travel company and give that
particular inn three stars if only I could remember what the name
of the little town was. In any case the rooms were very nice, all
the more so since they were free to me. I made sure that my little
elf princess was settled in and had the door locked before
preparing for bed myself and was just about to lie down when there
was a knock at my door.
I pulled the portal open a crack to find
Ellwood Cyrene. He leaned in very close to me. I could smell the
ale on his breath.
“I have something to tell you,” he said.
“Yes?” I leaned closer only to better hear
him.
“I’ll be gone when you wake Eaglethorpe,”
said he. “Don’t continue on the East Road. There will be a battle
fifteen miles east of here tomorrow. You will have to make a
detour.”
“Alright.”
“And Eaglethorpe?”
“Yes?”
“Be careful, won’t you?” He reached up his
hand and brushed aside a strand of hair from my forehead. Then he
turned and walked down the hallway to his room.
Chapter Fifteen: Wherein we take the road
less traveled.
The following morning found both Jholeira
and me awake and refreshed. So we made an early start. It was not
as early as Ellwood Cyrene who had left at the crack of dawn.
However when I went down to the common room that morning, not only
did I find that my friend had paid for breakfast for my elf girl
and myself, but he had left a package for me as well. Wrapped in a
large oiled cloth were several pounds of dried beef, a wheel of
yellow cheese, two or three pounds of raisins and a small cloth
sack with a half dozen coins in it.
Ellwood Cyrene never seemed to be in need of
money, despite the fact that he seldom took payment for his many
acts of manly heroism. I have seen a bucket of gold coins gathered
together by a town to pay the hero that saved them from the threat
of a raging monster, only to have it politely refused by a smiling
Ellwood Cyrene. I have seen him pass out coppers to every orphan in
a six block radius of the inn in which he was staying. To be fair I
have seen him plunder more than one baggage train, and on numerous
occasions he has rifled through the pockets of a man he has just
stabbed-- but who hasn’t done that, when you get right down to
it.
I was not able to procure any oats for my
poor steed, which is to say Hysteria, but I did get a small bundle
of dried hay to supplement the small amount of forage we were
likely to find in that country in winter.
We set off on the East Road, but following
the advice I had been given, we soon turned off to the north,
following a cattle path that wandered over the hills and down into
the valley. Our new path veered off from our previous course, but
not enough that I thought we would lose our way. In fact at tea
time, we stopped among a small copse of trees at the top of a hill.
From this point we were able to look down to the south across a
vast valley. True to Ellwood’s warning, a great battle was being
fought. It was impossible to tell who the two sides were, as their
banners at this distance were too difficult to read. All that was
certain was that both sides were humans. I took some small pains to
make sure that we weren’t spotted, but considering the distance and
the chaos on the battlefield, I judged that there was little chance
of it.
After journeying the remainder of the day,
we made camp just off the path in a little hollow which had been
formed by three massive boulders piled one atop of the other two. I
can only imagine that some giant piled them up thus as there was no
nearby mountain down which they might have slid to come to rest in
such a fortuitous configuration, which is to say a pretty good
shape.
“We should reach the edge of Elven Wood
tomorrow,” I told my companion.
“Really? I don’t seem to recognize any
landmarks.”
“Maybe when we get closer,” I offered. “How
long since you’ve been home?”
“Six or seven years I would suppose.”
“That must be tough, being without
particular inn three stars if only I could remember what the name
of the little town was. In any case the rooms were very nice, all
the more so since they were free to me. I made sure that my little
elf princess was settled in and had the door locked before
preparing for bed myself and was just about to lie down when there
was a knock at my door.
I pulled the portal open a crack to find
Ellwood Cyrene. He leaned in very close to me. I could smell the
ale on his breath.
“I have something to tell you,” he said.
“Yes?” I leaned closer only to better hear
him.
“I’ll be gone when you wake Eaglethorpe,”
said he. “Don’t continue on the East Road. There will be a battle
fifteen miles east of here tomorrow. You will have to make a
detour.”
“Alright.”
“And Eaglethorpe?”
“Yes?”
“Be careful, won’t you?” He reached up his
hand and brushed aside a strand of hair from my forehead. Then he
turned and walked down the hallway to his room.
Chapter Fifteen: Wherein we take the road
less traveled.
The following morning found both Jholeira
and me awake and refreshed. So we made an early start. It was not
as early as Ellwood Cyrene who had left at the crack of dawn.
However when I went down to the common room that morning, not only
did I find that my friend had paid for breakfast for my elf girl
and myself, but he had left a package for me as well. Wrapped in a
large oiled cloth were several pounds of dried beef, a wheel of
yellow cheese, two or three pounds of raisins and a small cloth
sack with a half dozen coins in it.
Ellwood Cyrene never seemed to be in need of
money, despite the fact that he seldom took payment for his many
acts of manly heroism. I have seen a bucket of gold coins gathered
together by a town to pay the hero that saved them from the threat
of a raging monster, only to have it politely refused by a smiling
Ellwood Cyrene. I have seen him pass out coppers to every orphan in
a six block radius of the inn in which he was staying. To be fair I
have seen him plunder more than one baggage train, and on numerous
occasions he has rifled through the pockets of a man he has just
stabbed-- but who hasn’t done that, when you get right down to
it.
I was not able to procure any oats for my
poor steed, which is to say Hysteria, but I did get a small bundle
of dried hay to supplement the small amount of forage we were
likely to find in that country in winter.
We set off on the East Road, but following
the advice I had been given, we soon turned off to the north,
following a cattle path that wandered over the hills and down into
the valley. Our new path veered off from our previous course, but
not enough that I thought we would lose our way. In fact at tea
time, we stopped among a small copse of trees at the top of a hill.
From this point we were able to look down to the south across a
vast valley. True to Ellwood’s warning, a great battle was being
fought. It was impossible to tell who the two sides were, as their
banners at this distance were too difficult to read. All that was
certain was that both sides were humans. I took some small pains to
make sure that we weren’t spotted, but considering the distance and
the chaos on the battlefield, I judged that there was little chance
of it.
After journeying the remainder of the day,
we made camp just off the path in a little hollow which had been
formed by three massive boulders piled one atop of the other two. I
can only imagine that some giant piled them up thus as there was no
nearby mountain down which they might have slid to come to rest in
such a fortuitous configuration, which is to say a pretty good
shape.
“We should reach the edge of Elven Wood
tomorrow,” I told my companion.
“Really? I don’t seem to recognize any
landmarks.”
“Maybe when we get closer,” I offered. “How
long since you’ve been home?”
“Six or seven years I would suppose.”
“That must be tough, being without
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