A Soldier's Life - 276 - Merchant's Guards (Patreon)

Chapter 276: Merchant’s Guards

I was the first one to the stables, but it was four hours before sunrise. Ginger was happy to see me, and the other mounts knew I was the human with the apples. After giving Ginger a rub down, I inspected Raelia’s gray.

It was a young stallion in excellent condition, and he responded well to my hands as I checked his hooves and musculature. Ginger was getting a bit jealous in her stall but I wanted to be certain the gray wouldn’t be a hindrance in our travels. It was difficult to tell if he was battle-trained, but he was definitely not skittish. “What are you doing to Stormcloud?” Raelia’s voice cut across the stables.

“Just making sure he is healthy,” I replied as I exited the stall.

“I know how to select and care for my mount,” she said defensively. Baldo chirped in agreement but plodded up to me, looking for a treat. I held up a shred of bear meat, and he sat instantly, his tongue hanging out in anticipation. If griffins could drool, Baldo would be at this moment. I tossed the meat, and he snatched it out of the air to Raelia’s disapproving gaze.

She moved into her stall to saddle Stormcloud. “I like his name, did you choose it? Generally, legionnaires don’t name their mounts, so they don’t get too attached. But this is Ginger,” I indicated to my red-brown mare, who was not happy at my attention being directed at the gray and the griffin. I produced an apple to counter her displeasure.

Raelia considered my words as she worked. “We were always taught that forming a bond with your mount was imperative to success. There is an intrinsic partnership between the rider and the mount. Without cooperation and understanding, you put both of you at risk.”

I nodded and decided to praise her opinion, “Wonderful advice. How good of a mount will Baldo be? Will he always have black feathers?” I tossed him another piece of meat when Raelia’s back was turned.

Raelia turned to look at Baldo, whose eyes were locked on me as he ground up my latest offering. Raelia exhaled in frustration. “Yes, he will be mostly black. He is a mix of a western species that are night hunters and usually midnight black in color. Baldo will still have lighter gray coloring on his legs and head from one of his parents.”

We didn’t have more time to talk as Blaze and Mateo entered the stables with their heavy packs. Maveith, still walking gingerly, was next, followed by a catatonic Benito. We all worked to get our mounts ready with snippets of conversation passing between us. Soon, we were leaving the stables, and I noticed the Guildmaster standing on a small balcony watching us leave. If I could read his mind, I would guess it would be thinking, “Good riddance.”

Although we were early, Rolf Sheadings had all three of his wagons lined up in the street, each with a pair of stout ponies. “Good sign, you being early!” He said happily. “The first wagon is mine, and my wife, Lola, will drive the second. My brother is late, but he will be guiding the third.” He looked at our group in the glowstone street lights. “Never thought I would see a goliath on a horse. But I’m not sure if that monster could be called a horse.” He chuckled to himself. He noticed Baldo sitting tall on the back of Raelia’s mount.

He walked up to the griffin while Raelia gave Baldo the command word to remain calm. “An eagle,” he guessed as he approached. “No, a griffin? What do you need a midget griffin for?”

Raelia pursed her lips, “He is a hatchling, just a few months old but already hunting and learning to scout. In a year, he will be nearly full grown; a year after that, I will be riding him.”

Rolf huffed in surprise, “Well, I’ll not be paying extra for him. Feeding the goliath and his mount is going to be painful enough. Hopefully, your feathered scout can supply his own dinner.” Rolf turned away from Raelia’s indignant expression and went to finish his preparations.

As soon as Rolf’s brother arrived, we were out of the city and heading north. There was no need to send a scout ahead, as every few miles, there was an elven village on the road or in sight of the road. Unlike the Empire, which had a vast expanse of hostile wilderness, the country was well settled. Maybe that had to do with the elves being so long-lived.

I had a pair of us lead, and a pair of us trail the wagons. The third pair flanked the central wagon, but as Rolf had said, it appeared it would be a fairly boring trip. The road itself was packed with smooth clay. Blaze asked Rolf, “Who maintains such a fine road?”

“The Highway Guild sends out their mages regularly. We may pass one on our trip. Their mages summon an earth elemental to follow them and repair the road as they go. This is Esenhem's main trade road, which is serviced twice a month. Lesser roads might see a mage and his elemental once a month or less, depending.” Rolf chewed on sugar cane and spat it out, “It is one of the reasons I settled in Esenhem. Best roads on the continent make travel much faster.”

