He ended up buying all of them for ninety-two gold and he also give me permission to pay a visit to my sister, which I did, after a quick visit to the water closet that is. Since Corbin had been assigned other duties whilst I was meeting with the Baron I was escorted by one of the pages belonging to the barons household. They were the sons and in rare cases daughters either of the lords under the baron or those of other not necessarily local lords without a overlord of their own between the ages of seven and fourteen.

They would serve as a kind of servant doing such things as running messages, cleaning, etc and at the same time receive an education and training in the kinds of skills required by the nobility such as horse riding, hunting and martial arts. At the age of fourteen they would then likely become squires and hope to be knighted by the time they were twenty-one when they would return home to help their fathers run their estates.

The page showed me to the antechamber to the suite of rooms in the castle that were occupied by Anna FitzWilliam and then entered the rooms beyond to inform my sister I was here to see her. The page returned moments later and before departing he informed me my sister would be along to see me shortly, leaving me alone to await Holly’s arrival.

She kept me waiting longer than I had expected but soon joined me

“Good day brother, I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to visit, I understand you will be leaving tomorrow and I very much hoped to spend as much time with you as I could before then. Alas, Anna has taken sick and has yet to recover. At the moment she is in no fit state to be left alone so I have had to stay by her side. I am glad you came by now or I fear I might not have been able to see you before you left.”

“These things happen, sister, I hope her ailment is not contagious and you are yourself in good health.”

“Do not worry on my account I am as strong as an ox and thus far she is the only one to have been taken ill. The healers aren’t exactly sure what is wrong with her but say she is over the worst of it and should be fully recovered within a week.”

“That is good to hear, now I won’t keep you long but I have a few presents for you and even a little something for your charge if you think she might like it and I couldn’t leave without handing them over to you.”

“Oh goody, I so like presents and while your taste mightn’t be to everyone’s liking I’m sure they won’t disappoint, too much anyway. I suppose we should start with the one for Anna, might as well get it out of the way.”

I had gotten Anna a small collection of colourful seashells.

A simple yet rather obscure gift and they don’t as far as I am aware convey anything that someone might misconstrue. As to whether or not she will like them I cannot say, you could have done much worse, now what have you for me, not more seashells I hope.”

“I thought about it but decided otherwise

I handed her a small embroidered linen purse with ten golden coins within and a small silver charm bracelet with a single horse-shaped charm but plenty of room to add additional ones if and when she wished to. In addition I had also gotten her a small polished glass hand mirror and an equally small ivory hairbrush.

“Thanks, Niel, I absolutely love them, are you sure you can afford them, they mustn’t have been cheap.”

“Don’t you worry sis, I got them all for a reasonable price and anyway it’s too late to worry about all that now.”

“Alright, but I haven’t gotten anything for you.”

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“I’m sure you’ll return the favour one day, now do you have to return to your charge or can we talk some more.”

“I wish I could but duty calls, now don’t forget to write me every chance you get and be sure to take care of yourself, I can’t lose you as well.

“Au revoir then and may the winds of fate see us together again in more auspicious times.”

The page from earlier was awaiting me outside the antechamber and he escorted me to the castle gatehouse. I spent my last night at the inn Enjoying myself as best I could and awoke early the next morning but didn’t head out until near noon. The first stage of my return trip to the Ebony Hyenas camp near Maccleston involved a two-day journey to the nearby town of Sashnov where I stocked up on as many of the supplies I would need for the rest of my trip as possible.

The rest of my return journey was neither as bad as I feared nor as pleasant as I hoped. While it had only snowed for about an hour during the first two days the following three weeks saw it snow most days though thankfully only on two occasions did it get bad enough that I had to shelter in place until the preceding heavy snowstorm finally came to an end.

Skill: Cold Resistance (Apprentice ) => Cold Resistance (Journeyman)

Thankfully these two incidents only delayed my journey by slightly more than two days and I had accounted for such situations when planning my trip. Besides those two occasions, the only other real difficulty I encountered on my trip was a run-in I had with an unusually large bear. Now you would expect such creatures to be hibernating this time of year but someone or something must have disturbed it. I was unfortunately forced to kill the animal in question and barely escaped being killed by it in turn which delayed me further.

You have Slain (Level 18 Bear)

The last week and a half of my journey was much more pleasant in comparison with the rest. While winter still on occasion reared its ugly head Spring was just around the corner.

I somehow arrived back in Maccleston a day ahead of schedule and instead of heading directly to camp I spent a pleasant night at one of the towns Inns and dinned out at the best restaurant in town where I had an exceptionally fine meal that was well worth the not at all modest price I had to pay for it.

The next morning I returned to camp and after seeing to my horse I attempted to report to Captain Walker but I was informed he wasn’t currently about. He had been due to return from a quick trip out of camp a day earlier but had yet to do so. In the absence of the captain Lieutenant Berger as the ranking and as of yet only permanent lieutenant was in-charge and I reported to him.

“I have been back for the last fortnight and Captain Walker had returned even earlier than that. He countered some problems finding permanent replacements for Lieutenants Morton and the late and much-missed Yeaton. He headed out three days ago to follow a lead and he didn’t plan to be gone for longer than a day or two. I’m sure it just proved more difficult than he thought to follow up on and he should be back any time now. Anyway, the men aren’t due to return for another six days at the latest though I am sure most of them will return long before then.”

“I see, so he hadn’t found any lieutenants willing or able to be hired by the company before he left?”

“There was one promising candidate but for some reason or other he had changed his mind and went elsewhere the day before the captain left.”

“What a pity so there still a chance then for me to retain my temporary command.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that after all it’s still early days yet but it is I suppose still a distinct possibility. Until such time that a permanent replacement for Morton is found or the captain says otherwise you can continue to bunk in the quarters you were assigned as a temporary lieutenant.

I believe that the only member of the second platoon currently in camp is Sergeant Tucker. I suggest that for the time being you comport yourself as if the Lieutenantship is still yours. In the likely event that is not the case let me apologise on behalf of the captain and myself for any distance or other inconveniences this may cause between you and the other sergeants and anyone else for that matter.”

“Theirs no need for that I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to my temporary promotion and at the time I was fully aware of the possible repercussions of doing so. Now I am sure in the absence of the captain you are very busy so I won’t take up any more of your time. Now is temporary lieutenant Ardent in camp, if so I’ll have him inform me of how the company goes about getting ready for the campaign season and all the training and whatnot that involves.”

“Yes he’s about, he arrived shortly before the captain left and you’ll be pleased to hear that he informed Walker that unless it was absolutely necessary he would prefer to return to the ranks.”