On Twoday morning, the group cautiously got back on the road, wary of messengers with bad news.

  Tom drove the lead wagon, packed with their supplies and most of the elves. Summer had volunteered to drive the rear wagon, bearing the salt and hides they had purchased for trade to avoid carrying too many gold coins on the road. That way, all of the elves could remain out of sight, and more urgently for them, out of the rain and wind. They did not do well in the cold.

  After everything they had gone through, Tom was hoping for a quiet journey for the next while. No more fleeing or hunting demons, hopefully. It was a long way to the sea, and winter was coming. With a little luck, they would be out of the kingdom of Baria and well into the region called Redhill before their travels halted for the season.

  They still needed a bit more gear, which Tom hoped to buy in Middleton quickly. He had been there a month past, just before his adventures with the elves began. He knew the shops and the guards. His plan was to go around the city with the wagons, and not bring any of the elves into town when he went in to go shopping. He would escort Summer Daring and Piper Jennaschild to whatever destination they had in the city. Presumably, Kevin Daly would want to rejoin the two men he had been traveling with in Middleton, unless he was so besotted with Sheema that he continued to travel with Tom's party instead.

  But, it was three more days to the crossroads, and then another day to Middleton. He had plenty of time to talk things over with everyone. He and the elves had agreed early on that, while Tom was technically their owner in the eyes of the law, they considered him the leader of their group. Still, some of the elves were much smarter than he was; he'd be a fool not to listen to their counsel.

  Diavla had joined him for a while on the wagon seat, but soon retreated. She was still recovering from getting stabbed in the throat by Quazulin, and couldn't speak yet. After some gentle kisses, she was shivering even in two cloaks, so he urged her to take care of herself and go lie down.

  Since he felt responsible for them, Tom frequently found himself counting mentally down the list of all the elves, to see whether he was forgetting any problems. He had joked repeatedly about misplacing elves here and there, as they had gotten separated and then reunited during their travels. The checklist was something to occupy his mind when he didn't feel like talking or didn't have company.

  Diavla was first and foremost in his thoughts. He would make sure to spend time with her in the evenings after supper, to let her know that she was precious to him, and that he valued her company even if her quick wit was temporarily silenced. He sat with her, spoke with her, and found himself ridiculously happy just staring into her amber eyes sometimes. He looked forward to the time Sheema pronounced Diavla healthy enough to have sex with him again.

  Meanwhile, he hoped that she wasn't feeling jealous as he slept with Varga, who tended to enthusiastically prevent him from getting as much sleep as he might. The redheaded elf was a cheerful troublemaker, who had gotten her finest wish recently when Diavla consented to be her lover. Both he and Varga loved Diavla deeply, happily shared her, and fortunately enjoyed each other's company as well.

  With his human sensibilities, it was strange to Tom to be sharing a love between three people, but in his experience, elves were a lusty bunch, both by nature and by culture. Diavla apparently was something of a late bloomer, and the trauma of being kidnapped by slavers had triggered more than one kind of growth in her soul. Diavla was a spell caster, though not a healer, and her abilities had grown in step with her libido, it seemed. She had wondered aloud which one had caused the other.

  Sheema still was lying down in the back, with Kevin keeping her company. The healer appeared to have overexerted herself badly helping Charlie Farmer's parents; she hadn't even been able to walk afterward. Tom got the impression that Sheema had led a somewhat pampered life back home, whether because of her beauty or her magical ability.

  Physically, she was short and weak. Temperamentally, it was hard to tell so far. He'd have to keep an eye on her and get to know her better. This was only the third or fourth day he'd spent around her, since they had been separated for so long.

  Eubexa was still something of a mystery. Their translator hid a great deal behind her veil: physical scars and emotional ones. Nine years as a slave had not been kind to her. The Temple healers had given her only months to live, due to the disease which had been ravaging her body for years. She could barely walk when he'd first met her weeks ago; now, he had seen her hurry across a room almost as if she were completely healthy. He wondered about that; he hadn't thought that Sheema had had enough time to work much healing on the morbidly sick elf.

  Rillik was still fairly quiet and surly around him. Tom didn't hold it against the boy, who had lost his parents in the raid on his village. For a while, it had seemed that he wanted to kill every human in the world. But he had apparently formed something like a friendship with Charlie, a boy roughly his age—equivalent age, at least. Tom kept his distance; Rillik would speak to him if and when he was ready.

  Brallik, Tom knew next to nothing about. The middle-aged man did not seem to be highly respected by the others. He didn't seem particularly strong or skilled at anything, and tended to complain a lot. Tom made a mental note to try to get to know him better during their travels.

