Ambrose lounged in the passenger seat of the cart. It was not even the late afternoon yet but the weight of the day had left him exhausted and the ride back to his land was the perfect time to rest. His vision blurred and sharpened as he drifted around sleep, watching the trees softly rock in the calm breeze.

  "I have to admit Rea, while I am still annoyed at about how you have afforded it, I do really like your new cart." He said, through a yawn.

  "Well with the amount you have loaded it up, I think the old one would have given way under the weight." Reabeck replied, mildly annoyed.

  He lent back and looked at the tools and supplies that currently filled the back of the cart. He had only been planning to get some more shovel and buckets, as well as some saws and plains for turning some of the trees they fell into planks. Arlon though a mix of loyalty and guilt had insisted that she help pay for some of it. While Ambrose had tried to tell her that she didn't need too she had not only had insisted that she contribute but also that they should get a lot more then he had planned to get.

  "True, but we also didn't need to get as much." He said, sitting up.

  The cart she had bought was much wider and longer than her last, a change that seemed to be a somewhat difficult adjustment for Reabeck and her pony, who while managing, was needing to take brakes a lot more often.

  They stopped where the clearing in the woods lead the easiest to the camp and started unpacking the cart. Once they had gotten a good amount of it out, Ambrose went to get help carrying it all. As he entered camp, he was met by a small green girl running up to him.

  "Ambrose, your back!" Reenie yelled.

  Ambrose crouched and opened his arms to hug her and she ran into him.

  "Ah, it was you."

  He looked up and saw Gro-Lag and Ros walking towards him.

  He stood and shook Gro-Lag's hand, he went to do the same to Ros but before he could she hugged him.

  After a short explanation, Gro-lag was helping him carry the supplies from the cart back to camp.

  "Didn't you say you was going to carve a path?" Reabeck said, breathing heavy as she dragged a number of tools larger than her along the ground.

  Gro-Lag and Ambrose gave each other a grin as they carried their own loads.

  "Where is Trelen anyway?" Ambrose asked.

  "Working on their kiln probably, they have been at it nonstop since you left." The goblin said, through heavy breaths.

  "Ooh I gotta see this." Rea dropped what she was carrying, a bit further away than camp and walked towards the river. The two men carried their burdens to the actually center of the camp before following behind.

  When they got to Trelen's kiln Ambrose couldn't help but let his mouth hang in amazement. It was larger than he had expected. Being taller than himself by at least a head, and was sitting raised off the ground.

  "Extra airflow huh?" The dwarf said as she looked under the kiln.

  Trelen nodded. "It also allows ash to drop down to make maintenance easier." They looked up and saw Ambrose, giving him a small smile. "I just need some tongs so I can take out any brick or metals I blast."

  Reabeck turned back to Ambrose and then to Trelen. "I think that was amongst what we got?"

  Trelen looked at her, confused.

  Ambrose sighed. "Come on, it will be easier if I explain everything that has happened to all of you at once."

  Using a mix of the supplied they already had and the ones they brought back from the city they made some tea and all sat around the fire.

  "So, you didn't mention about my... situation?" Trelen asked, their cup of tea steaming in their hands.

  Ambrose furrowed his brow. "I wasn't sure how much to mention about you lot and with everything else that happened..." He trailed off, with a shrug. He had actually been kicking himself all afternoon for forgetting to mention about the slavers, but after thinking about it, he thought letting Trelen tell the tale themselves when the representative showed up was probably better.

  Trelen staired off for a moment before sighing and taking a drink of their tea. "Probably for the best."

  "So, this person they are sending, what exactly are they going to do?" Asked Ros.

  "I would think probably just confirm Ambrose's story" Reabeck said, into her cup.

  "And when he finds that the people that you have living with you are four goblins and a Slovèi?"

  "I did say you weren't citizens." Ambrose added, creasing his face. "But that's not the only thing I needed to talk to you about, well." He looked at Reabeck. "Well, we needed to talk to you about. Specifically, you Gro."

  Gro-Lag looked at them both, concern crossing his face. "Was there something wrong with the runes?" He said, quickly.

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  Reabeck shook her head, emphatically. "Oh no Gro-Lag they are perfect, there better than perfect. They have been selling amazingly. So amazingly that I have even got loads of orders for more."

  "Which is where all the coin came from for the supplies." Ambrose added. "But that is what Reabeck wanted to talk about." He gave her a look and gestured with his head for her to continue.

  The dwarf staired at her cup for a moment, chewing her lip as she built up the courage to talk. "I may... have gotten a bit... over exited, when it came to taking orders."

  Everyone in the group was silent for a moment, the only sounds being Gren-Lag's soft sleeping breaths and the crackle of the fire.

  "How many did you take?" Ros asked slowly.

  "Well... I... Um..."

  "A couple hundred." Ambrose finished

  The goblin’s face turned to thunder as she looked at Reabeck. "And you expect my husband to fill all of them?"

  The dwarf didn't respond, instead just staring at the ground.

  "Did you know she was going to do this?" She said towards Ambrose.

  "No, hence when I found out I insisted she come back with me to explain it herself."

  "Ambrose had nothing to do with this, it's all my fault." Reabeck finally said. "He wouldn't even take the coin from the orders when I offered it to him."

  "Well, he clearly took some, unless you saying you found those nice new leathers your wearing?"

  Ambrose looked down at his new working cloths, the guilt of spending some of the coin he had been given on himself returning anew.

  "I gave him a finder's fee for connecting me and Gro-Lag."

  Ros seemed from the breath she took, like she was about to escalate her argument to a point that Ambrose felt would be more terrifying than he could stand. Luckily Gro-Lag's hand on her back caused the air to leave her lungs devoid of speech. She looked at him and seemed to understand what he wanted. She stood and beckoned for Trelen to follow as she walked over to hers and Gro-Lag's hut where Rennie was sitting playing with some sticks.

  "I wish you had asked me first Reabeck." Gro-Lag said, his tone measured.

  "I'm sorry. I just... I had never had so much..."

  Gro-Lag sighed. "When do they need to be done by?"

  Reabeck pulled out a parchment from her pocket and handed it to him. As he read it, Ambrose saw his eyes growing wider. "I haven't even made two of these before."

  "It will be fine." She said quickly, standing walking over to the pile of supplies they had brought in, grabbed a large book and brought it back over to them. She handed the book to Gro-lag who opened it.

  "I thought a copy where you could actually read the words would help."

  While the goblin was holding the book, Reabeck open it and flipped through the pages, she found what she was looking for and point at it. "This is the frost rune, it actually not to dissimilar to a fire rune." She turned through a few other pages before stopping and pointing again. "This the light rune."

  Gro-Lag brought the book closure to his face and squinted. "The details on this are really fine, I'm not sure I can do this with the tools I have."

  Reabeck grimaced. "I have been trying to source some specialist tools from Nortok but it's been taking a bit longer than expected."

  Gro-Lag pointed at the rune diagram on the page. "To do this I am going to need something with a very small, very sharp, very strong tip."

  The two sat in silence for a moment, contemplating their options, when a sudden idea came to Ambrose. He stood and walked over to his small covered bed. He had built it up a lot since he had first put it together what seemed so long ago. It now was covered with many animal skins secured with sticks and rope and tucking just inside of it was a small sack. He took it out, opened it to check what he wanted was in there and brought it back to the two. He reached in an produced a small onyx beak. "Would this do?" He said handing it to Reabeck.

  She looked at his for a moment before recognition and shock came to her face. "By the stones, when did you kill an Assassin Crow?"