Entering the capital

Arcadius had visited the capital of Nedlere only once and that was years ago. What he remembered was the biggest city he had ever seen. Having in mind his young age though and his sedentary lifestyle it wasn't surprising to him that there were what appeared to be colossally bigger cities and the capital of the county was nothing more of a overgrown border fortress that due to the riches of raiding the once disunited Greenkin swamplands had grown into a what the books he read considered a medium-sized city. But to him it was still the biggest settlement he had seen and everything else was just in his imagination based on books and stories leaving him hungry to know more of the world. His little improvised library on top of the Rosetrek keep didn't have nearly as many books as he would have wanted. What it did have was his father’s sizeable amount of literature dealing with warfare. And it was through the prism of one of the books that considered siege warfare that Arcadius contrasted his previous experience with the capital and now.

The last time he came the capital the forest went up all the way to the city walls with plenty of shanties leaning on the outside of the wall due to the gradual expansion of the city. This was evidently changed by the new occupiers. The convoy exited the forest well in excess of 500m from the wall into a clear field surrounding the settlement. As he was rocked back and forth on the rather uncomfortable wooden cart he did have time to appreciate the work that the Greenskins have done. Both the forest and the shanties were cleared leaving clear ground on which you could hardly find cover under which to approach the walls. From what Arcadius gathered from overhearing his father's officers talking while he sang at feasts this was not the case three years ago when the Greenskin tide appeared on the footsteps of Nedlere. The once-formidable fortress was a bloated city with neglected defences. Arcadius didn't need the scores of books on warfare to gather that human arrogance played just as much of a fault in the fall of the County as did the surprising resourcefulness of the Greenskins.

A traffic jam stopped the convoy of carts at the gate. A group of lightly armoured goblins on their swamp ponies was trying to make their way outside around a huge ox driven cart that had broken down in the middle of the road. The barely a meter tall creatures on their small ponies have proven to be a more than decent light cavalry especially proficient in chasing down fleeing enemies and scouting due to their exceptional endurance. To that end, they have been valued mercenaries for the human border kingdoms in centuries past. They even featured heavily in the manuals of his father, some of which of his own making. Their fame was such that they were part of songs and tails of the common folk, always as a chief antagonist. Arcadius was **** to admit to himself that seeing them in person interested him. All things concerning military matters used to be something abstract that he read about because he had nothing else to read. Now with them passing right by him hitting with the end of their spears slaves that walked past them, he found himself examining them, comparing them to the manuals. Despite them passing right beside him he did not receive a single hit by them unlike the slaves walking beside the cart. Actually, nobody of the people on the cart was hit. They have also been given more food than the rest on their way to the capital. On his way here it didn't take him much time to figure why that was so. At the start, he was alone in the cart alongside two busty women that neatly fitted in his literature derived concept of a tavern wench. Soon more were brought up in the carts always after a brief examination and haggling by Orcs. The good news was that he wouldn't have to suffer a humiliating **** auction where to be sold to the highest bidder. Bad news, he was already bought.