Together Few Hours Away

2 Hours Later

Carriage has stopped. Coachman came to the back of carriage and leaned.

"30 minutes of break. Take some fresh air or buy yourselves some food if you got money." Coachman said to passengers and walked back to horses.

Reden smiles and gets off the carriage with Gah-Hal. He takes a deep breath, stretches and makes a pleasant exhale. Reden takes a look around him and sees that their stop is in some average sized village. Around 40 wooden houses, few big farms and animal pens in distance.

Other passengers spread out to village while Reden hold Gah-Hal in arms and suddenly starts running.

"I have to quickly hunt something before the horses move. Im broke so I need to gather something for myself and if I get enough time then sell for some copper." Reden thinks to himself while jogging and looking for bushes that he could gather fruits and berries from.

He jogs around the village and it's surroundings but every bush and tree around doesn't have anything on it. Villagers living here were faster with that.

Reden takes another quick look around him and spots a lake around 600ft away. He jogs there hoping to at least catch some fish. Water is very clear and looks healthy for fish to live in. He lays Gah-Hal on platform on the lake and carefully looks for any fish swimming to catch with bare hands.

Few minutes have passed and there is no visible fish. Reden walked back and started digging in the dry ground looking for something for some bait like worm. He digged for straight minute and found 2 worms. He walked back to the platform, placed the worms and went for the branch from the tree near him and vines which luckily were on the tree.

He sat on the ground and started doing something with branch and vines. What he was doing was very impressive demonstration of his survival skills. He built... a fishing rod.

He stood up, jogged to platform again, picked up the worms and started fishing. Gah-Hal meanwhile was just lying on the platform and looking into the sky. Just living while his father sweats from stress. It really seems important for Reden to do everything in time. There were only 15 minutes left anyways.

Reden waits patiently for fish to catch a bait and then...

"GOT YOU!" Reden yells and pulls fishing rod to pull the fish towards him.

He pulls and pulls and then he finally caught... Nothing. Lack of fishing hook made it harder for him to catch the fish. All he managed to pull was empty end of the vine.

Reden did a quick sigh and took another worm, wrapped it around vine and threw the bait again without changing anything but this time closer to him.

"I will get you this time you little gnat!" Reden says this with annoyance in his face. His position of legs also look like he is about to run.

Reden waits for a few minutes again. Still focused looks at the clear water and looks for incoming fish. Suddenly once again the vine is pulled into the water.

Reden smiles, sticks the fishing rod between the platform planks and jumps into the water where the fish is. Well... that's also one way to catch a fish.

After a moment Reden swims out and pulls the fish out of the water. Reden looks very happy from his catch. He leaves the water and looks happily at the fat bass he caught.

"HELL YEA! THAT'S WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!" Reden jumped and yelled while holding a 16lb bass.

After quick celebration Reden picks Gah-Hal up and heads to village with hope that this fish will be sold well for some copper.

"I dont have time to prepare and cook it. I need to trade it for something right away. This bass should cost at least 3 copper. It would be enough to buy loaf of bread." Reden thinks to himelf while jogging with both hands occupied.

There are 8 minutes left. Reden arrives in village and looks for someone who might wish to buy a fish. He walks around the street with his hand that holds fish raised up.

"Bass for sale! Please buy! Recently caught, fresh and still alive!" Reden yells with hope someone will be interested.

He walks and yells for around 3 minutes and nobody seems to be interested in purchase. Reden is once again stressed. He thinks for a moment and turns back to the other part of the village. He jogs for a while and luckily he sees old woman who is selling vegetables, fruits and nuts next to probably hers house.

He thinks that she may be the the one who might buy or at least trade the bass for something to eat. So he quickly approached her and showed her a bass.

"Ma'am. Do you maybe have something to trade for this fish? I need to sell it as soon as possible." Reden said a bit stressed trying to look calm.

Old woman looks at the fish for a while and nods. She picks up the sack and opens it.

"Alright. I will take it. I can give you 4 apples for that. Is that alright for you, youngling?" Old woman says it with a little visible smile.

"Yes! That is very fine!" Reden says happily and places the fish on her table.

Woman packs 4 apples into the small sack and hands it to Reden.

"Thank you very much! You are a lifesaver!" Reden says to woman and quickly jogs away back to the carriage.

3 minutes left. Reden managed to do what he needed in time. He got his food but failed to get any copper, but at least he will be able to ride for a while without a need to leave the carriage early and most importantly for him, without asking anyone else for unnecessary debts like copper or food. He got into the carriage ready for further trip. There are other 4 people in the carriage which means there is more space left than before which is obviously good for him.

Everything was checked and then horses started to move once again. Another hours of non-stop trip. One passenger has fallen asleep almost right away after horses moved. It's an old man who definetely looks like he hit his 90's.

