Caracus woke to a blazing sun in his eyes that morning. A cool spring breeze drifted in the window. Juimar lay sleeping in his bed. Rarlet slept in her basket.

Caracus dressed himself quickly and went to the kitchen. There he found Leeron who was eating some bread.

“All ready?” Leeron asked.
“Yes” answered Caracus, “but I’m not really looking forward to it”. Leeron then began to prepare some of the bread that he was eating for Caracus. “Don’t worry” he soothed “many a time I’ve gone on a trip like this. It’s hard for you, a first timer, but for me there’s nothing to it!”
“Will it be hard, I mean what’s the hardest part? Caracus asked eagerly.
“Your feet and lack of food, I suppose” replied Leeron. “Hey come here, I want to give you something”.

Caracus stepped forward. He felt nervous. Then Leeron placed a sparkling diamond into his sweaty palm. “Have this. You are young Caracus, this you shall bear for the rest of your life. I only have three of these so I must choose carefully who to give them to. They are magic diamonds, they will protect you a lot from evil powers, and they are minor diamonds, very rare, but very powerful”.

“Thank you, I am honoured “Caracus said graciously as he looked at the precious gem. After a few minutes Juimar slumped into the room.

“What’s the grub?” he enquired sleepily as he blew his beard off his nose. Next Rarlet came in and ate berries Caracus had made. Finally in walked Nargeg. They all ate in silence and soon were all ready to go. They proceeded out the front gate and Caracus looked back as they left the house that grew smaller and smaller in the distance.

It was a pleasant day as they walked along. There was a nice cool breeze blowing into their faces: Juimar began and soon they were all whistling merry tunes. They stopped for a break in a small patch of trees.

“We’ve made good progress” Nargeg exclaimed cheerfully “nineteen miles in three hours. But it’s getting dark. I know a good shelter spot from travelling here years ago. It’s about a five mile journey from here, so we’ll stop there for the night. Pick some berries for supplies and fill your bottles form the stream.” They did so and began to walk as the sun went down. Rarlet led them, sniffing the ground to and fro in front of her. She stopped abruptly, and looked around, ears pricked.

“Something foul is in the air”cautioned Nargeg “I can sense it. Well done Rarlet”. Juimar began to draw his axe from his axe sheath. Caracus readied his crossbow. Leeron was about to take out his sword, when Nargeg stopped them.

“I see it” he shouted “It’s only a troll. They’re so dumb; a simple trick should help us pass it”. They crouched down and crawled forward. Before long they were near the troll. He was standing beside a gorge. He was scratching his bald head with his hairy hand. “Watch this” whispered Nargeg. He threw a stone, which rattled across the ground. The troll followed the sound and the six, slipped stealthily by.

It was nearly fully dark when they reached the spot. Juimar coaxed the beginnings of a fire. “We Northern dwarves are good at making fires. I will take the responsibility for the fires on this journey.”
“We’ll have to take turns at being on guard at night” suggested Leeron. “Caracus and I will take first watch for two hours and then Nargeg and Juimar next for two hours, and so on thorough the night”.

They ate hurriedly. They all rolled out their sleeping bags and everyone besides Caracus and Leeron dropped off to sleep. Pablo slept tied to a tree, and Rarlet slept soundly in her basket. Leeron and Caracus stayed watch. Caracus just stared at the stars which were barely visible through thick clouds. Leeron pulled out the other two diamonds form his belt pocket and showed them to Caracus. “See this green one?” he remarked” This is special. My great, great, great, grandfather came upon it two hundred and ten years ago: and it’s been passed down over the generations for years. It has great powers, and it will change colour when it is within ten miles of its home. That has never happened yet though.” Caracus felt hungry. He took a pear out of his bag and began to eat. As he finished eating, he waited and watched, soon the two hours had passed. He crawled into his sleeping bag; he found it difficult to sleep but eventually dozed off.

Caracus awoke to Nargeg patting him. It was his watch turn again! Oh how quickly two hours passed as you slept, but two hours walking seemed to go on forever! The fire was blazing, rather encouraging sleep, than to be awake and watchful. Caracus yawned and got out of his warm sleeping quarters. The two hours ticked slowly by. Caracus gladly went back to sleep at the end of his second watch. When he next woke, he saw everyone packing and knew it was morning. Leeron was cooking soup. “Eat this and then we leave” insisted Leeron as he gave out the soup. A few minutes later they put their bags on and set off. The day held a few little showers and it was humid. After about ten miles they stopped for a break.

“There’s a village called Menzell only twelve miles away. I’ve got plenty of money, so we’ll stay in an inn there. We’ll reach it in about two hours at a good walking pace”. There was no stream or anything to re-fill their bottles, but they didn’t mind for they knew they could at Menzell, and they looked forward to boosting their food supplies also!

On they journeyed in good spirits, they walked pretty quickly, and at four o clock they could see Menzell, only a mile away. It wasn’t long before they entered the gates of the village. It was a small village, so small; you could see the other end of it! However they saw an inn called the Franc arch and went in.

Nargeg led the way, followed by the others. They looked around them. Men and women were eating, drinking, talking and laughing. Juimar popped out of nowhere with another dwarf. “This is my cousin Ramser” he told them happily. Ramser shook hands, with all of them. (Not everyone in the inn, only Juimar’s travelling companions). Ramser announced excitedly; “well I’ll stand you all tonight, how long do you intend to stay?”
“One night only” Nargeg responded.
“O.K. Well let me show to your rooms” Ramser said while stroking his thick, red beard. He led them up the wide stair well to the bed rooms. They were small, new rooms. Lamps lit them up. “Well enjoy your stay” encouraged Ramser, “Oh and the animals are taken care for out the back”. They heard him go down the stairs and shut the door to the bar. Then Nargeg spoke.

“It is fully dark. Another’s day travel done. I know you are all tired. Caracus and I will sleep here, Leeron and Juimar you take the other room. At that moment there was a knock on the door and Ramser arrived with a mountain of fine food for all of the weary friends to share. “There is plenty of hot water and rose petals to freshen up if you are not too tired” suggested Ramser.

Gratefully, after filling themselves with food and drink and refreshing themselves with the hot water and rose petals (although Leeron did not care for rose petals), the weary troop fell into their beds.

“Nargegs right” thought Caracus as he pulled the covers over himself “We are all very tired”. It wasn’t long before he fell to sleep.