You are bad luck magnets

We are standing in front of a covered wagon. If everyone would ride a horse, we'd be much faster. I've never understood why teams of heroes in books usually travel by foot. It's totally inefficient. 

Well, at least we have a covered wagon with a whole horse. That way we can at least transport supplies. Speaking of supplies, Knox carries barrels to the wagon.
The covered wagon is already loaded with some crates. Lionel is giving the horse a bottle of water. And Caspian... what is he actually doing?

When I turn around, I see him standing there boasting in front of three young women. He's really embracing the role of one of the future heroes. Oh man... but let's see if I can help speed up our departure. 

I walk to Knox.

"Can I help you load the wagon?"

"Thank you, you're a really nice person. I'm almost done, but you can take this."

Actually, I just want to speed up our departure, but it doesn't hurt to appear nice. Where I come from, you don't do anything without a motive, but they seem to have a slightly different attitude than me. He hands me a small box, which I take with both hands. I immediately feel the weight pulling me forward. My legs tremble, and I hunch over. 

Knox asks me directly, "Isn't it too heavy?"

"No... it's okay," I say, while channeling all my strength into my arms.

With his thick arms, he could easily hold the box with one arm. But I, with my thin arms, struggle more with the weight.

Slowly, I carry the box to the wagon. As I stand in front of the wagon, Knox takes the box from me again and lifts it into the wagon. Maybe he should have done it without me. That was the opposite of efficient. But now everything's loaded, and even Caspian has taken pity to come to us.

While Lionel calls out, "We're ready to go."

He climbs into the front seat and takes the reins. Knox also climbs into the front. Meanwhile, Caspian and I climb into the back of the wagon. I huddle down to rest a bit. It's only afternoon, and the sun is shining mercilessly. But my lack of sleep last night is starting to take its toll. It'll be about a week before we reach the dungeon.

Before I can close my eyes, Caspian starts talking. This is going to be a really long and tiring journey. I'm too tired to listen, and my eyes close.

The journey takes us through a large valley with a horizon stretching as far as the eye can see. The sun is slowly setting, bathing everything in a soft red. We stop at the edge of a nearby forest. The sunlight has almost disappeared. And darkness begins to engulf everything.

We dismount, and I can finally take a break from Caspian's chatter.

"We're setting up our camp here," Lionel calls. 
"Knox, you go and chop firewood with Caspian. Aria and I will set up the camp."

"Leave it to us," Knox calls, dragging the unenthusiastic Caspian behind him.

Lionel ties up the horse and calls, "Aria, can you help me unload the crates?"

"Sure." I call, and the two of us drag a few crates from the wagon.

Among them is a cooking pot and some groceries like potatoes, carrots, some dried meat, and whatever else needs to be made into a stew. As we are waiting for the firewood, we pause and sit near the future fireplace to catch the last sunbeams.

"Because of what Caspian said. I didn't mean to trick you. We just really need you..."

I crouch down and slightly hide my face behind my knees. I don't know how to put it, as I cannot tell him about my reality.

"It's okay; it's my own fault. Fate has changed. And this is my new role now until fate has other plans."

I don't usually believe in fate; maybe it's karma... bad karma. But I can't put it any better. But that doesn't matter, as I have sworn to myself that I will support the hero like a sidekick would. As a sidekick, I'll stay more in the background, like a supporting character, while he takes the center stage and plays the lead role in this novel come to life.

"I don't know exactly why you say that. I hope we'll get to know each other better on this mission, and that fate doesn't separate you from our team like you say."

He looks at me, but before I can say anything, Knox and Caspian emerge from the bushes. They're covered in mud, with messy hair and minor injuries.

"What happened to you?" Lionell and I call out almost simultaneously.


15 minutes earlier with Knox and Caspian…

Caspian strolls through the trees while Knox searches determinedly for the perfect tree to cut down.

"Just chop up that tree, Knox. It'll do the job, and let's finally go back," Caspian says, bored.

He points to a moss-covered, gracefully shaped tree no bigger than a street lamp.
It stands in the middle of a clearing, away from all the other trees.

"I am not sure...."

Since Caspian finally wants to go back, he starts babbling to Knox about cutting down this tree.

"No tree will burn better than this one. As a hunter, I know that from experience! And it would provide exactly the amount of firewood needed. But if you're willing to settle for a lesser tree, then..."

He turns around and glances at Knox to see if his bluff worked.

"You're right!"

Knox chops the tree with one blow. As the tree fell down, he suddenly changed his falling direction to Caspian. He jumps to the side and falls into the mud.

"Ahh...! Are you trying to kill me?" Caspian shouts, frightened.

"Sorry, I don't know why it fell in that direction. But everything is fine."

He swiftly splits the tree into several pieces. But while he lifts up the pieces, he slips out and falls down into the mud too.

"Ahh..." he says after hitting the ground. "The ground is really slippery here."

"No, it was not before...?" Caspian says while lifting himself up.

Knox also stands up, and both begin to carry the wood in the direction of the camp. 

But only strange things happen during their way back to the camp. Branches from trees almost fall on them, swarms of mosquitoes attack them, and they fall into more than one hole in the ground.

"What is happening here?"

Caspian cries out in alarm while both climb out of another hole in the ground.

"Just a bit of bad luck," Knox says optimistically.

"A bit? That's a lot of bad luck," Caspian says.

Finally they reach the camp and stand in front of me and Lionel and tell us about their ordeal while Lionel lights the campfire. This is really strange. Before I can think about it any further, a branch falls from a tree, almost hitting Knox and Caspian.

They both jump to the side and exclaim, "Ahh!"

I look up startled. Something's moving in the trees? Small figures disappear back into the branches, and I realize the seriousness of the situation.

"That are..."