by Gerard Bond
“I doubt Ironside will have a problem with it after I explain to him my need for you. Now my second question, do you think you could keep your dagger sheathed when you are confronted by insults from some Kingdom people while we are there?” Raven scowled a bit before responding,
“Are you serious? How am I to defend my honor?”
“You can't go stabbing and wounding people because of some derogatory remarks Raven.” She sighed,
“Can I punch them in the face?” Wollfen shook his head,
“No, I will ask you to simply turn away.” Raven studied him for a minute then asked,
“If I say no do I still get to go? Wollfen was still shaking his head,
“Still no, you can't, you need to promise me you will behave yourself on this trip even when others are not.” She pulled a face then nodded.
“Alright I promise, when do we go?”
“I’m hoping tomorrow on the morn, I will let you know after I talk to Ironside after lunch, I doubt you will be going on patrol today either. Come on let's go find him and I can tell him what I plan.”
They got up together and walking off he looked down,
“Still no boots?” Raven shook her head with a smile.
It didn’t take long for them to catch up with Ironside and they sat down with him, the man looked up with eyebrows raised and Wollfen spoke,
“I want to put a plan by you and see what you think,” Ironside nodded, “I have been giving your request some thought and I think the best way to handle this is if I go to the borderlands of the Kingdom and quietly ask around about having small groups of Nightclan move in and gauge the reaction of the local people. I also want to take Raven here on my arm so not only do I get to see how they are with her but she can come back here and give you her impressions from a Nightclan point of view of how it went. So what do you think?”
Ironside slowly nodded his head turning over the thought in his mind before replying,
“I agree with your ideas, sounds like a good plan, when do you want to leave?”
“Tomorrow first thing after dawn, I want to start organizing supplies with Raven and have it all finished up late this afternoon, it also means she can't go out on patrol at all today either.” Ironside waved his hand dismissively,
“That’s no problem I will find someone else to fill in for her, I will let everyone know you will be asking for supplies.”
“Sounds good I will get stuck into it then, we shall talk again during lunch I am sure.”
The two of them moved off to organize the trip. They went back to Raven's tent first and started packing the saddle bags with some of her clothing and other stuff. The two of them did the same at Wollfen's tent and then went over to the cooking area to gather some dried venison and fruit. Raven looked at everything being done and couldn’t help but comment,
“We are going to have all this done by lunchtime, why did you ask for the afternoon to prepare too?” He looked at her and wasn’t really sure what to say,
“Um, I can't really say for sure but the feelings of what happened yesterday are still too fresh for me, I really didn’t want to go out again this afternoon on patrol.”
Hearing that Raven was actually glad, she didn’t like her patrols anymore. She leaned over and gave him a pinch on the bum.
“Ouch, that’s my reward?' Wollfen glowered at her humorously as she giggled.
Later at lunch they sat back eating their meal, Ironside's spirits had lifted and was in a jolly mood Raven noticed, it was like a burden had lifted a bit off his shoulders.
“I am feeling hopeful for this trip you are taking Wollfen, it's the first real ray of hope I have seen in awhile.”
“I have some ideas about the areas I want to travel to, I know the Lord Cazzara in Gevalia and he is a good man, I don’t know any of the nobles further south in Windere and will only approach there if I fail in Gevalia. I think the capital city of Kassandrea is definitely out, they would have no time for Nightclan at all. What I’m thinking is Lord Cazzara could pass a law allowing a small group of Nightclan refugees be resettled in the Northern outlands, there is a small population there but since some of them already trade with the clans I can't see there being too much of a problem.” Wollfen looked to Ironside for approval and could see from his smile that he was pleased, “Don't worry my friend we are going to work this out.”
Ironside slapped his back firmly causing Wollfen to almost spit out the morsel of bread in his mouth,
“You are a good man! I will be in great debt to you if you pull this off. Alright I will leave you two to it, take care for now.”
They nodded as Ironside walked off. Raven looked back at Wollfen and was wondering if she was going to meet an actual Lord?
“Really? You know the Lord Cazzara? Will I have to wear one of those gods awful huge dresses those women wear? Even shoes?” He laughed out loud at the image of seeing Raven in all that finery,
“Somehow I think you would have to be held down kicking and screaming to have any chance of that happening.” Raven winked at the comment,
“Too right.”
The next day found the two of them riding side by side along a trail through the woods, it was nice here as the tree canopy kept the glare of the hot sun off their backs. It was easy going and Wollfen was enjoying it.
“I expect we shall hit the outskirts of a town on the evening of the second day, do you know of Westre-snow?”
Raven was very well aware of it even if she had never visited, a number of traders came from that place when selling or trading wares with the Nightclans.
“I have heard of it and it's supposed to be a huge population here in the north, I have heard it can be a dangerous place not to be taken lightly.” Wollfen chuckled at the description,
“I wouldn’t call it huge, it has maybe six hundred people living there and by Kingdom standards that’s a small to medium sized village. As for being dangerous it isn’t really, I am sure stories are told though to keep curious Nightclans away.” Raven's eyes were wide,
“Six hundred people are you serious? That’s huge! I can't imagine that many people all in one place.”
