Chapter 32 - The Green Yard, In and Out

Ash had just got his fire going, when Nichol Dessur and his oldest son Leddi walked by. Leddi waved when he noticed Ash had spotted them. The dragonboy waved back.

Captain Thorne must have spotted them as well for he met the caravan master just outside the dragonboy's fire. But he could hear their entire conversation, carried by the night breeze.

Nichol shook the captain's hand while Leddi stood back and politely nodded. "Glad to see you rejoin the caravan. I was wondering if you would. Everyone was asking why you had left."

The captain didn't offer up any real details, "I'm glad as well. As for why... Well, lets just say there was an opportunity and we had no choice but to take it."

Ash suppressed a snort. No choice...that's pretty accurate actually. But he couldn't prevent his ears heating up in embarassment. For Rasp.

The caravan master took in the reduced number of soldiers. "Looks to have been quite the expensive risk. What manner of beasts did you face?"

The captain was curt, "A large pack of saberwolves. With sonic magic. They've been mostly dealt with."

"Was it worth it?"

Captain Thorne's eyes grew distant, "That remains to be seen." Then he shrugged, "I'm not entirely pleased with the outcome, but it could have been worse."

Nichol mused over the response, "Well, whatever happened, happened. But like I said, glad to have you all back. We still have a good month until we reach Green Yard. Have a good night, captain."

Nichol and Leddi then left after another polite wave to Ash. The captain departed as well after a quick glance to Rasp's wagon and a nod to the dragonboy.

Ash was relieved. Talking with captain had become a tense affair ever since Rasp's escapade. Even though the officer knew the boy had no choice in the matter. So the captain just leaving after the talk was the best outcome for him.

Maybe he'll lighten up now that we're back on schedule, was his last thought before turning in.

Everyone finally got to relax a little as the routine slowed down after rejoining the caravan. It was a timely change. The captain had pushed them hard to catch up, and it had worked. They had all gotten leaner and meaner as well. Longer in Rasp's case.

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Rews pestered Ash about the saberwolves the next day. Ash tried not to reveal too many details since the captain hadn't, but he was proud to tell the kid about Rasp's first dragonsbreath.

"Rasp used dragonsbreath for the first time! He's got poisonbreath. And it was strong enough to kill a saberwolf instantly! A big one! Bigger than a horse."

The little boy cheered, "That's so awesome! Can I see it."

"Haha, no. I wasn't kidding about it killing instantly. I was too scared to get near him during the attack." Besides, I have no idea how to get him to do it again anyways.

Ash steered the topic of their conversation to their next destination, "So you've been to the Green Yard before, right Rews? What's it like there?"

"Yeah, its..."

Ash marvelled as they approached Green Yard. Rews had said, "It's way more interesting than Dragon's Gate," so he'd really been looking forward to it. And it didn't disappoint.

Perched atop a flat plateau, Green Yard was the sole city amidst the Green Sea. Every other city had found it impossible to maintain a foothold. Yet Green Yard survived. Mainly due to multiple rings of the towering spiked wooden palisades, strong and thick enough to repel even the strongest of monsters. Three of them in total. When Rews had explained the defenses, Ash had learned that the third wall had never been breached.

And the two walls that had fallen, it had only happened once, due to a horde of mountain and forest giants. The forest had been blanketed in dragonsbreath after the battle and the forest had grown back, but the giants never returned.

Passing through the circular, outermost ring standing twenty feet high, Ash was struck by the pleasant, woody smell of lumber. He inhaled deeply, smells good. Looking left and right with wide eyes, all he saw were stacks and stacks of cut boards set out to dry, resting against the second palisade. Which was stood even taller at thirty feet.

The third ring was fifty feet tall and according to Rews was arranged into a star shape, with over twenty eight points, fortified with giantkiller ballista.

Beside which the caravan was going to halt for the next few days. The Dessur wagon train arranged themselves along the outer side of the third ring for the night.

But Captain Thorne's five wagon convoy with Ash and Rasp continued on. They were going to stay at the local barracks on the inner side of the third ring. For two days, while the caravan was staying to resupply and rest.

Unfortunately, the barracks didn't have stalls for dragons, so after entering the sizable military compound, the dragon's wagon was placed off to the side of inner courtyard. With a steady guard rotation of Thorne's platoon to warn off the local troops.

The two rest days weren't really rest days for Ash. Or the rest of the convoy. The captain kept them all busy checking wagon inventory and restocking. And as Ash was the only human allowed near Rasp's wagon, he got the unenviable duty of stocking new crates of oats.

Besides that, Ash hung out with Rasp, practiced with the spear, and wondered what Ollu was going to be like. But he enjoyed having a bigger variety of food for the first time in months. He even got invited for dinner once with the local commander, General Ranka, who was slightly younger and warmer than General Lukes.

When the two days were up, the wagons rolled out to rejoin the Dessur caravan on the western side of Green Yard. Ash immediately noticed the convoy was back up to full strength, as some of the local soldiers had joined. Oh! Guess the general reinforced us.

As for the caravan, it was about the same. And Rews came by to talk as usual. Ash let him ramble on. The kid then mentioned how a bunch of the people and wagons had left due to their own business. But there were just as many that had joined, hauling quality lumber to Ollu City. And how this side of Green Yard had lots of rain...