Chapter 23: Mourning After

“Great work Gronan,” I said in awe of Finn's now mostly healed state.

Finn rolled his eyes, “You could've been there to witness it. Instead, you decided to sleep on the job.”

I felt a pulse of anger radiate from my head to my jaw. I didn’t say anything, the guy had just gone through something pretty damn traumatic so it made sense that he’d be out of sorts.

“Well, hello there sleepy head,” Gronan said, pushing past the comment. His face looked almost pale and his eyes dark and baggy. With how much he had healed Finn, it was no surprise to me that he looked like he hadn’t gotten any sleep last night. Hell, he looked as if he hadn’t slept in three.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Finn.

“Fine,” Finn said, his voice emotionless.

“Ah,” Hedge said and came from behind me, through the portal, toward Finn. For a short, blue guy, he sure was quick. “Ye look great,” He took hold of Finn’s good hand and held it in both of his. “Ah, yer lucky. Very lucky.” He patted Finn on the shoulder and locked eyes with Finn.

Finn’s eyes were daggers as if Hedge had just insulted him in some way.

Hedge ignored the look and walked back into the portal, “Come on all of ye, I got some mighty fine breakfast waitin’ to be eaten.”

We all went into the kitchen and grabbed a plate. Hedge scooped scrambled eggs out of the pan and put them on each of our plates before giving each of us a slice of some sort of cooked meat out of another pan. “Mix ‘em, ye won’t regret it,” He said as we all sat down.

I couldn’t keep the question bottled up anymore, “Gronan, why didn’t you wake me up?” I asked Gronan as I began mixing the eggs and meat as Hedge ordered.

“You needed your sleep.”

“But what if something went wrong?”

“It wouldn’t have. And if it did, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”

“But I should’ve been there, I’m a part of this group too.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “So, you say you truly want to be a part of this group?”

“What? Yeah, of course. I’m here, aren’t I?”

He nodded. “You just never said it out loud. But now, you have committed it into words,” He took a bite of his breakfast. “This is really good Hedge.”

“You thought I didn’t want to be a part of this group?” I felt anger boil within me. Did he think I was some mercenary for them and that was all? “I feel like I was a part of it when I first found y’all. I'd surely hope you'd think I was after yesterday.”

He took a bite of his meal, chewing slowly as he thought. He swallowed then shrugged, “Huh. Humans are weird.”

“Well, I am glad to ‘officially’ have you on our team,” Hazel said in a slightly sarcastic tone. “Maybe you can keep this one,” she pointed at Finn. “out of getting himself killed.”

“I don’t need protecting,” He said as he ate his food hastily.

“Say that to your destroyed hand.”

He looked at his bandaged hand, “I don’t need protecting.” He repeated.

“Axhel,” She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. I could tell she was just glad to have him still alive. Even though we had met only two days ago, I was grateful to see him alive and standing as well.

Even though he really is an asshole.

We ate our food and each thanked Hedge.

“Thank ye all for eatin’ it,” Hedge said. “But ye should be gettin out of here, the mayor is havin’ an announcement, no?”

“Oh yeah,” I said. “I forgot he said he’d do that.”

Gronan spoke up, “One of the few things that man has done. Those men paid the ultimate sacrifice, they deserve at least a eulogy about their deed.”

Finn made a slight chuckle. We all looked at him.

“What is it?” Hazel asked sharply.

He shook his head. “Nothing. Let’s go, I don’t want to be the last one there.”

#

We stood amidst the front of the crowd that was gathered around the inn. Standing on top of a makeshift wooden stand was the mayor in a black suit and tie. His face looked somber.

Finn said my thought aloud, “He looks guilty. He should be.”

“He’s lucky he got to keep his damn head,” I said.

“Shh,” Hazel whispered. “He is about to start.”

“I am glad to see everyone here today!” The mayor said with a voice thick with emotion. “I am sure you all know by this point, but last night we had an attack. We lost four guards in the battle. Edward F. Simins, Henderson H. Baldwin, Jerard T. Ruthro, and Mike B. Higgins.

But they weren’t just guards. They were great people and great protectors of our beloved town. Without them, the battle would have been lost and no one would have survived. And even worse, this attack did not come from a foreign enemy or a rebellious group, but from one of our most respected members in our community. That being Fendrin, our town wizard, my right hand, and my best friend. He betrayed me, he betrayed all of us!” He bellowed the words and as he did, everyone let out a sorrowful gasp at this twist of fate. The mayor was feeling his guilt, was feeling his sorrow, and everyone thought it was because he had been betrayed by Fendrin. The mayor was playing everyone like a damn fiddle.

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“To make matters worse, Fendrin escaped capture. We are working day and night to find him, however, and with the help of local towns, we believe we will be able to find him soon enough. Last night was a terrible night for us all and we all lost valuable members of our society. To some of us, they were spectacular guards, doing their Godess-given duty to protect our town. To some, they were friends. To others, they were family, lovers, and soulmates,” He lingered on that fact and I heard someone in the crowd begin to howl in grief. “Each and every one of us is experiencing a tragedy today, some of us the worst we will ever have. To commemorate this tragedy and terrible loss of life, I am granting everyone a day off. Enjoy the rest of your day, do whatever you will with it, and pray for the ones who lost their lives to be greeted by Death and given the right to go into the Light. I will not keep you here any longer, we all deserve our alone time after all of this.”

He walked off the stage. There would probably be funerals and eulogies for each person at a later date, but for now, this little speech was all there was to be said. But even with its brevity, it had been effective. Everyone in the crowd was walking away with not the happiness of getting a day off but the sorrow of the lives lost and the pride of having been protected.