I will tell you what's huge, Kassandrea has something like eighty thousand people living there.” Raven could not comprehend such numbers, she sat there riding along shaking her head in wonderment.
“What of Gevalia how big is that?” Wollfen got to thinking, it was still a large city but he would estimate less than half the size of Kassandrea,
“I would say about thirty thousand people?” Raven shivered at the thought,
“Doesn’t it get too crowded? Where do they all fit? How do you feed that many people? Where do they all hunt?”
Wollfen spent the rest of the day explaining to Raven how most people traded and worked for food that was brought in by wagon loads and how they all lived in houses and so on, she was on a big learning curve and soaking it all up. He knew that while what he talked about would help her prepare she was still in for a shock once they arrived at the city. Luckily she would get a taste at Westre-snow first.
The rest of the ride proved uneventful and the following afternoon they were traveling along a wide well traveled highway passing some people going about their journeys. Wollfen pointed up ahead and off in the distance Raven could see a wide expanse of buildings, in her eyes it was the largest encampment she had ever seen or dreamed of.
“That is Westre-snow? Not Gevalia?” She looked up at him in wonder. Wollfen shook his head,
“Not Gevalia no, it is Westre-snow my dear.” She looked on still amazed.
“Why is it called that anyway?”
“It's a variation of the phrase, “Western Snow” this place is covered in snow usually seven months of the year and the town is the westernmost establishment here in the north, hence, Westre-snow.”
Raven nodded in understanding as they approached the town gates, they were wide open and people in multitude were moving through it in either direction. As they passed
through the gates Raven stared on either side of her looking at what to her were huge structures. The buildings here were two stories tall and it seriously got her attention. She finally spoke up after they had trotted in a couple of hundred yards,
“This is beyond anything I had imagined, it's almost overwhelming to me.” Wollfen simply smiled back at her.
They finally pulled up in front of a building and Wollfen dismounted, he turned to a boy standing nearby telling him to take the horses and rub them down in the stable, he pulled a copper coin from his tunic pocket and flicked it. The boy caught it, smiled and started leading the animals off after both Wollfen and Raven grabbed their saddle bags.
Going to the open door Wollfen looked around with Raven beside him, he spotted a heavy set balding man at the bar rubbing mugs out with a cloth,
“Hey Rolfe, how are you?” Rolfe looked up from cleaning and nodded,
“Welcome back Wolf, you weren't gone long and you have another beauty on your arm too?” Raven gave Wollfen a slightly surprised look but didn’t say anything.
“Yeah yeah, but this ones a keeper, I would like you to meet Ravenwing of the Nightclan Horungar,” He turned to Raven and motioned back to the barman, “And Raven, this is Rolfe of this rotten excuse for a tavern.”
“Pleased to meet you Ravenwing, don’t mind him, he never has any compliments for where people live.”
I thank you Rolfe and yes I am well aware of Wolfy's inclinations for complimenting others.” She gave him a bat in the back of the head and Rolfe laughed,
“Ha ha ha, she has your measure already eh?”
Rolfe looked her up and down, she stood there in all black riding clothes and barefoot he noticed. She had long black flowing hair and was lean and fit by the looks of it, definitely a Nightclan woman. He also noted the long scar traveling down her left cheek, she wouldn’t be a stranger to conflict either.
“I will have to speak up my dear, when the establishment is open and operating later you will have to wear boots.”
Wollfen looked down at her feet, he was used to seeing her always barefoot and had forgotten to mention it.
“Rolfe, we would like a room for the night and yes she will be wearing boots when we come back down for dinner.”
Raven poked her tongue at Wollfen but smiled anyway. Rolfe reached under the bar and threw Wollfen a large key,
“Here take the second room upstairs, it has a double bed and fresh sheets.”
Wollfen threw him back a coin in return and then the two of them went up the stairs. Raven dropped her saddlebags in the middle of the floor and threw herself on the bed stretching, Wollfen picked her bags up and placed both hers and his to one side. Then he too fell down on the bed, it had been a long two days in the saddle and they were both aching. After a minute Raven moved pulling off his boots for him and he lay there wriggling his toes in appreciation,
“Thank you my dear, that feels so much better.” She smiled at him,
“See that’s why I don’t wear boots if I can get away with it. I hate em.”
She lay back down beside him watching his face as he relaxed, he turned his head to her and looked back.
“So what's on your mind my dear?” She smiled and tilted her head,
“I have been thinking about all the things you must see in your travels and how much you must really know, coming to this town and seeing all its wondrous sights is so much to me, but yet from you telling me what you know, it is but a small fraction of so much more.” He nodded in return but didn’t say anything, Raven continued, “I think I could get used to traveling with you very quickly if it's as amazing as all this.”
“There is so much more I can show you hon.” She responded by giving him a soft sensual kiss that lingered for ages, finally when she did pull away she was smiling happily at him,
“Just take your time my darling, I am content.” They cuddled and kissed for a bit more before drifting off into a sleep.
