Death Or Fortune

by James Chesney

  With our drinks finished I asked Hans to say a prayer for us and to bless our meal. He did so quickly and with much grace. With that finished I told them to eat and eat they did. Platters were emptied, the ale was flowing and the men were happy. When Charles arrived I knew it was time to go. He had completed his final task and it was time for the married men to go home. 'I have asked a few ladies to give you men a proper send off, please feel free to stay here in the inn tonight. Anything you need or desire will be given to you. Enjoy your final night at home men. I expect to see you all bright and early tomorrow.' I took my wife, the Halflings and Windfall home with me that night. Michaels and Hans returned to the temple, Turk and Bryce followed us out the door. From what I understand, the men who stayed behind at the inn that night were well taken care of. The next day all the men were accounted for when we set out to catch our ship in Rohloff. King Roderick came to see us off and wished us a swift journey. I asked him about Lord Warren before we rode away, due to my respect and admiration for the king I shall not ever repeat what it was that he said.

  81. Banner

  The day we rode out of Arcadia there were three of us on horseback. Bryce, Michaels and I were leading the way. Windfall, Ebbit and the Halflings were in one wagon. The rest of the men and supplies were split up between two other wagons. We were not in a huge hurry as we had plenty of time to get to Rohloff. That being said we only stopped to rest the horses. We would have plenty of time to catch up on our sleep on the ship. Not long after we left the main city I watched as Michaels pulled something out of his pack. I saw the roll on the back of his saddle and assumed it was some kind of small tent. Two wooden poles, each one about four feet long. I watched as he connected the two of them to form one long pole. He then pulled out a white bundle and began to attach it to the pole. As he held it high the white bundle came undone in the wind, showing the world what it was. A blazing red sun, in the center of the sun was a silver war hammer. Under that was the silver dragon, wings spread wide.

  'What in the bloody hell is that?' Bryce asked. I looked at the hardened campaigner and shook my head. Michaels turned to him and said 'This is the banner of my order. We are on a divine quest from the good god to free his people from the clutches of evil.' Michaels turned his head back around and started to ride up ahead of us. Bryce moved his horse closer to mine, 'he is going to be a problem. Are you sure about this?' I told him what I believed. That I trusted him with my life and that no matter what, nothing Michaels did would endanger the rest of us. 'Are you sure?' he asked me. I then told him about the day we fought the red dragon. How Michaels walked in and faced a full grown red dragon. How he stood there armed with his sword, shield and his faith in his god. How when the dragon took a deep breath and unleashed its fire on him, his faith protected him where it would have failed others. When the fire and smoke cleared he was unharmed and ready to take on the evil beast. I told him that Michaels was perhaps the bravest man I knew. Bryce just looked at me, I could see the look on his face. 'Where I come from we don't call that bravery, we call that insanity.' I could not help but laugh at him and asked where it was that we were going again. 'Yea well I am starting to think we are all a little crazy.'

  I watched Michaels as we rode, his head held high, his banner waving over his head. He had changed so much since the first time I had met him. Granted, he was drunk when I first met him. Even sober he wasn't anything like he was that day. So confident and sure of himself. He was sure we were riding to victory, that we would not be stopped no matter what evil stood against us. He had changed for the better but the longer we rode, the more I let what Bryce said sink in. I told myself that I would have plenty of chances to talk to him on the ship. Just to make sure everything was still understood, that he knew what it was that we were going to do. As it turned out, he knew better than any of us just what we were going to do. I felt something hit my leg and I turned to look down, Pare was running alongside the horse. I reached down and pulled him up behind me. 'Hiya Darmot!' he said while standing on the rear of the saddle, holding on to my shoulders. I asked him what he was doing? 'Well Windfall wouldn't let me drive the wagon and he was being a grump so I figured I would talk to you for a little while.' A little while turned into the rest of the day.

