Chapter 14

The next morning the Captain woke up to see a strip of golden light stabbing him in the eyes. He had intentionally set up his tent so that the sun would wake him up early every day. He sat up and yawned. Last night was a wonderful break from all the training and patrols.

He got up from the cot, which lay on the ground and started to armor himself like any other morning. After he'd got the armor on, he grabbed his sword and opened the tent flap. A gentle breeze was already blowing meaning that today was likely going to be a windy day. He walked over to the well at the center of the temporary military camp and drew a bucket of water.

He cupped a handful of water and splashed it on to his scarred face to wash off the nights eye flecks. A sudden stinging pain shot through his face causing him to wince and clinch his fists in pain. The scar was hurting so much in fact, he walked around the whole well, trying not to yell and wake everyone else, until the pain stopped.

"Curse you Helgrath." He said spitting angrily.

He then gingerly dabbed at his scar with the edge of his shirt sleeve to wipe off the remaining water drops. Tightening his sword belt once more he walked down an isle of tents. He needed to wake up the soldiers that were to go with him and the Lady Mayor to the three villages. He would normally take ten soldiers and different ones each time. He worried they might get bored always being stuck here in town and become lazy at their posts.

After they all were woken up and ready to go, they set off to the Mayors residence. When they arrived four servants were loading up supplies onto two single horse drawn carts. They would be bringing the supplies to the villages for delivery or trade. The Captain hopped off his horse and walked inside the entryway of the front yard. The rest of the soldiers stayed on their horses patiently.

One of the servants finished loading a barrel and called to the Captain, "The Lady is still getting ready. She'll be here soon."

"No worries. We still have time." The Captain replied as he leaned up against a fence post. After a few minutes the servants finished and sat on the cart benches to wait to drive the horses. Then the Lady came out of the house and yawned.

"S-sorry to keep you all waiting. I'm still exhausted from last night." She said yawning again.

"That's alright my Lady." The Captain replied getting off the post. "Everyone is ready now." He held out his hand to the Lady to help her climb into the lead cart. She gently took his hand and climbed into the cart and sat down onto a sack of flower.

"Thank you, Captain." She replied smiling. She took off a large bag from her back and patted her blue dress down to get comfortable. Then she nodded to the driver that she was ready to go. He nodded back and gently flicked the horse's reigns and the trading group was underway.

Four soldiers on horseback led the way while the Captain rode alongside the carts and the remaining six followed behind, also on horseback. The first village was not too far away maybe no more than an hour. After they arrived the villages leader, an old man leaning on a cane, and five other men greeted them. The Lady greeted them warmly and they discussed how everything was going. While the spoke the men and servants unloaded several boxes of cloth and pottery. The whole affair lasted only an hour. The village was doing well and didn't need any additional help.

Soon they were back on their way to the second village, which was again only an hour farther away. This time everyone was much more awake, and the Lady started up a conversation with the Captain. He told her the story of how he came to join the military and how he had proved himself in the training earning himself the rank of Captain. It wasn't a very exciting story, but he had some funny moments that the Lady laughed at. By the end of the stories they had made it to the second village.

The same things happened here as in the other village, but the leader here was a very tall young man. He was so tall in-fact whenever the captain dismounted, he had to look up at the village leader sharply.

The first time the Captain saw him he had to ask, "Are you by chance related to a giant? I haven't seen anyone as tall as you."

The tall village leader laughed hardily, "No I'm not related to any giants. I just couldn't stop growing. Compared to last year I still have grown an inch."

The Captain shook his head, "I couldn't imagine fighting anyone your size. If I had come across a Knight at your height, I wouldn't stand a chance."

"Well don't worry I hate fighting. I'd rather be farming." He replied.

After they finished unloading one of the carts entirely, they went to the small market purchase firewood. The market was really nothing more than eight or nine stalls only set up once a week. A burly man sat in his stall with a huge pile of wood stacked disorganized behind him. He sat up seeing the Captain and Lady Mayor coming towards him.

"Ha-ha, welcome back Lady Mayor!" He called out to them. "What can I do for you this fine day.

The wind was blowing stiffly, and the Lady had to hold her blond hair down to keep it out of her face as she spoke. "We came to purchase a full cart load of wood this time. I hope your wood is nice and dry seeing it hadn't rained for a few days."

"Oh yes, it quite dry." The wood merchant nodded. "Let's see, a full cart of wood, that would be roughly five hundred pounds. Making the total price be, eh, six hundred coins." The merchant said holding up six fingers with a friendly smile.

"Six hundred? Your joking." The Lady Mayor scoffed. "Four hundred is a much more reasonable price."

"Ah, my Lady, how am I supposed to feed my family for so little." He said frowning, "This wood is of good quality. It mainly oak and poplar wood, there's no pine mixed in so the smoke will be low. How about five hundred."

"Still a bit too high." The Lady Mayor shook her head. "I think we should get the wood at the next town. Unless, you can lower the price some more? Just for me?" The Lady said giving her best smile and batting her eyes.

"Oh, very well, four hundred and fifty coins. Best offer I can do." The merchant said giving in.

"Thank you so much for your assistance." The Lady Mayor said opening a bag of coins she had hidden in her bag.

The Captain was watching the whole conversation and wondered to himself, "Only a woman like her could have brought the price so low. If I'd tried to negotiate like this best, I could do would've been five hundred fifty."

The servants loaded up the wood as the merchant counted the weight of each piece of wood and the Lady Mayor did as well. Just to double check.

After they loaded all the wood up, they were on their way to the last village. This village was twice the distance away as before. By the time they arrived at the remaining village it was lunch time. This village was the largest of the three and had a much larger variety of stalls to shop from. This included food stalls. Ridding past them the trading group couldn't help but grow hungry with the delicious smells wafting from grilling meats and vegetables.

"Before we deliver the last of the supplies let's eat something, Captain." The Lady Mayor said tapping the servant on the shoulder telling him to stop.

"Alright then." He said hopping off his horse and tiring the reigns to the carts railing. "Half of you can eat now." He continued speaking to the soldiers. "The rest wait until we're done."

The men at the back of line were going to go last and hungrily watched as the rest ordered grilled chicken from a nearby stall. The Lady Mayor and the Captain ordered some as well and the Lady took off her bag to pay the cook.

When suddenly, out of the crowd, a brown streak ran up and snatched the coins from her hand. She let out a shriek of surprise and the brown streak disappeared back in the crowd.

"Thief!" The Captain called out and the soldiers still mounted quickly spurred their horses to give chase. The Captain also tugged at his horse reigns immediately untiring them and mounted to give chase.