As Lord Turok reached the large wooden gates of Bearon he cast a critical eye over the gates and walls of the city. The hinges had a lot of rust on them and the wooden gates showed their great age. A smile crossed his face when he saw the two well-dressed men who were waiting mounted on beautiful stallions. Lord Turok raised a tired arm and waved a welcome to them.
“Lord Cedric, I have wounded that need care and villagers that need accommodation I’m afraid that their village is more likely than not burnt to the ground. So they will be here a for a while.”
“Yes my, Lord I took the liberty of clearing the tavern nearest this gate of patrons and have all of the surgeons and their staff ready for any wounded that you might have. I also took the liberty when your rider arrived to have men out checking with all taverns in the town to see what rooms are available for any survivors, my chamberlain Harold will see to the villager's needs and report back to us, let us retire to the Keep and make plans.”
As they headed on to the Keep while the wounded were taken to the tavern, Mal glanced at the Eir and nodded to the rest to follow to the tavern they were taking Eir too. Lord Turok was deep in conversation with Lord Cedric to notice them slipping away to check on their friend and to get any cuts and scraps seen too themselves.
When they entered the tavern Eir was already being looked at by one of the surgeons who pronounced the wound to be free from disease but that the wounds would still need to be cleaned before they could stitch the wound closed. When the surgeon poured mead over the wound he sat up and swore loudly before fainting from the pain of both sitting up and mead combined.
“Good this will go smoother with him asleep,” said the surgeon lowering Eir’s unconscious body back down to the table.
Mal and a few of the others had only superficial wounds and was told just to wash with a tankard of mead to cleanse the battle-humours from their bodies.
Once they had cleaned themselves with the mead they were shooed out of the room and into the main tavern room. Where the tavern keeper welcomed them and told them to take a seat by the fire and he would bring some refreshments over.
As they took their seats by the hearth the heat soaked into their bones and the collectively sighed a sigh of relief that they were currently safe and could relax. Each time a villager entered the room they would wave to the mountain folk but keep their distance.
The tavern keeper approached carrying a tray of glasses he smiled “Welcome sir’s to the Golden Peacock, my name is Jason. Your horses have been put into the stables and my boy, Malcolm will see to their needs.”
Before anyone could say anything he continued. “Just let me just set these down and I’ll go get you something to eat.“ As he left them each with a glass of mead, seeing some more people entering the room he spoke up loudly, “Sit, sit friends Mead and food had been provided and I’ll be right with you.” Turning towards an open door which has the unmistakable smells of food cooking wafting through he shouted: “Sarah we have hungry people here.”
The guards and villagers waved to the mountain people as they took their seats. The warmth from the fire seeping into their bones combined with the warm mead it did lots to raise their spirits. Once they were fed they started to fall asleep one by one. Only for Jason when he noticed, to shoo them all upstairs to rooms that had been put aside for them telling them which two rooms were allocated for them.
Entering the room Mal noticed that Eir was already tucked up in one of the beds fast asleep. Their saddlebags had been taken up from their horses and put in one of the corners. Dareon threw himself onto one of the beds. While in Mal’s case collapsed into the bed and fell asleep on top of the covers. It was the next morning before they woke. The surgeons had been in twice and even the discussion of the care of Eir didn’t stir them from their slumber.
What did wake them was the smell of cooking bacon and fresh bread along with the traffic in the street starting to pick up. When they woke they noticed that their mountain clothes were gone and each of them had a new fine pair of bright leggings and a white shirt, under clothes and a jacket with the kings’ emblem along with some new riding boots sat at the bottom of each bed.
They looked at each other and then at the bright clothes that had been left for them to wear. With apprehension, they put the clothes on Mal belted on the sword hard won the other day from the goblin and Tomi whistled “Wow Mal that’s a nice sword where did you get it I noticed you had it in the fight but didn’t have time to ask about it?”
“I took it off a goblin I killed. It’s really light and strong,” said Mal taking the blade out and handing it to Tomi.
