They slowly made their way into town, the entire time Bjorn was apprehensive. Rather unfortunately he was forced to spend an extended amount of time in the city so he was fairly aware of what is normal in Blackrock Bay. By Bjorn calculations they were likely 2 maybe even 3 weeks behind Kairon’s crew, making the trail cold.
It wasn’t long before they were standing in front of the gate leading into the city. There were three guards dressing in the colors and wearing the usual armor of the Blackrock Bay guards. They were lazily just waving everyone through, barely even looking at the comings and goings.
“That's a good sign.” Bjorn said in a low voice to Adriana.
“What is?”
“The fact that there are so few guards and they barely are paying any attention to the comings and goings. Tells me that they aren't on high alert.”
“Ah.” She said
As they walked through the streets of Blackrock Bay Adriana was flabbergasted by everything she was seeing around her. She had spent her whole life in Leefside so she had no concept of what a large city looked like. Blackrock Bay without a doubt qualified as a large city. To Bjorn the cities in the Eld were nowhere as impressive as the cities back on earth so this was just another day for him, especially seeing how he had taken in the sights here several times while he was here.
Over the several years he was gone from the city nothing major seemed to have changed. It’s population must have grown as the city had spilled outside of the large outer walls of the city. The outskirts which used to be a good 30 for 40 feet away from the outer wall had pushed up against the walls. On the outside of the city there was a more ramshackle, shanty town. On the inside of the walls everything was built out of the same black stone that the city was named for. As they neared the north entrance to Blackrock Bay they passed an obvious construction project. It appeared that they were working on setting up another 4th layer of wall.
“Things must have gone well for this city in the last few years.” Bjorn thought to himself as they passed a construction crew. There were close to 50 workers moving the stone blocks into place. These walls were the first layer to not be built directly on the black stone that Blackrock Bay sat on top of.
Adriana watched as well as they passed. “Well on the bright side. If you fail your quest for vengeance you could probably get a job here as a mason building this wall.” Her tone was light as if she was making a joke.
Bjorn however didn’t find it overly entertaining. “If I fail this quest It is because I am dead. There are only two options, either I die and I take as many of them with me as I can, or every single one of them has felt my fury and is dead. Left to rot in the hot festering suns as monsters and animals slowly pick the meat off their bones.”
The smile fled her face. “You're right. I am sorry.”
Instead of answering Bjorn just grunted and then kept moving forward. The first place that they went was Bjorn's old stomping ground. They made their way through the streets having to cross two bridges and ravines to get there. Each time Bjorn stopped for a few minutes to let Adriana gawk at the boats running through the channels underneath. They made their way to the Glittering Goose.
It was early afternoon when they made it to the Glittering Goose. It was exactly how Bjorn remembered it, only it looked slightly rundown, as if its exterior hadn't been taken care of very well. Bjorn found that weird as Kent didn't seem to be the kind of man to fall behind on those kinds of things.
With a slight frown on his lips Bjorn pushed open the door of the bar and stepped inside. A bell announced his arrival. The interior was just how he remembered it, only slightly shabby. The once well-built polished wood of the tables had been replaced with rough barely sanded tables. The lighting was almost gloomy inside. “Just a minute I'll be right there.” An unfamiliar voice came from the kitchen area.
Adriana gave an inquisitive look to Bjorn who just shrugged. They made their way to the bar and stood there looming over the bar. Behind the bar had once been well stocked with casks of wine and meads as well as kegs of beer. Now however there were only a few kegs of what was probably beer and a single cask.
“What can I do for you?” The voice called out as a man who looked slightly familiar at the same time it looked like a complete stranger. He was young, probably close to Bjorn’s age. His face had a slight resemblance to Kent but looked completely different. He had the same sharp nose, and slightly too close eyes, as well as the same brown hair. But that is where the resemblance stopped.
“I'm looking for the owner.” Bjorn said.
“That's me.” The man said.
“What happened to Kent did he sell?”
A pained look crossed the man's face. “He was my uncle, he died.”
This bad news was the newest in a long line of bad news. “How did it happen? He was a friend of mine.”
“I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Bran, and you are?”
“My name is Bjorn.” There was a look of puzzlement across the man's face. “Bjorn Ward.”
