The Vegetable Cart

There was once a farmer by the name of Alex Farmer who owned a modest farm and travelling cart. He wasn’t wealthy or famous, but he was happy with his life as he was able to provide for his family and neighbors. When asked, they all had the same thing to say about him which was that he was a decent man who worked hard to provide for the people around him.

The land that he worked on was known as Greenwater, and was known for its vast farmlands which produced many fruits and vegetables. Alex was a skilled farmer and was able to grow crops even during hard times when most of them either burned in wildfires or froze due to long winters.

During one particularly harsh winter, Greenwater was attacked by one of their powerful neighbors, known of the people there as the Firesky. They attacked when their leaders repeatedly said that they wouldn’t, and when they attacked, it was a savage and cruel attack where many people were either burned away or thrown off cliffs.

Alex was happy that he lived far away from the border, but he also knew about many of the people who were being brutalized by the enemy army and wanted to help however he could. One of the rebel commanders, who was also an old friend, told him that one of the cities near his village was being besieged and badly needed food.

Alex then told his friend that he had vegetables that he could give them as well as a cart to carry them. His friend warned him that the journey would be a dangerous one, and would be even more so if he left immediately instead of waiting for months. Alexa, however, knew that people were dying everyday in the city due to starvation and said that he would make the trip the following day. His friend tried to dissuade him from going, but Alex badly wanted to go, believing that his brother was in the city. Knowing that Alex wouldn’t change his mind, his old friend, Nathan, told him about the best route to avoid enemy soldiers which was through a local forest and then wished him luck.

Alex quickly packed his cart with any remaining produce that he could find in his house and set out on the journey the following night, hoping that the darkness would be able to hide his movement from any patrolling soldiers in the area. “Well, this is all I have,” said Alex to his horse, Metalhoof, “we don’t have a lot of food left for the rest of us, but there are other people who need this more than we do.”

With nothing left to pack, Alex and Metalhoof quickly began the journey, hoping that they could reach the city in the evening of the next day. “We won’t be able to rest at all in this trip,” said Alex, “we will need to move quickly not only to reach the city, Bluewall, in time, but also to avoid being seen by enemy soldiers. I have heard terrible stories about them, where they throw women and children off cliffs for no reason.”

The first part of the trip was rather uneventful as Alex was able to reach the forest with almost no sightings of enemy troops. “This is strange,” said Alex, “I thought that we would run into enemy patrols at least once, but it is nice that we didn’t. There will be more cover in the forest when we reach it, so we won’t have to worry about running into enemy patrols there.”

In the forest, the area was incredibly quiet and Alex, against his better judgement, relaxed, believing that he would be well hidden from enemy soldiers. However, within an hour, he noticed a group of strangely dressed men in the forest. Trying to get a better look, Alex took out his binoculars and looked at them. He then saw them turn around and quickly leave the area, and it suddenly dawned on Alex.

“Metalhoof,” said Alex, “we have been discovered and we need to run now.” Alex kicked his horse to move fast, something that he wanted to avoid since he began the trip. He was also aware that by doing so, he would create a lot more noise, but he knew that the time for worrying about that had long passed, and he now needed to reach Bluewall as soon as possible before the area was swarming with soldiers from Firesky.

Dashing through the forest at maximum speed, it wasn’t long before Alex could hear the sound of thundering hooves behind him. Turning around to look for just a second, he immediately recognized the riders as cavalry from the enemy army. They wore dark armor with twisted drawings on them. Even though it was dark, Alex was certain that he could see the drawing of a demon eating the kingdom of Greenwater on one of the plates.

“We need to move fast,” said Alex, “if they capture us, not only will they slowly torture us to death, but they will also take our supplies for themselves. I can’t let that happen.” Racing through the forest, Alex had to quickly move over jagged rocks and fallen trees, which by doing so, damaged his cart. He could see vegetables and fruits that he carefully packed fall off and tried his best to push the remaining produce into a corner in his cart to prevent them from falling to.

As if everything that had happened wasn’t unfortunate enough, Alex then heard the cavalry wind up weapons that they could use to attack him and his cart. Recognizing them as crossbows, he braced for impact as they flew over him or into his cart, damaging it and the precious cargo inside.

“If I survive this,” said Alex, “I don’t know exactly what I am going to do, but I am going to at least celebrate for a few days.” Lifting his head after he heard the last salvo of bolts fly past him, Alex could see an exit in the forest, knowing that he was now near his destination. “Finally, this nightmare is now over.”

After leaving the forest, Alex could see that the garrison of the city was engaged in a battle with the enemy soldiers around it. Realizing that this was the best time to enter the city, he took out the flag that his old friend gave him, signaling to the rebels that he was there to resupply them.

Seeing Alex and his flag, the rebels pushed against enemy forces so that he would have a window to enter the city. Knowing that it wouldn’t last long, Alex directed Metalhoof to the opening and later the city gate which opened after seeing his flag. The rebel garrison couldn’t be happier to see Alex and his food cart and went out to congratulate their ally.

Alex smiled after seeing that this mission was a success but could only do so weakly. Wondering why it was, one of the rebels suddenly told him that there was a crossbow bolt in his chest. Looking down, Alex learned that he was right and collapse. The rebel garrison tried to save him, but Alex was too badly injured and he passed away the following morning. The rebels were able to save the city due to Alex’s actions, but because they never knew his name, they were not able to write it on the city walls after the war ended in a victory for the rebels.