#jakare

"What are you trying to find out?"

"Ah, right. What is in the eastern kingdom?"

She paused and unfolded her arms. "That's it?" Jakare nodded. "Nothing about the vehicle, who we are, where we came from?"

"Why would I care? I paid you and you're getting me to where I want to be. Why question that?"

The forest was quiet as the two stared at eachother from across the deck.

"Alright," she said while turning back to the hatch. "That's fair, but come sleep. I feel like something big will happen tomorrow and I need my passengers well rested."

"I took a nap. Mind if I stay a while longer?"

She shot him a look out of the corner of her eye. "Even if you pay me, there's still a system to this place. Come rest, and we'll have breakfast waiting for you when you wake." She disappeared down the hatch. Jakare took one last look over the forest, crowded with shadows and alive with the breeze, before following her.

A crack split the air as the tree Jakare originally hit with a sapling got uprooted from the extra weight. It landed on the road behind him. Jakare looked around at the scene. He heard yelling behind him and turned to see a woman sprinting towards him from a cart far down the road. He ran the opposite direction. He hoisted himself up and over the trunk laying across the road and ran until he couldn't hear her yelling anymore.

After the first bend in the road, he stopped to check his coat. He opened up each side and checked the eight bags to make sure they were still tied tightly in their places. Content, he started walking again.

A while later, another traveller came walking from the other direction. Their green and brown clothing cases them to blend into their surroundings, but the size of their bag was hard to miss.

"Packing light?" he said as he passed Jakare.

"Just packing smart."

"It's a long road ahead."

Jakare turned back to the man and raised a finger. "Wait, hang on, how far? What's next?"

The man laughed as he turned. "What kind of a man would I be to ruin the surprise for an adventure seeking man like yourself?" He tipped his cap and turned back around.

Jakare nodded in satisfaction. "Got anything to move a tree?"

"Maybe."

"You might need it!"

He moved in beside Angelina to get a better look. There were no roads heading west of the circle marked Ghord. "You only mark places you've been?"

"Yes. How else could I trust it?"

"Blind faith. Like everyone else, right?"

She gave him a sideways glance. "I don't get what that has to do with anything."

"You brought it up. So there's nothing west of here?" Jakare put his finger down on Ghord and she shook her head.

"Like I mentioned upstairs, there are no trade routes. Just foot trails. We can't leave the cart."

"Sure you can, can't you."

"Don't want to leave the cart, then."

"Where are these foot trails then?"

She leaned over in front of Jakare to get another look at the top left of the map past Ghord. "They all originate in the city with the intent of crossing the mountain. It acts as a natural barrier. I think they don't trade because it's too difficult to get a cart through there.

There was a scraping sound and the vehicle shook as the rear ramp was lifted. Shortly after, they could hear the hatch on the other side get opened as someone went down to the lower deck.

"It sounds like they made good time," Angelina said with a smug smile. "They work as a good pair now."

"Didn't always?"

She pulled on the metal handle on one of the wooden hatches and began descending down a staircase underneath. Jakare followed behind. Below on the second floor were mostly crates. Twenty were stacked three high around the room and around the corner in front. Angelina shoved one of the boxes aside to reveal a deep desk against the wall. From a compartment on the wall behind the desk, she drew a scroll of paper. Jakare rushed over as she began to reveal the map.

"We made this one ourselves. I fancy myself some cartography on our travels. It helps pass the time. Jakare moved in beside her and took a moment to take in the map. It was new and hand drawn. Empty spaces covered the map but the main routes were there.

"It's not in great condition?" he asked. "I guess you get a lot out of these."

"Angelina chuckled. "Well, you can imagine how difficult it is to draw while still moving."

"You do this on the go?"

"Where else have I got?"

Jakare looked down towards the front and to the back of the vehicle. It was simple but well kept. "Doesn't look like you need anything else!"

"You can ask Steve for the other half."

Angelina looked over to Steve who was wiping off his lips. "Hey," he said, "I got fucking clue what he's talking about."

Angelina looked back to Jakare with a smile and pocketed the coin. "So, what brings you to the this Forest road?"

"Don't know, really," Jakare replied. He walked over to the front of the vehicle and looked down over the railing. The wooden surface was flat with no windows or overhangs. "This thing is baffling."

