NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY: The Adventures of the Creeping Bam (BOOK 1: The Job)

CHAPTER SEVEN: ART

Night falls early here in the Northern Reaches. If we travelled only when the sun was still out we wouldn't get anywhere really, so once dusk begins we just keep on going, Kesla breaking out the torches so Gael can light them with a quick casting. This gives the horses and the ones without nightvision another few hours as we ride into the deepening gloom of the forest. Yeslee abandons her horse and forges ahead on foot once the light starts to leave the sky, and we catch odd glimpses of her ahead, mostly beyond the torchlight now, but she can almost see better in the dark than during the day. The fir bolg are one of the sentient races that remain closest to nature, so she's in her element right now.

By the time the sun's gone and the sky's turning black, the trees are starting the thin out as the ground grows more rocky, then we finally break out of the trees and the Hunter's Pass looms around us. We've traversed a few minor passes and ridges and smaller valleys since leaving Hocknar's province, but this is where the mountain wilderness truly begins, marking the end of civilisation until we've cleared the range. From here on ain't no law but nature's, so we gotta keep our wits about us.

Kesla calls a halt to our journey for the night, so Wenrich wheels the cart off the road at the edge of the treeline and we picket the horses for the night, Yeslee taking several minutes to whisper reassurances to them so they hopefully won't wander. The torches are stuck into the ground around the perimeter of the camp and the night-blind members of the party start prepping beds and begin lighting a fire while me and Yeslee go out and gather more firewood within the trees.

It's peaceful out here tonight. With winter coming in much of the birdlife have flown south for warmer climes, while some of the mammals are preparing burrows and feeding up fat reserves for hibernation. Up here where the range dominates the land we're seeing less animal life in general, so Yeslee shot us a fat stag in one of the lower valleys. We might not see much more fresh meat before we reach the lowlands on the far side.

Once we've found enough dried twigs and fallen branches we tie up a few decent sized bundles with rope ready to head back. I don't reckon Yeslee's said more than two words to us since we left the city, and it occurs to me now that she seems uncharacteristically serious. I can't let it pass without comment. "Okay there, Yes?"

She pauses mid-knot and looks up at me. Her eyes seem to glint flatly in the low-light, but that's mostly just a trick of my nightvision. It's still pretty spooky though, seeing her look at me like that. "Neither here nor there. I do well enough under the circumstances."

"Well that's a fancy way o' saying nothing at all." I sigh, give the knot I've just fastened a few little yanks to test it and, satisfied, start lashing the other end of the bundle. "You ain't too happy 'bout this job, are you?"

"It's a job, same as any other we've taken."

"Maybe, 'cept we're goin' up against folk who fully intend to try an' kill us to steal what we're transporting."

"Like I said, it's the same as any other job we're taken. We don't face anything that's not likely to kill us all if we let it." She tosses the finished bundle aside and leans back on her haunches, regarding me for several moments while I finish up my own work. "Maybe it's a little different. I can't say I'm too comfortable about what we're carrying."

"Yeah, well that's why we're earning the big coins now. This is a good thing for us. We pull it off, maybe we can move onto bigger things in future."

Yeslee actually barks out a little laugh at that, and while it's a bitter sound there seems to be some humour to it. It's an interesting image too – Yeslee smiles so rarely that it's always a very rewarding surprise when she does. ""You just like shiny things, Art."