Dragon in Disguise

Once Viren and Darmer got to the head of the caravan, Darmer stopped and addressed Viren. “Do you know how to scout?”

“Check the surrounding area for any potential threats or out of the ordinary things?”

“Yup. You want the forest or the road and surrounding fields?” ‘Well, don’t even have to think about that one.’

“Forest.” Darmer nodded without saying anything and started jogging further ahead. Viren followed his example and jogged into the forest. ‘I’d better scout a little way ahead, but stay near the tree line, in case the caravan is attacked.’ He slowed to a walk as he entered the forest, keeping his eyes peeled. As the minutes went on, he allowed himself to relax a little. He remained diligent, observing his surroundings, pausing to tilt his head or look around whenever he heard a twig snap, or a bird fly off.

He covered about six miles before deciding to go back, and by the time he returned to the caravan it was evening and they were setting up camp. “Hey,” he greeted when he found Thorn and Darmer. “I wasn’t sure how long I was supposed to scout for, so I just came back.” They were setting up a fire, and Thorn answered him.

“You came back at a good time. Usually, Valor would be back by now, but the fields are nice and flat, so he probably went on a bit longer.” Sure enough, thirty minutes later Valor returned to camp. He sat down by the fire and stretched out, cracking some of his bones as he did so.

“Ah, nice to be back in sort of civilization. I am exhausted.” He barely looked a little nappish. “You guys have fun standing watch tonight!” Viren blinked. ‘Standing watch?’ Valor noticed. “Oh yeah, whoever patrolled the caravan that day keeps watch at night too.”

“Alright. One more question. Where do we get our food?” Darmer laughed.

“One of Taron’s employees usually cooks a big pot of stew. It’s free to the merchants in the caravan, but it isn’t exactly luxury dining, so many of them cook their own meals. We can eat from there too, except we made deals for it in our contracts,” he said. “I managed to negotiate for four meals a day.” Viren choked.

“Four!?” Valor shook his head.

“I don’t know how he did it. All I know is that I’m glad he’s a mercenary and not a merchant.”

“Yeah,” Thorn sighed. “I only managed two.”

“Well, nice to know I’m not the only one eating two meals a day.”

“Heh, yes. We can both be bad at bartering together,” he said with a wry smile.

“I hate to change the subject,” Valor started, “But is there any chance one of you will grab my food for me?” Darmer gave him a side eye.

“No,” he said. Valor threw back his head and sighed for five whole seconds.

“None of you guys have any respect for your elders. Come on, lets go get dinner.”

…

They walked to one of the blazing fires. Someone was standing next to the fire and hung over it was a huge black pot. A thick, hearty smell wafted up from it. They got in line behind some other people, probably employees of Taron’s. When it was their turn, they each got a wooden bowl, and the cook plopped a ladle full of stew into them. Then they walked back over to their little fire and sat down to eat.

Viren examined the stew in the bowl. Floating in a thick, brown gravy was some cubes of meat (what kind?), some cabbage, and chunks of what seemed to be carrot. He took a slurp (the cook didn’t give them spoons,) and chewed it thoughtfully. ‘It’s nearly tasteless. Which is probably a blessing, it could taste terrible.’ In all honesty, it wasn’t too bad. The carrots added a nice crunch, and the meat wasn’t too chewy. The cabbage wasn’t moldy. Overall… it wasn’t good, but it also wasn’t bad. Kinda just in between. ‘There’s probably a metaphor somewhere in that.’ Darmer’s voice interrupted his musings.

“Are you done contemplating that stew?” Viren pulled his best philosopher’s expression.

“Perhaps,” he said in a solemn voice, “But there is much to be contemplated in this stew.” Darmer chuckled.

“And is that good or bad?”

“Neither. Just like this stew.”

The four of them bantered for a while longer. Well, Darmer and Viren talked a lot. Valor was quiet, and Thorn was idly juggling some throwing knives. Just before sunset Nevron came over to them.

“I have your wages,” he said, and passed out some coins.

“Thanks,” Viren said. “So, is it like today every day?”

“Pretty much. Usually I’m pretty busy learning how to run the caravan.”

“Cool. How often do we stop at cities?”