  The first time I made this trip, it took me three days to reach the town of Klassen where I met up with Zender and the others. It wasn't until the fourth day that we saw the little town ahead of us. Other than when we stopped to rest the horses, Michaels was riding ahead of us his banner held high. I rode up to him as the town was growing closer. I told him we were going to camp outside the city walls, on the other side of town. 'Want me to ride ahead and scout out a spot for the wagons?' I told him to go ahead and watched as his horse took off at a full run. I waited for the rest of them to catch up with me before I continued on ahead. This entire stretch of road had been one bad memory for me, one after another. Yet I must admit I found myself looking for goblin tracks on the road at one point. Little Trull being the only fond memory I had of the trip, I often found myself wondering how he was. If he had turned on the druid yet. If they were still happy together in their little run down shack. If she was still alive and taking care of the little beast. Maybe I will go looking for him one day.

  Klassen had not changed since I had been there last. The smell of fish still filled the air. Everything looked the same. People stood by the side of the road, there were more than a few long faces watching us pass through. As we rolled past the market I saw a young boy run out into the road, waving his hand over his head at us. 'Hello Captain, nice to see you again.' It was Brell, the son of Sheriff Tomas. He yelled out questions to me as he ran alongside the road close to my horse. Wanting to know where I was going and if I was coming to see his father. It was almost a year to the day that I had seen him last, he had grown so much. I told him we were taking a ship to go find some people that had been lost for too long. When he asked how long we were going to be in town I told him not long. I then told him we were setting up a camp outside of the city wall, I told him to run off to find his father and ask him to come see me. He shouted 'Yes sir!' and took off running while trying to salute me. We found Michaels about a hundred yards past the west gate, his banner planted in the ground. I told the men to make camp and to take care of the horses as we were going to spend the night there. As I remembered my head ache the last time I was here I also told them to avoid the ale in town as it wasn't worth the pain they would feel the next day.

  As I watered Emily I saw Sheriff Tomas coming from the town. He had an odd look on his face, he watched as the men went about making camp, twisting his hands together as he walked. I took two sweet apples out of my pack and cut them in half for Emily. I learned long ago though to set them on the ground. She would eat them so fast she almost took my fingers from me. 'L-Lord Kromwell, it is a pleasure to see you again.' Tomas said to me as he approached. I offered him my hand and told him he could just call me Darmot. He looked around the small camp as he spoke. 'Is there something going on that I should be aware of sir? It isn't every day we get a detachment of Arcadian troops coming through town. Is there some kind of trouble?' I told him we were just headed to Rohloff to catch a ship and that we were headed a long ways away. He had nothing to worry about. 'Oh, very well then I... I will not worry then. Waa..What was it that you needed sir?' The look on the man’s face was one of pure terror. I could tell there was something wrong in the town besides the smell of fish. I saw Windfall out of the corner of my eye and called him over. I told Tomas that we were going to need someone to take the horses and wagons back to the capital once they were unloaded, I asked him if he knew anyone that could handle that. He nodded his head once but said nothing else.

  Once Windfall had joined me I put my hand on Tomas shoulder and asked him to tell me what was going on. He stood there with his mouth open for a moment, as if he was resisting what his brain was trying to say. 'We were attacked by bandits two months ago. We were able to keep the damage at a minimum
. A dozen of them rode into town and just had their way with everything. I did my best to control it. We ended up paying them to leave, they killed ten men. I just wanted them to stop. Now, they send someone back once a week. If we don't pay them a hundred gold pieces a week they will come back and kill someone else. Two guard patrols have gone after them, they never came back. I sent a letter to Lord Balnoir, he just told me to deal with it. I thought for a moment that you might be here to help on his behalf. I am rather embarrassed over the ordeal. I just don't want anyone else to get hurt.' I could see the frustration on his face, I am sure that by the point we rolled into town he had enough of what folks in the capital were telling him. He wanted help but didn't know where to turn. I asked him if he knew where the bandits were holed up?