As Tomi swung the sword back and forth Dareon piped in “Well you fought like a demon yesterday I couldn’t believe that you took on the Ogre, I was talking with some of the guards that said it normally takes four or five people to take one down and you took one down yourself,” the pride and awe in his voice made Mal almost blush.
“If I had my old sword I think that the weight of it would have tired me down and today would have been a different story.
When Tomi handed the sword back to Mal, the memory of finding the bracelet came back. It was as good a time as any to examine it and reaching for the saddle bag.
Mal rummaged through it and pulled out the bracelet which was still caked in mud and blood placing the bracelet into the bowl with some of the water that was left Mal had to rub hard to remove the caked in dirt and blood.
As the grime and dirt washed off the copper bracelet it revealed that it had a silver design of intertwining vines with small ivy leaves on it. Drying off the bracelet and putting it on Mal was surprised that they fit so well, as Mal had thought that the goblin’s wrists had been much thicker than Mal’s own wrists.
Overall Mal admitted that while the colour of the clothes wasn’t good for hunting they were the most comfortable clothes that Mal had ever worn. They checked on Eir who was still asleep and headed downstairs to break their fast. As they entered the tavern Jason welcomed them warmly, leading them to the same table they had before, Darr was already sitting at the table with a tray of food.
“Sarah” Jason shouted over his shoulder “Some light ale and food for three hungry men”
Sarah came out with three plates of bacon, eggs, some type of mushroom and bread rolls, she was a pretty girl a couple of years older than the lads. She smiled at them as she laid the plates in front of them.
“So,” she said with her hands on her hips, “My father thinks you’ll want Ale with your breakfast, what with you being mountain men and all that, but I wager that you don’t sit around in the mountains drinking ale all day. Hey, so what’s your pleasure?”
The four of them sat there with food halfway to their mouths, finally, Dareon smiled back “Actually we drink a strong black drink called Kafi in the morning and in the evenings we swig this”. And he placed a small flask of Kuhool on the table.
Giving Dareon a sidewards glance that spoke volumes she picked up the Kuhool “We have a dark drink called Kuffa that’s good for waking people up it’s quite bitter but some people add honey to it to make it taste better. Does that sound like what you’re describing?”. Opening the flask Sarah took a big swig of the Kuhool” her eyes bulged as the hot burning spirit went down her throat.
They burst out laughing but did get up to help Sarah. “Sorry, Sarah,” said Dareon “ just some of our mountain humour”
Jason came over and looking at his spluttering daughter whose face was bright red “What's going on here lads” he asked his tone showing that he didn’t find his daughter in distress as anything to be funny about.
“Our apologies Jason, my friend here let your daughter try a drink of ours while we were discussing what we would like to drink in the morning. He, of course, didn’t tell her that it needs to be sipped and not gulped,” replied Mal
Jason just glared at them “I trust that will be the end of the jokes gentlemen I would want to have to tell the watch guard to find you somewhere else to stay now do we?”
“No sir, just a bit of harmless fun I assure you,” said Dareon with nods from the rest of the group.
Sarah by this stage was unsteady on her feet, Dareon led her to the seat he had vacated.
“We have a strong drink called Kafi that helps to sober people up,” Mal said to Jason “Sarah seemed to think that a drink called Kuffa would be similar”
“Yes, there is some on the stove in the kitchen,” he said thumbing in the direction of the kitchen not taking his eyes of his daughter. One drink of the flask had done this to her. It must have been a strong spirit.
Opening the flask he sniffed the drink, it smelled of cherries and oak, taking a small sip he let the flavours off the drink slide around his mouth before swallowing the liquid. Wow, this was a fantastic drink one that the correct patrons with a discerning pallet would be willing to pay good money for a drink like this.
After Sarah had drunk four cups of Kuffa she went to lie down. Dareon helped Jason out taking food to the guards and villagers who all shared a laugh at the situation. Some of which wanted to try the Kuhool this time they were all warned that the drink should be sipped. There was lots of laughing as people tried to handle the strong spirit.
