[over the palisade]

chapter five

Through rolling friends and bright forests, bounding over rivers and around boulders they went as Phil'Za led Techno and Wilbur across the planes. As night fell and the sun rose, signs of civilization faded out until the only things around them were nature and forest creatures.

It was mostly silent for the first five days, just pushing their horses over fields. Phil would always ebb on Techno and Wilbur to jump any fallen trees they found, but they soon learned that Wilbur was... not the best rider.

When night fell, Techno or Phil would go out and hunt while Wilbur and whoever was left would set up their campsite and tend to the horses. The time when they really got to know one another was when they would all come together and share stories or songs around the fire.

Wilbur shared stories about how he had seen almost every corner of the globe and had landed himself in many precarious situations. He told them about how he went on a few expeditions with a group of adventurers years back, whose tales have been told across the entire plane. And about his life before he set out into the world.

Phil, in turn, told Techno and Wilbur about his time before he was a lord. When he and his brothers roamed between the mortal and fae planes, causing chaos and upsetting gods. Like when Red'Za managed to spark a massive war that waged on for centuries because he enchanted a mortal princess, and somehow that all ended with Tommy.

On the topic of upsetting gods, eventually, Techno came around to telling stories from his youth. Telling Wilbur about how he was a prince from a mortal town, but he and his brother made some... interesting decisions which ended Techno up in the fae wilds. He told them stories about the wars and battles he had won, all by the time he was nineteen.

These were the best moments, the moments that they forgot they were charging into a storm all at the drop of a hat. Wilbur showed Techno how to make and use a panpipe using reeds from the river, Phil showed Wilbur the tune of spiders, which when sang to a spider, the spider starts to weave fine silks with its webs. Wilbur found this quite amusing because he could command them to make a web in front of Techno's tent, so whenever he emerged in the morning he would get caught on the web.

And that is how it went for the first four nights of travel, hunting, campfire, story exchanging, sleep, travel, hunting, campfire, stories, etc. until one night. They were sitting around a fire as they usually did. It was getting late, the moon was bright in the sky as Techno swirled around the embers, waiting for them to die out. Comfortable silence was occasionally interrupted by a frog croak or the call of a nightbird.

But that silence was soon to be disturbed. A distant yell and someone was calling out an inaudible name. The three looked around at one another, questioning if they would go check it out.

Techno grabbed the sword that was sitting behind him and Phil spread his hands out and created a small orb of light. Wilbur grabbed his panpipe and motioned for Techno to follow him as he followed after the cry.

To say the least, Tommy and Tubbo were not having as easy of a time.

Only about half a day into their expedition, they concluded that neither was particularly good at hunting, though luckily Tubbo had some knowledge in foraging. The first night, Tommy had almost managed to lose both of their horses (which, might I add, were carrying all their supplies) and Tubbo almost got swept away in a river.

The second day of traveling brought the duo another fresh set of problems. Tommy, much like Phil, had the habit of choosing the more spirited choice of companions. Children in Phil's case, horses in Tommy's. The mare was getting more and more fed up as they went along until she was finally fed up. As Tommy and Tubbo started to cross a small stream, the horse bolted forward up the embankment. Tommy was unprepared, to say the least.