The wagon started moving in earnest after they had bounded in.
 
The tent they had erected over the top of the wagon had to be taken down, as it was too tall, and would catch the wind like a sail out on the open road. Instead, it was stretched over the contents of the wagon like a tarp, with them forced to huddle underneath it like part of the baggage.  

It was not the best way to travel.

It was not long however, before they started seeing some of the signs the silly old man they had bunked down for the night with had been going on about earlier that morning.  First, there were obvious signs of their brother's handiwork. They themselves could not perform this kind of magic, but they had grown up seeing it done more times than they cared to dwell on. He had clearly blocked the road with green brier and rose brambles, much like the bridge they had passed had shown indications of.  Why had he barricaded the road? The magic that had been driving it was no longer active-- the plants could easily be removed now, but it seemed the people living in the area felt it was just easier to cut a detour around the obstruction instead. It was their guess that the road needed to be passable BEFORE the winter snows killed the silly little supplement plantings he used to drive these kinds of setups-- probably because they didn't know to clear them before removing the thicket. Regardless, their brother was not an ass; he had used annuals, not perennials; The winter snows had done what the villagers had not thought to do, and had killed all the driving plants quite effectively. Those vines and brambles in the thicket were just vine and bramble now. An axe and a bonfire would remove them quite effectively-- Though, those particular plants could be hard to remove if not dug up afterward.

But then, as they kept moving, all the trees began to show signs of having been ravaged by ... something.  At first, just branches down, shorn off the sides of the trees they had once been part of; but as they continued, the damage got worse... and worse..  Where it was initial just branches snapped off, it became whole limbs thrown down. Then half-tree trunks ripped off. Then whole trees uprooted and pushed over; The damage was unspeakable. It would take all three of their men-folk working every day, all summer to correct this much damage! WHAT had gone through here? It clearly had been a storm of some kind, but the severity! Cedar couldn't do [b]THAT[/b]-- [i]..could he?[/i]

... If he did... why [i]would[/i] he?...

What happened here?

The thought stuck like a splinter in their minds, as they reached the town proper. Clear signs of both vine magic and raging fires decorated the tall wooden walls of the central embankment. Scarred earth where homes had once been littered the environs. 

And then there were these poor people.

How?  --- Why?

They waited in silence, afraid to be seen or heard.