The next few days went uneventfully, following the road. I hunted as much as I could to save the hard bread and dried meat Gavendor had packed for me. I still had all the money he’d given me. I had never really handled money myself, so I didn’t know if it was a lot or just a little and how much it would buy me. I passed a few small towns and some larger baronies, and I was started to get into places I had not heard of nor met anyone from. That let me relax a bit feeling no one would recognize me. The land was drier, so we were probably out of lizard people habitat. More trees were growing in patches. The land was rolling hills now.
I passed a traveler with short brown hair with grey streaks muttering to himself. I expected him to be older when I saw him close up, but I decided his hair was just that color. The streaks were shiny silver really, not grey or white. Most people that mutter to themselves are ragged and often smell strongly of ale or Ginsseny a foul-smelling tobacco that makes people feel weird. I had puffed some Ginsenny once on a hunt when Gavendor wasn’t watching, but it made me cough and my eyes water and I really didn’t like the feeling it gave me. But he smelled normal and his cape and breeches were clean and fairly well made.
“Hi! Say, can I have a lift?” he asked me, when I got close.
“No,” I said, not looking in his direction, passing him on the road. I didn’t feel bad saying no. Just because he didn’t smell didn’t mean I’d be giving him a ride. I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me. Aelfie seemed to think he was okay, but she kept up with me only looking back at him from time to time. It was getting late, so I started to search for a place to camp. The road bent around a curve and took a slow rise. I walked my mare off the road and down into a small swale with a creek gurgling through. Lidly and Aelfie were eager for a drink.
There were plenty of frogs around for my meal. I caught a few more than I needed and sure enough that traveler trudged down off the road to my small fire when he caught up to me. I had already cleaned the frogs. The thing about frogs is that they really only have the hind legs for meat. The rest is just inedible goo (unless you’re a dog). Aelfie had already had her fill and I had a dozen legs roasting over my small fire.
The man sniffed the air and said, “It smells like what to you?”
I wondered at his question which made no sense.
“Hi!” I said loudly. He focussed on me then, but didn’t smile. Aelfie must have thought he was a bit odd too since she only wagged her tail a little and kept next to me.
“Hi,” he responded.
“Would you like something to eat?” I asked.
“What is it?”
“Meat,” I said, keeping it vague.
“Well, it smells good to me,” he said.
“You're welcome,” I replied, somewhat confused.
“Oh, thank you,” he told me. I watched him take a tentative bite out of one of the larger legs. He chewed and swallowed, then shrugged.
“Not that bad, right?” I asked. I had salted them and added pfeffer. It helped with the stringy taste somehow. He shrugged again.
“Leave me alone,” he said over his shoulder apparently to no one in particular.
“Are you talking to someone else?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said and continued chewing on his frog leg.
“Who?” I pressed. He looked up.
“It's a spirit. I can talk to spirits,” he told me waving a hand impatiently. I thought I took this news rather well.
“What’s his name?” I asked.
“Huh? His...?” his eyes seemed to unfocus for a moment. “Baldric, he says.”
“Where's he from?” I continued. The man huffed.
“What does it… Wellswood,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Ah, nice. My fiancé is from there. Well, ex-fiancé I guess,” I corrected. “So, you’ve been talking to this spirit for how long and you didn’t know his name or hometown?” The man shook his head, the silver in his short hair gleaming slightly in the firelight. There was a little silver in his eyebrows too.
“I don’t need to know his backstory to…” he started.
“I mean, it just seems like common courtesy to me…” I responded. It was odd to be giving behavioral advice to someone when I had usually been on the receiving end of such lectures.
“You stay out of it!” he yelled and I jumped. Aelfie also stood up and stared at him, her tail straight up.
“Hey, no need to…” I said, holding my hands up and trying to stay calm.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” he told me curtly. He rolled his eyes and mumbled something unintelligible. I wasn’t sure if I should press him. I mean, was he really talking to spirits or was this all in his head? And if it was all in his head, did that mean he’d want to chop me into little pieces in the night or what? I pulled Aelfie closer to myself. I didn’t want her chopped into little bits either.
“Baldric,” he exaggerated his name and then looked back at me, “wants you to know that I’m not crazy and am not going to hurt you.” He shook his head and mumbled, “we don’t have to get into the specifics of chopping…”
“Okaaay,” I said, really nervous now. “That's good. Thanks.” I petted Aelfie. She seemed to sense I was nervous and laid her head down still watching him across the fire. He was a young man, clearly well traveled. He had a gnarled old stick for walking, green breeches, nice boots, and a long grey cape with a hood. He had a bulky pack that he had cleverly arranged to hang off both shoulders and a bedroll tied up on top.
“Don't mention it,” he concluded reaching for another frog leg.
“I won’t,” I said. I waited for any spark of conversation.
“What's your name?” I asked him finally. Clearly, I was not the only person to fail lessons in basic manners.
“Pency,” he said. He didn’t ask mine. I huffed.
