Adventures of Jessa

48

"Nathan, I want you to wait until I'm hired to stop being my body guard. Dhiren has already told me that he will have you paid from his account from Frosnak's counting house here."

Nathan shakes his head, "No, Jessa, I signed on to be your body guard and I'll stay that way."

"But you will be more than likely in a fight that can't be won." Jessa argues with him.

Nathan smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "I know. I have many acquaintances, Jessa. A few that I really like spending time with. Some of which have already been killed. If you are killed then there is no one that I have to live for. You are my family as well as my friend. I have no one else. If you die there is little reason for me to stay alive as well. I will live in guilt thinking that if I had gone with you that there is a possibility that I might have helped you somehow, some way and you would have survived. I might not make a difference, but then again I might. Please, you don't have the right to end this, if you don't wish for me to continue then I will end it, but I will do my best to make sure that I end up in the same caravan as you. 

"Besides you don't know which master is known as the biggest ass to work for. I do."

Jessa is less than pleased by his words, but she takes a breath and nods reluctantly. She would feel the same, it's the reason she allowed Dhiren to hire Nathan as her bodyguard in the first place. It kept him out of the pass until she had the chance to deal with the bandits herself.

It doesn't take them long to find lodgings and store their things before heading to Frosnak's counting house. While Jessa makes her deposit Nathan asks for some of the magic paper so that he can send the message as Dhiren had requested of him.

The clerk doesn't question him, they had all been instructed by Frosnak to help both Jessa and the human friend in all ways.

For the rest of the day they wander through the market looking at the items for sale. They hear the rumors of the dangers of attempting to return to Castlerock. Many of the masters find them and knowing that they recently came from there demand answers.

They shake their heads, "We came through Silva, we are unaware of the true conditions of the pass, although I have heard that there has been a call for the bandits to concentrate on the pass. The call has been sent out to bandits from other countries and locals."

Some of the masters scoff at Jessa's words, "how would you know?"

"I heard a group of them before I dealt with them. They were unable to join in with the other bandits once I finished with them."

"Yeah, where did you hear them speaking?"

"About a day's ride from Silva," Jessa says before ignoring the humans that doubt her.

The human sneers at her, "Why were you that close to Silva, the elves don't care for humans going that near their territory."

Jessa sneers right back at the master, "Because I have a writ of passage through Silva. The prince and I are friends and he wanted me to have a safe passage for when I work. He has allowed me to take caravans through if I feel that they are worthy to do so."

The humans that are listening roar with laughter, at least some of them do. "The elves would never favor a human like that." Is heard more than once. Jessa and Nathan merely stand there listening to their mockery.

Yet not all the humans are laughing, there are some that are looking at Jessa in speculation. "I have heard that there is a human that has a writ. One of the masters was lamenting that one Jessa Brightblade, a human with an elvish name, was unavailable since she has a writ of passage."