May I give you a suggestion?

After leaving Klara, Vicker went straight to the room he had rented at the inn. His own pawn shop was in the city of Brettholz, a good day of travel away from Oakfell, so he had no choice but to get a room in order to do his business in the village.

He sincerely hoped that the investment of both time and money was worth it.

He went through the hall of the tavern without a word, and at the same time no one seemed interested in him. He took the stairs and went straight to his room, which was the best in the inn.

Someone else was already inside.

A middle aged man was sitting in an armchair near the bed. As soon as he saw Vicker, he stood up.

"Took you long enough Vicker!" he said with an annoyingly nasal voice "I was about to get downstairs to have something to drink!"

"I remember telling you not to drink anything while you were on the job, Zeno." replied the moneylender with disapproval.

The man called Zeno simply shrugged, as if he didn't care. He was a middle aged man of average height. His balding hair were still mostly black, but with some gray here and there and he was incredibly pale, safe for his nose which was as red as a cherry. His limbs and neck were very thin, but he had the pot belly of a heavy drinker.

He was dressed in a simple gray tunic, with a gray cloak over it. The only remarkable thing was a weird amulet tied with a silver chain around his neck: it looked like a dried eyeball the size of a child's fist.

For some reason, that eyeball really captured the attention of whoever was looking at it, making thinking straight pretty hard.

"A lot of people told me not to drink." Zeno replied "I didn't listen to them, so why should I listen to you?"

Vicker eyes flashed with rage, but he controlled himself. Getting in a discussion with Zeno wasn't a smart thing to do.

With a nod, he gestured Sergei to wait outside the door, a standard procedure in order to avoid being spied, and when the minotaur was out of the room, he returned his attention to the odd man.

Or at least he tried to, as the dried eyeball around his neck kept messing with his focus.

"Could you... put that thing away?" he asked, shaking his head in confusion "It's very distracting!"

"Oh sorry, I forgot about it!" said Zeno, putting the dried eyeball inside his tunic. As soon as he did, Vicker's thoughts immediately became much clearer.

"Much better!" the Vulture sighed "I don't know how you can stand that horrible thing!"

"You get used to it." the middle aged man shrugged again "Unless you are a spineless coward, that is."

Vicker refused to pick up that thinly veiled insult, and tried to take the conversation on a more professional ground.

"Ok, enough pleasantries now." he said firmly "How are things going? Did you renew the Suggestion spell on enough villagers?"

This time, Zeno took his time, carefully pondering all possibilities before giving an answer.

Vicker knew that he could trust Zeno's judgement... at least, while he was sober. For all his flaws, the man was still a stellar sorcerer: if it wasn't for his drinking problem and caustic personality he would probably be serving as court magician under some important noble.

But that was very lucky for the moneylender, who wouldn't be able to employ a wizard of Zeno's skill otherwise, even though he now had to deal with the sorcerer's antics. Thanks to his advices and spells, Vicker had been able to make many lucrative deals over the years, making him into one of the richest persons of the Brettholz province.

And it was because of his advices that they were here now...

"I think that for now I've mesmerized enough villagers to make life difficult for the girl here." Zeno finally said, having finished thinking "Just yesterday I've managed to plant a pretty powerful suggestion in the head of the woman who own the emporium here. She's still mourning her nephew, you see, and I used those feelings to fuel hate towards the girl."

"Excellent!" Vicker sighed, letting himself fall on the armchair "And dear young Klara is finally starting to crack down. Took her longer than I expected... that damn brat has been quite an annoyance, forcing me to move my old body from Brettholz to this godforsaken place so often!"

"Ah! At least you weren't the one that was forced to stay here and cast spells all day!" Zeno replied with bitterness "I'm getting sick and tired of this job! And the beer here is disgusting!" the sorcerer grimaced "Couldn't you just buy the damn book from that dumb girl, or something!?!"

"Not without making her suspicious." the moneylender replied "I've already offered to buy some of her grandpa stuff for a very good price, that book included, but she has refused. Insisting on it would just draw her attention on the fact that I'm actually interested in the book, and not the house. And if she realize that, we can kiss our chances of getting the damn thing goodbye!" he gave a suspicious look to Zeno "This would be much easier if we could just steal it!"

