Praxius stared at the map with mild irritation. This particular region of the Kingdom; probably the Kingdom of Harold, nowadays; had about fifty different towns and villages all called dale this, dale that, and was just towns, villages, of various sizes, scattered over a whole mass of hills, small forests, all of them along the side of one of the various rivers. He''d never liked forests. Too green, too alive. And with such stupid names.


    ''Hillsdale''. Wasn''t a dale a valley of some sort? So a Hill-dale was a hill-valley. Might as well be called mount pit. And if this Kylie girl was anything like his wife and daughter, she''d want to stop and stay at every inn they came near, even if the sun was only beginning to go down. He studied the map, and looked up at the terrain. They''d need to go at least five miles out of the way to avoid seeing the village today, and that assumed there weren''t other signs of the village around.


    He shook his head slowly... and glanced up at the cart at the young noblewoman. It was irritating to look up at someone shorter than he was. "Alright. We''ll be at this place.... Hillsdale... soon. One of the next few big hills we go over and we should see it. If we keep going instead of stopping, we''ll make it a another few miles towards this ''Brendale'' to drop off the boy and the maid, and can be in Brendale in less than two days."


    The girl nodded, and looked ahead. "We should let them rest a bit, in real beds. I hate to re-break their legs to heal them properly, and they need a more experienced priest than myself for the tongues. Perhaps we should check, see if they have a temple here... and we can settle in for the night, check to see if there''s any bounties, anything interesting going on."


    Praxius gave a slow nod. "You''re from the Empire, where its all either the oddballs who worship the Emperor, or the joint temples of the Lord of the Earth and the Lady of Light. Here in the kingdom, usually, they have three shrines in each village. Lord of the earth, lady of darkness, lady of light. If they can manage it, to the north, west, and east respectively. Some of the most ass-backwards worship I''ve ever heard of. There''s either "


    Kylie blinked. "Well... the Emperor discourages worship of the Lady of Darkness. But that''s not so strange. There hasn''t been a war or anything between the gods for millenia."


    Praxius chuckled. "The Ladies of Light and Darkness, here in the kingdom, preach subservience of women towards men. And the Lord of the Earth advocates subservience of men towards women. On at least seven different occasions I got to listen to an argument between a priest whose god told him to treat women as authorities, and priestesses whose goddess told them to treat men as authorities. None of them wanted to appear to be calling the other wrong, but they also couldn''t agree with each other. Obviously, thats not all, they can argue about nurturing versus culling and so forth, but it was genuinely fun to bring up the subject."


    The priestess looked confused. "I''ve... never heard of such a thing. Don''t we worship the same goddess?"


    The devil laughed. "I don''t think I''m the best one to ask. I overheard the arguments, I didn''t participate. The lady of chains and Asmodeus have a very different set of rules."


    Kylie started to say something, but then stopped; likely having only now realized that devils might worship something at all.


    At this point, they''d crested the next hill; and could see, in the distance, Hillsdale; a small town surrounding a modest river in the distance, surrounded by a fairly pretty wall that appeared to be painted a vibrant red in color, clearly visible.


    "Anyways. I would prefer to keep moving; the one thing that I''d agree on is checking for bounties, and these other bandit camps if they happen to be close."


    Kylie nodded. "But I''m in charge, right?"


    "You''ve got me for a year, or until you reach the same threshold as an academy graduate, whichever comes first. I''d recommend not wasting that time."


    The priestess smiled. "Then we will check for anything interesting here, stay the night, and move on for Brendale at first light."


    ***


    Red appeared to be quite a popular color in Hillsdale. The wall seemed to be a blend of stone and wood, painted with it; the gate built into it a solid wood fixture with the same paintjob; and of course, the guard''s chainmail had a strip of red cloth with an odd flower logo across it; clearly what served as a uniform. The flower was even tied onto the haft of the pike the guardsman carried, and he gave a pleasant wave to the cart as it approached.


    It seemed almost disturbingly friendly. The only thing out of place was that the man was enormous, and had a tinge of greenish-grey to his skin; either another half-orc, or someone part-fiend like his granddaughter; either one of which should be rare.


    As he looked past the gate, and saw at least one more massive form wearing a guard uniform further in, talking to some woman in a floral dress, he grew a bit suspicious. Should and were might not be the same thing.


    "Well hello there! Welcome to Hillsdale!" A friendly wave, the pike not pointed anywhere close to them. "There''s a tax for incoming carts if you''re here to trade.." He pointed at a sign; which had a listing of various taxes, either based on the value of incoming merchandise, or on the fullness of the carts. "Just pick whichever one would charge you less, we''re not that picky. Looks like a half...cart..."


    He stopped. Stared at the crates for a moment; the cheery, happy demeanor suddenly vanished. "Where did.."


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Found an old goblin warren full of bandits. Rescued a couple of prisoners they took, who we''re taking to Brendale. The crates are whats left of their loot." He reached into his pouch, felt around for a moment... Ahh, there.


    He slid out a small bronze token, bearing the logo of the former king, Thomas Elfslayer; most of the devils who''d stayed to fight after the contract broke had ended up getting one, as had many other heroes, during that war. The guard looked at the token for a moment; and gave a salute, tapping the haft of his weapon to his forehead. "Sir! Adventuring parties are offered a reward for the return of stolen goods. If you wouldn''t mind taking your cart to the guardhouse, we can get it sorted out."


