In 10ish years as a travelling bard, I've woken to a lot of unexpected things.

But never before have I woken up with the wagon I'm literally still in hijacked and stolen and now leading some kind of runaway from the entirety of Pearl's army.

'FASTER!' I hear someone scream as I'm getting to grips with the fact that we're moving. 'FASTER, WE CAN OUTRUN THEM!'

'HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!' I break out to the drivers seat to catch a Dragonborn and a tiefling redhanded, both a mess, driving the cart that's supposed to still be parked in Dryadalis. 

'Hello! Would you like to be a fugitive?' The tiefling asks. 

'No?'

'Well... you are now. Does your horse have a name and can it go any faster than this?'

'What's going... DUDE SOMEONE'S STOLEN OUR WAGON!' Comes the sounds of my band-mate Ren waking up behind. We're still running away from Pearl's army. Why are we now running away from Pearl's army?

'Hello! I'm Grian, half-dragonborn rogue, this is Scar, tiefling wizard, Pearl thinks we stole something and now we've basically confirmed it by running away from her throne room. And now she'll think you're part of it and we can't go back until we've found the dragon egg.' The dragonborn explains in one breath. 'You?'

'I'm Martyn, tiefling. This is Ren, human. We're bards and we'd like you to get off our wagon before I push you off,' I reply to Grian. 'Ok?'

An arrow flies by over my head. I duck. Ren's still making confused noises that definitely aren't words. I'm still fighting the urge to hit Grian and Scar with Ren's guitar. 

'Well, that wouldn't be very good because... we're innocent and the fall would probably kill us.'

'You've- you've stolen our wagon, dudes! That's not on!'

'Technically we haven't stolen it, because you're also still in possession of the wagon.' The tiefling Scar replies, crossing his arms.

'We're just... also using it.'

'Well we don't want you to! Get off!' 

'There's no other opt- SCAR WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!' I'm forced to hold onto the side of the wagon as Scar yanks the reigns, veering the cart right off the road and into the hills around.

'My plan!' 

'We're still doing my plan!'

'Your plan didn't work!'

'It did work!'

'Then why is Pearl's army still after us?!'

'Because the plan wasn't finished! And unless your plan is to kill us by crashing the wagon instead, yours isn't working either!'

'Don't crash our wagon!' If I wasn't needing to hold onto the wagon to keep balanced, I'd remove both the criminal lunatics from it immediately. 

'I'm not crashing it! I've done this before!' The wagon jolts violently again. I grab Ren's arm to stop him from falling off. 'Trust me, Grian!'

'Trusting you really hasn't gone well for me so far, Scar!' He yells back. I hear a call to hold positions behind. So the guards aren't following. Just as I glance back go confirm, the wagon hits another bump on the distinctive lack of road, before careening down another hill. If Ren hadn't grabbed my shoulder, I would've fallen out. The road disappears from sight. But our problems aren't over. 

Thunder growls overhead, and a moment later lightning flashes. A storm. And from the distance between thunder and lightning, a very close one. 

We charge down the next hill, just hitting the bottom as heavy drops of rain start to fall. There's another yell from from the guards of 'serious punishment unless you return immediately!' that Grian and Scar don't listen to... Over another hill, further away from the guards, and further away from everywhere and everything me and Ren were supposed to be doing.

Lightning flashes. I don't need to look inside the wagon to know there's not enough space for us all.

'My friend's got a house over here! We can shelter from the storm there!' Scar calls over the howling wind, already drenched. My tail grips the side of the wagon as grab a knife from my belt.

'So that's why you're 'used' to running off the road!'

'Exactly! Come on... horse!'

'His name is Fernando!' I explain. 'He's probably really tired already. He isn't used to running with the wagon attached! So I'd really appreciate if you stopped the wagon now and got off it!'

'We can't stop here! We'll freeze to death! Scar, you're a wizard, what magic spells do you have?'

'I'm steering the wagon, Grian!' Another shudder as we pass over another hill. I glance at Ren. He's very pale, shaking from a mix of the rain and sickness. 

'Feel free to get back in the wagon. I'll handle these two idiots. With a grateful nod, he does, disappearing quickly. A moment later I hear what's definitely him vomiting. I turn back to Grian and Scar.

'Get off.'

'I'm leading you to safety! And happiness! My friend will look after us!'

'Martyn, there's nowhere else for you to go.' Grian insists. I notice Fernando slowing down. Clearly tired. Even if Grian and Scar leave, he won't survive too much more travel and there's nowhere else dry for us to go. 'The guards think you're part of the plan. Scar's taking us to a friend's house where it'll be warm and we can decide our next moves... you can leave tomorrow if you want. Go back to doing what you should've been, and me and Scar will try to find the dragon egg.' 

'Exactly. We didn't want to get you involved but... you now are.'

'Alright then. Get us inside. Or we're leaving you out in the rain to get caught by Pearl's guard.' Silence for a moment, before find some kind of conversation 'So... do you know each other?'

'Met in prison yesterday. Broke out together...'

A pause as we reach the top of a hill. There's a house on the other side. Well, more of a manor. 

'Damn...' One of my ears twitches. 'Your friend is rich.'

'Yeah.' 

Scar's just staring at the house, even as another bolt of lightning lights the air. Grian frowns, clearly realising something.

'Why weren't you living with them?'

Scar doesn't reply. One hand raises a necklace I hadn't noticed he was wearing.

'What do you mean?'

'That prison cell wasn't an easy place to fall asleep. And you were out in seconds. So you're obviously used to poor conditions. Why didn't you stay with your friend instead of the streets?'

Again, no reply. With a flick of the reigns, Fernando starts trotting down the other side of the hill towards the house.

'Scar? Why are you so nervous to see your friend?'

'Because he thinks I'm dead.'