Chapter 14: Faster to Astor

Morning broke over the hills and tors that scattered the landscape around the tower. Os had been kind enough to allow the group to stay the night in one of the spare tents, now that the confusion had been mostly cleared up. The group was thankful, and even Alistair didn't have the heart to stay angry at the man, though he would likely never consider him a friend.

Now, they were gathered up and preparing to retrieve their horses and set out to Astor once more. Os, Benston and Johnson were standing outside of the tower to see them off. "Well, I do hope you have a less eventful journey to Astor from here" Benston chuckled. Garrick nodded and shook his hand "You and me both." As they separated, Os stepped forward. "It would take you the whole day, but you should be able to reach Astor by nightfall with the aid of your mounts." He then turned his attention to Alistair. "I apologise once more about what happened...and that we have no more information about Talan's whereabouts."

Alistair sighed, "I understand." Indira smiled and bumped his shoulder, to which he smiled back to her. "However," Os continued, regaining their attention, "If we ever do find anything out, we will endeavor to get word to you. Likewise, if you hear anything, don't hesitate to ask us for help. I know that I, for one, would be eager to get my own back on him." Here, Alistair and Benston both nodded in silent agreement.

They then turned and headed out of the gate and down the road towards where they had tied up their horses. As they walked, Rogon placed his arms behind his head and looked to the sky. "Man, that lot turned out alright, huh? Probably shouldn' a been so suspicious...had good tea, too." Garrick huffed at this. "It was better safe than sorry. Wouldn't have found out about that Talan fellow if we hadn't looked into it. I still can't believe you abandoned us for a cup of tea."

Rogon frowned and looked back at Garrick. "I got you lot into the tower, didn' I?" Before Garrick could return with a likely rude remark, Indira stepped between them. "Now now, we got in and all came back out unharmed. And the children are safe, that's what matters, right?" It seemed both Garrick and Rogon agreed on this point, and dropped their argument in favour of continuing to walk.

As they did, Alistair slowed his pace. "Wait...where's Avery?" he asked. The others quickly looked around them, confirming that the Tiefling was indeed, not with them. "I do not know, the last I had seen her was when she vacated the tower during our break in…" Garrick muttered worriedly. With everything that had happened, he had honestly forgotten about the red-skinned thief.

"Perhaps she is waiting for us back where we kept the horses?" Na'ish suggested. A comment that filled Garrick with a slight feeling of dread. And indeed, upon reaching the clearing, it was obvious that they were missing one mount. Alistair kicked a stone away down the road. "Damn. Why didn't we keep a close eye on her? We knew she was a thief like m...er, like the bandits you get on the road!" he huffed. Varus, who had gone to inspect the remaining mounts, returned clasping a piece of parchment.

"Yep, it was definitely her." he said, turning the parchment so that people could read it. All it said was "Thanks for the horse...and the food - Avery." While the others took this in with varying degrees of indignation, Varus looked at the sheet once more. "Humph. No class. Everyone knows you ought to leave messages on stones…" before crumpling the piece of parchment and throwing it over his shoulder. The others shook their heads at his comment, and Alistair paused.

"Wait...where did she get the food?" The group exchanged looks, before searching their packs. Most still had their rations in tact, but it seemed Alistair and Varus had none on their person. "What? How? That devious little…" Alistair started muttering under his breath. Varus just laughed at his predicament. "Yeah, laugh it up" Alistair said, "You're in the same situation!"

Varus just shrugged. "Not really, I didn't have any rations in the first place" he said, as Gauss popped out and returned to her horse form once more, allowing him to mount her. "What? Why not?" Alistair asked, but Varus chose not to answer, instead saying "Oh, you might want to look at the reverse of that bit of parchment…" while gesturing to where he had thrown it.

Alistair walked over to pick it up and smooth it out. Once he read it, his eye started to twitch. "What's wrong?" Indira asked, leaning over his shoulder to also read. "P.S. Learn to steal better Alistair…" she spoke aloud. Alistair laughed an obvious fake laugh, and crumpled the parchment once more. "Oh, she was a kidder. Gonna miss the cretin!" before he stomped over to the remaining horses.

