One carriage and two horses were given to the group with a month’s ration and also enough silver to last the whole year. Of course, for some quick funds, they always had Harwin who could come up with numerous schemes to earn.

  Viyetral and Grantal rode the horses as they were the ones who were capable to do so while Farelen handled the carriage.

  The carriage was unlike any other. It was made of reinforced high quality material, spacious enough to hold at least ten people and also some ration, also covered from the above with an enhanted layer of leather which could deflect barrage of arrows and basic magika spells as well. The wheels of the carriage were made of wood but also small amout of metal to renforce its core.

  The creature that was to pull it, was a great beast similar to a horse but much massive; it had thick and strong muscles. Its entire back and nape was covered in straight dark hair, which if felt were as sharp as spikes. The beast had fierce eyes and there were very small but noticeable horns on its forehead. Overall, it was a magnificent creature, native to the Great-forest but reserved for war.

  After everyone was ready, they made their way to the edge of the forest where they found a small caravan awaiting them. The leader of it, appeared to be a human.

  Viyetral and Farelen were the ones to get off and meet with the leader to discuss a few details before the beginning the actual journey.

  Kraft sat on the large driver bench beside Farelen who was also his master. Kraft was a stout and hardworking young man, who had no other motives except to prove himself useful to the village.

  Landel, Alisa and Harwin sat quite comfortably in the back.

  Harwin and Alisa were talking to each other whilst Landel’s entire attention was directed to what was happening outside.

  “GOR! COME OUT HERE.” Farelen shouted.

  Harwin rushed out of the carriage and made his way to the captains — standing infront of the caravan master.

  “This is the caravan-master, and he has informed us of some very crucial information: the roads ahead have strict outposts after every ten kilometers or so. These have been set up by the empire of Silfordan, and it is believed that they are trying to find someone or something. They are, in particular, checking out every elf passing through.”

  Viyeteral filled Harwin in on what he had gathered till now before continuing:

  “Now to avoid this, we can travel through a different route which is much longer and harsher, but I am familiar with it. It has rocky terrain through which we must traverse to eventually reach the ‘City of WarLords’ — a settlement headed by the Dwarves.”

  “I see and do you have an estimate of how long the new route will take?” Harwin questioned.

  “By my estimates, it will take a month longer to reach the southern Great-forest, but it could take longer than that.” Farelen answered.

  “I see, do we have a map of the continent. If possible, I would like to check out our options.” Harwin emphasised

  “I have one. I will bring it right out.” The caravan master claimed as he left.

  “It will be better if we do not have to take any route that has not been planned beforehand.” Harwin stated.

  “No, place it there. We will check it out near the carriage.” Farelen instructed the caravan master as he was rushing towards them with a map.

  As the map was spread out, Harwin began to analyze it with great care

  They were currently at the midpoint from the capital. The road to the capital also lead to the Southern Great Forest. Now, the city of warlords was in the opposite direction and was surrounded by mountains. As stated before, it was a difficult terrain to travel through and certainly very far away from their destination. If they followed the original route, it would take them about two weeks or so to reach their destination.

  “Tell me a bit more about these outposts. How many men are in each of them, and how do they usually check the caravans? Also, are they streched out till we reach the southern great forest, which I doubt, as that would be a great waste of man-power.” Harwin questioned.

  “There are usually ten guards on each outposts, and no, they are not spread throughout the entire route. The outposts end at the split of the road which lead to the capital and the great forest respectively. The checking method is pretty straight-forward: if they see any elves, they will definitely stop the carriage, but otherwise, they let others pass without any trouble.” the caravan master answered.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “I see. How long will it take to reach this split?” Harwin asked.

  “It will take less than a week.” The caravan master replied swiftly.

  “Very well, I have a plan, but we will need help from you. Also, I am sorry I did not even ask your name.”

  “No need to be sorry. I am Pyrel, and I will help you in anyway you need. I owe a great deal to Graftel.” The caravan-master reassured.

  “Grateful. Do you have anything that can change colour of hair in your possession or in the possession of anyone else in your caravan?” Harwin inquired.

  “We do have black dye. It is usually used for dying clothes, but I am sure it will work with hair though. I can not guarantee if it will last a long time or not.” Pyrel answered.

  “No issue, we will be dying all of our party members' hair black.”