With the last name suddenly recognition crossed Bran's face. “I remember him talking about you. You helped save Blackrock Bay from an invasion of Snatcher spiders right?” Before Bjorn could answer the barkeep pressed onwards. “I always thought that name sucked. I thought they should be called The death spiders. Yeah that always sounded better to me. He used to tell me stories of you and your friends and how wonderful you were when I came to visit him. It wasn’t often, maybe once a year or so.”
His eyes fell on Adriana. “You must be Meira. I have heard so much about you. Uncle used to talk about how the two of you were perfect for each other and he was so happy when you ended up together.”
“Meira is dead.” Bjorn said, cutting the man off before he could continue talking.
All of the animated excitement left the man's face and it fell. “Did she? I am sorry to hear that.”
“As is the rest of my party. I am the only one left.”
This news hit the man like a hammer blow and he fell backwards onto a stool behind the bar. “I am sorry to hear that. How did it happen?”
“I will but you first. What happened to Kent?”
“Well around 2 years ago he died. Someone came into the bar one night and was acting rowdy. Kent never put up with that kind of clientele so he went to throw the guy out. He pulled a knife and stabbed him in the throat. Before anyone could pull the guy off of him he had stabbed my uncle 4 more times. He bled out in seconds, I am told.”
“Thats awful, I’m sorry.” Adriana said, her voice filled with compassion.
Bran just nodded in agreement and kept talking. “You met him, he was a solitary guy, he never had any family of his own. I lived in a little town halfway across Escar so it took almost a month for news of his death to reach me. I came here as fast as I could. When I got to town I found out that the bar had been left to me. But during that month and a half the business hadn’t been running. Most everything in the bar had been looted and I had to start from scratch.” He let out a dark chuckle. “I even had to have a few people who had moved in removed.”
“What happened to the killer?” Bjorn asked.
“I don’t know for sure. The last I heard he was rotting in some cell in the prison. He might have died by now but I don’t know. Either way he won't do any harm where he is now.” Bran moved forward and made to start pouring a drink from his measly supply. “Can I get you something while you tell me what happened to you?”
Bjorn reached his hand into his bag of holding and pulled something out, he held onto it for a few moments as he replied. “No, thank you. As for what happened to us, it is quite simple. Tayla, Alaric, and Rickie all were killed by a single monster. Meria and I both got maimed, we moved north of here and started a farm.” Bjorn took the items from his hand and set them on the bar. “A little over 1 month ago some people raided our farm, raped her and killed her.” He pulled his hand back and three shiny gold coins were left on the bar. “I am hunting those who did it. Thank you for your information.” With that Bjorn turned and walked out the door.
Adriana followed after. Bran moved around the bar and began following after him calling out. “Wait, at least stay here while you are here. That is the least I can do for my uncle’s friends. Please don’t go. I need to thank you.”
Heedless of the words of the man Bjorn kept walking. Bran followed after the pair for around 100 feet outside of the bar before he stopped in the street watching their backs as they walked off. Eventually he said quietly, almost too quiet to be heard. “Thank you. You don’t know what this means.” Before turning around and heading back to the bar. With the new infusion of cash he had work to do.
Adriana walked after Bjorn quietly at first. She had just found out more about his adventures with Meira than she had in the last month from him. Even though the pair taught her many things they never really talked about their past. She had always been inquisitive but she didn’t want to pry. Everytime they talked about their past they would get quiet and almost distant. She had learned their names, and that it was a single monster that killed them.
“What is the plan now?” She asked Bjorn as she followed.
“To see what happened to Gram, if he is still alive he will help us for sure. He still is in my debt.”
“Alright, who is Gram?”
“The captain of the guard here. Come now, stop lagging behind.”
They made their way up the almost confusing layout of the streets here. Bjorn was able to lead them to the guardhouse quite easily though as his map allowed him to navigate the streets as easily as if he had lived in Blackrock Bay his entire life. It didn’t take them long to make it across town and to the guardhouse. By then Early afternoon had turned into early evening. The guardhouse itself was a flurry of activity as it always seemed to be. There were groups of guards coming and going in all directions.
They didn’t seem to pay the two people standing across the street any mind however as they got to stand there watching for a few minutes. The last time Bjorn had seen this building was right before they got fully drafted into the guard and sent down into the sewers below the city. This time however it was nowhere near as busy as it had been on that day.
Finally Bjorn decided it was time and crossed the street making his way into the building itself. He was met with the same familiar open floorplan that it had been the years prior. Guards lounged about as a din of voices carried through the room. Again no one paid any mind to the two newcomers who walked through the door. Because of the lack of attention Bjorn was able to navigate the two of them through the group and over to the hallway that lead to Gram’s office.
