Page 8 of The Spy

“Line’s a little long today,” Ralph remarked, frowning and looking up at the angle of the rising sun.“I hope it moves quickly, or we won’t reach our campsite before dark.”

“They’re searching everyone,” the woman standing at the back of the caravan in front of them in line said, scowling.“Sounds like a prisoner escaped.”

“That’s terrible!”Ralph gasped, as if completely and genuinely shocked.“Hopefully they find them quickly!”

They inched their way forward over the next hour, the line moving incredibly slow and Karl’s anxiety rising with every moment.His personal scent was in that market; if one of the people at the gate had somehow smelled him there amid all the other scents, including the rancid one he had created, he wasn’t going to get out of Yari.Plus, per Ralph, Ama was hidden somewhere safe in the caravan.Karl couldn’t see any secret hinges or places where there was extra space to hide a grown man, but he didn’t have the sight or smell of the Yarokai.

They finally reached the front of the line, where guardsmen in chainmail and what appeared to be large dogs in chainmail shirts were searching everything.Those weren’t dogs though.They were wolves, the shapeshifted form of the Yarokai.Wolves had the best noses.One of the guards snapped out “Papers” even as two wolves started sniffing everyone.A third wolf circled the wagon, sticking his nose into every nook and cranny.

The horses let out unhappy whinnies when the wolves came too close, a sound Karl wished he could also make when one of the guards stopped in front of him.Karl held out the slip of paper he had been given, stating when he had arrived and when he was supposed to leave.The guard yanked it out of Karl’s hands, reading it quickly but thoroughly, before thrusting it back at Karl and moving on to Emily.

“Open it,” another guard snapped at Ralph, pointing to the caravan door which was locked closed for travel.

Ralph obeyed, climbing up and quickly unlocking the padlock and unhooking the thick straps holding the door closed.Inside, all of the caravan’s wares were carefully stowed away in labeled wooden boxes affixed to the floor or walls so they wouldn’t slide.The table they used to display their wares was also strapped down, leaving barely enough space for the gray wolf who jumped inside to thoroughly sniff everything.

When the wolf jumped down, inspection completed, and then stood for a moment next to Ralph as Ralph began the process to close and lock the door, Karl realized just how large those wolves were.On four legs, the top of the wolf’s back came up to Ralph’s hip, and he was easily as long as Ralph was tall.Powerfully muscled, with sharp teeth revealed as the wolf panted, and claws at the end of each paw, Karl had little doubt the wolf could kill him just as easily as the human-shaped guard with his sword.

Karl waited, trying to appear bored and unconcerned even as every snapped command by one of the guards or snuffle by one of the wolves had him suppressing a nervous jump.Finally, all three wolves and all the human guards gathered off to the side.The lead guard was still scowling, but he waved to say they could move onward.

Karl firmly tamped down on any feelings of relief.He couldn’t afford to relax now, not when this was likely the moment of the most scrutiny.After just surviving such a thorough search, now was the moment most people would let their guard down and accidentally reveal something they shouldn’t.If Karl was one of the Yarokai, this was the time he would be watching the caravans closest.

Tilly scrambled to grip the lead horse’s bridle, guiding him forward.The horses were all too glad to move past the wolves and stepped readily forward but then let out a disgusted snort when they came to a stop only twenty yards farther.They had reached the actual gates, but a woman sitting behind a table and the two guards standing at her back provided their next obstacle before they could leave the city.

“Bring your papers forward,” one of the guards called out, sounding like he was tired of repeating the same line over and over.

The group obeyed, Tilly waiting with the horses until Marc was done at the front of the line and could take her place.Karl was in the middle, so he was able to watch as the woman looked over each paper and stamped it before moving on to the next person.Karl handed her his paper when he reached the front of the line.

“How much are they charging you for this trip?”she asked, glancing over at the caravan before looking at him again.

“We bartered,” Karl answered truthfully.“Since I graduated from Timmonsville, they’re happy for me to cook and keep camp in exchange for being allowed to travel with them.”

“Sounds like a good deal,” she replied absentmindedly as she stamped his form, already looking past Karl to the next person.

Karl moved out of Emily’s way, standing near Ralph in plain sight of the guards.The stamp was in red ink, a blurred circle that was probably supposed to be an animal of some kind, with two equally blurred animal figures in the center.

“They’re magical creatures,” Tilly explained when she saw him studying the stamp.“Outside circle is a dragon.That’s supposed to be a gryphon, and the other blob is allegedly a phoenix.It’s the crest of Yaroi.”She pointed up at the flag flying on top of the gate.Despite flapping in the wind, the dragon, gryphon, and phoenix were easy to make out.

Karl looked back at the red blobs on his paper and muttered, “they need better stamps.”

Tilly laughed and thumped him on the back.“It gets the job done.Now, come on.You don’t want to be the reason we’re delayed getting out of here.We’re going to need to move fast to get to our first campsite tonight since we’re running a bit behind.”

Only a few minutes later everyone had their papers stamped and one of the guards waved them along.Karl fought to keep his face blank, so the relieved smile threatening to stretch his lips wasn’t visible as he walked through the tunnel underneath the curtain wall and out into the sunshine on the other side.They were out of Yari—barely—but they still had the entire length of Yaroi to traverse before they reached the Eiroi River and crossed into Toval.He focused on the hours of walking ahead, and on how much he knew his feet were going to hurt, and that dangerous smile faded away.

“Let’s move!”Ralph called, setting the pace to a brisk walk that ate up the ground but didn’t tax the horses pulling the wagon.

The caravan ahead of theirs was two wagons pulled by oxen moving considerably slower.They reached the caravan and went around it, the road, thankfully, more than wide enough, and the woman they had spoken with while they waited in line waved as they went past.

Karl had remained in good shape while at Timmonsville.He had run a couple miles every day and done the fighting exercises before bed every night, plus he had completed the marathon sessions of kneading and baking for the school that were honestly more strenuous than anything the Royal Forces had ever had him do.Despite all that, he was panting by the end of the first mile of fast walking.After the second mile Karl started eying the seated space at the very front of the wagon where Tilly was serenely holding the reins and guiding the horses behind Ralph’s lead.Emily was happily skipping along on the other side of the wagon, not winded in the least.Marc followed along behind to watch their rear, and he also didn’t appear bothered by the pace.

They weren’t running, and their pace wasn’t anything out of the ordinary—Ralph would never be that careless—so there was no reason for Karl to be puffing along so heavily.And yet, the long day of travel and the fraught, sleepless night were taking their toll.He felt exhausted all the way down to his bones.

They caught up with another caravan sometime during the third mile and had to slow.This caravan was six wagons and had multiple kids running around; it took a while to coral them all and move to the side to give enough space for Ralph and their single wagon to slip by.

Karl went up to the front of the wagon where Tilly sat and called up to her.“Can I join you?”

“Feeling your age today?”she asked, already sliding over to give him space.Karl gratefully found handholds and climbed up.

“More like last night took more out of me than I realized,” he muttered to her in an undertone.“Give me a few minutes to catch my breath, and I’ll get out of your way.”

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