Shortly after breakfast Mal and Tomi went upstairs to check on Eir who woke up when they walked in.
“How are you feeling Eir,” asked Mal when he noticed Eir waking up.
“Thirsty, tired, hungry and sore but I’m not sure in what order, What are you wearing?” replied Eir with a grin that turned to a grimace when he tried to sit up.
“Woo buddy, just relax let me go get you some Kafi or the version they have here Kuffa its not bad and I’ll bring you some food,” said Mal putting a hand on his shoulder to stop Eir getting up.
Mal left the room and headed downstairs to order some food when Dareon came out of the kitchen with some drinks and food for the patrons, he was glad that Jason had seen the funny side of the situation and no hard feeling existed between him and his friends. Sarah might be a different matter though.
“Jason, Eir’s awake and hungry, tired and sore. any chance your serving wench could bring up some stuff to him” while looking Dareon straight in the face with a massive grin.
“Serving wench may ass” replied Dareon with a smile
“Quiet wench” responded Jason with a shared laugh.
“Hows Sarah?” asked Mal
“She’ll recover, it’ll teach her to be more cautious in the future and hopefully learn from it.”
“I’ll get you that drink and food,” Dareon said with a curtsey to Mal which resulted in more laughter.
As Mal turned to head back up to see Eir and man came in dressed in extremely fine clothing.
“Squire Mal?” Inquired the young man.
“I’ve been sent to bring you to the keep, Lord Turok requests your presence. I am his page Jacob and am to bring you to him forthwith.” replied the Jacob who seemed to ignore or at least pretend not to hear Mal’s insistence of not being of noble birth.
“Lead on,” Mal said not understanding the term Squire and deciding that of everything that was going on this was the littlest issue of them all. To Jason, he said, “Can you let the others know where I’ve gone and that I will be back soon.”
“Will do young master,” said Jason with a smile
“Not you too” replied Mal who turned and walked out of the tavern.
As they exited the tavern a black carriage with silver trim was waiting for them the carriage was hitched to two golden yellow horses a colour the Mal had never seen before. Mal hadn’t noticed the man standing by the door of the carriage at first. The man opened the door and waited for them to board the carriage. Once they were in a seated the carriage moved off slowly in the early morning traffic of the city.
Mal had never seen so many people in such a confined place and the deeper into the city they travelled the more people seemed to be on the streets shouting and arguing with each other.
The noise and chaos reminded Mal of the summer fairs in the mountains, when all of the mountain villages would get together and trade but on a larger scale and not on a special occasion like they would have had at home.
As they got closer to the keep the houses and shops got fancier and more expensive looking. Mal saw a man give a silver piece to a shopkeep for a single apple. Mal couldn’t believe that someone would be willing to pay a silver piece for an apple.
Eventually, they turned a corner and there in front of them was the keep walls with high stone walls and a defensible gate that looked like it had seen better days. The carriage went through the gate without stopping at the guards.
Once through the gates, they entered a well-maintained courtyard the carriage and horses thundering over the cobbled courtyard. A man in rich finery stood waiting at the door for the carriage to pull up, It was one of the men that had met Lord Turok at the gates yesterday, Mal tried to remember if he had given his name but couldn’t for the life of him remember.
When the carriage stopped the footman nimbly jumped down with years of practice and opened the door for them. As Mal passed the footman bowed slightly much to Mal’s annoyance.
Mal decided that it would become irritating quickly and longed to be back on the road to the mountains to bring aid to the mountain people from the danger they were in.
A light cough reminded Mal of the page, Looking up realising that the man had been speaking and Mal hadn’t been paying attention at all.
“Sorry” was all Mal could say as a way of apology.
“Not a problem the sites of a new place can be most engrossing the first time you see them. I was just saying that I am Lord Cedric’s chamberlain Harold and am here to meet any needs you might have but first I must take you to Lord Cedric and Lord Turok who are waiting in the map room.”
