mass into a semi-circular wall to protect Galrin and his goods." Scott turned away from the slime girl and looked to the others. "You girls take up positions near the cart and protect Galrin while I take up a firing position."

The girls did as instructed then Scott worked in tandem with Aruna to create a firing position that changed frequently. She created a second wall of slime behind him and opened a small slit in the forward wall for him to fire through. After a few shots were fired on both sides, the bandits began to focus their attacks more accurately. Scott was nearly hit twice, and opted to change positions.

The firing position would change several times after that. Once the bandits found a decent vantage point to aim at him, he would relocate to another part of Aruna's defensive wall and open up a new firing position.

While Scott's team protected Galrin, the amazons who were also tasked with guarding the caravan took up firing positions of their own. The bandits were numerous and had the advantage. This lead to the Amazons only being able to provide suppression fire, as it was difficult to hit the well-entrenched highwaymen. A few of the tribal terrors took injuries and were forced to fall back and heal.

Scott hatched a new plan. Aruna separated into two distinct masses. One remained behind and created a shorter, but thicker wall. The other mass slipped low across the ground while Scott performed an army crawl across the ground behind it in relative safety. Head low, ass even lower, he worked his way through the battlefield.

They used rocks and wagons as cover to the best of their ability. Soon they had flanked the bandits. It became obvious that they were well entrenched, as they had dug pits behind large rocks and fallen logs.

From the road no one would have noticed the trap waiting for travelers. It seemed likely that the bandits had been well-hidden in their holes until the caravan had stopped. Once the caravan was at its most vulnerable, directly after a meal and before everything was packed up once more, the bandits attacked from relative safety.

Scott fired on the men he saw there and easily scored hits on a few of them. Surprised by the sudden arrival of a deadly threat, the bandits were temporarily easy targets. After the first few among them dropped, they were forced to split their attention between Scott and the amazons.

It was then that things became even worse for the stupid bastards. "Aruna. It's time."

The slime queen laughed merrily. A small portion of her essence broke off from the mass protecting her master then slithered fearlessly across the ground toward the enemy position.

"Shit! The slime's coming!" snapped one of the bandits.

Several of the haggard looking men opened fire on the slime, but their bullets were useless against her. She reached the nearest man then laughed as she washed over him like a tidal wave of goo. He screamed in agony as her acid began to dissolve his flesh.

The poor murder-minded bastard was apparently at a high enough level that it took a while for the acid to kill him, not that it mattered. Dead was dead, and few people could survive unprepared against a slime queen with dinner on her mind. Aruna had two uses for men, food and breeding stock. She already had a master, or what she thought of as a husband, so the poor bastard could hold no place within her save for what she considered to be her stomach.

The remaining bandits tried to flee from their holes, but the moment that they did, the amazons tore into them with heavy gunfire. Even a few arrows made their mark from Rowan's bow. She had been tasked with firing he she could get a shot. Six bandits had their lives torn away before they were forced back to their holes.

"Aruna, come back. It's time." Scott told her. The slime queen made a cute noise. She had been having fun playing with the boys. Still, she obeyed her cute husband. It was adorable how he gave orders like he was in charge.

The bandits reacted excitedly to the surprising withdrawal of the slime queen. A few even foolishly thought that they had frightened her off. They were wrong, so very wrong.

A horrific scream pierced the air followed by a terrifying battle cry. It was the roar of a dragon. Scarlet appeared on scene and dived down with great ferocity, she unleashed a stream of dragon fire upon the bandits that completely demoralized the beleaguered gunmen. Scott had used his prerogative as a demi-human trainer to communicate with Scarlet from a distance before the plan had gone into place.

If an armed firefight with Amazons and a slime queen were not enough, they now had the unstoppable flames of a fierce red dragon to contend with. There was not enough gold in the world to deal with a battlefield such as the one they had foolishly created.

Scarlet's second assault dive sent the few surviving gunmen from the first assault screaming away from the battle. The flame burned everything in its path, and even continued to burn atop the rocks for several seconds after she swooped back up into the sky.

Once the gunmen were forced out of their safety zone, the amazons opened fire and picked off a few of them on their own. It was not long before the enemy began to try and flee into the forest, but it was a good distance from where the camp had been made. Only five of them made it to the wood-line.

The amazons clenched their weapons in their fists then chased after the men who had run into the woods. It was not long before their agonized screams reached the ears of those remaining in the clearing.