Chapter 44 — Outside the Convoy

Chapter 44: Chapter 44 — Outside the Convoy

Chapter 44 — Outside the Convoy

The wooden village smelled of wet ash.

Northgate’s senior officer dismounted beside the unfinished fence and took in the empty houses. Grass had already begun pushing through the hoofprints near the stream, and a loose shutter struck a wall whenever the wind changed.

Edric’s captain stood beside him.

"Where did the first attack come from?" the officer asked.

The captain pointed toward the northern field. "Over that ridge. Eight riders."

The cavalry sergeant went ahead with Simon and Adam while the guards spread through the village in pairs, checking houses before anyone entered.

Nothing waited inside except flies, abandoned furniture and the smell of old smoke.

The officer inspected the graves first. Six mounds lay beyond the hall: Sir Edric Avenholt, one retainer and four villagers. Each marker carried a name cut by someone with an uncertain hand. The officer asked the captain to identify every grave.

"You think we buried someone else?" the captain asked.

"I think the Crown sent me to confirm six dead people."

The captain’s jaw tightened, but he answered.

At the stream, the sergeant found the place where Edric killed the first orc. Rain had disturbed the blood and tracks, yet the churned bank still showed where a horse had fallen. Farther south, a dark stain remained beside the grain shed.

The shed itself had collapsed into a black frame, scorched grain mixed with mud beneath the roof remains. The three burned houses stood open to the sky.

"Could the village be occupied again?" the officer asked.

The captain surveyed the ruins. "With men and supplies."

"How many men and how many supplies would it take?"

"Enough to finish the fence, rebuild the watchtower, hold patrols and protect the fields."

"That’s not a number, Captain."

"Because I don’t have one. Edric began with eighteen families and still could not finish it."

The officer accepted the answer.

They spent the morning walking the settlement. Edric had repaired twelve houses and begun work on another eight. The hall remained sound, though two grain bins inside it were empty except for dust. Personal goods left behind matched the list Bennet supplied: heavy bed frames, damaged boards, cracked pottery and objects the families could not carry.

The empty bins matched the survivors’ account of the raid.

The unfinished fence told its own story. Postholes ran from the hall toward the stream and stopped. Rails lay stacked where workers had left them. The burned watchtower stood on the nearby hill, too far from the village to have helped without a permanent guard.

"Sir Edric knew the fence was incomplete?" the officer asked.

"He ordered houses repaired first," the captain said.

"Do you believe his decision to delay the fence caused his death?"

The captain’s eyes moved to the graves. "The Grom caused his death."

The officer did not press him.

After midday they followed the raiders’ route north. Simon and Adam showed where the seven survivors drove stolen animals onto the shepherd road, and the cavalry sergeant found old marks around the softer ground and confirmed the count.

At Split Pine Ridge, crows lifted from the trees before the party arrived.

The orc bodies remained where Godfrey’s group had left them, disturbed by scavengers. The Grom leader’s broken axe lay beside the cold fire; Godfrey had removed the armor and valuables but left the shattered handle.

The sergeant examined the camp while the officer stayed upwind. The broken ground told him more than the bodies. The orcs had not expected pursuit. Their fire had been placed in the open, the cattle tied carelessly, and no lookout had stood on the northern rise when Godfrey attacked.

"They thought the road behind them was empty," the sergeant said.

Edric’s captain stared at the dead Grom. "It was."

"Not empty enough to leave unwatched," the sergeant said.

Simon showed where Godfrey’s party had approached beneath the trees. Adam pointed out the route the surviving horse had taken. The sergeant walked both before deciding the account made sense.

"Seven dead here," the sergeant said. "One larger than the rest. Cattle were tied along the water. Tracks return south after the fight."

"Did you find signs of another group joining these raiders?"

"Old tracks crossing east. Nothing that joined these."

They did not continue toward the Frozen Wastes.

The party spent the night inside Edric’s hall. Guards blocked the doors with benches while Simon and Adam took turns on the roof. Nobody suggested sleeping in the abandoned houses.

