Adventures of Jessa

29

"Jessa, are you okay? You look like shit," Nathan asks as they prepare to go to the hiring grounds the day after they got to the city after leaving Silva.

"Yeah, I'm as good as I'm going to get. I told you about the news that my grandfather gave me that made it so I had to break things off with Dhiren." Nathan nods, "Every time I think about it, it makes me ill. I have a hard time keeping food down. I'll be fine, I'm sure. 

"I just want to go back home and see my parents."

"Okay, word has started going around, not just about you having the writ, but about your fighting abilities. I heard some of the guards that are staying here talking last night. I think you will start being in demand. If that happens, make them bid for your services. You save them a great deal of time and money by taking them through Silva. You deserve the higher pay."

Jessa looks at Nathan blankly, "Make them bid for me?"

"Yep, have them start off with the last wage you earned and see where they are willing to go. You will soon be earning more than most masters."

"But what if I don't like the one that wins the bid?" Jessa frets. There are some caravan masters that she will not work for. They give her the creeps and she doesn't trust them as far as she can throw them.

Nathan shrugs, "You should tell them ahead of time that you reserve the right to not go with the highest bidder, but it will depend on their history or whatever."

Jessa thinks about it, "Thanks, I'll talk to Frosnak about it when we get back to Castlerock." With that she takes up her bag and they head out of the inn that they were staying in and work their way to the hiring grounds.

They wend their way through the early morning crowd fairly easily. They find themselves among the first of the hopefuls to gather.

A master comes up to Jessa and looks her up and down with a judgmental look on his face. With a sneer he says, "You don't look like much. You look like a strong wind would blow you over."

Jessa narrows her eyes at the contemptuous man and sneers right back at him, "And it looks like it would take a hurricane to knock you over."

The man instead of getting angry smirks, "You've got sass, you must be Jessa Brightblade."

"Yes, and you are?"

"Forgive my rudeness just now, Master Josnick. I heard that if there is any one person to hire, that it would be you. I've heard good things from several of the caravan masters and guards. They say that you are able to defeat the elven prince when sparring."

"Well, Josnick, you shouldn't believe everything you hear and only half of what you see, but in this case, it's true." Jessa replies, almost in a bored tone of voice.

Josnick nods thoughtfully, "You are, of course, correct in what you say. I discounted most of what they said, like when they said you have a writ of passage through Silva. Then they said that the elven prince sparred with you and another said that he traveled with you."

Jessa merely stands there with folded arms and looks are him with an expression of get to the point on her face.

Josnick clears his throat noisily, "Is it true?" He clarifies the question when he can see Jessa's impatience double. "Do you have a writ of passage through Silva?"

"Yes, it is true that I have a writ of passage for Silva. However, there are certain rules that pertain to me using that writ and bringing others into Silva. Prince Dhiren wasn't very happy with the last caravan that came through, some of his people tried to come into Silva without permission. Damn near got the writ reversed." Jessa is exaggerating. The two were a little worse for some herbal drugs and had wandered too close to Silva. Coming face to face with elves with drawn swords and battle stance sobered the two idiots right up.