Ch 5 A Song to Remember
Justice this time
It's having
Though the trail
Be cold, it's true
Go look for the lone rider
Next time his prey is too.....
This time because he knew where he was going, he made much better time, often he struck out cross country, forgoing the roads completely, he was lucky his horses were fresh come, from the Dorisha plains. It didn't bother them to make many miles a day.
He was about halfway to his goal when he decided to stop at a town he had visited before. His supplies were getting low and he needed to restock.
The town of Ghedsford had an outpost of the mercenary's guild there, he decided to stop the night and withdraw some of his funds. The outpost was small, he had heard that the only reason it was here at all was that it was located near the major trade route heading up to Valdemar, while the Valdemarans weren't known for hiring mercenaries, the Caravans were always looking for guards. He tethered his horses at the railing in front of the building and walked inside.
It appeared to be a standard setup, the main room open, a desk to one side for guild business, though being small, there were no rooms for out of work mercenaries to stay, he would have to go to the Inn, no hardship, he thought to himself.
The man at the desk looked up "May I help you" he asked.
"I'm here to access some of my funds and to hire someone myself" he said as he crossed the room and sat in one of the chairs near the desk.
"Well, I can help with the funds, but you are out of luck if you're hoping to hire someone, a large caravan heading south came through a week ago and hired everyone who was waiting here for work". He said, a rueful look on his face.
Rannel frowned, well, there were at least two other towns with outposts between here and his destination, there was still time.
"If I may ask, what would a mercenary be doing hiring other's" he asked curious.
"It's personal, some brigands attacked and killed my family, I've tracked down five of them, but there are at least eleven more to deal with, perhaps more, I'm not a fool, if I can get some help to deal with them, I'd pay well" he said.
The man nodded "I hope you can find that help, between the dust up of bandits near Karse and the increased trade to Valdemar, it's hard to find men, these parts" he said sympathetically.
Once he got his funds and had put them in his money belt he went outside and took his horses leading them down the lane that passed for main street in this town.
very soon he came to the Inn, as small as the town was there were only about a dozen buildings on the main street, the Inn being three down from the guild's outpost.
Good, he thought to himself, they were big enough for stables and to have private rooms, it was probably due to their vicinity to the trade route and the guilds hiring hall.
A boy took his horses and a couple of older boys took his packs, he grabbed his gittern, when he saw their lack of care in their handling of his things, most of his belongings could take it, but he had become fond of the gittern, sometime he felt closer to his son when he played it imagining him playing it one day.
He swung it's strap over his shoulder and went inside to make arrangements with the Innkeeper for the night's lodging.
Gerril looked up from his soft playing at the stranger's entrance, he sighed when he saw the instrument the man carried on his shoulder, great the thought to himself, that's all I need, competition. When he looked closer he started to wonder at his first impression, he was always watching people and had developed a good nose for a story and he sensed a Story with a capital S. Maybe there was a song in this, he would have to get him to open up.
The man wore light armor, if it hadn't been for the gittern on his shoulder, he would have looked like any mercenary looking for work, but playing a gittern took a degree of skill most mercenaries wouldn't have. It was hard to tell what color hair he had under the dust that coated everything he wore, he had been on the road a long time without stopping, but it was the look in his golden eyes that grabbed Gerril's attention. He could see a soul deep sadness and glowing in their depths a cold anger, barely hidden.
The man looked up once in his direction, his eyes closing in a look of pain quickly masked before he turned back to the Innkeeper. Finally their bargaining done he followed the innkeeper's pointing finger and walked out the back door, perhaps to the bathhouse.
Rannel lay back in the hot water soaking for a time, though he had toughened up this trip he still wasn't entirely used to riding so much, the warm water loosened tight muscles and he relaxed almost napping. He came alert instantly when the man entered the room "Don't touch the armor, I'll be cleaning it myself later".
That's fine" Gerril said "I wasn't planning on cleaning it anyway".
Rannel recognized him, the musician from the main room, he ducked his head under the water and started scrubbing himself clean, anything not to look, his son may have looked like this in the future years, if only.....
He hear the sound of water pouring into the neighboring tub, great he wasn't leaving.
"What are you doing in Ghedsford anyway, the hiring season's almost over unless you're a bard" he asked .
Rannel looked up in time to see him pointing towards the gittern sitting propped up on the far wall, well away from any water.
"No, I'm no bard, I just play for enjoyment" he said, closing his eyes again and rinsing the soap from his hair.
"In that case perhaps you'd like to join me tonight when I play, I think the people here are starting to get tired of just me, they'd like something new to listen to" he said.
"Maybe" Rannel said. He stood up, he was clean enough, stepping out he grabbed a towel and rubbed briskly drying himself quickly. He looked at his filthy clothes in disgust, holding his shirt at arm's length he sniffed, now that he was clean there was no way he was putting these on again.
