Two donkeys were loaded with their things. Bevel would act as Sage’s mount and wore a huge backpack fit for a Golem. One donkey was enough for the two puppets, as they were light enough.

Soren held Sage in a tearful embrace, perhaps the second or third one today. “I’ll see you,” he choked as he tried not to cry. “May you walk in peace and the roads be favorable.” 

“Thank you, Soren,” Sage said. “I’ll miss you, too.” 

A final squeeze before embracing the puppets. Dan squeezed the old witch tight. “Thank you for your hospitality and everything.” He felt a pang of sorrow. “I’ll miss you.” 

“I will you, my friend. You two have been a highlight of my years. I can’t wait to hear of your adventures.” 

“And you, too, Ron,” he said. “You two don’t wear yourselves out too much.” 

Ron embraced the witch. “We got good stitches,” he said. “Don’t worry about us.” 

Dan and Ron mounted up while Sage sat on Bevel’s shoulders. Their first destination was Scrika, a fort about a week away, where other puppets had taken refuge. It would be a place to start, at least. 

Ron sat at the back and eventually dismounted to walk some of the way. “Where is the village headed, you think?”

“We have an alliance with another village not far from here, about a few days ride,” Sage answered next to them. “Some of the villages still allign with Baron Rodney who owns the small territory here.”

The forest here was lush with ancient trees and thick, gnarled vines. 

“You’ll know we’ll cross into Baron Lingworm territory when the roads become flat and cobbled. That’s the royal road. He had it installed to emphasize his borders and make travel easier for merchants.” 

“Sounds nice,” Dan pointed out.

“Lindworm?” Ron asked. “A puppet?”

“No,” Sage sighed. “He descended from a long line of monster hunters, one most notable being the lindworm monster that his father slayed. His father took on the name of the beast as a way to remember their accomplishments as hunters.” 

“Sage,” Ron said. “Lindworm is a puppet. A long, huge puppet that is usually in the shape of a dragon or creature like that. Could one have crossed over like us and … was slain?”

Sage adjusted in their seat on Bevel’s shoulder and answered, “I guess he killed a puppet.” 

The pair glanced at one another. There was a long silence as the group navigated across an old stone bridge close enough to the waterfall to drown out their words. 

Eventually, they came to a field of local wildflowers with a dirt road cut through it. The flowers were mostly reds and yellows, but a few purple and light blue sprinkled here and there. Ron broke off from the group to gather the flowers. 

He returned with a handful, which was at least three of Sage’s handfuls, and placed it in Dan’s lap. Dan clapped with glee and began weaving the flowers together. 

Bevel reached out, arm telescoping, and picked a purple flower to hand to Sage. They stuck it behind their ear. The color complimented their vibrant red hair. “Thank you.”

“A flower for one so wonderful.”

“Oh,” Sage giggled. “You silly toad.”

“I love you so much, I could squeeze you to bits,” the Golem made a hugging motion. Sage hugged it tight. “I could you.” They kissed the side of the Golem’s head. 

Each traveler received a flower crown. Bevel’s was too small, which was good because it fit right between its toad eyes. Daniel and Ronald struck up a song about good travel buddies and journeys. Sage felt inspired and whipped out their penny flute to join in. Bevel hummed along.

“Good friends,” Bevel sighed as the song came to an end. 

As they came to the rockier part of the path, they came upon a small caravan of merchants who had stopped to prepare the wagons for a tough journey. 

The puppets noticed the wagons right away, one of which was a huge auto-wagon. “Auto-wagon?” Daniel asked, eyeing the metal device. 

“It’s a magically enchanted device. There’s a Word of Power on the body of the wagon for movement. One on the steering sticks you see there for controlling it.” Indeed, there was a series of levers at the front of the insectoid-shaped wagon. Instead of wheels, like its wooden brothers, the golem-like wagon had a series of spider legs as tall as Sage. The wagon’s legs twitched and jittered, as if struggling to contain the momentum it still had left in it.

“Amazing,” Dan whispered and pulled out his notebook to write in it.

A bark and a large dog-puppet with a big velvet tongue and wild googly eyes bounded to the small group. It licked each of them and wagged its tail with such exaggeration, Sage expected it to fling the sewn tail off at some point. 

“You’ll have to forgive Perry!” said a puppet-like voice. A wide-set, orc puppet motioned the dog to ver next to a wooden wagon. “I’m Rothword! Ve/ver! Its nice to see some fellow puppets!” 

Ronald and Daniel embraced Rothword or Word. Word was leading ver merchant crew though the mountains in an effort to make trade between Rodney’s folks and Lindworm’s. 

