Dorian and the group looked at the door, annoyance flashing across the faces of the people present. Afterall the City Guard came here after everything had already been finished. Where were they when Arin and Ístril where attacked. Where were they when these people had been taken from their homes and tormented by an underground group of thugs. Finally when everyone is resting and their hearts had been set at ease and they could enjoy some proper rest and a good meal, that is when the cityguard arrives? It was truly not strange in the least that there was no abundance of warm feelings for the cityguard in this particular inn.

Nonetheless Dorian stood up and opened the door to the Cityguard. Outside stood atleast 20 armed guards. Showing the white scale male colored with the cities sigil. The leader of this specific group of guards was a middle-aged man with a scar running over his cheek. His angular face and short saved hair gave him a real military vibe. Dorian was pretty sure this man had been in the legion during one point of his life or another. He had removed his helmet and was holding it under one arm. His other hand was resting on the hilt of his sword. More out of habit than anything else, the man wasn't threatening them. Atleast not on purpose.

"How may we help?" Dorian said looking at the officer. "Is there something a miss?"

The leader of the guards stepped forward untill he was standing close to Dorian. He then lowered his voice so it was only audible to Dorian. "I am assuming that you are the leader of the group that cleansed the dungeons just now? No need to answer i know it is you actually. Or else the innkeeper or one of the barmaids would have opened the door."

Dorian just looked at the man curiously. "Wat exactly do you want from me sir?"

“My employer would like to have a word with you. About a business opportunity as he called it. He would like to discuss it, well right now.” The soldier said looking at him with a somewhat stern gaze in his eyes.

“Would you mind if we at least had dinner first? We are rather hungry after, certain events. You and your men would be welcome to join us.” Dorian said gesturing them to come inside. The soldier looked at him for a few seconds then nodded.

“Me and the chaps were rather hungry anyway, it would not be to much of a bother if we came a little late” A slightly mischievous glint in the mans eyes appeared. Dorian grinned at the soldier and found that he rather liked the man.

The soldiers walked into the inn and took seats at the remaining tables. Everyone just looked questioningly at Dorian.

“These poor guards were hungry as well, so i told em they were welcome to join us!” Dorian said gesturing over the guards with his arms. The other people just shrugged their shoulders and continued eating and talking with each other in a lighthearted mood. Food really did wonders for anyones temperament

The innkeeper just looked over the guards and then his eyes met Dorians for a second, Dorian smirked and shrugged his shoulders. The innkeeper smiled a crooked smile and went back to work in the kitchen. After a while everyone had a plate of food in front of them. The innkeeper sent Mori out to the Living room to sing for them. One of the guards was apparently a proficient lute player and joined her on stage to add to the sound. One of the ex-prisoners was a pretty decent flute player and joined in. Soon enough the singing and dancing commenced. The people were just happy to be free once more.

The guards actually knew what had happened to the people and seemed just as happy as them that they had been freed. Some of the wives and even some husbands headed to the kitchen to help the innkeeper and Tolu prepare food for all the guests. Cooking up food for over 50 guests was quite a bit of work after all.

The young child Dorian had taken in was bouncing on his leg to the sound of the music. Swinging her body back and forth. The rest of group let themselves smile a bit, the priest was already enjoying the festivities. The young woman mage was sitting in the table with Dorian, Vor ,Blaitz and Gladiel. The 5 of them weren't in all to much of a jovial mood but kept a smile on their faces nonetheless.

After a while someone came carefully down the stairs. Arin had woken up due to all the music, Dorian and the rest rushed forward to help her down. They guided her to the table and she sat on the bench. She looked around with her now completely white eyes and smiled.

“The sound of music and happy people even makes the blind dwarf feel good!” Arin said with a smile as if nothing had changed.

The rest just looked at her with sad smiles. They knew that it had to be tough being unable to see suddenly. Especially after having your best friend taken from you while there was nothing you could do.

“Dont give me those sad faces, im blind, not stupid! I can smell those sad smiles from here. It happened, i will make due. There are plenty of things i am capable of doing even without my eyes. I bet i could still build a better wall than you guys even without my eyes!” Arins lighthearted demeanour honestly did all of them good.

