All Chapters of The Guild's Village Idiot is Actually the Strongest.: Chapter 121
- Chapter 122
122 chapters
Convoy Smoke
The convoy moved like a tired animal.Wood creaked. Rope strained. Wheels complained over frozen ruts. Men walked with shoulders hunched and mouths shut, because talking spent heat and heat was currency nobody carried enough of.Silas kept one hand on the timber sled rope.He felt Torvin’s weight through pitch cloth and planks, a hidden bundle that had to look like insulation and smell like labor. Not like breath. Not like fear.Kaela walked on the sled’s left flank, roof blade at her thigh, hammer on her hip. Band visible. Caps visible. Her wrapped palm stayed close to her body like it was protecting something private.Pell walked on the right, eyes on the straps, fingers never far from the wet rag he used to re-wet the seal when it dried. His hands were raw. His face was gray with exhaustion.“Any change?” Silas asked without turning.Pell shook once. “Breath is… there.”“‘There’ isn’t a number,” Kaela muttered.Pell swallowed. “Shallow. But steady.”Silas nodded. “We keep it that w
The Warm Shed
The hollow smelled like wet ash and tired men.Wagons had been pulled into a loose ring. Fires burned low in shallow pits. A lean-to of boards and pitch cloth sat near the biggest fire, its entrance a dark mouth.A warm shed.Not charity.A tool.Silas watched workers peel toward it in ones and twos, hands out, caps visible, roles ready. No one ran. Running bought attention.The convoy lead raised a hand and the line slowed into an organized crawl.“Five minutes,” he barked. “Drink, piss, shove your fingers back into your gloves. Then we move.”Five minutes was a fortune.Five minutes was also enough to lose everything if the wrong eyes got curious.Pell’s fingers hovered near the pitch cloth. “He’s colder.”Silas didn’t need to touch the bundle to know. He could feel it through the rope: weight that had started to feel too stiff, too still.Kaela stepped close to the sled rope. “We bring him in,” she said.“If the shed is warm,” Pell whispered, “it—”“If the shed is watched,” Silas c