I awoke early, still in a daze from the boat ride into Dowry the night before.
We had met up with Danin and Sig in Butterwick's just before they had turned in for the night. Everyone was planning on taking care of their individual concerns, going our separate ways and meeting in Hlofreden for Robyn's farewell.
Danin had grimaced at the puffy dark purple splotch that covered half of my face. It had turned more heads than would I care to admit even from walking off of the dock. I'd felt my ire rise at the curious onlookers as I limped through town with Silah on my arm. I immediately remembered how little I liked it here.
Silah had whispered soothingly in my mind, telling me that they were just agreeing with her without knowing it.
Danin did his magic, laying a hand to me and calling on Derrum Ebbar, the God of his order. I felt my ribs realign and stitch together properly, gracefully and with little discomfort. Silah had looked at my face and grinned.
"Oh, there you are!" She'd said, her magnificent, glittering smile had immediately replaced my purple hue with a different shade of red.
Now, the light was leaking through the windows and I lay awake, looking at the ceiling and thinking. I looked down at Silah, curled around me. She was maintaining a foothold in my thoughts with the contact, remembering the night with me. She had shed her massive presence since our kiss last night and adopted her sleek human form.
That hunger she felt seemed to be constantly prying at her, which, in turn, had her prying at me. Our deepening familiarity was weakening my will.
"Is that a bad thing?" She said silkily with a sing-song tone, propping herself up on an elbow and looking down at me, tracing lines around my chest.
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a slight grimace, intentionally blanking my mind by thinking of inky blackness and closing my eyes, letting my head settle back into the pillows.
"Oh, you want to play like that?" I could hear a smile in her voice, but her visage was also dispelling the inky darkness as she pressed in. I breathed deeply, my grimace turning to a smile.
"We need to get on the road. It's about time you and Duncan got a proper introduction." I said to the ceiling, then looked to her, "We need to get to the North entrance of Dowry early to head out with the guard."
I started to roll out of bed but she held my shoulder fast.
"C'mon," she cooed, "We can take whatever's out there. We don't need a bunch of guards. Let's just linger a bit. We've only just gotten here."
"Didn't you hear me last night? I really don't like Dowry." I said, reaching up and gently tugging at her hand.
She let me move freely, burrowing her head into the pillow with a groan. I swung my legs over, and began pulling on my boots and gathering my things. She sulked for a moment and looked up at me.
"You're impossible. I am achingly hungry and you … just keep being you." She had a pleading in her eyes.
Oh, you have no idea.
It was bad enough that we were now sharing a bed, much less my own mind. I was glad she wasn't in my head. So much of how I felt was hidden in these moments of distance from her. I had gotten better at maintaining a mask or, at least, avoiding her gaze in those times.
"We'll get you some food. That seems to help, doesn't it?"
"Fine. Whatever." She put a pillow over her face and screamed into it.
I cringed at her aggravation and put myself back on task, trying to keep my own mind busy. I hastily put my dented breastplate in place, I had realized why my ribs had broken, the dent was exactly where to impact was and I had been completely unaware of it. The dent burrowed into my ribs now that everything was back in place with Danin's help. I needed to meet with an armorer to pound it out and I had no time to do that now. It would be uncomfortable to wear until then. This was not a good start to a day of travel.
I looked back at her, she was staring blankly at the ceiling in her purple dress. I remembered her ultimatum from just days earlier; a night of extravagance. I had yet to fulfill my side of that contract. I wondered if she even remembered?
In the dining area of Butterwick's I ordered three breakfasts.
"Hah, ya ‘ungry, mate?" He said, looking up at me with a smirk and a knowing nod.
"Starving." I said flatly and clumped the money in his hand.
I picked through a portion of the food, eating light to not weigh me down for the trip. Silah plowed through the remainder of all three plates. She poised herself daintily as she ate, but it was the quick, precise cuts, and almost no chewing that sped the process along. The barkeep who took the order glanced over, dumbfounded as he caught sight of her was polishing off the last plate.
I nodded at the man, give him a wry look, and Silah slid from the table, dabbing at her face with a cloth napkin and fell into step beside me.
She looked up at me with a grimace.
"That worked, sure. But," She moved close to me as she said it, "I'm sure we can find other things that would work so much better."
"I'm sure. Maybe Duncan has something we can do for him?" I mused, intentionally moving off her intended topic.
She rolled her eyes.
"All business." She trailed off.
"Yes, business." I looked straight ahead, quieting my mind, "And, speaking of business, we're traveling the roads so it is best that I keep you as a sword."
She shrugged, listlessly. We walked to a quiet corner out of sight of everyone else and she melted at my touch. I sheathed her in the superior position above my right shoulder. I didn't twist the blade for contact, I needed to give myself some space to gather my wits. I didn't want to push her away. I wasn't really sure what I wanted. What I did know was that I didn't want her hunger to be the reason anything happened between us.