“Halt.” One of the two guards who had been posted on either side of the hall said. He lowered his polearm blocking their passage deeper into the building. “State your business.”
“My name is Bjorn Ward and I am here to see Captain Gram. I need to speak to him.”
The other guard spoke up. “Shove off. We don’t just let any old homeless man off the streets here to see Captain Gram. Especially ones as heavily armed as you.” He gave Bjorn an appraising look.
Bjorn had to admit he wasn’t necessarily in his best shape. Over the last month of travel he hadn’t necessarily been worried about his appearance. He had grown a spotty beard that had grown long in places and patchwork in others. The hairs on both his chin and his head were long and scraggaly, not well kept at all and were a mess. They hadn’t stopped to clean either themselves of their clothes before coming here, and their clothes were covered with mud that had caked into their pants and coats.
Bjorn didn’t keep his bow on his back seeing how he was able to withdraw it very quickly from his bag of holding, he did however keep several knives visible on his person and even a few that couldn’t be seen. He would have had a sword but unfortunately that too was taken from him during the raid. Adriana however had her bow on her back as well as her knife on her hip.
“I need to speak with Gram, it is a matter of importance.” Bjorn tried again.
“No, shove off or I will have you arrested.” The first guard said.
Bjorn made to shove past the guards and he finally noticed that the room had mostly fallen silent. All 30 guards turned their heads and were watching the altercation between the two posted guards and the man who looked like a vagrant. When the vagrant tried to push past the guards several members of the room stood and went to aid their companions.
Bjorn was stronger and better trained than most of the guards in the room so his power surprised the guard at first. The only problem was that they weren’t alone. In short order several guards had Bjorn down on the ground, pinned and started removing the various weapons and items he had on his person.
Adriana made to help but one of the other guards restrained her and began hauling her out of the building. She fought the whole way. “Stop that. You're too young to be wrapped up in all of this. Go home to your parents.” The guard said as he threw her out on the street.
Bjorn wasn’t fully done. As the guards started to try and haul him away he began shouting out at the top of his lungs. “Gram, it’s Bjorn. I have something to tell you, it's a matter of safety for Blackrock Bay.” He managed to get that out twice before one of the guards stuffed something into Bjorn’s mouth, cutting his cries short.
“Stop that. You are obviously drunk or something. Maybe a night in jail will calm you down.” One of the guards said, the rest of his friends made noises on assent and they picked Bjorn up off of the floor. They hauled him through the set of doors that led down into the jail. They only stopped long enough at a desk so that they could remove all of his items, clothes, and take his name down.
Bjorn gave them his name and then right after he found himself forced down the stairs and into the familiar jail that he had spent the day in with his friends, this time alone.
“Where do we put him? We don’t have many cells left.” One of the guards asked.
“Why not with the old man? That cell is too big for the man anyways. Might as well put them both in there. It’s not like he will be staying for long.”
They hauled Bjorn through the dark hallway and stopped before a cell that had been fully built into the wall with thick metal bars set into the stone. One of them fumbled in his pocket and produced a stone with what looked like runes carved into his surface. He held it up to the door and it clicked. They pulled the door open and roughly threw Bjorn into the room and slammed the door behind him. They locked the door and left.
Well that didn’t go as planned. Bjorn took in his surroundings. The cell was surprisingly spacious based on where they had been kept last time he was down here. Not that the space really amounted to much. The only things in the room was a rotting straw bed, a bucket, and the remains of a food tray. A man lay with his back towards Bjorn huddled on the straw bed, no blanket to keep him warm.
Bjorn eyed the man and sat down with his back to the wall. He didn’t know how to get before Gram. The last time he had been in Blackrock Bay he was almost a celebrity and almost everyone knew who he and his friends were as they walked through the streets. Everyone left in the guard knew who they were. It seemed that all it took was 3 years for the memory of the saviours of the city to fade.
Stolen novel; please report.
He wasn’t in the right state of mind. Of course no one would recognize him as he was now. When they had left Blackrock Bay they had been clean, well kept, and bodies held high. Now Bjorn was the exact opposite of that. Those rational realizations didn’t matter to Bjorn however, his mind was filled with dark thoughts as he sat in a jail cell watching the back of a man who was probably a killer.
