“With the Master dead, then my travel to Whiteforge is unnecessary. Perhaps I will travel north anyway. Did you come from that direction? How far is it to this Allenon?”
“Ah, Allenon. That town has the most wonderful little general store with silver acorns inside,” Amber said, covering her smile with her hand.
“Pardon?” Delas asked, puzzled.
“We are not welcome in Allenon anymore due to Amber’s love of all things small and shiny.” Adam said, shaking his head.
“We ran into a little bit of trouble while we were leaving Allenon that forced us to leave sooner than we had hoped. You are welcome to head north of course, or you can join us in our travels, south, for the time being,” Kyle said.
“Delas, you’re traveling alone. You know that isn’t safe. Come with us, there is safety in a larger group,” Adam said, and offered his hand.
Chapter Eight
The group entered Griffin’s Point late in the afternoon. The village was much smaller than Allenon, but the amount of activity made it appear equally chaotic. Groups of people flowed back and forth along the streets, stopping in shops for a few moments and then exiting again, fresh bundles under their arms. Young children were running among the crowds, appearing and disappearing, laughing the whole time.
Adam’s eyes settled on a family leaving one of the shops. They stopped just outside the door and the mother hugged her son for some reason known only to them. The young man looked to be his age.
Adam felt a pull in his heart for familiar surroundings. His glassy gaze shifted to the stables at the end of the road and he thought of his father’s horses. If he were home he would be giving them a good brushing down and grooming their manes.
When he had enough of his personal nostalgia, he turned to Amber, who seemed to be in a world of her own as she scanned the crowds and the shops. She looked like she was making mental notes at what she saw.
“Amber, if you’re working up any thoughts of…” Adam started.
“Oh, please,” Amber said, raising her hand and waving him off, “I’m just taking a look around. You know, we should find a place to spend the night and get something hot to eat. I’m getting tired of cold rations.”
“Well, we wouldn’t have been eating rations so soon if someone had been able to keep their hands to themselves.”
Amber stuck her tongue out at Adam and went back to examining the crowds.
“What do you think Delas? Care to take a look around with me?” Amber asked her.
“Sure, let’s go,” Delas said, and the two of them headed off in the direction of the shops.
“Delas, keep her out of trouble. Meet us at…” Kyle looked along the street and found what he was looking for. He pointed several times at a nearby business. “Hades’ Jewel, when you’re done. Don’t be long, or we’ll eat without you.”
* * * *
Kyle and Adam walked through the door of the tavern and into a cacophony of conversation, arguments, and good-natured laughter. The smell of good food filled the air and got both of their stomachs to rumbling. From the raised platform at the entrance, Kyle could see the tavern was a single huge room broken up by wooden beams supporting the roof. Off to one side was an enormous unlit fireplace flanked on one side by a large pile of split firewood. Most of the tables were filled with different races of people, mostly human, but it was easy to pick out dwarves, elven folk and the occasional halfling.
Steaming plates of hot food were everywhere and mugs of cool liquids were being turned upwards regularly. Adam pointed to a vacant table for four near one of the windows, and Kyle followed him as he stepped down to the main floor and weaved through the crowd. When they reached the table they removed their packs and sat down.
A middle aged woman wearing a faded blue dress walked over to their table. She had an apron embroidered with flowers and ivy wrapped around her thick waist. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun on the top of her head, but several rebellious gray strands hung over her left eye. Although she looked exhausted with a face spotted with sweat, she beamed a friendly smile when she reached them.
“Welcome to Hades’ Jewel, young lads. How can I help you?” She looked from Kyle to Adam and back again. When neither of them spoke, she continued, her smile faltering, “I’m pretty busy here with the festival going on. You two look hungry. How about if I start you two off with a couple of bowls of the vegetable stew and a slab of bread? How does that sound?”
Kyle found his voice first, “That would be fine.”
“If you want something to drink, you can wait for me to get back or head up to the bar yourself.”
Without waiting for them to make a choice, the woman turned and made her way through the tables. Adam watched her stop several times to ask a question or exchange pleasantries on her way toward the kitchen. She disappeared behind two swinging waist-high doors leading into the cooking area.
“Well, she seemed pleasant, don’t you think?” Adam asked.
“You want something to drink?”
“How about an ale?”
“Sounds good. I’ll be right back. I’ll also see if I can find us a place to stay. You keep a look out at the door for Amber and Delas,” Kyle said and headed toward the bar.
“What can I get you?” came the call from a burly bartender wiping the bar down a dozen feet from where Kyle stood. He stopped wiping and walked closer, his rolled up sleeves revealing muscular arms that were obviously handy when one of the patrons had a little bit too much of his product. He leaned over the bar, squinted at Kyle with his one good eye, the other covered by a dark patch.
“Two ales, please,” Kyle said, trying not to sound intimidated by the hulk behind the bar.
The bartender reached toward a rack of empty mugs.
Kyle turned to a ragged-looking halfling standing next to him. The halfling held a mug of mead in front of him and eyed Kyle, pausing at the dagger tucked into his waistband. Kyle started to speak to him, but he left the bar without a word, taking his drink to a table nearby. Kyle watched as he spoke to the others and they alternated between looking at him and talking among themselves.
