With Vitalia’s insight and Arlene’s enthusiasm, we finalised the nifty logistics part of our small intrepid band. Much to the chagrin of Taltil, I sent her back to Meranvale to keep an eye on ongoing activities. Theko was sent to request a meeting with Beld. If the plan was to succeed, Beld needs to play his part.

Arlene went to collect Esme’s tribe to gather information and arrange our travel itineraries. Naturally, Vitalia followed her mentee. My feelings about Vitalia’s departure were mixed. While on one hand, I find myself appreciating the fae for her profound bits of knowledge and foresightedness, on the other hand, her whip-like tongue makes me want to avoid her presence.

That left me with Maapu. The rest of the goblins that followed us kept their distance from me. In course of observation, I have learned that they prefer to keep Maapu as a buffer between us. Communicating with Maapu, should the need arise for them to directly interact with me. Even though Maapu seemed to be fully aware of this, nevertheless, he seemed unperturbed by this.

“Greetings Vera,” Beld announced his presence.

I dropped the bundle that I was tying and passed it to another goblin.

“You have been busy with your preparation,” said Beld. His tone made it sound as if it were both a question and a statement.

“Ah Beld, I am sorry. I sent Theko to only request a meeting with you. I did not realise that you would personally appear.” I placed my apologies.

“Vera, no need to be formal. We have fought together. We are .... “ he seemed to search for the right word, “companions.” Finally, he completed.

“You are being gracious, Beld."

“I have also brought some dried meat to help you with your journey.” He finally revealed his real intention. Beld was keen on our departure. “Theko is carrying it.”

“I have another request of you Beld.” I approached the matter at hand. “It is nothing complicated. I want you to spread some news, especially among the human settlements around. You have been bartering with them. So you have some standing with the nearby villages.”

Beld’s attitude relaxed when he heard my request.

“Just pass on the word that you are hunting us and that I have cunningly conscripted some youths from your village..... with false promises.”

Beld simply nodded to my request. If he had questions, he did not verbalise them.

“Also, this is important, drop that word The Aberrant Irregulars from Sarenthill, if you can.” Again, Beld simply nodded.

“Anything else you need of me, Vera.” His tone was polite and controlled.

“Nothing Beld, just keep yourself out of trouble. If those from the hunting party approach your tribe. please co-operate, if they wanted you to lead the tracking, do lead them.” I chimed in.

Again Beld simply nodded. It was clear from his demeanour that he had mixed opinions on the suggestions.

“Beld, trust me on this one. You are not betraying me or the goblins by leading the hunt. In fact, I want you to lead the tracking if need be.” I concluded.

After a few friendly farewells, Beld took his leave.

*****

After what seemed a quarter of a day from Beld’s departure, Arlene made her appearance. She brought her usual chipper attitude with her.

“Guess what I managed to deal with the gypsies?” She started with a question. Though it was more of an announcement.

“Well, please enlighten us, poor ignorant folks.“ I said playfully, feigning ignorance.

“Dar was there. So when I told him about Lord Korvanor’s hunting party, he took the news real seriously. I mean, really really to heart and he was prepared to leave immediately. But I convinced him that taking us would be in the best of his interest.” She seemed self-satisfied with her announcement.

“Dar who? is he some barbarian outlaw? and is he also on the run from the law? and we are taking one more person with us?”.

“No, no. He is a peddler. He makes his round frequently in these regions.” She explained it more as a matter of fact.

“And why is he running away from Lord Korvanor’s band?” I had to ask.

“Well, I mean he is a peddlar, don't you see, what Noble’s do to unfortunate merchants and peddlers they run into? “ I guess it was Arlene’s call to be the teacher now.

“I get it. He would be forced to sell his wares for a lower price, under good conditions. The worst scenario would that his goods would be just confiscated for the warbands effort.” I finally understood.

Arlene may not be knowledgeable on the court etiquette or bureaucratic manoeuvre but she is street smart and she is well versed in the lives of common folks. It surprises me little that Vitalia wanted to take her as her mentee.

“I also got ourselves a nice deal. We have a cart now. or we got the cart in exchange for some wild boar meat. Little Esme’s people were already planning on leaving. They are roaming folks, not the type to settle in one place and the kidnapping of Esme was the last straw. Now with the arrival of Merrick, they are more than happy to leave the region. So they are packing everything. One of the carts was a bit in need of repair. Usually, they do not leave their carts, but with the present situation, they just needed a bit of convincing.”

“Great. You are crafty.” I complimented Arlene.

“That’s right. We have a cart, and a Peddler we can escort.”

“So what sort of repair does the cart need?”

“As far as I could tell, just a minor misalignment of the axle and some spokes needs to be fixed.”

“Do we have a draught horse to pull the cart?”

“About that, we do not have a draught horse or any animal, but I figured we can improvise. Get some of the goblins to the yoke and get it moving?”

The picture of me sitting in a cart and whipping some ten goblins chained to the cart, urging them to move forwards flashed across my mind. No, that is a way too stereotyping of the drows.

“That is evil. Even by drow standards.” I had to tell her that.

“Or we can get help from Vitalia. Like ships. She can use her Magic to make it move?” Arlene was enthusiastic about this prospect.

I took a note around to sense if Vitalia was nearby. Once I was certain that she was not in our vicinity, I pulled Arlene close, “One of these days, during our journey, I will have to explain to you what is reasonable and what is taboo to say in Vitalia’s presence.”

“You are a ranger. Good with Animals. Go find horse, friends with horse. Tame horse. Horse pull cart.” Maapu suddenly jumped and voiced his opinion.

“Does not work that way. Takes a bit of effort and time.” She flatly refused.

“How about catching some of the boars and yoking them?” I threw an idea, taking my inspiration from what little I saw of the goblin settlements.

“That might work.”

“Big boars. Thunder hooves. Bad, strong boars, But Dark Mistress, can tame.” Theko finally broke his silence.

“Ah, that one. Well, that would be impossible. Theko means the dire boars. There is a Singular of boars in the forest. But their temperament is not ideal for pulling carts or even riding. I am happy with Indrik. Always felt them to be gentle and easy to communicate with. The dire boars,” Arlene shrugged.

“I understand, the rider's temperament needs to match the mount, right?” I finished her unsaid words.

“We can give up on those dire boars.” agreed Arlene.

“Not if you have a bit of fae magic to support.” Vitalia materialised in our midst. Her usual dramatic manner of appearing.

Without waiting for a response or acknowledgement, she continued, “Consider this as your first bit of practical training. We have no time to waste. Off we go. We have two dire boars to tame.”

TWO. did she really want to tame not one but two? I gave one sorry look at Arlene as she started gathering her arrows.