FreeHolds Adventure, Cycle 3 Part 3b
The dawn arrived, Dorn woke them. He had brought his wife and child along and made a point of introducing Calathy and Sefla to them. Calathy and she started talking about cooking right away, they seemed to get along pretty well. Adwin noted that Sefla had been given the baby, she seemed unsure what to do with it.
Dorn took Adwin and Mokha outside. Palk had a team out and was walking them around the yard, a couple of youth were transferring the luggage and supplies to a sturdy looking wagon. Dorn made sure Adwin was satisfied with the team and pointed out that he had included a couple extra wheels.
He kept expecting Tipper to appear, but by the time he and Dorn had finished their business, she had not done so. Dorn mentioned that there were a couple of riding horses, chickens and goats that he could sell as well. Mokha suggested that eggs might be nice to have with them at the ruins and one of the horses was a small red mare, similar to the one Tipper had been riding last year. He bought a half dozen chickens, for which Palk improvised a cage from scrap wood then put them on the back of the wagon.
He had almost convinced himself not to get the Pwhanna horse, but after considering the available space on the wagon he thought it might not be a bad idea. So he negotiated for the pony, tack and some more feed. He was just handing over the silver weight to Dorn when the local marshal and three other men rode up.
Dorn greeted them, “Marshal, you’re out and about early.”
“Dorn. Palk. Gentlemen.” He gave Mokha a scrutinizing look, then continued, “There’s been a bit of trouble with them Maldorn. Word came from the keep that they’re looking for a woman and two men from the station there.”
“What happened? I was just there yesterday.”
“Don’t know, but it’s serious. In addition to them three I mentioned, there’s a general order to detain all Roburns employees.”
Dorn kept a serious expression, but Adwin noted a glimmer of hope in the man’s eyes. The marshal’s news also had Adwin very curious as to what had happened and how Tipper might be involved, but he kept his mouth shut.
The marshal looked Mokha over again and glanced over to Palk who was hitching up the team. “Last I remember Dorn, you’d been told to stop doing business in the hold.”
“Just selling off some of what we won’t be needing. These two and their women are heading east.”
The marshal asked Adwin, “Where you headed?”
“Willik’s Hold, sir. It’s where I’m from.”
“Road’s not really safe these days. What with bandits, goblins, giant spiders and rumours of a mind-witch in Aramy, you might find your journey more fraught with peril than you expected.”
“We had heard Lord Sharlok has an army camped nearby.”
“That is the case. His lordship has decided to clean up the mess east of his borders. I’d expect them to be heading out soon. You might find yourself in a safer position if you waited and travelled along with the army.”
“I think we’d make better time if we went ahead as planned.”
“Making time? Well, you can’t say you haven’t been warned.”
He turned his attention back to Dorn, “You might not want to be too hasty selling off all Grange’s gear and livestock. I’m not sure what is happening with the Maldorn, but it seems like a rather drastic situation.”
“Of course marshal, that thought had occurred to me.”
“Still, until you hear otherwise, I don’t want you conducting business outside of town.”
“Of course not marshal.”
“Good day.”
The marshal rode off with his men towards the eastern gate. As soon as they were out of sight Calathy called them in for breakfast.
The news had them stirred up for a while. As they ate, Dorn’s wife speculated about a return to business and vocally voiced her disdain for Roburns Trading Company and Maldorn in general. Calathy wondered what had happened and also expressed concern for their missing companion, even going so far as to speculate that Tipper was somehow implicated in what was happening with the company. Thankfully Dorn and his wife were too occupied with their own concerns to have picked up on what Calathy had said.
Mokha asked Sefla, “Do you have any experience with horses? We just bought a nice Pwhanna pony.”
Dorn interjected, momentarily distracted from the conversation with his wife. “It’s not really a pony.”
Mokha gestured to him, “A small horse, perhaps a bit bigger than a pony.”
“I used to ride all the time. My father had extensive stables and was known to have the finest horses in the city.” Sefla’s expression was sad, “Though I have not been on a horse in nearly six years.”
Adwin suggested to Calathy, “Maybe you can read to us from Greener Fields as we’re travelling.”
She brightened, “I’d like that.”
Dorn’s wife finished her meal and excused herself, “I have to feed the lads.” She took the pot of cooked grains and some bowls out to the yard.
Dorn ate some more flatbread slathered with honey then also excused himself. “I promised to give Palk a hand clearing out the carriage house today. We’ve mostly been using it to store odds and ends and it’s long overdue to be sorted and cleaned out. When you’re ready, just give me a shout, I’ll see you off.” He scooped up his child on the way out, making faces and funny noises as he went.
That left the four of them alone at the table, no one was in the warehouse. They fell silent for a few moments. Eventually Calathy asked, “What’s Tipper doing?”
Mokha laughed.
Adwin said, “We’re not sure.”
“Do you think she managed to turn Sharlok against the Roburns people?”
He shrugged, “Maybe, but we obviously don’t know what’s what, right now.”
“Are we waiting for her?”
“She said to keep moving. There’s also the fact that Sharlok’s army is very close by. I’d really like to get well ahead of it before they start moving east.”
Sefla added, “Once that army is outside of Sharlok’s realm, they’ll stop behaving like civilized people and that could be very dangerous for us.”
Adwin nodded. Calathy looked cross, “So are we still going to Aramy?”
Mokha smiled and stood up, “Look, we know nothing of what is actually happening, other than Sharlok is upset at the Roburns folk for some reason. For all we know, Tipper is out there waiting on the road for us. Let’s drop all the gloomy fear and be about what we ought to be doing.”
Sefla smiled at Mokha, nodded her agreement and started clearing the table, Calathy was quick to help with the clean up. Adwin knew Mokha had the right of it. So, as best he could, he pushed his concerns aside and made sure all their gear was packed and ready. It did not take them overly long before they were heading out the door.
Adwin gave a shout to Dorn. Calathy and Mokha secured their luggage while Sefla went over and introduced herself to the horse. Dorn wandered over from the old barn and shook hands with all of them. “I hope your travels are safe. If Grange’s niece happens by, I’ll be sure to mention you were here.”
Adwin suggested, “Let her know we’re still following the plan. She’ll understand.”
“Of course.” His wife came over with the baby, Calathy joined them, making faces and little cooing noises at the child.
Sefla asked Adwin, “Can I ride her?”
Adwin shrugged, “Yeah. Of course.”
“Safe travels.” Dorn said.
“I hope things work out for you here.” Once everyone had settled onto the wagon Adwin waited for Sefla to indicate that she was ready then took the reigns, released the brake and was able to get the horses moving. Soon they were rattling along towards the town gate.
Mokha asked, “You sure you know what you are doing?”
“Yeah, mostly.”
Sefla rode past them with a big smile on her face, she had the little horse high-stepping along. Many of the locals took note of their passage through town. Adwin thought he recognized a couple of them. “I don’t think staying here much longer would have been a good idea.”
From the back of the wagon Mokha said, “I’m very happy to be moving on.”
They had no troubles leaving town, the gate was open and Sefla made the horse do a few tricks, the guards admired her equestrian skills as much as they did her. Adwin was not sure how she was doing what she was doing, he had never seen a horse move around like that. He would ask her later. Sharlok’s army was camped out of sight, the smoke from their fires rose up into a cloudless sky.
Calathy pulled the new book out of her satchel, flipped past the first few pages and started reading, “Once there was a man of renown…”
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