Chapter 33

Snow lay dusting the road and the fields around us as we rode the last bit into town. We’d been on the road for a month and had gotten lucky with mild weather thus far, but it seemed our luck was finally winding down. The clouds billowing in from the north promised a large downfall of snow tonight. We’d be staying in this city for the winter.

Lake City. It was far and away the largest city we’d come through. Last Bridge, a couple of towns north of Springfields, had been pretty big and sprawled out on both sides of the bridge spanning the river that gave the town its name. This city though was easily twice the size. The homes we were driving past on the outskirts weren’t much better than huts really, all thatched with the long grasses prevalent in the flat plains surrounding the city.

The people we saw listlessly wandering the outskirts of the unwalled city were skinny and dressed in little better than rags. I wondered how they’d survive the coming cold, and then I realized that many of them simply wouldn’t.

A large castle constructed of dark gray stone, on the edge of the large lake that gave the city its name, dominated the town ominously. Shining lights were visible in its windows even from a distance in the rapidly darkening overcast evening. I shivered in my cloak and pulled it tightly around myself. Hammer was similarly bundled up in his bearskin cloak, and Knick had purchased himself a couple of woolen cloaks that he seemed to prefer over animal skins and wore them layered, a black one on the outside and a red one on the inside. As had become our custom we asked a passerby where the nicest stable in town was located and headed that way.

We paid for Goliath to stay the week with an option to put him up for the winter if needed for a substantial upcharge, and as a bonus they offered to keep an eye on our cart so we didn’t need to leave one of us to guard it as we’d had to in most towns.

Knick liked guard duty. He said it was convenient to have bait to bring people to him that he was allowed to kill. Hammer disliked it for much the same reason. We’d killed at least a dozen would-be thieves on our way north. No one had questioned their deaths and had simply dragged them out of town or to a local graveyard in those places that had one.

We didn’t trust the stablemen implicitly of course and carried our more valuable goods with us. Hammer carried the already forged steel from back in Tiga, Knick’s pack held our coin, and I carried my pack that held what was left of my death panther fur and leather.

We’d left Dog tied up with the cart, chewing on a frozen rabbit, and had told the stablemaster we’d likely be back to pick him up later this evening. We had found that some inns wouldn’t allow dogs, and we didn’t want to start anything by walking into one with him.

Most of the goods that we left with the cart consisted of the blue wood and iron ingots we’d been purchasing on our way north whenever we found them for a good price. We had a good supply of high quality charcoal as well, and ever since it’d reached the point where it was below freezing I’d started stocking up on meat that I’d clean and freeze so we’d have food for the winter. We had passed through several small forests teaming with game on our way north, and I’d even managed to track down and kill a boar and a small deer. All the animals we came across were much smaller than those back near Tiga though, so the boar wasn’t a full on one ton critter that’d feed us all winter. At this point I had a nice stock of rabbits and various birds that I liked to eat including nearly a dozen smallish cadraw birds, as they were apparently called. We were running a bit low on apples though, and I’d like to get something to supplement our food beyond just meat. I know I can make it through the winter eating nothing else, but I’ve gotten a bit spoiled on our journey. Getting to eat bread on a regular basis has been extremely pleasant.

After we’d dropped off Goliath, Dog, and the cart, we made our way farther into town in search of the nicer inns the stablemaster had recommended to us. The further in we got, the nicer the town looked, and the more prosperous the various folks we saw. At least water is easy to come by next to the lake, so we won’t be paying for that. I had been asking about the high food prices as we traveled, and it turned out that food was highly taxed by the lord of the lake. He was in charge of all lands south of this city and ultimately took about eighty percent of everything grown in taxes. It sounds like The Mountain has a massive population and requires a large amount of food to feed that many mouths, and so it made its way north. Though, from what I hear, the food prices are quite low on The Mountain itself as the king supplements the cost. Not that that helps the commoners growing it, and a lord that lets his people starve and freeze on the outskirts of his own town doesn’t seem like much of a lord to me.