"It's simple once you know the trick," Angelina said as she joined him. "Steve knows how to keep it going. The rest of the crew is down below."

"How many?"

"There's just four others, two passengers and two crew. The four of us are merchants, but with this kind of machine, how could we not?"

They watched the path as the vehicle went alongside a strip where the earth had been cleared away to keep the road straight. Up ahead, a tree at the top of the dirt wall had come uprooted and laid across the path.

"Fuck!" Steve cried out when he looked down from his bottle. He stomped on the wooden floorboards and the vehicle came to a halt. "What fucking luck we have with trees today. Mariah!"

Jakare watched as he put the cork back in his bottle, pulled up the hatch, and jumped down. There was a clatter and some muffled swearing. Jakare turned back to Angelina as she was looking over the tree. "Yeah, sorry about the last ones."

"Wait," she turned her head to look at Jakare. "Those were you?"

Jakare shrugged.

"I don't think I'll ask, but we got quite the unpleasant surprise when we took it down."

"He was dead though, right."

"How did you even?" she asked. "They were full trees."

Jakare reached into his jacket and pulled one of the saplings carefully from a pouch. He placed it into her palm.

"If you put energy into it, it will do what it naturally does. It grows!" Jakare gestured to the sky with both arms outstretched. "All in an instant, like a blooming flower."

"Like, storing energy?"

"Oh, yeah. Like you're giving it the nutrients it normally has to fight for, and all at once. Here," he said as he walked towards the left side of the vehicle. "Throw it! I have many."

She brushed the hair out of her face and walked over to where Jakare was now standing. She carefully placed the shell at the end of the sprout between her thumb, her middle finger, and her pointer finger.

"Just, have the intent for it to work," Jakare said with an innocent smile.

She wound back her arm and paused to look at Jakare. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"The tree grows in the direction of our ride and we spend the next hour cutting branches out of the side."

The sprout left her hand and went sailing into the dense forest. After a moment, the logs and underbrush began to get thrown aside as a tree suddenly began to expand in their wake. Jakare and Angelina's eyes followed the top as it rose up and above the treeline.

"Nice throw! Took me ages to get that down right."

"Wow, that was..."

"What the fuck was that!" They turned and found Steve and another man with a bulkier build hiding behind the tree they were beginning to clear away. "Grab your fucking weapons Angel!"

"It's all good," she called back. "Jakare here is just teaching me magic!"

"The fuck you talking about!"

"You could lie? I wouldn't know."

"Hah, it's also the only fucking thing they left me to remember them by."

Steve began turning a wheel that began to pull the ramp up flush with the side of the vehicle.

"This thing is like a fortress, it's amazing!" Jakare and Steve exited the hall out onto the top of the vehicle. The flat landing held crates and boxes with two hatches on either side leading down below.

A tall woman leaning her back against the side railing waved as they appeared. "What'd you find, Steve?"

"This fuck," he said, pointing behind him at Jakare with his thumb.

"Welcome aboard. I'm Angelina." She bowed, keeping her back straight. Jakare caught a glimpse of something metal at her side. "Your name?" she asked.

"Ah! I'm Jakare."

"He's got fucking snapping sand," Steve said as he walked between them and began ruffling through one of the bags. Angelina chuckled and shook her head. "Ignore him. He means well, just a little hard to get along with."

"Keep your shit to yourself, Ang."

"Did you pay?" Angelina asked, looking at Jakare.

Steve pulled a glass bottle out of the bag and twisted the cork off. "Not yet."

Jakare shot Steve a look, and Steve smirked back and he lifted the bottle to his lips.

Jakare untied the pouches from inside his coat and put them beside the bed. Using his coat as a blanket, he laid on his back and nestled into the leaves. The ground was dry and the sky was clear, slowly revealing patterns of stars that moved quickly through the night. He yawned and rested his eyes, letting the night take him away from reality to places he'd never been.

A loud auditory crack woke Jakare from his sleep. He jolted upright and grabbed one of the bags at his side. In front of him across the clearing stood a man attempting to tip toe towards him. The man adjusted to stand straight, but moving his foot through the leaves caused another crack, making him jump backwards.

"Hang on, alright, shit, give me a moment," he said as he regulated his breathing. "This is fucked."

"Can't be too cautious," replied Jakare as he stood on and slid his arms through the coat sleeves.