Five sets of eyes turned towards me as I settled into a sitting position at the front of the cart. The three youngest — babies all — slept in small makeshift, floor-level basinets.

  Encore stretched in front of me, absorbing his wings and shrinking down to the size of a small cat. The three older kids ooh’d and ahh’d as he changed.

  Their fear and exhaustion were replaced, momentarily, by smiles. Their expressions flickered, like gentle embers flaring to life before shifting and returning to frowns and hallow-eyed gazes.

  I slapped the cloud-white bachi against the strings of the bawi gently, producing a sound that blended harmony and chaos. The first note of Phantasmal Foxfire. My fingers danced across the strings, weaving a melody. Small particles of color streamed from the bawi as I played, coalescing into a swirling multi-colored pattern of blue, red, purple, and pink. Encore formed the fur covered subwoofers on his back and provided a low, steady rhythm to the song and intensifying the colors.

  “Hear and hear well,” I said, my hands moving though the motions of the song. The swirling illusory ball of colors shifted as I spoke, taking on the shape of the story. “Of a land far, far away. A land of ice and sugar.”

  I accented the sentence with a gentle slap against the bawi’s strings. One of the girls, the one that couldn’t be older than eight, spoke up. “Ice and sugar?”

  The illusion took the form of a rabbit formed entirely from ice cream.

  “Ice and sugar. This is a tale of the ice cream bunny fields.” Encore’s bass shifted to a gentle tinkling of bells, a sound I hadn’t heard him produce before. The illusory bunny began moving and Encore’s tinkling bells chimed in time with the hops.

  “Cocoa clouds drift above fields of vanilla, across the strawberry sea. Here you’ll find a tasty treat, the fabled ice cream bunny!” The illusion shifted as I played, expanding from the single rabbit to show rolling hills of vanilla snow, brown lumpy chocolate clouds high above and strawberry waves staining the shore pink.

  The children gasped, smiling and staring at the illusion with wide-eyed wonder.

  “It’s so pretty,” the older girl whispered.

  “Looks so yummy,” the younger boy added.

  “Among the ice cream bunnies, there is one who reigns supreme! Sweetest in all the land!” My fingers continued dancing over the strings as I coaxed the music with the aid of the bachi. Countless ice cream bunnies emerged from the gentle rolling hills of vanilla. They were a mix; some chocolate, some vanilla, and some strawberry. They hopped along as the illusion’s perspective rotated above the field, approaching a larger rabbit that consisted of all three flavors.

  “The Neapolitan Bunny, Alpha among ice cream bunnies, rules the delicious kingdom!” Encore shifted his music back to a low bass rhythm. “He rules his kingdom with decadent honor…”

  I tapered off as the last child drifted to sleep. I continued playing, but softened the notes until there were no more sounds coming from the instrument. I slid the bachi back behind the strings and transformed the instrument back to it’s lute form.

  “Thank you,” Emrys whispered. Gretchin nodded.

  “Aye, thank you lad. We couldn’t get them calmed down enough to sleep. It’s been a hard day.” She added.

  I smiled. “It was my pleasure. Glad I could help.”

  I turned and saw Katarina watching through the front flap, a small smile on her lips. Light had begun fading from the sky behind her.

  “Ice cream bunnies, huh?” She

  I blushed. “I couldn’t think of anything else. I remembered Encore’s dream and thought the kids might like it.”

  Encore licked his chops. “I hope to dream of it again tonight. The crunch. Delicious.”

  “It’s getting pretty dark out here, we are going to call it for the night. Come on out so we can get some training before sleep.” Katarina backed away, allowing the front flaps to swing shut.

  I turned to the elderly couple. “Sounds like we’re about to stop for the night. Please make yourselves comfortable, we’ll keep watch and sleep outside.”

  “Please, don’t sleep outside on our account. We can squeeze tight and make space,” Gretchin began shifting around, ready to slide over one of the sleeping children.

  “No, no, it’s alright. We usually sleep outside anyways. Don’t worry, stretch out. We can talk more in the morning.”

  “Thank you, again, young man. Thank you and your friends.” Emrys looked drained, but he reached out and patted me on the arm. I patted his arm in return.

  “Glad to help.”

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  I made my way out of the cart, Encore on my heels, and spent the next hour working on my punches, improving my Unarmed Combat skill. It rose two more levels, ending at 17/50.

  We took turns keeping watch through a thankfully uneventful night. Gretchin and Emrys awoke with the rising son, but the children slept into the morning.

  The elderly couple talked with us while we ate breakfast. Their son had heard rumors of good pay for humans in Verdantbrook, and they had decided to take their family on the treacherous journey through the Levaddi Pass. They had come from Bornholdt Keep, where humans — aside from a rare, favored few — were only allowed to work certain jobs that kept them well below the poverty line.

  We learned that it hadn’t always been that way in Bornholdt Keep. The dwarves that ruled over the cavernous citadel had valued hard work and grit over blood and history, allowing several human families to rise nearly even with the dwarven nobility.

  The humans had abused their power in an attempt to take over the city. The failed coupe cost them their lives. All but the most trusted humans were exiled or assigned to menial labor in the pits.

