The journey to the mysterious Mr. U was uneventful. Derine knew that people were watching them, especially at night. He mostly kept to himself, wrapped in his over-cloak.
It was just the way he wanted it. He didn't want to talk to the fellow members of this expedition. Half-demons and undead. It's not that he didn't like them, he just felt uncomfortable in their company. And they didn't want to talk to him back.
They finally got to the spot where they were to meet Mr U, far away from any civilisation, and his house, for "safety reasons". He was a tall man, once upon a time, but he was now crooked and hunched over, as if he was constantly bowing. He said, for no particular reason, that he was once a Wavebender, but he turned his back on them, for what reason he would not say. Now he spends his days making rings that repelled their spells in the paranoid belief that they will one day find him and come after him. With the news the Brotherhood was in a war, he decided they needed all the hope they could get. For a price.
The leader of the expedition, a lithe half-demon, handed over the money promised, while Derine surveyed from the carts. He helped, as much as he could, in the loading of the water-shield rings, but other than that, merely watched.
Just before they left, the heavens opened and rain came pouring down. Instead of hitting the cart, the rain seemed to hit a hidden barrier and trailed off down the side, as if there were a dome covering the carts.
Mr U merely laughed. "That is but one of their powers, my friends. Have a safe journey!"
****
The group made their way along the worn path. A wall of trees covered each side, tall and wide and ancient. There were things hiding in that forest, Derine thought, intelligent things. Bandits? Possibly.
A day into their travel, they came across a large boulder in the road. Footprints around the ditch that the rolling stone had made suggested that it had been moved there by no accident. With some degree of ignorance on the part of his companions, Derine was called to look at the boulder. Dwarves knew rocks, even farmer dwarves. One precise punch was all it took to smash the rock to pieces, for this was weak compared to the rocks at home.
But they had tarried just long enough for the ambush to begin. An arrow struck the hooded driver. Luckily, it was only a zombie, and so could be risen again with a simple spell. Humans appeared in the trees, clad in green and brown. They approached the carts, weapons drawn.
Derine looked at the leader of his expedition, who was calculating what was going on. As soon as he shouted 'attack!’ Derine grabbed both his axes and leaped into the fray.