Eventually, after dodging the occasional junkie and bargaining with a beggar for information, I arrived at a wide wooden building that looked as derelict as every other place in the slums where, according to the beggar, a nun gave free food and shelter to the sick and read them prayers to heal their diseases. I was perfectly healthy, other than a couple of bruises from the great castle escape, so it seemed counterproductive to go immerse myself in a room full of misery, but I saw no decent alternatives.

The place was crowded, but not as much as I'd expected. It consisted of one room as large as three or four slum houses, full of bunk beds lining the walls and a small open space in the center where a fire pit, a cauldron and a few pans composed the kitchen. The nun was easy to identify thanks to her white attire and cap. She was a slim young woman with sharp eyes, and was preparing a meal aided by two little girls. Something about her made me suspicious, especially after she looked at me not with compassion, caution or indifference, but with a subtle glint that betrayed her thoughts so clearly that I could almost hear them in my head: "how much are you worth?" As I approached, she said to me with little courtesy:

"Please wait until I'm done preparing the food."

"I not need food, I come here to talk."

She must have been caught off-guard by my way of speaking, like everyone else had been so far, as evidenced by her change in expression. I simply stood in front of her across the cauldron while she pretended to be busy stirring the soup, until she finally called everyone to eat and I stepped aside to let her serve the food to the line of people that gathered. After that, she and the two girls brought bowls of soup to those who seemed to be bedridden, and when she came back I was still staring at her. Finally she addressed me again:

"As you can see, I'm a bit busy, so please make it quick."

"I need place to stay."

"Well, this town's got plenty of taverns."

"No money for tavern. You need money, I need place to stay. I pay you, but no money for tavern."

"This is a shelter for the sick, you don't belong here."

Just as I was about to reply, a young boy came running to her side and stood frozen for a moment with his eyes like plates when he saw me. The nun turned her back to me and knelt down to speak with the boy, who whispered something into her ear. I couldn't hear it, but I didn't need to. His reaction had told me everything about the big secret news. She gave the kid a bowl of soup and sent him off.

"Word are fast," I said, giving her a mocking smile.

"Leave the child alone. It'll cost you five silver to stay here."

"Why did you change think? Learn something?"

"Like you said, I need the money and you offered to pay me. So, five silver."

"So, you make fifty gold and five silver, yes?" I said, and a flicker of emotion reflected on her face confirmed that I was right.

"I don't know what you're talking about. You may sleep on the floor, we're out of beds at the moment."

"They give more bounty if time pass. Fifty gold, or ten times that if you wait." She stayed silent for a moment, looking at me with caution. I continued "You give me shelter for ten days, then you go get bigger bounty. I need place to stay for ten days, not care what happen after."

"Are you saying you're a wanted criminal? Then why would you just let me hand you over to the guards?"

"I escaped because I have something to do, but after it be do I not care what happen. That is ten days."

Of course I was lying, but greed seemed to get the best out of her.

"Fine, you can stay for ten days. Now hand me the silver."

"No. You get big money, I need not pay."

"Then I'll tell the guards you're here right now."

"Lose much gold for quick silver coins? How stupid be you?"

She pondered for a moment and then served me a bowl of soup saying "Alright, but don't cause any trouble around here. These people need me."

I took the food with no reply. That night I slept in a corner, clutching my club tightly and holding the four silver coins in my other hand. It was uncomfortable, but I awoke the following day without problems. In the morning I saw the nun leave to purchase food and took that chance to sneak out. As I got closer to the center of the city, wanted posters with a drawing of my face on them began to pop up. It didn't look exactly like me, but it was enough to make people take a second look when they passed me by. Thanks to my good luck, no adventurers were in my way to the church. It must've been half an hour before noon when I got there and Kihergan introduced me to the acolyte, a lad named Galian. He was a blond human with short hair and a timid smile. Despite knowing that I was wanted as a criminal, he trusted that Kihergan wouldn't try to protect someone who didn't deserve it and thus offered his help with enthusiasm. Kihergan gave me a cloak and bade us goodbye.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Galian guided me to a stable where he had two horses and a cart ready. He then told me:

"Now to pass the border check and exit the city we'll need to hide you. This cart belongs to Stuart, the merchant who's going to take us to Brimbrom. You must hide among the goods before Stuart arrives, and when we've reached the town I'll distract him so you can get out."