"That would be hardly prudent." was the adamant response "Powerful magic items like that book have very specific rules associated with them, and terrible repercussions if they are not followed. One of the most common rules, to the point of being almost universal, is that trying to steal or acquire a magical artifact through illegitimate means would almost invariably end up in a disaster."

"To be fair, what we're doing right now is not exactly legitimate." Vicker noted "Planting suggestions in people mind to make them hate one person is not exactly legal..."

"Yeah, but we're not harming the girl directly." Zeno made a smug smile "One thing you can say about the rules of magic is that they are hardly absolute: you can circumvent most of them if you are smart enough. Harming the owner of a magic item directly in order to acquire said item, either through thievery, violence or threats, would almost certainly trigger the "curse", but anything else should be fair game."

"If you say so." Vicker conceded "I just hope that the book is valuable enough to make this worthwhile."

"You can trust me on that!" Zeno smiled again "The Chronicles of Alhareziel is a legendary tome. I still wonder how Karl was able to get his hands on it. Not that it did him any good." he shook his head "Trying to read the Chronicles without any protection was incredibly foolish... the Gods only know what it did to his head while he was searching it for treasure maps. He certainly wasn't sane anymore when he organized that expediction."

"Well, I have no intention of reading that book anyway." Vicker remarked "But I'm interested in the money I could make by selling it. If it's so legendary, it should make a hefty price!"

"If by hefty price you mean enough money to pay for a Duke's ransom, then you're right!" Zeno smiled, greed showing in his eyes "The book holds many secrets... both about history and about magic itself. Any magical academy in the world would kill to get their hands on it."

"Aaaah! That's music to my ears!" the moneylender smiled with equal greed "But let's not count chickens before they're hatched! First, we actually have to get our hands on the damn thing." his smile turned into a frown "And that's easier said than done. The last thing I want right now is for Klara to actually just give me the house, take all of her stuff, book included, and get away. Thankfully she's delightfully stubborn, and so far she doesn't want to give away the house. But we still have to get her to have an accident or break the law. I payed Ludd to provoke and kill her in self defence, but that idiot didn't even manage to do something that simple. And she far too alert when she's in the forest to have someone follow her."

"As you said, she's stubborn." Zeno noticed "But if she's starting to crack down, it's only a matter of time before she does something stupid, like trying to burn her house down to keep you from having it. That would give you the right to take all of her other possessions in reparation!"

"And the fire wouldn't actually damage the book, wouldn't it?" Vicker asked.

"Not a chance!" the sorcerer assured him "An artifact like the Chronicles can't be destroyed that easily. It would take a catastrophic event or a very powerful magic to actually damage it."

"Good!" Vicker felt more relaxed "Then we can just continue as we did so far. If we play our cards right, the book is as good as ours!" he looked at Zeno and said "But until then we have to be careful. So keep off the bottle: I don't care if you drink yourself to death afterwards, but as long as you are on this job I want you sober enough not to screw up!"

Zeno smiled.

"Don't worry Vicker. I couldn't get drunk on the piss that pass for beer in this parts even if I tried!"

The two men laughed at that, but they stopped when someone knocked at the door.

Then the two looked at each other, and Vicker asked: "Who's there?"

"It's me, boss!" the deep voice of Sergei answered from behind the door "There are news from the village. There could be a problem."

Klara was still sobbing on the floor when someone knocked again at her door.

She didn't answer at first, not caring about who might it be.

"To hell with this village and all this people!" she thought with rage "They can all burn for all I care! In fact, I might just start the fire myself..."

"Klara! Are you there?" the voice of Felix came from behind the door "Open up if you can hear me! I've got some very good news for ya!"

The girl remained on the floor for a few moments, but then she shook her head, stood up and went to the door. Right in this moment, Felix was the only one she had, so she forced herself to meet him face to face.

Even if all she wanted right now was everything to just disappear.

She opened the door, and Felix was right behind it, an excited expression on his face.

"Klara! There you are! I've got to tell ya some..." he stopped, getting a good look at the girl's face "By the Gods! You look terrible! Are you alright?"

Klara didn't know whether to answer him or not. Even if she told him, the young apprentice wouldn't be able to do anything concrete to help her; but on the other side, he had always been there to support her, morally at least, and she could certainly do with venting some of her frustration.

"Oh, I dunno, you tell me? " she said with desperate sarcasm "Should I be fine when everyone hates me for something I'm not responsible for? When Gertrude threw me away from her shop after refusing to buy my stuff? When son of a cheap prostitute Vicker is giving me three days before he take possession of the house? Am I fine when I want to burn this place down and leave it behind me?"