It wasn’t long before Wollfen stirred and as he stretched feeling Raven draped across him, he looked out the window and noticed it was dark out. He caressed her cheek lightly feeling the scar with the tips of his fingers, she stirred and her eyes opened, she felt his touch,
“Don't it's not nice to look at it.” Wollfen wouldn’t have any of it though, he kept looking and touching,
“You know I actually like it. It's distinctive, gives you character. It shows you have lived your life, you haven’t shied away from things when they got tough.” She looked into his eyes,
“You really don’t mind it at all?” He shook his head, “Thank you darling, you have no idea what that means to me.”
Raven slid over the top of him and looked down smiling, then she leaned in and gave him a hard passionate kiss that almost hurt. Pulling away she got up and went over to the window looking at all the lights burning in the town, it was a sight to see for her.
He got up and started putting his socks and boots back on,
“Come on hon, put your boots on, I am hungry.”
Raven grunted and moved over to her saddle bags digging in them a little to pull her boots out. She did as Wollfen had and then when done they moved out of the room.
Downstairs they sat in the dining area and Rolfe came over to take their orders,
“So we have roast beef tonight and ribs too, we also have vegetables prepared in a manner you wish, baked or mashed.” Raven spoke up first,
“I will have the roast beef thanks and a mix of baked vegetables, I’m tired of venison, it's been a long time since I have had beef.” Rolfe wrote down the order and looked to Wollfen.
“I'll have a rack of beef ribs and mashed potato on the side plus can I have the carrots baked and glazed in honey? Then I think some boiled peas too to go with it, oh and a couple of whole baked onions too.” Rolfe grunted,
“You always had a big appetite didn’t you?”
Wollfen gave him a thumbs up as the barman retreated back to the kitchens.
They sat there idly chatting looking around the room. Raven studied the other people as they waited, some of the garb they wore was curious to her, not all of it was brown, green or black like she was used to. She took particular note of a man wearing red slacks that had stripes up the outer sides in gold, his shirt was the purest white she had ever seen and he also had on a wide brimmed hat with a large feather sticking out towards the rear, to her it looked a bit comical and she couldn’t help but comment to Wollfen,
“Who is the peacock over there in all that finery?” He couldn’t help but chuckle, if she thought he was in finery then the trip to Gevalia would blow her mind.
“That is a local administrator, a low level government official and believe me, if you think that’s finery, you wait until we get to Gevalia and see the women of the court there.”
The food arrived and was placed before them on the table, Raven was licking her lips at the fare, the smells were delicious. She grabbed a whole potato and started taking bites, Wollfen looked on and realized very quickly he would have to educate her in some table etiquette as they ate. He made a sound with his throat and lifted up a knife and fork then mouthed the word 'watch”. He proceeded to cut some of his onion up and then took a small portion with the fork placing it his mouth. Raven watched on and remembered the talk from early in the day about how they would have to eat with utensils when at a table.
Some people were watching on curious having seen her eat with her hands. She looked around embarrassed all of a sudden and grabbed the knife and fork, she proceeded to attack a potato that fell apart. Stabbing a larger piece she finally managed to get it to her mouth and eat, smiling and looking around as she did. A couple of the onlookers shook their heads as they all went back to their own thing. She looked to Wollfen for approval and he gave a little smile, that made her feel better. Wollfen proceeded to pull apart the ribs with his fingers and start eating, she called foul,
“Hey that’s not fair, how come I got to use these things and you don’t?”
“Oh you are stuck with it I’m sorry, I got the right food to be eaten with fingers, at least the ribs anyway, all the rest I'll have to use knife and fork too.”
She cut her steak up as best she could then proceeded to watch him as he scooped up mashed potato and ate too, she reach across and stabbed some of his carrot tasting it, not bad, not bad at all.
When they had finished the two of them moved over to the bar and Wollfen ordered a couple of beers. As they were sitting and drinking the Peacock leaned across to Raven,
“So what town are you from milady?” Raven looked at him a bit funny,
“I am not of any town, I am Ravenwing of the clan Horungar.”
The room went mostly silent then and many of the people turned and stared, the peacock looked her up and down with a sneer,
“Pah, I can't believe they let a Nightclan lowlife in here.” Raven went to say something and felt Wollfen's hand on her arm squeezing as he spoke up before her,
“We have not insulted you in any way and have conducted ourselves civilly while here, there is no need to be rude.” The peacock wasn’t impressed,
“We don’t need no inbred whores in our town!”
No one could have believed a man could move so fast but Wollfen was up and slamming the peacock square in the face sending him flying into a table of four men, the look of shock was priceless before the pain kicked in for him and he wailed holding his bloody broken nose. The four men launched themselves at Wollfen who stood his ground trading punches as Raven looked on. He looked around at her while struggling,
“A little help?”
She chuckled before responding,
“You told me I had to restrain myself and not get into any fights.”
He gave her a look and she relented, taking her mug she bashed it over the head of the nearest assailant who fell away. Then she gave a kick to the groin of the next man making him double up, it was two on two now and the four of them sized each other up. Raven couldn’t help but make a smart ass comment,
“It's about time we got some entertainment in this place.”