Several hours later the man finally stirred. He sat up from his bed and slowly turned around. The ‘old man’ as the guards had put it didn’t look overly old. He was probably in his mid to late 50’s, human, and covered in a thin white beard with wispy white hair. “Oh, I didn't realize they gave me a cellmate. What are you in for?”
“I tried to see Captain Gram. They didn’t like it.”
The man slowly nodded and moved his back to the wall so he had something to lean against. “That doesn’t seem too bad, you’ll probably be out in the morning then. You are actually the first guest I have gotten in the last two years.”
Bjorn didn’t particularly feel like talking so he kept quiet as he sat there and brooded, trying to figure out his next move. The man obviously was leaving the conversation open so that Bjorn would ask him something, but he didn’t care, he wasn’t going to ask.
After a few minutes of silence the man decided to speak. “As for me, I am down here for protecting myself. You see, I went to a bar one night. I had just come to town, used to be a deck hand on a merchant ship you see. I had never been to Blackrock Bay before, we got in late and had cargo to unload. The dockmaster told us that we couldn’t offload until morning, as there was some kind of celebration going on here.”
He repositioned himself a little. “So seeing how I had a whole evening to myself in town I figured I would explore a little bit and see what there was in town. I hadn’t ever seen something so magnificent as this town. I got to talking to a few locals and they all suggested I go to the Glittering Goose as they had the best ale in town.”
Upon hearing Glittering Goose Bjorn’s attention was fully on the man. “I went there and I thought that it was weird that all of the wait staff were men but I wasn’t going to complain. They were right, he had the best beer. Anyways I was just enjoying my night when some guy came up to me and began roughly handling me. So I defended myself, I made sure he wasn’t going to keep coming for me but then I was the one who got arrested not the man who assaulted me. I have been down here since.”
Bjorn couldn’t make up his mind. He was torn. On one hand he was flabbergasted at the odds of him getting thrown into the cell with Kent’s killer. On another he was sickened by how low this man was, killing a peaceful bartender when he didn’t want to get thrown out of the bar. Finally he was thankful that he was able to avenge his friend. Bjorn never believed in the divine, but the odds of what was happening were so astronomically low that something had to be pushing for this outcome to happen.
The man had moved on to talking about something else. He was glad to have someone to talk to, it seemed like none of the cells nearby cared to try and talk to this man. But Bjorn had heard enough, it was time to end this scum’s life. He just had to figure out how he was going to do it.
Getting to his feet he wanted to test something, he began casting. He didn't want to kill the man fast, he had killed Kent and he was going to pay the price because of it. So Bjorn started casting his first spell he had ever learned, cast stone. He made the requisite hand gestures and spoke the word of power. Normally mana would flow through his body and condense on his outstretched hand. That didn't happen.
Instead his mana bar decreased slightly and then the power just leaked into the surroundings as if the world itself was trying to drink the power. He had used his new hand, he wanted to see if he was able to use it for spellcasting. Frowning slightly he tried again with his other hand, he held it out and chanted the spell. This time small green sparks the color of earth magic shot out of his hand and dissipated just as fast as they appeared.
“Oh your a spell caster huh? Too bad, the stone down here has been enchanted to sap the mana out of any spell cast. You aren't going to get out of here that way.” The man said, completely oblivious to the fact that Bjorn had just attempted to cast a spell on him.
Bjorn just resigned himself to killing the man by hand. He lowered his hands and began walking towards him aggressively. Now he finally caught on, it was probably the anger evident in Bjorn’s body language.
Shooting to his feet the man raised both of his hands in a defensive posture. “Stay back you here? Stay back, you don't want me to have to put you down.”
That was all he managed to get out before Bjorn was upon him. Bjorn opened up with a devastating right hook that landed on the man's jaw, knocking him to the ground. He struggled to get back to his feet and failed.
“Why? Why are you doing this?” He cried as he tried to scoot away from Bjorn. Bjorn took his time slowly going after the man, he could have finished him right then and there but he let the man cry out. “Please don't. Leave me alone.”
Bjorn took a quick step forward and planted a solid kick on the man's chin, knocking him back to the ground. He was weak. Over the years his muscles most likely atrophied due to malnourishment and laying about in the room.
Bjorn looked down at the shadow of a man with a cold fury in his eyes. “You were the one who killed Kent. He was a friend of mine. Even if he isn’t able to get his revenge I will get vengeance for him.”