  Orvan was the oldest elf by far, the only one with gray hair, and Tom had noticed Varga fussing over him and calling him “elder” a couple of times. The man was a truly superb cook, and an agreeable fellow, though he seemed to have no interest in leading others despite his age.

  He was also fairly quiet and withdrawn; apparently, his wife of many years had been killed in the slaver raid when he was captured. Tom had only known Diavla for weeks and already had trouble picturing life without her; he could only faintly imagine what it must be like to lose someone truly precious after decades together.

  Arven and Tom had a fair bit of mutual respect and a certain amount of tension between them. The elf was the best scout in the group, and apparently had been doing most of the work of keeping himself, Sheema, Rillik and Brallik alive during their weeks hiding in the forest. He often volunteered to stand watch, and didn't shirk any duties.

  He was also fairly protective. Arven had long desired Diavla, who had shown no interest in anyone. Then, after being reunited during their travels, Arven learned that Diavla had taken first Varga, and then Tom as lovers. He was naturally suspicious that Tom was abusing his power as slave owner to bring Diavla into his bed, but appeared to have grudgingly accepted that Diavla was truly happy with her situation, and to his credit, he seemed to consider that the most important thing.

  Come to think of it, it's mostly Diavla who has a harem, not me, Tom thought with some amusement. He mentally checked off the nine elves on his list. Diavla, Varga, Sheema and Eubexa...Rillik...Brallik, Orvan, Arven...right, Kervan.

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  Kervan did a fair bit of talking, being one of the best at Western, along with Diavla and of course Eubexa. He seemed to have an analytical soul and a fondness for coin. He was tracking their finances, and seemed able to manipulate numbers with extreme ease. Mostly as a joke, the blonde elf had offered sex services in Rivermarch for a gold coin—an absurdly high price—but he had been hired for two nights while they were in town. Tom was happy for him, since the blond elf had been showing signs of disgruntlement over Tom, Diavla and Varga getting so much sex while he hadn't gotten any in months at least.

  Now, Kervan appeared to be having a dalliance with Summer Daring. The two had first tumbled into bed together while the others were “resting” before the fight with the demon. Tom still thought it odd that a group of them had had sex in three rooms of the Wandering Ax right before the fight, but he had felt a lot better and more focused, so maybe Sheema was on to something. He certainly had been reminded that he had a lot to live for and to fight for.

  At any rate, Kervan and Summer seemed to be hitting it off and enjoying each other's company in a tent each night on the road. Tom and Varga had the other tent, while the rest of them slept in the two wagons. Tom might have gotten another tent or two if he had realized that their group would gain three other humans, swelling from ten to thirteen.

  Tom was curious about Summer Daring. She almost seemed to be two people: Summer, who ran the Wandering Ax tavern in Oak Mill, and Daring. Daring was the sort of woman to dress up as a man in black leathers and do things like bust him out of jail at night, beat up arsonists in alleys, and hire questionable people to do questionable things. He had the feeling that there was much more to Daring than met the eye.

  Because they were traveling, most of them wore their leathers or other armor by day, so he got to see a fair bit of Summer, or Daring rather, dressed that way. He had to admit, the woman was...intriguing. And if he was reading her right, she was fairly curious about him, too. But Daring had Kervan, and Tom had Varga and soon would have Diavla again. Mutual admiration was about as far as Tom thought it would ever go. He didn't feel guilty for finding her attractive.

  He did feel guilty for being attracted to Sheema, though. She was astoundingly beautiful, with violet eyes, black ringlets, and pale, clear skin. She was also even bustier than she was short, which made her proportions extreme. And she had been rather rowdy with Kevin lately. Most men would find her catching their interest.

  But, Sheema and Diavla had a past, and a bit of a competitive streak. Sheema tended to win contests between the two of them, whether it be attractiveness or magical power. Diavla was a bit insecure where Sheema was involved, and that reason alone was enough for him to have no intention of ever bedding Sheema, no matter how beautiful she was.

  Tom shook his head to clear those thoughts and tried to refocus. Right, I was checking on everyone. Thirteen of us, nine elves and four humans.

  Kevin Daly was a young man, not much older than Tom himself, and apparently had been smitten with Sheema on first sight. She seemed perfectly willing to use his attraction to get him to do things for her, starting with making a distraction at the gate so that her group could sneak into Oak Mill. Given the frequently desperate situations they found themselves in, Tom could hardly complain. And judging by the cries of passion each night, she certainly was keeping any promises she had made.