I turned away from the stage with the rest of the crowd but heard Davis’ surly voice call out to us, “Wait!”

Me and the rest of the group turned back around. Davis nudged his way through the crowd. “Milanda needs all of you to go to the guard station.”

“Can she not tell us that with her weird mind powers?” I asked.

“She can, but she never does.”

“Do you know what she needs?” Hazel asked.

He shrugged, “Probably another contract, I don’t know and I didn’t ask. It’s Adventurer business. Now,” He began moving away from us but kept his head turned our way. “I have families to console, thank you for your service, Adventurers.”

“Service?” Finn muttered. “Like us, risking our lives is just a service.”

“I mean, is he wrong?” I asked.

He didn’t look my way as he began to walk to the guard station. “Come on, let’s continue our service.”

It was a quick walk to the guard station, yet, even so, most of the people from town were already off the streets. They apparently had been in a hurry to get back home. I couldn’t blame them. With all of the tragedies or not, a day off was a day off.

The guard station was even emptier than the streets too. The entrance was lit and Milanda sat where she always did, reading a stack of papers larger than usual - probably about last night’s events - but the hallways leading to the guard’s main office space were completely shrouded in darkness. The only person here was Milanda.

“You know everyone just got a day off for today?” I asked.

“Hello Adventurers. Nice work last night,” She said, ignoring my question.

“We let him get away,” Gronan said. “And he hurt one of our members. We failed.”

“A failure would be a destroyed town and four dead Adventurers, I don’t see that,” She tapped on the desk. “You did good work. Take the credit, your line of work is hard. To not die is a success. There is a contract here for you. It shall further push your skills and expertise. Should you not die, of course.” Her inhuman lips flicked upward as she finished those words.

I did the only thing I could and opened the drawer. Inside was a paper just like she said there would be. I took it out and read the contract’s title. As I did so, the same title appeared at the top of my vision:

Quest Attained:

The Lost Bride.

The paper read as the following:

The Lost Bride

A man called by the name of Trey in the neighboring town to the west reported his missing bride three days ago. A local Adventurer went out to find her and lost his Light doing so. Go there to pick up the trail and bring peace back to her life.

I read it aloud to the group and then handed the contract to Gronan, “Lost his light?” I asked.

“It is a euphemism Bedues uses,” Hazel answered. “That is why the mayor also used the phrase. However-”

“Adventurers don’t die,” Milanda cut Hazel off.. “They simply ‘lose their light’ and it is given off to the next future Adventurer.

“Precisely.” Hazel’s excitement faltered from the interruption. I suppose then she realized she had been interrupting Milanda at that moment.

“What’s the reward? It wasn't there.”

Her inhuman smile got larger. “That is to be determined. But it will be quite a lump sum for low-level Adventurers such as your group.”

“It’s risky,” Finn said as he read over the contract. “I don’t do risky jobs unless I know the outcome.”

“Do you now?” She asked, giving him a deep look I couldn’t quite understand.

He grunted, “Yes.”

“If you say so. You will be happy to find that the reward will be a minimum of five platinum. Each.”

“I'll take it,” He said immediately.

“I thought so,” She looked back at me. “This is an important contract. I could have given it to an Adventurer closer by but I determined your group would be more capable. Don’t let me down, Adventurers.”

Gronan put the contract into his bag. “We won’t.”

“Good,” She looked back at her paperwork. “Now, goodbye and safe travels.”

We left the building and were greeted outside by absolutely nobody. It looked like a freshly abandoned ghost town.

“Five platinum,” Finn whispered to himself and looked at Hazel.

“Five platinum,” She repeated.

“But only if we survive,” Gronan stated. “One didn’t. There’s a chance we won’t either.”

“Stop thinking like that,” Hazel said, “If you think like that then we will not have a chance.”

He sighed, “You’re right. Should we go now?”

“I say let’s go,” I said. “Where is Farkrith?””

“It is...” Hazel trailed off, thinking. “To the west, so we shall take that exit out of town,” She pointed toward where the cart driver usually was but was taking a day off alongside the rest of the town.

“Let’s get to the truck-” I stopped myself from finishing my Earth phrase. “Let’s go.”

Hazel giggled. “You can say your weird phrases, they are funny.”

“Please don’t, they’re weird,” Finn said.

She gave him a stern look but didn’t say anything.

He rolled his eyes, “Right, ‘don’t be an ass’,” He said for her.

“Thank you,” She said with a teacher-like smile.

We walked past the inn and out of town. We followed the dirt road and eventually made it to the farming district of the town which we passed by too. As we continued our trek, the trees got more dense, the road bumpier. Quickly, we had found ourselves on a much less traveled road. I guessed the only time it was used was when people came to and from town and for exporting goods, both of which likely happened at the beginning and end of the season.

Walking through the dark forest, I had a memory flash through me. It was of being in the woods at night. There was a tent. We were camping. The woods had seemed so scary that night as if anything could happen at any moment.

But here, it was so much scarier. Because of the thought of monsters, of something lurking out in the woods. Watching us. That wasn’t just a fantasy anymore, it was true.

But it wasn’t just me, alone in the woods. I had my sword - though, admittedly, I wasn’t very good at using it - but I also had the rest of my group. My group. I was a part of this group. And here we were, going out to vanquish another foe. It was a risky contract, one that could potentially be even harder than the one before it. But for some reason, I felt like we had a solid chance of getting through it.

But a feeling was just a feeling. Now it was time for the hard part. Now it was time to prove that feeling true.