We scoped out a half dozen inns as we made our way nearly to the center of the town. We settled on a well kept inn that didn’t seem like it’d be too expensive. It wasn’t too far from the castle and had a good view of its high tower as it rose up like a layer cake on the top of the highest hill in the area. We walked under the sign telling us this was the Silver Pony and made our way inside. The warmth of the inn and the delicious smell of stew practically slapped us in the face as we walked inside. The inn seemed to have a bustling bar as most did around this area from what I’d seen, and nearly half the tables were occupied by folks eating their dinner or just drinking.

We didn’t garner much attention as we brushed off the snow on our shoulders and stamped our boots clean. I gave my eyepatch a quick wipe so I didn’t end up with water dripping down my face. I had found that a lot of people couldn’t help but stare at a man with a golden eye, and it also drew the attention of less savory types of folk. We’d been attacked by more than a few thugs outside of bars or who followed us out of town and even a couple of small groups of bandits that set up rudimentary ambushes along our intended direction of travel. With my eye able to see their clouds of magic through trees though it was usually child’s play for me and Knick to flank them and cut their throats before they even knew we were there. I’d had a close call with an archer who saw me coming at the last second a couple of towns ago, but I’d barely taken a scratch, and that had healed almost immediately. I had been more irritated at having to fix a hole in my cloak and shirt than anything.

I had made the eyepatch myself with some of the smooth black death panther leather that I’d had Norbert tan for me after noticing that a good chunk of my death panther pelt had started rotting due to the terrible job I’d done with it. The eyepatch was actually quite comfortable. Personally, I think it gives me a bit of a rakish look. Knick just says it makes me look less dangerous.

We lucked out and got our preferred corner table. I waved down a waitress and ordered us all some of the stew I was smelling along with a round of beer for the table. I’d secure our rooms later.

We relaxed in the warm inn and enjoyed some of the tastiest stew I’d had since leaving Tiga. Jeck’s had been getting really good for some reason by the time we left though and had this beat by a little bit. It reminded me a bit of Dinty Moore canned stew from my last life but with better quality chunks of meat accompanying the potatoes and carrots. I ordered a loaf of bread for the table while I was at it, though that pushed the total cost of our meal up to two gold for the lot. Drinks ended up being included, but it was the same five silver per bowl and loaf that I’d been coming to expect at most places along the road. The beer wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Fucker had been right, the beer down south was considerably better. The further north we went the worse it seemed to get. We were about two thirds of the way to the mountain at this point, and this was not good beer. It was drinkable, but barely. I switched to water, and my friends did the same after our first mug.

We had put a sizable dent in my stockpile of silver as we’d made our way north, and I’d ended up trading in most of my copper as it was really only used by some of the poorest of the poor or as change when haggling. We were down to about a third of the silver we’d started with, but we hadn’t spent much gold really beyond what I’d splurged on Goliath, on the sheath hanging at my belt for my sword, and on Knick’s cloaks. Most of the silver had gone towards our smithing supplies, but we’d managed to get it quite cheap as it stood so we were still sitting pretty well financially, and I wasn’t worried about making it through the winter.

After we finished our meal I had the waitress call over the innkeep, and I arranged for a room for all three of us. Given that it was now winter, most of the rooms had already been spoken for, but the innkeep still had one large room left with two beds, and he charged by the room not by the person staying in it, so we’d actually end up saving a bit of coin at five silvers a night. Hammer had discovered that sleeping in beds that were too small for him left him feeling a bit sore most of the next day, and he’d taken to sleeping on his cloak on the floor most nights, so it wasn’t much of an imposition. I quickly snatched up the room, and secured it for the week, just like I had with Goliath, in the hopes that we could find more permanent accommodations for cheaper during that time frame. They were even ok with Dog staying with us as long as we cleaned up after him, but I still didn’t want to pay for a full three months worth of rent if I could avoid it. That shit gets expensive in a hurry and I was still hoping to purchase access to a forge if I could get one cheaper than one or two hundred gold. I figure for that price I could lump lodging into the deal during negotiations.

I’d been napping in the back of the cart a bit today while Knick and Hammer traded off driving, so I wasn’t particularly tired and offered to head back to get dog and a bird for breakfast while they got set up in the room for the night. We’d been on the move since dawn, and I could tell they were flagging a bit and could use the rest.

