Chapter 33

As Aaron woke up the next day, he felt a little better. He washed up and had his breakfast. He took his sack and got moving towards the assembling point of the caravan. When he reached there, he saw two passenger carriages and 4 other carriages filled with goods. The horses used were smaller in size then compared to the ones used by the association. The carriages used were simple as well. He saw David standing there talking to two men while others were busy tying things up in the carriages and making some final inspections.

He remembered something which he had forgot to ask the other day. He went up to David "Hello David. I am here. Are the rest of the passengers here?"

"You are on time. Thats good. These two gentleman have booked one of the carriages. The other one you will be travelling in is shared by a family. They are yet to arrive."

"I see. I also want to ask, how much time is it going to take us to reach rivertown?"

"If nothing too big happens on our journey, it will take us about 3 months. I run a small caravan, so it takes us comparatively less time. The bigger ones might take upto 5 months. Also it isnt the rainy season, else it would take a lot longer." David explained.

Aaron knew this would happen. It didnt even take 2 whole months last time he travelled this route. But that was a single carriage. This was a caravan. It would take a bit longer. But it wasnt too bad.

Aaron had also considered travelling through his own gates. But he could only create a gate for a distance of few hundred metres and in the area he could clearly see. Plus he had no idea about the direction of Rivertown. It would be bad if he reached somewhere without anyone to tell him the way.

He had planned to note down reference points on his journey. That way he could make his return journey much faster with the help of his gates.

One of the limitations to create a gate was that unless a mage knew a place well enough, he couldnt create a gate to that place. Although Aaronn had spent his childhood at Willow's den, he did it as a kid, not as a mage. Also the distance was too large for the current Aaron. The space gates used by the association was only possible because they were powered by the mage stones on both side.

He also hadnt exposed his identity as a mage. He didnt want too much of attention on himself.

As Aaron stood there thinking, the family they were waiting for had arrived.

It was a family of three. A man in his early 30's. A similarly aged women and a girl who looked like she was around 10. They were a good looking family, although dressed in a simple way.

Once everyone had arrived, David signalled everyone to board the carriages. Aaron wondered if this journey would be adventurous like its described in the books.

The journey was not as he expected. It was pretty much normal. The family he shared the carriage were good polite people. The young girl seemed a little chatty, but her parents kept her in check.

They would find a location to camp each evening. Everyone helped with the camp and the dinner preparations. It was the only hot meal of the day. There was no music or dance around the fire in the evening. There was no alcohol either. David and his men took security seriously. They kept guard during each night.

Aaron found the young girl knew how to read a little. He tried to teach her a bit more with the help of books he carried.

She found the books a little boring.

"Why do you have such boring books? Dont you have books about heroes and princesses?" she said one day.

"Maria! Thats not how you are supposed to talk to people. He has been trying to teach you. Where are your manners?" Maria's mom chided her.

"I am sorry Aaron. It wont happen again. "

"Haha. Its alright. I know these books might be boring to you. What about this? If we meet next time, I will get you books about princesses. Okay?"

"Thank you Aaron. " The young girl turned towards her mother and had a expression of 'see, everything's okay'.

The people in the other carriage were two businessmen. They said they were travelling to Rivertown to scout for new business activities. They preferred to spend most of the time in their carriages.

The team David had with him were skilled in many aspects. They could not only drive the carriages, they could maintain the wear and tear as well. They also looked fit enough to fight.

As the days went by peacefully, something Aaron had only read in books happened.

One of the men shouted.

"Bandits!!"