Chapter 5 -:o When the knives come out o:-
It was the morning of the first day of Mirtul, 1370 by Dale Reckoning, the Year of The Tankard.
The library fortress of Candlekeep was waking up, and the night watchers were heading to their barracks to sleep while the well rested day shift had already taken their positions. Several visitors were enjoying the famed hospitability of the Candlekeep Inn and it's innkeeper, master Winthrop.
"Imoen!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs, drawing a pained look and a grimace from a hung over nobleman enjoying a very greasy breakfast with his smug looking wife. The young wizard Gedragon, whom everyone called simply Ged was also present, rubbing the his eyes and yawning like his jaw might fall off.
"Where is that damn girl? Imoen... IM-!" he stopped in mid-bellow, seeing the usually winsome redhead descend the stairs with somewhat less than her usual grace, looking like she had just woken up.
"Stop shrieking like that ya bleedin' bugbear! One would think the inn was on fire or something!"
"Oh good, quick girl, Hildy was sick this morning, take over her duties until I tell you otherwise! Hurry, into the kitchen you go!" he shouted, then turning back towards Ged who was standing before the counter, waiting to make his purchases.
"Now, young master Ged. Did I understand you correctly that you said you were leaving?" the jovial innkeeper asked.
"You heard me just right. And needn't ask me where, since I couldn't tell you." Ged told him sleepily. "My father woke me up this morning and told me to pack. We are leaving, and it's for good I think."
He had never seen Gorion so agitated. The old sage had told him to purchase what he needed for a long and dangerous journey from the inn and then do several chores he had quickly outlined. After these brief instructions to the bewildered youth, Gorion had run off and Ged hadn't seen him since.
Needing no armor or extra weaponry, Ged instead opted for a bedroll and several other outdoor necessities including a lantern and several flasks of oil. He also filled his waterskin from the barrel.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye then. I shall miss you Winthrop, you and your awful jokes." Ged told the innkeep. Winthrop was famous in the keep for his awful sense of comic timing and bad jokes. Imoen had often said that the only person Winthrop could make laugh was Dreppin.
They shook hands and Ged, having collected his provisions stepped outside. He was feeling tugged into different directions. On the other hand, he yearned to travel, to see the outside world. On the other hand Candlekeep was the only real home he had ever known. And how would he tell Imoen, Ged was sure she would be heartbroken to be left behind.
"Hey, over here!"
As if mirroring his first day in Candlekeep, the girl's voice came from the alley next to the Inn. This time, Imoen wasn't hiding in a barrel though, she was merely peeking out of the kitchen window.
"Morning Ged! I heard you were leaving with Mr. G. Is it true?" she chirped in her usual tone, as if nothing untoward had happened.
"Yes, but- Who do YOU know about that?" Ged sputtered, instantly suspecting the sneaky girl of eavesdropping. Or worse.
"Never mind that! Now, you must convince Gorion to take me with'cha, you MUST!" she hissed, looking anxious for a change.
"You know how you'll get into all kinds of trouble without me to look after you! And what's worse, go off adventuring without me!" she continued, pouting at him in mock anger.
"I-I can try but you know him, Immie. I don't think-" Ged stammered, before being interrupted again.
"Yes. Oh our sweet Lady Firehair have mercy, yes! Yes yes yes YES!" Imoen prattled on in her usual, breathless way.
"I know. He's SUCH a stick in the mud sometimes, that old fiddle faddle. Winthrop, the grouch HE is, doesn't even come close! Like I couldn't handle myself! I don't care what that doom and gloom letter said, I-" her hand flew to her mouth when she saw Ged's eyes widen in shock and realized what she had said.
"I-I-I m-mean there must have BEEN a letter and uh... stuff?" she grinned, looking very sweet. Ged wasn't fooled and she knew it.
"Uh, see ya later now and behave! Bye bye Ged, have a nice trip!" she said and gave him a sly wink, retreating back inside, slamming the window doors shut and leaving her friend standing dumbstruck and bewildered in the alley.
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"See, it's the brat, all right!"
The speaker was a decidedly unpleasant looking individual, a tall man dressed in what looked like pauper's rags, who was also missing several fingers from his left hand and his left eye. He and his shorter (but much rounder) companion were observing a young man of medium height and brown hair, talking to a much larger fellow.
"I told ye this bit'o'biznich would make us filthy stinking rich, I did!" the lanky fellow wheezed, sneering at his paunchy companion in triumph and spitting on the ground.
"So ya did, Shank, so ya did. I wuz wrong. Whadda we do now? Go 'an stick 'im wiv our blades?" the round fellow asked, somewhat dimwittedly.
Shank rolled his eye in disgust. "Yer such a fool Carbos. NO!" he hissed, glancing around apprehensively before continuing. No one seemed to have noticed them, skulking in the alley between the watcher barracks and the visitors' bunkhouse.
"We wait until he comes this way again, make sure we're all alone in the bunkhouse an' then we calls him inside on some excuse. And then..."
Carbos' face split in a nasty grin an ogre would have been proud of.
