The carriages weren't the academy issue ones they'd ridden into Drevash on.
These were Drevash working vehicles, lower to the ground and built for ridge terrain rather than road travel, their wide-set wheels and reinforced undercarriage making them ride harder over uneven ground.
Each was driven by a man from the village, a solidly built man in his thirties whose communication was mostly in economical gestures and a general air of knowing the terrain very well.
There were two carriages, and Elizabeth distributed the passengers with the same efficiency she brought to everything.
Mireya, Iris, Apollo, Alexander, and Elizabeth occupied the first carriage. Rex, Nerith, Talyra, and Aisella took the second one.
'What the fuck is this coincidence...?' Rex thought. 'Did she really set this all up?'
Rex glanced at Elizabeth, who was studying the map. "I really need to appreciate her," he thought, "but not in the way that simps do."