"It is easy," I said with a nod, and Galian gave me a large sack. The cart was loaded with several of them, apparently carrying several types of merchandise like potatoes, dried meats, fabric, a few ingots of iron and even bottles of alcohol that were held by a rack. I climbed onto the cart, chose a spot in the middle of all the merchandise, put the empty sack down and sat into it in the fetal position. Galian grabbed some straw from the stable to use as filler and then put his cloak on top before tying the sack to close it. As I observed my confined position, a flash of doubt appeared in my mind. What if Kihergan had betrayed me and this acolyte was handing me over to the guards? I'd be captured without much of a chance to defend myself in this state. Oh, but what could I do? Adventure demanded risk, and trusting these guys was the only reasonable choice I saw.

After a few minutes I heard Galian talking to someone, and in short order the cart began to move. What if they were delivering me straight into the Academy? Every time the cart stopped, I feared getting jumped by a bunch of guards. Luckily, nothing of the sort happened. In one of the stops I heard coarse voices and an answer from the man who must've been Stuart:

"Halt! State your business."

"I'm going to Brimbrom to sell merchandise, here's my permit. This here is Galian from the church of the Light, he goes to collect herbs."

"Ah, good day to you, Brothers. We'll check your contents."

I heard the wood of the cart groaning along with a chiming of metal as someone climbed onto the cart. I held my breath and remained so still that I almost became a sack of potatoes. I began to think like a potato, I was the potato. In less than a minute the guard jumped down from the cart and said:

"All's in order. May the Light be with you," and the cart began to move again.

I was much calmer after that. Several hours of pretending to be a potato later, we arrived in Brimbrom as the sun had almost set.

"Now all that's left is to unload the merchandise. I'll help you, Stuart."

"Don't worry about it, kid, I'll just do it in the morning."

"Perhaps that's a good idea, sitting here for so long has me tired. Care for a mug of ale?"

"Not today, I gotta go pay a visit to the mistress."

Good news to me, that'd make everything easier. The cart stopped again and I heard the goodbyes between Stuart and Galian, then I felt pressure above my head lessen and I was free to emerge. Perhaps this is what legendary gods of destruction feel when cultists perform a dark ritual to release them. I thanked Galian and promised to help him collect herbs, and he answered:

"Worry not, my friend, and focus on leaving this land as soon as possible. I will head to the tavern to get some rest."

With that we parted ways, or so he thought. I waited for him to leave and then headed for the tavern myself. Of course, I didn't know where it was. I roamed the streets until I reached a small square with a stone fountain where many people were gathered. The women carried lamps, the men and boys had shovels and wheelbarrows, and littered everywhere on the ground were corpses. Some of them were human, a handful appeared to be elves, and some had green skin and protruding teeth. Had that been my first sight of orcs? What a gruesome introduction.

In the center of the square stood two people who were clearly adventurers: a woman in a wizard's robe and a man in leather armor. They were speaking to a fat man dressed in more elegant clothing, surely some sort of authority figure, and I overheard something about "going to the ruins before it's too late." It sounded like adventure, and my hands were already getting twitchy, so I approached them and said with my most determined tone:

"I help you."

They gave me blank stares and after a moment the man in armor answered:

"And who're you?"

"Name is Bawb, I fight."

"Nice introduction," said the girl, "we're going to need a front-liner if we want to venture out."

"Do you have equipment? I'm not going to entrust my back to someone who can't even protect himself," said the man, whom I assumed was a rogue upon closer inspection.

"Not have."

"See if you can take the armor from one of those dead monsters, if it fits. We need whatever help we can get at the moment," said the fat man.

I started toward an orc's corpse and removed its armor, then put it on myself and off again. When they saw I was serious, the others began stripping corpses and passing their armors to me until we managed to get one that fit me reasonably well. In the middle of that process another man approached us with an expression of combined fury and sadness.

"My daughter is gone! They must've taken her!" he said.

"Calm down, Bastian, have you looked for her?" said the fat man, but the other one exploded shouting:

"Of course I looked for her, you idiot! They clobbered me over the head and took her from my very arms. I have to go save her!"

"Looks like our little party's gathering interest," said the girl in a carefree tone which bothered all of us.

"I am ready. When start?" I said after checking my armor again and grabbing a spear from the ground. My equipment wasn't stellar, but something was better than nothing. The father of the kidnapped girl looked at us with determination and said:

"We must go immediately, I'll don my armor and join you."

"How many orcs are there, again? We might need more than four people to stand a chance," the rogue said, but nobody paid attention to him. The father jogged off and later came back wearing a suit of leather armor. We looked at each other, and the wizard girl said:

"My name is Holdreda, nice to meet you. I hope we make a good enough team to make it alive."

"I couldn't agree more. My name's Bastian," said the father.

"Avem," said the rogue.

"I am Bawb. We must go now."

The fat man wished us luck, although he didn't introduce himself, and we departed in the dark like nothing could ever go wrong. At least that's what I was thinking; the others must've been a bit more nervous than that.