Escalation 1028

by Nagerleral

Chapter 4

Eryr stared at the Rumarean countryside as the box truck moved through it. The truck, a 1025 Grifftruck built for civilian use, made its way along the small backroad they were going through, and it was slow. Agonizingly slow. As he looked outside, he was sure that if they flew instead of using the vehicle they would arrive faster at their destination. Of course, he didn't take into account the weight of the cargo they were transporting.

Eryr was not driving the truck, as the the exam day – the second day of the next week – had not arrived yet. His co-worker, Gwendolen, was the one driving it, as she was one of the few drivers the company had that were available. Of those he knew about, Enrico was visiting his family in Wingbardy; Gareth was sick with a cold; and Llew was in one of her long-distance delivery to Flowena, not returning until the day after tomorrow.

His boss had given him the option of being in the co-driver's seat while she drove, and he gladly accepted. Today's job was about some elderly couple from Griffenheim purchasing a house and moving into the countryside to live their last years in peace and quiet – he didn't blame them, really. The problem is that when he meant countryside, he meant that the house they bought was in one of the most rural regions of the island. It was more than a hour's flight to the city of Rumare, and the only things around were trees, grass, some farmland, and a small house every now and then.

The dirt road that led to it was barely wider that the width of the truck, and its bumpiness resulted in Gwendolen having to drive really slow, lest they have an accident. The constant bouncing in his seat was annoying at first, but now it was the only thing keeping him from dying from boredom, as it was the only exciting event happening in the truck and its surroundings.

At first, he had passed the time watching Gwendolen drive, learning the controls in real time and such. This was initially good, especially in the roads with more traffic, but once they reached this part of the route it quickly became repetitive; the brake being used more times that he could count with the claws of both his talons and paws.

Then he started messing with his uniform: opening pockets, buttoning buttons, taking a look at his hat many times over and over again. His uniform was blue, similar to the colour of the Lake, and the logo and name of his company were both in the hat and in the shirt: Rumare Blue Express – one of the most generic names ever, in his opinion. The logo was a similar story, simply being a blue and green wave, the last colour meant to show Rumare's flag, which was mostly green.

Still, he mostly liked the job, especially the 'moving around to other places' part. He just hoped that he didn't have to do many trips like this in the future.

Right now he was settling on watching the outside view. Winter and fall were coming, but it was still green outside, and the temperate afternoon air made him open the window; the slight wind created by both nature and the slow but still moving truck feeling great on his feathers. In front of him he could see some gentle plains, mostly grasslands with some bushes mixed in. A bit farther away there was a small forest cut in half by the back road, and to his right side there were some small houses – a village. He reached his claw outside and touched the side mirror, wiping out some dirt that was in the glass, and tracing the borders of it.

He did try to start a conversation with Gwendolen, and this also worked for the first part of the trip, but by this time all the topics had already been talked about to death; with all talk being reduced to small talk, such as the weather, or the state of the road. Plus, Gwendolen was too concentrated in making the truck not end on its side to speak right now.

"Hey, stop doing that, its annoying me," she said.

"Huh?" Was all that Eryr could get out of his beak, his focus broken by the griffoness speaking.

"Your claws tapping on the door." She pointed to Eryr's right talon. "They're too loud."

"Ah... sorry," Eryr said, stopping the action. He had not noticed that while he was looking outside the window, he was tapping the truck's door with his right claws. It was loud if he focused on the sound they made, but he was so distracted he didn't notice it. "I was bored, that's all," he said.

"Don't think you're the only one bored of this road in the middle of the country." Gwendolen slowed the truck somewhat to pass through a particulary bumpy stretch of the dirt road.

"At least you're driving, meanwhile I just sit here and stare outside."

"I guess you're right there," she conceded, "but its not exactly all fun trying to stop this thing from ending on its side."

"Yeah..." Eryr responded.

The truck had gone into the small forest by that point, some of the larger trees blocking out the direct sunlight, a considerable feat, since it was the middle of the afternoon. Some leaves were already starting to fall into the ground, and also into the road, their light green and yellow cover making it difficult to see where the sides of it were.