Understanding and fear spread across the man’s face at the same time that Bjorn’s fist smashed into his face once again. It was easy, like a grown man beating up a kid. Their strength was so far apart that the man wasn’t able to fight back at all.
Over the next hour Bjorn alternated between punching the man and waiting for him to wake back up again. Each time he showed signs of waking up Bjorn would say something else about how good of a man that this man had killed. Then he would hit him again and his mind would try to flee. At first he woke back up in a matter of seconds. Over the course of the hour the time in between consciousness continued to grow larger and larger.
Finally when Bjorn figured the man had had enough he grasped ahold of the man’s neck and began to squeeze. It wasn’t flashy like they showed in the movies, he didn’t fight back. His mind had retreated back into itself so he just lay there slowly expiring as his mind was slowly deprived of oxygen.
After he got the kill notification Bjorn moved across the cell and sat down, his back to the wall and his mind began to wander. A month ago Bjorn would have been appalled by the actions he just took. He had known what the end for the man would have been, but he still decided to prolong it. He probably would have gone easy and killed him quickly if it wasn’t for how he talked about killing his friend. Or so he told himself. If he wasn’t deluding himself he probably would have killed him slowly either way. There was a darkness inside that was growing.
Bjorn didn’t know how long he sat there musing over what he had done to the man when a voice cut through his revelry. “How come is it that you somehow manage to end up in jail every time you are here?”
Startled by the voice Bjorn turned his head to peer out of his cell. Standing there was a monster of a man, it was Gram. The years had been kind to the walking refrigerator. He didn’t look like he had aged at all over the years. There were obvious scars on his face and neck that he had gotten from the Snatcher Spider Queen, but they didn’t take away from his look. If anything he looked better than he had when Bjorn left Blackrock Bay. The main thing that startled Bjorn was the fact that Gram seemed to have both of his arms back.
“Hey Gram. How have you been?”
It was hard to tell but Gram seemed to have a smile on his face. “Come on, let's get you out of there.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a stone similar to the one that the guard had used to open the door. He waved it over the cell door and it clicked. When he opened the door he noticed Bjorn’s cell companion for the first time. “What happened to him?” He asked with a small frown on his lips.
“He killed one of my friends.” Bjorn said simply.
Gram nodded as if that answer was more than enough for him. “Fair enough. Speaking of which, where are your travel companions?” He must have seen Bjorn’s face fall. “Dead as well I am assuming.” Bjorn didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to. The truth was written all over his face. “I am sorry to hear that. The Eld has truly lost a gem. Come let’s get you out of here and get you your stuff back. I assume you are wanting to take a bath, you look like you will need one.”
Gram moved his mass into the cell through the door and helped Bjorn to his feet. He briefly picked Bjorn up in a hug, it was like hugging a boulder, entirely too large to get his arms around, and so thick with muscle that there wasn’t a soft spot on him.
They made their way up to the stairs and out into the main room. This time there were close to 50 different guards in the room. When the door opened the hushed tones that Bjorn could hear through the door vanished. They all stood in the room at attention.
Gram moved through the door after Bjorn and took in his assembled guards. “This man is named Bjorn Ward. As many of you know he and his travel companions helped save this city from an infestation of Snatcher Spiders. Our cities' survival and my personal survival is thanks to them. I don’t know how long he will be here, but as long as he is in Blackrock Bay no doors shall be closed to him. You will treat him with the same respect that you show Duke Dornan or myself. Do I make myself clear?”
There was a sound of metal hitting metal as all 50 guards slammed their firsts into their hearts in salute. “Yes Captain!” Came everyone’s voice as one.
Bjorn wasn’t entirely comfortable with the attention that was being paid to him. He never liked being the center of attention. But still something within him softened ever so slightly at the gesture. He didn’t know what to say so he said nothing.
He was about to walk further into the room when the two guards who stopped him when he first tried to get to Gram walked up to Bjorn. They both knelt to the ground before Bjorn and lowered their heads. “I am sorry for arresting you. We didn’t know who you were. Everyone here in town knows your name and the names of your companions. We have had many people coming here claiming to be one of you. It was a misunderstanding and we will accept any punishment you deem necessary." The first one to stop Bjorn said.