The rest of the group headed over to help. Now that they had one less mount, it was more difficult, but they also had one less group member. Thus, they simply had Na'ish share with Garrick, Alistair and Indira remained together and Rogon still on one himself due to his size. They started to trot after Varus. They had a long journey ahead of them in order to reach Astor before nightfall.

As they travelled making smalltalk among themselves, they were interrupted by an abrupt caw from above them. Slowing down and looking up to the source, they watched as a crow flew down and alighted on the post of a nearby fence. It bobbed a few times, looking at the group and cawing once more.

"Well, look here. He's a brave one, isn't he?" Indira says, smiling as Peanut climbs to her shoulder and gives a tentative wave at the bird. The bird mostly ignores them however, keeping his eye specifically on Garrick. Garrick sighed, "This must be the same Raven from the tower. Knew it was a mistake to feed the guy."

The Raven cawed and hopped onto a closer post, seeming to take offence at the comment. "Hey now, that's not nice," Indira frowned, "he seems really intelligent...why don't you keep him? Might come in useful." The Raven cawed and bobbed once more at this comment. Garrick huffed, then reached into his pocket and retrieved a bit more dried meat, which he tossed to the Raven. The bird snatched it from the air and swallowed it greedily.

Alistair smiled at the sight. "I also think you should. Then there would be four of us with pets!" The group all turned to him at this comment. "Er...who has pets other than Indira, bud?" Rogon grumbled. Alistair gestured around, "Well, Indira obviously has Peanut, now Garrick has his Raven. Varus has Gauss…"

He was interrupted by Gauss, still currently carrying Varus as a horse, spitting a wad of phlegm at him. "Ew, yuck, nasty!" Alistair sputtered. "She does not like being referred to as a pet…" Varus stated calmly. Alistair just finished wiping his face, glaring at the glowing horse he could swear was laughing at him. "Fine, whatever. Finally, I have my mouse!"

They all adopted curious looks, apart from Varus who didn't really care. Indira poked his side to get his attention. "You never told me you had a pet mouse. How come I never saw it?" she asked curiously. "Oh, that's because he's always asleep, lazy thing. Hold on…" He rummaged in his pockets briefly, before extracting and proudly showing everyone the limp form of a small mouse.

The group stared at his hand, and at the unmoving figure. "...er, bud. I don't think it's asleep…" Rogon muttered concernedly. "Of course he is!" Alistair retorted. Indira just patted his side. "When did you last feed him?" Alistair took on a thoughtful look. "Dunno, must have been just before we arrived at Grayben's Bay, so about a week ago?"

The group just shook their heads, amazed at his belief that a mouse would still be alive after such a long time without food. Varus, never one to be worried about others feelings, just scoffed. "It's dead." Alistair lost his smile slightly, "Nah, he's just hibernating. Mice do that, right?" he asks, looking to Indira. She just shook her head sadly, causing him to look back at his former pet. "...Oh…"

It looked like Alistair was going to cry for a moment, before he shrugged and lightened up. "Meh, hadn't given him a name yet anyways…" He then tossed the mouse away by the tail. As the figure flew through the air, it was swiftly snatched by the Raven as he flew over and landed on the front of Garrick's saddle. They watched in morbid fascination as the Raven once more threw its head back and swallowed it's food.

The silence that followed was broken by Garrick chuckling. "I guess it would be no loss to have some more company…" He then reached forward and scratched the Raven behind the head, an action the bird appeared to enjoy, if it leaning into the touch was any indication. After a moment, the Raven cawed once more, before flapping up and alighting on Garricks shoulder. It then proceeded to tuck its head under its wing and fall asleep. Garrick gave a small smile, before starting to move his horse off down the road once more.

