Blue stood in front of Liam, throwing the man he had just talked with a very unhappy glance.

“As much as I would like to show you around the caravan myself, I’m afraid there’s some business I need to take care of. But don’t worry, we will extend this conversation another time.”

Blue looked around, until his eyes settled on a small group of people busy with loading the supplies behind their stalls.

“Jerem, are you done with the hitching?” He shouted and pointed at a boy around Liam's age.

The sand haired boy looked over to them and nodded eagerly. “Done as can be, Sir.”

“Good. Then show Liam here around a little. He will help take care of the animals and the loading. Please be so kind as to show him the ropes.”

“Aye sir.”

Blue rolled his eyes and muttered to Liam. “No matter how often I tell him, he doesn’t stop with that Sir nonsense.”

The sand haired boy turned towards Liam, a big grin on his face, and extended his hand. “I’m Jerem.”

He was a fair bit taller than Liam, and his frame filled his clothes out a lot better than Liam’s. Added to that was the fact that the boy was what would be considered quite handsome, and Liam already found himself disliking the boy.

Hesitantly, Liam shook the boy's hand. His hand was rough. Not the scarred hands from cuts and wounds on the street, but the rough hands you got from working with heavy goods and ropes all day long.

“Liam,” he said, his respect for the boy growing a little.

“Get him acquainted with the caravan, he will join you in the work with the animals, so also get him familiar with them. I have some other matters to attend to,” Blue said and turned to walk away with the other merchant. He paused. “But mind you, we will be leaving shortly. Don’t dally around too long.”

With that he strode away, the other merchant hurriedly leading the way.

“So,” Jerem started walking. “You will be traveling with us?”

Liam hurried to keep along. “Yes I will.”

“Interesting, what makes you want to join a caravan?” The boy didn’t look at Liam, instead he kept walking ahead, away from the market. “Not a lot of people want to do that, you know?”

“Well I would prefer not to talk about it,” Liam said.

The boy turned towards Liam and raised his eyebrow. “One of those, yeah?” Jerem shrugged. “Well I don't really mind. Not all of us are as sharing as me, so I'm used to that. Keep your secrets man.”

“What made you join the caravan, if I may ask?” Liam replied.

“Money,” the boy laughed.

“Yes. I’m not from the Alpyrian Empire. I come from one of the smaller tribes south from the border. Things happened, and I decided to leave and make money.”

Something about the way the boy said it made Liam believe there was more to what he was telling than that.

“I know that it might not look like much to you, but this is only temporary for me. I will have my own caravan one day. And I will make it the biggest this whole continent has ever seen.”

“That is… ambitious,” Liam said.

“Sure. If you have to dream, why not at least dream big?”

Liam laughed aloud. “I like that idea.”

There was something about the excitement that the boy elicited that caught onto Liam. Somehow, despite the fact that Jerem was nothing more than a better stable boy working one of the most dangerous jobs of the empire, Liam believed him.

“Alright enough of that talky talk. Let’s show you the rest of the caravan.” The boy said, continuing their stroll.”

He led Liam down another street with brisk pace, and then turned a corner. When Liam rounded the corner after the boy, he found Jerem with a big grin.

“These are our caravan wagons.”

Liam found himself lost for words for a second. He had seen caravan wagons before, but never from this close, as caravans were always very protective of their wagons. They were almost as tall as some of the smaller houses in Chairville, easily reaching four meters in height. They

There were almost two dozen of them in different sizes. Each one was unique in a way, some had symbols painted on them, others were noticeably larger with either an additional meter in length, or sometimes in height.

Each of them spouted at least three big axes for their wheels, with the wheels reaching all the way to Liams waist, and were decorated by real glass windows in their frames. Liam couldn’t help but marvel at them while they walked past.

“Impressive, eh?” Jerem asked, grinning at him.

“Very,” Liam said honestly. “They look damn expensive.”

The other boy laughed. “They probably are. Each of them costs a small fortune.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“How can Blue afford all of that?”

“Ohh they’re not all Blue’s. Some people have their own caravan wagon, or buy it from Blue sooner or later. So we’re all just pretty much under the same flag.”

“And all of you are living inside of them?”

“Not always no. These wagons are our home, and we probably spend the most time in them. But we also spend quite some time in town inns, and some of us prefer to sleep outside when we can. Inside it can get a little cramped.”

“A little cramped? The wagons look reasonably huge to me.”

Liam had spent many nights bundled together in backrooms of taverns or unwatched stables with four or five other kids. And those had been his good nights.

Even after discovering the hidden attic under the roof of the post office, Liam had never managed to shake off that feeling.

“Well if you’re traveling together for a long time, pretty much any space will feel cramped at a certain point. We are a family, but even that has its limits.” The other boy shrugged.

As they continued their stroll through the caravan settling, the sheer size of the group started to down on Liam. There were dozens of people milling around. Most of them were busy tending to their tasks. Goods were secured, crates loaded and all manner of other things were organized.

But between the dozens of working people, Liam spotted almost as many people idling around and enjoying themselves.