So I left my pack with them, pulled up my hood, snugged my cloak tight around myself, and headed back out into the cold, only to almost immediately get lost. I sighed to myself. And such a pleasant night to get lost, I thought as the cold wind began bringing the snow down on me in earnest. Shit, this does not look like a good part of town, I’m liable to get jumped by someone if I’m not careful. I pulled my hood back down and suffered the cold to improve my hearing a bit to keep someone from trying to sneak up behind me and scanned the area for the magic clouds that signified people as I walked.

I stopped in place and listened hard. What was that? I could have sworn I heard a scream over the progressively worsening wind. I looked around and saw a clump of closely grouped magic clouds indicating people down what appeared to be a dark alley up ahead. They looked to have someone cornered. Hmm, that someone had a substantially thicker than average cloud of sickly yellow magic. Definitely something wrong with that person. I decided to take a look. It always bothered me when folks pick on the little guy. I’ve been the little guy getting picked on, and I never once cared for it.

I gave my surroundings a quick scan and didn’t see anyone in the area beyond the locals that by and large seemed from their magic signatures to be in bed. I put my hood back up and quickly ghosted towards the alley and turned in. I saw no fewer than five brawny men standing nearly shoulder to shoulder in the alley, laughing at their quarry. I managed to catch a glimpse of an, obviously frightened, crying young woman brandishing a small knife towards the men as they taunted her. From their crude jests it was pretty clear they meant to rape her and leave her for dead. I felt my jaw tighten. I fucking hate rapists.

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They never so much as heard me coming, and not one of them had a chance to turn as I dashed into their midst swinging my axe with one hand, and deftly cutting throats with my knife in the other. I started with the largest man in the middle of the group, moved left through his friends, braced myself against the wall, and threw myself through the remaining two men with a leap that took me from one wall of the alley to the other. It was over in seconds, and I stood on the back of the largest of them looking at the shocked young woman as she gaped through her tears at the carnage in front of her. I crouched down and wiped off my axe and knife on the large man’s clothing before sheathing them beneath my cloak. As I stood, I threw back my hood. “Good evening, miss. It’s a bit dangerous for a young lady like yourself to be out alone in this neighborhood. I tell you what, if you’d give me directions to a particular stable I’d be happy to walk you home in return.” I smiled genially as I gave her a small bow. She seemed a bit frozen in place and was still gaping and pointing her knife at the man on the ground beneath my boots in the middle of the corpses. “Sorry for the sudden violence, but I find that’s often the best way to handle a large group of assailants, and I do rather despise rapists like these.” I gave the corpse I was standing on a light kick. Crap, I’d nearly taken the big one’s head off with my axe, and the kick tore the remaining bit of skin at his neck and sent his head rolling to her feet. That seemed to be too much for her, and she just passed right out.

Fucking hell, I dashed forward and caught her before she could hit the cold slushy ground. I even managed to snatch her knife before it hit the ground as well and sheathed it at her belt. Nice reflexes if I do say so myself. I’d kept training with Knick sporadically on the way north, and I’d really had to up my game lately as fast as he was getting.

I grabbed her up in a princess carry. Well now what? I’m still fucking lost, damnit! I sighed and made my way back out onto the street. I tried to orient myself by the castle and made my way away from it in the hopes that that was more or less the correct direction to the stable. My ears were cold, and I didn’t have a spare hand to pull up my hood. The streets were pretty much deserted at least with the storm turning into a full on blizzard at this point, so I didn’t have to explain to anyone why I was carrying around an unconscious young girl like some kind of kidnapper.

As I carried the girl, I examined her cloud of magic. I hadn’t seen a yellow magical cloud in anyone before and wondered idly what the significance of the different colors indicated. There was definitely something wrong with her though, so I ran the green lightning of my healing magic through her. It strengthened her cloud quite a bit but still held a sickly glow that I didn’t care for. She was quite light, and the more I thought about it her cheeks seemed a bit sunken as well. Is she starving maybe? Tough to tell while walking through the snow in the dark, even for me.

