Chapter 20: The Prisoner Car
In the open space in front of the door of a rugged orc-style building made of boulders and logs, tall black caravans were pulled by four-horned dinoceros with their heads and necks twisting their necks and making low growls, and they were parked in neat rows driven by orc pilots shrouded in gray robes.
A row of werewolf warriors in leather armor and armed weapons rode giant wolves, driving the orcs in the onlookers camp out of a certain range, and the orc civilians in tattered furs who were driven away showed a few fearful eyes in their eyes, and looked at the wolf cavalry with sneers on their faces, shrinking and retreating.
The caravan was surrounded by armed figures, both the werewolf warriors in the camp and the black-cloaked guards of the caravan, tightly surrounding the caravan and watching the human prisoners who were escorted out of the building with vigilance.
When the caravan was full, the caravan guards next to the caravan closed the door and locked the door with iron cables, and the driver immediately drove the caravan to the side, and another empty caravan immediately moved forward to occupy this position, continuing the work just now.
Ate's arm was roughly grabbed by a strong werewolf, and his entire legs were pulled out of the cage and thrown into the sealed compartment.
He didn't get up yet, and the bodies that were thrown into him one after another smashed on his body one after another, and he was dizzy when the door was locked with a bang, and the heavy body on his body slowly got up, and when the last heavy body that pressed his head was dragged away by the person next to him, he was surprised to find that there was a more unlucky companion under him, taking advantage of the light through the narrow windows of the car surrounded by iron bars, looking at the legs of the guy who was foaming at the mouth and constantly twitching, Ite couldn't help but gasp, and hurriedly checked his body, I am sincerely happy that I was not crushed to death.
The unfortunate guy who served as a human cushion was lifted up and carefully sat in the corner, and it took a while for everyone to wake up, and everyone finally relaxed, and Ete also breathed a sigh of relief, and began to observe the situation of this new cell.
This carriage was obviously much more spacious and tall than the previous narrow iron cage, and the strongest Ma It stood up straight and had a few fingers of space above his head from the roof, but those tall guys, like Captain Alex, also had to bow their heads slightly, which also made Ite deeply feel the benefits of being short for the first time.
The space in the carriage was also much larger than the original iron cage, and even if more than twenty human prisoners were crammed in, it was more relaxed than before.
The carriage was made of yellowed hardwood planks, which looked like the grain of cedar, and each side had a narrow window, not even half the height of a skull, and it was covered with dense iron railings, and the gap between the iron railings was so narrow that even the palm of Ite's hand could not reach out. The tarpaulin obscured most of the windows, and a few rays of light spilled diagonally from the windows through the gaps in the tarpaulin, making it difficult to see objects in the dark cabin.
"Huh, a carriage made of wooden planks......"
As if he had suddenly discovered something, his heart twitched, and he swept his eyes around in a panic, and hurriedly squatted down, trying his best to hide himself in the chaotic crowd, and gently tapped his fingers on the wooden board under the car.
"Hmm...... Ate, I've finally found you...... I miss it......"
In the noisy carriage, a mournful voice sounded suddenly, and then a figure struggled to squeeze through the crowd and pounced on Ate, who was crouching in the corner and engrossed in studying the board.
Caught off guard, Ite was knocked to a stumbling ground and rolled with the rushing figure, hitting the leg of the person next to him before stopping.
"Woo...... Poole, what are you doing, you almost knocked me to death......"
Ite's desperate push away the big head that was holding him and kept rubbing against his face, and complained dissatisfiedly.
"Ute, woo, Ite, finally with you, woo, you want to kill me......"
Poole desperately hugged his struggling companion, and the obviously emaciated fat face exchanged tears, and arched vigorously towards Ate's chest.
"Ah...... My clothes, you fool, use my clothes as handkerchiefs again, woo woo ......"
Ite's best efforts failed to stop Poole's attempt to use his chest as a face cloth, so he gave up his defense in despair, allowing him to wipe his big face covered with stains on his chest, and whispered in a helpless low voice: "What are you doing, don't you see that I'm looking for a way to escape from this place?"
Poole looked up sharply, surprise written on his big face, painted with tears and mud, and shock flashed in his slightly dull little eyes.
Ite hurriedly reached out to cover Poole's fat lips, looked around nervously, and whispered hatefully: "Be quiet, stupid, do you want everyone to hear......?"
"Woo...... Be humble, should be humble...... Call...... Ate, you're saying great......"
Poole followed suit and looked around cautiously, and then glared at Ite, adoringly with shiny little eyes, with a look of admiration.