“I'm Aebbe,” I told him.
“That's what Baldric said,” he retorted, unimpressed.
“Okay. Good. Well, good night Pency and Baldric,” I said. It was full dark now, the wheel of stars sweeping over us. I rolled out my bedding and set up the saddle for a pillow in such a way that I could see him clearly across the fire from me the moment I opened my eyes. He finished the rest of the frog legs and eventually set up his bedroll across from me.
I was a little annoyed that all he had done was eat my food with little gratitude, but I watched as he gathered a few more bits of wood, murmuring over them calling on the fire spirits, I thought, before placing them in the fire. Those bits of wood seemed to burn slower and brighter.
Then, he stood and murmured some sort of incantation over the perimeter of our small camp that included where I’d tied Lidly and I sensed that we were blocked or hidden from common sight. An incantation to air, I thought. Good one that. I would have to learn it, if I could.
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I could handle feeding this guy a few frog legs if it meant our fire lasted a little longer and we were a little more hidden from sight of the road. Just in case. Assuming he wasn’t up to no good.
In the morning, I woke up to find the man gone. I could still feel the protective aura around the camp, but it was weak and fading fast. Still, that was impressive that it had hung around after he’d gone. More powerful that he seemed. Or… I looked around nervously and wondered if Baldric had hung around instead. I shrugged and relaxed. Spirits couldn’t hurt me. Well, not here anyway. And I was sure he’d seen a lot of naked people, so I didn’t think any more about it as I washed in the stream and took care of my necessities. Honestly, it worked out better this way since we each had privacy when we needed it.
I caught up to Pency later that morning. He was a strong walker.
“Hey, Pency,” I said as I rode up. I jumped off Lidly to give her a break and walked along side him.
“Hey,” he said. He’d been muttering non-stop as I’d approached.
“Where are you headed?” I asked.
“Holdstone,” he said.
“Me too,” I said.
“Can I ride for a while?” he asked.
“No,” I responded. He grunted. Then he waved his arm like he was shooing a fly away.
“No, stop it! I don’t want to tell her that!” he said in a low voice.
“Tell me what?” I asked. Obviously, Baldric wanted to talk to me.
“He wants me to tell you he likes you, but I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me,” he said, his face reddening.
“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t. Thanks, Baldric! Why does he hang out with you anyway?” I asked.
“Because I can hear him,” Pency explained, shrugging, like it should be obvious.
“Makes sense. Sorry I can’t, Baldric,” I said.
“He understands. Not many can. You’re lucky really. He can be annoying,” and then to the side, he continued, "Well, it’s true! And I’m not telling her that!” he ended yelling to the side. “Don't ask me what he said, it is NOT appropriate,” he sighed.
“Ok, no problem. Well, maybe I’ll see you on the road. You’re welcome to share my fire,” I said. He actually looked at me in the eyes then.
“Thanks,” he nodded. “You don’t talk much. I appreciate that.” I guess that was his way of saying he liked sharing my fire. I didn’t mind as he certainly didn’t seem like he had any thoughts of kissing or such-like which suited me.
“And maybe you can teach me that protection incantation?” I asked slowing my walk.
“Maybe,” he said as he walked on, not looking at me and I shrugged. That was fair enough. I wondered how many frog legs it would cost to learn it.
“Oh, and, Baldric. I’d appreciate if you didn’t always tell him what I was thinking. It’s not altogether polite nor comfortable,” I told Baldric. Pency just waved a hand vaguely over his head and I hoped that meant Baldric had at least heard my request. I stopped walking and swung back onto Lidly. I quickly caught up to Pency along the road and went on ahead of him. There were starting to be larger hills and bigger stands of trees in this wilderness. Aelfie amused herself chasing funny long animals in their colonies of burrows that were spread out in some of the meadows we passed. She didn’t catch any and didn’t venture into the tunnels although she tried digging a few out. It made me laugh since I generally saw the weasel, if that’s what it was, pop up some metres away from a different hole and watch her progress while she was oblivious.
I found a campsite a little early since I wanted to consult my books on that weasel creature and see if I couldn’t get something to eat. I found out those animals were meadow dogs and were not very good eating since they fed on mostly worms and spiders, both of which had a mild poison in them that made the meat difficult to digest. That was good to know as I had considered using them for my meal. Instead, I found some wood rats that my book promised were edible.
When Pency caught up to me, I had two wood rat carcasses roasting over the fire. They were about double the size of a squirrel and would make a good meal for each of us. Aelfie was too concerned with the smell of fat dripping from them to even look in his direction as he joined us.
“Hungry?” I asked him as he approached.
“Very,” he confirmed. “So what is this meat that you are roasting?” he asked. His specificity made me wonder if Baldric had spilled the porridge on the frog legs last night.
“Wood rat,” I said. When he wrinkled his nose, I continued, “Oh, it’s not a city rat at all. These are good to eat. I consulted my books on it.”
