Chapter 10 — Northbound

Chapter 10: Chapter 10 — Northbound

Chapter 10 — Northbound

Meg’s mother gave her name as Joan Carter. The younger girl beside the peg basket was Elsie, eight years old and unwilling to look directly at Christopher.

Joan listened while he repeated the offer: she would manage his clothes, quarters, and daily household needs during the journey, and at Dragonwatch she would receive regular wages, food, and a place for herself and both daughters.

"What work would Meg be expected to do, my lord?" Joan asked.

"Whatever work is suitable for her age. She can help you or the cook at first."

"And what of Elsie?"

"Nothing beyond small camp chores."

Joan glanced at the apprentice standing several steps away. "Why offer this to us, my lord?"

Christopher had prepared for the question during the walk through the laundry yard. He answered with the safest part of the truth.

"My maid stayed at the Drake estate," he said. "You have experience, and you did not walk away when I mentioned the north."

"Meg has no experience serving nobles."

"I am hiring you, not Meg."

Joan’s attention turned to her elder daughter. Meg still held the copper coin Christopher had given her.

"How long do I have to decide, my lord?" Joan asked.

"We leave tomorrow morning."

"That’s not long."

"It is the only time I can give you before we leave."

Christopher stopped there. Joan knew what Griffin City offered her family better than he did, and he had already told her what waited in the north: an abandoned stronghold, uncertain housing, and paid work if they reached it.

Joan asked about wages, meals, protection, and whether her daughters would remain free, and Christopher answered each question; she demanded that the last point be written into the agreement.

The apprentice fetched Bennet from South Twelve, who wrote the terms on a single sheet and read them aloud, including Christopher’s promise that Joan and both daughters would remain free.

Joan could read slowly, and she checked the sheet before pressing her thumb beside her written name.

"We will go," she said.

Meg looked pleased; Elsie began to cry.

Joan knelt beside the younger girl and spoke to her quietly. Christopher stepped away and gave Bennet the contract, since there was nothing useful he could say to a child leaving the only city she remembered for a ruin in the north.

"How much do they own?" Bennet asked.

"Whatever is in their room."

"Then we need to see whether it fits in a wagon."

Everything the Carter family owned fit into two bundles, a small wooden chest, and a cooking pot with a cracked handle. Joan left part of her final laundry payment with the lodging-house owner and received no thanks for it.

Meg carried the chest with Christopher’s apprentice, while Joan held Elsie’s hand as they walked toward the southern gate. None of them looked back after the lodging house disappeared behind the market stalls.

South Twelve had changed during Christopher’s absence: the newly purchased slaves sat near two wagons while Walter checked their collars and records, the three craftsman families prepared their belongings for travel, and Martha argued with a grain seller who had delivered one sack less than the amount written on his receipt.

Joan stopped when she saw the slave collars. Her expression tightened, but she continued walking.

"Those tents are for the purchased workers," Christopher said. "Your family will sleep near Martha’s wagon tonight. We will arrange a place among my household wagons before morning."

Joan nodded once, handed Meg the smaller bundle, and turned back to Christopher. "Where would you have me begin, my lord?"

Christopher realized he had no idea what work a household maid normally began with. Someone had always handled such things before he noticed them.

"My tent and clothing," he said. "After that, ask Martha what the camp needs."

Joan left her bundles with Meg and followed him to the small tent Agnes had packed at the Drake estate. She took one look inside, opened both flaps, and carried his damp bedding into the sun.

"When was this bedding last aired, my lord?" she asked.

"I don’t know."

"Which chest holds your clean shirts?"

Christopher pointed toward the baggage wagon.

"Which chest?"

He did not know that either.

Joan went to ask Bennet. Within half an hour she had found Christopher’s clothing, separated what needed washing, and made an apprentice move a leaking oil jar away from the chest.

Meg helped Martha prepare vegetables. Elsie sat on an overturned bucket beside her sister and watched the camp with swollen eyes.

Christopher left them there and joined Bennet at the supply wagon. Three lists lay across the lowered tailboard: goods they had bought, goods still missing, and goods that would no longer fit.

"We can’t carry another full grain order," Bennet said.

"Can we buy another wagon?"

"Yes. We would also need two more oxen, a driver, spare harness, and more fodder. The animals would eat part of the grain the wagon carries before we reach Northgate."

Christopher examined the lists. They had enough food for the journey with a reserve for delays, but what they lacked were supplies intended for Dragonwatch after their arrival.

"We buy the medicine and iron fittings," he said. "Leave the extra grain."

"What about rope?"

"We have some."

"Not as much as Walter requested."

Christopher considered the repaired grain wagon. "Buy what we can carry without adding another wagon. We try again at Northgate."

Bennet marked the decision. If they waited to obtain everything on the list, Griffin City would consume their remaining free days and much of their money.

Godfrey returned from the northern gate before evening. He had inspected the road, spoken with the city watch, and learned that several expeditions planned to leave at dawn.

"When does Harcourt leave?" Christopher asked.

"Not for another three days."

"Will the road be safe without them?"

"It is patrolled. We will also have other convoys ahead and behind us."

