Quests Volume Two

by Barbara G. Tarn

  Unfortunately two of the bandits hadn't survived – the ones that had met Rohan's sword. The other two didn't seem to have long to live either, since the knife wounds had been well placed.

  Rohan washed himself in the stream and refused to eat. He actually threw up his dinner after they cut the ropes and let the bandits go. Not that they went anywhere. The two survivors bared their teeth at them, but didn't move.

  Keshav extinguished the fire and they packed their things, leaving the camp by the road as the sun was barely rising. The stench of blood and unwashed bodies was unbearable. They quickly walked away in silence and Babita prayed they wouldn't meet any other outlaw band on the way to Konigtown.

  Around mid-morning the smell of freshly made bread led them to a small village where Rohan filled his stomach again. He seemed less pale than in the morning, but still unwilling to talk about his nightly feat.

  They shared a loaf of bread near the village well, drank and washed their faces, then continued their journey.

  It took them a week to reach the Howling Ogre Tavern at the border of the Blackmore Kingdom. The inn was filthy and very small, built next to a toll building where guards with the king's coat of arms checked who entered or exited the kingdom. The fee for pedestrians with no goods to trade was minimal, and most of the travelers' money went to the king through the inn anyway.

  Prices were fair, but the food was strange, exotic and mildly sickening, so Babita warned Keshav and Rohan to stick to what they knew. Two boar legs like in Hurlevent seemed to be the best bet, even though all three of them tried to get rid of the greasy sauce.

  There were rooms of all sizes, but no bath service. And all the rooms were occupied except one, so they had to share. But at least they'd have a roof over their heads. Babita asked them if they wanted to stay for two nights and recover, but both men didn't like the small inn and said they'd happily continue the next morning.

  "Fine, we'll rest in Ilitan the day after tomorrow," she said with a shrug.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Ilitan was small but growing. Already a second wooden wall with smaller gates had surrounded the newer houses. It was built around two main roads at the border of the Blackmore Kingdom, therefore it needed protection, especially from the direction of Hurlevent.

  Babita said the locals were friendly and the town was famous for its clerics. There was a thriving nightlife and they could see talented street performers in the few squares of the town.

  The old town had buildings that generally had attics under their sliding roofs and the streets smelled like flowers even in summer. Keshav looked around with interest and curiosity while Babita mentioned a few notable locals.

  "There's the supposedly philanthropic artist who has been talking of changes. He has few open enemies. Rumors say that he fears priests. He can usually be found at a party. And I know the foreign mercenary who has a family closet full of skeletons. She has questionable allies. Rumors say that she is wary of offending clerics, even though she comes from another country and doesn't believe in the local gods. She can usually be found at a friend's house."

  "A female mercenary?" Rohan asked. "Is she an Amazon?"

  "No, I think she's Kelvan, from the eastern coast. In the north there are plenty of warrior women."

  "We had a Gallian warrior woman leading our border troops in Amrendra," Keshav said. "Prince Rohit had a crush on her."

  "Rahul's twin?" Rohan asked.

  "Yes, only the jester has a male lover, your highness," Keshav answered. "The prince was never interested in men. He fell in love with Gaia when he discovered she was a woman."

  "Oh." Rohan nodded and looked away. "And where's the closest tavern?" he asked Babita.

  "Downtown. Yonaline is like that Gaia, I think. And probably she doesn't want to offend any clerics because she's very good friends with a very wealthy cleric who is associated with allegations of bribery. She has more enemies than allies. Rumors say that she fears criminals. She can usually be found near the outskirts of the city. And her worst enemy is the obnoxious priest who is known to spin complex schemes. She has few open allies. Rumors say that she has been having trouble with the guard captain. She can usually be found at the market. So you see, not all women get along."

  "Any other interesting characters in town?" Keshav asked, amused.

  "The deeply religious guild leader who has been accumulating debts. He has many allies. Rumors say that he aspires to be like artists. He can usually be found among a group of supporters. And the gaudy entertainer who has a dangerous vendetta. He seems to have little trouble with obvious enemies. Rumors say that he is enraged by traders. He can usually be found at work..."

