The long caravan rolled along the broad, winding road. Ryan had finished his daily meditation and was gazing out the window at the boundless, peaceful beauty of the Golden Plains. Thinking back on the hardships of the past month, he sighed. "We're finally almost there. I've had quite enough of those stubborn, crazy Orcs."
After the attack the other night, Ryan had managed to deal with the remaining Orc warriors. He and Jelona had also covered up and cleared away the traces of the battle.
But after three or four peaceful days of travel, the Orc tribe had sensed that something was amiss and sent skilled trackers to follow the caravan's trail.
The initial probing attack was thwarted by the Half-elf Ranger on patrol and her adventuring companions. As the Orcs gradually tested the caravan's defenses and realized how formidable it was, they eventually guessed who was responsible for the disappearance of their raiding party.
So, for the next half month, the Orcs began harassing and attacking the caravan around the clock. Day or night, several Orc Wolf Riders were always trailing far behind the caravan. From time to time, they would form small groups and launch probing attacks against the unwary travelers, tormenting the caravan guards and those constantly responsible for its vigilance and defense, including Jelona and the Dwarf Kasla.
Faced with the Orcs' strategy of wearing them down, Ryan had no good solution. At first, he had caught the Orcs off guard and taken out a small group of Orc Wolf Riders with a combination of invisibility, Magic Missile, and Fireball. But that didn't seem to give the Orcs pause. Instead, it enraged the bloodthirsty brutes, and their attacks and harassment grew even more frequent.
Although every attack left behind one or two of their companions' corpses, the ruthless Orcs seemed not to care at all. They kept right on as before, like greedy hyenas salivating over prey and relentlessly hunting down stragglers in the wilderness.
The caravan members were helpless and miserable in the face of such crazed, dogged Orcs. One careless moment might bring an Orc's arrow flying out of the darkness, or a frenzied warrior wielding a greataxe charging from the roadside. By then, the number of people wounded or killed in ambushes throughout the caravan had already exceeded the number lost in the earlier battle.
If Ryan hadn't realized how bad things were and kept Magic Alert and Spell Eye active all day, watching the surroundings alongside the vigilant Half-elf Ranger, the caravan's losses might have multiplied several times over.
Ryan was exhausted by it all. He had even used up two of the stamina potions he'd been saving before he finally managed to hold out until the caravan had left the Everlasting Wasteland and reached the outskirts of human settlements.
The Orcs' attacks were so savage and relentless that everyone in the caravan was on edge. Without the adventurers taking turns keeping watch day and night, Sphinx's promise to double their pay upon reaching Waterdeep, and the confidence inspired by the mysterious Mage traveling with them, the whole caravan might have collapsed under the strain of the grueling pace and constant fear.
Even so, during the final few days, even the team's most energetic member—the slow-witted barbarian with the bluntest reflexes—had grown listless, desperately hoping for the journey to end.
When they reached the edge of the Everlasting Wasteland, near the territory controlled by Yartar, the Orcs, having pursued them all the way with little to show for it, realized their efforts were futile and organized one final attack.
But Ryan, with a bellyful of pent-up anger, simply cast Fly and took to the sky with two layers of Spell Shield protecting him. He peppered the attackers from above with Magic Missiles and Fireballs, driving them off and leaving behind a heap of severed limbs.
By the time they reached Yartar, the exhausted, dispirited caravan had finally regained its morale, and everyone was able to breathe again. They decided to rest in Yartar for two days, and everyone gradually recovered.
During that time, Sphinx privately sought Ryan out twice to thank him sincerely for protecting the caravan on the road. He also promised that there would be a generous reward waiting for him when they reached Waterdeep.
"Hey, have you finished today's lessons?" The Half-elf Ranger's cool, melodious voice sounded beside him.
Ryan, who had been lost in thought, looked over at the beautiful Half-elf riding toward him on a Black Panther after finishing her patrol. He smiled. "Of course. How about you? Done with your patrol?"
The Half-elf curled her lips. "We're already on the Golden Plains. What is there to patrol for? The troops Waterdeep sends out every year aren't just for show. Now the only danger along the trade routes is the endless Goblins. It's not like before." Thinking of the savage, frenzied Orcs they had encountered, the Half-elf still felt shaken.
"Still, better safe than sorry. We're almost at Waterdeep. Have you really made up your mind?" Ryan didn't want to bring up that painful, grueling experience again, so he quickly changed the subject.
"Of course. I said we'd face it together. An Elf's promise, remember?" Jelona raised an eyebrow and shot an annoyed glance at the Mage, who was smiling faintly in the carriage.
Ryan smiled but said nothing more.
Over the past month, Ryan and Jelona had kept watch together, talked, and fought side by side. They had already formed a deep friendship.
