In actuality it may not have been too long, but it felt as if it had taken forever for Zane to return. When he did, he did so with a rather large grin on his face and sitting in the seat of a rather nice wagon pulled by two brown horses. Sylvia sat beside him enjoying the ride as they trekked along the road towards the clearing.

  Danica pulled the hood of the cloak back over her head and went to meet them. “Rather nice for the bare minimum you expected,” she said as they pulled to a stop.

  Zane was almost beside himself with excitement. “Better than I could have ever hoped. I found our original wagon at the shop, and we reached a deal with the man. Apparently Kalda had traded it to him for a riding horse and left in a hurry. He never even looked through all the things she’d left on it.”

  Danica nodded her approval, but was curious as to the cost. “Do we have any money left?”

  He reached back and pulled open a drawer that was expertly placed under the seat to be almost imperceptible unless you were actively looking for it. “We made some of it back. Enough silver here we won’t have to forage or beg for food.”

  Sylvia held up a thin white sack. “We stopped and got some good food too!”

  That was one of the nicest things Danica had heard in awhile. Everything they’ve had for the last several days had been nothing but dried or stale. She might be far from her origins, but a good meal was nothing she’d ever grow out of enjoying.

  Soon enough, well fed and feeling lethargic, they headed out of the city and made their way further south until the night began to fall. Zane had said that there was a resting spot ahead where they could stop for the night, and shortly before the sun had fully set over the horizon, they arrived at it.

  After a brief discussion on the merits for and against, they decided to have a fire for the night. They’d been worried mostly about the dangers from Ashvale, but by now, that town and the people from it were long behind them. It was still a long way to their destination and there was no good reason to make it more difficult than necessary.

  While the twins went to get wood, Zane prepared camp and inspected everything that had been left on the wagon. Danica led the two brown geldings down to a nearby stream for some much needed water. When she got back, she brushed them each thoroughly before turning them loose on a small field of fresh spring grass.

  When she returned to their small camp, all of them were sitting by the fire relaxing. She sat down on the ground and warmed her hands by the fire, thankful for the small comforts again. She wouldn’t truly be happy again though until she had a nice cup of mulled wine and a comfortable bed to enjoy afterwards.

  “You’re a woman of many talents it seems,” Zane said.

  Danica looked over to him, curious by what he meant by that. “And why do you think that?”

  “You said you grew up in the city, but you seem to have a real talent for horses.” He pointed over to the large shadows grazing contentedly in the field. “They didn’t give you any issues whatsoever.”

  She looked at him confused for a moment and then looked down to her hands. The kids who had been talking quietly amongst themselves stopped, and soon only the crackling fire could be heard, but even that somehow seemed far away. She just continued to look at herself though, not quite understanding.

  It felt like she was in a haze and was almost about to pass out. “What’s wrong?” someone said, though she couldn’t understand who had asked.

  Danica took a moment to focus and force herself back into reality. “I’ve never cared for a horse in my life.”

  “Why don’t you like horses?” Sylvia asked, somewhat sadly.

  “No, stupid. She meant she never took care of one.” Darren snapped.

  Danica stood up and walked away from the kids and their quiet argument, heading off into the shadows. She heard Zane give a quick reprimand to them before he joined her in the dark.

  “Are you alright?” he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

  “I’m not really sure.” Danica shook her head and paced a few steps. “I knew what to do, but I can’t remember ever doing it before.”

  “Perhaps you’ve seen others doing it,” he tried to add helpfully. “Some people learn by seeing.”

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  She shook her head. “No, this is different. It felt like I had done it several times before, but I haven’t. I know what to do but I have no memory of doing it.”

  “You’re a very unique case, and I can’t even imagine where to start with your situation,” He said, shaking his head. “When I healed you back in Ashvale, I could feel something was wrong. There was a spiritual emptiness within you and it was like nothing I’d ever felt before.”

  Danica nodded, though he couldn’t see it. “That witch stole a part of my very soul. I have no desire for romance or love now, and I can’t say I really miss it. I can focus on honing my combat skills with fewer distractions, so something good did come of it at least.”

