My legs were sore after the ride back to the house. Goldwyn was a stout gelding, so he endured the ride well. I just wasn’t used to riding that hard for that much of a distance. As soon as we had stopped, Maiylin jumped off of Goldwyn and ran off into the house. I decided that she probably just wanted some time alone to think in her room and went off to the kitchen to see if Fessy was there. She wasn’t there, but she had left a note saying that Mr. Stellein wouldn’t be here tonight and that she had left some bread and dried meat in the pantry for me. I was so tired I could barely taste it. After that I just walked over to the barn. It was already dark, so I had to take it slow. When I reached the door, I opened it slowly because the bocen can get startled easily when they’re sleeping. Any loud sounds could really panic them. I just collapsed into my bed as soon as I got up into the loft.
A small sound woke me up. It may have been one of the bocen just shifting in their sleep, but it just worried me for some reason. So I just had to get up to check things out or else I would never get back to sleep. I had set the dagger down on a little stool next to my bed. So I picked it up, just in case some animal had broken into the barn that did not belong here. We never have wolves around here though, so the most dangerous thing would just be a feral dog.
I carefully walked my way over to the edge of the loft, avoiding any of the spots that creak, and peered over the edge. My hand squeezed the hilt of the dagger hard. There was a cloaked figure walking around looking through the stalls. There usually is never any kind of thievery that goes on around here, especially not cattle thieves. I could make out the person looking around, searching for something. Then the figure reached into its cloak and pulled out a little round disc. I could see the starlight dimly reflect off it. The figure waved its hand over the disc and a small blue light flashed from the disc.
Then the head of the figure looked up, “hey, Jerin, is that you.” The voice was familiar, but who would be sneaking around like that to see me? “I can see you up there, so just relax, I’ll come up to you.” And then he walked around to the ladder and started climbing up. I stood up from where I had been crouching next to the edge of the loft.
With the cloak I couldn’t recognize who this man was, and I didn’t recognize that voice either. And now he is just climbing up into my loft. The voice sounded friendly, but what kid of person comes for a friendly visit at this time of night.
“Jerin, do you remember me,” the man said as he pulled back the hood from his face.
“You’re that merchant guy from today, how could I forget that fast? And what are you doing here? And how did you know my name?” I asked while pointing my finger at him.
“I know your name because I asked the inn’s owner, and he said he was a friend of yours. And I am here because of what I told you,” he said. He walked straight up to me.
“So what is your name then?” I asked him. I looked him straight in his eyes. His eyes were gray and very calm.
“My name. You can call me Deykin. And I’m not a merchant. I am a scholar that has been researching a certain set of prophecies. I came across an actual original copy of them, but the language is so old that there was no way to translate them. It was simply a dead language that has been dead for thousands of years. But near it, I found some other tomes that had partial translations of the prophecies in a language I know. And after translating the text I realized that some of the earliest warning signs had already come to pass. So I have been preparing since then to counter these prophesies,” the tone he used as he explained this to me sounded very much like when Fessy sits me down at the kitchen table and explained to me general history and cultural practices. She wanted to make sure I don’t make a fool of myself when meeting new people.
“Why do you want to stop these prophecies, Deykin?” I asked him.
His face became very serious, “because they foretell of a Demon Lord that will be resurrected, one powerful enough to conquer and enslave all the known lands.”
“So why are you here then? This is just a small trade town,” I asked. This was just a small out of the way town before the new trade routes were established.
“Your girlfriend is one of the keys to helping resurrect the demon, so I came here to try and convince her to go somewhere safer,” Deykin said.
“Why would she need to go somewhere safer? Nothing ever happens in this town.”
“That is probably why she has been safe for this long. But the demon has agents working for its release. I have fought against some of them, so I know they are strong. And I know that there is one in this town right now, and that it is going to be after your girlfriend. I’ve observed several suspicious people enter the town since I arrived, and then I’ve heard some rumors of some minor demons running around in the nearby area. So I decided to take a gamble and visit you, to see if you could help me convince her,” Deykin said.
“First off, she is not my girlfriend. Second, there is nothing dangerous around here. Third, her father has left town and Fessy, the lady that helps us out with cooking and cleaning, would be worried out of her mind if we just left,” I said.
“I had a contact get Mr. Stellein out of town on the pretext of business, so that it would be easier just to sneak you two out.”
“Oh, so you have friends helping you out too. Do you know that tailor lady in town? She supposedly could make clothes out of thin air,” I said.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“No, I don’t know anybody like that, why? Deykin asked.
“When I met you, Maiylin was talking to that woman. And she made a ribbon that could glow when Maiylin put it in her hair.”
“That is bad, where is she?”
“She’s in the house, just a short way up the hill.” Right after I had said that, Deykin leapt out of the loft onto the ground. I ran over to put my boots on while he dashed out of the barn. The bocen were starting to call out to each other after the noise, but I had to rush after Deykin to see what he was doing.
When I rushed outside I heard a yell. Then the sound of metal striking against metal rang out. “Deykin, what is going on?”
