No Strings Attached - Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The guard stood a little straighter and adjusted his cap. It was actually not so different than the leather and plate cap Viridian was wearing, though the guard’s gambeson was much longer, stopping around the knees. Otherwise, his only armour were a pair of complicated metal knee guards and some thick padding over his feet, all covered with a fine layer of dried mud.

Viridian grabbed the lamp on her hip and raised it up to better see the man’s face. He winced back at the light, but it let her see his face all the same. He was... a little thin, and pale, but not that unhealthy. This man was in better health than the villagers down by the coast. He seemed more lucid too.

“Oh... sorry, I can’t see ya with the light in my face,” he said as he slowly lowered his hand. “What’re you folk doing out here at this kind of hour?”

“We were sent to retrieve someone in Shorefarm,” Lazur said. “We didn’t expect to arrive this late. The roads aren’t safe.”

“Huh, yeah, I’d imagine they aren’t,” the guard said. “Lots of strange stories going on. Plenty of farmfolk from around town have moved in the walls to be safe too, just in case.” The man squinted at the three of them for a moment before something clicked. “You folk... look kind of strange there. Mind stepping into the light here?”

He reached, none too subtly, for a cord that led up to a brass bell hanging just inside the wall.

“We’re puppets, sent by a magus,” Viridian said. There was no point, in her opinion, in trying to hide the truth. They were what they were, and the moment the guard got a good look at then, he’d know what they were. “We’re on a mission from another magus. Maybe you can help us?”

The guard’s hand lowered, slowly, and he instead reached for his lamp and turned it so that they were in the focus of its light. “Would ya look at that,” he said. “You three could be academy puppets from the looks of you. Never had much to do with those. You said you were looking for someone?”

“Twp people, yes,” Viridian said. “Magus apprentices. They should be in town?”

The guard blinked, looked back towards the town, then back to them. There was some guilt there that he failed to do a good job of hiding. “Yeah, right. Well, I’m not the one that you ought to question about that kind of thing. Best you go ask someone in charge.”

“Who would that be?” Viridian asked.

“Well, usually I’d say to talk to the village headman, but he’s... no longer with us. Uh, then there’s the lord, but they’re the lord. Bit presumptuous to ask them about a missing persons. Maybe the priest? He’s a helpful enough sort. The priest and his acolytes are doing a lot for the town right now. Times being difficult and all.”

“Where could we find him?” Viridian asked.

“The church? Can’t rightly miss it. It’s right there in the middle of town,” he said with a half turn to point to the tall bell tower sticking out above the rooftops of the town.

“Thank you,” Viridian said. “Do you think the priest would talk to us at this hour?”

“Might be he would, but it would be more respectful to wait until the morning,” he said. “We’re too small to have a proper inn, but the large stables next to the town square? The house next to it’s the stable-masters, and there’s a small pub next to that. Tends to be open late. I’d escort you over, but my shift’s not done yet.”

Viridian nodded. “Thank you. We’ll find our own way.”

The guard hesitated, shifting his weight, then gave a slow nod. “Right, well
 you lot don’t go causing trouble, yeah? Folk are tense enough as is.”

“We will be on our best behavior,” Lazur assured him, though her tone was as flat as ever.

“No promises,” Carnel muttered just low enough that the guard wouldn’t catch it.

They stepped through the gate and into the town. It was quiet, but not empty. There was candlelight flickering behind drawn shutters, and here and there, the silhouette of a person moved behind curtains.

Lazur gestured ahead. “That should be the stable, and the pub.”

The building was squat and long, with a tiled roof that had a large chimney poking out of its middle with smoke trailing into the night. A sign reading ‘Rest Ashored’ creaked gently in the wind. The front door was slightly ajar, letting out the faint murmur of voices and the occasional scrape of a chair on wood.

Carnel stepped ahead and nudged the door open fully. The pub’s interior was little more than a tight corridor behind a tall counter, with stools sitting along it. Smoke greeted them, along with the dim glow of a single oil lamp and a fire in the open fireplace in the room’s centre.

Inside, a few men sat hunched over their drinks, speaking in hushed tones. A woman behind the bar glanced up as they entered, her brow knitting slightly as her gaze ran over them.

“You’re a strange lot,” she remarked, her voice dry but not entirely unfriendly.

Viridian approached first. “We need a place to stay until morning,” she said simply. “We can pay.”

The woman studied them for a moment longer, then gestured toward the back. “There’s a storage room. It’s mostly empty. Not a proper bed, but you won’t be out in the cold.”

“That is acceptable,” Lazur said. “We won’t be needing food or drink. Just a place to stay.”

The woman smirked slightly, shaking her head as she wiped down the counter. “Alright, then. Keep quiet, don’t cause a fuss. Folk are already wound tight enough.”

The bar’s patrons were eyeing them, some of them more casually than others. The looks weren’t exactly friendly. Viridian noticed that the plates they had out didn’t have much on them. The only food around were small crackers and what looked like dried figs and jam. The kind of food that would keep for a while. The beers they were drinking looked very pale too, as if they’d been watered down.

Viridian nodded, leading the others toward the back as the barmaid directed.

The storage room was exactly as described, mostly empty save for a few crates stacked against the far wall and a pile of old sacks in the corner. It wasn’t much, but it was dry.

“That’ll be... three silver pieces,” the woman said.

Lazur eyed her, then carefully reached into her pouch and pulled out two silver and a few copper pieces. “Can you take three silver and five copper?”

The woman eyed the money, then nodded. 

“That’s the last of our silver,” Lazur said as she turned back to the others.

Viridian knew that wasn’t true. She also knew that Lazur wouldn’t have said as much if the barmaid couldn’t hear them.

Carnel settled on one of the crates with a small huff. “Not exactly the nicest accommodations.”

“It is enough,” Lazur said.

Viridian sat down, resting her pike across her lap. She tilted her head slightly, listening to the muffled sounds of the pub beyond.

“Tomorrow,” she said. “We find the priest. And the apprentices.”

Lazur nodded. “Tomorrow.”

Carnel stretched out her legs and leaned back against the crate. “I hope the priest is less unpleasant than the magus.”

“Probably. The town isn’t what I expected,” Lazur said. “It’s still... civilized. Looks like it’s having some hard times, but the people here aren’t mindless.”

“It’s strange,” Viridian agreed. “What’s making this town different from the one by the shore? Didn’t the same dragon die? Why aren’t the people here... mad?”

“Did you notice. A lot of them had scales poking out of their skin. They were thin, too,” Carnel said. “The people here aren’t healthy, it’s just that their minds haven’t gone. Or maybe they took care of the ones whose minds have gone.”

“Oh,” Viridian said. She eyed the thin door into the storage room. “I’m glad we don’t need to sleep.”

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the distant murmurs of conversation beyond the storage room door. The pub was quiet, but not silent--the occasional scrape of a chair, the muted clink of a tankard being set down, the low rumble of tired voices discussing things they weren’t meant to hear.

Viridian ran her fingers over the haft of her pike, the wood smooth and worn under her grip. She turned slightly to glance at Lazur, who had settled herself against the far wall, arms crossed, her expression unreadable.

"We should take turns keeping watch," Lazur said after a moment. "Even if we don't sleep, we should make sure no one tries to pry open the door."

"I can watch first," Carnel offered. "I don't trust these people."

Viridian considered that. "I don't think they want to fight us," she said. "But... they might not want us here.”

“That’s fair. I don’t want to be here either,” Carnel said.

***