Chapter 31
Welcome to Nürnberg
One week of riding through the highlands of southern Germania had worn the group ragged. In the beginning, such a short interval wouldn't have done much to them, but things had changed since then. Now they had two new members, three if you counted Lockheed, and they had more questions about each other than answers. With Bobby's constant pestering of Nightcrawler and Kitty's near constant interventions there was rarely any peace. The tension between those three was fast becoming a permanent fixture in their lives and if something wasn't done soon they feared that an actual fight might break out between the two boys.
But thankfully they had reached a new city and they would split up once more. Nightcrawler would keep the little dragon company in the wilds surrounding the town and the rest of them would enter and seek information concerning the Scrolls. Maybe after a break of a week or so things would cool down and resolve themselves without Logan and Jean needing to intervene. Well, that's what they hoped would happen, whether that scenario would actually occur was unknown. If it didn't they were going to force the three of them to sit down and talk things out so that they could have their little issues resolved.
When the distant buildings of Nürnberg the older members breathed a deep sigh of relief. Kitty handed off a much better behaved Lockheed to a waiting Nightcrawler and waved good-bye to both of them as they pulled away. Bobby gave the Cursed German a nasty suspicious look, but thankfully said nothing to him. Logan merely grunted a simple farewell as he steered his horse out of the stand of trees and towards the city. Jean simply glanced in the blue one's direction before she left him behind. Piotr gave the demon a little more attention, a longer look and a brief wave, as he followed his friends away. And Remy gave him a polite nod as he brought up the rear.
After leaving behind their Cursed guide the group rode into Nürnberg and quickly found a suitable inn. Kitty and Jean were placed in charge of stabling the horses, Bobby and Piotr carried their things into the rooms, and Logan and Remy worked on negotiating the price for everything. Once all that was settled they could sit down for a quick warm meal and let all the stresses of the past week fade away. And after that there would be the quick customary meeting followed by time off for the rest of the day. Then tomorrow the work would begin.
"This is the best soup I've had in weeks!" Bobby cried with boyish enthusiasm as he swallowed another hot spoonful of hot broth.
"Yes, it's very good soup Bobby, but the whole room doesn't need you shouting about it to know that." Kitty grumbled.
"Aw, come on Kitty, cheer up. We're out of the wilderness in a good inn with great food. There's no reason to be cranky." Bobby protested.
"I'm not cranky, I'm mad, at you." Kitty growled.
"Why? What did I do?" Bobby asked.
"You know perfectly well what you did, you did it all week and I'm not about to forgive for it." Kitty replied coolly.
"I don't understand, what did I do?" Bobby complained.
"You kept harassing Nightcrawler for no reason whatsoever and I had to keep dragging you off." Kitty snapped icily.
"He's up to something and if you'd left me alone I would know what." Iceman claimed.
"Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, if it was anything dangerous Logan or Jean would've found out about it and kicked him out long before he could do any harm." Kitty replied.
Bobby opened a closed his mouth a few times, but it was obvious that he had no answer to that statement. Rolling her eyes at the boy's stupidity Kitty stalked off to try and cool down. Jean sighed and followed her leaving all the men clustered around the round table with their empty soups bowls. Kitty rushed up the stairs to their rooms with Jean close behind. The phantom girl walked straight through the door to her room not caring who happened to see her do it. Once inside she stomped over to her bed and fell backwards onto it with an exasperated grunt. When did he get so stubborn and paranoid?
"He's always been stubborn and you know when he became overly suspicious." Jean replied to Kitty's unuttered question.
"That was a rhetorical question Jean." Kitty sighed.
"I know, but I heard it and felt compelled to reply." The red-head teased.
"Do you always do what you're 'compelled' to do?" Kitty idly asked.
"No, only sometimes." Jean replied, completely serious.
"So is anything important being discussed down there?" Kitty wondered. Jean paused and her eyes closed as she scanned the minds of their companions.
"No, Bobby's fuming and Logan, Piotr, and Remy are just watching him." Jean answered.
"Wonderful." Kitty snorted, sitting up to look at Jean.
"So, why the change of heart?" Jean asked changing the subject.
"What?" Kitty asked, a bit lost with the sudden shift of topic.
"Before you didn't get along with Nightcrawler at all, now you defend him against Bobby." Jean explained.
"Ah, good question, I'm not really sure what the answer is myself." Kitty replied.
"Oh?" Jean prompted.
"I guess he's starting to grow on me. While he is annoying and infuriating, there's something else about him. Something that reminds me…" Kitty trailed off.
"…Of your husband?" Jean supplied, not even needing to read Kitty's mind to know what the answer was. The lost sad look of longing said it all.
"Yeah." Kitty mumbled and wandered over to the room's only window. "Oh no." She gasped.
"What is it?" Jean asked concerned, as she moved to join Kitty in looking out the window.
"Look." Kitty whispered, pointing to a small group of men moving through the crowded street below them.
Jean followed her friend's finger and focused on the group in question. They were a small band of soldiers. They wore glittering chain-mail beneath a red and white tunic that displayed the crest of the noble house that they served. The crest was a white serpent coiled around a black sword on top of a red and white shield. There was some Latin phrase on the crest too, but they were too far away to be able to read it. They didn't need to read it though; the design alone was distinctive enough. These soldiers belonged to Lord Grauhard. If that man wasn't here yet, he would be soon. Either way, things just got a lot more complicated.
Nightcrawler yawned and stretched before settling back against the trunk of the tree that he was currently perched in. The tiny dragon known as Lockheed yawned as well as he curled up in the Cursed German's lap. Somewhere below them the blue devil fancied that he heard Schwarzi the mighty black stallion yawned as he settled in for the night. The sun had set over an hour ago and the only light left was from the nearly full moon and the faint flickering stars. The only sounds came from the many insects that now felt safe enough to reveal their presence with the day birds asleep. The chirping of crickets was soothing and soon it would lull the Nightcrawler into dreamland, but not just yet.
It looked like Nürnberg would be the closest they would be going to his home. He couldn't be sure of course, they could travel further east. But he doubted that, if he wanted to perform a quick but through search of the country he would head north after this current stop. So after they left here he would leave home behind for God-only-knows how long until their business would be complete. He was over a month overdue to return home now and if he didn't either stop by for a brief visit or send some word back his father would probably think he'd died out in the forest somewhere.
So what should he do? Ride three days straight to reach Regensburg and another day to his father's land to speak with his parent personally and ride four days back and hope they haven't left without him. Or, he could slip into Nürnberg and send a letter to his father. All that riding would be hard on both him and Schwarzi and it would confuse poor Lockheed, and then there was the risk of being left behind. The letter was obviously the better choice, but he risked being seen by the wrong people. He thought long and hard on the issue before deciding.
Nürnberg was a decent sized city with many large crowds to get lost in. If he was careful and quick the chances of getting caught were slim to none. Once he'd written and paid for the letter he would be free to move on with the group while his message was relayed on to his father. It was by far the better of the two options. So that was what he was going to do. He would head into the city from a different direction than they had, find a runner post that would carry his letter, and he would slip out as soon as he could. In the morning, he would go. With a deep sigh, Nightcrawler closed his eyes and fell asleep.