    Praxius glanced at the cart. "Appreciated. I wouldn''t begin to know the value of a crate full of cloth bundles. We need to get these people to a healer, they aren''t the best at walking just now, then you can take it. Lady Eastwatch can choose where she''d like to stay for the evening, and if anyone has any shopping to do, go right ahead. This place seems safe enough, but either stick together, or stick with me and the cart." He glanced back at the guard. "The last time I came through this region, they had bounty boards in every town, with reports of demons, monsters, that sort of thing that needed killing, from nearby villages and farms. Still got that, or anything else odd going on?"


    "Oh, goddesses, yes. There''s a few requests from nobles and officials, there''s reports of critters attacking farms... traders and messengers drop by on the regular and the town crier copies em down. Likes to shout all about em during the day, too. And... what do they need a healer for?"


    Kylie hopped out of the cart; the armored woman landing with a solid thud, as Derek and Terra soon followed. She glanced back up, then at the guard. "The bandits kept them for a while. Broke their legs to keep them from running, and cut out their tongues. I got their legs working, they''ll walk fine with time, but their tongues... I can''t regrow lost parts, we need someone more skilled. I understand there are usually three shrines in towns down here.. do you have a recommendation?"


    "Hmm. Well. Honestly, we don''t really have dedicated priests at the lady of light or darkness, only for the god of the earth. And he''s... okay? Can heal minor injuries, but mostly works with crops. Nobody who can heal a missing tongue." The guard grimaced for a moment, then glanced around... and back at the group. "There''s actually something that might help, but I''d appreciate if you kept it quiet, alright?"


    Praxius blinked. "...What, something illegal? Demonic?"


    "No, no, nothing like that. Just a bit of a local secret we try not to spread too far. There''s a wishing well outside of town. Wrap you name and your wish around a gold coin, drop it in. And if you''re not too greedy, it gets granted by the spirit of the well when next you sleep. Had a fisherman get his hand grown back that way, no reason it won''t work on a tongue."


    He gave a slow nod. "... and it only grants what, a wish a day or something, so you don''t want everyone to know?"


    "Maybe a handful a day, but otherwise... yes. It never made anyone rich, but it made me big and strong.." he slapped his arm "So I could make a good guardsman, and when my sweet Sheila wished I''d fall in love with her, it did the trick."


    Possibilities ran through Praxius''s head. The most likely? Some devil was taking people''s souls in exchange for these wishes, and had some script on the well... in a language the wishers didn''t understand... saying so. A lesser hag or fey was always possible, but... "Tell me. I''ve noticed you and some of the other guards are Half-Orcs. Greenskins are vanishingly rare nowadays. Do you have the same father?"


    A low chuckle. "No, no. I''m pure human, through and through. Once my friend Tommy used his wish and got bigger and stronger, we all did. All of us turned out the same way. Makes it tons easier handling bar-fights."


    So. He didn''t want to ruin this devil''s game; whoever it was likely had scored hundreds of souls this way. The lack of priestesses might be his doing as well; the lest folk with that sort of magic around, the harder it would be to spot. The mage or the priest might be able to understand script the locals didn''t, so if that was the trap, he''d need to keep them from looking closely. Best avoid the well entirely. "Well. We have business elsewhere. If the ladies wish to stay here, and try their luck with the well, so be it. Just some directions to help get the cart sorted out for now, please."


    As the befuddled guard shrugged, and started giving directions, Kylie looked at the devil suspiciously... and as they started to head further into town, alongside the cart for the moment, she moved closer.


    "Is there something I should know? I''ve never heard of a well like that, but it might be worth trying." She muttered in a low voice, as the others gathered in closer.


    Praxius rolled his eyes. "Too good to be true generally means it isn''t. There''s undoubtedly a catch. Perhaps it stops working if you leave the town; the locals would never know. But the kind of magic that would regenerate a lost hand, or turn a human into an orc? Not something you can buy for a gold coin. If you care about the women, I''d take them  with you to the next town, or plan to leave them here. Whatever the deal is, if it caused problems for the locals, they''d have noticed. So if the magic is strictly local, it would explain it." Or if the catch isn''t something you''d be aware of until you died.


    The group shared a glance as they kept moving.


    Kylie shook her head slowly. "You don''t want to investigate a magic well that grants wishes? What if it could help me get stronger, faster? Wouldn''t that make your job easier?"


    "I don''t know if its a fey, some evil spirit, a devil, if its secretly replacing these people with copies of themselves, or what it could possibly be. What I do know is that for a group like us, its a trap. We need to move on. Find simple, easy things, that involve, say, killing some demon-wolf and its pack that have been terrorizing a farm. We don''t want to just hang out and absorb energy like a bunch of idiots, but we also don''t want to stop and inspect every tiny thing we come across."


    "...A wish-granting well is a tiny thing?"


    Praxius stopped. The cart kept moving for a bit, as the butler kept hauling them off towards wherever the guards did their inspection. "Today, its a wish-granting well. Tomorrow, the flowers change colors at random. Next week, people changed there names and don''t seem to realize it. Next month, all the followers of light moved to the temple of darkness instead. A million different ''interesting'' things which are all wastes of my time. I''m not here to find out why a well grants wishes. I''m here to keep you alive and get you strong enough for whatever position the Eastwatches have for you."


    Kylie frowned. "... Fine. I won''t investigate the damned well. We''ll just... look for a different solution for the women when we drop the kid off."


    "Good."


    He turned, and headed back to follow the cart; as the noblewoman dragged his granddaughter and the mage off, clearly heading to the town''s marketplace; hopefully just to check out the inn. Unfortunately, he knew her type. There was no hope whatsoever that she wasn''t going to at least take a look at the well. With his luck, he''d be battling a bone devil who was angry that he''d  cut off an easy source of souls by midnight. He just needed to figure out a good way to turn this into an object lesson, hopefully get the damned fool to fly straight from then on. Maybe if he let the boyfriend die....