“It’s the dagger,” the voice next to him said.
Kyle turned and looked at the short dwarf standing next to him at the bar. The dwarf lifted a mug of beer to his lips and then took a deep swallow. He wiped the foam from his thick mustache with the sleeve of his left arm and put the mug back on the bar.
“Pardon me?” Kyle asked.
“The dagger. The silver dagger at your waist looks to be of the style of the Guild of the White Rose. They have a reputation that will make you very unpopular in Griffin’s Point. To be honest, in most of the towns in this area. I suggest that if you are part of that guild, or have some association with them, that you finish your business here and quietly move on.” The dwarf took another long pull of his beer.
“No, no, you have it wrong. I’m not associated with them at all.”
“Ah. And the dagger, you just happened to find it? Just lying on the ground?” The stranger asked, pointing his thumb toward Kyle’s waistband.
“No. My father was killed by a man with this dagger.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. This killer. He left his dagger behind? That’s odd.”
Kyle lowered his head slightly, “Odd? What do you know about it?”
“If that truly is a dagger from the Guild of the White Rose, they usually don’t leave…souvenirs behind.”
“He didn’t. I killed him,” Kyle said in a whisper.
The dwarf clasped him on the shoulder. “Well done. Very well done. Do not be ashamed of that. If it happened as you say, it is something to be proud of.”
“Proud?” Kyle asked, uncertain that he believed the man.
The dwarf released him and looked Kyle in the eyes. “Alright, rather than proud, let’s say content your father’s killer has come to justice, and leave it at that. Tell you what. I’ll give you five silver for that dagger. Now, the local weapon-smith wil
l give you less, I can assure you, that man squeaks when he walks, he is so tight with his money. Forget selling it to someone on the street, no one else in town will have anything to do with you until you get rid of it.”
The bartender turned from the barrels he was working on and put two mugs of ale down in front of Kyle. “Four coppers.”
Kyle dropped the coins onto the bar, where they disappeared under the bartender’s palm. The huge man took his wiping rag and worked his way down to the far end of bar.
“So you’re not worried about getting the same reputation?” Kyle asked, pulling the dagger from his waistband, and handing it over to the dwarf.
The dwarf chuckled, “No, I’ve been coming through this town for years. All of the locals know me very well and know I’m not associated with those scum. It’s an interesting piece, that’s all.” He took the dagger offered to him and slid it into his own waistband. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the silver coins, offering them to Kyle, who refused them with a short wave of his hand.
“Keep it. I’d just as soon be rid of it. Too many bad memories connected to that thing,” Kyle said, taking hold of the ale mugs in front of him. He headed back to his table and was relieved to see Amber and Delas had joined Adam.
“What took you so long?” Adam asked.
“I was speaking to a dwarf at the bar,” Kyle said, looking through the crowd at the spot where he stood at the bar. The dwarf was gone.
* * * *
When the server came back to the table, she carried a tray containing four bowls of stew and a loaf of bread. She easily held the tray balanced on one open palm while shifting the steaming bowls from the tray to the table in front of the four hungry travelers.
“I noticed your companion had himself some company, and I figured they would be just as hungry as you two looked, so I brought them a helpin’ too,” she said, slipping the empty tray under her arm. “If you need anything else, just holler.”
As she turned to leave, Kyle caught her arm with his hand.
“Is there a place to stay in town?” he asked.
“Aye, the Griffin Arm’s up the main road a short piece. It’s a little worn, but their rates are reasonable,” she said, pointing her finger in the general direction of the inn as if the exterior wall wasn’t there. “If you can’t find it, ask anyone. They’ll point you in the right direction.” With that, she turned and retreated across the dining area and into the kitchen.
Picking up their spoons, the four took a rest from the road and enjoyed a hearty meal of steaming stew, loaded with vegetables. They sopped up the juice with chunks of warm home-made bread, torn from the loaves.
Throughout the meal, Kyle sat quietly, deep in his own thoughts about his conversation with the dwarf and the assassin’s dagger.
When they completed their meal, they paid the bill and headed off to the Griffin Arms Inn.
* * * *
The Griffin Arms Inn was a spacious two story building with a small dining area on the ground floor and the living areas on the second. When the four walked in they were met by an older man who hobbled about aided by a wooden cane at his side.
“Hello. Welcome to the Griffin Arms,” he said in a raspy, deep voice. He looked the four up and down, spending considerably more time with the females than Kyle and Adam.
“We need two rooms please.” Kyle said, waving his hand slightly to get the older man’s attention.
“Hmm? Yes, yes. How long will you be staying?” The innkeeper smiled, revealing a row of crooked, yellowed teeth. “We have several rooms available, and I can give you two across from one another if you like.”
“We’ll probably be staying a day or two at the most, and yes, two rooms opposite one another would be fine,” Kyle said.
The innkeeper made his way back behind the short counter and offered the registry to Kyle to sign. When that was complete he slapped the tabletop several times hard enough to make the small registry jump.
“Helen,” he called.
