Part 3: The Road Ahead

Chapter 36: Illustrious Leader

By morning, Alcar woke to find himself alone in a large, bare room with featureless plaster walls. He was near naked under a blanket, his robes, pants and tunic being draped over a large rustic wooden bench where he had left them, and his boots beside them on the floor. When he rose and went to check on the outfit, he found that everything was entirely dry. There was a pleasant, warm air circulating around the room that belied the marshy conditions outside, and a faint smell of baking bread.

Brutus was lying on the foot of the bed, sound asleep, but as Alcar dressed quickly and then pulled on his boots, the dog raised his head, sniffed the air, and then leaped down with a “Woof!”.

“Come on boy,” said Alcar, picking up his staff, “I’m sure there’s plenty here for dogs to eat.” He was struggling to focus for reasons that weren’t clear to him, but he could vaguely remember Kora and an older woman preparing some minced lamb for Brutus... at some point the day before.

He made his way downstairs to the huge farmhouse kitchen, Brutus’s claws clicking on the wooden stairs, and memories of a pleasant evening of feasting and laughing with Kora and the others began to come flooding back. Etienne had made some dent in the farm’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of ale.

Alcar had had more than a few ales, too, he was pretty sure. Was that wise before setting out on a long journey? Perhaps not... it couldn’t be denied, the stuff was pleasant enough and put him in a cheerful frame of mind, but he didn’t think he was going to become as fond of it as Etienne apparently was. His head was feeling heavy this morning, his thoughts slow and clumsy.

A minute later, Alcar had stepped outside and into the area between the farmhouse and the country road. It was still very early, he could see; the sun had barely come up over the eastern horizon behind the house. The air was hazy with moisture as was typical near the swamp, but he knew that as the day warmed, this would soon dissipate.

As he moved past the front of the building, Alcar soon saw that the others were already up and about. Olynka and Etienne were busy packing things onto the same cart that they had once used to flee the farm, with Kora supervising.

“What’s this all about?” he said.

“Good morning, Alcar,” said Olynka with a broad smile, pausing and running a hand through her auburn curls. She then pointed her thumb in Kora’s direction. “Transportation, provided by our generous host. A lot better than getting footsore.”

”Really – she’s coming with us?” Alcar stepped closer, looking at some of the things that had been packed on board. The cart was not yet tethered to its ponies; it had seating for a driver and one other person up front, and when packed with very little in the way of cargo – as was currently the case – at least six or eight passengers could comfortably sit behind. He recognised the pair of sacks that he and Maluhk had obtained at Xian’s store. There was also the leather backpack that Etienne had been wearing when they had fled the tower. There were also a pair of swords in scabbards, a pile of woollen blankets, and a folded oilskin tarpaulin.

“If you’ll have me, illustrious leader?” added Kora, crouching and rubbing Brutus’s ears as she spoke. She then took a step closer, and slapped a hand down onto Alcar’s shoulder.

“Are you serious, Kora? You mean to come with us?” He paused to look around the nearby area. “I mean, you’d be very welcome. But don’t you need to stay and mind the farm?”

Just then, he noticed a pair of very muscular men using pitchforks to load hay onto another wagon nearby. One was bare chested, but otherwise they were each dressed in rustic clothing. Both were chatting to Leppie as they worked, and as Alcar watched on, one of the two looked around at the healer – who was once again dressed in her black robes – and grinned broadly. For a moment Alcar’s heart thumped as he thought they were the pair of brawling warriors who had previously owned Brutus, but now he saw that although their tall, muscular build and red hair was similar to those Khranulian, these two were strangers to him.

“Oh,” he said, feeling immediately relieved, “I can see you have people working here.” He gesturing in that direction. “They’ll keep an eye on the place, I suppose?”

“No, no – my mother will supervise while I’m away,” said Kora. “I wouldn’t trust the Khranulian farmhands to work for ten minutes without breaking something,” she added, rolling her eyes. “We often bring them in for the harvest season. But those two keep hitting on me – it seems they can’t get around the fact that I’m only interested in women.”

“You are?” said Alcar, glancing sideways at her, and then looking at his friends on the wagon. Olynka said nothing, looking away shyly; Etienne chuckled, and then pointed over towards where the pair of Khranulians were working. “Looks like they’ve shifted their attentions to Leppie, my friends.”

As Alcar looked back at the pair of strangers, one of the men threw down his pitchfork and flexed his biceps, leering at the healer.

“Ugh. Aren’t they barbarians.?” asked Alcar. “The last Khranulians I saw were drunkards, fighting in the street, and they abandoned poor Brutus, too.”

“They’re not all bad,” said Kora. “But this pair are pretty terrible. The one with the green eyes is called Zaxon. He’s the worst, but I have to admit, he’s a strong worker when he gets going. Of course, if he could stop showing off for a few minutes, it would help.”

“I see,” said Alcar. “Anyhow, perhaps someone could prise Leppie away from her admirers. We’ve got a long journey ahead.”

But as he glanced back, Leppie was already approaching their small gathering. “I’ve agreed to go for a drink with Zaxon when we get back,” she said. She was smiling broadly and had a skip in her step; Alcar thought she looked about ten times more animated than he had ever seen her before.

“Good for you,” said Etienne with a low chuckle. “He’s a catch. I bet it’s difficult to tire that one out in the bedroom.”

Leppie scowled at the halfling, and then stepped over to the back of the wagon. “What needs to be done?”

“We should really just get going as soon as we can,” Alcar replied. “It’s a long way to the Trollbone Hills.”

Kora took a step closer to him, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. “The Trollbone Hills? Are you crazy?”

“We didn’t go into the details of our journey,” said Olynka nervously. “Kora only agreed to come along as far as the village of Gilmour, you see. It’s the last place on the road before we need to take a trail to the north.”

Kora nodded slowly, but concern was written across her face. “I’ll happily take you to the village. And with the wagon, it will only be a day, rather than the three that you would need on foot. But the Trollbone Hills, though? That’s many miles away, and it’s said to be infested with monsters.”

“Yeah, well, we need to get something...” began Alcar.

“Don’t,” said Kora, interrupting him and raising her hands. “You’re a city boy, Alcar. Believe me – I’ve lived in the wilds all my life. I’d kill for the life you have. Don’t go looking for trouble on some foolish adventure.”

Alcar looked at the others, but they all looked back at him in silence, apparently happy to let him do the talking. Perhaps he really was the leader, he reflected.

If only his head didn’t still feel like it was full of sawdust...

“You’re right, Kora,” he said after a pause. “It would be foolish to go looking for trouble. But believe me, that is not our intention. We have to find an important item for my master, the sorcerer named Maluhk. It could make all the difference to the future of the city.”

“How so?”

Alcar sighed – it was time to be honest. And from what he recalled her saying before, he knew that Kora was no fan of Imperials.

“We need to get a particular and rare book in order to help Princess Thacla von Dathmir,” he said, spreading his arms as he spoke. “Maluhk and our allies feel it’s essential to keep the dwarves on side. Ultimately, they want to overthrow Duke Frage, and keep the Imperials out of this province as much as we can. I hope you can support that, and we’d love to have your help... but if you’re not on board, you are welcome to stay here, of course. We can make the journey on foot.”

Kora shook her head gently, now crouching down to pat Brutus once again. “You dumb sorcerer – of course I’m on board with overthrowing Duke Frage. Perhaps you can even persuade me to come further than Gilmour Village for such a cause. After all, I won’t miss the Khranulians! But first, let’s get some food and ale packed on board. Then we’ll be ready to leave, and not before.”