  'The rider comes in from and goes back north. There are a few farm houses out that way and the ruins. It was an old guard tower hundreds of years ago. Dwarven stone work, it has stood the test of time rather well. As I said, the patrols that went out never returned. They could be anywhere. I wish I could be more helpful. I do not dare risk another life trying to have the payment pick up followed. I am at a loss.' I asked him when was the last time someone had been here to pick up the gold. 'This morning, about five hours ago.' I looked at my friend and saw what I was feeling reflected on his face. I told Tomas to have someone ready to ride with us in the morning so they could bring back the animals. I then told him we would take care of his other problem as well. 'Can you do it, will you help us?' I clapped him on the back and told him to have his people ready to go in the morning. I looked at Windfall after Tomas had walked away and he just nodded at me. Lord Balnoir is a pompous ass whose biggest fear was of being embarrassed in the eyes of the king. I made a mental note to myself to have a talk with him about his province when I returned home.

  I called out to Michaels and Bryce while I was putting the saddle back on Emily. I told them that I had to leave and that they were to head to Rohloff first thing in the morning, with or without me. I then told him to hold the ship until we met them in Rohloff. 'Sir' Michaels said to me. 'I do not believe this is a wise idea. Our mission is far too important to lose you. I could hear him speaking, I know what you are going to do. I cannot allow you to go without me.' I looked at him in the eye and asked him if he was going to disobey a direct order from his commanding officer. I could tell from the way his eye twitched that I had scored a mark against him. He stepped back away from me and bent at the waist. 'Very well Lord Kromwell, I shall make sure that the men are ready to leave first thing in the morning. When you arrive in Rohloff the ship shall be loaded and waiting for you.' Bryce was quiet during the quick exchange, he said nothing. He just stood there looking at me with his eyes half closed. He was thinking of something but I couldn't dare to guess what. I finished putting the saddle on Emily and got myself a quick drink while checking my weapons. By the time I turned around to mount up Pare was sitting on her back. I just gave him a smile and pulled myself up.

  North of the city was wide open fields for two or three miles. The forest that was destroyed to build the city and its walls was never replanted. As we got farther north we found the old farms Tomas had talked about but the quick checks we made found them all empty. As we continued north we could see the guard tower sitting on top of a distant hill. At the base of the tower I saw something shine, as if it was reflecting the light of the sun. I reached into my pack and pulled out the spy glass I had last used in the mountain range of Toryth Vol. 'You do have it!' Windfall said to me. I looked at him and asked what it was that he was talking about. 'That’s Lomarks, he didn’t remember that you had it until long after you and Zackary left Eystlund. He wants it back and is rather upset about it. You know how he gets.' I told him that I had honestly forgotten about it until I had been home for a week. I did try to return it to him the last time I was in Eystlund but Lomark and Zender were gone. Off on another adventure. I held the spy glass up to my eye and looked towards the tower where I had seen the quick flash. As I looked I could feel my anger starting to ignite.

  I saw sparse movement around the tower but what I saw made me mad. There were twelve of them in all. Twelve men impaled on long spears and standing in the ground facing towards the south. Each of them wore the uniform of the Arcadian Guard. I handed the spy glass to Windfall so he could see what I saw. He then hopped up to stand on his saddle, looking even longer. 'I count ten living men, plus whatever is in the tower. They are starting a fire. There are a couple of them are drinking. We should wait until night fall. Take them down one at a time, I should have enough shackles on me, we can haul the whole lot of them to town.' I looked at him as he sat back down and told him no. 'What do you mean no? We can take them, this will be easy.' The thought of those men sitting there eating and drinking, not even twenty feet away from the rotting corpses of good men made me sick. I told him that these are not men, these were vultures and would be treated as such. We rode back to the last farm house we found and waited there for the sun to set. The abandoned empty barn would be a good place to leave the horses while we made the attack.

  'Darmot, why would they do that?' Pare asked me while we were riding back. I told him it was their way of sending a message to anyone that came along. It was a warning to stay away. 'Yea but you would think they would want to hide a little better. They had to know at some point someone would come looking for them. They should be scared of being found. If I was attacking a town I wouldn't want to leave a bunch of signs out in front of my hide out telling everyone where I was.' I could only shrug my shoulders at the halfling. We gathered any gear we would need for the attack and waited for dark. Before we set out Windfall asked me again, 'are you sure about this? We could capture them, take them in’. The long wait did nothing for my temper at all. I looked my mentor in the eyes and told him that if they put up a fight, we would show no mercy. As we set out on foot that night, I meant just that.