I finally found what I thought was the correct street and turned south down the road as I trudged along through the rapidly deepening snow. At least the houses and shops are getting nicer in this area, that’s a step in the right direction. The girl started to stir, and I took a short break under a wooden awning outside a well lit bar. She blinked sleepily up at me. “Good evening again, miss. Sorry to have startled you so badly earlier. Do you think you’d like to stand on your own, or would you prefer I continue to carry you?” I asked with a polite smile. She startled and seemed like she was about to start struggling with me, so I placed her gently down on her feet.”There, that’s better,” I pulled up my hood and my ears immediately felt warmer. “Now, as I was trying to say earlier, I’m quite lost. Do you think you could point me in the direction of The Red Horse Stable?” I asked doubtfully, I wasn’t even sure of the name, that's just what I’d seen on the sign. Damnit, I knew better than to forget where I left all our stuff.

The girl looked around a bit bewildered and then noticed the sign hanging next to the awning. “T-the Drunken Merchant Bar? Uh, if you mean The Red Rock Horse Stable it’s just down the street a ways,” she pointed in the same direction I’d already been headed. Well, at least I wasn’t totally clueless then.

“Thanks ever so much, miss. Quite embarrassing to get lost like this, but it’s my first time in this town, and I’m still learning the streets. You know it really is a bit dangerous out tonight. I’d be remiss if I didn’t make a second offer to walk you home. I’m just on my way to pick up my pet dog from the stable before heading back to my room at the Silver Pony. I’d be happy to make a detour to bring you home though. I’d feel terrible if I saved you from those ruffians only to have you fall afoul with another group on your way back.” I looked at her as I waited for a response. Her hair was a bit dirty, but I expect it was normally a golden blonde that would nearly match her magic’s color if it didn’t have that sickly tinge to it. Her yellow and white dress was thoroughly patched and seemed a bit thin, but the stitchwork was rather well done. It was only a step up from rags but it was a step up. It looked pretty cold to be walking around in in a blizzard though.

“U-um, who are you, sir?” she finally asked.

I repeated my shallow bow from earlier, “Ah, how rude of me. I’m afraid I don’t actually have a name though. My friends just call me Nameless.” I straightened. “And what should I call you miss?”

“Uh, my name is Ara, Ara Smith,” she replied. Smith? That could be promising.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Ara. Would you care to walk me to my stable? I can at least offer you the use of a fur for the walk back to your home once we get there. It’s a bit chilly to be out in that dress, lovely as it is.”

She blushed prettily, “O-ok, it’s not very far.” I nodded amiably and started walking down the street as she followed, not quite sticking beside me. She was a step or two back and seemed to be keeping a rather wary eye on me. She was right, we reached the stable in under five minutes and I made my way to the back yard where a half dozen or so carts were parked.

“Who goes there?” I was challenged by a guard standing next to a brazier a half dozen steps from the back door of the stable with a short sword half drawn.

“It’s just me,” I raised my voice a bit to be heard over the wind. “Back to pick up Dog. He hasn’t been any trouble has he?”

The guard relaxed with a smile and sheathed his sword. “Not at all,” he said cheerfully as I came closer with Ara in tow. “He’s been snapping up rats and eating them. He’s quite fun to watch actually,” the guard chuckled.

I waved as I moved past him to where my cart was parked near the entrance of the fenced off rear of the stable. A shadow under the large cart got up and came out to the extent of his leash and barked happily. “Well hey there, boy. I hear you’ve been behaving yourself. That’s a good dog.” I took a knee in the shallow snow and ruffled the fur at Dog’s neck as I untied his leash. Dog ran a quick circle around me and then walked warily up to Ara to sniff at her as she froze at the sight of the giant scarred beast. “It’s quite alright, Ara. He’s perfectly friendly as long as you’re not threatening towards me. He fancies himself quite the protective guard,” I explained as I hopped up the steps to the driver’s seat and reached over the edge of the cart to dig around in a couple of packs. I walked back to her holding the wolf skin I’d been laying on as we’d traveled the last leg to Lake City. “This should keep you a bit warmer on our way back to your home,” I said, holding it out to her.

She gratefully wrapped it around herself with the fur side in and shivered a bit. It had been sitting in a freezing cold cart, so it’d take a little while to warm up I guess. I quickly tied a cadraw bird to my belt along with a rabbit for Dog’s breakfast tomorrow and pocketed an apple. Then I held out a hand towards the street. “Please feel free to lead the way, Ara. You seemed a bit uncomfortable walking near me on our way here. If you’d prefer, I can stay a few steps back.”

