What Is Done

Chapter 22 - To Kill An Archmage

The next town was days aways. The inlands of Icast were not densely populated. The towns that were on the plains of Icast tended to be of mixed races. In the rolling foothills outside of the southern part of Elven Guard, our next destination lay. They were called the Dornwich Foothills and they took up a certain percentage of Icast. Nestled between the hills, there was one village. The town name on my map was smudged, covered in some sort of brown spot I hoped was coffee. Essaerae asked a passerby what the name of the town was as we entered. They called it Cherrytown.

We weren't too out of place in the drab city of Cherrytown. There weren't a lot of people out on the streets and the town itself wasn't very large. It was just a few square miles of houses and businesses that seemed like they laundered money behind the scenes. Fruit vendor stalls held day-old rotting fruit and there was nobody attending to them, as if they didn't care if their wares were stolen.

I stayed seated atop Maehara while Sellion and Essaerae led Oakley and Adkin by their reins through the streets. The town was gray, storm clouds looked to be rolling in overhead. I thought maybe that's why everyone wasn't out and about. The few folks we did see appeared to pose no threat.

I cleared my throat to my two comrades before speaking. "From now on, we should try limiting the number of corpses we create."

"Is this about that Heinris guy again? Because he died of natural causes," Sellion said, stopping and tying Oakley to a horse post outside of a pub. I dismounted Maehara, and Essaerae did the same as Sellion and I. We were all a bit hungry, therefore we had all agreed to stop for a hot meal in the next place people inhabited. We followed Sellion into the establishment. I wasn't finished arguing with him.

I threw my hands up to immaculate that I was done with Sellion's choices on how to deal with people. "You pushed him into a ravine!" 

Gravity is one hundred percent a natural cause of death!" Sellion countered. He didn't want to be blamed for putting an end to a man who was trying to kill us. If either of us had let ourselves fall victim to Heinris, we wouldn't be able to complete our mission. That didn't change the fact that he'd still killed Heinris in anyone's eyes.

Essaerae sighed as she put her head in her hand. When she looked up, the few patrons were staring at us. She nudged Sellion and I in the arms. "Guys..."

When I noticed everyone staring at us, I awkwardly waved to the whole restaurant. Mumbles filled the room and those dining went back to their meals. I whispered incoherently to myself as we dropped the drama and took seats at the bar counter. Someone handed us menus with bent corners.

"Hrravhak," someone else behind the counter welcomed us in the horned men's language—Infernal—when the drama in the establishment died down. They said the demons sealed behind The Barred Gate spoke Infernal. "Someone will be with you shortly."

After a long while of waiting, a horned woman server came up to us, asking us what we wanted to eat.

"Can I have the roasted salmon?" Essaerae asked as she skimmed the menu. "With greens." The server smiled at her and wrote it down on a dusty notepad.

The server waited for Sellion to make a decision. Sooner or later he saw on the menu there were spicy chicken wings. "Do you also carry peanut butter?"

"Yes?" the girl replied in confusion.

"I want the spicy chicken wings but slather them in peanut butter," Sellion said in all seriousness. The server looked at him questioningly. Essaerae gagged but didn't question his motivation. Neither did I.

I ordered a vegetarian salad. As our waitress walked away, I followed to pull her aside to request a special dessert. A cake for Essaerae's birthday we had skipped over. The woman agreed to put in the order and said it'd be brought out when everyone was finished eating.