“I’m not a noble,” said Mal “I don’t know why people keep calling me sir”
As they headed into the Keep building its self through a door that was built for defence, Harold said in a respectful way “Your father speaks for your people, Thus as a sign of respect you have been given some small rank.” Harold continued as if teaching a lesson to a student “Thus you have been granted a rank to correspond to that.”
“Ahh I see, we don’t have those levels of rank, My Father, Tomi, Dareon, Eir, Grego and Darr fathers are all on the Elder Council, sometimes the Council will have a spokesperson who will deliver the judgement of the Council but no real rank. I am not very comfortable being considered a noble”.
“Never fear,” Harold smiled and continued, “each of your friends that take the kings offer will be given the same rank. It’s the equivalent of a squires rank think of it as a level above a Page so you won’t be ordering people around, It will make things easier for you especially as you head into the kingdom proper.”
Arriving at a gilded door he knocked quietly and entered without waiting for a response. He was obviously a man of rank to walk straight into the room without waiting.
“Ah, Harold,” remarked Lord Turok and seeing Mal he continued with a small “Mal good man glad you were up and about, Have you been fed? Harold get some food for the young man, You remember Lord Cedric from yesterday”
Lord Cedric looked up and started laughing, “Turok are you blind that’s not a boy but a lass that stands in front of you.” He said with a slap on Lord Turok’s shoulder and a smile at the comedy factor.
Lord Turok and Harold the chamberlain stood in shock. Now that Mal had stripped the dirt from the hunting and the road along with the removal of the bulky mountain clothes along with the simpler clothes of the kingdom, they could see clearly that of course, this was a girl and not a boy.
“By the gods may they strike me down, sorry lass what with the mountain clothing you wore when we met I just took you for one of the boys that I met.“
Mal turned and bowed to Lord Cedric as she had seen the guards do yesterday “My lord” then turning back to Lord Turok she continued “I just broke my fast, my lord, I’m fine honest”.
“I suppose that your name just sounded like a male name to me when I heard it first which then just made me think of you as a lad, I can’t apologise more”
“No offence was taken my Lord, Mal is short for Malderia it was my mother's name, but everyone just calls me Mal for short.”
Mal had never been in such a strange room and as she looked around the gilded room there were shelves here that reached the ceiling and covered every one of the walls, every shelf was full of scrolls. Two large windows were flung open and a light breeze came through the windows and a fireplace that three men could have stood side by side in took up part of one wall.
“How are your friends Mal? What tavern did they put you in” inquired Lord Turok
“They are in good spirits sir my thanks for asking. We are in the Golden Peacock, food and sleep have healed most wounds, Eir had a nasty cut but was awake when I left, Tomi almost broke a smile when Dareon tricked the tavern keepers daughter into taking a large slug of Kuhool”
Laughing at the thought of drinking the Kuhool in larger quantities than a sip Lord Turok said “I have spoken with the surgeon this morning Malderia, Eir, unfortunately, will be out of commission for a couple of months while he heals” as he tapped some papers that were sitting on the side of the table “Don’t worry though we will take care of him and he can catch up as soon as possible who knows we might even be back by then.”
“Back sir?”
Ignoring the comment Lord Turok beckoned Mal over “Come over here Mal and look at this” he said pointing to a large map that was spread across the entire top of the biggest table Mal had ever seen the Map had books and candle holders sitting on the corners and the map had wooden blocks of different shapes and colours placed at different locations across the map.
As Mal took in all of the detail of the map she realised that she was looking at a representation of the whole country. The village elders had a map that detailed the basic location of the mountain passes between the villages and where mountain stocks where hidden for travellers and hunters caught out at night.
Mal like all of the villagers could close their eyes and picture that map and know what direction to go to return home or find shelter and provisions. This map had what could only be considered coastlines and rivers with major cities represented as well. Mal drank in the detail noticing that there where numerous cities and villages and what were probably roads leading between them. Mal noticed that most of the cities were on the banks of a river as well as a lot of the villages.
The coloured blocks represented something but Mal wasn’t sure what, Looking at the whole map Mal suddenly understood that these coloured pieces represented “Troops” she blurted out.