The others were swift to continue following. Alistair pulled his horse level with Garrick's. "So, gonna give him a name?" he asked. Garrick side-eyed him, "What? Think giving him a name would mean I actually remember to feed him?" Alistiar pouted slightly, but then smiled and returned "Maybe!" Garrick chuckled, and looked to the bird on his shoulder in consideration. "I think I will call him...Karasumaru."

Alistair pulled a funny face. "Weird name...why that?" Garrick just shrugged. "In Savarrah, we have a few words from an old, dead language. From before Common became, well...common. This one almost literally means "Crow". Seems appropriate." Alistair nodded in agreement, and the group continued their journey in companionable silence.

It was approaching mid-afternoon before they finally caught sight of their destination. As they were cresting a hill, they were able to spot what looked like the tip of a tower on the horizon. "Look guys! We're here!" Indira shouted excitedly, before dismounting her horse and running up the hill towards the sight. "Wait! it's not quite…" Alistair started, but gave up as she sprinted ahead.

Garrick pulled alongside and chuckled. "Let her find out herself, more fun that way." Alistair shook his head with a faint smile, and had his horse trot after Indira. As Indira ran up the hill, the sight of the tip of the tower grew taller...and taller. Eventually, she crested the hill and gasped at what she saw.

The sheer size of the tower had meant that they were able to see it from a long way away. Now that she was at the top of the hill and looking down into the plain that Astor sat in, she realised that they were actually still a fair journey away from reaching the city. Still, the view from here was impressive, and she stared in awe.

Astor's large wall was octagonal in shape and made of white marble. Each corner had a large tower for defense. It was difficult to make out what was within the walls, but there were clearly dividers within segregating the city into different districts. One wall had a large entrance gate, with another opening up onto a large dock area that sprawled out of the walls and along the huge river that ran alongside the city.

Most noticeable was the massive tower in the very centre of the city, made from the same pristine white marble as the outer walls. As the group pulled alongside Indira on their horses, it took Alistair nudging her with his foot to break her out of her reverie. When she looked up to him he smiled and jerked his head behind him at the space on the saddle.

Indira broke out in a large grin, before remounting the horse. With a kick, his and the group's horses were cantering down the hill towards the city.

It was starting to get dark by the time they were approaching the gatehouse to the city, showing just how large the city was to be seen from so far away. Now that they were nearer, the sheer scale of the walls were apparent, each reaching at least fifty foot into the air. Rogon sighed from the back of the group, "Can't wait to get a good meal and a proper bed...riding for this long is killin' me."

Several of the group nodded in agreement, though Varus just scoffed at the show of apparent weakness by the half-orc. Alistair squinted ahead at the gatehouse, before taking a worried look. "Then we had better hurry...looks like they are lowering the portcullis for the night!" The rest of the group looked to the gatehouse. Indeed, it looked as though they were starting to lock the city down for the night. All of them swiftly pushed their horses to gallop at their top speed, none willing to spend a night waiting outside of the city.

As they were approaching, the few guards scattered around the gate entrance noticed them. They waved at them to slow down, but as the portcullis was still lowering it did not deter the group in continuing their charge into the city. Soon, they were crossing the threshold, forcing some guards to dive out of the way lest they get trampled. As Rogon crossed over, he had to duck to avoid hitting his head on the metal of the portcullis, showing how close they had been to being shut out for the night.

Once inside, the group slowed to a stop and turned back towards the gate as it finished closing. Varus swiftly dismounted Gauss, who then proceeded to turn back into a fox and leap into his chest in one swift move. Thankfully, the streets were empty due to the time of day and even the guards were still distracted in picking themselves up from the floor.

One guard stood up with numerous curses and other choice words flowing from his mouth. He dusted down his leather leggings to remove some of the dirt from his tumble. The rest of his armour consisted of chainmail covered by a blue tabard, upon which an ornate silver tree was embroidered. His outfit was slightly different to the other guards around, indicating that he may be of a higher rank. Once finished, he started to stomp towards the group with a frown.

