The m started exactly the same as all the others that Krion had experienced in this world so far. Alesin and Rolfun were both up before him, pag up for the day’s journey. Breakfast was ready, and the smell of it gradually pulled him to sciousness. The versation they shared over the meal was slightly different from the days before, however. Where previously it had been more focused on giving a preview of what lessons he would be engaging in during their travels, this m it was instead focused on what cover they would be using to get into Thorn’s Reach that wouldn’t attrauch attention. Seeing Krion’s , both had been quick to reassure him that the ces of an enemy of House Bcksword being itlement were low. Even if su individual resent, the ces of them trying to do anything with Alesin and Rolfun there would be even lower. It was more about just being careful.
With that in mind, Krion was to py the mostly silent role of the son of a traveling mert in the region. He had bee ahead to the settlement with two of his father’s merary guards, to be pyed by Alesin and Rolfun, in order to give him a break from traveling sihis had been his first real trading trip under his father. While Krion still didn’t know much about the situation on Verdant IV, the sario itself seemed pusible enough. Agreeing to the pn, he focused on assuming the role as best he could. After about an hour of traveling along the road, he felt suffitly fortable with the role that he began to rex to enjoy the st of the trip with Alesin and Rolfun.
“Thorn’s Reach is just around this bend,” Alesin said from o him, “I’m ied to see what you think of your first sight of a settlement of the Empire.”
They walked around the curve in the dirt road, and Thorn’s Reach tly before them. Like Rolfun had said, it had been built into a narrow valley, with by sides surrounded by t jagged cliffs that jutted up from the dense forest that surrou. The settlement was a mix of town and fortress. Stretg betweewo cliffs was an imposing wall of stone several stories i capped by thorned ironwork. Dark green vines with what looked to Krion to be thorns covered the surface of the wall itself, almost like nature was guarding the town. They were close enough that Krion could see a number of armored figures patrolling the top of the wall and groups of what looked to be archers stationed on top of the two watchtowers that bracketed the open gate into Thorn’s Reach.
“Remember, you are the son of a minor mert sent ahead with two of your father’s merary guards to find lodging for the night. Keep you hood up and don’t say anything else if you help it,” Alesin reminded him.
They picked up their pace, quickly ing to the end of the short line of people, mostly humans, who waited outside the gate to get into the settlement. Two Wat were stationed by the open gate, attention fixed on the line as it led up to the gate. A trasting pair, the first was tall and wiry, his hawk-like eyes sing each traveler with an iy that bordered on ht suspi. His armor was battered but well-maintained, a short sword with a worn hilt at his side, while he held a spear with a gleaming tip in a guard position.
The sed Wat was a bit shorter and stockier. pared to his fellow Wat, he was more rexed, though his hand still rested on the hefty, well-worn mace at his side while the other held his own spear upright. While his warmer gaze tracked over the line of people waiting to enter, Krion sensed a hard edge to his stahat indicated that he was likely ready to use his ons at a moment’s notice if need be.
The line slowly threaded its way between the duo, before ing to a halt at a simple table that had bee up in front of the final figure in front of the open gate. The man, whom Krion assumed to be the Watch Captain, or some other rank of authority, anded immediate respect. His armor was er and adorned with dark, thorn-like engravings that symbolized his rank. As he spoke to a man in rough clothing, Krion saw a scar flex along his left cheek, giving the man a fierce, unyielding appearance. Of course, that scar was nothio all those that covered his own body.
As they got closer to the front, Krion began to be able to make out what the Watch Captain was saying. He questioned each traveler in a low, stern voice. Uhe other Wat at the gate, he appeared to Watot only the faces of those he spoke to but also the body nguage.
Krion couldn’t help but mutter a soft curse. While he had a backstory as cover, and his hood hid his scars from sight, he was less fident about his body nguage. Before he could express his misgivings to Alesin and Rolfun, it was already there turn.
“Names and reason for visit.”