  The Hearty Watchman Tavern was large but looked quite old. Babita mentioned it was the oldest of the town and still in business in spite of the ups and downs of life on the border of a kingdom. It was clearly still thriving, since the small and medium rooms were all occupied and the main room was crowded with loud and cheerful people.

  The innkeeper sent them to a house that rented rooms and was even closer to the public baths. They had to pile into the building's attic, but the landlady promised a full meal at the end of the day, and from the smells coming from the kitchen, and her plump figure, she seemed to know what she was talking about.

  Keshav, Rohan and Babita dropped their bags, took their spare clothes and money, and went to wash at the public baths. In this case Keshav and Rohan kept to themselves in the men's common room because they couldn't communicate with the locals.

  "What a barbarian language," Rohan commented, scrubbing himself clean from the road dust.

  "I'm starting to understand a few words every now and then," Keshav said, thoughtful. "But it will take me a few months before I can have a real conversation."

  "You're that good?" Rohan stared admiringly at him.

  "I'm good at languages."

  "And history. And what else?"

  "Nothing that could be useful to a prince." Keshav smiled. "Unless you decide to become a diplomat, which would probably take your father off your back."

  Rohan thought about it. "I had never considered that. But then I hadn't traveled before."

  "And do you enjoy it?"

  "It's..." Rohan frowned, relaxing in the water. "Well, there's the good and the bad."

  The bandits' attack flashed between them.

  "We should be fine now," Keshav said. "It's a kingdom. We're bound to find guards and patrols on the road and less outlaws or desperate people."

  Rohan nodded, thoughtful. "Do you think what we did was right?"

  The amber eyes looked lost now. He was still blaming himself for killing the bandits.

  "We would all be dead if you hadn't killed them," Keshav replied. "I think your sword master can be proud of you. You didn't panic and made a clean stroke."

  Rohan nodded again, but didn't look convinced.

  "Rohan, you're a prince and a warrior. You chose to travel to barbarian lands. You couldn't expect to come back with your hands as clean as when you left. We've been lucky there were only four of them. Just imagine if it were a bigger band. We'd be dead and nobody at home would know about it."

  Rohan sighed. "It's just... it's not..."

  "It's not pleasant, I know. I used a knife, but the one I stabbed is probably dead too. I hadn't shed blood before either. And I'm a scholar. Don't berate yourself for being who you are. You'll be a mighty warrior fighting for justice and peace."

  Rohan's lips trembled into a smile. "Thanks," he whispered.

  He resumed washing, then shaved and then they got out of the main pool and dressed. Babita was ready and waiting in the baths' entrance.

  "I'm spending my life waiting for men," she said, staring at them with her fists on her hips. "Shouldn't it be the opposite?"

  "You're the quickest woman I ever met," Keshav replied with a smile. "Even my sisters are not as fast as you are in getting ready!"

  She rolled her eyes. "I know, I'm too fast. Let's go, our landlady ha
s probably already set the table..."

  "Do you think we'll have roasted boar?" Rohan asked, hopeful.

  They had sausages and meatballs with a greasy sauce that smelled very good and tasted even better. And there were beans and cabbage and the last strawberries of the season. Rohan asked Babita how to thank the plump host and made the cook blush with pleasure.

  Then they retired to the attic. There were only cots and a bed table for a lamp in the middle of the room under the sliding roof. They had to go downstairs to use the outhouse, so they left the lamp on, in case they needed it.

  "The roads are still unpaved, but they should be safer from now on," Babita said as they lay down to rest.

  "How much longer to Konigtown?" Keshav asked.

  "Six or seven days, depending if we can hitch rides or not."

  "Good. Terrain?"

  "As soon as we get down these hills, we'll find ourselves in the northern plains. So even easier to trudge forward. Unless we get a summer thunderstorm, that is."

  "Let's pray for Surya to watch our steps," Rohan said. "Good night!"