  Harwin turned to Farelen and Viyetral and laid out his plan:

  “We will not be moving for now, but we will begin our journey in the afternoon or evening. This will increase our chances of not being detected by the outpost guards. It will also lessen the chances of being attacked by outlaws who would expect us to be vulnerable during the night. I know it carries risks, but it is better than having to traverse the mountains.”

  The plan was simple, but there was no opposition by the others. Farelen backed his statments:

  “He has not been wrong since the time he has joined us. I believe it will be safe to trust his judgement. We do not need to worry about getting attacked as there are already outposts from here on out so outlaws would be reluctant to target this route. The black dye will further hide our identity, and we can also wear hoods to further lower any suspicions. Just in case, it will be better for all of us elves to sit in the back of the carriage while Gor or any other human can drive it.”

  “I can see that working, no actually, it will definitely work.” Pyrel supported the idea.

  “I have no objection either as it will be better to save our time and energy early on.” Viyetral gave the final assent

  Why were the ideas of Harwin, a human who one could consider just smart not a genius, be trusted so easily? why were the elves not able to come up with such simple strategies themselves?

  The answer was simple: elves had fought every battle head on, they were brilliant in warfare, but they also had strict code of honour. They never resorted to cheap tricks, most of the times it was even frowned upon to spy or hide from the enemy.

  However, Harwin was well versed in history and thus had knowledge of such tricks and tactics used by various famous generals or commanders. He also looked at things in a different light, in a different perspective than his counterparts. His ideas, which had greatly worked in the favour of the elves in the past, were trusted.

  They laid camp near the edge of the forest for a while, as it was not even noon yet. Meanwhile, Harwin, alongside others, prepared the hair dye. It was being dilutated with a lot of water as applying it in raw form could damage the hair.

  The first one to apply it was Kraft who stepped forward to be the test subject. It worked fine, the color was not entirely black but gave a lighter shade. Overall, it hid the natural blonde hair of Kraft quite well. To test its durability, it was washed off as soon as applied, and just as expected, it faded quite effortlessly due to not being a proper hair dye.

  Alisa was the last one on whom this was applied.

  “Do I look weird?” Alisa asked Harwin after the dye was applied.

  “No, it suits you and matches your eyes as well.” He reassured her.

  She was flattered by this comment and passed a smile, which made Harwin to look away.

  “Children these days have no shame at all, we are still standing here!” Viyetral mocked.

  “Leave them be you old geezer, it is not because of them that you remain unmarried.” Farelen replied.

  Both of them laughed at each other's mocking while Landel was just plain annoyed at this whole banter.

  It was in the afternoon that they began to move again. For the first few hours, there was no one in sight.

  Now Harwin was sitting beside Farelen as he was being taught of how to drive the carriage. It was but for only a few minutes that he had to drive it, but it was still necessary to know how to be in control otherwise it could raise suspicion.

  Once the first outpost was in vision, it was already getting dark. All of the wood-elves went in the back of the carriage while their horses were ridden by humans of the caravan.

  The carriage was moved to the middle of the caravan as to further hide its presence. All was going exactly as they had planned so they began to move along the route without much worry.

  As they approached the outpost, they observed that there was no light coming from there, which was unusual considering the time of the day. Never the less, they continued to move forward, but it was after the caravan began to halt and shouts were heard, that Harwin knocked on the back of the carriage to let the others know of a peculiar situation.

  "What is it Gor? Why has the caravan stopped?” Farelen asked.

  “It looks like there is some sort of problem up ahead. I will go and check it out, but it would be better if captain Viyetral and you can get out of the carriage to prepare for the worst. I have a bad feeling about this.”

  Harwin ran towards the outpost where a lot of caravan members were already gathering. He made his way through the crowd, and to his horror, he found the heads of all the guards on spikes while their bodies no where to be found.

  Harwin rushed back to the carriage — horrified.

  “Someone has killed all the human guards….We might have walked into a trap.....We should turn back. I should have never tried to be overconfident.....it is all my mistake.”

  Harwin was totally panicked. He had observed far worse than this especially in the elfin village, where flayed bodies were hanging from the trees, but he could never get used to these scenes. This incident would prove to be quite detrimental for their journey as fate will lead this party to where it was actually intended to be.