enough for a carriage.
“Take off your armor, put on the dress you brought and leave your pack here” Allen said as he pointed to the side of the road. “Those four other idiots probably made a spectacle of themselves last night and could have ran afoul of any sympathizers. We are going to blend in with the crowd as much as possible, I am going to get us a wagon and a horse. Afterwards we can travel much faster and get there fresher and ready to fight. Two Atropians would only be stopped by your countrymen and we have papers to show them.”
“The citizens would attack us?” Valerie asked.
“Who knows” Allen replied. “But why take risks? There also may be people around who don’t do business with your kind and your accent is not Atropian. I will do the talking and you will be my mute girlfriend. Don’t speak any words and we should be in and out of this town in a few hours.”
“You have money?” Valerie asked.
“No” Allen replied. “But I am a magic user and a decent one. There are plenty of things I can do for work. A town this size should have some labor for me to do that is both hard and tedious. No one wants to do that.”
Allen led Valerie into the town, he knew that his closeness to the girl had to make her feel strange but it could not be helped. Allen wished he could appear as natural as Dalray Bingley did when he acted like a drunk but hoped he did an okay job. They got a couple of stares as they walked through the town but nothing unsettling. Gorgan troops were stationed in the town but said nothing to them as they walked through. The town didn’t feel right to Allen, it should have been louder. Allen led Valerie to what looked like a tavern and stepped inside. Three other uniformed Gorgans were inside drinking and having a decent time, other than them and the owner the place was empty.
“I am looking for work” Allen said as he walked up to the bar and put down a few coins. “And food for me and my wife.”
“You need work?” the tavern owner said as he stared at Allen through his bushy grey eyebrows. “Plenty of work to be found around here, I guess it just depends on what you need.”
“What is wrong with this place?” Allen asked. “This is the quietest I have ever seen a town before.”
“Shut up lad” the owner said under his breath as he snatched Allen closer. “No one in this town wants the Gorgans here. We cannot challenge them but we also don’t have to be friendly. My business is only open until I sell off all my liquor. The others open but at odd hours and when the Gorgans are not around. We are fighting a shadow war. Come around back and bring your lady. I can tell you more about it.”
“Why all the secrecy?” Allen said as he went into the kitchen with the owner.
“Because I know a country lad when I see one” the owner replied. “Men like you talk first and use your brain second. Now this town is so quiet because we want the Gorgans to leave. No one is going to attack them but we are not friendly either. No one is on the streets if they can help it and the businesses are closed during the day and made to look closed at night. Our nightlife is still lively but it is held in private homes, Gorgans cannot just burst in there. Even when some do the party stops and everyone starts filing out. The Gorgans have made it known they are not there to shut it down but we leave anyway. It is thirty of them here and I know they are bored out of their minds, no women to flirt
with or others to be around. Most of the young men here were sent off to war, my boy is off to war as well. You should see their frustration of having all these women around, little to no men and still can’t get any action. They can’t even get a girl around here to say hello to them or give a pleasant smile. This is an easy post for them but many of them can’t wait to leave. There is no food here to buy and their supplies are running low. Even if it weren’t they have no one who knows how to cook really, all they have been eating for the last week is stew.”
“Won’t they just go to the market and take the food?” Allen asked.
“Everything is hidden” the owner replied. “Now with winter coming up we need help chopping wood. Most of the other lads your age or younger were gathered up fight the enemy. There are also buildings to fix up and other things to mend.”
“I can do that” Allen replied. “You know of any horses or wagons for sale?”
“There are plenty here” the owner replied. “They aren’t warhorses or anything but they can get you back and forth. In fact why don’t you check in with Miss Marxley, a lady down the street a bit with three old nags and a colt in a rickety stable. She is a bit eccentric but you can’t miss her home, one of the Gorgans broke in the place a few months back looking for someone when we used to attack them more directly. Her boys are all gone so most of us pull together to help her out. She could use some help around the house and might be receptive to trading labor for a horse or something. She definitely would give you money if you wanted.”
Allen nodded and finished getting directions from the man and thanked him after hearing a little more of the story. This town didn’t hold anything against the old monarchy or the traitors, they had slightly more under the monarchy but life still continued just fine under the traitors. The town hated the Gorgans though, most of their men were off to war and they would never be friendly to the enemy. The tavern owner who finally gave his name as Rothel said that he knew it was doubtful all the men would return alive. None of the townspeople could imagine partying with the same men who may have killed Atropians.
“We have to warn Jasper” Valerie said in a low voice.
“For what?” Allen asked. “These townspeople are not dangerous, they are just not welcoming. Now whatever wood this old lady needs chopped I can handle in a few moments and can repair her home if she needs it quickly enough as well. I think I may pose as a Atropian mage who is trying to keep a low profile until I reach Macom. I think some people here may be open to that but I won’t try to pull that off unless necessary.”
