Nostrum: Tales of Valor

Wonted Effort

Enervated eyes peer through expanding flames as logs turn to ember and ash. Acceptance of changing schedules is all but lacking as the four who possess them think over their future endeavors throughout the coming nights. With their horse stopping the wagon on its own and neighing back at them over the threat ahead, Lee tosses himself off the bench and pats at the creature's mane, cooing and shushing in a low voice.

"Not a thing in this world will get us moving through that." He informs, keeping a hand against the black coat as he continues petting. "We'll have to find another way around if we intend to make progress any time soon."

"Any idea as to what might be the source of all this?" Marne steps off the wagon himself and joins Lee at the front, with Hael and Yuler following close behind.

"It's an unfortunately common occurrence in these parts." Hael shakes her head with disgust as the scent of singed bark trails towards her nostrils. "I've never known it to burn this close to an establishment before."

"So the reasoning is known?" Marne concludes in a questioning manner, still waiting for any suggestions as to what they are to do next.

"It's an ongoing act of purification." Yuler sighs as she kicks at the small rocks nearest her feet. "Something must have been nesting nearby, so they lit these woods ablaze to clear whatever it is, out."

"Seems a dangerous way of doing something meant to be helpful."

"This... is the result of losing the efforts Purebloods once put forth." Hael steps back towards the wagon, prepping to lift herself onto the bench yet again. "Without Nostrum, the average person must find their own ways to deal with beasts."

"What will we do now, then?" Marne prods, still having gotten nothing in his search for answers.

"We can either wait out the flames, or we can retrace our steps; heading back towards Crestwood." Lee joins Hael at the reigns, where he awaits the return of Yuler and Marne.

Yuler, not wanting any additional setbacks starts searching for an alternative.

"What about a defensible space?"

"A what, now?" Lee leans against his right knee in an effort to better hear Yuler, as the terminology gets his brain clogged up.

"The area in which they clear to prevent these fires from becoming uncontrollable." Pointing to the right of the wagon, the rest of the group follows her finger. In doing so, they find a crudely carved path- roughly ten to twelve feet in width- that trails off into the deeper end of the woodlands in a curved manner. "It'll be a rather uncomfortable ride over the mounds and whatnot, but it will surely get us to where we are headed in a lesser amount of time than turning back."

"How can you be certain it will do just that?" Lee twists up a cheek as he looks out at the gap, seeing rays of sunlight splinter off through the smoke and branches of what trees remain on the left side of it as they await their fiery demise. "It may break off at a riverbank. There will be no less than two on our way in from here."

"It's a risk we'll have to take. There's only so much daylight for us to travel under and I've no interest in wasting energy on lycanthropes that are not an immediate threat."

Marne flicks a glance in Yuler's direction, with her returning one in the process. Each of them knowing that her reasoning for this is not as simply put as she has made it out to be.

"It sounds to be our best option then." Hael theorizes, passing the reigns off. "If you'd be so kind, Lee."

Grunting, he takes them from her hands and jerks his head back, motioning for Yuler and Marne to return to the wagon.

"If we're going to lose a wheel to this unmarked road, it might as well be sooner, rather than later."

With a pair at the front and another in the rear, the group mushes on. The path proves to be even harsher than it looks, with Yuler and Marne having to redistribute their weight as the wagon rolls across the uneven surfaces beneath them in an effort to keep it upright and avoid causing damage with their added mass. Nearing an hour into this uncomfortable journey, it becomes clear that their progress is faster than it would have been, yet the flames are faster. Hael dabs at her forehead with a roughened rag, attempting to keep what beads of sweat form on it and above it from soaking the wrap around her eyes, Lee fans himself with the same straw hat he had bothered to wear during their now two-day-old harvest, Yuler loosens the leather attire she only wore to set an example, and Marne drenches himself in what little water remains in his canteen.

"I hope Lee's worries are true."

"In what sense?" Yuler asks, now fanning herself with her own hat; holding it in just the right angle that she neither crumples the attached feather nor brushes herself with its fibers.

"I could use a stream of cool water right about now."

Yuler giggles at this, silently agreeing with the statement. She then looks towards the burning treeline, where several small trunks crumple onto the end of the path they had come from before the flames that consumed them grow larger. With a sigh, she begins to regret offering her recommendation.

"We'll be out of this shortly!" Lee hollers, seemingly unsure of whether or not the crackling of the fires have become too loud for those at the rear to hear him clearly. "We've got a clearing coming up in no more than five rotations!" Looking down at a silver watch over his wrist as he calculates this, he puffs and shakes his dazed vision away. "Think I may have indulged in our beverages a little too much for heat like this."

"It would seem that way." Hael agrees, pinching away the odors that come from Lee's sweat-drenched body.

"Not to sound harsh Darling, but you don't smell too fine yourself. Owah!" Lifting his foot off the boards, he clenches at the nose of his shoe and massages the toes within. Hael's expression remains blank on his side, yet expresses a devious grin on the other. "Four rotations! How are things looking back there?"

"No better than they have been!" Yuler shouts back, studying the flames that now illuminate their faces where the sun cannot.

"So worse off, I'd say." He mutters, certain he cannot be heard by anyone other than Hael. "We're close enough now, you lot can pull yourselves further in! Keep cool!"

"If only it were so simple." Marne groans, pulling himself into what shadows remain at the depths of the wagon.

"Perhaps I should have kept quiet." Yuler exclaims, joining Marne whilst maintaining a distance from the additional body heat.

"No, no. You were right to choose this route. I don't believe us to be in a rush, but the sooner we can escape these confines, the better."

"Of course."

"So," Marne begins again, "what made you decide to keep that buckle?" Flicking a finger towards her waist, he awaits a response.

"It is a symbol of what beliefs Cronn once held about the world." Pinching the buckle between her thumb and index, she turns it enough to peer down at the bird within. "A trophy he'd have surely appreciated... if life was any other way than it is. I hope that... by wearing this on our journeys... I can somehow restore some of those beliefs."

"I think Cronn would have appreciated your sentiments. That alone would have satisfied him."

"You think so?"

"Without a doubt." Marne smiles reassuringly before pulling his legs closer to his body and gazing out the rear of the wagon once more. The divided treeline now lingers behind them and the path becomes exceedingly more level.

"We're out of that muck now! How are we holding up?"

"Fine, Lee! We're alright!"

"Yes, however, a bit parched!" As these words reach the front of the wagon, the small slot behind the bench slips open, knocking its sliding door against a wooden block. Moments later, a mostly full canteen sloshes about with Lee's hand protruding through the gap. Marne hastily collects the container and pulls the cork loose, chugging the contents as rapidly as he can, only to gag and spray them all over his own trousers. A deep and knowing laugh rings out as Lee flicks at the reigns. Marne smacks his lips as he looks across at Yuler, who he finds to be giggling as well.

"Booze?"

"Booze."