Thane and Leighton stared at the sheep herder as the herd of about two hundred meandered slowly across the road.

     "I told you we should have jumped the horses over the first few," Leighton huffed. "We can't get over this many now."

     "We have enough problems without killing a man's sheep to add to our plate," Thane argued, though he was regretting not doing just as Leighton had suggested.

     He looked upward as clouds began to cast the sky in darkness.

     "Looks like a storm is blowing in from the mountains," called up the herder from the side of the road. "Bad time of year for traveling around these parts."

     Thane gave the man a nod and looked back toward the end of the herd. The last of the sheep were finally making their way to the road from the pasture.

     "How far would you say we are from the next village?" asked Leighton of the herder.

     "If you can avoid the rain and keep a steady gallop, you can be there by late afternoon," the old man replied. "Once the rains start, though, the road up ahead a few miles will flood. There's no getting past it until the waters completely recede. That is unless it turns into a mud pit."

     "Mud pit?" wondered Thane.

     "Oh, about fifty or so feet of this road is prone to becoming a giant mud pit when the rains are heavy," the herder explained. "When that happens, all you can do is wait until the ground dries. Otherwise, your horses will sink and get stuck for hours. I've seen horses and other livestock die trying to cross under those circumstances."

     "Is there no other way to the next village?" Thane asked hopefully.

     He didn't want to get stranded out in the open at night with bandits still after Leighton. 

     "Well, sure," the herder replied. "There's a road on the other side of this pasture. It's the one most people use. I was surprised to encounter two travelers such as yourselves on this one. The other road is smoother and straighter. Takes less time."

     "We were ambushed by bandits on that road," Thane explained.

     "Ah, I see," the herder pondered his words with a tug of his long white beard. "If you need a place to get in out of the rain, there's an abandoned cottage just before that place I was telling you about. There's no path to it. There's a post on the side of the road with an arrow pointing toward the village that's a good landmark to use.

     When you reach that post, get off the road to your left and ride through the trees until you come to a broken-down fence. You'll have to get off your horses at that point and walk them over the thick ground cover.

     The cottage is about a ten-minute walk from there."

     "Thank you," Thane nodded his head in gratitude.

     The last of the sheep crossed and he and Leighton gave the man a final wave as they kicked their horses to a gallop.