Chương 163: Chapter 161 – Hidden Roadblocks

ay could see the misshapen mountain in the distance. It was painfully obvious which mountain had been impacted by the mishap. It was the only mountain in the range that was missing a sharp pointed peak.

"What were they trying to do?" he asked Grim, who held the reins to the oxen hauling the wagon.

"Yur guess be as good as mine, they be always doin' sumtin' or should I say messin' up sumtin,'" Grim replied, smirking at Ray. Despite Ray walking beside the wagon, he remained eye level with the dwarf. The caravan moved at a painfully slow pace. Six wagons carried an assortment of crates of varying sizes. Ray could not help but wonder what they contained. Grim had said they were meant for Shadowborne Villa, but were they intended for his party or just supplies in general?

Ray cast a glance behind him to see Sheera, still obviously lost in her worried thoughts about her husband and daughter. Occasionally her eyes would dart from one side of the road to the other, but he could see that her focus was solely on the goings on in her mind and not what was going on around her.

"Hey, you alright back there?" he called to her. Sheera just continued walking, mechanically almost. Her feet were moving but she seemed detached from them.

"Sheera?" he called out again, hoping to rouse her from her thoughts. Dwelling on things you have little or no control over seldom does anyone any good. It generally causes the mind to go to dark places; delve in there long enough and it becomes harder to find the way back to the light, he thought, remembering the words of an old dear friend. Sage advice. I know stewing in my own juices never got me anywhere but angry and depressed. Sheera's eyes suddenly focused at the sound of her name.

She looked at Ray and mustered up a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine, well as fine as I can be anyway." Ray stopped and allowed Sheera to catch up to him. He knew he needed to pull her out of the recesses of her own mind and focus on something other than Thai, if only for a little while.

"Well, see that over there?" he said, pointing to the missing mountain top.

"The flat mountain amongst the peaks?" she asked, wanting to be certain she wasn't missing anything.

"Yup, well that's where we're going. It seems the dwarves had a mishap a couple of days ago and blew the top right off," he said, shaking his head at the absurdity of it all. Her eyes opened in surprise as she took a closer look.

"How do you accidentally blow up the top of a mountain?" she asked, snickering.

"A little too much dynamite and not enough brains I would imagine," he said, thankful to see her smile. Stolen story; please report. Sheera began to laugh, not the fake one she had been using lately, but a real genuine laugh.

"Probably one too many supervisors on the job and not enough dwarves who knew what they were doing," he added to his previous comment.

"Ray?" she asked, her face looking sullen.

"Do you think she's alright?" Ray put his arm around her and gave her a gentle squeeze.

"Yes, yes, I do, I think she is going to be back here running around like the energetic kid she is. She will be running circles around all of us before you know it, you'll see," he said, smiling reassuringly at her.

"Do you think there is any way we can get word?" she asked.

"I can ask Grim, but I don't think right now it's even a possibility. If you hadn't noticed, we seem to be out in the middle of nowhere's ville. I mean anything's possible, but unless they have communicators hidden in the rocks somewhere," he replied, his eyes scanning the landscape.

"It's unlikely."

"Maybe when we get to Shadowborne Villa then." She nodded.

"I think that's a better possibility," he agreed. As the group made its way around the bend a group of dwarves were blocking the road.

"Sorry folks, this here road be closed. Yous is gonna hafta turns yourselves around and go back the ways you came," a young man said, approaching the lead wagon. Grim pulled the reins on the oxen leading his wagon, signaling them to stop. Ray looked over at Grim and gave him a suspicious look. The dwarf didn't look official in his eyes; he looked like life had been particularly hard for him. His clothes were dirty and disheveled, his shoes holey and worn beyond the point of usefulness.

The driver of the lead wagon looked back at the group before turning to the young man.

"We're on our way to help get that mess sorted out, so I'd really 'preciate it if yous and your men stepped outs of the way so we could get throughs."

"Sorry, can't do's that. Ya know orders and all that," the young dwarf replied as the group of rough‑looking dwarves moved closer, some moving to the wagon to inspect the crates.

"So whatcha haulin'?" another dwarf called to the driver as the group began milling around the wagons, flipping up canvases to see the crates.

"That, be noneya," the driver of the lead wagon replied before calling out, "Hey Grim, I think we may have us a sitcheation here."

"What's noneya?" the dwarf asked.

"That would bes noneya fellas business," Grim replied, his eyes on Ray. Ray motioned to Grim that he was going to sneak behind the rocks and make his way over to the front of the caravan. Grim could feel the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he turned to Sheera and motioned for her to get behind the rocks on the side of the wagon.

"Hide," he whispered, "I think we's gots some trouble, I wouldn't want ya to get yurself hurt or nuttin."

"Grim?" the driver called out, his voice sounding more desperate.

"Now woulds be a really goods time for yous to gets up here." He turned back from Sheera then reached under the seat of the wagon. He pulled up his shotgun.

"Yeah, I'm a commin'," he called out before jumping down from the wagon and feeling for the revolver in his waistband before walking casually over to the front of the caravan.

"Evenin' fellas." Reaching the front of the caravan he asked, "What can I do you for?" The young dwarf moved closer to him.

"Well old timer, yous can just turns yurself round and get backs in yur wagon. Like I told yur friend, the road be closed," he said, sharply.

"And like I told you's we're on our way to rectify that, now kindly step aside," the driver of the lead wagon said.