  She saw him frown slightly, but it disappeared as he began to pace a small area.

  “What if,” he started and then shook his head. A moment later he tried again. “What if she pulled out some memories with it as well? Things you actually did do, but simply no longer have a memory of.”

  “Maybe,” she said, not sure if that could be true. How would she know if it was or not?

  “Hello to the camp!” A voice cried out.

  Danica spun around and at the edge of her night vision saw a pair of riders on horseback. She couldn’t make out any details yet, but they didn’t seem armed or threatening. Still she silently berated herself for letting anyone get so close without being aware.

  “Go,” Danica whispered quietly. “I’ll hang back and keep an eye out.”

  Zane wasted no time hurrying back to the fire and calling back to them. Danica watched the riders closely as they rode up to the edge of the firelight upon the horses. As quiet and stealthily as possible she crept through the shadows, hiding behind the wagon, listening in to their conversation.

  “... with my family to Algerton,” Zane was saying to them.

  “Long way to go still. You got a map?”

  “I do,” said Zane. “A few years on it, but it’s served us well so far.”

  “Make sure you mark Pickett's Mine off of it, friend. Everyone there is dead and there’s rotting corpses littering the whole place.”

  There was a momentary pause before Zane spoke up. “Pickett’s? Are you sure about that?

  “Seen it ourselves. I’ll have nightmares for some time after that.”

  Soon the riders fired up their oil lanterns and headed off into the night towards Swyndale.

  Danica started to come around the wagon, but before she could say a word a brilliant flash blinded her. She heard a “wow” in unison from the twins. When her vision cleared a moment later, Zane was in the back of the wagon holding a glowing ball in his hand.

  Danica scowled at him. “A little warning next time, you do that.”

  “Sorry,” he said somewhat absentmindedly. A moment later he pulled a heavy parchment from the box and jumped off the wagon. “Look at this.”

  All three of them came over and looked at the map he held in his hands.

  Sylvia pointed to a spot on the map. “We’re there.”

  Zane set the map on the ground and pointed to the same spot. “Right. Kalda made this map before we left, planning out the safest route. At least the safest according to her, and I wasn’t about to argue.”

  Danica studied it for a moment and shook her head. “Not a very direct route. I’m sure there was a quicker way.”

  Zane rubbed the unshaven stubble on his chin. “That’s what I thought too, but she was insistent we go this way. One of the last towns we stopped at was here. Pickett’s Mine.”

  The silence hung heavy in the air for a moment.

  Danica nodded, trying to follow along. “You think they’re somehow connected?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not sure, but something is pointing me to yes. She had a particular interest in a couple of stops we made, but she didn’t want to elaborate further. Perhaps she knew something was coming and she was trying to help those people.”

  Darren finally spoke up. “Maybe we can help those people too.”

  Sylvia nodded along enthusiastically. “We could be hailed as heroes.”

  “Or we could end up dead along with them,” Danica added dourly.

  Zane ran his hands through his hair again, showing that he was getting nervous about things. Danica couldn’t blame him for that this time. He had to make a decision that might lead to the death of several innocent people if they did nothing. On the other hand, whatever killed the people in Pickett’s mine may end up killing them as well.

  He took a moment longer and sighed. “We’ll retrace the path we took, and we’ll warn the people in the other towns to be on their guard. We might find Kalda and get some answers from her. At the first sign of danger, we run straight to Algerton.”

  Both Darren and Sylvia were excited by the idea. Danica, however, was not. She wasn’t sure what they were about to step into and that gave her some amount of concern. Whole towns don’t just up and die at random.

  Zane folded the map up and put it away. “While I have this magelight out, now’s a good time to show you both one of the earliest lessons of magic. How to combat another mage.”

  Danica watched as they excitedly followed Zane to the fire, leaving her alone in the dark. She sighed in frustration and ran a hand through her hair, understanding now how easy of a habit that was to pick up.