  I should learn more about him, if I can ever find him away from Sheema. I don't even know who his friends are and why he was going to Middleton. Is he just going to keep hanging around with us to spend more time with Sheema? How far is he willing to follow her?

  That just left Piper. The girl was no ordinary street orphan. Talent like hers was usually scooped up early; he was surprised that she wasn't a Temple girl or something. Quick, nimble-fingered, and very smart, she was absorbing Elvish so rapidly that she was likely going to be better at it than Tom in a couple of weeks. She also showed initiative, which had helped them out in at least one situation that he knew of, to say nothing of running the messages all over town to set up the plan for the fight with Quazulin.

  She seemed to have no possessions other than the clothes she was wearing. He wasn't sure where she kept her coin; he suspected that Summer was holding onto it for her, and that she probably had hidey-holes back in Oak Mill for other times. She was ill-dressed for the worsening weather, and someone had loaned her a cloak she could get lost in. Tom wondered what business Summer had in Middleton that required the services of this particular street kid.

  Then Tom had a sudden thought. Maybe Summer's business in Middleton is Piper. Could she be planning to set Piper up with a new home?

  It was just a guess, but it made sense. Tom and Daring had agreed to keep each other's secrets and not to pry into each other's business. It was a point of curiosity, but shouldn't affect him or the elves in the long term. And, he had to focus on the long term.

  It's five days to Middleton, but a long, long way to the sea.

  ° ? ? ? °

  Twonight arrived uneventfully, and again they pulled as far off of the road as they could, doing their best to hide their presence. A few messengers had ridden past them in both directions during the day, but none had stopped to question them. Tom could only hope that their luck continued.

  The elves were fairly miserable, shivering and mostly quiet during dinner. Sheema encouraged Diavla to walk around, and attempted to follow her own advice, but needed Kevin for support. She seemed more dizzy than tired. Tom asked, but she assured him that she didn't have a sickness that was catching. She had just overstrained her soul tremendously healing both of Charlie Farmer's parents, and that had come the day after the fight with Quazulin, where she had thrown spells until exhausted, and then repeated the process during the night, tending to the wounded.

  She's got some arrogance, which pushes her to do more than she should, Tom guessed. He supposed that living in a small town where she was constantly praised had not been healthy for her soul. In his experience, people who traveled tended to have more sense than those who stayed in one village their whole lives. Such people knew their towns and lives intimately, but were too ignorant of the wider world.

  He had caught a few odd looks passing between the other elves, though. Sheema's behavior lately seemed to be surprising them. Still, they were all thrust into traumatic new experiences in recent months, so it wasn't too strange that her approach to life had apparently shifted a bit. The gods knew that Diavla had certainly changed! And in wonderful ways, in Tom's opinion.

  Besides, he could hardly complain about the busty beauty deciding that she liked sex and going after it enthusiastically, given his own astounding love life lately!

  He checked in with everyone, and there were no real surprises. Arven was grumpy because the rain meant that he couldn't hunt, though he did leave out a few snares overnight. Piper apparently had done nothing all day but absorb Elvish from anyone willing to talk near her. She asked to sleep with Orvan and the other men instead of with most of the women as she had the night before.

  Maybe she found the sex annoying. Tom had grown up in a one-room house, and as the eldest of many, had learned to look away and ignore the sounds of his parents collaborating to produce his next sibling. It was just background noise to him. But Piper might have had a very different upbringing.

  When the group turned in, Tom joined Varga in their tent, and the redhead was as enthusiastic as ever. She at least had always been like this, to hear the others talk. Tom found the weight of his responsibilities feeling a little lighter after being around her jokes and playfulness. The sex did not hurt his feelings at all, either.

  Around midnight, Arven tapped on the tent until Tom stirred. He bundled up and took over the watch, so that Arven could get his sleep. Neither man nor beast nor monster was likely to be out in this weather, but there was no sense in taking chances.

  Tom stayed up until Orvan emerged on his own. The older elf didn't seem to need as much rest, and rose naturally in plenty of time to take the third watch. That gave Tom time to get a bit more sleep before Varga woke him in the morning. He noted, as he turned in the second time, that the rain was finally ending.

  The gods sent the rain to help us save Oak Mill from burning to the ground, but I'm not sorry to see the storm pass on at last. The gods have done me many favors of late. I should visit the Middleton Temple when we get there, and pay my respects and a tithe. I have a feeling that I will be needing even more favors from them before this journey is over.