“But there seem to be more people at the table than just my ugly squadmates. Well to introduce myself to the new people my name is Arin. I am a blind dwarf who now intends to become a master stoneworker. My father did always say i had the talent for it so why the rocks not.” Arin said while 'looking' around the table.

“Well i myself have not even introduced myself to you people yet. Which is come to think of it very rude of me, although i do suppose we were all a bit preoccupied. My name is Jorin, as for a second name i don't really have one so just Jorin will have to do.” The priest said introducing himself to the group.

The rest of Dorians squad introduced themselves aswell. Then their gazes turned on the young female mage.  She looked at the rest of the group and then resigned herself to the fact that she would have to tell them her name.

“I am called, Lalin” Was all she had to say.

“Well now at least we know wat to call each other.” Dorian said grinning. “Except for you lil one, wats your name?” He said looking down at the girl on his leg. The girl just looked at him questioningly.

“Do you not have a name?” Dorian said raising his eyebrows at the girl. The girl shook her head, long brown hair waving in front of her face. She looked quite cute when doing so if Dorian had to be honest.

“Then lets think of a name for you shall we?” Dorian said smiling down at the girl. She returned the smile with a happy grin and a short excited nod.

“Can't we just call her kid?” Blaitz said. “Its wat we call kids in our tribe till they come of age, might as well earn your own name if you don't have one yet.”

She thought it over for a sec but then energetically shook her head. Seems as though that was a no go.

“How about Lily?” Gladiel offered.

She shook her head.

“Wilma?”

Another shake. Name after name was offered up but none of them seemed to please.

“How about my grandmothers name? Mom was always bothered that she couldn't pass her name on to anyone. She's called Shiela.” The girl thought it over for a sec and then looked at Dorian for a moment. Then her wide beaming grin emerged once more and she happily nodded to the name.

Dorian rubbed her little head. “Shiela it is then, a strong name for a pretty lil'girl isn't it.” Shiela hugged herself closer to Dorian and rubbed her head against him as if she was a cat. Dorian smiled to himself, seems he had become a childs guardian without really planning for it.

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The festivities in the inn continued for some time. The mood started getting better and better, eventually people were dancing and singing. The guards happily joined in, after all they were being payed for being here. Who wouldn't like to drink, dance and have fun while on duty. As long as their superior officer said so they enjoyed themselves. The only thing the officer told them was that they could not have more than 2 ale's. Being drunk on duty was naturally a no go.

After a while Dorian decided to go upstairs and check on the woman they had brought back. Shiela ofcourse decided to go with him, she had stuck to him like glue ever since he had freed her. Dorian didn't mind he rather enjoyed her enthusiastic company. The positive energy was rather contagious.

Dorian carefully opened the door and entered softly. The woman however was already awake and just eyed him carefully.  Dorian walked up to her and pulled up a nearby chair. Sitting down he asked. “How you feelin, you had it pretty rough. You could really use some more sleep, an hour or two won't be enough.”

The woman stared at him for a few seconds before shaking her head and sitting up. She pointed at her throat and her adamsapple moved but no sound came out. She then gestured to hear ears and tongue telling him that she could not speak.

“Did they use magic to cut of your speaking capabilities?” Dorian asked.

The woman nodded. She then made some other gestures but Dorian couldn't make out the meaning behind them. He looked at her movements pencifully but could not make out wat she was trying to say. Shiela suddenly walked to a nearby desk and started rummaging around. She came back with some parchment and a pen giving them to the woman with a beaming smile. The young woman looked at Shiela for a second and then smiled at her. Dorian gave her another rub of the head and told her wat a smart girl she was.

Shiela grinned at the praise and hopped back onto his lap. The young woman started writing on the parchment and gave it to him.

My name is Viyella, i was captured by these people because they thought i had information that i did not have. When they found out that they had captured the wrong person they still did not release me. They were going to sell me and the other prisoners as slaves.

Dorian read the words and his brows furrowed in anger. The whole idea of slavery enraged him, a human could not be property of someone else. It just did not make sense to him, how people could take away others freedom and feel like whatever they were doing was okay.  Shiela felt the anger stirring inside Dorian and looked up at him questioningly. Dorian forced himself to calm down and gave her a reassuring smile.

“What they did to you was.” Dorian started saying but he was unable to finish the words.

