Westcliff was a town run by the poor, all but lawless, and not the place where Hammilcar was expecting to find a Hero. Maybe it was a good thing Edward was here, though, because he wasn't hard to locate.
Edward was sitting at a table in the town inn, although it also appeared to be a brothel, with Hannah, who was now, Theresa had told him, going by the name Hammer. Rumor had it she had made a quite a name for herself with that hammer she carried and she had become a thorn in Lucien's side. Next to her was the man Hammilcar guessed was Garth, the Hero of Will, who was considerably older than both of them, and had been rescued by Edward after ten years in the Spire. Across from them was Edward, the Hero, who was not a master of Strength, Skill, or Will, but was very skilled with all three. He was tall and broad, with matted brown hair, a sharp nose, and clear blue eyes. His forearms rippled with muscle, and he had a quiet strength, as well as an heir of wisdom one seldom found in a man not yet 30.
All eyes turned to Hammilcar as he took a seat at the table. He felt somewhat uncomfortable as they examined him, but he fully understood why they felt the need to scrutinize him. Trust was a luxury they couldn't afford to strangers. It had to be earned.
"Why does the prophetess send us this useless sidekick?" demanded Garth. "We need no such individual."
"Garth", Hammer declared. "You haven't offered any proof you're worth the trouble it took to get you out of that Spire, yet we don't criticize you."
"Garth is a Hero, though" interjected Edward. "Our new friend here is not."
"This man came looking for you" Hannah retorted. "While you were in the Spire, he found me, and said he wanted to help you."
"And when you told him where I was, he left, and then got rich while I toiled in that hell." Seeing Hammilcar's mouth open with rebuttal he added, "Don't worry, I would have done the same thing. But you do intrigue me. Did Theresa tell you anything about why you are you here? What can you do to help defeat Lucien?
"I don't think I have anything you need in the fight against Lucien." Hammilcar said. He continued quickly when he saw Garth's mouth open with what could only have been a remark about his own foresight. "But Theresa said Lucien is not the real enemy; the coming darkness is much worse than anything Lucien could do. She said after we kill Lucien, when you become king and offer a reward, I must ask to become Lord of Rookridge. She said only a child of our combined bloodlines could stop the coming darkness."
"Interesting," mused Edward. "I look forward to seeing how this turns out. But why did you agree to this? Why did you agree to stake everything on what could very well be a doomed venture?
"For the same reason you did, I believe."
"Lucien stole someone from you, too."
"I am the reason someone is dead. While there is no way I could have known what events my action set into motion, it resulted in the murder of a young girl by Lucien, and I blame myself. I will avenge her."
"I'm convinced." Edward said. "We were discussing how to get to Bloodstone to find Reaver. As of now the plan is to go to Garth's tower in Brightwood and to use his device to teleport to Bloodstone."
"You want to cross, more or less, the entire Continent of Albion to get to his tower? You might as well travel to Bloodstone on foot. It would take about half-again as long but there would be less chance of something going horribly wrong. Or, what we could do is recognize Lucien is at the Spire, not Bowerstone. If we travel to Bowerstone, hire a ship to Bloodstone, and sail, we would be there more than a week before we would be if we traveled all the way to Brightwood.
"You think that my teleportation is less safe than a ferry on the open sea?" Garth exclaimed. "What do you take me for, some second rate magician who does party tricks? I'm the Hero of Will."
"I never said your teleporting was unsafe. If we travel to Brightwood, we have to cross through the Bandit Coast, as well as Great Wood, which are both dangerous places." Now Edward spoke up.
"Garth will go to his tower, and collect anything we might need for the final battle with Lucien. Hammer I want you to go somewhere to the North, and draw Lucien's attention. Preferably, you should do something that makes absolutely no sense in regard to assembling the Heroes. I will go with our new friend, by ferry, to Bloodstone. We will find Reaver, and we will all meet back at the Hero's Guild in 3 months."
"But Edward" Garth began. "My tower makes so much more sense. It is away from Lucien, less dangerous, no matter what this fool claims, and I can guarantee your arrival in Bloodstone."
"You are right, Garth." Edward replied. "But that is what Lucien would expect. If I was him, I would never expect to have to guard Bowerstone against my enemy. Not when my opponent's ultimate goal is the Tattered Spire, and he has a tower that can teleport him there. I would never expect my opponent, who has access to a teleportation device, to take a boat."
"But why not use our advantages? There are so few of them. Only a fool plays against his own strengths."
"Yes. But by trying to devise a fool-proof plan, we may completely overlook the ingenuity of complete fools. I am willing to roll the dice on this one. It's about time for me to get a lucky roll." Edward turned to look at Hammilcar. "Then again, I may have already gotten one."
He rose, as did all at the table, left the brothel, and the party vanished into the night.