“Krion, and these are my guards, Alesin and Rolfun,” Krion said, trying to put as much fideo his response as he could. “My father is a traveling mert, and he sent us ahead of the main party to reserve lodging for the night.”
At Krion’s respohe Watch Captain jotted down some notes in the book he was using to keep track of who was entering Thorn’s Reach. He then looked back up at Krion, a slight smile on his lips, the scar tugging up one side. “That is good to hear. Not many merts have been ing through here tely. ces are your father will have some odds and ends that Thorn’s Reaeeds. What did you say he was carrying again?”
“I didn’t,” Krion said. At a look from Rolfun, he decided to improvise. “We are transp mostly foodstuffs, but we have a good sele of tools and a mix of trade goods that might be useful here. I’m sure my father will be happy to let any who are ied take a look.”
“That is good to hear,” the Watch Captain said, his smile growing slightly rger as he stared up at Krion. The smile locked on his face, and Krion cursed as he realized the man was looking up under his hood. “Now those are some iing scars you got there. How did a young son of a mert get those, I wonder?”
Alesin and Rolfun tensed up at his sides, but before they could do more than shift, Krion was blurting out a response in an attempt to deflect whatever suspi the Watch Captain had.
“I had a run-in with a Forest Goblin when I was younger. Barely survived,” Krion pulled the hood back, revealing his fad all the scars. “I was left with these as a reminder not to go off into the forest by myself.”
“Hmmm,” the Watch Captaiured to the members of the Wat either side of them. “Take this Krion and his guards into custody. Something doesn’t sound right about your story.”
Before anyone move, Rolfun has his greatsword in hand, the tip extended an inch away from the Watch Captain’s throat. Everyone froze in pce. “I’d resider that order if I were you.”
“Good try thinking on your feet, Krion,” Alesin said from his other side. She sighed and pulled a sealed letter from her spatial ring. Across the front was a wax seal with the crest of House Bcksword. “Looks like we will be needing this letter after all.” She stepped forward aehe letter to the still frozen Watch Captain. “For your eyes only.”
Hesitantly, the Watch Captain reached out his hand to take the letter. Seeing that Rolfun hadn’t moved the greatsword that was still poi his throat, he nervously examihe crest, then popped it open and began reading. The further dowter his eyes traveled, the whiter his face got. As soon as he finished, he folded the letter back up, ae in a shaking hand back to Alesin. She took the letter and put it bato her spatial ring.
“I uand,” the Watch Captain said calmly, though there was still a slight hint of nervousness in his tone. “Please, feel free to ehorn’s Reach. The oint activation will be tomorrow m.”
“Thank you, Watch Captain…?”
“Brydor,” he said quickly. “Watch Captain Brydor.”
“Thank you, Watch Captain Brydor,” Alesin theended a hand to drop several silver s onto the book he had been using to keep track of everyoering the settlement. She winked. “For the entrance fees.”
Watch Captain Brydor called for the in line, his tone a bit more forceful than before.
Just like that, they were waved through into Thorn’s Reach. Stepping through the gate was like entering another world. The settlement was a mix of rustic charm and rough-hewn defenses, and it was busier than he expected. A steady hum of people moved about, bartering at street vendors, or simply gathering in groups to exge gossip or news. The buildings beyond the streets were clearly marked as shops of various kinds, each having its own colorful banners and makeshift signs. Each structure ractical in design, being a siory tall, made of stone, and possessing simple wooden shutters to keep out the weather.
A few farmers were further down the main street, their carts piled high with produce. One even had a wagon filled with some strange sort of goat-looking creature. Apparently, he was supposed to take them to a different pce, because several Wat were in the process of yelling at him to move his wagon.
For all that it was as medieval as he predicted it would be, Krion couldn’t help the smile that came to his face. The air was thick with the st of earth, leather, and cooking fires, all blending together with what he thought to be the tang of metal from a nearby bcksmith’s shop. It was a nice, pleasant mix of smells, which he had not expected. He asked Alesin why that was the case.