He heard a chuckle from the other tub "I can tell them to have those cleaned, they have that service here, if you want any of your other clothes cleaned, they have baskets in the rooms, just put the dirty clothes in and they come back cleaned and folded, for a fee of course".
"Of course" Rannel said dryly "In the meantime how am I going to get to my room" he asked.
"Just wrap on of those around your middle and take the back stair" he said pointing towards the pile of extra large towels in the bench across the room.
"I don't know which room is mine I just arrived a few minutes ago" he said "All I could think of was washing the dust off, I hadn't thought much beyond that" he said ruefully.
"That is a problem, you could ask one of the servers, perhaps they'd like to show you personally" he said, another meaning clear in his tone.
"No, I don't think so" Rannel said embarrassed.
"they aren't all female you know" he said a spark of devilment in his eyes.
"No, I like women" he said quickly.
"Then why" Gerril asked.
"It's too soon" he bowed his head fighting off the wave of anguish that rose at this reminder. He looked up eyes bright with unshed tears. "My wife was killed recently and I loved her very much" he grabbed his armor and gittern leaving the pile of dirty clothes behind, with a towel wrapped around his waist and held with one hand and the other holding up his bundle he left not looking back once.
"I'm sorry" Gerril said to his retreating back, but he wasn't sure the other man heard him.
Rannel knew he had overreacted the other man had only been teasing, he sighed, it seemed that these days he had no sense of humor. He didn't think he ever would again, not even when he finished with the men he was hunting.
That night Gerril looked for the stranger in the crowd, it wasn't until maybe a candlemark later that he saw him making his way for a corner table and waving for a server. Gerril finished his set and walked over to him. Rannel looked up as the musician sat in the chair across from him.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, I'd like to start over, my names Gerril" he said.
"I overreacted, don't worry about it" Rannel said, "My names Rannel".
Gerril looked at Rannel's cup "What are you having".
"Cider, I always drink light away from home and now..." he trailed off.
"And now" Gerril prompted.
"I need to keep sharp" he stared into his cup for a moment before sipping from it.
"Why" Gerril asked.
"I'm looking for some men, ones who don't want to be found, recently they've learned I'm looking for them" he sighed wondering if he really had time to stay the night here.
"Why are you looking for them" Gerril asked hoping the other man would tell him, maybe this was the story he was looking for.
"They killed my family" he said softly, almost too softly for Gerril to hear in the noisy Inn. He looked up then ans Gerril saw the banked anger in his eyes glow a little hotter.
"I've already gotten five of them,.they are on their way to Lord Marren's justice" he said a little louder.
Gerrin's jerked surprised, he had heard of lord Marren, he was a hard man, but he was known not to bother in outsider's affairs. "Why would he care about your family" Gerril asked.
"Lord Marren's my father and when they killed my son, they killed his grandson"he said.
"I hadn't heard that he had a son named Rannel" Gerril said.
Rannel laughed sadly "I was a disappointment to him, as second son he wanted me to live as he wanted, and it didn't work out, The woman I married wasn't one he would have chosen".
"Then how could you marry her" Gerril asked, what he knew of the noble families, Rannel's father could have kept him from marrying someone he found unsuitable.
"It was a bribe of sorts" Rannel said picking up his mug. "I would have left to become a mercenary if he hadn't let me marry her". He put his mug down and looked out into the room. "The funny thing is, I almost wished he hadn't let me marry, Graella may still have been alive if he hadn't".
"You don't know that" Gerril said softly.
"No" Rannel said.
He turned suddenly and reached down picking up his gittern, he opened the case and pulled it out, as he tunned it Gerril looked at it closely, he sighed it was a beautiful instrument.
Rannel looked up and caught the look in his eyes, he smiled and said "This was the last thing I bought for my son, he wanted to be a bard" a shadow of his grief passed quickly across his face and was gone, almost before Gerril took note of it.
"So, what do you want to play" he asked his fellow musician, getting up to play.
The next morning he was going over his horses tack preparing to leave when he saw Gerril standing to the side with a pack of his own. "Where are you headed" Gerril asked.
"Timmersdale" he said.
"Sounds good, I'll come with you"he said to Rannel.
"You can't come with me, it's going to be dangerous" Rannel said, he didn't need someone he had to watch out for, he needed all his attention on his own back.
"I can take care of myself, besides you could probably use a guide, I was born in those parts" Gerril said, a little smugly.
"Why would you want to help me" Rannel asked.
"It's a good story, I could get a song from this" he said.
Rannel groaned "That's all I need, to hear my name from one end of Rethwellen to the other".
Gerril grinned, he should be so lucky "Don't worry, I won't put your name in it".
"You promise" he asked the bard.
"Yes" Gerril said.
"Then you can come" Rannel said.
Gerril smiled and went to get his horse.