Over a cold meal, the officer asked the captain which families were free and which men had sworn to Edric. The captain answered what he could and admitted when he did not know. Some papers had burned with the grain shed. Others had probably never been finished.

During the night, one horse pulled at its tether and woke everyone. Simon found only a fox near the pens. The empty village made every noise sound like returning riders.

No one slept well afterward. At first light, even the Northgate guards were ready to leave. The ruined settlement had offered shelter, but nothing inside it felt safe.

The road back to Dragonwatch felt warmer before its walls appeared.

The investigators returned to Dragonwatch two days later. Christopher met them at the gate but received no decision until the following morning.

The senior officer gathered Christopher, Godfrey, Edric’s captain and the Avenholt household heads in the common hall.

"Edric is dead and left no heir here," he said. "The land returns to the Crown. No one else will be sent there this season."

The families listened without speaking.

"His sword, armor and chest remain untouched until his family answers."

The officer turned to the gathered families.

"The rest of you do not become Drake people because he died. Free families may return south, stay here for now, or accept land from Baron Drake."

One woman raised her hand, the gesture of a pupil addressing a schoolmaster. "If we go south, who pays the road?"

"Northgate has no spare wagons," the officer said. "You may join another convoy if one is travelling south."

The answer meant most would pay for themselves.

Another man asked whether they could return to the wooden village.

"The Crown does not forbid it. Northgate does not recommend it, and no soldiers will be stationed there."

That ended most interest.

Nine families requested land at Dragonwatch. Christopher gave them the same terms Wilfred’s people had accepted: nothing owed before the first harvest, a fixed grain share afterward, and help maintaining the road and walls. They remained free to leave. Their own tools remained theirs.

Wilfred listened from the back while Cedric worked out where the new fields could go.

Four families said they intended to return south when their wounded could travel. Five remained undecided.

One of the undecided men asked what waited if he returned to the grant.

"Empty houses and your own courage," the officer said. "Northgate cannot promise soldiers."

The man lowered his head. His wife was already looking toward the nine families who had chosen Dragonwatch.

Christopher let the silence stand. He had already offered shelter; repeating it while an official described the undefended village would sound like pressure.

Christopher gave them ten more days before asking again. The officer did not object.

Edric’s retainers were more difficult. Their captain possessed an oath naming Edric and House Avenholt in the same paragraph. Two retainers had similar terms. The others had been hired for the northern expedition under one-year agreements.

"Until House Avenholt answers, you swear no new oath," the officer said. "You may still defend yourselves and the walls sheltering you."

Godfrey had expected that. Christopher still felt the loss of five trained men he could use but not command.

The captain requested permission for the retainers to continue ordinary gate watches.

"Under whose orders?" the officer asked.

"Sir Godfrey’s while we remain inside his lord’s walls."

"That’s sensible," the officer said. "It isn’t a new oath."

Godfrey accepted the distinction. The five men could defend the place sheltering them without becoming Drake retainers by accident.

At Dragonwatch, it meant five experienced men could stand watch that night.

The investigators left Edric’s possessions at Dragonwatch. Carrying a dead man’s chest across the north would protect nothing.

Before mounting, the senior officer faced Christopher. "You sheltered them and left Edric’s possessions alone. Northgate will remember that if questions come later."

"You expect Northgate to question my actions again?"

"A lord died and another gained nine families. Of course there will be questions."

When the riders disappeared down the road, Christopher returned to the courtyard. The investigation had protected him from one kind of danger. It had not given Dragonwatch another field, another roof, or another sack of grain.

Outside, the nine families who had accepted tenancy were already arguing over which abandoned houses might be repaired first. The four preparing to leave counted their remaining coin. The five undecided returned to the barracks with no answer.

The Crown’s ruling had settled the land. It had not settled the people living after its lord.

Christopher knew those difficult personal decisions would take longer than any official investigation.

The merchant wagons passed six miles west of Dragonwatch.