“Yes, that's correct this represents the current layout of our troops across the country. Square blocks represent heavy knights, Crescent blocks represent archers, Circles represent the watchmen. Every city has a watch and can call up Knights from the local villages and areas. The village we evacuated is under the protection of Lord Cedric here as well as those farms that were destroyed in the woods. The Archers are normally conscripted troops from the surrounding villages and towns. Of course, there are pikemen and other types of groups. From any of the main cities we can call up men from any of the city regions reports are transferred by boat and messenger to two or three different cities so for example I know that Feron” he said pointing at a spot at the far end of the map from where Mal currently stood “Sent a squadron of the watch to Turbury eight days ago, to help in keeping the peace between two warring clans.” He said pointing at a block of wood on what Mal thought of as a road and another spot on the map which must be Turbury.
Mal looked at the distance between the two points then at the location of the block of wood and seeing the city she was in and the mountains she was from piped up “Another eight days of travel assuming they took a good road”
A smiling Lord Cedric interjected “A good guess Mal, Four days actually, they should arrive today as there is a fast river taking them downstream towards Turbury.
Every day we estimate the distance they can travel and move the pieces. For example, this piece is a royal messenger travelling alone but with two horses so he can alternate between the two and he gets two new horses at regular intervals and he can always hand the message onto another carrier if it is important enough and it is so that a fresh messenger can continue the mission.
He’s been on the road two days already and should have arrived this morning at Castletown. Another messenger will take the reports on for another two days before handing them over to another and another until the report is in the hands of the Kings Sheriff, who in turn will bring it to the Kings' attention.”
“You see each Lord owes me men in the time of war and I owe the king those men as well. Not that there has been much war in the last hundred and fifty years since King Harold the Brave died with no heir. We keep the troops and the messaging system in working order though. Hoping never to use it. The different colours mark who commands what troops. The black blocks represent the enemy or what we currently know about them.”
Mal notice that there were only five black blocks spread out over a vast area of the mountains. “What about my people? Do you have any news?”
“Yes, and none of it good we have had a few reports of creatures attacking farms as far as Blackwater. We can assume that we are facing an army of goblins measured in the thousands. That brings me to the next point, we’re leaving in an hour for the Capital I must confer with the King and the Generals, You boys, err... and lass are to come with me the kingdom needs rangers now more than ever.”
“I can’t leave now. I must get back to my people they need to be warned of the danger”
“I understand your frustration but a platoon of watchmen would not make it to your village. Now I spoke with your father before we left and suggested a few modifications to the village which he was going to implement as a safety precaution. I believe that your village will be able to defend itself until we can bring relief. Also, we will have to wait for the armies to arrive before we can start our campaign and that will take a goodly time indeed. So you see we have plenty of time to go to the Capital and get back.”
Mal was about to argue the point when Lord Cedric pointed out “From what Lord Turok and Captain Talbot, let alone what my guards reported about the battle they witnessed. You and your friends held your own against the creatures, hell you took on an Ogre by your self and won no small feat and I’m certain that your father and friends back home will not be caught unawares again.”
“Tell me Mal when a predatory pack of wolves attacks your farms what do you do?” Asked Lord Turok
“Hunt them down, my Lord” replied Turok.
“So do you think that your father and friends will be cowering in their huts or will they be making the goblins very wary of coming anywhere near them”
“Your right my Lords, My people will be hunting down the goblins. When they see the numbers they will take measures to deal with them and our justice will be swift and harsh,” Mal smiled at the thought of hunting down every goblin that had defiled the mountain ranges that they called home.
“Good I see that you understand now,“ Turning to Harold Lord Turok continued “Harold take Mal back to the Golden Peacock and have them return to the docks in two hours, A fast boat is being made ready and provisioned to take us to the Capital. We leave at noon, Mal, say you're goodbyes to Eir and tell him you’ll be back soon, you are dismissed.” and with that, he turned back to Lord Cedric
Mal left the room with Lord Cedric watching her back as the door closed he turned to Lord Turok,
“Turok I expected her to be older after hearing the stories of her fight with the Ogre, I don’t think I would have been able to take on an Ogre by myself at her age and survive. A girl and all, how did she beat an Ogre?” Shaking his head he continued “She has a lot of potential let's try and keep her alive shall we.”