“Evelements as far out on the edge of the Empire as this oill make it a priority to build a proper sewage system and struct buildings with indoor plumbing. That goes a long way towards dealing with the smells you might expect,” Alesiured around at the buildings as she spoke. “The closer you get to the Core Worlds of the Empire, the nicer everything is.”
His question answered, Krion turned his attention bairing the view. He realized that it was just humans living itlement which, in hindsight, he should have realized before they even arrived at Thorn’s Reach. After all, Alesin was a sun elf and Rolfun was a half-ogre.
Looking closer at those around them as the trio made it deeper into the settlement, Krion realized that while the majority were humans of one skin tone or another, here and there were new races of people he hadn’t entered yet. Tall elves in flowing brown robes of a different type than Alesin, their skin the light grass, walked down one of the side streets. The smell of iron and other metals spiked as a bcksmith came into view, the front door backed up with a line of mostly, what Krion took to be, dwarves. Stocky in stature with massive muscles, their long beards were braided together in a set pattern, and to a ohey wore mail that shined in the light of the sun.
His attention was stolen when a child stumbled in front of him, giggling, into the street. Without looking at who he had almost run into, the human boy stood up from the dirt and ran off, anroup of children emerging from a nearby alley aing off in pursuit.
The smile that had e to his face immediately died, however, when he saw a human man outside a store beating two people who looked like a mix of man and wolf. An iron colr circled each of their throats.
“Wolfkin sves,” Rolfun said on notig why Krion had e to a halt ireet. His tone had gone frigid, clearly as unhappy as Krion at what he was seeing. The half-ogre knew him well enough by now that he respoo Krion before he could even ask his question. “I’m sorry, Krion. The ws are clear, even here on the froeically, what that man is doing is disciplining his sves.”
“And that is not enough to intervene,” Alesin said sadly from beside him.
By the end of their short versation, the beating had stopped. Still cursing to himself, the sveowner pulled out a small vial that Krinized as a minor healing potion. Leaning over, he gave each of the sves a drink, then kicked them to their feet. Ohey were standing, the mahem away.
“Is that on?” Krion asked as the trio disappeared around the bend of a street.
“Svery?” At Krion’s nod, Alesin tinued. “It varies depending on where you are in the Empire. Some nobility forbid the practice ht withierritories, while others ence it tremendously, if not engage iaking themselves.”
“House Bcksword?” Krion asked, dreading the answer. He hadn’t eve any of his true family yet, but if they engaged in svery he would do everything he could to put off doing so.
“No,” Rolfun shook his head to Krion’s relief. “There are no sves serving House Bcksword. Only bondsmen and vassals, each with their own protes.”
Krion stared dowreet that the sves had disappeared down. He made a promise to himself then and there that he would do what he could to help if he were ever in a situation where he could act.
His stomach growling pulled him out of his ption. He realized it had been some time since breakfast.
“Here, take this,” Rolfun reached out, dropping several small copper s in his open hand. “Keep an eye peeled for a street vendor selli buns. It’s the best food I tried the first time we came through here.”
As soon as the s were in his hand, it was all Krion could do to keep up with his escorts as they made their way deeper into Thorn’s Reach. Every food vendor they passed called out exotic foods in their wake. As much as he wao stop at them all, he trusted Rolfun not to steer him wrong. So he kept walkiually, whehought his stomach couldn’t take any more, they finally came across an old man selli buns on the er of the street.
“Meat buns!” the man called out in a gravelly voice. “Get your meat buns here!” As he was calling to prospective ers, the vendor ulling strips of meat off the small grill he had set up, which he then dunked into a dark-colored sauce, and finally pced between two pieces of bread that looked awfully simir to hamburger buns. The smell was almost intoxig in its deliciousness.
“How much for a meat bun?” Krion asked, stepping out of the street to the vendor’s stall.
“Copper apiece.” He replied without looking, pg the freshly pleted meat bun on a tray of others. “But I’m doing a special right now since lunch is almost over. Four for three.”