It was meal time and the workers ceased their prep to eat. The group was overwhelmed with the chatter from the crew and the singing after a series of stories. Swashbuckling through the land, fighting off pirates and bandits alike. Long treks through treacherous storms and blizzards. Even fording through a river could be dangerous, according to one merchant.

Daniel and Ronald managed to tell their story about how they arrived - the boat, meeting the god, and finding Sage. 

“I never knew,” Sage said. “I mean, I knew the basics, but I didn’t know all the details.” 

“Sorry,” Daniel said. “I guess we hadn’t processed it all then and didn’t tell you.” 

They thought for a moment. “You must miss home, huh?” 

Daniel shrugged. “This is home. With Ronnie.” 

The witched glanced at their Golem sitting with Perry the dog, stroking the dog idly. How long had it been since they were houseless, alone and scared? 

“Soren found me,” Sage offered quietly to the two puppets, “after my mother had me sent out of the kingdom’s territory. She set bounty hunters to chase me across the mountains.”

“What?” both puppets burst out.

“I don’t know why. Maybe she regretted her decisions? Some attempt to bring me home?” Sage shrugged, struggling to think. “All I know is they stopped chasing me once we got past the mountains. Or lost me. All I know is that I stumbled on Soren during a village migration and he took me in.” 

Sage glanced to Bevel once more. “I had Bevel before Mother tossed me out. I read about witches when I started showing signs of power. My words were taking on meaning more than what I meant. So I started doing research. A Witch needs a Golem to channel magic. I didn’t want something bad to happen if my words were taking on magic. So I followed instructions on how to make one through a ritual.” Sage sighed and bit into their sandwich. “I kept it hidden from mother. Or I tried, at least. Mother, I think, suspected something. She eventually found out.” 

The puppets remained quiet. An eruption of laughter and rooster noises made the three startle. 

“Thank you,” Ronald said, “for sharing.”

“I should have told you sooner, you know? No need to keep it a secret or anything.” 

The final preparations were done - a round of strapping down items, adjusting crates, and checking the hitching - and the group headed out. Word said to the three, “If you travel with us, it will make the road less lonely!”

“Sounds wonderful!” Ron said. “I suppose we could stick around.” He glanced at the rest of the group. The other three nodded. “The more bodies, the less likely we’ll be attacked by bandits,” Sage said with a shrug. At least, that’s what they’d read in books.

“I like the sound of that,” Dan agreed with a nod. “Plus, this has been really fun.” 

Word clapped ver paws and asked, “So! You two were recently transported to this world?” 

“Yeah,” Ron answered. “About a month ago.” 

“Then you must know recent news! Great! I’ve been here ten years!” 

The two glanced at one another. “And you never found a way home?”

“Found? I didn’t bother looking. I found my groove and settled into it. Got into the merchant guild as a mercenary at first and found I had a knack for doing the merchant part more than hitting things! But hitting things is still pretty fun.” 

“How did you two get here?” Ron asked. The caravan continued its way between the rocks. There must have been a fissure or something that cut through the mountain, as there was cooled lava beneath their feet. 

The auto-wagon navigated the rocky terrain with steady ease and was carrying the more fragile items inside its carapace-like hold.

“I was hiking and ended up off the beaten path. Fell down a hole for a long time and ended up here! Wandered around until I could find someone. Ended up at the city. There were a few other puppets there at the mercenary guild and I joined. So on and so forth, ended up on this job!” Word gestured at the caravan.

There was a pause as everyone listened for any footsteps. Instead, there was a long whistling sound and a rock hit one of the humans in the caravan. 

With shouts and screams, bandits erupted from the surrounding boulders and trees growing between the stone. A few looked a little familiar.

“Stop if you know what’s good for you!” the leading bandit shouted, machete waving about. Word laughed and shouted, “Perry! Let’s get ‘em!” 

The dog bounded forward and knocked down several bandits with his big body. Several of the caravan members and Word leapt down to fight the bandits. 

Sage and Bevel remained to cast a lightweight shield around the caravans. Sage held their cooking pan in one hand to knock out any bandits that tried to jump on Bevel, while Bevel’s hands were enough to throw them off. 

Ron and Dan threw magic gold glitter on a few of the nearby fighters to give them a boost in strength and stamina. 

In a few moments, the fight was over. Bandits in their mismatched brown and gray clothes laid out on the ground, groaning and bleeding. A few were simply knocked out. 

“That was rough,” Sage panted and let the shield down. Then to the two puppets, “How are you?”

Dan and Ronnie both gave thumbs up. The caravan continued on as those that fought climbed on to start cleaning their clothes. Perry panted as he loped along with Word’s caravan. Word ushered him up on ver caravan.