Chapter 11: Almost Free

Will streached, getting all the kinks out of his joints before having to sit in the cart for at least three hours. Rain was going to be covered by some of the sacks that held the flowered herbs, while he was going to be blending in with some long leafy stalks. His things where divied out to the three escorts and placed on their saddles until they reached the doctor's house.

Just before he was about to climb into the cart, he heard a commotion at the front of it. Looking, he found the Levi Wannabee, Auruo, trying to push Tug into position to be hitched to the cart. Tug wasn't budging.

"Come on you little... gah! Moove!" Auruo yelled but then gave up as it was clear pushing him wouldn't help. Standing back, he glared at Tug, who merely stared back, and Will could see the amused shine in his eye.

Auruo suddenly got a gleam in his eye two and before Will could stop him- and honestly, Will didn't really want to stop him- he had hopped up onto Tug with ease, and proceeded to pull on the rains, trying to get Tug to move backward. Once again, nothing.

"Oh come on! Will, you say this horse is well trained, but I don't see it. Any good horse would know to move back when their being pushed, and when someone pulls back on the rains! I mean-" and he was cut off, first from having bitten his tongue hard enough to draw blood, and second because he was sailing through the air, leaving an arch of crimson.

Will did have a moment of panic, because of the blood, but was calmed when Petra started laughing. It was apparently a common thing to happen for him to bite his tongue.

"'Or 'orse! I' bookt meh!" Auruo yelped, pointing accusingly at him.

"Hey, that is a well trained Ranger's horse for you." Will chuckled.

"'Ell tained? More lie ill tained!"

"You do not understand. Ranger's horses are not trained to follow the orders of someone other than their master, other Rangers, and those the master has deemed trust worthy. Furthermore, no one but the master is able to ride a Ranger's horse unless they give the horse the password. If you do not give the password, you get bucked." Will said cheekily.

"Now that is what I called a well trained horse." Petra said, clapping.

Will smiled and walked around the cart to Tug.

"Look, I know you think it's beneath you, but you're going undercover. You've done it before with Halt, just... minus the cart."

Tug sniffed indignantly. "I carry luggage even when you're not on me, but I've never had to carry a cart."

"Well, you are this time." Will said in a stern but playful manner. Tug gave another sniff but backed up to the hitch without being guided.

"You certainly are an odd fellow aren't you Will?" Petra chuckled, apparently having heard his "conversation" with Tug.

"Well, if I hadn't been, Halt wouldn't have picked me to be his apprentice." Will said back as he climbed into the cart and pulled the cloak over himself, while the others placed the leafy stalks over him.


The ride was, to say the least, uncomfortable. The leafy stalks had a tendency to poke him, despite having the cloak as cover. One stalk had even managed to get tangled up in his rather unkept beard, which took him a while to get off, but even then, part of the stalk had broken off and was so tangled in, that he couldn't remove it.

Poor Rain was also suffering. While the sacks where only filled with floral herbs, they did tend to gain some weight when clumped together, and any time the cart bounced, the sacks would be lifted for a moment only to come crashing back down on her rather heavily. She was a tough wolf, as wolves tend to be, and it wouldn't cause her physical harm, but that didn't mean there wasn't any pain.

Tug got it lucky, that was for sure.

They finally reached the wall around mid afternoon, where the sun was just starting to make its decent.

Will couldn't see anything from his position, and it annoyed him to no end, as he would have liked to get a scope of the thing before actually heading in, but realized and accepted that it wasn't a possibility.

He heard shouting. Some of the scouts were calling for the gate to be opened, to which he heard they barely audible replies from the gates men. A moment later and the sound of stone scraping against stone, and a distinct clicking of the chain pulley was all Will could catalog away for if he ever needed to escape. If he did have no other choice but to use the gate, he'd be in trouble. It took the thing at least three minutes to open, and was entirely too loud not to go unnoticed. If he were to sneak out, he'd have to find a way over, or sneak out with another expedition of the scouts, which he had heard mention was not a common thing.

Shaking his head, he decided that it was a problem for when there was a problem. He hoped it wouldn't come to that.

They rode in through the gate and were stopped just inside by some of the guards, who shined a lantern into the cart to better see. It seemed the guard was satisfied and moved on to the next cart while his cart continued moving.

As they left the gate, entering the city, Will started to hear the mutterings and even some yells from the crowd that had gathered, either to slander the scouts, or try and find their family members among them.

Some of the things that Will heard gave him the impression that the scouts where damn near despised. Talk of tax dollars being wasted on keeping them running, or others commenting snidely that their efforts were fruitless.

Will shook his head. They were so niieve. Sure, he understood that the wall's meant safty, but what was the point in staying cooped up in them forever? Did they not want to know life in a new land, without the threat of the man eating Titans? Sure, every land had their dangers, but in all of Will's travels, nothing compared to this lands horrors. Honestly, he rather doubted he'd even feel fear if faced with the Kalkara now.

The voices faded though as the cart he was in took a turn into a small ally road. After a few more turns, the cart came to a stop.


AN: Sorry for a shorter chapter, but this was a nice place to stop. Once again, I'll try working on the next chapters, but I make no promises. I'm about to go to see some family for two weeks, so I can't promise any chapters till afterwards, but we'll see.