We set off early the next morning. No one at the inn stopped us. Everyone could understand our wanting to be away from the city, after what happened. The guards, too, were understanding, as we made our way towards the gate, but they still stopped us all the same, for routine inspections.

Still, all said and done, we were out of the city not long before the sun crested the city walls. No inquisitors showed up to stop us, and no angels descended from on high to smite us. We were clear, for the moment. Hopefully, by the time anyone thought to question us more fully, we would be long gone, and beyond their reach.

The next couple days were relatively quiet, in fact. This close to the city, the wild animal population was relatively tame. There were a couple encounters with monsters as we got closer to the forest, but they were weak things, and easily dealt with. So easily dealt with, in fact, that they did not even grant us XP. Still, we collected some of their pelts in order to give more credence to our cover as hunters, and the meat was always welcome at mealtime.

We also made better time, once we were away from the city, as we were not bound by the constraints of land. We didn’t fly high, of course, just keeping a few feet off the ground, so that we didn’t have to deal with the terrain. There were no roads to the Timeless Wood, so this shaved a full day off our passage, especially when we used it to cross a crevice that had been hidden by foliage until you were right upon it. That would have sent us miles out of our way, or forced us to build some sort of makeshift bridge. Either way, it would have cost us time.

Still, it was only the third day out from Geburatiel when we made it to the wood. Night was coming fast, so we decided to camp at the edge of the wood, rather than try and set up camp in the dark, in a forest that we knew was full of wolves, and worse. That was just asking for trouble, and none of us were cocky enough to believe that there was nothing in there that could cause us trouble.

After all, we weren’t here to hunt fluffy bunnies, or anything like that.

The two days of travel had done wonders to take my mind off my failing in Utina with the High Inquisitor. It was plain that I hadn’t fully dealt with the circumstances of my old life, even if I had mostly forgotten them. It may be that I’d never actually ‘fully’ deal with it. But I wasn’t going to let that rule me in my new life. I needed to be strong, strong enough that nothing like that could ever happen again.

That meant, of course, that I needed power, which is what had set me on this path years ago. Power would keep me safe. In Utina, I did not have enough power, and so the walls closed in. I needed to have enough power that no one, not even a god, could chain me again.

Which is why, during my watch atop the planar fortress’s tower, I was doing something I hadn’t done in a long time. Something I hadn’t needed to do, because I was powerful enough to take on those foes I fought. But that wasn’t true now that I was out on the planes, and facing beings of truly staggering power. I wasn’t good enough to coast any more. I needed to train.

I had never formally trained with the sword. I knew enough about them from my time growing up in Frostwind Dale to know how to hold one, but that was about it. Fortunately, the binding ritual that joined Soul’s Violation to me had given me the knowledge of basic swordsmanship, enough to at least let me use the blade without looking like a fool.

But I had not been using that knowledge, so far. I stayed at range from my foes, when I could. And blasting things with my powers was usually more beneficial than actually attacking creatures with a sword. More importantly, I had to choose between channeling a blast through my sword, or using one of the abilities I had to target multiple foes. In our fights, the multiple foe options were usually better. Especially since many of the creatures we’d been fighting were a bad match for the sword.

Soul’s Violation had a property that made the blade only partially solid, and so it bypassed all nonliving material. That was great for ignoring armor, but it did nothing against foes who, like me, wore no armor. And it was wholly useless against the undead or constructs. That was not a great situation to find myself in if I wanted to use my blade, obviously.

But the High Inquisitor hadn’t been an undead, or a construct, or some creature with a thick hide of living scales, or even a dexterous martial artist. He was just a priest, with a shield and armor like any other. Soul’s Violation would have cut through him like a hot knife through butter. I could have easily taken him, if I had been used to using the blade.

So, I spent my time on watch doing training drills, practicing parries and strikes. It was not enjoyable, to say the least, but it did give me something to do when I was on watch. And it kept me moving and awake, which was a deadly peril when resting in enemy territory.

I heard the howl of wolves in the distance, but they weren’t close enough for them to be a threat. The wind was blowing towards us, away from the Timeless Wood, but the Planar Fortress was a landmark that could be seen from some distance away, as it sat atop a hill near the edge of the of the wood. If the wolves went above the tree line, they would be sure to see us.

We actually planned to leave the wagon and horses here, with their everlasting feedbags, penning them up in the first floor while we were out in the forest. That would allow us to travel light, and not worry about the camp getting attacked while we were away. Hirelings weren’t an option, since we didn’t know anyone well enough to trust them with all our stuff. Not in this place, where Law was so prevalent. They would do the letter of the agreement, and nothing more. That is what you got when you hired on sellswords and mercenaries.