Christopher learned about them from a peddler carrying buttons, thread and three bottles of lamp oil in a box strapped to a mule.

"Twelve wagons," the man said. "Harcourt colors. Two carpenters travelling with them, maybe a mason. Plenty of guards."

Bennet stopped examining the lamp oil. "Where are they going?"

"Harcourt’s road, then north to the alliance villages."

"Did the convoy come through Northgate?" Bennet asked.

"Where else would twelve wagons cross safely?"

The peddler wanted nearly twice the Griffin City price for each bottle. One had already been opened.

Christopher bought none.

After the man left, Bennet unfolded Dragonwatch’s supply list. Nails remained limited. Good rope was being cut into shorter lengths and reused. Owen needed iron straps for two roof beams. Mabel wanted clean alcohol, linen and several common medicines. Martha wanted another sound cooking pot.

Dragonwatch had coin. The merchant convoy had goods. The road between them belonged to nobody who owed Christopher a detour.

"Harcourt did not block them or order the merchants to refuse us," Godfrey said when Christopher complained. "He gathered twelve wagons, guards and buyers. We didn’t."

"I understand the difference," Christopher replied. "It does not make the empty shelves less irritating."

Christopher studied him. "Are you enjoying this?"

"No. But anger at the wrong problem wastes time."

The problem was simple. Merchants preferred a route with several guaranteed customers and ducal guards, and Dragonwatch stood farther east, alone, beyond roads still considered unsafe.

Bennet sent a rider to ask whether the convoy might add Dragonwatch to its return route. The answer came three days later: if the roads remained safe and sufficient orders were guaranteed, the convoy master would consider an eastern journey after completing alliance contracts.

The next shortage arrived on paper.

Northgate had released a limited stock of northern rye seed, iron fittings and replacement tool heads. Harcourt, Wentworth and Fairfax agents reserved most of it through pooled purchases before Dragonwatch received the copied notice.

Some seed remained. The best iron did not.

"We could have joined," Bennet said.

Christopher heard no accusation in his voice. That made the words worse.

"And we would send patrols whenever Harcourt called."

"That would be the price."

"Do you think refusing the alliance was the wrong choice?"

Bennet folded the notice. "I think every choice sends us a bill."

Dragonwatch paid this one in smaller ways. The Avenholt families noticed first. Two expected to replace burned blankets at the next market. Another needed a ploughshare. A woman with three children asked Joan when the cloth merchant would arrive.

"When one decides there is profit here," Joan answered.

She reorganized usable cloth instead. Torn blankets became smaller blankets. Worn adult clothing was cut down for children. Dragonwatch needed usable bedding more than it needed anything grand.

A travelling carpenter arrived at the gate after hearing that houses were being repaired. Owen showed him three roofs, the damaged gate supports and the proposed mill work. The carpenter listened, named his price and asked whether Dragonwatch could guarantee six months of work for his family.

Christopher could guarantee the work. He could not match the advance offered by a Fairfax settlement gathering craftsmen under a shared contract.

The carpenter left the next morning.

Christopher watched his cart disappear west.

"We have carpenters," Owen said.

"We do not have enough."

"There are never enough."

Dragonwatch continued without him.

Owen divided the unfinished work again. The safest Avenholt households received two repaired rooms rather than separate houses. The western gate support waited. Mill planning stopped for six days.

Bennet prepared a list of work and wages before the next craftsman appeared.

Owen reused iron where he could. Wat repaired old tool heads rather than replacing them. Bennet bought one sack of rye through an independent trader at a poor price and refused a second sack that smelled damp. Mabel washed and boiled linen instead of receiving new cloth.

The shortage changed the work at the quarry as well. Owen sent crews only to the stable ground above the flooded cut, where loose blocks could be reached without touching the collapsed ramp. They brought back stone slowly, one wagon at a time. Most went into roof supports and the damaged gate base. None could replace the iron straps Wat still needed.

