30th of Samune,
Celestial realm,
Ghondish clip-clopped his way towards Greymore’s manor home on the outskirts of the realm. He chewed his cud as he walked, and thought back on what he had heard from the paperboy.
“So, word on the street is that Grey’s priest drowned the Heretic, and Death made a complaint to someone about having constant “Near Heretic Experiences”! My sources are very firm on the idea that he, I mean Death, had made a complaint to the council about it, and didn’t want it to keep happening by their hands.” The paperboy had said from behind the stack of daily papers on the news stand. “So… “Someone” had words with Greymore, and now he hasn’t been seen since.”
Ghondish shuddered deep in his core, where there was still a trace of ice. “I’m just going to check on him. Nothing more.”
-
3rd of Kielat, First month of Summer,
The Elven Kingdom,
Maxwell’s Journal
I have become disenfranchised with the land of the elves; we will be leaving in the morning. This decision has been a long time coming. Back when I was “young” I thought this was a beautiful place, with wonderful people. Only now do I realize that the people were treating me as a child and a new interesting thing. Now I have realized how racist their society really is.
This decision has been a while coming, but the slights I’ve finally started to notice towards my wife and child have driven the nail into the coffin. It is probably a good thing that Brandywine hasn’t been here, otherwise people would have died. I will not curse this place, but I doubt I will ever return.
13th of Kielat,
We have exited the elven kingdom. I shook the dust from my boots at the border. The one guard who saw that stared wide eyed at the gesture. Good riddance.
20 more days on the king’s highway and we will be in Flagondburn, the capital of the Deepfalsian Dominion. From there we plan to follow the provincial roads the 1000 miles North-East to Narazah, the last major town before the Eastern Wilds. I have never been to the eastern wilds, so I don’t know what to expect. I do know it is grassy rolling plains for as far as the eye can see, and there are small towns and the like, but no unifying government or racial ties. The people are supposed to be nomadic tribals who follow the herds and migrate, much like Khuld, but with fewer villages. And what villages there are, are more akin to multi-family Farm Holds, than actual villages.
20th of Kielat,
We have stopped in the city of Tovalik, on the king’s highway. It is hot, and the room is hot. The food is passible. I met with a caravanner bound for Flagondburn, and we will be joining his caravan until then.
27th of Kielat,
Brandy rejoined us at last. She had what she described as a “pleasant” visit with her family. I don’t know what that means, exactly.
I am surprised at the lack of bandit activity on this trip. There’s usually one group trying to make a name, or just make money on travelers. We have passed no less than three vacated “toll booths” on the highway thus far. Recently vacated too, as one still had a pot on the fire. I tossed a pair of silver coins in the pot for good luck.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
-
The small group of bandits watched from a hill as the large caravan passed their Toll Booth, the leader stared at the last wagon, and its driver through a spyglass he had liberated years ago. He glanced down from the glass to the Golden Heretic in its small glass collectors’ case with the logo of The Repute on it, “Yep. That’s definitely him.” He followed the man’s movement. Watched as the man dismounted the wagon, walked to the boiling pot, threw a pair of coins in the pot, and then remounted the wagon. “Gods above and below, that man is frightening.”
34th of Kielat,
Flagondburn. At last. We sleep tonight in a bed, tomorrow we resupply for our trip, and the day after we leave. We are at one of the less savory inns on the outskirts of the city. It is clean, but the ladies of the night are occasionally loud. Bri spent a few hours chatting with the madam and a few of the ladies. When I passed them by earlier, the were giggling something fierce. Grendel has turned beet red more than once, and has fled the premises; I know he will be back when he is either tired or hungry. Also, Brandy decided to follow him, as opposed to hitting a gnome who thought she was one of the ladies of the house.
-
Grendel left the house of prostitution by the second rear exit; the one used by paying guests in need of discretion for an extra price; as opposed to the one that ended in the manure pile. He moved from alley to alley, stretching his legs, and observing the flow of people in the streets proper. He slowly mapped the area and the traffic flow in his mind, then stepped into the flow and made it his own.
Time passed on the street, and Grendel found his way to a midway decent pawn shop near the higher end of the city. He loitered across the street for a minute of three, then meandered in. A bell on the door chimed, and the woman behind the counter greeted him with an enthusiastic hello.
“Hello young man! What can Old Sally do for you?” The obviously young woman greeted Grendel.
Looking around the surprisingly clean shop from just inside the door, Grendel whistled, “This place is nicer than I thought it would be. Even this close to the noble quarter.”
“Did I just hear you disparage Old Sally?” The counter woman glared at Grendel.
“No Ma’am! That was a compliment!” Grendel’s eyes kept moving across the shop. Tools displayed nicely on shelves, other tools of the trades on display here and there, items for fishing and hunting had their own area, as did household items, and jeweler was on display in locked cabinets. “This is probably the cleanest pawn shop I’ve ever seen.”
The counter woman sniffed, “Well, that’s nice of you to say. Now again, what can Old Sally do for you?”
Walking to the counter, Grendel removed his special pouch from inside his shirt, “I have gold dust that I would like to sell.” He placed the pouch on the counter.
Cocking an eyebrow, the counter woman asked, “And you trust us to do this?”
“Best shop I’ve seen that looks like it won’t just confiscate the bag and throw me out.”
The counter woman nodded, “True. We don’t condone that sort of behavior here. The Repute doesn’t either, but they still allow it.” She shook her head as if to dislodge the organization from taking space in her head, “We aren’t under their influence. Or protection here, so we rely on out reputation.”
Grendel stared open mouthed at the woman, “You… You really aren’t under their umbrella?”
“Of course not. Didn’t the Heretic say something like “I don’t know, find your own way?”. I think that’s what grandpa said. Anyway, let me weigh up what you have and pay you fair value.” The counter woman placed a scale on the sales counter, calibrated it with a small set of shiny weights, and began the process of weighing the gold.
“You’re a follower of the Heretic, huh?” Grendel finally asked, eyes sticking to the gold powder as it was slowly poured into the pan on the scale.
“Not really, but grandpa and granny were very devout. Followed the fire safety tenets to the letter, and never had a shop in the district burn to ash.” She added another weight to the scale. “I’m not that big a believer. I know he’s out there. I know he’s doing his thing, and helping when needed, but I’m more the girl that follows the creed of “Get off my lawn” than any of his real teachings.” She made several marks on a piece of paper. “Your total in Falsian is… three Gold, eight silvers, and twenty-three copper.”
Grendel couldn’t keep a smile from his face, “That’s more than I thought I would get.”
“The scale said the purity was on the high end, so you obviously did a good job cleaning up your fines.”
Grendel’s face brightened, “Oh, you have no idea! I used a magnetic stone inside a very thin lacquered box to pull the black sands out of the dust.”
The two carried on a conversation for the next couple of hours. Meanwhile, outside, Brandywine listened in and prepared a mental list of comments to embarrass Grendel with in the future.
https://ko-fi.com/vastlisten1457
https://www.patreon.com/VastListen1457
https://www.twitch.tv/vastlisten1457
https://www.youtube.com/@VastListen
https://vast-sells.creator-spring.com/
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/104909/a-mixed-bag