“I’ll take the four then,” Krion said quickly, the s Rolfun had given him. In short order the s disappeared up the old man’s sleeve and Krion had a stack of four meat buns in his hands, the sauce already starting to drip on his fingers.
“e again!” the old man called, eyes still focused on preparing the remaini he had been cooking.
Stepping back to Alesin and Rolfun, who had both paused to wait for him, Krion handed oo the sun elf and two to the half-ogre. At Rolfun’s questioning look, Krion expined.
“The vendor had been doing a special. Beyond it being your s that purchased them,” Krion began with a smile, “we all know you eat the most out of all three of us.”
“You didn’t have to, Krion,” Rolfun said, clearly touched at the gesture despite the s being freely offered. “But thank you.”
Without another word, they each took a bite of their meat buns. Tender meat and a tangy, almost barbeque-like taste exploded in his mouth. Rolfun hadn’t been kidding. This really was amazing, especially after many days of nothing but stew. While Krion and Alesin took time to savor the fvor, Rolfun simply wolfed both of his down. After lig the remaining sauce from his fingers, Rolfun, who had already done so, motiohat they should tinue deeper into Thorn’s Reach.
As they progressed, the crowds grew bigger and more diverse. Alesin and Rolfun both stepped closer, both to make room for others ireet as well as, he assumed, to protect him. A wider range of races were present, some of which he couldn’t quite make out before the movement of the crowd forced them apart. The sounds of distinct versations from closer to the settlement’s edge gradually shifted into a dull roar of sound that pressed in on all sides. It went up another level in volume as they came te, open square surrounded by the rgest buildings he had seen as of yet. If he had to guess, there were at least a few thousand people, if not more, who called Thorn’s Reae. A bit more than he expected, but given what his escorts had told him about life in the Empire, and the fact that even pces as far removed from the Core like this pce had sewers and indoor plumbing, Krion was finding he would have to resider some assumptions.
“There it is!” Alesin practically shouted in his ear, causing him to flinder his hood. “That is the inn where we will be staying the night! Nothing else we do until the oint is ready to activate in the m!”
Following her pointed finger, his eyes came to rest on a rge, sturdy-looking building. A rge door stood open at its front, a wooden sign hanging above it with ag of a raven’s talon gripping a thorn. Apparently the inn they were staying at, Krion all at once felt the o get aside and take a break away from all the noise. He never had done very well surrounded by people and, as strange as it was to admit it, Thorn’s Reach was in many ways louder than Volksturm ba Earth.
Rolfun pushed through the crowd, then into the inn. Krion was close behind him, while Alesin brought up the rear. Like magic, which might very well be the case given where he was, the sound of the square cut off abruptly as he stepped over the threshold into the inn.
It was like stepping into one of the rolepying campaigns that he had pyed so often with his friends ba Earth.
Thick timber beams stretched across the ceiling. The light of the fire on the far side danced across tables worn down by patrons over years. Even now, still a bit early in the day, humans, elves, dwarves and a few more, exotic people Krion didn’t know of were sitting at tables with drinks in hand. A wide bar stretched across one wall, stacked with a wide sele of alcohol. At the far side, a small stage held a older man with long white hair currently stringing what looked to be a guitar of some sort.
Holy shit, the inn even had an actual bard.
“Wele to the Raven’s Thorn!” A lilting voice called out from behind the bar. An elven woman with long red hair stood there, gazing at them. “How I help you all?”
Alesin stepped up to the bar. “Two rooms for the night. And if you could, send up three dinners ohey are ready?”
The innkeeper, for that’s clearly what she was, did some quick mental math before responding. “That will be two silver, three copper. Any drinks will be extra.”
“No drinks with the meals, but we will e down for those in any case.”
Rolfun stepped forward to t out the s for the innkeeper. She swept them off the bar into a small purse at her side. The half-ogre asked a question about when dinner might be ready, but Krion’s eyes were locked on the hoo-god bard about to begin pying.
