The four of them made their way to the river and Rea got ready to demonstrate the process of brick making.

  The dwarf placed the brick mould on to a small flat area of the bank and with the shovel she had brought, filled it with clay. She packed it in and the looked up at her companions.

  "Since the clay is fresh from the top of the ground it's somewhat dry so we can probably lift the mould now, but we should probably dig some more to start letting it dry off."

  She handed the trowel to Ambrose and the shovel to Gro-lag. The two looked each other, shrugged and got digging.

  Rea bent and carefully pulled the mould up, leaving a neat bricked shaped lump of clay.

  "We should also light a fire, we can mould the bricks around it and it should help them dry."

  "Can I help?" Rennie asked, tugging on the dwarf’s sleeve.

  Rea looked at Gro-Lag before she answered. "You could gather some bits of wood for the fire?" She replied, trepidatiously.

  Gro-Lag looked at Rea and then his daughter for a moment before responding. "Only from where I can see you."

  The girl smiled and nodded, before quickly walking to the tree line and beginning to grab handfuls of twigs.

  After about an hour of work, they had a steadily expanding circle of bricks expanding out from the fire that Reenie was continually feeding.

  Just as they were reaching a point where they were running out of room to place more bricks Ambrose felt the same presence he had felt when Reabeck had stepped onto his land.

  He was getting ready to go see who it was when they hear a familiar voice calling out for Gro-lag and Reenie.

  "Maa!" Rennie called back. "We are over heeeeere."

  As Ros made her way to the river bank she looked around at the fruits of their labour.

  "I see you have been busy?" She said, as she slowly rocked baby Gren-Lag.

  "I have been keeping the fire lit." Rennie said, beaming.

  "She has been a great help." Rea added. "I'm Reabeck. You must be Gro-Lag's wife?"

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  "You can call me Ros." She said, nodding to the dwarf. "I'm guessing you're the one who taught my Gro how to make the rune that nearly killed him?"

  Gro-Lag made a noise that sounded a bit like a frog choking but Rea just gave a small laugh and rubbed the back of her head.

  "To my credit, I did tell him it was probably not the best place to start."

  Ros chuckles at her answer. "Makes sense, he never listens."

  Gro-Lag made another squeak as he went to speak his case, but seemingly gave up and carried on shovelling clay.

  Once they had filled the space with drying brick, they headed back to the camp and Rea prepared to make her leave.

  "Once I have sold these, I will come back with the rest of your gold." She said as packed up her things. "Minus your advance of course."

  Ambrose laughed "I have to thank you again Reabeck, the coin will really help us."

  "Getting a kiln built once those bricks are dry will be a much bigger help then a bit of coin." Rea replied, as she got into her cart.

  She offered her hand and Ambrose shook it. "Next time I will bring the rest of my crap runes since you guys seem to be good at finding use for em."

  Using the reigns she turned made her pony turn and started back towards the path.

  "Oh, and make a better path, could ya?" She called back as she left.

  Ambrose paused for a moment. Oh yeah, I was going to clear a path. He looked around him. Maybe clearing the area in general might be a good idea, especially if we are going to start building with bricks?

  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.

  Ambrose and Gro-Lag slowly started to clear some of the space around the camp, pulling up smaller plants and using the tools that Rea had brough them to level the ground. At the same time Reenie and Ros moved back and forth between keeping the fire around the bricks lit and working on their small house to get it ready for them to move in.

  As they worked Ambrose was very aware that Gro-Lag still seemed to be not his usual self and so when his wife and daughter where by the river tending the fire, he took his chance to talk to him.

  "Gro-Lag, I just really wanted to apologize about what happened with Reenie earlier." He somewhat blurted.

  The goblin looked at him confused, clearly trying to process what he had said.

  "Why are you sorry, my lord?"

  Ambrose stared silent, not sure what more to say. He has assumed that Gro-Lag was annoyed at him for letting Rennie go off into the woods alone and so would have understood why he was sorry.

  "Because-"

  His explanation was cut off by a sudden scream from the direction of the river.

  There was a moment’s pause before both the two where once again today running full force through the trees and brush. As they did Ambrose managed to process that this time, the scream hadn't come from a little girl.

  Once they made it too where the sound had come from, they saw Ros frantically trying to undo the wrap that held baby Gren-Lag to her. Once she spotted them, she pointed a short distance down the river.

  Both of them followed her gesture and saw a little green figure struggling to stay afloat as they were pulled away from them by the current.

  Before his brain could fully catch-up Ambrose found himself quickly following it down the bank. As he got closer, he could see Reenie was barely keeping her head afloat.

  She dipped under again and Ambrose dived in to the water. He swam as fast as he could towards where he had last seen her, his lungs burning as he did.

  She managed to get her head above the water and Ambrose push himself as hard as he could, he reached out...

  And just missed her.

  He let out a breathless gasp of horror as he watched the girl quickly drift further away from him and then dip below the water.