She was fighting back the tears, but a few were still flowing despite her best efforts.

Felix looked at her in astonishment for a moment, but then his expression turned dubious.

"Gertrude threw you out of her shop? Really? But why?" he asked.

"I dunno! You tell me!" she started to cry again "She offered me a ridiculous low price for my stuff, told me that it was my fault that Ulric died!"

Felix looked even more surprised at this point.

"That's... strange. Very strange." the boy said "I talked to her two days ago and she told me that she was sorry about your situation, and that she was gonna buy anything you'd bring to her at more than its value in order to help you pay your debt to Vicker. Also, throwing people out of her shop is something Mama Gertrude would never do!"

"Well, she did it to me!" Klara shouted "Called me a bitch for defending my grandpa too!"

Felix's face became even more dubious.

"Now that's something completely out of character for Gertrude." he muttered "She and Karl were very good friends. She actually helped him raise you when you were a child. This can't be right."

Klara looked at him, suspicion coming to her mind as well.

Yeah, Gertrude wasn't the kind of person that would do that. And she hadn't been that hostile to her, in the past month... only now.

Why?

The more she thought about that, the more suspicious this whole affair became.

The two stood thinking silently in front of each other but then Felix spoke again.

"Oh right! Before I forget, I have some good news for you Klara! A messenger just came from Brettholz! They're organizing a scouting expedition in the forest!"

Klara, who had been busy thinking about the weirdness of her situation, looked at him with annoyance.

"So what?" she said bitterly "I can't see how this is gonna help me."

"Well, this is an official state expedition!" Felix explained "The officers in Brettholz are worried about something that's happening in the forest, as far as I know. And they are recruiting local hunters to serve as scouts for the exploratory mission!"

"Again, I can't see how this could help me!" Klara sighed "That bastard Vicker gave me just three days to move out of my house unless I pay him one hundred Royals... and I barely have fifty! Even if the mission would pay fifty royals, something that I highly doubt, it would be impossible to be back in just three days!"

Felix smiled, with an air of smugness.

"Ah, but you're forgetting a little fact, Klara!" he said "This is an official state expedition. Which means you would be considered part of the army for the duration of the mission. Which in turn would mean that..."

"That all of my debts would be frozen!" Klara completed the phrase for him "For all the duration of the mission and for a month afterwards!" she stopped, making a little calculation in her head "If I work tirelessly, I could make it! Especially if the mission pays well!"

"5 Royals up front and an additional 5 Royals each month." confirmed the apprentice mage "Plus eventual bonuses. The messenger from Brettholz was very clear about that!"

The girl frowned, looking at him with a surprised expression.

"That's a lot of money for a scouting mission." she said "What the hell is happening in the forest to justify such a mission? And where are they going?"

Meanwhile, in the central plaza of the village, a crowd of people was gathering around a man with the uniform of a provincial messenger.

"The area to be explored is the Ashwood Hills!" he told to the men and women gathered around him "We need anyone familiar with it, or that at least knows the way."

The mood of the crowd around him suddenly cooled a lot. They had all been hooked by the promise of payment and having all of their debts frozen, but after hearing the name of the place they were sombered.

The recruiter sighed. This was the third village he went to, and he barely got any volunteers. Not that he could really blame people for being scared: the Ashwood Hills were notoriously dangerous, even for the standards of the Caligare Forest. Rumors stated that a huge Forest Dragon had his nest somewhere in those hills, and to make things worse the territory was treacherous, full of swamps, ravines and dangerous beasts. Almost no one ever went there, and even fewer had returned.

These people were all professional hunters, and they knew very well about the dangers of the forest. Most of them were now shaking their heads, whispering and heading away: they knew very well that the risk were higher than the reward. One had to be desperate to sign in...

"I want to join!" a female voice shouted.

The recruiter turned his head, and saw a young blond girl, accompanied by a red-haired boy, that was running in his direction.

Judging by the contemptuous looks she was receiving, she probably wasn't very popular in the village, which maybe was one of the reasons she wanted to join the expedition.

But her reasons were her own. The messenger was only there to recruit all professional hunters he could. And this girl seemed to be reliable: although very young, she was well built and she moved with the confident grace of a hunter.