“Have you tasted it?” he asked squinting at the meat, still looking suspicious.
“No,” I confessed. “We'll just have to find out.” He grunted and then proceeded to find some bits of wood and twigs for the fire and set up that incantation around our camp. I wanted to ask about the incantation again, but I figured it may depend greatly on what a wood rat tasted like. I hoped my books were right about them.
Luckily, we confirmed they were good to eat. I had found some yarnow weed which I had sprinkled on them and that made them really quite tasty. I thought I had a good chance. When I asked him about it he explained it.
“It’s not a true protection spell. Just an illusion spell. That’s why it’s really only an appeal to the air elementals. A true protection spell that will sound an alarm or set off a trap is much more complicated,” he’d explained. “You’d have to weave in some complex fire spells or incantations.” I nodded in thanks for the explanation.
I thought it was too bad Pency didn’t play any musical instrument. Ofttimes, we’d have singing around the campfire when we were in the field since there were always a few guys that could play a lute or gittre, which were stringed instruments in different pitches. When it was full dark, but still early, suddenly, Pency pointed to my bags.
“What's that?!” he said. There seemed to be something glowing from one of my saddle bags. Before I could pull it out to have a look, Aelfie started barking like crazy and I dashed up from my bedroll, grabbing my crossbow which was, thankfully, in reach and loaded with arrows. Whatever Pency started doing was giving our little campsite plenty of light which allowed me to shoot a couple arrows at some goblins that where attacking us with some wicked-looking black daggers. I was aiming for their eye slits, but got one in the throat which worked as well. The other one hit by some sort of light energy. I didn’t have time to care what Pency was up to since I figured I needed to get to Lidly quickly. Goblins were like to take her or eat her either of which I didn’t want. Sure enough, two were going for her. She kicked one hard in the chest while I hit the other with the bottom of my crossbow. He went down, but I didn’t think he was dead, so I pulled the dagger from it’s sheath at my calf and stabbed him in the arm pit between rough pieces of armor.
By that time, the other goblin had recovered himself and was charging us with a deep growl. I loaded another arrow to hit him, but some light bolts went into him from behind and he went down and stopped moving.
“Are you alright?” asked a breathless Pency, coming up to check the one he’d downed.
“Yeah, you?” I returned straining my eyes into the darkness and ears to see if I could discern any more attackers as I cleaned my dagger.
“We need to move,” said Pency.
“Why? I think we got them all…” I started.
“Balric says they are only a small scouting party. There will be more,” he said. He was scanning around us as well.
“Halea’s tits! Why didn’t you say so?! Let’s go then,” I replied. “Thanks, Baldric.” I retrieved the arrows I could find and we packed hastily, and put out the fire. When I got back onto Lidly, I put her saddlebags in front of me then reached a hand down to Pency. He looked really surprised, but took it and swung in behind me. I figured Lidly could handle both of us for a short ride. Anyway, Pency was fairly slight for a grown man. He didn’t put his arms around me or speak which I appreciated. He seemed like a fair rider since he was holding on with his legs. That was something.
We got back on the road and kept going for some time. After what I felt had been at least a couple hours, I asked Pency if Baldric thought this would be far enough.
“He says there’s a small hamlet further ahead and we should get there or stay beyond there for the night,” Pency informed me.
“Alright,” I said. “We should probably tell them about the goblins since the attack is so close to their town anyway.”
We rode on until we could see a small town up the road ahead of us. It looked like it was on high alert. We were stopped and questioned. It seems our encounter was not uncommon in the past fortnight. When we asked for a place for the night, they allowed us to use the common stables for no charge. It was late by then and all I wanted was to sleep for a good bit. Lidly nickered and seemed happy to have a roof over her head and some oats which I had to use a little of my money to pay for.
In the morning, Pency was gone as usual and when I went through my bag to see what it was that had glowed, I decided it had to be that necklace the lizard people had given me. I didn’t know if it would only work on goblins, but it seemed downright useful, so I pulled it out and figured out a way to wear it around my neck. It was made up of some sort of pale stones strung roughly together with a marsh reed silk. It sat heavily on my neck, but it soon warmed up to my skin.
I refused breakfast at the local pub or more oats for Lidly thinking I’d better keep moving and save my money. We all drank and I refilled our water skins. The stable hands let Lidly munch some hay before we saddled up and headed on down the road.
After the goblin attack, I noticed Pency would put up a true protective barrier around our camp. I practiced doing the illusion one. The new barrier spell took several minutes and sounded very complicated, but I was grateful. I was still able to get us some fresh meat or fish most nights, but I was starting to pull out the rations Gavendor had packed. However, we didn’t have any more surprises on the road.
Thankfully, when I was just about out of rations, the city of Holdstone was spread out before us. Pency had mentioned seeing an advertisement for adventurers that he was going to check out at the a tavern called the Miner’s Folly. I decided I would go there too and see if I couldn’t figure out some future for myself.