Ironcastle loomed large on the horizon. Now that we've gotten closer I could see giant stone walls built into the side of the mountain with a sprawling city spilling out of it. We will be arriving at the outskirts tomorrow, assuming everything went to plan. All of the danger that we had faced on the way back relaxed the moment we left the forest between here and Fallow. It made me wonder if something was happening beyond the dungeon becoming more dangerous in that region.

  Whatever was happening there, I felt connected to it. From what everyone has told me, there was something aberrant about the umber hound that changed me. Umber hounds aren't supposed to have spatial magic, yet the one that brought me here did. It was even confirmed by the armor that I was currently wearing. That meant that my presence here was connected to whatever was happening in Fallow. I don't have any grand delusions of being a chosen one or having been brought here because I'm some sort of hero or because it was my destiny. Just that whatever was happening in Fallow was also related to me.

  The morale of the caravan had improved quite a bit every day that we had gotten closer to Ironcastle. We still were taking security more seriously than we had been, but now the anxiety that the merchants had been feeling was finally starting to fade. The only exceptions that I noticed were Korr'tak and the two women that I had saved. Korr'tak still looked haunted by what had happened to him. He put up a tough front and didn't show any obvious signs to the others, but I could see the way his hands shook and hear the way his heart raced when he looked back at the forest or into the empty fields.

  The two women I had saved, Phoebe and Juliana, had gotten worse the safer they had gotten. The loss of their husbands and their friend was finally starting to hit them. I knew what it was like to lose a father... it was rough. I couldn't imagine losing my dad and someone like Luna at the same time. I had been a bit surprised that they had been managing so well since they joined us, but it seemed the pair had just been in a form of survival mode until they were safe enough to actually feel their emotions. I heard them crying in their wagons a few times when they thought no one was around to hear. Sometimes my hearing wasn't a blessing.

  Milana, Luna, and I were still messing around with magic in the time that we could make to spend together. Luna had been getting the hang of silent casting pretty quickly, and while her education in the matter wasn't as structured or traditional as it usually would have been, she had been making good headway on it since she was diligent about practicing the techniques between sessions with Milana. The snow leopardkin told me that the insights I had on soundwaves had been helpful. The 'shapes' that she drew using a new method she based on what I told her did seem to increase the efficiency of silent casting, but it was different enough from the traditional way of silent casting that it would take a lot of preparation to switch to the new 'shapes.' To be honest, a lot of what they talked about with each other went over my head, and it was difficult to follow their explanations. I would say they were using jargon, but it was more like they were using metaphors that didn't make any sense to me. I wasn't all that concerned because while magic seemed cool and all, it didn't excite my instincts the way that fighting up close did. I mostly hung out with them to support Luna.

  The wagon I was sitting on was traveling much more smoothly down the road now. As we got closer to Ironcastle, the road had improved a lot, and it had begun to intersect with other roads coming from other directions. It had been a dirt trail most of the way from Fallow, but at some point, the road had turned into flat interlocking stones that created a seamless path. There was an uptick in wagons that we crossed paths with on the way back, but only a few here and there. I didn't think much of it until the coachman mentioned that there were fewer wagons than normal. Even the caravans seemed to have fewer wagons traveling with them than we had.

  "What's that?" I asked, pointing out the dust clouds that were approaching us from ahead on the road.

  The beastkin coachman leaned over to glance past the carriage in front of us and shook his head. "I'm not sure. I'll alert the wagon ahead to it." The coachman took out a whistle and blew on it. The wagon ahead of us whistled back, and they had some kind of simple conversation back and forth with different whistles. It was kind of amazing that they were able to distinguish their pitch well enough to convey information to each other like this.

  "No danger but we're going to pull off to the side. It seems like someone important is coming," the coachman responded. Another whistle blew and the coachmen all whistled back acknowledgment except for the spice carriage we had picked up along the way. I could tell at a glance that they were following our lead and pulling off the road though.

  As the dust clouds got closer I could see that they were being created by a pair of draco riding large raptor-looking things with reins and saddles on them like horses. There was some kind of heraldry on them but obviously nothing I would recognize. I could guess that they were from Ironcastle but that was a shot in the dark. The heraldry wasn't anything obvious like a big castle or anything. It looked like a representation of a dragon, maybe. It was a bit difficult for me to make out at this distance.

  We were waiting for the riders to pass but unexpectedly they slowed and approached us off on the side of the road. Now that the two of them were closer, I could see that one of them was a male and the other was a female. "Hail," the male draco said. He wore a hat with a black and gold visor on it, and combined with his armor, he looked like he was wearing some kind of uniform. He also seemed to be in charge of the other one based on the fanciness of his armor among the pair.

  "Hail, I am the coach for the independent Grey Meline Shipping Company. How may I help you, sir?" The coachman in the lead wagon asked.

  "We're here to escort a 'Korr'tak' and the wagons in his caravan back with us to Ironcastle. Will you signal for him to come greet us, please," the soldier replied.

  "Of course, sir." The lead coachman took out a whistle and blew it and only moments later Korr'tak was quickly out of his wagon.

  "Hello, sir, I am Korr'tak of the Grey Meline Shipping Company. How may I be of assistance?"

  The draco on the raptor mount nodded. "Good. You're the last caravan scheduled to arrive for the next two weeks. We're here to escort you back with us to Ironcastle."

  "Has my company violated any laws, sir?" Korr'tak hesitantly asked.

  "No. You and your company are not in trouble. We are just clearing the road and stopping any use of this road for the next month. We are only here to speed you along and make sure you do not delay or run into any issues along the way back," he replied.

  "Is there some trouble in Ironcastle then?" Korr'tak pressed.