"Well done, young lady!" the recruiter said "That's very brave of you! What is your name and age?"

"Klara." she answered "Klara Kreigdoter. I'm eighteen years old."

"Very well!" the man took out a paper from his purse, wrote Klara's name on it and gave it to her together with a pencil "This is the recruitment paper. If you're really interested in joining sign here, or just put an X in case you don't know how to write. Then take this document to Brettholz's city guard. The expedition will depart from there, and they will provide you room and board until you'll depart."

"I'm familiar with the procedure. And I know how to write." the girl said, taking the paper "Just a question: all of my debts will be frozen from the moment I sign this document, am I right?"

"Ah, so this is why she decided to join..." The recruiter thought, but then answered: "You're absolutely correct. However, in the case you'll not take the job after you've signed, you'll have to pay a fine and the grace period for your debts will be retroactively made null."

"I'm perfectly aware, thank you!" the girl replied, signing the paper and giving it back "I'm familiar with the procedure of official expeditions."

"Well, good to have someone who knows what she's doing then!" the recruiter said while smiling. This girl seemed quite professional, and she'd make a fine addition to the expedition unlike some village boys who just wanted to join for fame, adventure and especially girls, and who would almost certainly be a burden...

"I want to join too!" the red haired boy that had accompanied the girl shouted.

Klara looked at him with with an astonished expression, while the recruiter studied him. This boy was clearly no hunter: tall and thin like a broom, and moving awkwardly like someone who still had to adjust to their own size after a sudden growth spurt. It'd be a miracle if someone like him wouldn't trip on his feet on his way home, let alone surviving an expedition in the forest.

"Ehm... I appreciate your bravery, young man, but I don't think that..." he started answering, but the girl interrupted him, starting to shout at her red haired companion.

"Are you out of your mind Felix!?!" she cried "This isn't a stroll in the woods! This is an expedition to the Caligare Forest! You could die in there!"

The recruiter decided to keep quiet. Maybe the girl would do his job for him and convince the boy to remain home.

"I'm aware of the risks!" Felix replied "But I think I can take care of myself. Besides, my master has gone to the capital for a while, so I'll have nothing to do or learn for a few months. At least this way I could help you!"

"No you wouldn't!" she shouted at him "You'd get in the way! I'd have to keep you out of trouble! And I'm gonna have my hands full trying to survive myself in a place like the Ashwood Hills!"

"You can't stop me Klara!" Felix said in a flippant tone "You are not my mother nor my master. You have no authority over me."

"Well, I'm gonna tell your master about this!" she said in an angry tone "He'll kick you out if he knows that you've deserted your apprenticeship!"

"No he won't." Felix said with irritating confidence "He barely cares about me anyway, and if I'm gonna give him the pay I'll earn, the old coot is gonna be perfectly fine with whatever I do."

At this point Klara just looked at her friend with impotent rage. The recruiter, seeing that she had failed in making the boy desist, sighed and spoke:

"Well, I'm sorry young man, but I'm afraid you're not gonna be accepted into the expedition anyway." he said while shaking his head "We are looking for people with experience for this job, and you don't look like an experienced hunter or scout."

"Well, that's because I am neither!" the boy replied "I'm a senior apprentice sorcerer. And I guess that you're gonna need some casters in your expedition."

"Senior apprentice sorcerer my ass!" Klara cried with rage "You can barely cast any spell! They're not gonna take someone like you!"

But the messenger now seemed dubious. He gave an appraising look at the boy.

"Well, it's true that we're short of casters right now." the man mumbled to himself "After most of them went on that expedition about a year ago..." he turned to Felix and asked "Tell me, young man, do you know how to operate a Telestone or how to send a Flare Signal?"

"Of course!" Felix answered, secretly relieved cause those were among the few things he had been taught to do "I can do that easily! I can even send a Flare Signal without using a focus!"

And he pointed upwards. A minuscule ball of flames was fired from his fingers, flying up to the sky and exploding into sparks with a loud cracking noise.

The messenger nodded, and took out another sheet of paper.

"Fine, I guess they may take you after all." he said, and then asked "What is your name and age, young man?"

"Felix Agner. I'm seventeen."

"Good." the messenger wrote the name on the paper and handed it to the boy "Sign here please. The conditions are the same as those for the young lady."

"Wait, you can't do this!" Klara intervened "You can't accept him! Someone like him wouldn't make it in the forest!"

