Chapter 144 – Book 2, Chapter 1 (1/2)

Book 2, Chapter 1 – The Trade Caravan

Scalding winds burned the brush along the wastelands borderlands a withered yellow During the dry season there wasn't a drop of water to be found for tens of kilometers around

A caravan of vehicles were passing through, hly the sale-horned snohite horses

Banners flapped in the harsh winds, sporting thorny bloouards followed, clad in arnia and adjustable weapons from the elysian lands Standard equipment around the holy city

An oldto his shoulders led the procession The years had carved deep trenches on his face, but despite his age he was full of strength and vitality A silken, well-tailored robe hung on his body and was eht hand he had a string of precious stones like a bracelet that he absently rolled between his fingers The geht

It was all the same: The family emblem, the carts, and the weapons Their haul consisted of various ores, leathers, and ers were Bloo trade collective from Skycloud Old Thistle was its founder

Citizens of Skycloud were naturally prideful, especially when compared with the poisoned wastelands That blasted landscape was a place of carnage, rife with the derelict and the filthy Skycloud's ban on traveling through the evil place only compounded their innate distaste

Old Thistle was a citizen of the holy city, one with a head for business He knew that the wastelands was rife with ores and leathers nothem back to the elysian lands was surely a profitable venture, he thought Out here in the ins people didn't have the saulations weren't so strict

Old Thistle established the Bloomnettle Company out here on the border, where they could exist in the space betasteland and elysian territory Out here they could perforards to the holy city without violating their stringent lahile also avoiding having to deal with the e elements of the wastelands However, it also had an effect on their status a the people Old Thistle was in his seventies and knew the ti He needed to becoitimate business man

“Eh?” He stopped fiddling with the bracelet suddenly He looked all around and when he failed to find the face he was looking for, he called out to the guard captain “Where'd Squall go?”

The guard captain called back “I think he said he was gonna scout ahead”

“This kid's always screwin' around!” The old man's face bore an annoyed yet affectionate expression He'd never had a child of his own but Squall was one of the orphans that had co man Old Thistle himself had spent half his life as ahonor to his family name fell on this kid “It's different out here, not like the holy city… The situation has been gettingaround on their own is liable to get into trouble, take a few people and go find him”

The guard captain responded with a wry s h the demonhunter selection process already He isn't one of theot more skill than all the rest of us You still think he needs us to protect him?”

This made the old man's wrinkled face stretch into a prideful smile

Demonhunter, what an honorable title A man like him, who'd lived out here in the space between poverty and affluence, looked up to their kind with great respect Now one of his oas found to have their talents and may one day call hie

“Squall ht be skilled, but he isn't experienced Go take a look”

Suddenly a voice called out from ahead

“Father! Come quickly!”

A young roup He looked both clever and capable, with average features His unnaturally gray hair was on the long side so he had it tied back behind his head in a ponytail His bronzed skin had theto his hale demeanor

He was pointing at a boulder not far away There were two people huddled behind it, one male and one female

The girl was about thirteen and wore very siether she looked in a bad way but her eyes were bright and watchful Tiers approach

Her companion wore a e, but his body was thin and s young He was laid out on the rock like he was unconscious

She held a knife out in front of her and waved it with jerky, panicked motions “Don't come any closer!”

The young boy who found the look He could tell that underneath the grit she was quite pretty He was unavoidably curious “Don't be afraid little miss, we aren't bad people That soldier you're with looks hurt”

Soldier was a fair assumption, since the unconscious man was clad in Skycloud armor It was standard equipment for those in service to the holy city, but its materials and craftsmanshi+p was too co to copy or steal a suit of Skycloud armor was a dire violation of their laws and would at the very least lead to banishment

Squall, Old Thorn and the guards all assu all the way out here? His masterful protection was caked in dirt and s days out in the wilds He had to have come from the wastelands

The girl didn't look or dress like she was from the elysian lands, either

Old Thistle and the guard captain carefully looked over the one dressed as a soldier Even unconscious he was holding tight to one of the unique elysian weapons issued by theirby the nicks and dents Had he been out here on a otten this far, al out

Old Thistle cast a sidelong glance at the guard captain “Have the doctor come take a look”

Squall tried to approach the girl but, startled, she started waving her dagger at hih he reached out and plucked the weapon out of her hands between his fingers He folloith a series of showy flourishes and said, “Don't be scared We won't hurt you”

She was draay from her unconscious friend She looked back at the, so pure and innocent