I sighed at the thought, feeling hopeless. Refusing her, or more importantly, refusing myself seemed ludicrous, yet I had this nagging feeling that if I wasn't prepared for what happened next, I would deeply regret it.
Perhaps, though, that regret would be worth it? I took a deep breath, taking a moment to collect myself, then walked out into the street from Butterwicks.
I moved to the guard house at Dowry's Northern entrance. A knight was standing there while groggy soldiers were starting to accumulate. Just a few steps back, several men with makeshift backpacks made of burlap sacks with, likely, all of their possessions were piling up on the roadside. The half-Orc guard that I had befriended earlier eyed me as I walked up.
"You traveling? We've got a hearty crew coming along. There's a lot of traffic, lately, and it is starting to make things difficult." He eyed the forlorn looking men lining the road, "It might look good for you to that sir there if you came along to help."
He nodded toward the back of the knight that was waiting patiently for the remaining guards to arrive.
"I'll do what I can. I'm just looking for safe passage to Kellas House."
"Isn't everyone. Oh, and thanks for the drinks. Barkeep said you had to move on, but my boys and I appreciated it." He gave a toothy grin.
"It was my pleasure." I nodded with a half smile. I was in good company.
The knight set the pace, which, from horseback, was more like a jog for the rest of us. It wasn't long before I felt the sun's heat chasing me. The chilly air started to part and the landscape sparkled with dew. I was not envious of the men who had full rucksacks and full armor jostling on behind us. My load was light, comparatively, but that didn't mean it wasn't a workout.
Everyone on foot was panting, even the knight's horse was whinnying and rolling it's eyes at the effort. Carrying a metal laden man wasn't likely a light task. We had a few stops to rest when some of the men began to fall further behind. Eventually, around midday, we caught sight of Kellas House. There was a crowd gathering at the gate. I grimaced at the crowd and took a sip from the waterskin. The guards seemed to be expecting this, I nodded toward the clot of humanity stuck in the process of getting through the gate.
"What's this about?" I leaned over and asked the half-Orc Guard in conversation.
"Some work is being offered in Hlofreden." He said with some trepidation. "It'll probably keep the guttersnipes out of Dowery."
That's doubtful.
I nodded at the guard. Sig and Bromm's venture had started to turn this area upside down. Not bad for business, but I didn't like the crowds. And I was just getting used to Hlofreden being a mild sort of place that remained quiet and out of the way. Not so likely anymore. I sighed at the thought.
We waited as a dutiful scribe had been put in charge of gathering names. It was strange way to operate and it hadn't been done before for the short time I had been around. I thought to ask Duncan about it when I saw him.
The guards moved in, the half-Orc giving me a nod as he passed. The man stopped me with a question, asking my name. As I responded, I looked him over. He wore the garb of one of the temples, but I couldn't place it. He squinted at my face and penned down my name. He looked me over again, inspecting the two blades over both shoulders with a wary raised eyebrow. Then, I could tell he recognized the construction of the campaigner blade from the 10 Years War and that seemed to settle him.
"Purpose of your visit?"
"Business with Duncan Tham, the proprietor."
The man hummed to himself as he wrote this down in a precise scrawl. It was no wonder this process had bogged down entry. This man was deliberate. I looked behind me. The troupe I travelled with, some were looking bored; the rest, still recovering from the fast pace.
As I was allowed through the gate, the sprawl of people in the yard was overwhelming. Crowds gathered at tables perched under slung canvases. It was lunchtime, so I was sure I was seeing things at a more frenetic pace.
Amalia, one of the many that Duncan had adopted, was gracefully weaving through the tables, delivering drinks. She had a perceptive eye—uncannily perceptive. She seemed to meander to the untrained eye, but I could see that each move was very deliberate. Hot spots of the unruly were readily handled by a well placed smile and a well placed tankard.
She looked exhausted with the dance, rushing to and from the kitchen. Sweat trickled off of her forehead in the rising heat. The walls, unfortunately, were doing their best at keeping the oceanside breeze at bay. The canvases strung over the tables to ward off the sun seemed to contain the sweltering heat readily, amplifying the aggravation of the patrons in the process.
Duncan was assisting Amalia with a food delivery and he raised his chin to me as he moved through. He held up a finger, and nodded from across the yard. I nodded back, and gestured that I was in no hurry. I sat at the least populated table. A few of the men I travelled with, whom I had avoided, sat with me, seeing a familiar face. I grimaced as one of them tried to engage me in conversation, his brow furrowed and he fiddled with his hands at my lack of interest.
Duncan came back of the building, brow soaked with the effort and the heat. I stood and moved to talk to him.
"What can I help you with? Are you back to finish that story?" He said, with a sly grin on his face.
"Yes, I am."
"You really couldn't have come at a better time." He mocked, eyeing the seething mass of humanity spread over his courtyard.
"It's my friend's fault," I explained, "Remember when I first came here? They hired me and we went and staked out the mine that they're now opening. We'll be shipping gunpowder to the Princess's Navy."