  Their family had journeyed far to get to Bornholdt Keep. As fate would have it, the coupe occurred a few months before their arrival, unbeknownst to them. They arrived at an unwelcoming citadel. Danny, ever the stubborn optimist, had still tried to make a living. They had struggled to eke out a living for a year before deciding to uproot their family once again to find a better life.

  I couldn’t hold it in. I told them about Verdantbrook’s destruction. I was a little worried that Katarina or Abernathy would be upset, but they weren’t. They chimed in, filling minor details I left out in the telling. The elderly couple shed silent tears at our retelling.

  “It was all for nothing. Danny boy…” Emrys started to say.

  “You couldn’t have known,” Katarina replied as the old man broke down into quiet sobs. “It only just happened a few days ago.”

  “Why does misfortune haunt us so? What have we done to deserve this?” Gretchin wrapped him in an embrace and their bodies trembled.

  “You can come with us.” Katarina blurted, then immediately sent us messages.

  Katarina: I’m sorry guys I should have asked before I offered. It just came out.

  Abernathy: No need to be sorry, I agree. We need to do what we can to help them.

  Chanter: I agree. You did the right thing.

  “Yes, please journey with us. We are going to Bornholdt Keep. We can do our best to keep you safe.” Abernathy offered a clean handkerchief, nothing more than small triangles of a silk-like fabric, to each of them. They accepted and blew their noses. “I know you were trying to get away from there, but there is… nothing in Verdantbrook.”

  “There is Moswynd Village. I’m sure they would accept you.” I thought for a moment. “But it would not be safe. I don’t know if you would make it there.”

  Emrys sat up a little straighter, looking me in the eyes. “I appreciate the offer. Mind giving us a moment to talk?”

  He nodded to Gretchin and we stood, agreeing and leaving the couple to talk with a degree of privacy.

  “We could give them the cart.” Abernathy whispered, as we walked around the front and he began feeding the donkeys. “I have been working on a few blueprints for bolt-slingers that would affix to the cart. I have plenty of plating, we could armor them and send them to Moswynd, if you really think they would be accepted.”

  “They absolutely would, Moswynd is very accepting. Remember Cathryn? She was half human. But the cart Abe, are you sure?”

  Abernathy gave me a disappointed look and I felt bad about what I had insinuated. “I’m sorry Abe, of course it is a great idea. I just worry that our progress will slow. Without the cart. What if we can’t make it to the Keep in time to meet with Cahl? We need to get there sooner rather than later.”

  “I’ve been working on something to that end as well. I know I can’t keep up with you all normally, but I had a bit of a breakthrough last night and think I finally cracked the secret to a small, mana-stone fueled engine. I… only have one mana stone of sufficient size. And it will only provide enough force for one person but… I won’t hold you back. If I can decrease the mana transference loss and up the magical wattage, I may be able to up the carry capacity considerably, but I’m not there yet.”

  “Wait, what are you saying?” Katarina asked. “You can make a car?”

  “No,” Abernathy laughed. “Nothing that complicated. But I can make a small cart. Big enough for me, and I should be able to produce enough mana to keep the stone filled. We can go faster, actually. Here, I’ll show you. I just need to finish welding the panels together.”

  He pulled a blueprint out of his inventory. It reminded me of an all-terrain-vehicle. A small chassis with handlebars sat atop four wheels. The blueprint was covered in tight hand writing that I couldn’t read.

  “I… don’t understand any of this.” I laughed softly. “But if you think you can do it… and don’t mind losing the cart… I think Moswynd is their best bet.”

  Abernathy patted one of the donkeys on the side of the neck — I could never remember which was which — and sighed. “I’ll miss you both. You’re good donkeys.”

  “We don’t even know if they will want to go.” Katarina replied.

  “Did you see their faces when we mentioned going back to Bornholdt Keep with us?” I asked. “They aren’t going to want to do that.”

  “Yeah, I did see that.” She turned. “Oh, here they come.”

  Emrys and Gretchin shuffled towards us.

  “Before you say anything,” I said before they could speak, stepping towards them. “There is a small coastal village that was not destroyed in the calamity. The red mist didn’t get beyond the city gates. Moswynd Village. They will take you in.”

  “Moswynd Village?” Gretchin asked, taken aback. “Where is that?”

  “North of Verdantbrook, in the deep forests. I can draw you a map there.” I glanced back at Abernathy, who hopped up to us.

  “Please take the cart. I can fix it up some so you can defend yourselves against monsters you might encounter on the trail. Copernicus and Galileo are a little cranky sometimes, but they are good donkeys.” He sniffled, holding back tears.

  “Caperni… what? You’re giving us your cart?” Emrys was just as flabbergasted as his wife. Both were at a loss for words. “We… we can’t possible impose…”

  Katarina stepped forward. “Don’t worry about us. Worry about those six children in the cart.”

  Everyone was silent for a long moment. A gale of wind picked up, rustling the wagon canopy.

  “We can’t go on without checking for Danny and Abby. Please let us accompany you to the old fort. If we… once we know, one way or the other, we will take you up on your offer. Though we have nothing to give in return.”

  “That will work,” Abernathy scratched his chin. “I can spend the time affixing the modifications to the cart. I should be able to install everything before we arrive. How far away was it?”

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