After waking and breaking down camp we continue to travel for a few hours. Around midday I can see a large citadel rising upon the horizon. Rena jumps up excitedly and points towards the citadel.
“Look, there it is! That’s Celu it’s so big!” Rena said with a huge smile.
“That is Celu, capital of the Human realm and your new home.” John said proudly
A short distance away is a small town spread out on either side of a large river. The river seems to stretch until it disappears from view. I can see why it would be difficult to cross to the river and head to Celu today if there is no ferry.
We head down towards the village and after a short time we arrive. The town is very lively with merchants shouting from stalls along the road trying to entice would be customers. I see a large wooden platform moving across the river in the distance packed with passengers. Guards with light chainmail are checking small slips of paper and looking under wagons.
“Hold and introduce yourselves.” One of the guards shout as we enter the town.
“I am Captain John Night-tree of his majesty's royal guard. I am returning with fresh recruits for the Royal Guard.” John proclaimed
“Alright, sir. We still have to check your things for a wanted felon.” The guard said
“We have no such person but you are free to check.”
“It will only be a minute sir then we’ll get out of your hair.”
After rummaging around in the wagon for a minute he looks satisfied and steps back.
“Thank you for your cooperation sir.”
“No problem, who are you searching for?” John asked
“Oh, one second…”
After a few seconds of digging through this cloak he pulls out a rather crumpled wanted poster with a drawing of a dark cloaked figure with one white feather on the back of the cloak. Under the picture it listed a few crimes but most of them could be simply put into a single word Thief.
“This person can only be identified by the marking on the cloak.” The guard explained
“This seems to be a lot of searching for a single thief.” I said
“Apparently, they stole from several noble houses but what they stole no one knows. All the guards were told to be on the lookout but with this picture there isn’t much chance of actually finding them.” The guard explained
“Good luck to you then.” Tom said
“To you as well. It is a dangerous time to be traveling lots of slavers are afoot.”
We pull into a nice looking Inn near the waterfront and John heads in to make the arrangements for the night. The others either go with John inside or head of to explore the town Rena is the only one that remain with me to help take care of the wagon. We brush down the horses and put them into the stalls provided by the inn.
“So, what do you want to do now? Should we head inside or explore?” Rena asked
“Let’s explore around for a bit then head back here after a while.” I said after closing the horses in.
Rena wraps her arm around mine and pulls me toward the street vendors. A few of the stalls we pass seem to be full of just fish. Surprisingly, none of the stalls were serving any kind of cooked food for the local passerby. Rena pulls me closer to a jewelry stall with a woman managing it.
“Ah young miss! I see you are with your young mister. Could I interest you in a small trinket?” the merchant asked
“Hmm… How much for the necklace.” Rena asked gesturing at a small necklace with a small green crystal.
“Oh, you have a good eye. This piece has an enchantment placed inside that can contain an image. When infused with mana the image is shown. It would be great to have an image of your man inside. For you only 5 copper coins.”
Rena looks at me as if she expects me to pay. I pick up the necklace and inject mana into it and with a green flash an image of me is projected with a strange green hue. The strange hue must mean that the crystal wasn’t meant to hold an image, a clear one would have been better. That made this item slightly inferior to a clear one.
Currency in this world is based on coins but is very simple. The coins go like this copper, iron, silver, gold. One copper coin will buy a nice meal and one iron coin will provide room and board for a month. One silver coin can take care of a family for several months and one gold coin can buy a small house. Each coin is worth 100 of the former, so 100 copper coins are equal to a single iron coin and so on.
“It’s nice but the price is too high for a slightly inferior color. A lighter color would have worked better. I’ll take it off your hands for 3 copper.” I said in a seemingly uninterested voice.
“Sir, I am offended but what you say is true so I’ll drop my price to 4 copper but no further. What say you?” the merchant said
“Deal, but only because Rena seems to want it.” I said reaching into my cloak and fishing out the coins.
The merchant receives the coins and hands over the necklace to Rena. Rena hands me the necklace and turns around. I gently move her long black hair out of the way and clasp the necklace around her neck.