“N-no that’s fine, really,” she said as she awkwardly pushed Dog’s head out of her crotch and scratched his ears a bit to his obvious delight. “I was just a bit shaken up, my apologies in fact. I owe you my life, sir.”

“Oh, no trouble,” I said, as we started walking out into the street side by side. “I rather hate men like that and take a bit more pleasure in murdering them than is probably healthy. My friends will likely poke a bit of fun at me when they hear of it.”

“Do you…do you murder a lot of people, sir?” she asked a bit fearfully.

“Please, call me Nameless, all my friends do,” I put my hand to my chin thoughtfully and considered her question. “I’ve killed quite a few people compared to the average fifteen year old I suppose, but by and large they were trying to kill me first or were threatening my friends,” I smiled at her as we walked. “I don’t tolerate threats to myself or my friends very well and have a tendency to react in the extreme to such, but it’s kept me alive this long. I don’t usually help out perfect strangers like yourself out of the goodness of my heart if it means killing people either though,” I chuckled at myself. “But, I was REALLY lost when I came across you and figured if I helped you out you might help me out.” I got a brief smile out of her with that. She seemed to have stopped shivering and was bundling the skin around herself more tightly.

We didn’t have to go far and were still in the good part of town from what I’d seen when she turned into a large smithy sitting on its own patch of fenced in land. It was substantially larger than Anvil’s forge back in Tiga. It was a two story house, fairly standard for the city, adjoining a one story building that would house the forge with its high brick chimney. I noticed the stack of firewood next to it was substantially smaller than she’d need to make it through the winter, much less what would be needed for smithing. No smoke was coming from the chimney of the forge or the house and both were dark.

“Ara, this may be an overly forward question, but are you all alone here?” I asked with concern in my voice.

Ara nodded sadly, “Father died this past spring. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep the smithy, but the lord’s tax men will probably take it as payment for the spring taxes,” she grimaced. “They’ve already taken pretty much all the tools and goods that Father had made before he died for taxes this past harvest. About the only thing left is the anvil and the property itself. I’ve had to sell most of my belongings just to feed myself, but I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the winter.” Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

I put my hand to my chin again. We can make this work, I thought to myself. Hell, except for the lacking tools it’s nearly perfect. Hammer’s gonna love this place. “Ara, I think we can help each other out. I actually happen to be in rather desperate need of a forge. Both of my friends are highly accomplished smiths in their own right, and we’ve been looking for a place where we can forge some things over the winter. Do you think you’d be willing to rent the place to us? No need to answer me right now, please feel free to sleep on it. I tell you what, why don’t you stop by the Silver Pony tomorrow morning, and we’ll talk business. Breakfast will be on me as payment for your time, but in the meantime please take this,” I pulled out an apple and the rabbit I’d been thinking of feeding to Dog tomorrow and held them out to her. He can just share the cadraw bird with us. I’ll have them cook it up for us instead of whatever they’re serving tomorrow. “You seem like you haven’t eaten a proper meal in some time, and it’d be a crying shame if you were to die of hunger before we could secure the forge for our project, and along that same vein please hold onto that wolf skin. It’s going to be cold tonight.”

Her tears had stopped, and now she just seemed utterly shocked. “You-you want to rent the forge?” she asked dumbfoundedly.

“Very much so, yes. It would be absolutely perfect for our intentions. We would be hoping to secure lodging as well, as long as we’re going to be working here, but we can discuss all that tomorrow. By all means head inside and get a fire going. You've had a bit of a shock to the system, and some warmth and food will do you good. We’ll talk tomorrow at our inn. Unless you’d prefer we come to you?” I asked.

“No!” she exclaimed. “No, it’s fine, I’ll find you there tomorrow morning for breakfast.” She seemed a bit embarrassed to have all but yelled at me.

“Great!” I smiled. “We’ll see you then. You have a good night now, Ara.” I waved over my shoulder as I headed back to the road with Dog in tow. Maybe I should help out strangers more often if it pays off this big. Of course that would mean murdering a lot more random assholes as well which could have it’s own drawbacks. Either way, it worked out this time. Hammer is going to flip his shit when he sees this place. It’ll take some work to get it up and running, but we’ve got time, I thought to myself as I pushed on through the rapidly drifting snow.