"Just what do you think you are doing? The gate was closing for a reason! You could have been hurt" the man grumbled. Garrick dismounted and approached the guard. "Apologies, we simply did not wish to spend another night without a proper meal and rest. We did not mean to cause you to fall."

The guard stopped approaching and huffed, before looking the group over. "Mixed bunch aren't you? Travellers I assume?" Garrick shrugged. "Sort of. Our destination is this city." The guard nodded, "Fair enough. Lots of people want to come to see Astor. Pilgrims and merchants are the most common though, and you look like neither." Varus walked forward at this. "That's because we aren't. Look, we're just here to see the Duke, give him a message and then we can leave again."

At this, the guard started to laugh quite loudly, visibly annoying Varus. Once he had managed to get himself under control slightly, the guard replied "That's a good one. You can't just walk up to the Duke's place and ask to see him. Never mind the time of day it is, there's a waiting list a mile long. Lots of people want to speak to the Duke, after all."

Indira looks at him with sad eyes. "But what we have to tell him is urgent! There's been an attack on Grayben's Bay, he needs to know!" At this, the guard turned a little more serious. "An attack, you say? Well, that's still not unusual unfortunately. You aren't the first to report a town in the country getting attacked. You will still need to report to the Duke's office and request a meeting, though. All I'm saying is, expect to be waiting for at least a week. Best get comfortable."

Indira looked ready to argue this point, but Garrick cut in. "Very well, we shall go in search of the office in the morning. Where would we be able to, as you say, get comfortable?" The guard gestured down the main street of the city, still lit by large street lamps glowing with magic runes. "There are lots of taverns and hostels in this city given its size. But the nearest and most accessible would be the Mermaid Inn. In fact, I was just about to go there myself. My shift is ending, and I need a drink."

He then proceeded to turn to another guard by the entrance. "Hey, man the fort for me, yeah?" Getting a sigh and a "Sure thing, Denrick" in return. Denrick smiled and turned to walk up the street. He gestured for them to follow, which they did after dismounting, leading the horses by their reins.

It took less than ten minutes to arrive outside the tavern in question. Despite the quiet streets, it was clear from the talking and chanting from within that the place was doing a good trade. Denrick wasted little time in entering. Alistair went to follow, but Na'ish pointed out the obvious. "What about the horses?" he said, lifting the set of reins in his hand. Varus ignored him, and proceeded to enter the tavern ahead of them.

A quick look around them showed that the Mermaid Inn had a large stable attached to it on one side. Clearly, it was not unusual for patrons of the place to have mounts of their own. After a conversation and a few coins exchanging hands, the horses were housed and fed for the night. The rest then entered the tavern, eager to eat and rest after their long journey.

Inside the tavern, it was just as lively as it had sounded outside. Many people were scattered around the various counters and tables throughout, from all manner of races. In one corner, some Gnomes sat upon the table playing a game that involved betting with dice. Along the bar sat several Dwarves laughing and chugging tankards of ale. Behind the bar, a human middle-aged man was rapidly pouring drinks in order to keep up with demand, as a few barmaids collected and distributed them around the place.

Varus had slunk in and taken a seat at one of the few vacant tables in the place. He was currently throwing dirty looks at the other side, where Denrick had decided it would be a good idea to also sit and drink. He already had a pint in his hands that he was chugging enthusiastically. Rogon shrugged, before he stepped forward and went to sit next to Varus. Varus was quick to shoot him a similar glare, but Rogon simply waved to him good naturedly.

As the rest also went to sit with the group, a rather harried looking barmaid approached. "What can I get you?" she asked. Denrick was quick to finish his drink and set it down with a clunk. "Another of those, if ya would!" Alistair looked to the tankard Denrick had set down. "Yeah, that would be good" with several of the group nodding in agreement.

"That'll be five silver each then" the barmaid said, and Alistair nodded as he reached for his money pouch. However, he paused as he retrieved it...it felt considerably lighter than when he had last had it. Swiftly opening it up, he realised all that was left was a few coppers, as well as a small bit of torn parchment. Reaching in and pulling it out tentatively, he opened and read it.