“I just think the others are going to regret coming to this town” Valerie began. “Their money has to be getting lower with the way they spend and struggle to get to Macom. I think Jasper is going to want to pack light and figure they could buy food from every little town they pass through.”
“Still not my problem” Allen replied. “Up ahead, that has to be the place.”
Allen saw a decent sized home that had seen better days. It probably used to look grand maybe forty years ago but was definitely showing its age. There were boards nailed in five places that he could see that were most likely used to patch holes and the porch looked like it was ready to fall apart. There were big logs in the front yard, someone had cut it and dragged it there and left it. Whoever lived there probably had a wealthy family at one time but had fallen on hard times for the last ten years at least Allen thought.
“Hello” Allen said as he walked up to the door and knocked.
“What do you want?” said an elaborately dressed woman as she opened the door. Allen guessed she was ten years older than he was but looked far older, probably due to the pipe she was smoking. She had jewelry and make up on, Allen thought maybe she was going to go somewhere but saw she was wearing soft slippers instead of proper shoes.
“Rothel told me and my wife that you may have some work” Allen began. “I am looking to do a fair bit of work for one of the horses he said you have. I can cut up those logs out front, stack them up nicely and use some of the wood to fix your porch and the outside of your home.”
“This is your wife?” the woman said looking Valerie over. Allen could tell the woman had been drinking as the smell hit his nose. “A pity but I need some company since I can’t very well invite the Gorgans inside. You want one of my horses for all of that? What if I don’t like the job you are doing?”
“Then I will put everything back the way it was and not bother you anymore” Allen replied.
“My house could use a man around it” Miss Marxley said. “My boys are gone to war but they were not much help anyway. You can find an old ax somewhere around here, it may have to b
e sharpened though. Your wife, what does she do? Is she a good servant?”
“My wife had an accident when she was young and does not speak” Allen replied. “Only makes little noises here and there.”
“The poor dear looks a bit addle brained” Miss Marxley said looking over Valerie and rolled her eyes. “But I guess love have many faces. I can show your girl around the house. All that work you said you would do will take you a bit of time to do. Do you think you can have most of it done in a month?”
“I am going to try” Allen said as he looked back at Valerie and winked one of his eyes. “Val why don’t you follow this nice woman inside while I try to earn us a horse.”
As soon as the two women went inside Allen went looking around for the ax. It was a rusty thing with a withered handle. Allen focused his magic through it and tried to save as much of the good wood as he could, the bad parts of it just dropped off. The actual blade was rusty but was in decent shape, getting the rust off and making it razor sharp was easily done in the time it took him to pick up the ax and walk over to the four logs he had seen. When Allen got closer he took a better look, someone just cut down some trees at its base and brought it here. Allen brought the ax down hard on the tree, it sunk in deeply but that part was just for show, when he pulled the ax back up a two perfectly shaped pieces of wood tumbled to the floor. Allen was sure her fire place could fit them, they were about the size of his forearm and would stack up real nicely. Allen kept banging away with the ax, it made a satisfying sound as it sunk in the wood and Allen figured it was a nice way to get a good work out. Soon he was sweating and started making three pieces of wood fall off when he was sure he wasn’t being watched. It took him nearly an hour to turn the first tree into nothing but stacks of firewood but it would have taken a normal man most of the day. The other trees went easier, Allen kept up his rate and he had a small gathering stop to look at him for a bit before moving off. With his magic and his need to keep up some appearances it took him three hours to get the fire wood chopped and stacked, in addition he had used his magic to smooth out the overgrown yard and make it looked like a group of men had put in some time to make it presentable. What Allen needed now was a hammer and a bag of nails, he really wouldn’t use any of them but he wanted to keep up appearances for as long as he could. Allen went searching around the home and found the skinny looking animals who knew the last time they ate a good meal. Allen smiled as he saw a beat up old wagon that had definitely seen better days but he could fix most of it he thought. Allen approached the stable and looked around, the horses were in filth and the place looked like it had never been mucked out. The entire back yard looked the same way but something could be done about the stable now. Allen sunk all of the filth deep into the ground and let new ground replace it, it was hard packed and nearly as solid as stone. The horses came up to him looking for food, Allen didn’t have any and needed some plant life and found it. The remaining clumps of grass had been bitten down to almost nothing remained, like his thorn fields it was easy to get them to regrow if he had a bit of water which was the only thing Marxley must have given the animals since he found some in a dirty trough. The grass grew quick in small places to the height of a man’s fist, as soon as the animals chomped down on it he regrew it again but did not have the time to keep it up. He needed to fix the front porch and just felt sorry for the animals. Allen eventually found some old horse shoes that he thought would work, on his way to the porch he grabbed a piece of wood and shaped it into the handle of a stout hammer and made the metal in the horseshoe shape to his whim to form the striking parts of a hammer. The other horseshoes were soon turned to nails and Allen then grabbed some of the wood he had shaped and started hammering. The noise was loud and unsettling but it looked like he was doing real work, Allen was using his magic to smooth the wood out and have some of the pieces he had shape themselves to cover the entire porch to make it look new. Allen spent an hour with the farce and did the same thing all over Miss Marxley’s home. It took him a total of six hours but when he finished the outside of the house looked like all it needed was a bit of paint. It didn’t look like it was new but it was far from the broken down shack Allen first came across, even the yard was done and the stable looked to be in great shape.