That brought up a point that we had avoided talking about for some time. The sisters’ wagon was useful as camouflage, and for moving large amounts of goods, but it could be a hindrance, now that we were moving about the planes. And the wagon wasn’t anything special. There were some magic items that made it more practical, but most of the storage space was in the form of a magic trunk, which wasn’t attached to the wagon.

Simply put, the wagon was too big and unwieldy, while at the same time being too small to actually mount any kind of useful equipment on it. All that meant that it was starting to become more of a problem than an asset, especially since we’d managed to get items that increased their speed to the point that the wagon was slower than they could fly. The wagon had spent most of our time in the elven kingdom on the ship, because the ship could move faster, and was armed. Here on Izrail, we’d again mostly stored it, until we wanted to pose as merchants, or mercenaries out on a hunt. And trying to figure out a way to take it with us when we went on our expedition to bring down the portal wasn’t going to be easy.

Perhaps, then, it was time to see about selling the wagon and horses? A couple bags of holding would serve fine, especially if we got the bigger ones. And those were far more portable than a wagon was.

Getting our own airship would be awesome, especially if it could pierce the planes, but getting such a ship and properly outfitting it, both with equipment and crew, would be extremely expensive. Not just that, but the time it would take to build such a thing was no small ask. It would be cheaper and easier to steal one, if we could.

Of course, that brought up other concerns. A ship needed a crew, one that knew how to actually use it to best effect, or it was wasted. And finding a crew that was strong enough that they’d be of use, and yet wouldn’t betray us if things went south was a tall order. There were ways to do it, of course, but that involved either a lot of money, finding zealots of proper strength, or enslaving some soul’s will. None of those were, strictly, to my liking.

“My, my, my. Whatever has got you in such a deep state of concentration?”

I turned and saw Siora standing atop the tower, watching me as I trained, and thought. She was my relief for the next watch. “Oh, Siora. Is it time for the next watch?”

“About ten minutes ago. You were so busy training, that you didn’t even notice me come up. Some watchkeeper you are!” She laughed, but there was a look of concern in her eyes.

“Ah,” I blushed, turning to look back out over the wall again. “Well, I started out thinking about what happened, back in town. Again. And I started training, to keep my mind off things. But that caused me to start thinking about other things, like what our next moves were going to be, and the potential problems we’d face. I guess that I got wrapped up in it.”

Siora moved closer, smiling. Her arms slid around my waist from behind, holding me softly, as her voice whispered in my ear. “Then it sounds like you need to get your mind off such things, for a while. Don’t go borrowing trouble, when we already have plenty of our own. What were you thinking about, anyways?”

I smiled as I leaned into the embrace, and chuckled softly. “You won’t believe it, but I was actually thinking about your wagon, and those horses. It used to be, the wagon would make you faster, so you could cover more ground. But now? And we have the fortress, so you don’t need the wagon, so long as we’re a party.”

“Ah, I see. Thinking about logistics? Or were you simply thinking about my sister and I in bed?”

I just shook my head, smirking. “No, I was really thinking about the wagon, and how this trip is the first time we’ve really used it in a while. Magic allows us to get around so much quicker, and we can all fly, which negates some of the need for the wagon.”

“And you thought that we could just get some bags of holding to make up for the cargo capacity, right?”

“That obvious?”

Siora giggled. “No, it was something that Vestele have been talking about, the last few days. Even Ebonheart hasn’t been able to move as freely as we might like, because of his size, and the close quarters we’ve fought in. The only use for the wagon, at this point, is to blend in with low-leveled people.”

“But hiding who we are and what we’re capable of could lead to more problems, in the long run. Especially if we run into more inquisitors or the like. It might be better to just use the abilities we have, and let things fall where they may.”

“Ha,” she laughed, her breath tickling my ear. “Spoken like a true worker of chaos! We are going to be upsetting people wherever we go, so we might as well make an impression that will keep the small fry from causing us trouble, hmm? Yes, I can definitely get behind something like that.

“And speaking of behinds…” Siora whispered, sultrily, as she squeezed mine firmly, and directly, her hand somehow having made its way inside my dress without my noticing it. “I think I’m going to play with this pretty one I have before me here. Heavy thinking can wait for morning.”

Neither of us noticed as the wind turned, and the howls of wolves grew closer.