Soon enough, they came to a fork in the road. The main road curved to the right and following it would continue along the trade road until they eventually reached the next town. The left path was a forester’s trail used by hunters, loggers, and apple pickers. The wild apple trees of the Milo region bore fruit whose taste was unmatched by any other in the realm.
Quite a few merchants from other regions tried to replant the apple seeds in their own orchards, but there was something about the generally warm weather of the Milo coast and the wild way the trees grew that they not only survived, but thrived.
Kre was starting to direct the team to the right when he felt a tap on his side. He pulled lightly on the reins and the horses slowed, then stopped after a few more steps. “What’s up?” he asked as he turned to see what was up.
Lowil was nearest him and had been the one to get his attention. Braun was elbow deep in a burlap sack that Kre hadn’t noticed before. The former pulled a very familiar looking leather-wrapped Tehynji set from the sack and started to unwrap it.
“Get your hands off that!”
Braun nearly dropped the set in surprise. “What?” he protested meekly, having the decency to at least look a bit ashamed.
“That belongs to Ser Terync and you need to put that back.” Kre hadn’t realized that he was storming over the rail until Lowil literally had to grab him around the waist to keep him from getting directly in Braun’s face.
“Slow down there lad. I’m sure he had a reason. A very good reason.” He directed that last at Braun, as if warning the other man to come up with something very convincing.
For his part, Braun recovered from the initial surprise quickly, though he still looked pale and a bit clammy. He immediately shoved the bundle back into the sack and cleared his throat. “Well, of course I was… well, just… I was just ensuring that everything was in order here. It’s my job, isn’t it? I was too busy to see to the packing of his belongings myself.”
Kre was still fuming, knowing that Braun was telling a lie in order to cover his own backside. “Just leave his things alone. They aren’t there for you to pick and choose what you want to pilfer for your own.” He vaulted the rail again and sat heavily down into the seat.
“Which way?” he demanded angrily.
“Kre,” Lowil offered cautiously, “do you think we should talk about this a bit more? You seem to have some very strong feelings here that I don’t think you should just bury.”
“Just tell me where to go and make sure that leech keeps his hands out of the coffin… I wouldn’t want him to go rifling through the corpse’s pockets.”
Lowil sighed and just waved his hand to the left. “There’s a cabin up the trail a bit. Used by the apple gatherers when it’s picking season. We can stop there for the night.”
Kre didn’t bother to answer. He just snapped the reins and tugged the horses to the left.