It was very early in the morning; it hadn't even fully dawned yet, but we were already heading to the town hall to meet with the rest of the expedition group.
When we arrived, Elías welcomed us. He told us to sit down and wait until the rest of the workers arrived; they were still preparing the carts and horses.
I looked around. There were already about seventy people in the place, including Leofric and Serin, who were together with the other guards assigned to the group. While I observed all the people present, four caught my attention. They seemed to be very well-armed soldiers, wearing whitish armor with chainmail underneath, but the strangest was the one who appeared to be the leader. On his right arm he bore the same insignia that the guard from Aldefor had: that of an imperial shocker knight.
"I thought the capital wouldn't send its own guards," I whispered to Rowan, who was beside me.
"According to what they told us yesterday, that was the case," Rowan answered uncertainly.
"Relax, boys, they won't be going with you." Someone grabbed both of us by the shoulders in a half hug; it was Edric. "They're here on 'official' business, they just stopped by to talk to Elías."
"And what are those 'businesses'?" my brother questioned the old man.
"How should I know, brat? I'm not that important," he laughed. "Now get yourselves ready, you'll be leaving in less than an hour. And Claire, come with me."
Claire stood up from her seat and followed her grandfather. Ignoring the situation, I checked my belongings to make sure nothing was missing. In my bag I carried some personal notes about my training, a knife, and some clothes. As for what I was wearing, I had boots, a gambeson, and padded trousers. It was already the middle of winter, so my clothing was considerably padded to fight the cold.
Shortly after, the old man and Claire returned, carrying four swords. She handed one to her brother, and Edric gave ours to Rowan and me. "I had the blacksmith make them about two weeks ago for each of you. I was going to wait a bit longer before giving them to you, but since this opportunity has come up, there's no point in wasting it."
"Thank you, Uncle Ed," I said with a smile.
"No need, kid," he said, rubbing my hair with his hand.
When the rest of the group finished thanking him, he spoke again. "Alright, you may end up in real combat against some beasts, or maybe not, but either way, always remember everything I taught you over these last few months. And don't hesitate to use the pulsar if necessary; it won't be like training."
Just as Edric finished speaking, a black-haired woman approached. "How are you, kids? For those who don't know me, I'm Serin, and I'll be in charge of the combat section."
Although I had never spoken to her, I had seen her several times. She seemed kinder and more energetic than her brother Corin, who was quite dry and serious when speaking.
She had us join the rest of the group and began explaining how we would divide ourselves. During the expedition we would split into three sectors: the front guards, the middle, and the rear. Once we settled in the valley, we would simply take turns doing guard rounds around the camp.
"Alright, now that everyone knows what they have to do and where to go, it's time to depart," Serin turned and gestured to the man in charge of the workers. "Move out!"
The journey began calmly. Supposedly it would be almost two days of walking toward the valley where the pines we were looking for were located. This wood seemed to be more resistant than what the village usually produced, which made it an excellent option for building ships.
I was at the back of the line: Claire to my right, Daren to my left, and finally Rowan at the front along with Serin. In my case, I was accompanied by two common guards, Leofric and Stek.
"Why did Serin send you to the rear? Aren't you something like a squire?" I asked Leo curiously.
"Precisely because of that she assigned me here, so I can guide you. Besides, there are already too many at the front; they have two shockers and five regular guards."
"Are beast attacks common on these expeditions?"
"Not much, although we've only gone to this valley once, and that was when I had just enlisted in the group a long time ago," he put a hand on his chin in a thinking pose. "Still, at least one out of every seven expeditions we get attacked by some wild beasts like panlagors, which are common in this region. They don't usually attack often because they wait to be in groups to do so."
"That's strange. The one that attacked Rowan and me was alone," I said uncertainly.
"Wait, you fought one? Alone?" Leofric was surprised.
"Yes and no. We fought one on a road near Aldefor, but Edric saved us at the last moment. That's when we met him."
"That makes more sense. Well, the thing is that as wild as they are, they're not idiots. It attacked you because there were only two of you. This is a group of more than a hundred people; it would be very strange for a small group of two or three to attack us. Not to mention that they're quite hostile beasts toward others; they don't usually group up with other animals from this forest."
"I understand…"
I didn't know whether I was disappointed or not. On one hand, I wanted to put all these months of training to the test, but on the other, thinking about fighting a monster like that gave me chills.
At nightfall we set up a provisional camp to spend the night. The next day we would reach our destination, where we would stay for about ten days.
We were sitting around a campfire near our tents. "How did it go at your posts?" Daren looked toward my brother. "Rowan, you were at the vanguard. What happened when we stopped for ten minutes? I wanted to go ask, but my companions told me to hold position."
Row took a sip from his canteen and answered, "Nothing important happened. Serin just stopped to check the map; it seems it's a route they don't take very often."
The sparkle that had begun to form in Claire's eyes faded; it seemed she had been hoping it involved some beast. I still couldn't understand what strange obsession she had with them.
The next day we broke camp to continue our journey. There was a change of positions; among them, I went to the front and Rowan to the rear. I was carefully watching the sides when Serin spoke to me. "Do you know which beasts are common in this area?"
I began to recall the books I had been reading in the village over the last few months, since I knew it was only a matter of time before we started going on expeditions. It certainly seemed like a waste to leave shockers doing manual labor in the village. "Uhm, the ones that dominate the area are the panlagors. They usually go in groups of two or three, and the other one is…"
I was looking up at the sky while walking and thinking when Serin stretched out her right hand to stop me abruptly. This caught me off guard, and I quickly turned my head toward her, but a second later I looked away from her and looked forward.
In front of me there were about five panlagors lying down. When they noticed our presence, they lifted their heads and looked at us, then stood up and opened their jaws to let out a loud roar. I felt my entire body freeze with fear. Not only was I facing the same beast I had fought almost a year ago, but now there were five of them.