Bjorn thought about making them pay for the humiliation that they put him through for a second. Then his better judgement won out, they had only been doing their job. They weren’t to blame for that. So Bjorn spoke. “It is okay. You were only doing your job.” With his words the guards got up from the ground and bowed their heads as they backed up.
“You all here are witnesses to my orders. I want you to share the word with all of your fellow guards. Bjorn is to be given access to anywhere he wants to go. Blackrock Bay owes him a debt which can never be repaid. Dismissed.”
There was one final salute and the guards began to move about going back to their normal tasks. Bjorn turned towards Gram. “There was a young woman traveling with me, do you know where she went?”
“I believe I heard a report of such a young woman hanging around outside the guard house. One of my guards thought that she was suspicious so he filed a report. We can go see if she is still out there.” Bjorn nodded and started to make his way towards the door. Gram chuckled. “Hold up. Let’s get you your stuff back first.”
He steered Bjorn towards a room that he hadn’t been in before. It was a long narrow room that was stacked high with chests, shelves, and cubbies. Each one was filled with different items. Gram steered Bjorn towards a chest that was roughly 2/3rds of the way down the room. Inside was filled with all of Bjorn’s stuff, including his winter clothes that had been taken from him when he was arrested.
Unabashedly he pulled off the course shirt and pants that had been given to him and dressed back in the same clothes he had been wearing for the last month. Gram crinkled his nose. “I still think a bath is in order. Let's find your friend and you both can take a bath across the way.”
Bjorn nodded and they made their way out the front door. As soon as he got outside he began scanning the street to see if he could find Adriana. He didn’t have to scan for long as she soon materialized and quickly made her way over to Bjorn.
“Bjorn, you're safe.” She ran up and gave him a hug.
“Um. Yep.” Bjorn replied.
“What happened?” She asked oblivious to the moving slab of stone next to Bjorn.
Gram cleared his throat in a polite way to get her attention. She pulled back and away from Bjorn.
“Hello.” Gram said in his deep baritone. “My name is Captain Gram, I am the man in charge of keeping this city safe. And who might you be?”
Adriana was embarrassed. She had acted without thinking and without decorum when she saw Bjorn, she was so overwhelmed with relief that she just acted. “Um, hi. My name is Adriana. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” As she spoke she began to shrink. Throughout her entire life the only person she had met who had any semblance of importance had been Hunter and Charissa. They were only important because they were the de facto leaders of Leefside.
Gram gave a disarming chuckle. “It is nice to meet you too. Now I'm assuming you'll be wanting to take a bath. Judging by the state Bjorn is in, I don't know how you put up with it.” gram was expertly corralling the pair towards the baths across the street.
“But Gram, what I have to tell you is important, it is the difference between life and death probably for this whole city. We don't have time for a bath.” Bjorn protested.
Gram just smiled. “I heard, and I believe you. This bath is for more than you however. Either from the road or jail you smell something foul. I would rather not have to smell you if I don't have to. On top of that Duke Dornan has given me orders that if any of your party ever shows back up to Blackrock Bay I am to bring you to him. I don't want to bring you before the duke in your current state. And finally you seem extremely stressed, a bath will help de-stress you and will do you good.”
By the time Gram had finished speaking he managed to corral them into the bath house. He turned to the lady behind the desk ignoring Bjorn’s protests. “These two are to use your facilities and they can take however long they need. I want you to clean their clothes as well as get them new ones. Get someone in to cut their hair and shave his beard. Send the bill to my office.”
“Of course, Captain. It will be done.” She said.
“You know where to find me once you are finished. Take however long you need, I will be there.” Gram said to Bjorn and Adriana before bowing his head slightly and walking out of the room. The asshat hadn’t listened to a word Bjorn had said so far. Oh well there was nothing to be done about it.
“Men go through that door, and women that one.” The lady said, bringing Bjorn’s attention back to the matter at hand. “Go ahead and strip down in that first room, I trust you have used our baths before?”
“I have, she hasn’t.” Bjorn said.
“Very well, you can go ahead, I will tell your friend how everything works. Someone will be in to help trim up your hair. Go ahead and leave your clothes in that first room, they will be washed and ready for you when you get out. There will also be a spare set for you to wear.” The lady said.