Jerem kept telling him about people, pointing some out at him and telling anecdotes and stories about people Liam didn’t even know yet.

“Are there always this many people traveling with you?” Liam asked after they passed a small family of four sitting next to their wagon.

“Hmm?” Jerem asked, ripped out of his thoughts. “Oh yeah, this is actually a medium season. Lots of merchants decided to stay in the bigger cities this season and try to get by there. You know with the roads being more dangerous and all.”

“Wait there are even more people normally?

“Yeah. There are lots of reasons to travel through the continent. Lots of business opportunities that draw entrepreneurs of every kind. We have some collectors, some blacksmiths. Some merchants. And we have the performers.”

“The performers?”

“Yes of course. Do you know how plain those people in the villages can be?” Jerem paused. “Oh no of course you don't. Well they are a boring bunch, not much entertainment other than watching the wheats grow. So the performers are actually one of our best revenue streams.”

“How bad is it really?” Liam asked. The sheer number of people, and the fact that whole families were present, stood in stark reality to the picture of caravan workers Liam had painted in his head.

He thought they were all a grim and greedy bunch to brace against the supposedly continuous monster attacks in the wildlands. But maybe those stories were just exaggerated? The memory of that little refugee boy clutching her half scorched teddy bear came to mind and Liam shivered.

“Every bit as bad as people say.” Jerem said.

Liam swallowed.

“I won’t sugarcoat it, the world out there can be brutal. But with the right caravan and some protection, you usually tend to be alright.”

“That sounds reassuring.”

They continued their stroll through the caravan encampment. With the caravans strewn around the place, and all of the people mingling between them, it was almost like they were in their own small village. Liam watched the different people in awe. Some of them held caramel skin tones, others were definitely even further from the north. There was one man, who stood out specifically.

Liam saw him lounging to the side, leaning idly against one of the wagons. What made him stand out was the fact that he was maybe the tallest man Liam had ever seen, easily reaching seven feet in height.

“Who is that?” Liam asked, pointing at the man.

“That? Oh that’s Marten. He is one of Blue’s partners. Dangerous guy.”

Liam wanted to ask another question, but they were interrupted by a man rolling by on a barrel. Or rather the barrel was running underneath him, and he was running a top, trying to move it. He was singing while doing that.

He had passed them so quickly, that Liam wondered if he had seen that right.

“What was that?” He asked, eyes wide.

Jerem gave him a mischievous smile. “That was one of our performers.”

So far Liam had been more than impressed not just by the caravans wagons, but also by the people. He hadn’t known there were performers in the group, and what’s more, he hadn’t expected the caravan to be such a big, diverse, and merry bunch.

He began to feel a little excited about his time in the caravan, it seemed like life there would be a little more colorful.

But even so, what got Liam even more interested, were the animals.

They looked like donkeys. Although in a way that a tiger looked like a cat.

They stood almost twice as high as normal donkeys, taller than some of the horses Liam had seen. All their extra height was condensed into tight muscles that they packed all over their body.

Two of them were led by rope past Liam, and he couldn’t help but stare at the unnatural amounts of muscle that worked and stretched underneath the skin in their legs.

“Are… are those donkeys?” Liam asked.

Jerem laughed. “I guess in a way they are.”

“What happened to them”?

“Well, they are blessed by Jalia. She and Thorwith, the god of caravans, have put their blessings together to create those Mularnda. The perfect pack animal. Every caravan worth his salt has a few of these.”

Liam watched one of the animals chewing through a mountain of hay big enough that Liam could’ve hid in it. The donkey paused, its head midway towards it’s through, and looked directly at Liam. It stared right at him, an uncanny intelligence behind its eyes.

“They are a little scary,” Liam said.

“They are a little,” Jerem smiled. “But they are way more useful than they’re scary. They can walk a whole day without complaint, and they are strong enough that only a pair of them is enough to draw a fully loaded wagon.”

Liam looked at the almost housed sized caravan wagons and then back at the donkeys. Then he looked at the wagons again.

“Only two of them for one wagon?” He asked incredulously.

“Yes exactly,” Jerem said. “That’s why they’re worth the trouble. Only downside really is how much they eat. Oh you wouldn’t believe it. But yeah, you will get used to them. They’re actually quite gentle animals.”

“The ones from the wagons we’re responsible for are already hitched, otherwise I would get you to know the donkeys. I guess that means we can relax a little though.”

After seeing the animals, they rounded back to the market. There was still a busy atmosphere. People were stacking crates, merchants were haggling about their last sales and all the while some workers were carrying away the goods from the stalls, making them ready for their departure.

Liam and Jerem sat on a crate, their legs dangling over its edge, and spent some more time in idle chatter. Liam was surprised how well he got along with the boy. And even more surprised by how huge the caravan was, suddenly the task of venturing out into the world and leaving the walls of Charville behind seemed much less daunting.

After a while Liam excused himself with the intention to come back later in time for their departure. He had a few more things he wanted to get in order and he would need to hurry somewhat.