1696 Outside the Forest
It had been a week since the lions had attacked the caravan. Every night, and even during the day, the people stayed vigilant, on the lookout for another group of lions that may come to attack them.
Thankfully, no such lions came, so they managed to spend some mundane days.
They had come across another large waterfall some 3 days back and had taken a bath back then. And the next time they got a chance to have a bath would directly be at Toma.
“We will be stopping close to evening today. Make sure you are prepared for it.” That was the message that was sent to all carts and carriages.
Apparently, the road went through a very thick forest on top of a rolling hill that took nearly an entire day’s ride away to cross. As a result, they needed to get as close to it as they could today, and then start their journey tomorrow just as quickly so that they didn’t have to stop in the forest for the night.
That was more than a bad idea to do so.
The horses were pushed to their limits until they finally saw the forest. There was still an hour or two of daylight, so there was enough time. They still got as close to it as they could and immediately began setting up camp while they still had light.
Some went to the outskirts of the forest to gather timber while some began lighting fires. Soon enough as evening rolled around, everything was ready.
Food would be a little later than usual, but no one complained about that. They understood there would be little singing and dancing today. They would have to eat as quickly as they could, then go to sleep so they could wake up in the morning early on to leave.
Ning sat by the campfire, eating a roasted deer today that they had caught along the way. The deer wasn’t just enough meat for everyone to eat, even if just a handful at a time.
Once Ning ate, he planned on going straight to sleep.
But before he could even do that, he sensed something through his Life Sense and turned immediately. He expected lions, but what he sensed instead was humans.
He wasn’t the only one that had noticed them, however. There were others who had seen the newly arrived men.
The guards and several other fighters immediately got into a fighting stance as it seemed that they had been found by some bandits.
The men that came were all bald, wearing clothes that seemed not only tattered but also not fitting their clothes. Some looked sickly, while others limped.
Were these men really bandits?
“Please do not attack us!” one of the men shouted, raising his hand to show that he was not a threat.
Several of the others threw their weapons to the side as well, following the man.
The guards of the caravan still didn’t lower their guard. They couldn’t for a misstep here could lead to the entire caravan’s slaughter.
“Who are you?” the leader of the guards asked. “What do you want with us?”
“Doctor,” the man said. “Do… do you have a doctor with you? We have sick people.”
The leader looked at the people, seeing their sorry state. He seemed to empathize with them, but he couldn’t.
“Turn around and walk away. We won’t attack you if you do that,” the leader said.
“Please, they will die. They need medication,” another bald man from the back said. “We will leave,” the man at the front said. “But please, just the medication. We will administer it ourselves.”
Shara leaned toward Ning. “They look so scrawny. I don’t think they’ve had a proper meal in days. I don’t believe they are bandits,” she said.
Ning was of the same mind. He highly doubted they could be bandits, but then who could they be?
“We shall prepare medication for you,” the leader said. He whispered something to the man next to him and the man moved to go get the doctor. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
After a while, the man brought it out. He handed the small pouch of powdered medication to be put on wounds along with a bunch of fresh bandages and some clean water. It was not much, but it was all they could afford to give.
The man at the front took it all and frowned a little. It was too little in his eyes. But, he couldn’t argue against someone who had given them something.
“I thank you for your generosity, kind sir,” the man said. He was about to turn around, but one of the men behind him said something to him, causing the man to frown.
“You… won’t happen to have someone you could send with us that can help with the healing, right?” the man asked. “We… are not that proficient with this sort of stuff.”
“I’m sorry but we cannot give you anyone. If you have a wounded person, you must find someone of your own,” the leader said.
The bald man grimaced but nodded his head. “Thank you for this, nonetheless. Thanks to you, my men may survive.”
The man turned around to leave.
“Wait!” Ning shouted just then, causing everyone to look toward him. “I can help you. I know some medical knowledge.”
The man paused for a moment and looked at Ning. In the campfire, he looked quite young to the men. “Do you think you can help us?” the man asked.
“So long as your camp isn’t that far away,” Ning said.
“It is not,” the man answered. “It’s about 10 minutes away from here, up that hill.”
“Then I can come help you,” Ning said.
Several people around Ning immediately tried to dissuade him, but no one including Shara could do that anymore. Not when he had a 5-point quest asking him if he would help this group.
For those points, he would even fight all of these people all alone.
“Let us hurry,” Ning said as he walked toward the many men. “We don’t want to keep your men in pain any longer.”