Bjorn followed her directions and was soon resting in the closest thing that he had found to a hot tub in this world. It was a flurry of activity as well as information. So much had changed over the years and at the same time everything feels the same. Bjorn barely noticed when a man entered the bath he was using and started to slowly massage some sort of shampoo into his hair. He normally kept it fairly short during the summer, and he let it grow out during the winter. He kept a close cropped beard normally that he had let run loose. The man cut Bjorn’s hair to a more medium length than Bjorn was used to during the winter months and cut his facial hair into a goatee of sorts.
He ended up leaving Bjorn to his thoughts after he was done working. Unbidden with time Bjorn eventually decided it was time to get out. He pulled the plug and let the water drain and made his way back into the prep room. True to what the lady said, the clothes he had been wearing had been washed and folded neatly.
Sitting right next to it were actually two sets of clothes. One had a shirt of a rich blue color and tan pants to match. The other pile was a purple and white patterned shirt with a pair of black pants that complimented the colors quite well. There was also a pair of new leather boots. Just to test he put both sets of clothes on to try them on, they fit perfectly and were tailored in such a way that they were both form fitting and felt loose at the same time. The material was soft and fine, much like what he experienced back on earth. He had gotten used to rough homespun that liked to chaff. They were nicer clothes than he had ever worn in the Eld. Next to both piles was a new jacket as well as a thick black cloak.
He ended up settling on the purple and black set of clothes as well as the pair of new leather boots. They too managed to fit just right on his feet, they were ever so slightly tight on his foot but he knew that given enough time they would eventually break in. He attached his belt of sustenance, it held two knives as well as his bag of holding. Over that he pulled the heavier coat and to finish the ensemble he put on the cloak. Finally finished he made his way back into the waiting room.
As soon as he entered Adriana spoke up. “You are like royalty here.”
He surveyed the room and saw Adriana sitting on a chair next to the door out onto the street, the lady was nowhere to be seen. She had on a jacket and a matching black cloak to the one Bjorn was wearing. He was sure she was outfitted with new nice clothes underneath her jacket but he couldn’t tell.
“Yeah, royalty that gets beat up and thrown in jail.”
“You know what I mean.” She said with a little heat in her voice. “I just took a bath in a pool that has the ability to change the temperature of the water at will. I could make it as hot as I want or as cold as I wanted. Then when I get out of the bath there are two sets of clothes waiting for me which are made out of the softest material I have ever felt. Both of which are dyed the most vivid colors I have ever seen on clothes. Then to top it off you leave the guardhouse with the Captain of the guard, who by the way is as large as a damn tree, treating you as if you are long lost friends. What did you do here to earn such treatment?”
“Nothing much, we just helped save the man who saved this town from an infestation of snatcher spiders.” Bjorn said almost flippantly as he made his way over to her, sitting down next to her.
“What is a snatcher spider?”
“It is a nasty creature that feeds on the bones inside your body. It bites you, injecting its venom liquifying your bones then drinking it out of you. Then it takes the meat of your body and puppets your corpse to get closer to its next prey. Nasty monsters.”
He looked over at Adriana and saw a look of horror on her face. Obviously too much too soon. “Gram will likely talk about it. The man that we managed to save was a man by the name of Duke Dornan, he is the duke of this city as well as the surrounding lands. Long story short we ended up saving him and in turn he saved the city.”
“Oh, only a duke.” Adriana said almost sarcastically. Bjorn looked at her but she had on an innocent look so he wasn’t sure if she was truly being sarcastic or if it was his imagination.
Instead of questioning the likelihood that she was being sarcastic Bjorn decided it was time for them to go talk to Gram, they had a lot to cover. “Come on, let's go talk to Gram, he needs to find out what I know.” Bjorn said, getting to his feet.
Adriana followed after him as he walked out the door. They made their way across the street and back into the guardhouse. By the time they had finished getting clean and their little conversation it was well and truly into the night. This made it so that the guardhouse was as close to empty as Bjorn had ever seen. There were only a handful of guards milling about in the main room, with only a few standing guard to the passages leading deeper into the complex.
They made their way over to the hallway leading to Gram’s office; there were two guards stationed there again. This time when they drew close the guards saluted the two as they snapped to attention. Bjorn put his fist to his chest in response and then walked through. Adriana just waved awkwardly as she tried to stay close to Bjorn’s heels.
They walked down the hallway to the door leading into Gram’s office. There was one more guard standing at attention just outside who saluted briefly before reaching for the door and pulling it open. The thick wood of the door slid open effortlessly. Bjorn nodded his thanks and he and Adriana slipped into the office, the door sliding closed behind them.