"Then we leave tomorrow."

Godfrey’s eyes moved to the slaves. "Walter says you bought fifteen."

"Three timber and road workers, two brickmakers, quarry laborers, ditch diggers, and others who can build."

"They’re also fifteen more people we must guard."

"And fifteen more people to work."

"I know. We need their labor badly enough to accept that."

Christopher had Bennet gather the camp leaders before supper. Walter would lead again, Ivo would remain with the rear, and Godfrey would move where he was needed. The craftsman families were placed among the original settlers rather than grouped separately.

The fifteen slaves would travel near the middle of the convoy, walking during the cooler parts of the day and riding in an empty wagon if anyone became unable to continue. Walter kept the collar seal, and four apprentices shared their watch.

Daniel listened in silence. The collar around his neck settled the matter of refusal.

"Joan Carter and her daughters will travel with my household," Christopher said. "Meg can help Martha when her mother does not need her. Elsie stays with Joan."

Martha looked toward the two girls. "I can find work for one. The small one needs shoes before she needs chores."

Joan had wrapped cloth around the worst split in Elsie’s left shoe. Christopher added children’s shoes to Bennet’s final shopping list.

The remaining purchases arrived throughout the afternoon. A merchant delivered the iron fittings in two mismatched crates, and Barlow opened both before Bennet released payment; nearly a quarter of the pieces were rusted or too small for wagon repairs. The merchant protested, replaced most of them, and left only after Walter began watching the argument.

The medicine seller had none of the fever powder listed on Bennet’s order, so Martha accepted dried willow bark instead and rejected two jars that smelled damp when opened. They found shoes for Elsie at a used-clothing stall, along with a second pair one size larger, and Joan objected to Christopher paying for both until he told her the cost could be taken from her future wages a little at a time.

By sunset, several items remained missing. Bennet drew a line beneath them and marked the list for Northgate. Christopher disliked leaving Griffin City without everything they might need, but there was no sense buying spoiled medicine or useless iron merely so the page appeared complete.

The meeting ended when Martha ordered everyone away from her fire. Supper was thicker than usual, because she wanted to use an opened sack before they travelled, and the slaves ate under guard while the Carter family sat with the cooks.

After dark, Christopher walked the wagon lines with Walter. Three new handcarts had been tied behind larger wagons, the purchased rope was divided between the lead and rear, and the medicine chest sat where it could be reached without unloading anything else.

"We have too many people for the tents," Walter said.

"The weather is clear."

"Tonight."

"Can we buy more canvas before dawn?"

"At triple its usual price."

Christopher considered it. "Buy enough for two large shelters. Not individual tents."

Walter nodded. Christopher had money, but Griffin City could consume it quickly if every shortage became an excuse to pay any price demanded.

Joan was still working when he returned to his tent. His clothing had been repacked, the bedding no longer smelled damp, and a clean shirt waited on the chest. She stood outside with a small lamp.

"Meg says you found her in the street," she said.

"Yes."

"She also says you followed her yourself."

"I needed to speak with you."

Joan studied him for a moment. "Thank you for offering work."

Christopher’s gaze drifted to the cookfires, where Meg and Elsie lay beneath a borrowed blanket. "Wait until you see Dragonwatch before thanking me."

Before sunrise, South Twelve became a field of moving lanterns. Tents came down, animals were harnessed, and Martha passed bread to families as they joined their assigned wagons. Bennet stood beside the road counting everyone twice.

The two canvas shelters arrived just before the convoy moved—they cost too much and smelled of old fish, but Walter found space for them beside the tools.

Christopher mounted near the front. Behind him waited the original fifty families, three new craftsman households, Joan and her daughters, fifteen slaves, two Bronze Knights, twelve apprentices, and Godfrey.

Other northern convoys were already leaving their fields. Their banners moved through the dim light toward the road, some carrying noble arms and others no more than painted names.

Griffin City remained behind its walls as Christopher’s wagons joined them, the royal keep disappearing first, followed by the towers and the stone griffins above the gate.

Ahead, the road turned north toward Northgate.

The convoy travelled until the city could no longer be seen from the rear wagons, and Walter chose a broad field beside the road for the first halt: it had a shallow stream, enough grass for the animals, and no trees close enough to hide an approaching group.

Christopher watched the camp rise under its own momentum: drivers formed the wagons into a loose barrier, families erected the new shelters, and the apprentices divided the watches. Joan settled Meg and Elsie near Martha’s cooking area before returning to Christopher’s baggage.

Godfrey stopped beside him. "You’re being unusually quiet."

"The last time a wagon stopped, I gave five orders and made three problems worse."

"That means you learned something from the road."

"I learned to wait until someone asks me to decide."

"Do not wait forever. They still need a lord."

Christopher looked across the fires. More than two hundred people had followed his banner out of Griffin City: some belonged to House Drake, others had accepted his wages, and still others had been purchased because no free workers would travel north.

They were beyond the capital now. Missing supplies could no longer be found by walking to another market stall.

Christopher waited until Bennet completed the evening count. Then he heard the reports, approved the next morning’s departure and let the people who understood the camp finish their work.