“Telhian roads are paved,” Blaze noted.

“Dwarves are not welcome in the Empire, and besides, after the Telhians built their portals, I heard a lot of the roads went into disrepair,” Rolf responded bitterly. Blaze didn’t respond, and the conversation died. I had to agree that these roads allowed the wagons to move quickly. The horses didn’t even churn up the packed clay as we walked. The traffic we passed on the road was mostly on foot, and horses were rare. When I asked Loyola about it, she said horses had too short a life span for elves.

We stopped at a small farm late morning, and Rolf picked up some large bags of flour to add to his goods. Although we were not expected to help, I had my companions do so. Rolf muttered something about not paying extra for the help. Rolf paid for the farmer to feed us, and soon after, we were back on the road. I had to hide my smirk when Maveith only ate a quarter loaf smothered in butter and jam.

I had my group rotate positions, so we mixed who we rode with, and it helped the conversation not become stale. Rather than talk to Raelia when she was riding next to me, I made a game of sneaking strips of meat to Baldo. I rarely succeeded, but it was fun to try. “Baldo. Hunt.” Raelia ordered, finally exasperated at my efforts. Baldo looked at me, but Raelia chastised the griffin. “Baldo. Hunt.” She said more forcibly. The griffin took to the air in a whoosh.

Raelia eyed me and patiently explained, “I am trying to teach him to hunt on his own. If you overfeed him, he will have no motivation to hunt.”

Her patient explanation made me feel slightly guilty for interfering with his training. While we waited for Baldo to return, I satisfied my curiosity. “Aren’t you afraid he might fly off or be attacked by something more dangerous?”

“Griffins bond to their parents on hatching and typically do not leave the nest until around nine months. During those first nine months, the trainer substitutes for the parent, having the griffin rely on them for survival and teaching them. If Baldo encountered a dangerous predator, he would return to me for protection.” She held a small fireball in her palm to reinforce that she was ready to protect her griffin.

Benito’s surprised voice rang behind us, “The elf girl is a mage too!”

Raelia spun in her saddle and barked at Benito, “I am not a girl! I am forty-seven summers!” Benito cringed as the micro fireball in her hand tripled in size, and she looked about to throw it.

“Calm down, Raelia. They have never had elf companions before. Also, Benito hit his head a few too many times while growing up,” I counseled her. The fireball vanished; this time, she was the guilty one.

Baldo returned, clutching a fat raccoon in his talons. His landing startled the horse teams pulling the wagons, causing Rolf to curse and wrestle them to calm. Baldo ignored the commotion he had created and proudly walked up with his kill and dropped it in Ginger’s path. Raelia turned bright red in either anger or embarrassment.

I decided to defuse the situation. “It is dungeon bear meat,” I told her. He appears to really like it.” I pulled a wet bag filled with strips I had cut and handed it to her. She looked at the bag and then at me as I turned to ride with Mateo and sent Benito to ride next to Raelia. My hope was that she would apologize to him.

Soon, Baldo was back in the saddle, with Raelia feeding him from the bag I had given her and talking to Benito. They were too far ahead of us to hear the conversation, but Raelia was smiling at something Benito was saying as he talked with hands as much as his mouth. Mateo was talking to me about how it was funny that Raelia was older than his mother, yet she looked younger than his sister. I just let him talk and nodded.

We reached our destination early, giving us plenty of daylight to settle into the large merchant’s barn. Half my team had to remain in the loft of the barn for security. The massive barn had room for over twenty wagons, and Rolf’s wagons joined the seven wagons already here. I learned these merchant barns were standard along the roads of Esenhem and free to use. I could see why merchants preferred to trade in Esenhem.

Although it was not required, I had my companions rub down the six horses pulling the wagons with ours. Rolf grumbled that he was not paying extra but didn’t object after his wife slapped him on the side of his head. I was doing all this extra work, not expecting extra coin but hoping Rolf would give a glowing evaluation of our job. A positive review would be marked on our Adventurer’s records, and we needed to build a reputation. Besides, the extra work we were doing was minimal compared to what legionnaires usually had to do. I chose Benito, Blaze, and Maveith to sleep with the wagons this first night.

