Chapter 12: A Stroke of Luck
After two days of travelling, the group finally arrived at Badon. The sight that greeted them was rather serene; a simple, yet rather large town located on the edge of a great mass of water, the Badon Sea. Everyone looked in awe at how never ending the body of water seemed to be, especially Blaze. Stamatis took notice to Blaze's reaction and decided to comment.
"You look like you've eaten something wonderful!" he commented. "Ever seen the sea before?"
"No..." she replied quietly. "...The idea of the sea always scared me"
"Because of your fire powers, right?" Milos asked. Blaze nodded.
"I'm not too fond of big bodies of water" she noted. "But Silver always told me about how beautiful the sea was. Especially in this sunshine" she noted, seeming somewhat wistful again.
"We have arrived at Badon" Wolfgang announced. "This town is the only town which offers crossing of the Badon Sea, which will act as a shortcut for us on our travel to Laleh. When we get here, we need to find the next crossing, and use whatever time we have in the town to purchase items and such" he explained. His explanation was met with complete silence, as if something had dawned on them that Wolfgang had failed to notice.
"But...we're low on money" Blaze noted. "It doesn't grow on trees, you know. We spent the majority of it in Carachino, before we met up with Stamatis and Milos, remember?"
The group could hear Wolfgang give an annoyed sigh.
"...You're right" he grumbled. "Without money, we also cannot pay for the crossing...argh!" he yelled. Blaze turned around to Stamatis.
"Best not talk to him" she said quietly. "I've never seen him lose his temper like that"
"He seems pretty controlled to me" Stamatis replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Just a short burst of rage, better than bottling it all up. I do it all the time when Milos tells me something I don't want to know"
As they travelled through the town, taking note of their dwindled expesnes, they found a stable and used the last of their money to accommodate Wolfgang's horse. As they disembarked, they gathered in the lively town square which held a small but pretty fountain.
"Right, we need money" Wolfgang explained. "Any ideas?"
Once again, he was met with complete silence. The other three looked about, scratched their heads and rubbed the floor with their feet, leaving patterns in the dust. Wolfgang sighed, trying to keep his decaying composure.
"Okay, so we're at square one" he said quietly. He looked about the town before walking towards the fountain that spurted in the centre of the square and sitting on its edge. The rest of the group approached him.
"Don't worry too much" Stamatis reassured. "I'm sure we'll find a way of crossing the sea somehow. Let's just stick around and see what we can come up with"
Right at that moment, there was a scream from within the crowds. It caused the entire group to jump, and in addition, frightened everyone in the area. People gasped and pointed at a masked man holding a sack with a few pieces of jewellery hanging out was pushing his way through the crowds. One person shouted "He's just robbed the jewellery store!"
Wolfgang, out of impulse, jumped right onto his feet and ran towards the burglar. He managed to intercept the thief's escape path, causing him to stop in from of the great knight. The thief suddenly pulled out a knife.
"Outta the way or I'll stab you in!" the thief threatened. Wolfgang drew his sword as the thief went to stab him and masterfully knocked the knife out of the thief's hand with his blade. The thief looked at his knife in shock and turned his head to come eye-to-eye with the tip of Wolfgang's blade.
"Return the gems at once" he ordered. "Or it will be me who'll be 'stabbing you in', good sir"
Wolfgang forced the thief to do the walk of shame back to the jewellery store in front of crowds of cheering people. The group followed Wolfgang as they marched the thief to the store, making him return all the gems before the police force cuffed him and walked him out of the store.
The manager of the lavish and well stocked store appeared from behind the counter and shook Wolfgang's hand.
"Oh, you stopped him!" he said in awe. "Thank you so much! You are a true hero, sir!"
"It was nothing..." Wolfgang hushed away. The rest of the group were in admiration of Wolfgang's brave and well executed feat, especially Milos, who was in so much awe, he couldn't help but feel a slight intimidated by Wolfgang.
"Oh, this is truly a miracle!" the manager continued. "How could we ever repay you?"
Blaze spotted the opportunity to get the group out of a fix.
"...Well, we are seeking to cross the Badon Sea, but we haven't any money to buy tickets" she explained.
"Not to worry!" the manager explained. "I shall take you to see...oh, here's here already!"
The group turned to the entrance of the store, where a rather old man walked in, dressed in a nice tweed suit. The man, who wore a monocle, his other eye squinted and almost hidden by his big, bushy grey eyebrow, walked towards the group.
"Are you the people who stopped a robbery from taking place just now?" he asked. The group nodded at him in return. The mayor gave a delighted chuckle at watching them.
"Oh, how very good" he remarked. "I believe if that thief would have gotten away, then we would have lost a very big amount of money's worth of jewellery. A fine deed you have enacted, sir" he explained.
"Mayor, this group need to cross the Badon Sea, but they haven't got the money" the manager explained.
"Hmm, is that so?" the mayor quipped. "No problem. The next boat comes to shore tomorrow morning. I'll let the captain know that I've allowed you free passage" he explained.
High spirits soared through the group as the mayor revealed this news.
"This is great!" Stamatis exclaimed, clenching his fists in excitment. "Our troubles for now are over!"
"Free passage...what a stroke of luck we managed to stop a robbery!" Blaze remarked. "Good job, Wolfgang!" she added, patting his back.
"It was nothing, milady" Wolfgang replied, scratching the back of his head.
"Now, is there anything else that you need before you go tomorrow?" the mayor asked.
"No thanks, we have everything we..." Wolfgang started. But Milos suddenly jumped forward.
"No, wait!" he interrupted. Wolfgang looked down at Milos, unhappy by being cut off.
"What is it now?" both Wolfgang and Stamatis said in unison to Milos, crossing their arms in impatience.
"Well...can we have some horses?" he asked bluntly.
"Horses?" the mayor asked. Stamatis pulled Milos back.
"Are you insane?" he reprimanded. "We may just lose our free passage if we ask too much!"
But the mayor gave a smile, confusing Stamatis.
"There is no need to be worried" the mayor explained. "In fact, two fresh horses have just come in from shipment. As a reward and a parting gift for keeping the peace, you can have them, free of charge"
Wolfgang stepped forward. "Are you sure, Mayor?" he asked.
"Sure as I am old!" the mayor replied. He looked towards the manager. "You can lead them to the stables and show them the horses. I'm going to my house. Goodbye everyone!" he called out, turning around and walking out of the store.
"...Well, take what you can get, I suppose" Stamatis said after a short silence. Wolfgang shook his head.
"At least we don't have to pay for horses now" he said. He then turned and looked down at Milos. "But interrupting someone while they're talking is rude, do you understand? If you do that again, then I'll..."
"Come on, Wolfgang!" Blaze interrupted, silencing Wolfgang. "He's young. He'll learn in time, won't you?" she asked Milos, who replied with an eager nod. All Wolfgang could do was grumble in response.
The following morning after a free stay at the inn, thanks to their new status as 'heroes', the group were given a pair of fine brown horses, smaller than Wolfgang's giant armoured horse, but still rather sturdy. Blaze had a good enough idea of how to ride a horse from her days in the castle, but Wolfgang had to teach Stamatis how to ride his when they docked at the other side of the Badon Sea. Wolfgang had his revenge on being interrupted by telling Milos he could either sit in the wheelbarrow, or fly. Milos didn't really care, the feeling of winning an exchange with an adult was more than liberating enough for him. After collecting their horses, they headed towards the dock where the great sails of the ship blew in the wind, ready to take them away. But Wolfgang was in for a little surprise when they got to the ship...