“Good afternoon everyone! Wele to Raven’s Thorn! I, Thrayer Wildspeak, will be your eai for the evening! Now, do I have any requests to start us off tonight?”
There was some muttering among the different patrons, but it was almost a minute before an older man missing an eye who had the general mien of a retired soldier spoke up with a request.
“The Fall of the Eighth Verdant?”
“Ahh, I thought you would ask for that one again, Rumos,” Thrayer said in a someut-upon voice. Despite the tone, his fingers danced across the guitar, tuning it for the song. In short order, he was done. He cleared his throat, “The Fall of the Eighth Verdant!” The old bard’s voice settled into a deep, weathered rumble, like stoumbling down a quiet mountainside.
He began to sing.
In fields of blood and bohey stood,
The 8th Verdant Legion, valiant and good.
Against the tide of death they fought,
With every ounce of ce they brought.
Undead hordes, a relentless wave,
Their numbers tless, their hunger crave.
But the Legion stood firm, unyielding and brave,
Their banner held high, their spirits unswayed.
With swords and shields, they cshed in the fray,
Each warrihting to see another day.
Their valor unmatched, their resolve unbroken,
Against the darkness, their light was awoken.
With each strike, a symphony of steel,
Their battle cries eg, a warrior's zeal.
Though outnumbered and surrouhey stood tall,
For honor and glory, they would give their all.
Through the smoke and fire, they held their ground,
Their bravery shining, a bea profound.
Though fate may decree their final stand,
In the annals of history, their legend will expand.
For the 8th Verdant Legion, in glory they fell,
Their sacrifice remembered, their story to tell.
Though their bodies may rest in the sod and the dust,
I stand before you to share their tale, I must.
Moments after he sang the st verse, the final notes of the song died away into the silence of the inn. Each had carried the weight of years and wisdom, softe the edges by age but still strong, resonating through the inn. His tone had been low and gravelly as he had sung of the victory and the loss of the Eighth Verdant. Even the rowdiest of the early patrons had goill, drawn into the sound of his voice, feeling each word as if it had been woven just for them. A group of dwarves had set full steins of ale aside, solemnly listening about the honored dead. An elf stared off into the distance, lost in thought as his fiapped slowly along oable he sat at. The man, Rumos, sat with tears openly streaming down from his one good eye. His face red with grief, Krion wondered if he had known some of those that had fought in the legion.
If only his friends could see him now. Maybe one day he would be able to tell them about this. What he had experienced so far would have made food story at the wedding. At that thought, all he felt was sadness. There would be no way he would be able to make it to the wedding. He just hoped his friends would be able tive him once he did make it back.
Rolfun’s heavy hand cpped on the shoulder, pulling his attention back.
“Are you ready to head up to the rooms? Everything is paid for and dinner will be sent up to us soon. I figure after the long journey here, you likely would appreciate a good night’s sleep in a real bed.”
Krion nodded and followed them up the stairs to the room that had bee aside for his own use. Alesin came in and gave it a quick look over, though whether she was looking for enemies or dust, Krion was not sure. Given the, what he assumed to be, spell she was muttering under her breath, it robably the former.
Once she was satisfied, she stepped back past him out into the hallway. Bidding them good night, and firming the room they were in if he needed anything, Krion closed and locked the doing to the simple washbasiried to himself up as best he could. Days of travel and all the sparring with Rolfun, much less the battles against the Forest Goblins, and he was caked with dirt and less savory things. The water was bck by the time he was done, but he felt a bit more human.
A kno his door revealed a tray of food. He couldn’t trol the grimace that came to his face when he saw it was a bowl of stew. At least it came with a piece of bread and butter. Despite his preference for another meat bun, he fihe food in quick order. After setting the tray back outside the room, and log the door behind him, he crawled into bed. Finally full, and finally safe, he slept the sleep of the exhausted with no dreams.
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