Laughing Lord Turok went over to a glass decanter sitting on one of the tables and poured two glasses of whiskey, one for him and Cedric “Your right, did you notice her drinking in the details of the map I bet she could recite every detail. I wonder if she plays pebbles, might be interesting to see how that agile young mind works.”
Mal had just left the room when the chamberlain led her down a different route deeper into the keep proper.
“I thought we were going back to the Golden Peacock?”
“We are I just have a quick errand to run first it is just down here,” he said leading Mal down a set of spiral steps at the end of the corridor.
The smell of cooking wafted up the stairs and grew stronger as they progressed down the staircase. Eventually, they came out in another corridor rooms led off to the left and right. To the left was a dining room with a warm fire, two guards sat drinking from tankards and talking quietly by the fireplace. While to the right was a bright Kitchen with a number of women doing the tasks that they had been assigned everything from kneading dough for bread to plucking chickens.
As Harold and Mal walked in Harold turned to Mal, “Please, Wait here a moment this will not take long” and turning away he headed over to a large attractive lady who was ordering everyone around with a wooden spoon.
As Mal stood by the door she didn’t notice another door open and a serving maid carrying a large crate of apples come out of the storeroom. Before she realised she had walked straight into Mal and with a scream of shock the crate fell and shattered on the floor as they watched unable to change what was happening in front of them the light wooden crate smashed on the ground and the apples went everywhere.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you standing there, Sir,” she said and then taking Mal in with one look added “Mam”
“Don’t worry about it here, let me help you pick them up”
“You can’t do that, Mam. Your clothes will get ruined,” she argued.
Mal didn’t listen but rather getting down on one knee started to pick up apples “I’m just a normal lass like you, not a noble, now do you have another basket or something that we could use to hold them all?” she asked as she put the ones in her hand upon a table before starting to pick up more.”
The serving maid ran to get a basket returning as quickly as she could she started picking apples up off the ground and putting them in the basket. When the last apple was picked up she smiled her thanks and just as she was about to make her leave. The Chamberlain called “Mal, I’ve finished here we must go.”
“Yes sir,” said Mal as she brushed the dust off her knees. When she nodded at the girl she had her hand to her mouth.
“The Ogre slayer?” Was all that escaped the girls' lips.
As Mal turned to leave the room with everyone watching her she felt very uncomfortable. When she left the room the noise exploded as everyone started talking at once. Following Harold, she noticed that the corridor led to a bright doorway at the end. They past dorms for the guards and the staff of the Keep. He heard the Head cook taking charge of the room again and a few yelps of pain as a wooden spoon cracked off the back of someone's head.
“You’ll get used to it eventually,” said Harold “You’re the latest hot news so there will be gossip and of course the stories will grow with each passing as well especially since everyone thought the Ogre Slayer was a lad. By the time you are back here the stories will be that you are ten feet tall and a Mountain Princess.”
“But I didn’t really do anything to deserve it.” groaned Mal.
“Didn’t do anything? you defended Lord Turok multiple times hitting targets from a vast distance. You defended the villagers and stood on top of a wagon shooting arrows faster that people could see, Your foes died before your onslaught, then after an intense battle you single handily took on an Ogre and survived. Trust me you have earned any praise people bestow on you.”
Exiting the corridor into direct sunlight Mal noticed that a carriage stood at the other side of a small herb garden waiting for them in a practice yard. As she moved towards the carriage she noticed guards who had ridden out to save them from the goblin attack nudging comrades that had not been part of that party and pointing in her direction.
Mal was happy to enter the carriage to get away from the stares. She relaxed visibly when the carriage started to move out of the keep. She was extremely embarrassed about the whole situation and just wanted to get back to her friends.