The young woman grabbed the parchment and started writing again.

What they did to me has happened, and could happen to any woman caught outside at the wrong time while being in the wrong place. I am just thankful that i have been freed, not all of them were as fortunate.

Dorian looked over the words and then glanced at Shiela sadly. Viyella seemed to pick up on what that glance meant and looked at Shiela with pity in her eyes. She motioned for Dorian to give her the parchment back and then she started writing again.

Could you tell me how you came upon me and the other prisoners and what exactly has happened in the sewer. I passed out the instant i was freed from those shackles and am ashamed to say i was not able to stay conscious through the ordeal.

“There is nothing for you to be shamed for.” Dorian said upon reading the words. “That you still had the will to fight proved how mentally strong you were. The lil'one was strong aswell, i suppose that wat they say is true. Woman can be stronger than men, my mom would be ecstatic to hear me say it so never tell her i said so.” He said smiling down at the two girls. “As for what happened.”

Dorian explained to Viyella how Ístril had been kidnapped and Arin had been harmed by these people and that Lalin had seen it happen and that they and the priest had gone into the sewers to seek Ístril and avenge Arin. He told her of the fights and the guards they had killed and told her of how he had led the prisoners back into the city and how everyone was now here at The Waddling Boar.

Viyella listened intently to the story, nodding here and there. When he arrived at the point were the city guard showed up and how they were downstairs with the rest of the people she looked surprised.

She then asked him if he would help her go downstairs. Her muscles had deteriorated so much over the last few months that she was not sure of her capabilities to walk. Dorian agreed of course  and tenderly put her arm over his shoulder. He had to crouch quite a bit because Viyella wasnt very tall. Shiela did her best to help out aswell. Walking around making sure Viyella didn't trip. She then rushed forward and opened the door for them. After walking through she struggled to pull it closed aswell.

Dorian carefull helped her down the stairs. The sound of the music, singing and overall joy of the people brought a small smile to her face. When the people saw her coming down the stairs they carefully made some room for her to cross. Dorian gently put her on the bench were the rest of his squad was still sitting.

It didn't take long for the innkeeper to appear with a meal. The juciy meat and the potatoes covered in the meaty juice, made only more delicious by crispy vegetables with a delightful sauce. The very smell of it made the people around her drool again. The innkeeper gave her a wink.

“Eat up, for today all of it is on the house.” The innkeeper smiled at her and then leaned closer to Dorian. “It's not really on the house your paying for it with that money you got from the blade.”

Dorian grinned at the shopkeeper and nodded. He knew the shopkeeper would pay for alot of it himself but if he payed for everything he would soon be out of a business. Since Dorian had a small fortune he wasn't really worried about money. A meal like the one the innkeep had just made would cost about 5 coppers. 100 coppers made 1 silver, 100 silver made 1 gold, 10.000 gold made a platinum coin. Dorian had gotten 780 gold from the blade he had made. Which meant he could buy about 80.000 meals.

He really did have quite the fortune. He and the innkeep watched Viyella dig into the food. The near ecstatic pleasure on her face made both of them feel a good bit better. After a while the leader of the city guards joined their table.

“We should get to meeting the boss right about now. He's generally a patient man but we shouldn't push our luck to far. Wouldn't want to put him in a bad mood.” He said to Dorian. “The rest of your team is invited aswell ofcourse. I think seeing the temperament of you and yours that all of you would be interested in the business opportunity.”

Dorian looked at the rest of the group. They just nodded their agreement and the leader got up and motioned him to follow. He called a few of the guards over to come with him. He told the rest to stay here and watch over the inn.

“Wouldn't want the underground groups of the city retaliating on these people after all.” The soldier told them. Dorians opinion of the man rose a good bit after he ordered his men to protect the civilians. “They may not look like much but these men are the elite of the city guard. They are well-disciplined and will keep these people safe. There is no need for you to worry about them.

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So im gonna put in another main character in the story. He will have his own chapters, i wanted to start posting them probably after the next chapter. I have most of it written already so it would probably be a chapter a day for the next 2 weeks. Wat would you guys think of having multiple storylines at once. I actually wanted to tell the story of 3 different protagonists and have them unite into one story line later. Let me know your opinions, ill probably do it anyway but knowing wat the readers think helps