The World Dragon's Heir
Chapter 100: Hiding In Plain Sight

Chapter 100: Hiding In Plain Sight

The well-dressed adventurer shook his head as Dominic looked back.

"If we can’t bring the trucks, there’s no point. I don’t need to leave in that sort of hurry. They’ll let us out to work soon enough, but thanks for the offer."

A few minutes later, more guards arrived on horseback and got the convoy moving.

They stopped at the gates, preventing anyone from leaving with the trucks. It made for a smooth escape.

So smooth that once they were away from the city, the driver rapped on the roof for Dominic to talk to him.

"Please tell me that is Lady General Alexis, and not your lover, who just happens to look like her. Nobody else has seen her, but the head count is full, so we left." He whispered.

"Indeed it is. It seemed like it would be less suspicious if she stayed in the forge wagon than if she went to the Commander’s carriage at the front." Dominic agreed.

The man nodded. "Understood. We will move the Princess once we are further up the road. The Commandant of the Burton Garrison is waiting for her."

"Got it. Now that we’re out of the city, I would assume that she can drop the disguise."

The driver nodded. "It’s not like she needs it. The drivers of most of the wagons are her personal Guard. We’ve known her all her life."

The trucks trundled down the road for two hours, puffing steady plumes of steam out into the air as they ascended out of the river valley west of the city.

"They loaded these carriages heavy." Dominic noted.

"How can you tell?"

"They’re struggling up the hill. Not just the steam, but I can see the notches in the gravel where the wheels slipped. That only happens when you’re really heavy." Dominic noted.

Alexis nodded. "Because we’ve got a unit of riflemen coming to us, they loaded plenty of lead shot into the cargo along with the food for the expected siege."

Dominic chuckled. "I was going to request that they stop at the river closer to the city and collect clay to transform, as I recommended in the meeting."

The Princess shrugged. "Clay is easy enough to get. They should have a fair bit in the city already. Burton is known for their pottery and housewares, among other things."

Dominic wasn’t sure that she fully appreciated the amount of ammunition that was going to be headed down range when the invasion reached the city walls. But if things got really bad, most of the buildings were likely to be made of bricks, and those could be crushed to clay dust, which might work for the spell.

The ground levelled out as they moved out of the city along the secondary road, passing farms and more farms. Everything within sight of the road was cultivated, without more than a few dozen metres of trees between plots on this main road.

The main road was paved with stone, but it didn’t run directly to Burton. The chance of muddy sections on this route had been deemed worth the difference in distance.

Everyone that they saw along the way was working, but Dominic could see the tension on their faces as they watched the convoy pass by.

Just before sundown, they turned north and crossed the river again, this time across a stone bridge with a thick layer of clay over the top so the steel wheels didn’t damage the blocks.

"Eight more hours to Burton, we will get there close to morning." The driver informed them.

Princess Alexis got to her feet. "I will go to the front now. We’re stopping to top off the water in the boilers anyhow, so it’s a perfect opportunity."

She got out when the convoy stopped on the other side of the bridge, and headed to the front in full armour with her visor down while the assistants brought with the convoy rushed off with a magitech pump and hoses to pump up the river water.

Dominic swung up onto the other side of the driver’s seat to get a better view of the area, and the driver nodded at him. The man was familiar, it was the same one who had escorted Dominic to the Princess’ suite after the assassination attempt.

"I just realized that I don’t know your name." Dominic noted.

"Royal Guard Colonel Wilkes. Officially, the head of this unit and the Personal Guard to the General. We’re a bit anonymous with the identical armour and our visors down at work, but that’s intentional." He laughed.

The Colonel was in his early thirties, but he had aged well, and his steady workout routine didn’t let him show any signs of age, even in his casual outfit, other than the collection of battle scars.

"How do you not have any scars?" The Guard asked as they sat watching the refuelling process.

"What do you mean? I’m still a spry young man." Dominic joked.

"No, I’ve seen you in combat, there is no way that anyone walked away from that battle without a mark on them. More than once, you’ve been right in the thick of the battle, but I have never even seen a scratch on you."

Dominic was about to mention that he had almost died more than once in the last month. But that did prove Colonel Wilkes’ point.

So, he went with the truth. "I regain health when I use my magic to cause injury. That’s why I always look fine. It’s not that I never get injured, I just keep healing as I go, and that prevents most injuries from scarring."

The Colonel nodded. "That’s a useful skill. I can see why she wanted you as her advisor. You’re still new to it, but you’ll realize soon that the Advisor is most often the wet work specialist of the Royal team.

The Royal Guard can’t always take action, and the Royals can rarely act directly. But the Advisor, that’s a different matter. When you’re dealing with Nobles, pay attention to their advisors. They’re the ones who are going to be putting in the work to make things happen."

Dominic sighed. "I should have expected that, at least to some extent. If any of you were linked to the disappearance of a nuisance, it would be a scandal. But me? I’m hardly a Noble. They can sweep that under the rug."

Wilkes chuckled. "And it’s even better when it’s a Dragonkin advisor. We can just blame your bestial temper for the misunderstanding getting out of hand, and most of the time, the victim will be blamed for their own demise."

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