Chapter 9 - The Soggy Haddock

  Leandros could feel his feet getting sore and tired and the bags under his eyes growing, but the entrance of Grey harbor was over them before nightfall. The grey clouds stuck the whole day, suffocating the sun, only letting it shine a miserly amount compared to its normal glory. The village was quite large, with many homes surrounding the central river. Bridges that arched high for row boats and smaller vessels were common, and the bridges were made of the wood from the forest they just came from, while the posts on each end acted as lampposts, casting their warming light on the ground, river and muted grey buildings alike. People flowed from the cramped alleyways that lead from shops and homes to the central road, where, at the widening of the river, a large stone building stood. Its large steeple pointed high into the sky while the stained glass windows complimented the light grey brick. Although stationary by the time they’d arrived, a brass bell hung under a high pointed roof. A double door was closed, but the people hanging around indicated that they would open soon. On the other end of the rectangular building, a shorter tower was built with a large brazier lit in its center. Without the usual guards up there, the bows and arrows remained placed in their racks.

  Trudging through the mud, the party continued past the temple, with Orthanis giving it a longer look than the others. Their destination was a different building, one that they visited before heading into the woodland. Ithlix carried Katlin, who was still out; the woman looked pale and tired, her staff that Timalis carried only containing a dribble of mana in its crystal. As the worn out group progressed slowly along the path, the villagers and fishermen averted their eyes after a quick glance. Some children were ushered away by their parents as they approached; Leandros bit his tongue at the sight of a woman hurriedly speed walking down an alley with a newborn. Timalis put his hand on the elf’s shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts.

  “Pub’s up ahead, how much coin do you have on you?” he spoke while holding a small pouch in the other hand, the staff sandwaged in his armpit.

  With a sigh he motioned his head to his belt, “that's all i got at the moment.”

  With a nod from the ranger, he unlatched the pouch and handed it to him. Hearing the jingle of coins beside him, he watched Timalis count the coins.

  “Hmmm” he grumbled, “looks like we can get a shared room for a couple of days, food for the stay but we will probably have to convince a captain to let us sail to Envis… probably have to work the boat as well.” Timalis gave an annoyed frown that Leandros mimicked.

  “We will make do” was the only response Leandros could come up with.

  Following the river, it started to expand where the common bridges became more sparse. While increasing in size, docks started to network out of the stone walls with boats of smaller size tightly bound by ropes bobbing up and down together. Following the path leading from this port's harbormaster’s office, the snaking trail met up at a large wooden building that stood three stories tall, with a curving sheltered patio alongside one corner. The light from the glass leaked out and drew in the weary party. Groups of sailors and fishermen sat at tables, glasses of mead and beer scattered around their loud parties. The smell of fresh fish, alcohol, and a burning hearth caressed the adventurers' noses, making them almost glide towards the wooden door. The first to enter was Leandros; the tavern was quite large but split with supporting pillars and tables. Moving around the pillars he approached the bar, fixed on the far wall with the burning fireplace to its right. A large man used a rag to clean some tankards while laughing with a customer sitting on one of the stools. The barman was human, however he was more akin to a bear; he had large muscular arms and wide hands, the v neck shirt he wore had black hair poking out and he had a messy short haircut, a beard covering his jaw. If he weren't laughing, he would look very intimidating.

  Moving his eyes from the customer who was clearly drunk his smile dropped into a serious stare looking at the weary travelers.

  “Leandros right? you look like shit.” he reached under and grabbed a glass bottle from the counter. In a chipped glass, a corked crimson liquid thickly sloshed around inside.

  “Its the only one for sale, for the missus.” He pointed at Katlin still unconscious in Ithlix’s arms

  “We only need a shared room and a hot meal please.” Orthanis piped up as Timalis handed over the coins for the room.

  With a nod, he removed the small glass bottle and swiped the coins, quickly counting them. Satisfied, he grabbed a key from the board behind him and set it on the table.

  “Two crescents for cooked fresh cod, one for haddock soup. For drinks we have an ale from the nearby brewery which is quite sweet that will run you nine coppers, but we also have mead for six.” the bartender resided.

  “I will be back, I'll set Katlin down in a bed and put our stuff away.” Ithlix stated, while starting his final march of the day to the stairway, two bags on his back, Katlin in his arms and the key dangling from its keyring loosely hanging from one of his claws..

  “Ill have the soup” Timalis nodded to the dragonfolk and turned his attention to the bartender, who noted something down on a small scrap of paper from a notebook. Bringing his eyes off of his note, he looked at Orthanis expectantly

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  “I’ll have the cod” she hurriedly answered, suppressing her stomach from rumbling.

  “And I'll also have the soup.” Timalis finished their order while picking out four silver crescents.

  “Hmm, I will have that brought out to you, take a table indoors.” Turning around, the bartender pushed the note into a small hole in the wall that emitted light and an airy steam. The smell radiating from the room was heavenly, especially when spending time on the run, only stopping for small campfireless meals.

  Sitting by a table adjacent to the roaring hearth, the group of three collectively collapsed. They all gave themselves a few moments of quiet rest without words being said.

