Book 3 Chapter 4

“Next!” A man’s voice shouted from nearby, almost forcing Tirr from his slumber. He grumbled shutting his eye’s tighter as he tried to doze off once more, but was again disturbed as the cart beneath him creaked and rattled as it slowly started moving forward again. He groaned, giving up on sleep as he rubbed his eyes, squinting against the sun's bright light…

“Looks like we’re up soon,” Maria whispered down to the small god whose head rested in her lap. “Might want to get up, for now, we might need to run away or something…”

“I heard that…” A young man’s voice called from the driver’s seat of the cart. Tirr reluctantly got up and caught Torvus looking back at them with a hurt expression. I told you I could get us in, right? Why do keep acting like we’re going to get in trouble or something?”

“Just being careful… You also said we wouldn’t have any trouble on the road and look how that turned out…”

“How was I supposed to know there were bandits desperate enough to go after people looking as broke as we do? Besides, it’s not like we were actually in any kind of danger, right? You handled them quick enough…”

Tirr ignored their bickering as he looked to the front where only a few carts now stood between them and the City. Guards stood at the gate talking to the incoming travelers, taking and looking over some sort of documents. On the walls, more guards kept a careful eye over the surrounding plains.

For a city of merchants, it sure is well defended… Tirr thought as he looked over the heavily armed guards and tall stone walls. He looked behind them, his eyes traveling over the long line of carts, wagons, and carriages all waiting to get into the city. Most seemed to be merchants hauling goods of one kind or another. Others, villagers come to sell off their harvests. He even spotted a few finely decorated carriages and wondered if they were nobles from either Rasor or Lutel… As he tried to find the end, thinking back to how long they had just spent in the same line just made him sleepy again.

They had already spent most of the day here waiting, and according to Torvus, it wasn’t strange for those that arrived in the afternoon to have to spend the night out in the line. Having seen how long it could be, Tirr was glad the former assassin had forced them to come in the early morning. Having to spend the night on the cart surrounded by noisy people would have been a horrible end to an already uncomfortable journey…

They had left Lutel some few weeks ago and since then had traveled. in what Maria had called, the cheapest wreck Torvus could find…. The only relief they had been given was the few breaks and the nights they had made camp.

It was to the point that Tirr had spent most of the journey channeling his blessing to ignore the aches and pains, though that had later come in handy when a small trio of thieves had tried to hold them up. So far that had been the only spot of enjoyment in the long trek.

“Next!” The gate guard's voice called once again, and Tirr found they were finally up for their turn. He and Maria sat in the back of the wagon quietly as their lone horse pulled them up to the front. One of the guards came up to Torvus and held out a hand expectantly.

The action caught Tirr by surprise but Torvus took it in stride, handing over a stack of papers as he chatted happily. “Here you go, sir! Heading in to visit our uncle and hopefully sell him some of the grain we got this year. Oh, this is me sister Paria and my little brother Birr…”

Tirr and Maria tried to ignore the false names as they waved at the guard. Despite their efforts though, he didn’t even look up from the documents Torvus had handed him before giving them back and waving them to the next checkpoint. “Alright, They’ll check your goods up there and determine your fee…”

Torvus beamed at the man saying a quick goodbye before guiding the cart over. From there the other guards had them get out of the cart while they inspected the grains Torvus had bought.

“Paria? Birr?” Maria asked once they were out of earshot.

“Sometimes the simpler the lie the better…” Torvus answered with a grin, “Makes it hard to forget things and give it all away.”

Maria looked at him doubtfully but couldn’t refute as they stood by, waiting for the guards to finish. As they waited a horn came from outside and the guards seemed to snap to attention. They moved towards the line, hollering for people to move out of the way.

As Tirr watched as the guards moved the wagons aside and guided in a large group of men and women. The group was a strange sight as they marched through the gate and passed Tirr and his companions. Each one seemed huge with thick muscular bodies painted with strange red patterns and leading them was a giant of a man, wearing what looked like the skull of some kind of goat or ram. Watching the group, Tirr turned to see Torvus frowning.

“Mercenaries…. From the Mountain tribes. The Confederation must be paying attention to what the water witch is doing… He looked down at Tirr, revealing his usual smile. “Good thing we’re already here eh?”

Tirr nodded, looking at the giant men and woman as they disappeared into the city. They made Lutel and Rasor’s soldiers look… inadequate to say the least. If there were enough of them to build an army…. He was glad they had followed Torvus’s suggestion

“Rumor has it they have a shard of their own as well, though they’ve been real hush about it…” Torvus added, watching along with Tirr…

It took a while for the guards to get back to business as usual but soon enough one of the guards came by to collect the fee, “Welcome to the Kehmra heart of the merchant Confederation…” He said in a tired voice before turning and leaving them to wander the city…