  I drew my sword as I walked up that hill towards the tower. The grim shapes of those men standing before me let me know what type of animals I was dealing with. As we came closer to the crest of the hill Windfall knocked an arrow into his bow, Pare was nowhere to be seen. Not that I was worried about him, he was just being Pare. I signaled to Windfall to head to my right when we got to the bodies of the Arcadian troops. He stopped just short of them and went down to one knee. Aiming at the men we saw from between the bodies. I moved around the grim line to the left and headed straight towards the six men sitting around the small fire. I stood there and waited for them to see me. I knew it would only be so long. One of the men, a smaller man with a rat like face saw me as he had a mouth full of some kind of meat. He reached out with his elbow and poked the man next to him, then with one long greasy finger pointed my way. All the men gathered around the fire turned their heads towards me. The one the rat faced man poked stood up, placing his hand on the pommel of his weapon. 'Hey look boys, they sent an officer to find the missing scarecrows.' This drew a round of laughter from the men seated at the fire. The only one who didn’t laugh was the rat faced man.

  I could taste my anger, filling up my mouth with its foul taste. I wanted to say a hundred different things but in the end all I said was, you men are under arrest. 'Wait right there, I will go get the boss.' The only one who continued to watch me was the rat faced man. He squatted there, rocking back and forth on his haunches, mumbling something. All the while never taking his little rat eyes off of me. Six more armed men came out of the tower and none of them had weapons drawn, except for the seventh man. His sword was the first thing I saw, it was attached to his arm. A metal cup covered the end of his arm and was bolted to the bone just below the elbow. As he came into the fire light, it was his face that drew me in. My first thought was that this was some kind of strange dream and that there was no way there could be two men in the world that ugly. From the mangled face to the short cut red hair, I could not believe I was seeing him. 'Well, well, well. If this isn't my lucky day. Tell me pup, did ya bring yer little tart w
ith you. I am mighty hungry.'

  I had never expected to see Norris again after the tournament in Eystlund. He held up his arm for me to see. 'Do ya like it pup, cleric of Tempest thought it would be a real hoot to do this to me. Gave me his blessing and everything. He told me he would make me better; make me a real servant of the god. It never did heal right, sometimes when I gut someone the blade will push against the stump you gave me. It bloody hurts pup but I think this time. As I stick this in yer gut, I won't mind so much. I rather think I will enjoy it a bit. When I am done with you, I am gonna take myself up the road and have a little bit of that tart you left home all alone.' He held up the blade to me and turned around towards the men behind him. 'Hey boys, sit right there and enjoy the show. When this is done we will all get a little bit of his tart.' He turned back to me with a grin on his twisted and mangled face. 'Come on pup, I've been waiting for this for two bloody years.' The men behind him were cheering for him as he was pumping his bladed arm into the air while looking at them. Odds are he never even saw what hit him, I don't even know if he could hear the words that were spoken to him as the light went out of his eyes.

  I stood there and waited for him to come to me. He never took another step in his life. I could hear the knife as it was cutting its path through the air. Twisting and turning on its intended path it flew by me from out of the darkness and hit its mark. The handle of Pares dagger looked like it had sprouted out of the neck of Norris as if it was just another growth on his skin. I could see him looking down at it as the blood began to pour down his chest. A small dark shape rushed past me, silent as he moved towards his pray. I saw Pare dodge under the flailing bladed arm just before he planted the second knife in the center of his chest. Norris then fell to the ground, never to move again. I looked down at my small friend, his chest was heaving from the heavy breaths he was taking. He pointed one finger down at the dead man and with a smile on his face he said to him. 'I told you so.' He then reached down and pulled his blades from the body of Norris, he turned his face towards me and said 'I'm sorry Darmot but no one talks about my friends like that.' I nodded towards my small friend and smiled. No one ever crosses Pare the Halfling, no one at all.