It was a bright sunny morning, a perfect day for travelling and the long caravan trail seemed to agree. It snaked its way along the trail to Esterwood city, the front of this trail were only a few hours away from entering the city. The middle of the caravan line was navigating its way through the dense forest. The tail end of the caravans was still trying to pass through a very narrow trail. Sandwiched between a two-story tall cliffside and a steep forested hill that leading down to roaring rapids. The caravans here were in a rather precarious position, causing movement to slow, which tested the patients of a certain young man.
Shawn Lee with hair so black it seemed to absorb the morning sun, was growing more and more impatient with the wagon’s snails pace crawl. Situated on the second last carriage in the entire caravan trail, the entire trip had been long, slow and agonizingly boring. Eyes closed Shawn tried his best to listen in on the sounds of the birds amidst the roaring rapids and ignore the jolty wagon ride.
In all honestly it would be a lot more comfortable if Shawn just walked behind the caravan instead of trying to balance himself on the tiny lip on the back caravan. He had just enough space to place most of a leg on it and then lean his entire weight on it, clutching his left hand to the outside frame of the wagon. Yet he still sat there with his eyes closed.
From a few meters away a lanky man with salt and pepper hair following along the caravan tried his best to try and hide his smile. Despite Shawn’s best at trying to remain silent and hold a neutral expression, it was obvious to Lawrence Fisher that Shawn was bored out of his mind. Its times like these when I remember that Shawn’s still an impatient 16-year-old boy. He learned well from Oskar on how to make himself feel bigger. Gazing up and noticing a few robins sitting about the trees he recalled how hard it was for the entire Thornside posse the past month.
They had only recently arrived in the country of Acrary, after some sort of disaster that happened back in the country Nobelia that Shawn still doesn’t have a clue about. They had to uproot and leave as quick as possible. Leaving most of their valuables back overseas, but at least in Acrary no one was trying to hunt them down. The idea of coming to Acrary was Oskar’s idea, and while the process itself was messy, it proved to be the correct choice.
It helped that they weren’t the only ones trying to enter the city, they had joined the huge caravan trail, unfortunately that also meant that they had to separate in order to get open spots. Though it was only temporary the entire posse had no way of communicating with one another, and it had been like this for over a week now. But they should all be arriving at Esterwood today. With Lawrence, Shawn, Sara and young Michael being the last to arrive.
Quickening his past a bit he approached Shawn, “Buck up son, only a few hours left.”
Eyes still closed Shawn replied with a simple, “Shut up. Not in the mood.”
“Hah.”
Suddenly the wagon halted. Shawn opened his eyes, his dark black irises made it nearly impossible to see his pupils began. “What the?” was all he muttered as he tried to look ahead to see why they had suddenly stopped. Lawrence who was standing was able to move to the side and peer at the caravan in front, the wheels had broke. The wheels in the front seemed to have broken off, with the horses getting unhitched from the main wagon. With a path so narrow there was no way for the other caravans to get around it.
“Oh, looks like we’re stuck here for a bit.”
A massive groan came Shawn, “You have got to be kidding. How long is this going to take?”
“Looks like it’s going to be a while.”
“By the gods, kill me.” Shawn replied sinking down into his seat.
Sara Steg, a beautiful lady with braided coffee brown hair poked her head out of the wagon, “You’ve been complaining this entire time, Shawn. You chose to be in the back of the line, so grow up and stop whining, Michael has been making less noise then you.” Peering into the wagon a 4-year-old boy, Michael, could be seen sleeping on the lady’s shoulder.
Lawrence was about to interject, but unfortunately Shawn opened his mouth first, “Oh, the only reason why I ‘chose’ to be back here is because your Blake, your hubby, actively chose to go on ahead with Oskar, leaving both you and little Michael alone. Without a second thought.”
Sara looking hurt quietly turned her head away, looking down at the sleeping Michael and stroked his head, muttering, “That’s not fair.”
Shawn for his part scoffed and got up, walking to the edge of the path to stare out into the trees. Lawrence sighed and walked over to Shawn, “Don’t you think you over did it a little?”
“It’s the truth.”
“But is it really appropriate to mention it right now?”
“Sure, it is.”
Lawrence raided an eyebrow, “Really?”
“The sooner she stops being an idiot and Blake stops being worthless the better.”
“Look, we’re all a bit stressed right now, but Blake has done more then his fair share. So could you calm down your attitude a little bit, it’s not helping.”
“And keeping me in the dark about that Goldroot event is?”
Lawrence stiffened a bit upon hearing that, “It was complicated. We’ll explain what happened when we manage to organize ourselves.”
“Why does everyone keep refusing to tell me anything.”
“I promise, it will be explained alright. It’s just we need some time first”
“…Fine.”
Shawn then shrugged his shoulders and started to look at the three wagons that were now stopped, there wasn’t anything special about the sight. A load of supplies and people sitting in the wagons waiting to start moving again, mainly civilians who had jobs within the city.
Outside of the caravans were the younger and healthier people traveling along, various humanoids, one peculiar traveller stood out, being covered head to toe with full plate armour. A longbow and a recurve bow strapped on their back with a broadsword on their hilt, they stuck out compared to the rest who wore the most basic of clothing. Attached to each wagon was a driver and two militia soldiers, offering security for both the citizens and probably more importantly the supplies.
“Not much of a security force.” Shawn noted.
“Well, rather green, but better then nothing.”
“Nothing doesn’t attract attention, they do.”
One of the soldiers with curly hair seemed to have heard them speak turned towards them with a dirty look, “Hmph, worthless lowlife.” Before turning his attention to a younger child riding one of the wagons.
Shawn smirked, “Not wrong.” In the corner he noticed the armoured figure give a quick shake of the head. Shawn chose to ignore it. Looking over towards the broken wagon he could tell that this was going to take a while.
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