  “We are safe here, right?” Orthanis turned to Leandros, giving him a concerned glance “if those monsters attack… this place is the first to go.”

  “I hear you, and I don't know what we can do.” the elven man said, propping his head up with a hand, rubbing his eyes. “We can’t let this information slip, this job asked for discretion so telling villagers about it would certainly ruin that. But I can’t in good conscience let these people get attacked.”. Fortunately the tavern was quiet and with their hushed voices the drunk talking with the few people around masked the conversation. Leandros turned to the ranger who was the most used to hiking large distances so was less exhausted.

  “I know you have spoken about this almost every other hour since… but now that we can concentrate and have a clean and flat space to write, can you tell us what happened and what those monsters are?”

  With a deep breath the ranger accepted some parchment, a quill and ink from Orthanis while putting it to one side. “After food- and once Ithlix is back.”

  “That's reasonable.” Leandros shrugged. He couldn't complain about the delay of business, and after all, he could finally comb his hair.

  A while passed as the party relaxed on the wooden chairs. While digging into the hot food, Timalis looked up from his bowl and turned to look at the stairs behind him. Walking down, the red scaled dragonfolk approached, the two bags on his back and Katlin no longer there. Without a word, he pulled up a chair, dragged it as close to the fire as he could and slumped down into it. As the heat of the flames lapped his scales he let out a satisfied sigh. Standing up from his half finished bowl, Timalis turned to the red dragon.

  “What do you want to eat? I'll ask the bartender for you.”

  “Fish, the biggest they have.” His eyes were closed but an expecting smile tugged at the corners of his lizard-like face.

  “Alright big guy, don't get too comfy. I don't want to have the job of peeling you out of that chair if you fall asleep.” Timalis turned and started to walk to the bar.

  “You won't have to if you hurry” Ithlix retorted from behind.

  Reaching the bar the, drunk man entertaining the bartender when they arrived was passed out, still holding a half filled tankard of mead. The bartender eyed Timalis while cleaning a row of glasses, picking up three dirty glasses and moving towards the approaching man.

  “What can I get for you?” the bartender asked, his attention on the glass he was cleaning rather than the waiting customer.

  “One fresh cod, the biggest I can get for 2 crescents.” The ranger placed the two coins on the table and slid them to the bear like man. Instead of taking them and noting down his order the bartender instead leant down close.

  “You weren't hunting a griffon now… were you?” the bartender, now whispering, glared at the ranger.

  Feeling the topic change, the hand, now not on the table, caressed the handle of the dagger at his belt.

  “I'm not the nosy type, let alone one to squeak to the village guard, but a group of sellswords like yourselves getting roughed up like that… against a griffon? I could believe it. But my gut says otherwise. Now I'll give you the biggest cod we have for one bit of information.”

  Timalis was about to speak up, when the sleeping drunk startled slightly, snoring a bit louder. Taking the break in the conversation, the barkeep started pushing further.

  “Now I don’t care what you are doing. I just want to know if it's dangerous.” the bartender leaned in further and his voice dropped even quieter.

  “Nothing to worry about, we just got caught out.” Timalis copied the bartender's tone.

  The rugged face of the bartender scrunched up as his brown eyes scanned the rangers’ face. Leaning back and standing up, the bartender let out a disgusted scoff. He scribbled something on the notebook and slammed it in the opening to the kitchen, turning to the still leaning man he started to speak.

  “Your food is on its way” he sighed, moving the glasses back to the others, beginning to clean.

  Leandros shot Timalis a glance as the human casually walked back to the table and slumped down in his chair. Before he could open his mouth to ask about the bartender, Timalis spoke.

  “I want to wear that griffon’s pelt, I've heard they are one of the softest fabrics you can get legally.”

  “I mean compared to unicorn hide, a griffon pelt seems more akin to dragonscales.” Leandros responded.

  “I would have you know dragon scales are delicate and smoother than you would think.” Ithlix butted in.

  “Of course you would say that. definitely not biased at all, right?” Timalis asked, eyes closed with his head tilted up towards the ceiling.

  “I would never lie when it came to a matter as important as this,” Ithlix shot back, not even opening one of his eyes. “Onto more important matters, is my fish on the way?”

  “Yes it is. But I'm going to head to bed. It's been a long walk and I can't wait to sleep in a warm bed.” standing up and giving a quick stretch, he looked at orthanis, who looked like she was nodding off at the table. “You coming princess?”

  “Yeah that's a good idea, but I thought you enjoyed sleeping on leaves, Timalis.” Orthanis yawned, as they both headed upstairs to the rented room.

  The two remaining friends talked amongst themselves while the food arrived, delivered by the bartender who eyed them both. Not saying anything, he left them be. The conversation that continued from when the other two went to bed mainly resolved around things they wanted to do when they got home. Ithlix was on the topic of how he needed to prune his bloodsap tree, but was interrupted by Timalis rocketing down the stairs. With anxious eyes he looked at Leandros, and Ithlix.

  “Katlin is awake.”