The party headed back to the village, stopping by the waiting group to report the beaver’s death. The announcement was met with enthusiasm, and while the men left to do their work, the adventurers continued on. For a while they walked in silence, all of them looking forward to food and rest, until Bordan spoke up.

“Well, that’s number three taken care of. And a day ahead of schedule, even. Maybe we have a chance of finishing this after all.”

“Did you have doubts?” Edwin asked.

“Honestly?” Bordan turned around to look at him. “Absolutely. You got mauled during our first fight. The second one was fine, but we got lucky with the terrain. Now three of us took hits, and if we’d been unlucky, it could’ve been a whole lot worse.”

“I didn’t know you were a cynic.” Edwin laughed. “We did alright. We’re almost halfway done and nothing really bad has happened, even though it’s our first adventure.”

“Adventure?” Bordan frowned. “Not the word I’d use. The injuries keep coming, and we don’t have time to rest and heal. It ate your shield, Edwin. How close was it to taking off your arm too?”

“Not very.” Edwin ducked his head defensively. “It was fine.”

“And now you don’t have a shield anymore.” Bordan continued as if he hadn’t heard him. “If we keep going like this, chances are we won’t even make it to seven, let alone back home.”

The party looked at the former soldier in shocked silence. Edwin hadn’t expected a dressing-down after the victory. He noticed the bandage on Bordan’s arm where the beaver’s claws had swiped him.

Maybe I’m taking this too easy because I don’t really get hurt. By the time his injury heals, we’ll already be back in Pel Darni. I need to do a better job protecting them.

“We need to do better.” Bordan said quietly, unknowingly echoing his thoughts. “The fight wasn’t that bad, all things considered, but Edwin was right when he said that we don’t have enough men.”

Salissa flinched, and Bordan waved at her. “I don’t mean that as criticism to you. You used your magic just as we’d planned, right when we needed it. You did fine. We all did. But I’m starting to think that might not be enough.”

Again, there was silence. After a few seconds, Edwin spoke up.

“So what are we supposed to do?”

Bordan sighed. “I don’t have all the answers either. Try harder I guess. We’re winning, so if we concentrate and do our jobs well enough, we might be fine. If we feel like we won’t manage or if we get too injured we stop and head back to the city.” He shrugged.” If any of you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”

He looked at them for a few seconds, then turned to continue onwards.

“Come on.” He called over his shoulder. “Let’s get some rest. We’ve earned it.”

--- ----- ---

While a dark cloud had hung over the party upon their return to Rellick’s Rock, a bath, food and drink did their part to raise everyone’s spirits. Later, they sat around a table in the common room, nursing the last of their ales, when Bordan pulled his backpack from where it leaned behind him and produced the stack of requests. The others looked on curiously, except for Salissa who was falling asleep in her chair.

“Alright.” Bordan said, rifling through the papers and spreading them out on the table. “So far we’ve had an easy journey, but that’s about to change. Tomorrow we’ll stop going south and head east instead. This request is the most time-sensitive one, and the main reason we were sent out here. The group that got injured was on a tour that would’ve included it, but they had to turn back before getting there. This means we’re going a little out of our way.”

He pushed the map into the middle of the table, pointing at their location.

“We’re here, and we need to go there. The problem is that there’s no real road that way, because the people who live here don’t have a reason to go there. If they’re heading to the city, they take the way we came to the northern trade road, while for the inhabitants of…” He squinted at the map. “Mason’s Wood, the eastern trade road is closer. That means we will have to sleep outside at least once, twice if we’re slow.”

This revelation wasn’t exactly met with enthusiasm. They had known that they would most likely need to sleep outside of a settlement on their journey, but none of them were looking forward to it.

“The next few nights are going to be less restful, so I suggest we all get a good night’s sleep. Is there anything else we need to take care of?”

“I need a new shield.” Edwin said after a moment of consideration. “Fighting without one is simply asking for trouble. I may not be able to get one here, but I’ll see if I can buy one tomorrow anyway.”

“I highly doubt you’ll be able to get one here.” Bordan agreed. “A village of hunters, farmers and gatherers has little use for shields, nor for the skills to make one. You can borrow mine.”

“Really? Thanks!” Edwin said, grinning. Bordans shield was much nicer than his had been.

“I’ll be getting it back.” The former soldier told Edwin with narrowed eyes. “This baby has saved my life countless times, if you break it with your big, clumsy paws, you’ll regret it.”

Edwin raised his hands, giving Bordan his most innocent look. “I’ll be extra careful, I promise.”

“Sure you will.” Bordan snorted. He looked at Salisssa, who was in the process of nodding off again.

“I guess we better get to bed, tomorrow will be another fun day of marching.”

--- ----- ---

The next morning saw them gathered in the town square. Bordan had gone off to speak with the headman and joined them after a few minutes.

“I’ve finished the paperwork for the request.” He told them. “He also gave me the money for the carcass. It wasn’t much, just a bronze per person, but that’s better than nothing.”

Edwin raised an eyebrow at the number and Bordan shrugged. “Apparently direbeavers simply don’t have as many valuable parts. The hide was ruined, the shield was cracked, the innards were messed up and a lot of the meat was spoiled. The only part that wasn’t really damaged was the skull, and direbeaver skulls just don’t sell as well as direwolf skulls, even though they’re bigger. They also had to dig out a bunch of Leodin’s bolts, which he didn’t seem to like.”

“Either that, or he’s ripping us off.” Edwin murmured.

“Maybe.” Bordan agreed. “But I have neither the expertise to be able to tell, nor the patience to argue it out. Do you want to?”

Edwin considered it for a moment, but finally shrugged, dropping it.

“Let’s go, then.”

The village’s gate pointed away from the Clawed Woods, they way they needed to go, and the adventurers started heading east. On both sides of the road were fields. The farmers had left while they had been waiting for Bordan and now they passed them while they were going about their daily work. The sun was peeking above the treetops, there was nary a cloud in the sky, and it was looking like the start of another beautiful day. Soon they were back into the forest, the road devolving into a footpath used only by the village hunters. While the villagers didn’t usually travel to the party’s destination, they often ranged and hunted in a large area around their home, and they had easily been able to direct the adventurers for the first part of the way.

Bordan’s shield was strapped to the back of Edwin’s pack. He had spent several minutes admiring the piece, turning it in his hands and trying the fit. It was a standard Harvand heavy army shield, large and triangular, which meant that it was longer than his old round shield, but slightly less wide. The white Harvand gull on a blue background adorned the front, making it look quite pretty. It was also made of metal. Edwin had been surprised to find out that it wasn’t that much heavier than his wooden shield had been, but then again, the wood had been much thicker.

As they walked on, Leodin leading the way through the trees, Edwin’s thoughts started to wander to the times when Walter had needed to camp outside on his way to the laboratory.

He never gave it much thought, but then again, we won’t have the same protections and amenities he had, I’m afraid.