Reden sits on his seat happy with Gah-Hal on his laps. He took the bag and took out the bottle with juice. It's been hours since Gah-Hal ate something so he thought it would be good to feed him a bit. He pulled the bottle closer to Gah-Hal's mouth, but infant doesn't seem like he wants to drink.

"Oh. You dont want it? Alright then. Maybe later." Reden said while hiding the bottle back.

Reden knowing how long the trip will yet last, tries to get as comfy as he can using the empty sack as pillow he can lie on or sit on. He folds it a few times and makes a quite fine looking pillow. He leans it to the wall of carriage and lies his head on it.

Gah-Hal has his eyes closed already asleep. Reden also tries to relax and take a quick nap. Maybe time will pass faster for both of them in that case. He isn't very tired but still tries to just close his eyes and at least wait until next stop.

"I think I will just stay on next stop. I think I figured a way to get some money without risking Gah-Hal's safety. Thing similar to fishing I did before." Reden thinks to himself with his eyes closed.

Some time has passed. Carriage is dragged on path through steep hills that are sometime troublesome to go through, cold swamps which are fully inhabited by green slimes and water slimes and other kind of harmless creatures, hot lowlands with no cover from sunshines.

5 Hours Have Passed

Sunset can be seen. There are only 4 people in the carriage left including Gah-Hal and Reden. Although this trip lasted so long, they are still not even a halfway through to Castledale.

As the sun begins to set, painting the sky with hues of orange and pink, Reden opens his eyes and looks around the carriage. The weariness of the long journey has settled in, but he remains determined to reach his destination. Gah-Hal is still peacefully asleep in his arms, and Reden gently pokes the baby's cheek with his finger.

The carriage continues its steady pace through the land. Reden gazes out of the carriage, taking in the beauty of the natural world around him. It's his first time since a very long time that he went so far just by himself and almost totally unprepared. He finds a sense of comfort in the vastness of the world, knowing that despite the hardships, there is still wonder and tranquility to be found.

As the darkness deepens, the stars start to twinkle in the sky, and Reden starts to plan another night because obviously he is too broke to hire room in tavern and doesn't want to risk sleeping in stranger's houses.

Memories of his better life, of his wife, and the peaceful days they once shared, flood his mind. He remembers when he used to walk with Mary on a night walks and looking at the moons and sharing deep, kinky secrets. He really believes that they will be able to return to those simpler times.

As the carriage trudges on, Reden reflects on the encounters he had with the other passengers earlier. He remembers the woman who lost her blacksmith husband and her wishes of luck for Reden in as she spoke about reuniting with his wife.

He recalls the old man who fell asleep and for some reason took his attention. Man was perhaps seeking rest from the weight of his own past. Each person on that carriage had their own story, their own struggles, and their own reasons for leaving their homes behind.

Each of these characters are the main characters of their story. Some with good ending, bad ending, tragic backstory, way of live. Reden is just like them. Mary is just like them. Everyone are just main characters of their own story and side characters of someone else's story.

Reden starts to feels like there i a new power forming in him which is the power of human connection and empathy. In times of hardship, the shared experiences and kindness of strangers can be a lifeline that keeps people going. It reminds him that even in the darkest of times, there is a glimmer of hope when people come together to support one another.

Reden wasn't kind of person to be the sign of friendship or extrovertism so this is something kind of nice for him. To have people who may understand eachother's pains.

Carriage suddenly stops. Coachman approaches the carriage and leans on it again.

"Enough for today. I won't continue going further in night. You know, as sign of caution." Coachman says to passengers with calm and tired voice.

"We have stopped by another village. If you have money you can rent yourself some room. If not then I don't know, build a shack or something." Coachman says it once again with tired voice which also almost sounded like order.

"What time will you continue going? When should we be ready?" One of the passengers asked while Reden was about to say something.

"Once sun raises plus 1 hour. You will know when Im ready once you see me." Coachman explains.

Reden wanted to ask the same thing so he just shrugged and left the carriage. Coachman tied the horses to the pole, dropped them some wheat and water to their bowls and disappeared somewhere in village.

The passengers start to disperse, some heading towards the tavern in the village, and others looking for shelter in the nearby fields. Reden looks around, considering his options. He knows he doesn't have enough money to afford a room in the tavern, so he thinks about sleeping in his own shelter once again somewhere near village.

That's what he did. He goes with Gah-Hal on his arms somewhere not too far from village but close enough to be seen by inhabitants in case of being attacked by either wild animals or bandits.

He does the same thing as day before this time making a hut a bit smaller. He checks its stability and space. He concluded it was good enough to sleep in safely. He picked Gah-Hal up from the leaves he left after gathering branches and placed him inside the hut safely.

Before he goes to hut too, he takes the second full bottle of juice from the bag and then entered the shelter. He places the bottle near the Gah-Hal's mouth and this time the infant drinks it normally.

When he finishes there is 3/4 of the juice left in the bottle. Reden smiles, hides the bottle back into the bag and lies on his bed made from sticks and leaves. With this, another day passes.