  ***

  It had been a little more than a month since they'd left Godwalkar and summer had exploded in the north. It wasn't as hot as Amrendra or the other southern kingdoms, but it became more pleasant to sleep under the stars if there were no farms or villages in sight when the sun set.

  Keshav was getting to know his traveling companions and had somehow formed an opinion about them. The two strangers that had started on the path with him, looking for the lost Genn towns, were now almost family. Sometimes they even bickered like family members – like siblings when the parents weren't looking, mostly.

  Rohan seemed to have forgotten the killing of the bandits and looked at the world with eyes wide open in wonder. The same wonder he had when he listened to Keshav's history lessons or whenever he related something he'd read in a book – a wonder that never showed up when Babita was talking. The prince was definitely not interested in women.

  Babita seemed to be fairly independent for a southern woman, but apparently her late husband had given her a lot of freedom, much like her family of origin. That was probably why she had decided to break free of her mother-in-law's influence.

  Keshav was a little surprised that in her ten-year marriage she hadn't had any children, but it was none of his business, so he never asked why. She didn't seem too keen to talk about it, so he simply ignored the topic.

  The hills ended after three days, then the unpaved, dusty road went mostly through meadows. One night they camped in a thicket of hazelnut trees and managed to catch a couple of pheasants that they roasted on the camp fire. Two nights they found farms and slept in barns. And then they found villages with no inns, but usually someone allowed them to sleep in their barn or stable, since there usually were no guest rooms in houses.

  After eight days of fairly easy road, they reached a lake and a small village on its shore. On the other shore they could see a town with no walls except around the rectangular keep.

  "That's Konigtown," Babita said, pointing at the town from a small, wooden pier. "I doubt we'll find a boat to get there, so we'll have to go around the lake and reach it tomorrow."

  "Do they have public baths?" Rohan asked, staring at the town on the other shore. It wasn't a huge lake, but another day would probably be necessary to go around it and reach the town.

  "Yes, of course. We can rest there for a couple of days. My late husband's associate can accommodate us and tell us if he knows anything about the former Genn capital."

  "It might be anywhere around this lake," Keshav said, looking at the log houses of the village. "I don't mind following the shore, we might see the ruins somewhere."

  "We'd still go to wash and rest in Konigtown, though, wouldn't we?" Rohan asked, frowning.

  "Yes, of course, Rohan, I want a real bath as much as you do, but we'll have to make do with the lake for now."

  "I will leave you to your ablutions, then," Babita said, amused. "I'm going to ask where we can eat and sleep. I won't be long."

  "This water is cold," Rohan complained, kneeling on the pier to put a hand in the water.

  "It's much further north than Godwalkar." Keshav tried the water too. "I guess the full bath will have to wait until Konigtown."

  Rohan sighed and looked towards the village. Bearded fishermen with blond hair and blue eyes were busy with their nets.

  "I guess we'll have fish tonight," Rohan grumbled, standing again.

  "The forest is too far for something else," Keshav said. "Although there are pigs, so we might find a few sausages..."

  Rohan brightened. "I'd love that!"

  Keshav chuckled. "You'll introduce sausages to the Gajendran court as soon as you go back, your highness?"

  "If I go back, why not?" Rohan winked and smiled at him.

  "Would you really spend your life among bearded barbarians?" Keshav asked.

  "Not in such a small village, but I'd like to meet some noblemen in the towns... they might be less refined than us, but who knows... they might have other qualities..."

  They got off the pier and headed back to the village square. Babita raised her eyebrows at the sight of them.

  "No bath?"

  "Water's too cold," Keshav answered. "Have you found any food?"

  "There's a widow at the edge of the village, if we help her with some house chores, she'll give us food and shelter for the night."

  "No problem."

  "Your highness?"

  "Stop. Calling. Me. Highness." Rohan glared at her.

  She guffawed. "When I see you sweeping some floor, I'll stop considering you a prince."

  "Good, what does the widow want me to do?"

  "With those muscles, chop some wood and she'll be able to cook," Babita teased.

  "Fine, show me where!"