Food work continued without waiting for merchants. Aldwin’s hunters returned with two deer that week. Fishing crews checked the river baskets at dawn, and Cedric assigned a household to gather fodder for the captured warthogs. Dragonwatch could feed itself. The things it lacked were harder to pull from a field or river.

Christopher considered sending a wagon directly to Northgate. Bennet listed what it required: draft animals, a driver, four guards, road food and several days in each direction. The wagon might still arrive after the best goods were reserved.

"Bellford is closer," Christopher said.

"And House Bell will learn exactly what we need."

"They sell goods for money."

"They also remember who needs iron before finishing a gate."

Neither choice was impossible. Neither was free.

They postponed the journey until the investigators left and the road reports improved. Christopher hated delaying another useful task. Bennet reminded him that an angry wagon could lose more than a patient one.

Christopher responded by ordering broader patrols. Godfrey stopped him before the order reached the yard.

"How much farther do you want the scouts to range?"

"We need to know which roads merchants are using and what is happening near the other settlements."

"Which riders do you plan to use?"

"Simon and Adam can range west."

"They also watch north, scout hunting routes and train."

Christopher rubbed his forehead. "Then alternate."

"That gives us less information in every direction."

They settled on three limited routes. One patrol followed the eastern road and old Drake markers. Another checked the northern ridge and approaches from the Frozen Wastes. The third reached a western crossroads where travellers could leave written notices in a covered box.

Dragonwatch would record broken roads, smoke, armed groups and merchant movements. It would share urgent threats with every faction and keep ordinary trade notes for its own use.

During the first week, Simon reported two shepherds, an abandoned cart wheel and rain damage near the western fork. Adam found deer tracks and one old campfire. Small news, but useful.

At the covered notice box, they found three messages during the second week. One warned of a broken culvert. Another advertised salt at a Wentworth settlement. The third announced a reopened livestock market, with the old toll collected at a northern lord’s bridge.

Christopher could use all three. None told him whether the salt remained available or how many armed men moved nearby.

Godfrey refused to let the box become a place for anonymous accusations. Notices could concern roads, trade and public danger. Claims against another noble would be ignored unless scouts confirmed them.

"Someone will use it to feed us lies," Christopher said.

"I expected someone would."

"You sound calm."

"People also lie in sealed letters."

The scouts dated every notice.

The Harcourt convoy continued south, passing Dragonwatch by.

Christopher learned of it two days later. The peddler who brought the news had sold all three lamp-oil bottles at an alliance village and returned with empty boxes and a better-fed mule.

"Next time," Christopher told him, "bring needles, lamp oil and clean linen."

"Give me enough orders to hire a guard."

Christopher offered a written list and guaranteed a minimum purchase. The peddler took the list but made no promise to return.

He stood on Dragonwatch’s wall and looked west. Nothing on the horizon showed that twelve loaded wagons had crossed the north. The road remained empty.

Godfrey joined him.

"Regretting it?"

"I regret the lost trade."

"Changing your answer?"

Christopher thought of Godfrey riding away under another lord’s call while Dragonwatch’s gate closed behind him.

"I am not changing it."

Godfrey nodded. "Then regret it and continue."

Below them, Avenholt’s families worked beside Drake settlers repairing two more houses. The settlement had gained people without gaining the network needed to support them.

Christopher had chosen independence. Now he had to make it function.

The first test came the next morning when the western notice reported a trader carrying salt and iron scraps toward Bellford. Christopher wanted to send a rider after him. Godfrey refused to let one man chase an unknown merchant across another lord’s roads.

Instead, Bennet wrote an offer and sent it through the notice box. If the trader returned by the same route, he would find a guaranteed price for sound salt and usable iron.

Three days passed without an answer.

On the fourth, Adam found the note gone and a new line written beneath it: East after Bellford, if the road is clear.

Christopher posted the message beside Bennet’s supply list. There was still no oil, new iron or promised craftsman inside the gate. A line of ink did not repair a roof, but a returning trader might.