Duncan raised an eyebrow.
"That's pretty prestigious work you've gotten yourself into. It doesn't surprise me there's so many laborers answering the call, times have been difficult and work has been far between for most of these men." Duncan surveyed the group, watching Amalia slinging ales as quickly as she could. She tossed Duncan a desperate look, beckoning him with a wag of her head.
"Duncan, I can busy myself. You've got things to attend to."
"That's fine. After lunch things will calm down and we can find a spot. You are looking for practice, yes? I'm itching at a chance to swing a blade for a while." He rubbed his hands together then looked at them, scars criss-crossed both the back of his hands as well as his palms.
It was early evening when Duncan appeared again. The near constant flow of travelers had kept him occupied. The time had given me plenty of time to stew, but not enough to make any decisions.
We started on forms in the yard, but then moved to a more private location after we started to gather more than a few onlookers. Duncan didn't mind, but I wasn't keen on all these eyes on me.
"So, that story," I said as soon as we had moved to a more private location.
"Yeah? You're going to spill it now? You're not trying to get out of practice are you?"
I fumbled for words for a moment, trying to put the right amount of drama on what I was about to reveal. I had been using Silah for sword stances and forms. She seemed to enjoy the amount of effort I had been putting into it and had largely remained silent and seemed to be waiting for my decision.
"I can't really explain it. It's better if I just show you."
Duncan raised looked bemused and lowered his sword down to his side, looking on expectantly.
Are you ready?
"Why wouldn't I be ready?" Silah was perturbed by the question, "It's like meeting your daddy."
I winced at her words. There was a sparkling laugh in my head in response to her own comment.
I twisted the sword, blade down, and thought of Silah in human form. She began to form, and Duncan took a step back, almost raising his sword, but holding form. There she was, adorned in her rich purple dress, her honey-brown eyes glittering in the falling sun. She smiled warmly at Duncan.
"Duncan, this is Silah." I made a simple introduction.
I saw a mixture of fear and wonder as he looked on. His teeth clenched and the grip on his blade tightened. There was a ripple running up his right arm that echoed his restrained involuntary movement.
"You should warn me before you do something like that." Duncan held fast with some effort, but he made his apprehension was clear.
"How could I have made this any less strange?" I nodded toward her, "Just shake her hand."
He grimaced and switched the sword to his left hand and raised his right. Silah moved forward, her giddiness seeming to disarm Duncan's worry. She pumped his outstretched hand.
Duncan's eyes widened.
"Wait. You said her name." He shook himself, and turned toward Silah, "Your name is… Silah?"
"Yes!" She got to the answer before I did.
I was curious why Silah was this excited? Perhaps there were so few she had interacted with that knew both sides of her story?
"Silah." He mused for a moment, "Apparently, I have a story for you, too, Hakaar."
I was taken back by the statement and Silah looked at him expectantly.
"You know something about her?" I asked, curious.
"Perhaps?" He said with a wry smile.
I chuckled at his withholding.
"We'll talk about it over the Shatterhammer ale your friends sold me, eh?" Duncan teased, "We got our shipment today. Oh, and you're buying."
"For both of us." Silah added.
"I deserved that, but, believe me, my withholding wasn't without reason."
"Oh, I'm sure. And you said there wasn't anyone looking for this blade?"
"The mine we had staked out, well, we didn't dig too deep the first time we went there. We just wanted to verify that it had the materials our alchemists needed."
Silah looked to me, then moved in close and curled around my arm. An opportunity to both listen and watch my recall of the memory. Duncan watched her cozy up to me and there was a slight curl to the corners of his mouth.
"The second time we visited the mine, we wanted to make sure that there were no threats in the area. There was this massive statue blocking the mine's entrance. Inside, there was the carcass of an old dragon. I could hardly believe it. I thought they were myths or had long died out."
"Oh they exist." Silah stated, inside my head.
Well, I know that now. I didn't know then. Don't interrupt!
I saw her visage move into my mind. There was a mischievous look on her face. Her sleek form moved behind me, resting her folded arms on my shoulders watching over my shoulder at the unfolding memories.
"We found a knight's body--her previous … master--and, in the next room, we found her."
"So, as you said, no one is looking for … her?" He said, nodding. I could see Duncan struggling with what felt more comfortable, just as I had.
"How long are you both going to prattle on about this?" She whispered breathlessly in ear from within my mind. "I enjoy feeling you practice. We should get back to that."
"We," I cleared my throat, attempting to change the subject gracefully, "We can continue this over some of those ales later. I'm interested in what you know."
Duncan smiled, then shrugged.
"Suits me." He moved toward me raising his sword quickly. I took Silah's arm and she melted immediately into her greatsword form. There was enough time to counter the blow. Duncan smiled at the quick reaction.
"Good. Very good." He nodded, impressed, then continued to press the attack.
(Get to know Akeron)
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