The Butterfly Effect

{-Demery-}

Evelina must not have liked traveling; after their first stop the next morning, she’d mumbled something to Olle and went to rest in a corner. She had yet to move from that spot, even hours later. In fact, it was easy to forget she was there entirely until someone got too loud and Olle reminded them of her presence.

Koyana kept up some casual conversation, perhaps trying a bit too hard to also include the person beside Giona. They’d never said a word to the five of them, just stared, and the only thing Demery was certain of was that they didn’t like them. Olle and Aither were usually kept in a hushed conversation of their own, though didn’t sound extremely serious or important. Demery himself was more busy with their work. He wasn’t quite sure why, but he knew however nice Peppe seemed, he wouldn’t be pleased if they gave anything less than their full effort.

It felt like it might’ve been a peaceful ride, up until the moment the wagon suddenly lurched to a stop. It was soon followed by the sound of horse neighs and angry shouting.

Giona and Demery both hopped up, the former leaving without any word while the latter only looking back to look at his sister and command, “Stay in here.” Olle followed them both after a moment.

All the wagons had been stopped, seemingly just as abruptly, for whatever group Peppe was still arguing with. Giona sighed, patted some spot near her waist, and walked up to them. Demery and Olle exchanged a wary glance before joining her.

“We have a strict deadline to meet!” Peppe was saying when they got closer. “Do you really want to pay the consequence of making me miss it?”

“That’s not what I would be worried about if I were you,” the interrupter laughed. “I was thinking of being nice, but the thought of you not doing the same kinda makes me angry.”

Olle dared to step closer to Peppe. “They’re more than prepared for a fight.” That wasn’t a warning, either—it was fact. Even if Demery couldn’t find anything to make him as confident as Olle sounded.

“And we’re not backing down either,” Peppe mumbled back.

Demery could barely believe—considering that kid who talked with Giona, those others he saw glimpses of whenever they stopped to eat—hat they were really that eager to get in a fight. Here. With valuable merchandise and plenty of younger passengers they couldn’t have wanted to get hurt.

He definitely wasn’t going to let them do anything this close to Koyana.

“Both of you, stop for a minute,” he said, partially surprised when they listened to him. Or maybe they both stopped to stare because someone at least twenty years younger than them was trying to tell them what to do. He looked at the interrupter. “What are you here for?”

“I don’t like merchants wandering around here,” he grumbled. “I figured I’d teach ‘em a lesson by stealing something.”

“Well, you won’t have any use for what’s in there,” Demery remarked. “It’s just a bunch of boxes with rocks.”

The interrupter scuffed. “Do you really think the words of a kid like you are going to stop me from doing what I want?”

“When it’s just a waste of your time that’s going to only get you caught? Yeah, I think you might want to.”

He tried not to show how glad he was that the interrupter actually seemed to consider what he said. “What?”

Luckily, Demery had a bit of practice telling people exactly what they didn’t want to hear to get them to go away. “One of the kids left when you came—right to the nearby town. They’re probably there already, telling everyone about the group that interrupted the innocent merchant caravan. I’d say you’ve only got a couple of minutes before someone gets sent out to take care of you.”

Peppe, at first, was about to object to something—probably that anyone had left, since he scanned the wagons—but soon grew a smirk. “That’s right. I hear they’re pretty slow to anger around here but, oh, is whoever incurs their wrath got quite the surprise coming to them.”

“You mean someone does monitor these areas? It’s so close to the borders all the fancy people just assume the other fancy people got it covered, right?” The interrupter tried to look to his companion for answers, but everyone that came with him did a collective shrug. He wasn’t expecting this kind of setback, that much was clear. He looked between Peppe, Demery, the wagons, then somewhere out in the distance. “Ah, shit, I think I see someone. You win—this time. But know we’ve got you figured out! We’re sure to get the better of you next time!”

Then he and all of his companions left.

“You’re a good liar, kid,” Peppe remarked. “Ever thought of becoming a scam artist?”

Assuming that was meant to be a compliment, Demery replied, “Thanks, but I think I’d rather make a living on something that doesn’t have the possibility of getting divine punishment.”

Peppe let out a boisterous laugh. “Fair enough!” He turned to everything around him. “Alright, everyone! We lost a bit of time but not as much as we usually do. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to get out of this area before anyone else decides they want to interrupt us. Let’s get moving!”

With the way Giona recalled the events when they all got settled again, things usually didn’t end up going too well. Apparently they often ran across plenty of trouble on their trips—and almost always had to stand their ground in one way or another. They were all competent fighters, or at least she claimed they were, and they were always able to get whoever had interrupted them running. Of course, there was a fantastical way that she described all of the events, so Demery didn’t find himself believing too much of it.

For better or worse, she kept sharing stories with them for the remainder of their time together. She tried to get them to tell stories of their own—even getting the person she talked to to tell them something about themself—but no one quite said anything. Koyana mentioned the stories she’d heard from another merchant boy, though likely for her own sake never went into many details. Giona guessed that Olle and Evelina had traveled before, but as much as she tried, neither of them gave any more details to her. She also tried asking Demery, though she soon found he had no exciting stories to tell.

They didn’t run into any more trouble in the two days they spent traveling, which seemed to be a record for them. Evelina actually stirred from her spot a couple of hours before they were supposed to be dropped off. She mumbled a few things to Olle and Aither, adamantly trying to convince them of something before they ultimately relented. All Demery caught from the hushed conversation was Olle’s, “We’ll make sure we stay near towns, just in case.”

Then the wagon slowed to a stop and, after a moment, Caryn came up to it. She gave each of the five a smile as they came out. “You all be careful out there, alright? I’d hate the thought of any of you getting hurt!”

“Don’t be a stranger,” Peppe added as he wandered up to them. “When and if you need a ride back up the mountain, just let us know. I’ll see if we’ll be able to make a detour to wherever you are.”

Olle offered a smile. “Thanks.”

They all waved and watched the caravan leave. Then, after a moment longer, the five of them started following Demery—the one with the map of their general location.

“Aside from the, ah, quite frankly terrifying interruption… we actually made good time,” Aither remarked. “We probably would’ve gotten half as far at this point if we’d gone on our own.”

Koyana nodded. “And we got to meet some new people! Do you think they’ll help us get back home when we’re done here? Or that we could travel with them somewhere else later?”

“I hope not,” Demery grumbled. “Were they nice? More or less. But they were also way too eager to get into fights, not to mention we never knew the names of half those people. That kid with Giona creeped me out.”

“I think they had their reasons,” Olle said thoughtfully. “Peppe said that some of them don’t like strangers. Maybe they’d be a little more open to talking if we saw them more often.”

“I’m certain one of those kids recognized us,” Evelina mumbled. Demery hardly processed that she’d said anything. “I don’t want to risk anyone saying anything… who knows how much their generosity was out of ignorance.”

“Don’t say that,” Olle sighed. He was quiet, too. “I don’t think it would’ve changed anything.”

She muttered something back that sounded similar to “You’ve been wrong before.”

Koyana, if she really understood their conversation, made no sign of showing it. “Oh, is what you’re talking about a part of why no one in that town liked you?”