Further ahead he could barely see a paved road through the forest, which was strange, as there wasn't any sort of road on the map they were using. Gwendolen also noticed this, and spoke to Eryr.

"Huh... that's weird. Its not on the map," she said.

"And its paved, which is strange for being in the middle of nowhere."

"Maybe we're using an old map. Boreas knows how many times it has been reused over the years, it even has big tears on its sides." Gwendolen threw the map to her side.

"Yeah, it could be that," Eryr said.

"Hey, could you do me a favor?" Gwendolen asked. "Can you go to the crossroads to see if there are any vehicles coming from the other road? I can't see drive and see through the forest cover at the same time."

"Sure, will do," he responded. Gwendolen stopped the truck for a moment, and he opened the door and exited the vehicle. Once he was out, the griffoness began to move the truck again.

Eryr quickly flew to where the crossroads were. The shadows from the tree made the air somewhat cooler than in the open fields, but it was still a nice, fresh temperature; especially with the light wind that was blowing all around him. It was a hard sensation to describe, but if he could do it in one word, it would be 'refreshing'.

As he approached, he noticed that there were no signs, which was strange. He finally arrived at the crossroads, and stood on the other side from the paved road. At first, he couldn't see any vehicles, so he gestured for Gwendolen to continue driving. However, he then spotted a number of trucks and other cars coming from the east, and when they were closer he recognized it as a military convoy – he quickly signalled Gwendolen to stop.

It was a small convoy – Eryr counted 13 vehicles total – but for him, it was still impressive. The Empire proclaimed itself the world's most powerful military, and almost everygriff save for a few troublemakers was proud of that fact. His father had served in the Lake Defense Force during the Empire's war against Sparleos; he didn't see any combat, but he still told him about his time there with other fishergriffs he knew, the Empire recruiting them due to their knowledge about Lake Rumare.

As the convoy passed, he could see some tanker trucks, a few smaller transport trucks vechiles, and even two tanks; he could recognize them as older Liza models from the Reunification Day parades. As they passed, he wondered if the convoy had anything to do with the situation in northern Griffonia, but he quickly dismissed these thoughts – it was probably a routine transport job for the military griffons, just as him and Gwendolen with the elderly couple's move.

Once the convoy passed, he went back to the truck and entered it. Seeing as nogriff else was on the other road, they continued moving.

"Crazy stuff. Wonder if that was related to what is happening in the north," he said.

"The north... You mean Vedina?" she responded.

"Yeah, that whole region, with the Equestrians invading and all of that." He pointed to the north.

"Nah, I don't think we're gonna be affected by that," Gwendolen said. "They're probably moving stuff to the small naval station they have in the southern tip of the island."

"Yeah... I guess you're right this time," Eryr joked, relieved by the explanation that confirmed his earlier thoughts.

The rest of the trip to the house was uneventful, with the truck moving as slowly as before. They reached their destination by the late afternoon, and stayed some time to help unload the heavier furniture with what he presumed was the couple's oldest child. By the time they were finished it was already dusk, and the journey back to Emlyn took other two hours – it was night when he arrived at his home.

Tired from the long day, he only had time for dinner and spending a hour with his mother and father talking about they did in their days, before going to his room to sleep. However, before really going to bed he brought the radio with him – nogriff was going to use it anyway – to listen to some music.

In one of the news flashes for the radio shows he liked, he heard about the army movements towards the Vedinian border, which brought him back to the military convoy he saw today. He, once again, asked himself if these two events had any relation to one another, and thought for a minute or two. Eventually, he stopped putting his mind in circles by reassuring himself by the explanation both Gwendolen and his brain initially made – all a routine movement.

He turned off the radio, and went to sleep.

Comments

[KarlB591]

May all the gods (Old, New, Slightly Used, etc.) watch over you in the days to come, Eryr. You're gonna need all the help you can get.