The Adventures of Larson and Garrett, Quest of the Crusader

Chapter 8

First thing in the morning, the crew pushed their way into the guards' barracks. A half-orc captain had her boots up on a messy table. The meaty lass in chain mail eyed the trio skeptically. Eric glanced at some of the guards in leathers; they were yawning and groaning about a morning chill.

"I can help," Captain Ograk asked.

Sasha disclosed recent tribulations. Ograk chastised them a moment about citizens putting themselves in danger. After Yoris revealed they were warriors of Akalabash, the captain snarled.

"Already arrested two of you in town last night."

Brows were furrowed. Sasha wanted to know who was arrested. Apparently, Tyriq and Alana had been incarcerated for trying to intimidate people into joining the church.

"That has nothing to do with us, I assure you," Eric replied.

"Listen, Captain," Yoris began, "we have no intention of inciting fights or doing the guards' work, but we were tasked with a mission to defeat the undead, and we did discover a necromancer's lair. The roads are not safe, and I suspect the guards on patrol already know as much, but since we know the cabin's location, you may as well send a patrol out that way."

"I not take kindly being ordered," Ograk barked. "Why," she trailed off, looking Yoris up and down. She stood from her creaky chair, rounded the table, and sized up the warrior. "Even in bed I give orders."

"Okay," he breathed, looking away to the far wall. Guards snickered as they made their exit by a rack of spears. They took their weapons and round shields from the wooden rack. When he turned back to the orcish lass, she raised and lowered her eyebrows. "No, thank you, Captain."

"Can't blame girl for try," she laughed. "So whatever," she said, waving a hand, dismissively. "I speak to my sergeant. We send someone to inspect cabin. You no cause trouble in Talsador, hear?"

"We hear you," Sasha replied. She glanced at her cousin who was hunched over a bit with his palms on the front of his hips. Shrugging, he tongued his stud. "I suppose we're done here for the moment, but we'll be ready to show your sergeant the way back to the cabin."

"Good, good," the captain puffed, returning her chunky backside to her creaky chair. "Off you go. Be back noon time."

While the captain gave her attention to parchments, Yoris asked her about the others of their group. Tyriq and Alana were to be released the next morning. "I'm going back to see Willem," Yoris told his friends.

"All right," Eric nodded. "We're getting a bite to eat."

Yoris grumbled his reply, left right behind them, and plodded down a busy, cobbled street. At the stone portico of the temple, he marched up the steps. The old priest and a young priest were sweeping dust from the stone floor.

Willem looked up and smiled. "Best the monsters?"

"Indeed we did, however, the necromancer fled. We informed the guard."

"Mm-hm, mm-hm," he muttered, bobbing his head up and down as he continued sweeping.

"May I ask you something?"

"Why certainly."

Plenty of sunlight bled in from the opened doors. None of the candles were lit. A boy in a long tunic came from a far room with a cloth and a bucket. He started cleaning the pews.

Yoris described his dreaming of the sea. He told Willem about how he had practiced following The Tenets of Crusaders, and that during their march from the forest, his dream of the sea had begun to trouble him. Chuckling, the old priest straightened up and beamed.

"Ahhh, the sea.... As a young warrior, many years ago and before settling down as a priest, I had sailed the Derring Sea, killing pirates, before receiving a near-fatal wound." They chatted a moment about the nature of dreams. What the aspiring crusader really wanted to know was if Akalabash was calling him to the sea.

"He may well be. I have heard of no trouble from the ports, but news does not always travel quickly. If the forces of destruction are coming to Ruvonia, they may yet come here by sea or ship. They may also be spreading from Ruvonia."

Shaking his head and looking through the opened doorway, the young fighter tried to think if he felt a pressing need to travel to the sea. He thought it honorable to help his new friends destroy the necromancer. Turning back to the temple interior, he noticed Willem was sweeping away.

Straining under weariness, Yoris marched up to the dais of Akalabash, knelt, and closed his eyes. He drew a deep breath and relaxed. In calmness, he realized that if the necromancer was powerful enough to employ circles of teleportation, the city guards might be ill equipped. I shall have to write Mathew a letter. Perhaps sending some Xorinth guards would be beneficial.

When his thoughts died away, he started to raise his head, but stopped and cocked his head to the side when he caught a whiff of salty air. He tried to sniff for it, but it had passed as soon as he noticed it. Opening his eyes, he stood, strode for the board of quests, left a note for his friends, stating that he was sending yet another letter to Xorinth, and added that he had to leave for the sea immediately.

He quickly wrote the second letter for Mathew, and on his way out of the temple, he informed Willem of his plans. The old man simply replied, "Go and fight."

Yoris nodded respectfully. He walked right out of the temple to bask in warming sunlight. Looking up to a mostly clear sky, he enjoyed for a moment how some far away clouds looked to be painted against the blue backdrop. The puffy clouds didn't even appear to move.

Following appreciative reverie, he continued to the post office where he dropped his letter off, and a few copper coins, explaining to the postal servant that the letter was to be delivered to Detective Mathew in Xorinth. For an extra fee, the postman agreed to get it there within a few days.

After sending his letter, the crusader marched to the town square. It took mere minutes to find some transportation. Figuring sleep in a cart was sufficient to rest his bones, he hired a driver to take him to Port Shau.