Ryan hadn't expected that the Half-elf beauty who had seemed so aloof and unapproachable when they first met would turn out to be a chatterbox with a warm heart beneath her cool exterior. She often came to talk with him while they stood watch at night, asking him, with his vast knowledge and erudition, about the many legendary tales of Faerûn. She seemed to have gotten hooked and came to seek him out every night.
In return, Jelona shared stories of her own adventures.
Jelona had grown up in the Moon Forest as a Half-elf, and she had never understood why her mother, a beautiful, long-lived Elf, had fallen in love with her father, a second-rate bard.
It wasn't that her father had been a bad man. In her childhood memories, Jelona had liked the handsome man who used to lift her high in the air and tell her all sorts of bedtime stories.
Whenever he was with her and her mother, the man had always been gentle. While her mother prepared dinner, he would play with her, happily crawling around on all fours as her personal pony while the little girl shouted excitedly from his back. Then her mother would pretend to be angry and call them both to dinner. The image of their happy family of three laughing together at the table still seemed so vivid.
But the more loving he had been, the harder it was for Jelona to accept that one day, after receiving a message from far away, the man had said that an old comrade needed his help. He had said goodbye to her reluctant mother and to the little girl who was still too young to understand, then left and never came back. All he left behind was her mother, staying at home, grieving and sorrowful day after day, weeping her eyes out.
Later, her mother took the young Jelona back to her own homeland, the Moon Forest, so she could grow up alongside the Elves her own age.
Though the kind Elves were not prejudiced against the Half-elf girl with human blood, she still couldn't get along with the quiet, peaceful Elves. The stubborn girl worked with all her might to come first in every test and training exercise, hoping only to make her mother happy. But when she returned home, she would often find her mother gazing into the distance, filled with longing and sorrow.
Jelona simply couldn't understand why a man who had loved her mother and their family so much would leave them so decisively. Deep down, she had even become intensely curious about and resentful of the man she called "father."
When she grew up and learned that the shameless man had once been an adventurer, she also heard the real reason for his departure from her mother. Jelona left the familiar Moon Forest without hesitation and set out on the path of an adventurer.
She wanted to understand why that man had abandoned his family for the sake of it. Deep down, she even hoped that one day she might meet him on her travels and ask him to his face whether he had ever regretted it.
After growing up some and going on various adventures, Jelona gradually learned to hide behind a cold exterior. She also slowly found companions she could trust and rely on to watch her back. But that, too, was a long story.
Watching the Ranger before him, her thoughts far away and sorrowful nostalgia unconsciously appearing on her lovely face, Ryan pondered for a moment. Then he softly murmured a magic incantation and cast his modified Frost spell. With superb spellcasting skill and delicate control, he carefully shaped the magical construct. A beautiful, crystalline Moonflower in full bloom slowly took form in his hand.
Ryan called to the Half-elf Ranger outside the window and casually handed her the flower made of ice. "Here. I don't know what you're thinking about, but I'll give you a Moonflower. It's a specialty of the Moon Forest, a symbol of purity and beauty. Hope it makes you happy."
Jelona stared blankly at the beautiful flower held in a pale, delicate hand.
"Don't just stand there gawking. It won't melt. It's made of ice, shaped with magic, and cast at enhanced strength. If it's not up to spec, I'll give you ten times your money back. It'll last a week; come find me when the time's up. If you don't want it, then forget it." Seeing Jelona frozen in surprise, Ryan spoke with mock annoyance.
Coming back to herself, Jelona immediately took the icy flower from Ryan's hand and carefully turned it over in hers, rubbing it gently as she studied it. She shot him a glance. "Why wouldn't I want something you gave me? You said yourself, ten times the money back if it's not up to spec. I'll have to see if it really 'delivers.'" After traveling with Ryan all this way, Jelona had slowly picked up a few of his strange new expressions, though she didn't seem to have quite mastered them yet.
After speaking, Jelona couldn't take her eyes off the beautiful ice flower, which gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight. A radiant, joyful smile bloomed across her face, and a blush crept to the tips of her ears.
"Hey, I'm taking this flower! If it doesn't live up to what you said, I'm coming after you!" The Half-elf tried to look angry as she made the threat, but she couldn't suppress the smile tugging at her lips. After making her declaration, she rode off on her Black Panther, embarrassed.
Seeing that the Half-elf Ranger had cheered up, Ryan smiled too as he watched Jelona ride away.
Looking along the distant, winding River Dessarin, Ryan watched as more and more travelers and couriers appeared on the road beside the caravan.
A few wisps of cooking smoke rose from a village in the distance. Farmers carrying hoes walked in small groups along the paths through the fields. Ryan could almost see the towering walls and imposing gates of Waterdeep before him.
Ryan reached into his shirt and touched the quest item tucked safely away, feeling the coolness of the Magic-Sealing Stone. Smiling, he murmured to himself, "The Zhentarim's major undertaking, the Mages Guild's series of moves... Looks like this is going to be one spectacular show."
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