Scourge Four - Luck

Once we set everything out in our respective rooms--which really doesn’t take a lot of time--my friends and I reunite on the third floor. I’m not too sure what to do... which isn’t quite true.

There’s a list of things to get done, but I’m not sure where to start with them. “Okay,” I say. “First, we need to secure passage over to the capital. That means a carriage. Uh, Bianca, you don’t happen to have a family carriage with you?”

“I do,” Bianca says. “I’m not entirely sure how trustworthy the drivers are, but they should be sufficient to bring us from here to Caselfella.”

“Brilliant!” I say.

“We are still going to need to find a convoy heading out to the capital. There should be one every day, but there might be a small fee to join, in order to pay for a portion of the guards hired to keep it safe.”

We could head out without a convoy. It would be easier in some ways. We could set our own pace, move and stop as we please, and it’s not like we need to worry about monsters. I don’t think bandits would be a problem either, not if I ask a few monsters to play escort.

On the other hand, the capital is a ways away, I don’t know how to get there, and it might look suspicious arriving there without a convoy. That’s not to mention the people driving the carriage. They’d have to be informed about the monsters. Also, horses don’t always like seeing monsters.

“Okay,” I say. “Do you know where the, uh... people that arrange convoys are?” I ask.

Bianca nods. “They’re by the south gate. It’s where all the loading and unloading is done and where convoys reunite before heading out.”

“Great!” I clap my hands and stand up. “We can see the sights on the way over, take in a bit of the city before we head out.”

“I’m coming with you,” Felix says.

“I’m not,” Esme pipes up. “Not unless you actually need me. I’m still feeling a little green. I think I’m going to lay in bed with one of the books I didn’t get to read on the trip over.”

“That’s fine,” I say. “We need to head out of the city and pick up some of my little friends too. I only have those I was able to hide under my cloak and in my bags, and that’s not nearly enough of them.”

Once we have a proper carriage, I’m sure I can fill it up with plenty of friends.

I stretch one last time before making sure my cloak is nice and snug. Then I take off down the stairs and to the ground floor.

“Do you think they have street vendors here?” Felix asks.

“I don’t think they do,” Bianca says. “In some of the larger cities, certainly, but Vizeda is a little small for that kind of venue. I haven’t seen anything like a street vendor in the little time I’ve been here. Though there are a few people that sell food to the dock workers and caravaneers. Nothing I think a proper lady would like.”

“Hey, I like improper food,” Felix says.

“We had to teach her how to use utensils,” I explain.

Felix shakes her head. “I still don’t see why I can’t just use my hands.”

“Because it’s disgusting and dirty, and you’ll get germs all over,” I say. This isn’t the first time I’ve had this argument with Felix.

“Germs?” Bianca asks.

I sigh. “They’re small things that live on... just about everything. They’re too small to see with the naked eye. Some are good, but a lot of them are bad, and if you eat them you can get sick. Which is why you should always wash your hands before you eat.”

“And take baths,” Felix adds.

I roll my eyes. “Yes, and take baths. But you don’t need to spend as much time in the baths as Felix does.”

“I like baths,” Felix explains simply. “They’re nice.”

We step out into the brisk afternoon. The fog that followed us into the city is gone now, swept away by a breeze from the north that carries the unmistakable stink of dead fish with it. With the sun right above and at its hottest, there’s a sort of lazy feel to the city.

The people we cross as Bianca leads us to the south gate are lethargic and slow, obviously used to taking the middle of the day off for quick naps, and I guess it makes sense. After all, the fishing boats are still out, and most caravans, as far as I’m aware, arrive at night and leave in the morning. That means that noon is the least busy time of the day.

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Vizeda is situated right on the edge of a warmer belt, with nothing stopping the warmer air from around the Dark Gulf from blowing over the city and making it both hot and humid.

“I miss the castle,” Felix says. She’s walking with her arms folded behind her head, cloak wide open at the front and revealing her boyish clothes--Mom tried and failed to get Felix to dress appropriately.

“Why?” I ask.

“It was nice and quiet. I guess cities just make me worried. I keep looking and expecting trouble. See, that kid over there’s eyeing your coin purse.” She points to an alleyway where I see a boy’s head a moment before he zips away and out of sight. “No one tried to rob you at the castle.”

“There were only like, five people at most at the castle, not counting the monsters.”

“Exactly,” Felix says. “I didn’t have to worry about you as much.”

I roll my eyes. “You don’t need to worry about me, I can take care of myself.”

Felix doesn’t look my way, she still has a hard time looking at people when talking to them, but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel her judging me.

The south gate is, unsurprisingly, to the south, no more than a block or two away from the inn we’re staying at. The gate itself isn’t anything too impressive, but there’s a large space behind it for carriages and carts and the animals pulling them to rest. The area is lined with warehouses and a few merchant's guild buildings. There’s also more guards here than I’ve seen in all of Vizeda so far.

It makes some sense, any attack is going to come from the other side of the walls. If some poor farm needs the help, then it also makes sense to have the guards be stationed next to the walls, in easy running distance.

If something comes from the water, they’ll likely have plenty of time to see it coming.

“That’s the building housing my family’s carriage,” Bianca says, pointing to one of the warehouses. It’s a tall enough building, which I guess it needs to be to house a few carriages. It has rolling barn doors at the front, most of them closed, but one is open enough that I can make out a cart sitting within.

“Where do we go if we want to join the next convoy out?” I ask.

“The offices are right over here,” Bianca says as she starts towards a brick office building closer to the wall. “You don’t need to accompany me, I can make the arrangements myself.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” I say.

I might need to know how all of this stuff works. Bianca seems nice, but she’s mostly acting as a guide for now, and we might not have her to help us the entire time we’re in the republic.

A sign over the door proclaims the place as the Navarra Merchant’s Consortium. As we get closer, I can make out voices screaming within. “We need to do something! Something, anything, dammit!”

I glance over to Bianca, but she seems just as confused as I am.

The door’s been left wide open, held that way by a brick by the base. Probably to let some fresher air circulate around.

The lobby isn’t all that big, just a bench to one side and a counter behind which a more robust man looks like he’s at his wit’s end. A young man, in gilded armour and with a plumed helm tucked under his arm, is waving his arm around like a flail. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

“Look, we’ve done something, we’ve informed the guard. When tomorrow’s caravan heads out, they’ll keep their eyes open for your companions.” The big merchant-looking fellow shakes his head.

“That’s too late!”

“And it’s too late now to send out a rescue party. This kind of thing happens in this business, it’s why you’re paid so well.”

The young man throws his helmet to the side, where it smashes against the wall with a clatter of steel before he stomps out of the building and past us.

“Ten billon that’ll end up being our problem,” Felix says.

“Come on, we’re not that unlucky,” I say as I watch the man disappear out of sight.

***