When they returned to the tavern Eir, was sitting up in bed and a surgeon had removed the last of the previous nights’ bandages and was cleaning the wound again ready to put a new bandage on it.
“That young man is looking good if I do say so my self, Glad we were able to save your arm.” He said then noticing Mal walking in “Ah I see that one of your friends has arrived back early, Well I’m done for now. I’ll be back tonight to change it and keep an eye on it.”
“Save my arm?” Eir enquired
“Yes you’re a very lucky man it was touch and go for a while we thought that we would have had to amputate your arm after the damage that was done.” He said to a stunned Eir and Mal who hadn’t realised how bad it had been
”I don’t know if you’ll ever swing a sword effectively again and some of your movement will be restricted. You’ll need to rest for a couple of weeks before you put any strain on that arm at all or it won’t mend correctly, and I will have to amputate it, and I don’t want to do that,” said the surgeon.
A gentle knock at the door alerted them to the presence of Sarah at the door.
“Is there anything you need sir?” she asked the Surgeon
“Nothing for me, HE!“ he said pointing at Eir “Is to have bed rest, and a little bone broth with a little meat in it as often as he wants but nothing more. For the next week no more large breakfasts.” he said pointing at the plate that was beside the bed. “See that my orders are followed or I’ll speak to Lord Cedric about it” with that he left the room to Sarah’s hurried curtsey.
“Glad you’re doing better Eir, we are all heading to the Capital in about an hour. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait here until your better. We will be back but I’m not sure when. Get well my friend and we will see you as soon as we are back”
“Good travels to you Mal” replied Eir clasping her arm in the mountain way that spoke of friendship and luck for the journey.
Mal could tell there was no strength in Eir’s grip and suddenly worried for her friend, Thank god for Lord Turok’s protection and help.
“I’ve got to find the rest and get them to the Docks, I’ll try and send them up to say their goodbyes if we have time, my friend”
“Mal look after them ok?” Was all he said before he released Mal’s arm to go find his friends. Eir was not looking forward to being alone in this city by himself.
Mal went downstairs looking for Jason or Sarah who might be able to tell him where her friends had gone, Walking into the Tavern room she crossed over to Jason and was about to ask about her friends, when the door opened and in stumbled the four lads with Dareon in the lead were laughing their heads off as some jest, When they saw Mal they embraced their friend as a long lost sister even though it had only been an hour since breakfast.
“Get your things together we are heading on to the Capital with Lord Turok. Eir is not well enough to travel so he will be staying here until he recovers,” said Mal
“Mal we can’t leave we need to get home and warn our families what we have seen,” said Darr.
“Darr when we do head back we will be part of an army that will wipe these fecking creatures off our mountain,” Mal swore.
“Dam straight,” they all replied.
“Go, now and say goodbye to Eir before we go but be back here in ten minutes we have to get to the docks by the keep and we’re running late already.”
As Mal’s friends headed up the starts to say goodbye to Eir, Mal turned towards landlord Jason and walked over to the bar.
“We will be leaving shortly, I would like to thank you for the hospitality that you have shown us.”
“Don’t worry Lord Cedric is picking up the bill.”
“Still we will remember, someday we will repay you for your hospitality.”
Before he could stop himself he blurted out “Kuhool, Yes Kuhool I could earn good money if I had access to a supply of your Kuhool, Once we get rid of these goblin scum I would appreciate an introduction to whoever makes this wonderful drink.”
“Eir’s father makes the best Kuhool in all of the mountains. I’m sure he will be willing to introduce you to him when time permits.”
Mal turned to see her friends coming down the stairs with the saddlebags over their shoulders swords strapped to their hips and bows and quivers in their hands. Darr handed Mal her bow and saddle bag and they headed off.
Once they were outside of the tavern Mal couldn’t remember what direction she had previously gone. Darr noticed one of the guards from the local gate and called out to him.
“Yes, young sir, how may I help you,” he replied jovially.
“We are looking directions to the Docks that Lord Turok will be leaving from shortly.”
“I’m just off duty and heading home it’s on the way,” he replied gesturing down one of the roads.