“You want to come out and see what I have done?” Allen said as he stuck his head into the front door and yelled. He could see Valerie practically fly to him looking like she had the worst six hours of her life. She went outside the door as Miss Marxley called after her, the woman came down a set of rickety looking stairs and Allen could see the inside was almost as bad as the outside was. The inside of the home could not save his eyes, the woman came down the stairs almost stark naked, the only thing she had on was a robe that she left open in the front.
“I hope you are done” Valerie whispered. Allen could tell she was shaking like she just fought some great battle and Allen could see why. Valerie must have helped bathe Miss Marxley and it was not her idea of a fun time.
“You ready to call it a night?” Miss Marxley said as she ignored Allen’s discomfort.
“I am finished” Allen replied. “I even did the yard for you as well.”
“What do you mean you are finished?” Miss Marxley said as she finally closed her robe. “You promised me all kinds of work for one of my prized horses.”
“I did all of that and more but I wanted to know how much you wanted for your wagon?” Allen asked.
“What wagon?” Miss Marxley said as she tried looking outside.
“The wagon in the back by the stables” Allen replied.
“Oh that thing” Miss Marxley said. “You can take it with the horse once you have done everything you said you would.”
Allen moved out of her way to let her see the yard, Miss Marxley first stared at her porch then all around at her house before she even worried about the wood. Allen followed her around the yard and out back where she stood there in silence, Allen had put the horses in their stalls and they were happy he had grown grass inside of each one that was his height. The horses were trying to chomp it down and left them alone.
“Take whatever horse you want” the woman said still shocked. “If I had a man like you around this place things would be much better. I haven’t seen this place look this good ever, even before my father died it never looked this kept and he had two servants. You can take that wagon as well but I don’t know how you are going to get it out of here.”
“We can manage just fine” Allen replied. “Do you know where I can find some items to hitch my new horse up to the wagon?”
“Ripley may have some” Miss Marxley said. “He owns the inn the Gorgans are staying in.”
CHAPTER 8
“This has to be the best way to travel” Valerie said. “Do you think we have made up the time we lost while you got all of this stuff?”
“Almost” Allen replied. “But now we have food and other things to make this trip easier. Turning that old cart and horse into this was a bit hard, but this wagon is a lot more comfortable and the horse we have now was built to pull things like this.”
“Your magic has come in handy a bunch of times” Valerie replied. “You must have been a rich man over here.”
“I did okay” Allen replied.
“You have to have done better than okay” Valerie replied. “You have a big coin purse full of money and we are travelling easily now.”
“Yeah but altogether we wasted almost a day of travelling when you add up all the work I did in various towns” Allen replied. “But in a few days we should be ahead of where we would have been if we just went straight through.”
“I wonder what Jasper and the rest are up to?” Valerie wondered. “Do you think they are ahead of us right now?”
“They should be” Allen replied. “We all have maps and their money is probably just about out or already out. Now they have to go from town to town and hope Gorgas has a presence inside so they can eat.”
“Well I am happy I decid
ed to stay” Valerie said. “About how many days do we have left?”
“If we are keeping a good pace and switching horses it should take us four days” Allen replied. “About the same it would have taken us if we kept up the pace I wanted without any stops. You looked miserable in all of that armor though so I figured I would help you out. I help out all who show loyalty to me, loyalty to me means if the queen ever needs you she can depend on you.”
“You talk about her often” Valerie replied. “Are you and her…”
“Nothing like that” Allen replied. “She is like a little sister but she is a great person. She is the smartest person I know, just a bit naïve.”
“That is the first time I have heard you say something negative about her” Valerie said. “Allen is that our um, team?”
Allen looked ahead and could see four people in armor trying to wave them down. Allen and Valerie were dressed in sturdier clothing since the weather had gotten cooler and it was likely neither of the boys recognized them.
“Traveler you will stop this cart and surrender it in the name of Gorgas” Jasper said as Dean produced his crossbow.
“Get out of my way boy or you will be dead before you know it” Allen said as he removed his winter hat. “And if you fire that crossbow I won’t show you the mercy Timothy received.
“Valerie?” Barry said looking in the wagon. “Where did you both get all of this?”
“None of your business” Allen snapped. “Jasper when I make it to Macom I will let whoever is in charge know that we will operate as two teams. You leading this lot and me leading the rest. I don’t have any hard feelings towards you, you wanted leadership and I am going to give it to you.”
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