Ite tried her best to suppress the smugness in her heart, deliberately lowered her voice and leaned over to the novel and said, "Hmm...... Low-key, low-key, you don't want to think about how I got the title of the second smartest person in Qingquan Town, in fact, I am only a little inferior to Lord Wink, but the main thing is that the Lord is a lady after all, and I want to carry forward the humble style of a gentleman...... Shhhhh......h
"Then you'll see the sturdy bars in the plank mezzanine. ”
A deep voice rang out, interrupting It's words.
Both teenagers shuddered at the sudden sound of the words, and looked up in the direction from which the voice came.
"If you want to try to break the wooden planks on the carriage and escape, I advise you to dispel this idea as soon as possible, this carriage was originally made of wooden planks inside and outside a sturdy iron cage, as the main skeleton of the iron cage is carefully crafted by dwarven craftsmen, originally used to imprison ferocious monsters, it is said that even the powerful one-eyed horned ape can not damage a bit, now used to imprison the wooden plank we just added, if you think you have the ability to break this solid iron bar, you might as well try it." ”
"Ah...... You're telling the truth, Captain Alex?"
Ite looked at the figure standing on the side, bending over and quietly looking out the window through the gap in the tarpaulin, and was surprised.
Alex looked back at the two teenagers squatting in the corner expressionlessly, and said lightly: "I don't believe you can try it, the prison cart from the hands of the dwarven craftsman, it is said that it is also mixed with a little precious magic minerals when forging, and few creatures can break it, but maybe you can break it." ”
Looking at the indifferent and slightly mocking eyes of the other human captives around him, Ete pulled Poole, who was still rubbing back and forth on the car board, slowly stood up, and said with a smile: "What did the captain say...... You won't lie to me, so you don't have to try again......"
At this time, the body shook slightly, began to move slowly, and seemed to start moving, and gradually, the originally noisy noise around gradually disappeared.
"Captain, what you said is true? This is a prison cart made by the dwarves specifically for transporting monsters? Who would use such an expensive prison cart to transport us, it's too much of a fuss...... It is estimated that those poor orcs who are almost hungry cannot have such luxury......"
A voice rang out from the crowd, and everyone fell silent for a moment, looking at Alex, who had been standing by the window and looking out of the car.
Alex withdrew his gaze from the distance, turned around, sat down slowly in the carriage, and then said to everyone: "Let's look around, there should be a pull ring in a corner of this prisoner car, that is the place where the plank can be lifted, and that is specially used for ...... Well...... If you discard the garbage, you can see the iron fence in the wooden plank. ”
Everyone soon found the handle with the iron ring in the corner of the carriage, and when they opened it, they saw an iron bar made of metal as thick as a baby's arm under the wooden plank.
"How do you know there's a handle? Have you ever seen a prisoner cart like this? The black scales sign, who are these strange guys? Aren't they going to take us in exchange for ransom? That's to take us there, Captain Alex?"
The voice rang out again, and Ete recognized it as little Safon's, apparently imprisoned in the car as well.
Alex showed a wry smile on his face, and said in an astringent voice: "Everyone knows the Golden Balance Business Group, the number one business group in the famous continent, who wouldn't know it." But few people may know about the Black Scales, a group of merchants who are about the same old as the Golden Scales, but they specialize in some secret transactions, and I happened to read some records about them in an old notebook. There are some illustrations of the prisoner carts used by this caravan, so I know a little bit about it. As for where they are going to take us, I don't know, but it is certain that it could not have been sent to the border in exchange for ransom, and now we should be heading in the direction of the western steppe, which is the sunset desert...... Perhaps, it was sent to the gold mines in the desert to be mining slaves. ”
After hearing Alex's explanation, everyone fell silent for a moment, and the soldiers of the kingdom who originally had a glimmer of hope that were exchanged as prisoners of war were basically extinguished under Alex's calm narration. There was a strange atmosphere in the silent carriage, mixed with a series of negative factors such as fear, anxiety, despair, etc., and perhaps still mixed with a thin extravagant hope with a strong luck mentality.
After a long silence, a hoarse voice suddenly shouted from the crowd: "It doesn't matter if he has a black balance or a white scale, he won't eat us all like those man-eating orcs in the legend, it's a big deal to be sent to the orcs to dig for gold." ”
Everyone was slightly stunned when they heard this, and the originally solidified atmosphere was loosened a little, right, what else is there to worry about at this time, just do it...... The people who pretended to have figured it out relaxed a little and continued to talk to each other nervously, and the noise sounded again.
Aether secretly looked at Alex's usual calm face, and did not express the doubts in his heart, Alex's eyes only glanced at Aite's face, and did not stop too long, sat with his back against the carriage and closed his eyes and began to rest.
"Lily of the valley, black scale...... Captain Alex must know something, what else is he hiding?"
Ite sat in the corner of the prisoner's car full of doubts, and his thoughts had already flown out of the car.