It had been a long, harsh journey, travelling between the Nation of Tanbori to Noaria. The travelling party had to cross two other nations; the Republic of Capory and Naples. It was a three-month trek on horseback and cart, and the group on this was already two months in.

The company consisted of four horse riders, one cartridge driver, and two men riding on the cartridge with driver, the final member of this party was a small male who was locked up in a special crate that had an open sidelined with iron bars and the other sides thick heavy wood no one could escape on their own.

Rain fell heavy this day, causing everything to be cold; the grey sky may have been more accessible on the eyes, but that was all this day made easier. The horses and cartridge had to redirect several times, avoiding high waters and deep mud. Where they all would prefer to find a spot and wait this mess out, all the men out of the cage had orders for their King to get their package back to the Kingdom of Noaria as quickly as possible.

Reglan, one of the horse riders, was in charge of keeping an eye on the boy in the cage. Making sure that he was kept alive on the journey back. He and his horse, Birch, generally rode right up next to the back of the cart. Other than a few short comments from the rest of the men, Reglan's voice was only one the, barely into adulthood, prisoner was accustomed to.

Because of the rain and the mud, Reglan had to ride quite a way back to not get in the way. So he was keeping an eye on the boy from afar. This typically very fidgety creature was rather sluggish today, which the weather could be blamed, but there was something else. He studied him closely, watching how he breathes went up and down in the position he sat with his head between his knees that he had tucked up to his chest.

"Captain! Hold the line!" He yelled and moved up to the cart once it was stopped. Reglan was usually the companies animal specialist keeping the horses up to par and whatever else they were given to work with up and running. Even saved their skin a few times by knowing how to deal with a couple of wild cougars once. So though he wouldn't claim to know this boy, he was skilled at helping things that couldn't communicate with him.

"What's wrong?"

"If I am correct, I think there is something wrong with the boy." he hollered up. He knew that he wouldn't hear the end of it for the rest of the trip if he was wrong.

The Captain gave the signal for the other men to take their positions while he went back to hand Reglan the key to the bars. "What do ya think wrong with the boy?"

"Hell if I know," he said, opening the barred door; he hopped up, sitting in the small unoccupied space. He reached over and nudged the blond; at first touch, he could tell his skin was as cold as ice. When he didn't respond, he grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his position to get his attention.

"You awake there?" he asked, but he already knew the answer seeing the boy's eyes were wide open. "Get me the med bag and an extra blanket." Reglan half ordered, and he moved out, pulling the boy with him.

"Don't let him out of there; what are we going to do if he runs off?" the Captain stands as he tried to block his movements.

"I'd rather have to do a man chase than explain to King Nicodeme why he was dead on arrival."

The Captain backed off, allowing his man to do what he needed. He called to one of the men to grab what was requested. The Captain sat back and watched Reglan as he stripped the prisoner of his cold, wet clothing and quickly threw him into some spare clothes in his personal bags, then wrapping him in the blankets. Reglan hung the med case on the side of his horse's saddle.

He claimed back onto his horse, pulling the blond up on the horse, positioning him to where his hands were stuck between Reglan and himself.

"He is hypothermic; I can attempt to keep him warm until we get to the next town."

"This is Naples, the nearest town isn't for another three days."

"Then we need to find a dry place to buckle down and make a fire."

"We'll see what we can do." The Captain turned, grunting to himself ever since they were given this mission. Reglan had acted more of the leader than he had, tossing orders and outright disrespecting him. When they got back home, he was going to rip him into shreds.

"MOVE OUT" the Captain yelled, and the party started on the road again.

Reglan looked down at what he would call a kid, he was an adult, but he was still half a century younger than he was. Though Reglan himself didn't look much older than this "kid", his father was an elf and thus was the cause of why this very much human-looking man was still in his prime at the age of seventy-three.

"Your gonna have to own me a drink there Tacitus, the Captain would have let you die if I wasn't here," he said. Talking more to himself than Tacitus even though it was directed to him.

Reglan felt the boy's head movements and the words he spoke hit the older half breed right where his blood pumped.

"You should have done the same."