He waited nearly ten seconds, keeping his eyes on the four and then banged the counter again. This time a girl of about fifteen years old appeared from the door leading to the kitchen. Her hair hung in long, damp threads. Her face was dotted with sweat. She was dressed in a full length apron, speckled with mysterious food stains. She begged pardon to Kyle and the rest, removed her apron, wiped her face dry and took the two keys forced on her by the old man.
“They’re in rooms six and seven. Now, don’t loiter, there is plenty of work that still needs to be done,” he said to the young girl, his voice a gravelly bark.
The girl stepped to the base of the stairs, took a quick look back and over her shoulder said, “This way please,” and started up the steps.
She opened the doors to both rooms. She stepped back out into the hallway and handed over the keys. In non-stop, well-rehearsed monologue, she recited, “My name is Helen. The bell-ropes in the rooms don’t work, so if you need something, you’ll have to come downstairs and ask. I’m usually in the kitchen. If you get hungry, I can bring food up here to your rooms, or we have a couple of tables downstairs. If you would like to take a bath, we have a bathing room in the back behind the kitchen. If you prefer a warm bath, let me know beforehand and I can put some water on the fire for you. Well, I hope you enjoy your stay.”
Helen turned and descended the stairs to get back to her duties in the kitchen.
Kyle and Adam dropped their packs onto the floor of room seven when Amber stuck her head through the open doorway.
“Delas and I were going to find a local merchant and get some provisions for the next portion of our travels. I thought some dried goods and a bit of meat. We shouldn’t be gone long,” Amber said.
“How about if we all go along?” Kyle offered.
“Still don’t think I can be trusted?” Amber gave him a sly smile.
Kyle didn’t smile back. “It just might be best if we stuck together.”
The small group walked into a handful of shops on the main road though town and arrived back at their inn carrying sacks of provisions and supplies for possible extended travel.
Adam was just putting the last of his share of the supplies in his pack when there was a knock at the door. He looked at Kyle and called out.
“Yes?”
From the other side of the door he heard Helen’s voice softly drift through. “I have a message for Mr. Paul Hawthorne, although it isn’t addressed as such.”
Kyle opened the door. Helen, her apron gone, was dressed in a pale red dress. She still wore the look of someone in the middle of a busy day of chores. She held a folded slip of parchment in her outstretched hand.
Kyle took it and thanked her.
“The message was given to me by a Mr. Hillcutter,” Helen said. “He came into the inn while you and your party were out. He is a short dwarven gentleman with graying dark hair and if you’ll beg pardon, will share a silver coin’s worth of words when you’ve asked for a copper’s worth.”
Kyle laughed at the last part.
“That would be the dwarf I met at the bar in Hades’ Jewel.”
Kyle gave her a copper piece for her trouble. She turned and hurried away. Kyle closed the door and sat down on the edge of his bed and read the note. He passed it over to Adam.
“Looks like Mr. Hillcutter would like to talk with us over our morning meal.”
“Talk to us? What did you tell him about us?”
“Nothing. We spoke about the dagger, that’s all. See if you can catch up to Helen and see about getting breakfast for tomorrow morning. Please.”
Adam left the room and Kyle sat alone thinking about what the Dwarf would want to talk to him about. Their conversation had been focused on the origin of the dagger and the ill-feelings surrounding it in the town. He was still tossing possibilities around in his head when Adam came back to the room.
“Hot breakfast for five delivered here in the morning,” Adam announced.
“Good. Thank you. I wonder
. He was willing to pay more than the local weapon-smiths for the dagger. Perhaps he is looking for another one.”
“What did he pay?”
“He didn’t. I wanted it to be gone.”
Adam looked at his friend silently.
Kyle released a long breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
“Well, I guess we’ll find out in the morning.” Kyle stood and crossed the room to his bed.
“Hey, did you get a look at those fields along the Barrow Road?” Kyle suddenly asked, his voice bright.
“The farm fields? Yeah, they were fine weren’t they? Why?”
“Just thinking about how Jennifer would love those fields. She’s a sight walking down the rows of crops back home.” Kyle’s voice trailed off and he became quiet.
“She’ll get to do that again. Once we get her back.”
There was a long pause and then Adam spoke again.
“Goodnight.”
Kyle lay in bed and watched the moonlight cast shadows over the room through their open window. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace of polished stones.
“Jennifer. I’m coming for you,” he whispered. He slipped the necklace over his head and felt the weight of the small stones as they settled around his neck. He was thinking about sunny days on his farm, when, after a long day of working the fields, he would find Jennifer waiting for him at the cottage. The smile on her face would make him forget about his aching limbs and the hard work. It was a scene that made him smile as he drifted off to sleep.
* * * *
The wind howled over the barren plains, and Kyle squinted his eyes to see through the gray landscape. All he saw were varying shades of gray and a scarred land devoid of life. He walked on, placing one foot in front of the other, not sure where he was going, but knowing he needed to press onward.
Suddenly, he stood near a crumbled, stone building. Most of it was lying in piles or strewn about, but two corner walls had partially survived, each supporting the other as winds buffeted them.
Medallion of the Undead Page 9