A creature came down the hill after I finished yelling. It had a furry body and had a humanoid shape. Its forked tongue wiggled out at me before it rushed at me with its sword held high. My right hand just reached out from my cloak with the dagger and parried the blow. By instinct my left hand seized its sword wrist. The creature hissed at me while it tried to pull away. But I re-gripped the dagger and stabbed at its throat since it was shorter than me. It managed to raise its free hand up to knock my hand a different direction and I only managed to make a gash across the side of its face. The creature jerked its sword arm free and backed away from me. I rushed at it, but it was ready for my dagger’s thrust and blocked it on the hilt. I tried to punch it again, but the creature caught my wrist. I pushed my weight down upon it to force it down. As I got it down to one knee I kicked it in the stomach, doubling it over. I took the creature’s sword, and then hit it behind the head with the hilt. It seemed to be knocked out, so I ran up to where Deykin had been.
When I reached Deykin, he was leaning on a long two-handed sword breathing heavily. On the ground were three large creatures and a small one like the one that attacked me. “Deykin, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, I ran right in the middle of them walking up to the house. Go on up to the house and get her, more will be around soon.” I dropped the skave’s sword and ran into the house.
I burst into the house, letting the door slam behind me, “Maiylin, Maiylin, we have to get out of here.” I ran up the stairs three steps at a time. When I got to the top I grabbed onto the banister to help me turn faster. “Maiylin, can you hear me?”
“Jerin, what’s wrong?” She ran out of her bedroom. “What’s happening? Why are you running around like this?” She could tell something was happening by just looking at me.
“Grab some things, we need to get out of here quick. The house was just almost attacked,” I said.
“Oh light, were you fighting Jerin?” Maiylin asked with a hint of fear in her voice.
“We’re ok right now, that merchant guy did all the fighting. His name is Deykin. But I don’t know how much time we have until more come.” She ran back into her room.
“I don’t know where’ll we run, but we'll probably have to rough it, so grab what you know you can carry.”
“I know what to do Jerin, Dad made us go camp in the woods sometimes, remember?”
“I’m just making sure,” I said.
“Where is my dad?” Maiylin asked.
“Fessy left a note saying he’d be out of town for a couple days,” I said.
“I’m ready,” Maiylin jumped out of her room, dressed in some sturdy brown pants, a good woven cotton shirt, and a leather vest. “Now, I’ll grab some food for the three of us, you wouldn’t know what would last, I’ll meet you outside.”
“Ok, but don’t take long, Maiylin,” I said and I waved to her as I started back down the stairs. I didn’t think of food. And I would know what to take, all the dried meats, some bread, and then some jarred preserves. I don’t think there’d be much of anything else in there that would keep for much time at all. We’ll end up having to forage or hunt in no time anyways if we have to travel without being able to stay in any towns for a while.
Deykin was waiting in front of the house, “you forgot to finish yours off, Jerin. I took care of it this time, but if we run into more trouble ahead of us, I’m going to need you to be able to take care of things,” Deykin said. He was cleaning off his blade with a scrap of cloth from one of the big creatures. “Those are Holfgegs, it’s best to kill them as fast as you can. Otherwise they probably have enough stamina to outlast any man.”
“I’m sorry, Deykin. I thought if I knocked it out that that would be enough.”
“So where is your girlfriend? I haven’t met her yet, Jerin,” Deykin sheathed his sword and tucked it inside of his cloak.
“She’s packing up some supplies so we have something to eat when we travel,” I said.
“She’s a smart girl then. I rushed over here without thinking of grabbing anything not too important.”
“Hey Jerin, come over here and help me,” Maiylin called out as she came walking up with our two horses being held by the reigns. I ran forward to go help her out, and Deykin followed me.
“Hello Maiylin, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Deykin,” Deykin nodded his head, brushed his cape back and performed a little bow.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you too,” and then Maiylin noticed the dead Holfgegs in front of this house, “did you kill all of those?”
“I did, but Jerin was around to help me out. He handled himself very well,” Deykin turned his head to me and winked. I just hoped he wasn’t getting me in trouble with Maiylin. “Who does the gray horse belong to, he’s a very fine animal.”
“He’s mine, I named him Fedrn, which means
Thunder, yes I know. That’s a very thoughtful choice,” Deykin said as he cut me off. “Would you mind if I rode him?”
“If he’ll let you ride him, you certainly may,” I said. Deykin walked over to Fedrn and started whispering into the horse’s ear.
“So what are we going to do now?” Maiylin asked and walked over to stand by me.
“Yes, I wonder what your plan is Deykin,” I asked.
“Well, since we have some fine horses that we don’t have to steal, we’ll head to a friend of mine in a city that’s not to far away. It’ll be a couple days travel to the west of here,” Deykin was adjusting the saddle on Fedrn and checking the supplies stashed into the saddlebags. “At any rate, we should get moving. This area will probably get very dangerous before the night is over. But as soon as they see you aren’t here anymore, they’ll move on. So don’t worry about your family coming back to a death trap. They’re just after you, Maiylin.