  "Don't be so hard on him," Keshav chided. "Let's go help the widow so we can earn our food and shelter!"

  ***

  Rohan was thoroughly enjoying his adventure. Now that the memory of the night attack was fading, he started appreciating the northern men. The Blackmore Kingdom was not as barbarian as he'd thought or been told. If there was a king and his lords in charge, obviously things were better even for travelers.

  Still, he preferred Keshav's oblong brown eyes and raven hair to the blond men of the north. Although he often reminded himself that he was meeting peasants and commoners, not noblemen, and was kind of curious to meet the northern elite. Not until they got to Konigtown, obviously.

  Maybe he could ask for a detour to the kingdom's capital, but he doubted it was on Keshav's route. He still wasn't sure what the scholar was looking for. If the Genn cities had been destroyed, what could have survived? Didn't Keshav have enough with the paintings and manuscripts available at Godwalkar?

  Obviously not. And Aagney's stories weren't enough either. Rohan didn't really understand Keshav's thirst for knowledge of things long gone, but when the scholar started talking about them, he couldn't help but listen, fascinated by Keshav's voice.

  The stinky fishermen's village was left behind at dawn. The widower had cooked him some sausages when Babita had explained that fish didn't really fill him and he was glad he had cut all that wood for the lone woman.

  Apparently he reminded her of her own son who had left for the town and hadn't come back, so she had tears in her eyes when they left in the morning.

  "Do you think we should look for the young man?" Rohan asked Babita as they walked along the lake shore. "Tell him his mother misses him?"

  "He might be dead, Rohan," Babita answered. "Many young men who left their villages and went to town eventually enrolled in the king's army. The Blackmore Kingdom is expanding, but mostly needs to defend the border on the Ondan, since the Varians threaten to cross it and invade them. They have already subdued the northern tribes..."

  "And will probably crush the Gallians too on the other side," Keshav muttered. "We'll have those Varians at our border very soon. An
d you might have the Blackmore at your northern border soon enough as well."

  "Do you think these northern people might eventually rule in the south too?" Rohan asked.

  "Their history proves they can set up an empire, and hold it for a few centuries, while we keep having smaller independent kingdoms living in peace," Keshav replied. "I think if a king comes along strong enough to unify the north, they might march on the south and have an empire that covers the whole continent. They're warring people, Rohan, unlike us. Yes, they could succeed if they put their mind to it."

  "So we're safe until they're not united." Rohan sighed. "I wonder how long it will take them to conquer everything!"

  "We probably won't be alive to see it," Babita said.

  "But Aagney might," Keshav mused. "He said he's not Human and has lived centuries already..."

  "Do you think that's actually possible?" Rohan mused.

  "I think there are creatures who are much more long-lived than we are and they probably can do magic more than we do and wear a human form so they wouldn't scare us," Keshav said. "You should know, you've seen them painted from childhood..."

  Rohan shrugged. He never saw those paintings come to life, neither at his father's palace nor at the royal palace. He thought those blond beings with pointed ears were the stuff of legend and doubted they'd ever find a trace of their cities.

  They passed by what looked like ruins or maybe simply rocks oddly shaped, and stopped to eat and observe more closely.

  "If it's a town, it's buried," Babita said. "You'd need to dig to find something."

  "Well, it certainly was in the open and it doesn't look like a walled city," Keshav mused. "I hope the other city has more things left. I think that Rayheart, being out in the plains, was more vulnerable than Appleyard, the forest kingdom."

  By evening the road around the lake took them into Konigtown. They passed by the fortress enclosed in high stone walls and headed for a secondary street that led to the lake shore. In town, the streets were paved and wide enough for double-way traffic. The houses weren't too crammed together and a big town palace even had a small public park attached to it.

  The street had two houses near the fortress and three more on the lake shore, with some empty space in between where cows wandered undisturbed with a flock of sheep. The single house that also had a warehouse attached belonged to Bran, Babita's associate. Built on the lake shore, it had the house itself two-stories tall and the lower warehouse where the merchant kept his goods and opened his shop.