“Pretty often. Its rare for us to be on the road for more than a week at a time.” He paused. “You went scouting today, right?” Viren nodded. “So tomorrow, when you patrol the caravan, I’ll show you what roads we take and where we stop next.”

“Really? Thanks!” Nevron smiled.

“See you tomorrow, then.” He waved and walked deeper into the camp circle. Viren added the 17 coins to his other coins. Thorn and Valor went to sleep, and Darmer got up with a sigh to keep watch. He would patrol around the circle to make sure no one snuck in anywhere, and at midnight he would wake up Thorn for his turn.

Viren laid back and stared up at the stars. He’d successfully gotten free of Kastra, and now that he was leaving Edgedale he could start building a life for himself. He closed his eyes. ‘A life for myself, huh…’ As he drifted off to sleep, deep inside something told him he would have to face his past somehow, sooner or later.

…

The next morning, Viren woke bright and early. Early enough to watch the sunrise, in fact. He was the first one of the guards up, except for Thorn, who was busy patrolling the circle. The caravan would depart for the day later that morning, after breakfast.

Viren decided to wander around the camp and familiarize himself with some of the servants and employees. Many of them were waking up, some to feed the animals, others to do the various tasks assigned to them before it was time to go. He saw one person washing laundry, and another preparing breakfast. He took a breath in of the crisp morning air and started walking to the edge of the circle. He circled around the various tents making up the inside of the camp and slipped between two caravans.

The sunrise cast a beautiful array of orange and pink across the sky, which soon gave way to a bright blue that promised wonderful weather. The caravan was traveling a little way away from the edge of a forest, and on the other side of the road they were traveling on were grasslands that covered miles and miles of land. Viren leaned against one of the wagons and just watched the sky until the sun was fully risen. Then he went back into the camp to get breakfast.

He met up with the other three guards in the breakfast line, and together they were served a thick porridge. It was sweetened with sugar, probably to disguise the fact that it tasted like nothing without it. Viren ate it as quickly as possible because the merchants were getting ready to start. Not five minutes after he finished and returned the bowl to the cook the cry went out to start the wagons. They pulled out, stretching into a long line. Darmer and Thorn left to scout shortly after.

Valor immediately started walking to the back of the caravan. ‘Guess that means I get the front.’ Viren started walking up the line. He didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to do on patrol, but he figured it would be easy enough. ‘Just walk up and down the caravan, right? There can’t possibly be much more than that.’ Easy as the job was, he made sure to keep his eyes peeled for any threats to the caravan. Remembering what Valor said, he also kept an eye out for fights among the travelers, but it was more likely for an argument to break out when they were camped. It took just over half an hour to walk the entire caravan line. He was in the middle of walking it for the fifth time when Nevron ran up to him.

“Viren! Did you still want to talk about the route we’re taking?”

“Yes!” Nevron slowed when he reached Viren and started walking beside him. He unfolded a map about an arm’s length wide and a forearm’s length long. It was a map of Aureum.

“Lets see…” He said. “We are riiighhht… here!” He pointed to a spot on the map near the city marked Edgedale. “And our route is right up here, all the way to Blucitu City.” He traced a road with his finger.

“Wait a minute,” Viren said. “Isn’t this forest usually occupied by the Dark Lord’s forces?” He’d studied enough of Kastra’s various battle maps and listened to enough conversations between soldiers to know that this forest was filled with his people.

“Well, yes, we’ve heard reports that this area has a lot of activity where the Dark Lord is involved… But we should be fine, as we aren’t traveling in the forest itself, only right outside of it.” Viren eyed Nevron skeptically. That reasoning was shaky at best, and complete hogwash at worst. ‘But I’m not exactly looking to get on Taron’s bad side by telling him how to run his caravan… lets just hope nothing happens.’ He decided to change the subject.

“How long is your entire route?” Nevron grinned.

“Well, the Thendall caravan prides itself on traveling throughout almost the entire kingdom!” He used his finger to trace a long, wandering path that went all over the map, talking as he did. “The fact that we stop in Edgedale speaks to how dedicated we are, because it’s the last city on the southern side of the kingdom. We stop at all of the major cities, many of the medium and small ones, and even at some towns!”