Alistair growled, and threw his head back "Avery! That bitch took my coin too!" before he slumped onto the table. Indira just patted him on the back in an attempt to console him. Na'ish looked at him, before retrieving his own pouch. Thankfully, it seemed she had only taken coins from Alistair.

"Do not worry, I shall get this round" he announced, retrieving the required coin. Denrick perked up at this, "Ah, mighty kind of ya!" Na'ish paused, looking like he was about to refuse paying for Denrick's as well as his friends, but just shrugged and paid a further five silver. Before long, each of them had a frothing tankard in front of them.

Rogon and Denrick were quick to set into it, with Garrick and Na'ish taking more reserved swigs. Alistair was swilling his around the tankard, still lamenting his loss of coin. Indira had taken a sip from hers, before pulling a face and leaving it on the table, while Varus simply ignored his completely.

Peanut popped out of Indira's clothing, jumping over to inspect the drink in curiosity. A quick sip showed that he did not like it any more than his owner, however. Denrick paused his drinking to eye the rodent as it coughed up the ale it had drunk. "Er, not sure the tavern would appreciate you bringing a rat in here…" he mentioned, getting indignant looks from both Peanut and Indira. Alistair chuckled, "See...I'm not the only one who thinks Peanut's a rat."

"He is not! He is also very well trained, I'll have you know!" Indira huffed, before turning to Peanut. "Ok buddy. Roll over!" she said, to which Peanut immediately did so. She turned a smug look in Denrick's direction, who now had a raised eyebrow. Alistair leaned over at this point, "Ok then...play dead?" he asked.

Unfortunately, Peanut's response to this was a rude hand gesture. Alistair scowled and attempted to grab him. Peanut was too nimble however, and quickly dodged before hiding in Indira's cloak once more. Laughter erupted from Rogon at the sight, while Alistair scowled at where Peanut had disappeared to. "Stupid sugar rat…"

As Garrick was slowly drinking his drink while watching this all play out, he allowed his mind to wander and listen in to the conversations occurring all around him. Taverns were excellent places to gather information, and he had always got into the habit of listening in whenever he reached a new town. It had been why he had been at the Giggling Squid in Grayben's Bay in the first place.

"...Foul smell I tell you, I don't envy whoever needs to service those sewers…"

"...Heard there's unrest in Brentwood, wonder what's going on…"

As he was doing this, a couple of ladies making a poor attempt at having a hushed conversation passed their table. "No, really?" one asked the other. "Yes, I'm telling you, the Duke's Daughter is the latest disappearance. If it can happen to her, it could happen to any of us…" Garrick raised an eyebrow at that, and sharing a look with Varus confirmed that he had been listening in too.

Denrick noticed their exchange, and placed his now once more empty tankard down. "Heard that did ya? Nasty business, that. And another reason that it might take time for you to get your meeting with the Duke. Got other things on his mind, you know?" He then pointed at the tankard in front of Varus. "Are you going to drink that?" Varus just sniffed and pushed the tankard across to him, which he eagerly accepted.

Garrick tapped his fingers on the table in thought. "But, latest disappearance? There have been others?" Denrick shrugged, "A few. But it's a big city, can't keep track of everybody." Garrick frowned, and exchanged worried looks with the others round the table.

Rogon finished his drink, then stood. "Welp, I'm bushed. Not used to so much riding, yeh? I'm gonna go get a room." This started a bit of a chain reaction, and before long they had all booked rooms for the night.

As Garrick entered his and started to divest his armour, Karasumaru hopped off his shoulder and settled down on one of the bedposts. Once he was finished undressing, he sat on the bed heavily with a sigh. "Well...wonder what tomorrow will bring. I do hope those disappearances are a coincidence." Karasumaru gave a caw, before tucking his head under his wing in disinterest.

Garrick chuckled, before also settling down for the night.