The sounds of combat from the front were rapidly fading, and the weary guards were beginning to return to their places further back down the line as the guards from Aramos Village helped the rearguard clean up.
The support staff had returned their supplies to their wagons now that it looked like the fight wouldn’t be lost, and the guards were pushing the last of the Ogres back away from the passenger carriages.
There was a considerable amount of damage to some of the cargo trucks, and Dominic sighed as he realized how much work he had ahead of him. He hadn’t even looked at the mess at the front yet, and he already knew he had a half day’s repair work before they would be mobile.
"Why do you look so depressed, young man? The battle is won, and soon enough we will be on our way again." The War Cleric asked when he noticed Dominic’s mood.
"I’m the smith." he replied simply, and the priest began to laugh.
"Well, I suppose that’s a good reason to be more concerned about the aftermath than the actual battle." He agreed.
The Cleric gave him a consoling pat on the back as Dominic returned to the Forge Wagon to get the heat going and finish the spoke for the first damaged wagon. It was the only one that he saw with damage to its running gear, but there was water under one further up the line, so it likely had damage to its steam vessel, or one of the valves.
There was a small selection of spare valves in the parts bins, so that wouldn’t be too bad, but he would get to that after he fixed the wheel.
The Cowboy swung the door open and smiled up at him.
"What are you getting to first?" He asked.
"The spoke on that rear wagon. I don’t suppose anyone else knows how to change out the spoke?" he replied.
"Yeah, any of the drivers, or me. Toss me the new one and I’ll make sure it gets done. Then go check that water leak. We’ve got the Witch with us, and she can make water, so as long as you get it sealed, that’s not a problem."
Dominic handed him the new spoke, a piece of rolled iron tube with tapered ends, and climbed down to check out the other carriage. With a toolkit, the torch, some welding and brazing rods, and a couple of extra valves, he should have a good chance to fix whatever was wrong with it.
As soon as he got close, it became clear what the issue was. A sword had cut a hole in the side about a metre long, and the boiling water had spilled everywhere.
That was easy enough to fix if it was a clean cut. Torch it and pull the pieces together, then weld the seam. But this had been torn, so he returned to the forge for a copper plate before returning to patch the hole.
"Come on over if your wagon is busted and let me know what it needs to get moving." he called before he started to seal the plate over the gaping hole in the pressure vessel.
"Shouldn’t you cut the damage away and replace the whole plate?" One of the Noble Officers asked as he inspected the damage to the carriage that he had been riding in.
"Do you want to leave today or tomorrow?" Dominic asked.
"Today of course. How long could it take to replace the plate?" He demanded.
"About three hours with all the rivets, and then every other damaged carriage. But we don’t have enough copper to replace the entire plate, so someone would have to run back to the city for materials." he explained.
"Why aren’t we carrying enough plate? I thought this caravan was well stocked?" He demanded, which earned him an eye roll from the other officers nearby.
One of them decided to intercede so that the smith could get back to work. "Because the smith is here to patch it and get it running. The specialists in the city will make it pretty again when we get home. Remember that favourite pair of gloves you patched during training so you didn’t have to go to the shop to get another pair? Same idea here."
By the time the plate was sealed over the hole, both Advisor Morgana and the front three drivers had all gathered to talk to Dominic, who was just happy that the damage had all bent inward so he didn’t have to bang and swear too much to get the patch plate in place.
"Alright, who is next? Advisor, this one should be able to hold water again." he asked.
The Techno Witch nodded. "You should go look at the front for yourself."
One of the drivers nodded, while the one closest to his frowned. "And bring a notepad. There is a lot of damage to fix before they’ll even roll again."
Dominic sighed and pulled the notepad from his pocket, then passed his toolbox to one of the drivers.
They weren’t joking about the damage. The first wagon had multiple dents and a couple of cuts in the pressure vessel, with one wheel broken off at the hub, the one behind it had a lot of body damage, but the only thing broken in the drive line seemed to be a pushrod linking the rear axles, while the third carriage in the line was nearly melted to slag.
"What happened here? The whole control set is gone, and the back of the tank is slag." Dominic asked.
"An Ogre Mage cast a fireball at me. I jumped out the far side, but it hit my seat." The driver shrugged.
"Well, that’s not field repairable. I can pull the shafts, and we can hook you to the carriage in front of you with a rope, but that’s the best it’s going to get. Just give me a bit, and I’ll mock up a new steering shaft and wheel. That should be enough to get you rolling."
"Can I get a new seat as well?" The driver laughed. He knew even before Dominic had come to take a look at the damage that it would never run again, and that the whole thing was no better than spare parts now.
"Can someone get a jack from the toolbox, as well as a spare wheel? I’ll get to the front wagon after I get the pushrod and the steering here sorted out." Dominic requested, which sent a pair of guards running.
Nobody wanted to be in these woods any longer than they had to be after the scale of attack that they had endured. Even Dominic was rushing through the process, grabbing a broken lever to torch into a set of handlebars for the steering shaft, which turned out to be operational once he cut one melted bracket free and welded a strap over it to hold the rod in place.
"There you go, steering, Now to find you a seat. Oh, I know." Dominic laughed, then pulled a supply box and a pillow from the carriage.
"Voilà. You’re good to go. I’ll talk to the boss about getting this one swapped out when we get to the village."
The driver laughed. "Aye, you can try that. Maybe she’ll listen to you. The Princess is extra enthusiastic about killing every monster in the woods right now, especially while she’s immobile."
The driver nodded. "An ogre club hit her shield hard enough to break her arm and some ribs. It’s all healed, but the cleric told her to keep it in a sling for the day. You’ll likely need to take the dent out of her armour as well. She won’t be able to get it back on until you do."