Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 358: On the Road

We decided to use Derrick's horse to draw the wagon, for now. It would allow Rose to practice giving orders to tier two undead. Also, we had a nice saddle for Coffee and were still lacking one for the undead horse.

After we got the wagon ready we introduced ourselves, and my undead, to the caravan. There were five merchants, some of them had more than one wagon. The ten wagons in total included one for Egon and his mercenaries, the one with our goblins and eight belonging to the merchants. We also had our carriage and one merchant looked longingly at the comfort it provided.

Aside from wagons Egon had a horse, as had two of his mercenaries. When we left our carriage took the lead, Egon's wagon was in the middle and our goblins formed the rear. The riders - including Frank riding Coffee - patrolled along the sides and Garm could jump for the roof and help anywhere, if it was needed. Hatsumi joined Rose on the goblin wagon, while the cats were inside the carriage and Bob was on the driver's bench, next to Kaito.

As soon as everyone was ready we left. I could see some skeletons working the docks as our wagons rolled by. I wondered if the practice was spreading, or if it was still the same group. Soon we left Lupos behind and were on the road northwards.

"So, what additional reward do we get?" I asked Skadi.

"Just money. The horse is not in great shape but it is not dead yet and it seems that he sold it. Unfortunately there is no free corpse for us." Skadi replied.

I sighed. "A shame. We could really use more mounts."

"A different question: How are we going to handle the night watch?" Helena asked.

"Are we camping, or will we be staying at inns?" I wondered.

"Camping, for the most part. I think they want to save money. Those are not the wealthiest merchants." Skadi replied.

"My undead can handle most of the night watch. I am thinking we spread the tier twos around the camp and have one or two of the tier three to supervise. They don't need that much sleep. Maybe one of us can be awake as well, in case the merchants have a problem with the undead." I suggested.

"What about Egon's guards?" Cassie asked.

"I am not sure if they are in the best state of mind after their losses. I don't think we should rely on them." I said.

"We should not entrust our safety to strangers anyway. There have been too many attacks and we don't know how good those mercenaries are." Helena added.

"True." I agreed.

"Meow." Nyx agreed.

Stolen story; please report.

The cats had formed a pile on the bench next to Skadi and Cassie while I shared a bench with Helena.

"I suspect the cats will not be on night watch." Skadi stated.

"I am not sure, there is fish in the river and we will be along the Jinso for a while, right?" I asked.

Nyx licked her boney lips.

"We will be next to the Jinso for our first night and probably the second as well." Skadi confirmed.

"Hopefully there won't be too much snow in the north. I am already shivering thinking about it." Cassie said.

"Really? Aren't you quite proficient with the warmth spell by now?" I asked.

"Sure, but warm weather is just better." Cassie replied.

"Helena suggested we could go ice skating this year!" I said.

"That sounds like fun." Skadi said.

Cassie looked torn. "I guess it might be fun…"

"We can warm up in one of the hot springs afterwards!" Helena added.

"I do like those…" Cassie mumbled.

We kept making some plans for the trip, then I spent a bit of time practising magic. At midday we had our first stop; to rest the horses and have some food. Thankfully the weather was nice. While the air was cold we had a bit of sun and the road was in good shape.

When we stopped for the evening it was already getting dark. The end of winter was approaching but the days were still short. Two of the merchants had their own tents, the others slept inside their wagons next to their wares. The wagons did not look very warm but they might have brought good sleeping bags.

Our camp was a half circle of our wagons on the grass next to the road. The open side of the half circle faced the river, while the wagons formed a barrier towards the nearby forest. Egon placed a few standing torches around the camp while his man created a central fire.

As we were setting up camp I approached Egon.

"Egon, I have ordered eight of the goblins to face the forest. They will make sure nothing approaches from the other side of the wagon. They somewhat hinder our view of potential threats." I pointed out.

"True, but they slow down any beasts and provide cover if goblins attack. You don't want to be in the open if someone with a bow shows up." Egon said.

I felt that would still be a problem for anyone on watch and this way it would be harder to spot a problem. But my experience with camping did not include the protection of civilians. I suppose having them sheltered was good.

"I will make sure there is always a tier three around keeping watch. Further, Frank and Bob will be on patrol. Your men can get some rest, if they need it." I suggested.

"Thank you for the offer but I will have a guard awake as well. I have to keep the merchants happy and they would be unhappy with only undead watching over us." He replied.

I shrugged, it was his decision.

While the mercenaries and merchants shared a fire we made our own. With all the tier threes our group was quite large. Hatsumi unpacked her cooking gear and started preparing food.

"So, how was it to drive a wagon, Rose?" I asked.

"Interesting. You don't need reins with an undead horse, it makes things even simpler. It won't bolt, or get scared, or decide it does not want to walk anymore. Undead horses are great! Um…" Rose hesitated.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I would love to have a mount…" She said.

I nodded. "I wish I could just get some for all of us but we lack corpses. I promise you will get one once we have a corpse for it."

Rose smiled. "Thank you!"

Once dinner was ready we enjoyed a nice hot beef stew with some bread. Rose and Hatsumi got a blood potion while Kaito refused any food. Garm was happy with some scritches and the cats got a few small bones as treats. Rose and Garm volunteered for the first watch while Hatsumi and Kaito would take the second. Normally you would need more than two watches but my undead assured me they did not need the sleep.

As it was time for bed I snuggled close to Helena in our shared sleeping bag. "Do you think we will be attacked tonight?"

"Maybe. But as our group grows stronger Ilestria might switch to a different tactic than a simple attack." Helena mused.

"Mhm, I guess we need to make sure we have antidotes." I replied.

"Cassie should have some." Helena said.

Something occurred to me: "You know, most people seem to be afraid of the monsters in the dark, but our group is protected by monsters from the dark."

"Meow." Nyx agreed. I watched the small skeleton walk on top of our sleeping bag, then she started purring and kneading. It was a really comforting sound.