“Thanks, how does it look?” Rena asked
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“It suits you. Now, let’s head back to the inn and get some food.”
“I wanted to look around some more though…”
“More like spend more of my money?”
“Caught me! Don’t worry next time I’ll treat you to something nice.” Rena said as she wrapped herself around my arm.
The inn turned out to be rather nice. A large common room with a few tables scattered around. A few people sitting at the tables are eating and quietly talking amongst themselves. On the small stage a man sits slowly tuning his instrument in preparation for the entertainment tonight. My mother waves us over to the large table where a few of our group are sitting. Rena sits down right next to me and scoots her chair even closer than it already was. I start rubbing her head out of habit and we wait for the rest of our group.
After an hour or so everyone had trickled back into the inn. John orders food and drink from a passing waitress. The musician steps up on stage and starts playing an upbeat song.
“To our arrival to Celu!” John said lifting his cup
“To the Royal family!” Halt said
“To the Royal Guard” Tom said
I don’t know much about the music in this world but this song seems to be popular with a lot of people singing along with the musician. The song is about a farmer who went to war, leaving his family behind. He fought in the war for several years and upon his return he discovered his family was no longer there. No longer just a farmer, but a seasoned veteran he searches for his family until after many years they are all reunited. The food arrived as the song finishes and another song starts to play.
“We should make the city by tomorrow evening. Clay, Single, Lucy and Lara will follow Halt and George to the Royal guard’s barracks for training. My family and Rena will head to my home in the middle district.” John said
“Middle district?” I said curiously
“The great city of Celu is separated into three major districts, each separated by a wall. The Lower district is the adventurer and travelers as well as common merchants and common soldiers. The Middle district is primarily filled with knights and merchants that cater to Nobility as well as the random rich adventurer. The Upper district contains the upper nobility and the palace.” Halt explained
“You’ll understand more tomorrow but for now let us celebrate coming this far. After tonight we won’t have much rest for the foreseeable future.” Elena said while raising her glass
The next morning resulted in much intoxication magic to will the group from their beds. Rena and Kaya did the best they could to assist but it was still a trial. The worst one was John but Tom and Halt were close behind. Surprisingly, the one who drank the most, Elena was fine and even helped us with the loading. We head down towards the ferry with our wagon and horses. John negotiates with the ferry to let us go over early and after a few coins change hands we are well on our way to an early crossing.
The ferry is just a large floating wooden platform with a crude pull line stretched across the river. It took 30 minutes to cross the river with the 6 men pulling the line. Apparently, the crank hasn’t let been invented because it was 6 men holding on with a death grip as they pulled us across. If they had let go for even a second we would have drifted down the river for there was nothing to tie us to the line save their hands. Everyone other than me was quite comfortable with the situation but I was very nervous. I am the first to step off that death trap and after unloading I walked up to the leader of the ferrymen.
“Mister, have you ever lost a raft coming over or going back?”
“Usually, once a week but since we added more men we only seem to lose once a month.” The ferryman explained
“Have you ever thought of adding a rail with the rope, threaded like a needle, through it?”
“Hmm, what do you mean?”
I draw the raft but with the added rails and draw the line through it. I also draw an additional rope and a rough pulley. After a few minutes of explaining to him how he should have two lines stretched across and threaded through the raft rails he seems to understand the basic idea.
“And this will make for a safer crossing?” The ferryman asked
“It should make the raft more efficient and crossing will be easier. It shouldn’t be too hard to make the new raft and you’ll be less likely to lose a raft.”
“Oh, I see. Are you a scholar of the Magic race?” The ferryman asked
“No, I’m just a normal human child.” I explained
“Normal, huh anyway thanks for the advice, kid.”
He heads back to the raft and tells the men to pull it back to the other side.
“What were you talking about?” Rena asked curiously
“I was explaining how to make the ferry safer. Did you know they lose a ferry load once a week?”
“Wow, that sound pretty dangerous. I hope your idea works.”
“I think it will.” I said