The trader, a man that brought barrels of whisky from far south to the lord in the next town over, was far from happy when a pair of what appeared to be beggars stopped his journey. Elias explained their difficulty, Mila’s injuries and his own, more than making up for any lack of words that he might have, and for all the traveler’s initial bluster, he turned out to be a nice enough fellow. He said his name was Sven and helped Elias get Mila up into the back of the cart before he took his place beside Sven on the driver’s bench.
Sven took the opportunity to snare Elias with stories of his travels and tried to pry stories out of the soldier in trade. Elias was sparing with what he told the man, knowing now for certain that they were well south of the fighting line but still careful about wh