We encountered an issue when Baldo was not allowed in the merchant’s inn. The elf proprietor didn’t believe Raelia when she asserted Baldo was trained and wouldn’t soil the room. This would probably be a regular occurrence, so it looked like Raelia and Baldo would stay with the wagons for the next three weeks. Maveith and Mateo foolishly agreed to stay with them each time, leaving the room for Benito, Blaze, and myself.

Maveith had been abnormally quiet due to his pains from riding. He was still in good spirits because we were getting closer to his sister. For evening weapons practice, I just had everyone go through the sword forms in slow motion with weighted blades, correcting movement errors I had noted in the dreamscape. Maveith practiced a little with his hammer, but I let him off easy, seeing his pain.

Rolf had a few trades with the townsfolk, some selling and some buying. His margins couldn’t have been that big, as I only noticed silver being exchanged. Maybe these evening stops were essential for Rolf to turn a profit on the trip.

We only got a single room in the merchant’s inn. Two bunk beds with clean linens and a shared privy with the other guards. The merchants had fancier rooms and private privies. After making Blaze aware of how to wake me, I spent my early evening in the dreamscape, practicing with my companions there. I also gave Oscar a fair amount of attention in the dreamscape, realizing why I wanted the griffin to like me. I missed having a loyal companion. It was also probably why I invested so much in Ginger.

We ate breakfast with the other guards in an outbuilding. The food was copious but rather bland offering. Most merchants only had a pair of guards with them, but since Rolf was traveling into the Caliphate, he had opted for more. From brief conversations with the young elf guards, the last hundred miles of our journey would be the most dangerous. Breakfast was short, as Rolf told us we needed to get ready to leave for our next leg.

That was how the next eleven days went. The caravan stopped once or twice during the day, with Rolf selling or picking up goods in the smaller towns. In the larger towns with the merchant barns, we practiced in the evening with everyone’s riding legs firmly restored. Maveith was slowly becoming a competent horseman. He even named his mount Nightshade and talked to him like I talked to Ginger, to the chagrin of Blaze and Mateo.

Although I kept Raelia supplied with bear meat, I still managed to find Baldo begging for more. Once, he tried nipping me to get more, and I berated him in Elvish, then turned my back on him. He crept cautiously behind me a few moments later, pressing the top of his head into my palm. “He is apologizing. Gently rub his ear holes to accept it,” Raelia said encouragingly. I did as she advised, and the griffin clucked softly in contentment as I found the sweet spot.

“They are kind of cute when they are not trying to kill you,” Blaze noted with a smirk. I nodded in agreement, but what I liked most about the young griffin was his feathers smelled like the outdoors, just like my pillow. Of course, the feathers in that pillow were from Baldo’s parent, so maybe it was best to keep it hidden from him.

The travel routine was settling in as we rode into another town for the evening on the thirteenth day on the road. The large merchant barn was close to the road, but the town square had a large commotion, and Rolf had us divert before heading to the barn. He explained as we approached, “If there is a problem, I don’t want to have stabled the horses and wagons just to have to move out later.”

The square was filled with elves and two humans from my initial survey.  Most had a common-looking sheathed blade or bow in hand. Rolf asked loudly of the elven mob, “Good folk of Esanor, what is at issue?”

We had been mostly ignored to this point but now drew the attention of the thirty-plus assembled. One of the elves spoke for the group, “A child was killed and another is missing. We are preparing a hunt.”

Rolf nodded slowly, “Do you know what monster killed them?”

I slid off of Ginger as Rolf was talking to the local elves. “Our local Ranger thinks it was a werewolf and went to Nirimporti to get more rangers and adventurers to hunt it down. We are not going to wait four days for him to return if there is a chance Naedia’s daughter is alive.”

It was easy to pick out the mother in the mob by the other women consoling her. I could see Blaze, Maveith, Benito, and Mateo dismounting and getting ready, sensing the danger but not understanding the conversation. We all had runic weapons and could harm the creature. I didn’t notice a single such weapon among these simple elven townsfolk but there could be silvered weapons among them.

Raelia was still mounted as I spoke loud enough for the community to hear, “You lack the tools and expertise to hunt such a creature. We will stable our horses and hunt your werewolf on foot. If the child lives, we will bring it back to you.”

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