  The guard looked over at the draco woman that was with him. She shrugged and he looked back at Korr'tak. "I suppose it won't hurt to tell you. There will be an envoy from a royal house coming to Ironcastle soon. We're clearing the road and increasing our patrols to make sure no one gets in their way or delays them at all. We've sent word to the other connecting cities not to use this road for the time being other than to send food to places that require it, like Fallow and Steelbirk. I don't have the full details, but the army is taking it so seriously that they have been sending soldiers like us to collect everyone on this road that we have record of and hurrying along the ones we don't. I'm afraid that we'll have to ask you to travel through the night but we'll be here to keep you safe for the return."

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  I could tell from here that Korr'tak didn't look pleased but he knew there wouldn't be any arguing with the army on this. He nodded. "Of course. Please lead the way."

  The draco said something to the other draco, but it was filled with words that I didn't know and Luna wasn't around to translate for me. The female guard shot something into the air that was visible to my mana sight, like a spell or something. Once she finished whatever she did, the two began to walk around our wagons and inspect them. I swore the eyes of the soldiers lingered on me for a while as they passed. I didn't really know what to make of that. It didn't seem unfriendly, but it still struck me as odd.

  When the two draco soldiers finished circling, he stopped in front of Korr'tak. "You have armed guards on each wagon. Do you have room for them to ride in the wagons?"

  "Well... yes, but we've run into a lot of trouble on the way back from Fallow..." Korr'tak hesitantly replied.

  "Oh?" the draco man asked curiously. He shook his head before Korr'tak could reply. "It doesn't matter. I have four more replid riders coming to escort your caravan. I would rather your private guards ride inside one of the wagons for everyone's safety. There's nothing to worry about."

  "...Yes, sir," Korr'tak replied.

  The coachman next to me grumbled, having heard the conversation as well. I turned to him. "Is this sort of thing normal?" I asked.

  "Eh, normal? No. But it's not unheard of. Sometimes the army escorts caravans and some royals require more security on the road. This hasn't happened in a long time, but I don't think there's anything for you to worry about," he replied.

  I tried to get a better look at the soldier's heraldry. "This kind of thing implies that the royal coming is a big deal, right? Didn't they say the road would be closed for weeks?"

  "Aye, it's a big deal. Perchance it's a dragon princess coming to visit the city. Wouldn't be the first time, but they don't usually block the roads and all of it is done in secret. Not sure why all of the added fuss."

  Korr'tak whistled and the coach tapped my shoulder. "That whistle means that the guards need to collect on Korr'tak. He'll have to fill in everyone else but I assume it's to tell you to go back to the middle wagon."

  "Seems so," I replied.

  "It was nice traveling with you. Take care of yourself."

  "Sure, same you too," I said as I jumped down from the wagon and headed over to stand next to Korr'tak. The two soldiers continued to eye me but I didn't really know what to do about that.

  I stood over by Piper, who had been the guard of the lead wagon. She patted my shoulder. "You heard all of that, right?"

  "I did. Looks like we're back in the boring wagon for the rest of the trip," I said with a grin. ("Should we be worried? They keep looking at me,") I asked Piper using the rings.

  ("I don't think this will be an issue. They're just looking at you because you're scary looking in that armor. Keep an ear out for us though, something is off,") she replied through the rings. "At least you'll get to cuddle up with your girlfriend some more," she said casually.

  All the other guards came over and stood around while Korr'tak explained what was happening. I got the impression that I wasn't the only one eyeing the soldiers warily. I don't think anyone was actually worried about the soldiers but what their escort represented. It could have nothing to do with us, but Luna privately confirmed to me that being escorted by soldiers back to the city wasn't something that happened often unless you were being taken in as criminals.

  ("The coachman I was riding with told me that it could be a dragon princess coming to visit the city. What does that mean?") I asked Luna.

  ("A dragon prince or princess is a first humanoid descendant of a dragon. Most dragons don't like to concern themselves with the management of the people living in their territory, so they assign their non-dragon children to manage things for them. Dragons are usually very fond of their first descendants, but they don't consider them their actual children for reasons that only pertain to dragons. From everyone else's perspective, they may as well be their children because harming a dragon prince or princess is asking for a dragon to come and indiscriminately raze everything in sight in every direction.")

  ("Why the distinction of first descendant?") I asked.

  ("Dragons love their first descendants like children. They may still be protective of a royal line that descended from them, but not to the same extent. Royal lines can also be so far removed from their bloodline that they no longer care for them, and there have been cases where dragons have ended a royal line themselves only to replace them with a new line starting with a new first descendant. Especially if they feel the royals have grown corrupt or incompetent,") Luna replied.

  ("Why does it sound like dragons are using their non-dragon children as tools?") I asked.

  Luna grimaced. ("Because they do, even if they are still fond of them. It seems to be the nature of dragons. Don't ever say that out loud in a country ruled by dragon royalty though. Some people in the dragon-ruled lands are fiercely loyal to the dragon who owns the territory they live in.")

  Korr'tak finished his explanation of the situation and we headed back to the wagon. ("One last question, how exactly do they have a humanoid descendant in the first place?") I asked.

  ("Dragons have no shortage of willing suitors, and draconic magic does the rest. I don't know the details,") she replied.

  "Draconic magic huh?" I said to myself as I climbed into the wagon.

  Hello! Looks like things are happening. Also, quite a bit of lore this chapter. I wanted to do a fantasy setting that I don't feel like is done all that often so I made a point to focus on dragons and beastkin rather than dwarves and elves like everyone else. I'm not the only person to do something like this but I think it's a fun direction to go, especially when compared to my other story on the other site. Writing makes me think of Shadowrun a lot though. Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

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