“Woah.” Nevron nodded.

“Yep. Our entire circuit takes about two and a half years.”

“How long has the caravan been around for?”

“My father started it seven years ago. When he first announced how long his route would be, people called him crazy. It’s one of the reasons why he’s so successful and famous. He’s the only one who reaches this many places!”

“Man, your dad’s crazy in one of the best ways.” Nevron laughed.

“You can say that again. It’s my dream to follow in his footsteps. For a while he made me learn other things, like how to wield a sword or cook food, just to make sure inheriting his empire was what I really wanted.”

“You can use a sword?”

“Yeah.” He folded the map back up once it became apparent he had no more need of it. “I’m not very good at it though.”

“Neither was I when I first started. It took me forever to figure out even the basic stances!”

“When did you start learning?”

“When I was ten.”

“Really? That’s young, I started when I was thirteen.”

“Well, that’s not exactly the epitome of manhood either.” Nevron laughed, and Viren laughed with him.

“Well, I have to get back to work, but it was nice talking to you. Maybe we can talk more tonight?”

“Yeah sure!” Nevron nodded to him and walked off to count fabric or file taxes or whatever it was that merchants did. Viren smiled and patrolled with renewed vigor. ‘I wonder if I can count Nevron as a friend.’ He thought about their conversation, how they met, and the various interactions they’ve had. ‘Yeah, I’m pretty sure that counts as a friend.’ He smiled brightly, happy to have made a friend, maybe even his first one.

Viren patrolled the caravan into the late afternoon. ‘I’ve lost track of how many times I have walked up and down the line.’ Perhaps it could have been considered repetitive, even boring, but Viren was just glad for the chance to relax a little. Then he heard a shout and spied two merchants arguing five wagons ahead of him.

He ran over to see what the problem was. The two arguing merchants were glaring at each other and bickering. Then one of them spotted Viren. He was a portly fellow, with a distinguished brown mustache. “Ah, you’re the new caravan guard, yes?” He continued without waiting for an answer. “Perhaps you can resolve our argument.”

“Uh, what seems to be the problem?” The second merchant, a man with curly brown hair and a button nose, answered Viren’s question.

“Well, this man right here refuses to accept the fact that that,” here he pointed at a dog trotting alongside the wagon train, “is my dog.” The other one scoffed.

“Please, that poor feller came to me looking half-starved and begging for a bite of my food.” The button nose merchant growled in fury.

“NO! he comes to me every night when we build camp for his dinner.”

“Ridiculous. I’m the one that gives it it’s evening meal.” While they continued to argue Viren looked at the dog that was trotting a few feet away. Its tongue lolled out as it plodded along, looking like the happiest dog in the world. ‘That creature,’ he thought, ‘has the look of a scoundrel who has stumbled into a banquet full of gullible nobles.’

He walked over to the next wagon and motioned to the servant driving it. “Have you seen that dog before?” he pointed to the dog.

“Why, yes, I have. He comes to me every night for his dinner.”

“Ok, thanks.” He asked the same thing of the wagon ahead of that, and this time the woman driving it said she gave him his breakfast every morning. He slapped a hand to his forehead, thanked the woman, and trotted back to the two arguing merchants. ‘Wait. How the heck do I convince these guys of the truth?’

“Gentlemen, I think I have figured out the solution.” They both turned to him, red and sweating with frustration. ‘Wow, they got really worked up about this.’

“Well? What is it?” Viren took a deep breath.

“The solution is… This fine dog has simply adopted both of you as it’s owners.”

“Pardon?” The portly gentleman looked shocked.

“What could you possibly mean by that?” the other asked.

“It’s simple. The dog, being an animal, does not abide by human rules or logic. It makes perfect sense for it to have two owners and double the love.” ‘Double the dinner as well,’ he added mentally.

The two merchants looked at each other, turning the idea over in their heads.

“Well,” said the button-nosed man slowly, “I suppose that does make sense.”

“Very well,” the other declared, “I shall share this fine dog with my fellow merchant.”

“Yes,” he sighed, “I suppose that will suffice.” Just at that moment the dog woofed, and the timing was so perfect it was as if the dog agreed, and the two merchants beamed, happy they had done right by their beloved animal.