While they waited for the brothers to return to the inn, Maximus, Gwen, and Marigold went about dealing with the starvation of the residents of the orphanage. To Gwen's surprise, Maximus's seemingly bottomless bag held quite a bit of nonperishable food. He had jars of dried fruits, hard crackers, and vessels with clean water. His bag also contained wooden plates. The three distributed the food to the emaciated orphans. Gwen tried to give food to the matron, but she refused to take any food until the children had eaten their food. Similarly, Alara wanted to be given food last as well.
The children were elated to have so much good food to eat. To Gwen's surprise however, Maximus did not let the children have second helpings. He gave an elaborate explanation about the imbalance to electrolytes caused by reintroduction to a high nutrition diet after a period of starvation.
Marigold simplified Maximus's ramblings for everyone present, "It is called Refeeding syndrome," she told them. She then turned to the children and said, "So, if you eat too much too quickly you will get sick. You have to slowly increase the amount of food you eat, but do not worry children, once your bodies can handle it, we will let you eat as much as you would like."
The children all seemed to understand that "Miss Fairy" was making sure they stayed healthy.
After eating the children all became rather tired. They all curled up on the two beds in the room and went to sleep.
The slow, soft breathing of the sleeping young children was soothing to Gwen.
It took about an hour for the brothers to return to the inn. The brothers had successfully purchased a horse drawn wagon and two horses to pull it. The cart was waiting in front of the inn.
Gwen walked outside to see the wagon. It appeared to be similar to the wagons she had seen in depictions of covered wagons or stagecoaches. The wheels were made of wood and had spokes like all of the wagons and carriages Gwen was used to in her history textbooks. Covering the top of the wagon was a sheet of thick cloth. Gwen did not know what kind of cloth from which the roof was made. The cloth did look like it was covered in some form of wax. Gwen assumed the wax would help with keeping rainwater from dripping into the wagon. This wagon was relatively large, drawn by two horses. There were benches lining either side of the inside of the wagon. The wagon was large enough that it would easily be able to fit all fifteen orphans, Alana, and the matron with space to spare.
"Come children, I will help you climb into the wagon," the matron said, helping the first of the orphans into the wagon. "Once you are in, move over as far as you can so everyone can fit."
The orphans answered with a chorus of affirmatives. "Got it" was the most common used, although there were variations.
"Gwen, you should sit in the wagon aw well," Gabriel said.
"I will drive the carriage," Maximus volunteered. "That way you can stay with the children and keep them company, Mari."
The fairy, invisible again as they were outside, remained silent, likely still keenly aware of how she had blown her cover earlier.
"Alright, then Gabriel and I will ride our horses alongside the wagon, acting as guards. Maximus, we will tether your horse to the carriage for the journey," Tristan stated.
With their travel arrangements settled, Gwen helped the matron into the wagon and then climbed in herself.
The inside of the wagon was quite spacious. All of the children as well as the two teenagers and the old matron were all able to sit comfortably along the two benches that lined the side of the carriage.
With everything prepared, the caravan set off. Their destination was the Magician's Keep.
The journey through the city to the North Gate was uneventful. Gwen could only see out the back of the covered wagon as the fabric covering the sides was opaque. She could see somewhat out the front of the wagon, but much of her view was blocked by Maximus. The sounds of the city outside of the carriage were slightly muffled, leading to an interesting and novel experience for Gwen. No one stopped the group as they traveled through the city. The children were all excited to be setting off. They chatted amongst themselves as they stared out the back of the carriage.
After passing through the gate and getting a good distance away from the city, Marigold undid her invisibility. The children were all surprised by "Miss Fairy's" sudden appearance. The children quickly developed a game in which Marigold would become invisible and fly somewhere in the wagon. The children would then point to where they thought Marigold was hiding. Their success rate was nearly zero, but they appeared to be having fun. Marigold also seemed to be having a good time with the children, although Gwen knew that she would insist on how troublesome it was later.
While the children were playing, Gwen remembered that she had wanted to ask Maximus about his ability to communicate with Marigold at a distance and without speaking. "Max, how is it that you and Marigold are able to communicate over a distance and without speaking?"
"It is quite simple, actually, we both have a biomechanical implant that acts as both a transmitter and receiver for radio waves," the magician responded. "It is not as effective as simply speaking though, so we only really use it in certain circumstances."
Gwen was intrigued by this newfound fact about the magician and fairy. She was curious about what other interesting facts that the magician simply had yet to share.
Before Gwen could ask more about the magician, she felt a tug on the sleeve of her gambeson. The child sitting next to was staring up at her. She appeared to be around six years old.
"Excuse me, Miss Gwen. Is it okay if I lie on you? I am tired, but I don't want to be a bother," the little girl asked Gwen nervously.
Gwen's heart was shot through by the cuteness of the interaction. She happily agreed to let the girl use her as a pillow. With a happy smile, the girl laid against Gwen's arm and went to sleep.
Looking around the wagon, Gwen noticed that many of the children were starting to nod off. She smiled, seeing all of the content little faces.
Time passed quickly in the bumping and swaying of the wagon. Gwen was starting to doze when the wagon came to a stop.
"I was worried about this," Gabriel said from outside the wagon. "I don't think the wagon will be able to pass down this overgrown trail that leads to the Magician's Keep."
"This is fine, I will just need to flatten the vegetation and harden the soil to create a road. It will be exhausting, but perfectly within my capabilities. I can just use a localized gravitational field to compact the soil until it turns firm enough for the wagon to pass," Maximus said.
"Maximus, do you have any hatchets in that magical bag of yours?" Tristan asked. "We do not want you doing all of the work. We can clear the brush, and the path should be traversable that way."
"That will work. You can do that for the start of the path through the woods. This used to be just as well paved as the main road from which it branches off," Maximus stated. "We can let the horses rest and graze here while we do that."
Maximus pulled two small axes from his bag and handed them to the brothers.
"I can help. I might not be able to fight, but I can at least help clear some brush," Gwen offered.
"Sure, glad to have the help," Tristan said.
"Mari and I will prepare a meal for everyone while we wait. Just stop when you get tired. I can flatten the rest using a localized gravitational field," Maximus told them.
Gwen and the brothers began cutting through the underbrush that covered the old road to the Magician's Keep. It was hard work, but Gwen was used to hard work from training for her tennis team. The three did need to stay on high alert while moving along the path as there could be some creature that could attack them if they let their guard down.
The three of them cut for as far as they could. Gwen calculated that it was about a third of a mile. It took them about two hours before they got too tired to safely work.
As they returned down the now clear path, Gwen could smell something delicious cooking. Maximus and Marigold must have made something delicious for everyone to eat. It was the waning afternoon but not yet evening.
Gwen smiled at the happy children sitting on the grass around the fire. She walked over and joined them, being handed a bowl of stew by Alara. It was nice to enjoy moments of happiness like this, Gwen thought.
After their meal, everyone got back in the wagon and prepared for the final stretch of their journey. Maximus was now riding his horse in front of the wagon with Gabriel driving the wagon. Tristan rode behind the wagon, guiding Gabriel's horse along with him.
They rode until they reached the end of the area that had been cleared by Gwen and the brothers.
Approaching the uncut area, Maximus put out his hand and said something in Draconic. Being in the wagon, Gwen was unable to see what the magician was doing clearly. Despite this, the wagon moved forward at a mild pace.
Eventually the forest gave way and the Magician's Keep came into view.
Gwen saw Maximus dismount his horse. His footing was unsteady. The magician collapsed.
"Max!" Marigold shouted as she went flying over to where Maximus lay.