"Well, I'm just a messenger, so I can't stop him." the man replied "Also, if he's a caster he's gonna stay with the main bulk of the expedition, protected by the knights and aura masters. Scouts like you are the ones that are gonna take the biggest risk."

Klara looked at the man and the boy with powerless exasperation. Meanwhile, Felix had signed the paper, and sticked his tongue out playfully to the girl.

"Don't worry for me Klara!" he said while smiling "I can take care of myself. And I'll do my best to take care of you too!"

"You moron!" Klara hissed "This isn't a game! You could die in there!"

"Well, there is no coming back now anyway!" the boy face became a little more serious "I don't have the money to pay the fine if I don't show up after having signed."

Klara was speechless with rage, but as the boy had said, she didn't have the authority to stop him. So she just turned and went straight to her home to prepare her equipment.

Felix wanted to help her, but he had only dropped another worry on her lap: now she'd have to care about Felix's safety in addition to her own!

And to make things worse, she still didn't knew the reason why the villagers had been so unnaturally hostile to her. She had heard about some mind controlling spells, but they were both illegal and terribly expensive. She didn't possess anything valuable enough to justify using such a spell against her! Even Vicker wouldn't stoop so low... or would he?

Meanwhile, in the camp of the Brightsword mercenary group, three men were sitting in a tent, discussing.

"So you want me to join this expedition?" asked Ludd, the mercenary captain, talking to the two cloaked men that were sitting in the tent with him "But why? Does this has anything to do with that girl again?"

"Yes." replied one of the cloaked men, who was none other than Vicker "I want you to follow her and make sure she won't return. But do not harm her directly, are we clear? I'll consider any direct action against her a failure!"

"That's kinda hard to do." Ludd pondered "Why bother with the no direct harm crap anyway? No one will notice if I just make her disappear in the forest. And with no witnesses, you wouldn't have any sort of legal trouble."

"Just do as you're told." Vicker replied adamantly "I pay you well enough to follow my whims without any discussion!"

"Well, actually let's talk about that." Ludd said, while looking at the moneylender in the eyes "Going on this mission will be dangerous, so I want a raise. Another two hundred royals in addition to what you're already paying me!"

"What!?! That's ridiculous!" the moneylender cried "That's four times what I am already paying you!"

"Well yeah, but you paid me to provoke a girl into fighting me and kill her in self defense." Ludd explained "That's a bit easier than strolling around in the Caligare Forest. Plus, I'd have to take all of my men with me on this mission, or it'd look suspicious. So this time you're effectively hiring all of my company!"

The moneylender just stared at him with rage, but then nodded.

"Fine. But I have another additional request." he gestured towards his cloaked companion, a pale man with the red nose of a heavy drinker "This is Zeno. Register him as a member of the Brightsword and take him with you. Also, you'll follow his orders as if I was giving them."

Ludd looked at Zeno, and then laughed.

"What? Are you kidding me?" he asked "This little scarecrow here could never pass for a mercenary!"

"Of course not... but he is a very good sorcerer." Vicker replied "He can take care of himself. And mercenary companies do employ sorcerers sometimes."

Ludd stopped laughing. He stared appraisingly at Zeno, who was completely silent.

"Well then, if you pay, I'll take him with me." the mercenary conceded "But while I'll listen to him in private, in public he'll have to obey my every order and call me Captain. Otherwise people would get suspicious."

"Of course, Captain." Zeno nodded "Gotta keep up appearances, after all!"

A week later, in a misty and cold morning, a small crowd was waiting just outside the gate of Brettholz.

Due to the mist, it was hard to see every individual, but there were approximately thirty people, all enveloped in cloaks to defend themself from the morning chills.

A bit separated from the group there was a line of 5 mules, strong and stocky animals that were carrying all sorts of provisions on their backs, with two men caring about them.

From his elevated position on the city walls, two figures were observing the gathering. One was a middle aged man with wavy dark hair, a short beard and dressed in very expensive clothes. His cloak was dark green, with a fluffy gray fur hood.

The other seemed a bit younger, with a completely shaven face with a strong, square jaw and short blond hair.

"Not a lot of people." the rich looking man mumbled to himself, dissatisfaction in his voice.

"Well, that's to be expected, your grace. We lost most scouts in the great expeditions a year ago." the other man replied "But we'll manage. After all, this is a scouting expedition. We just need to find what's happening in the forest, we do not have to fight it directly!"

