Chương 369: 364. Cinran - I

~ Tesyb ~ Tesyb sat beside Trevalo on the lead wagon, watching the stone walls of Cinran approaching ahead of the caravan. This was the afternoon of the third day s ince they had left Tiranat, and they were arriving right on time. Last autumn, during those frantic emergency runs with Pydaso, they had pushed the horses hard and managed to reach Cinran within two days. Luckily, none of their horses had broken a leg that time, or the wagons' axles, but that was far from assured.

So this time they'd taken a more normal pace, letting the wagons creak along the road at their usual speed. In the coming months, they had a lot more trips to make along with Trevalo, after all. Six wagons made up the caravan, all belonging to Trevalo. Including the merchant and his six drivers, the eight guards—including Tesyb—had been squeezed onto the fully loaded wagons along with a man from the encampment which they needed to liberate. It felt crowded, but only for now.

Once the wheat was bought and delivered this time, and Trevalo returned from his trip to Ulriga a few weeks later, they would be running a bigger caravan. Eight guards might start feeling like too few then. But that was a problem for later. Looking at the approaching stone walls of Cinran, a small thought came to his mind. Yufim must be wishing he was here. He always complained that he wanted to see a proper town or a city, but he kept getting sent to the hills to hunt.

Even on the trips to Cinran before the winter, he had to stay outside the town walls to keep the wagons safe. He's probably grumbling at me right now, Tesyb thought with amusement. The journey had been mostly safe this time, aside from a wild boar attack on the way. A pair of them had burst from the undergrowth at their first nightly stop, but this time the guards knew what they were doing.

That was a stark difference from the last time when most of the guards hadn't been able to do much, and even Tesyb had frozen in front of the boars. However, by now, all the guards were well trained, and after the experience of fighting an adzee, a simple boar hadn't felt nearly as terrifying. The six wagon drivers had all worn short swords, though their stressed faces had shown how little experience they had in using them.

So Tesyb had ordered them to stay back and guard Trevalo and the encampment man in case there was another danger out there. He and the seven other guards had taken the lead, spears forward. Still, killing the boars hadn't been easy. Having a few crossbows would have helped a lot in injuring the beasts before they came closer, but they had been still able to kill the first boar without much difficulty, after a big thrust from a guard pierced the boar's neck, before another guard finished it off.

The second boar fell quicker with all eight of them focused on it. When all was done, they had cleaned the meat and enjoyed a small feast by roasting it above a small fire. The food situation in the village was improving, but they still couldn't afford to waste the meat from two big boars. Everyone had received a good amount of meat that evening, though Tesyb had known it was risky. A hungry adzee could have caught the smell.

Even so, with 14 fighting men on their side—eight guards and six wagon men—he had believed they could handle a single adzee. They had just taken down two big boars easily, after all. But in hindsight, he realized that perhaps it was just overconfidence speaking. The adzee they had fought in the village had looked aged, and they'd had archers, crossbows, and the village walls on their side. He knew that he could never become a leader of guards like Feroy or the captain if he took such unnecessary risks.

Lord Kivamus had trusted him to lead the caravan safely on this trip, and he wouldn't let him down, even if he had a habit of getting overconfident. Still, it had worked out this time, although he knew that he would have to be far more careful in the future.

They had only been able to consume a small part of the boars, but they had enough men to contribute in cutting and cleaning up the meat, so they had cut the rest of the meat in thin strips some distance away from the camp, and had smoked it overnight, and each man walked away with a few days of rations, which would help in preserving their other rations for the future. He had also found something else curious. Similar to the last time, this boar attack had also happened near the closed-down Helga's inn.

With the inn abandoned for half a year, no merchants had stopped there. With no humans living here, the inn had probably blended back into the forest, becoming a new territory for the boars. Lord Kivamus had asked him to check out the area, so during their first night's camp, Tesyb had taken a few guards to look over its condition. He already knew that it hadn't been in a good condition even before the winter, but this time he saw that the roof had fully collapsed under winter snow.

