Two additional days proceeded with the same exhausting monotony. The merchant might not have appeared to be a man with great endurance, but his fortitude surprised Laurent, and also somewhat dismayed the man turned into a donkey.
Thanks to the man's determination to complete the journey as quickly as possible, he pushed his horse and donkey to the limit. At the end of each day, as they trudged into a barn next to some long-standing country inn, Laurent and his fellow beast could barely lift their snouts to eat hay and drink water from troughs.
At the same time, the merchant feasted on the best food and drink that his coin could purchase, although he skimped on rations for his animals. "Hay will do," he said to every inquiry made by innkeepers regarding the boarding of the animals.
A belly full of hay, a long drink of water, and a slide into the nothingness of sleep, only to wake the following morning, still on four hooves, loaded once again with the heavy books, and lashed to follow behind the horse carrying the mighty merchant.
As they started out on their third day, Laurent flicked his tail, trying with minimal success to disperse a swarm of dark flies. More of the insects buzzed around his head, crawled into his ears and even his nostrils, and made every step of the journey a torment. After several dull, monotonous and spine-sagging hours of hauling, his upright ears detected the low but growing din of multitudes. They were upon the city before Laurent had even realized it was close.
His nostrils flared and he caught the odor of salt air. They crested a rise and he saw a huge city, spread out below them, and a harbor with dozens of high-masted ships. He was not an expert on such matters, but there appeared to be more sailing vessels than he would have anticipated.
The stink of the multitudes of human inhabitants of the city greeted them ahead of their arrival. Loud voices were raised on all sides, but the merchant pushed through astride his horse, impatient at times, as he shouted at rabble to make way for him. They soon enough must have reached their destination. The merchant dismounted, tied the horse to a post, and entered a large building. Laurent, still lashed to the horse, had no choice but to stand with the heavy load still slowly breaking his back.
The merchant returned, eventually, with another man, and they immediately began to haggle. The merchant unpacked one of the weighty tomes, making Laurent's load slightly less heavy. The merchant swore to the quality of his books and boasted of the gilt-edged pages, flipping through them proudly.
They eventually settled on a price and, to Laurent's relief, the last of the heavy books left his back to find their way into the shop of their new owner. The merchant, pleased by a success slightly more than he had dared to dream, didn't linger. In his mind, cities were filthy incubators of pestilence. He longed to get back to his village where he could ponder uses for his new wealth.
Before he could get back astride his horse, however, a commander and his troop of soldiers rode into the courtyard around the shop.
"Halt!" The commander raised a sword and gestured toward a couple of his men. The soldiers immediately moved forward and grabbed the reins of the merchant horse and unlashed Laurent to take hold of his bridle.
"What is the meaning of this?" The merchant raged and stomped toward the mounted commander.
"Order of the King's Majesty," explained the military man. "You will be compensated."
"Compensated?" The air seemed to have gone out of the merchant's storm of fury.
The commander sneered. "Oui, monsieur." He produced a scrap of parchment. "Present to one of the royal clerks."
"You can't..."
"Monsieur, I have my orders," the man said. "Kindly remove your bulk from out of our path."
Laurent whipped his head up, surprising the soldier holding the reins of his bridle.
The merchant stammered. "But...but... Why?"
"The King's financed a fleet of discovery to the New World," the commander, rapidly losing patience, offered. "We need horses and pack animals."
"How am I to get home?"
"Take that paper to one of the King's men," the commander said, wheeling about on his horse. He issued more orders to his soldiers. "Get that ass to the corral at the harbor. Someone ride the horse into camp. That's a steed worthy of at least a captain, or maybe an admiral."
Laurent, like every other inhabitant of Christendom, had heard of the discoveries of an Italian sailing under the authority of the monarchs of Spain. A "new world" many had proclaimed those discoveries, on the other side of the Atlantic.
"No!" He brayed in loud protest. He had to get back to Claudia!
He brayed again, but the soldier jerked hard at the bridle and forced him into compliance, which was reinforced by the overall placid nature of the beast he had become.
"Wait!" Laurent brayed again.
In panic, heart pounding in his barrel-shaped, fur covered body, he was forced into a holding corral with dozens of other donkeys.
Other donkeys!
No! He wasn't a donkey!
He reared and tried to batter at the walls of the corral with his hooves. A whip cracked, and a man charged with loading the donkeys aboard the fleet's ship, shouted and used the whip to bite into the unruly donkey's rump.
That got Laurent's attention! Another touch of the whip and Laurent was forced to hang his head in defeat. He gazed around at the other donkeys as they milled mindlessly inside the crowded corral. Brute force would do him no good. He needed to outwit the men surrounding him.
He scrambled for a plan...