Eisen Brett, Marquis of Brettholz and ruler of the Brettholz province, adjusted his fur hood to protect himself from the chills and looked at his underling with tired eyes.

"Yes, if it's you, I think that you'll manage even with this ragtag bunch of misfits. " he conceded, but then he added "Anyway, be careful. My Diviners have sensed a great disturbance coming from the Ashwood Hills, but all spells to directly see what's going on in there have failed." he took a pause, then said "We can't be certain of anything, since we're talking about Caligare Forest after all, but if something is hiding in there, it's hiding itself from magic but at the same time is big enough that it could be sensed regardless. And it's close enough to our borders to be a threat."

"We'll be careful, your grace!" the man bowed, making a ringing sound from the armor hidden under his cloak "We'll just investigate and come back quickly!" he smirked "I'm not exactly used to run away from a danger, but if if you order so I'll manage to do it anyway!"

"This is just what I expect from you, Dagobert!" the Marquis said with a smile, but then he sobered and sighed "To be honest, I really hope is that the Diviners are wrong and that you will find nothing. But I have the feeling that we won't be so fortunate." his eyes got lost in the mist "The times are changing, Dagobert. I can feel it. A storm is brewing, and if we're not careful it will sweep us all away."

The man called Dagobert just replied with a "As you say, your grace!"

He had known the Marquis for a long time, and he knew that he had a flair for the dramatic. In particular, he had a peculiar penchant for making cryptic and ominous predictions about the future, as he thought that doing so made him look wise.

For Dagobert at least, that just made him look kinda funny: all that moaning, staring into nothing and using phrases that seemed to have have come out of a fortune cookie was ridiculous.

But Eisen was a good ruler, in his own way, so it was probably ok to let him indulge in his theatrics.

Besides, in this case he was perfectly justified in his worries: nothing good usually came out from the Caligare Forest. Orcs, Goblins, beasts and even Dragons were known to emerge from the depths of the forest to lay waste upon the province.

No, this time Marquis Eisen had all the reasons to feel pessimistic.

The Marquis kept staring into the mist for a few seconds, but then he focused his eyes again on Dagobert.

"Well, Sir Dagobert, I won't keep you here any longer." he said "You've got a mission for the Kingdom: find out what's happening in the Ashwood Hills and report it to me! Now go!"

Sir Dagobert bowed again and left. A few seconds later he walked out of the gate and reached the group.

"I am Sir Dagobert, Captain of the Brettholz Aura Knights!" he shouted, and all figures in the mist turned to him "I am the head of this expedition! From now on, you will follow my order to the letter, without arguing and without hesitation! You will be considered soldiers on a military campaign, and you will be subject to military legislation! If any of you wants to step back now, this is your last chance!"

All the figures in the mist remained still, so Dagobert added:

"Well then, we'll start our expedition right now! Let's go soldiers!"

And they all started marching. Dagobert looked at the group, a ragtag bunch of misfits if he had ever seen one, and wondered how many of them could actually be useful. He didn't have many choices: this was a dangerous mission, and volunteers had been few.

He was sure about his abilities and those of his two direct subordinates: they were knights, after all, and had mastered many Aura techniques.

There was also a group of mercenaries, a dozen men called the Brightswords. Dagobert knew about them, and though their reputation was far from sterling they seemed to know how to hold their own in a fight.

The rest of the group was made of scouts, mostly hunters hired in the frontier villages, and four casters.

The hunters seemed professional enough: most of them were either too young or too old, but they looked like they knew their business.

It was the casters that concerned Dagobert the most: only two of them seemed competent, a sorcerer called Zeno that accompanied the Brightsword and another sorcerer called Argus, that had been in service of Marquis Brettholz for years.

The other two casters, in contrast, seemed completely out of their depths: a red haired boy who was an apprentice sorcerer and a short, black haired girl who was a novice cleric.

Dagobert didn't know if he could depend on their abilities, but he didn't really have a choice: they needed all the casters they could muster for this expedition.

For now, the order of march wasn't important, as they were still a full day away from the Forest. But as soon as they'd stop for the night, he'd have evaluated the skills of each one, seeing who was suited to scout in advance and who could cover the rear. He also resolved to keep the casters always at the center.

Lost in his thoughts and plans, Dagobert marched alongside the group, slowly disappearing into the mist.