Only parts of the walls still stood, with the roof open to the sky. Creepers and weeds had taken over everything. Even the old signboard was tangled in vines—though he could read it now, thanks to Teacher Gorsazo's lessons. He would have to report that the place had no chance of becoming an inn again. Not without a full reconstruction. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. The wagon coming to a stop pulled his mind back to the present.

They had reached Cinran's gates. Trevalo had stopped their wagon behind the small line of carts and other merchants' wagons waiting to enter.

It was a long wait, but finally it was their turn. Tesyb watched the merchant pass a bribe to the gate guards, who took it openly, without any shame. He scoffed under his breath. A little coin, and anything could happen in a town like this! It still made him wish that the guards back home were earning real coin by now, but he pushed the thought aside. He had no doubt that Lord Kivamus was doing his best for the village.

If payment of wages hadn't started, it just meant that the finances still had to be tight, and they probably didn't have enough coin to spare. This whole supply of wheat they had come to buy was still going to be bought by the manor, after all. He knew that the village merchants still weren't buying much, and they couldn't, until the payments started in coin. But no matter, everything would come in time. Until then, he would keep doing his duty faithfully.

Once all six wagons rolled through the gate, they moved along the cobblestone street toward the market square. Crowds already started to thicken around them—vendors taking their wares to the market, draft animals mooing and bleating, carts rattling over stone. Before long, Trevalo pulled the lead wagon to a stop and hopped down. Tesyb looked at him in confusion.

"Why are we stopping here? The market is still ahead." Trevalo pointed to a large warehouse behind a short fence to their left.

"The coal merchant who owns this place is an old acquaintance. I'll go and meet with him to make a deal for our coal, and he'll also let us keep our wagons here for the night. We'll stay here tonight." Tesyb looked past the fence. The ground inside was dirt, not stone, and one corner held a well. A few neat stacks of hay sat beside it.

"That works," he said.

"We can water the horses and feed them there, if he allows it. We'll sleep under the wagons as usual. The ground looks soft enough, since it's not cobblestone or something." With that, Tesyb climbed down and gestured to the other guards to do the same. The merchant gazed at the warehouse for a moment before he turned back to him.

"Good. This is usually where my wagon drivers stay anyway. I usually book a room in a nearby inn, but this time I'll skip it and stay with you all. No point wasting time—the trip is already going to be longer than usual, so I need to be up early to make deals for wheat. So we need to unload the coal before it gets dark, and by tomorrow afternoon we have to buy enough wheat to leave. We'll only be able to travel a short distance tomorrow, but we should reach the forest before nightfall.

The next day you and the guards can go with that man to his encampment to bring out those families. That'll take another day. Then we'll finally leave for Tiranat." Tesyb stretched his legs after the long journey, while the merchant continued to lay out the schedule.

"Our speed will drop once those people join us. Instead of two more days at wagon's pace, it'll be three to four days of walking. That'll delay my plan to return here and look for a ship captain willing to lease his boat..." Trevalo brushed away the conversation with a flick of his hand.

"Anyway, the first priority is unloading this coal. After making a deal for it, I'll try to meet some grain traders too and see if I can strike a few deals before dusk. We have a lot of wheat to buy this time." Tesyb said, "Sure. I'll tell the boys to help out the drivers. But we'll be hungry after." Trevalo laughed.

"Don't worry. There's a tavern nearby, which offers cheap but good food. I can't afford more than a mug of ale for you all, since we have to get to work loading the wheat right from the morning. We'll leave a few men here to keep an eye on the wagons, and the rest of us will go to eat. We'll bring back enough food for those who remain here." Tesyb grinned in anticipation of having some ale after so long.

"That's just perfect. You go talk to the coal merchant now. I'll give the news to the boys and we'll get the wagons inside and start the unloading."