Ian logged onto Freuth as soon as he woke up. Today the party would leave Canopy City again, this time they were headed south. In the game Ian opened his eyes and immediately began preparing his gear.
After getting ready and waking up Arrow, Ian headed downstairs. He made it down to find that everyone eas already there. They all sat at a table together, Jasmine sipped tea while Desmond and Ty played cards.
"Hey guys! Are we ready to head out?"
Ian approached the table with a smile. Ty looked up at him after peeping at his hand. His disappointed face was dead giveaway, he had nothing.
"Hey Ian, good thing you're here. Let's go guys."
Ty got up in a hurry, dropping his cards and discarding the game without a second thought. Desmond looked at him with his mouth wide open in surprise.
"Come one man. At least finish the game, I was about to win your money!"
Ty turned to him eith a sly smirk.
"It couldn't be helped. Since Ian's here, we gotta go."
He was clearly happy to avoid losing some hard earned gold.
"Yeah let's go Desmond. You can exort him some other time."
Jasmine stood after finishing her tea, a smirk tugged on her lips. They began walking off leaving Desmond behind.
"Exort is a strong word. It's a game!"
He quickly followed after recollecting himself as they headed out the door. The party walked the busy streets of Canopy City heading toward the southern gate. The closer they got the barer the street became.
At the southern gate there was a merchant caravan leaving the city. Five carriages stood waiting at the gates as they opened. Only four armed guards surrounded the caravan. Each rode upom a horse and weilded a spear donning full armor. Scaly tails poked out of their armor.
Although their guards seemed strong having only four people guarding give wagons was ineffective. If they encountered something out there them damages were inevitable no matter how strong their guards were.
The caravan of merchants was probably headed the same wag as them. Amberport was the trading center for this area. Every good in and around Canopy City that wasn't produced there was imported from Amberport.
Ian figured he could offer them their service as guards if they gave them a ride to Amberport.With this in mind Ian approached the caravan as it left the city.
"Excuse me! Me and my party were hoping for a ride to Amberport in your caravan. We'd do guard duties in exchange."
The mounted guards approached him, their spears were tight in their grasp. Ian's eyes focused as they came close. He didn't say anything that could be taken as a threat so the animosity surprised him.
The tensions kept rising as the guards surrounded him and the rest of the party.At that moment someone broke through their formation and approached them. The man was covered head to toe but a scaly tail gave away his identity as a lizardman.
"Hey stop! Let me speak to them first. No need to fight!"
The guards reluctantly backed off at his word, their eyes however kept their malice. Ian turned to the merchant who had saved them from an unexpected fight.
"Thank you man. Whats up with your guards? Way too aggressive, all I did was approach with an offer."
The lizardman turned to them with a frustrated expression.
"I know. I'll have to speak with my brother, these are his forces."
He paused for a second before continuing.
"Anyway introductions are in order. My name is Torinn, I'm a merchant from the archipelago south of Amberport. We're on our way back right now after a successful trip."
"Nice to meet you Torinn. I'm Ian and these are my companions. We were hoping to hitch a ride to Amberport in exchange for helping guard your caravan."
Ian stretched out a hand with a smile. The lizardman hesitated for a second before taking his hand.
"You know I wouldn't mind that. The more guards the better in my opinion. Feel free to join us, just sit in that back storage carriage and cime out if there's any issues."
Torinn pointed toward the back wagon before heading back to his own carriage. The party took their seats as the caravan set off beyond the walls. The road to Amberport was quite nice, it ran along side a river at the edge of a forest. The view was almost picturesque.
Eventually the sun began to set. In front of them was the beginnings of a dense forest. The caravan stopped for the night in the clearing. Crude camps were set up by the various porters. Torinn seemed to have his own tent, seperate from the others.
One thing stuck out to Ian while warching the peiple set up camp. Every lizardmen wore at least a head covering of some kind. They covered themselves as if to conceal their race.
Ian and the others gathered around a campfire alone. Ian was chewing on his rations with a thoughtful expression. He finished eating before he asked his friends a question.
"Anyone else thinking this is a little fishy? Like why are they at first glance hiding that they're lizardmen. If it was just the soldiers covered head to toe it'd be normal but everyone here is at least wearing a headscarf."
Jasmine turned to him and echoed his thoughts.
"Not just that but remember how the guards behaved. Openly aggressive, almost hoping to start a fight. That completely contradicts their supposedly stealthy approach."
Desmond put a hand to his snout in deep thought.
"Yeah something weird is going on here. Let's keep an eye out for now. Things might go south later."
To the side Ty was eating without a care in the world. As if this whole situation didn't involve him at all.
As the night deepened the party settled against the carriage they were riding on. Ian secretely kept an eye out through Arrow while pretending to be asleep.
About an hour after the camp fell silent someone began to move. From the soldiers tent came a jade black scaled lizardman weirding a short dagger. He headed straight for Torinn's tent and no one was there to stop him.
_________________________________________
Chapter 33! Next portion begins! let me know if these parts are any good. As always feedback is appreciated