"An-an-and then... then we get's out them blades... them blades..." he mumbled in his excitement, as he followed his taller friend into the bunkhouse.
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"Well, I can't understand why you and your dad can't just stay here." Dreppin demanded.
"I mean, yer studying to be a wizard, right? So, what's better than to live in the biggest library of the Realms?" he continued, looking forlorn.
"I don't know why we're going or where. I didn't get a chance to ask him but he looked frightened, can you believe that?" Ged replied to his friend.
Drepping burst out laughing, but quieted down when he saw Ged wasn't feeling amused.
"Gorion frightened? Nah, I don't believe it! I mean, you told me he fought a dragon, a red dragon no less, and won! And do you remember when Ulraunt tried to discipline us and he came to our defence, when Imoen had accidentally taken that nobleman's purse? He didn't even flinch when old hooknose started yelling at him, boy wasn't THAT something?" Drepping rambled on, but Ged just shook his head sadly.
"He was actually scared, then? Wow, I wonder what's the matter." the tall youth wondered, growing somber.
"Well, this is it then. I guess I won't be seeing you again..." he asked after a moment of silence, looking at Ged sadly.
"I'll try to return someday, to see what's happening with you and Immie. You've both been the best friends anyone could hope for and I'll never forget either of you." Ged replied, trying to sound optimistic. Entering Candlekeep without being fabulously weathy or famous was a hard task for anyone, let alone one such as him whom Ulraunt seemingly detested for some reason.
The two friends shook hands and embraced before separating.
Ged thought of the tasks he still had to do before reporting back to his father.
"Get the potions from the healers, that scroll from Tethtoril (wherever he was!) and saying goodbye to Imoen, Hull and Fuller." he counted off in his mind, as he walked towards the healers house in the southeastern part of the outer courtyard.
To his relief, he saw Hull and Fuller both inside as he entered.
"Ged! How nice to see you this fine, beautiful summer morning!" Fuller hollered, even as his hard-drinking friend grimaced at his loud voice.
"Please... Fuller... by the Merciful Morninglord Lathander please be quiet... my head's pounding like an army of dwarves was hammering inside... Augh..." Hull pleaded, looking quite green and very hung over.
The elderly priest of Oghma in charge of tending the sick wandered over and shook his head in disgust at the sight of the poor soldier.
"Sick again, Master Watcher? Looks like the antidotes aren't working properly, or you keep exposing yourself to the same sickness intentionally. What ever it is, out you go! The healing powers of the gods are not to be wasted on the whims of drunkards!" he thundered, drawing a chuckle from Fuller and a groan from his miserable friend.
Ged told Fuller to wait for him outside and asked for the potions Gorion had asked. The priest dug a small wooden box from a locked chest and gave it to him. Inside were five bluish flasks, which the priest told him were healing potions capable of repairing wounds and mending bruises and other hurts.
Ged thanked the old cleric and returned to the warm summer day outside, where Fuller was leaning against the wall, nonchalantly inspecting his sword.
"Boy, Hull certainly can drink! Looks like the priests grew wise to his schemes though. Wonder what he's gonna do after this!" the amused looking watcher told him, as Ged stopped to talk with him.
Fuller listened as the young wizard explained how he was going to leave the fortress with his adopted father.
"I'm glad for you, in a way. Cloistered with all these robes is no way fer a young feller to grow up. Imoen's not going with you, eh?" he said, with a sly wink.
"No, she's staying here I guess." Ged answered, a bit mystified at the soldier's tone until he saw the man's leer. He reddened slightly and felt a bit defensive.
Fuller laughed at the sight and clapped Ged on the shoulder in a good-natured way. "Oh well, the rest of us appreciate her staying, if'n you know what I mean and I think you do. Yer a goodlookin' enough sort of feller with those fancy eyes an'all to have girlies enough outside to please any man."
Ged didn't reply, feeling a bit embarrassed at the man's talk. He had no experience in romantic matters even though he had of course had his brief crushes towards a few visiting nobleman's daughters. Imoen he considered a close friend and a kid sister for all her considerable charm and beauty.
"Oh, before Hull left for his post, the poor bastard, I noticed he wasn't carrying his sword. Would you be a good kid and get it for him. Ask around the barracks, someone's bound to be there to point you to his kit." Fuller said, yawning slightly as if bored.
Ged nodded, slightly exasperated. At least these damnable errands he was too good-natured to refuse doing would end with his leaving. He started towards the barracks when he heard Fuller shout after him:
"Have a nice trip Ged! Remember the blocks I showed you and always, always remember what Hull told you about fighting humanoids!"
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"Hey! You there, yea you!" the voice hissed at him from the door of the bunkhouse.
Ged turned and saw a man so ugly he might have passed for a half-orc beckoning toward him. The stranger was dressed quite badly, in what could only be called the remnants of breeches and a food stained linen shirt that was far too small for the short man's bulging girth.
"Could ya come an' give me a hand, the lock to me travelling chest is jammed again an' I needs someone to hold the light for me as I tries to open it."
Ged looked at the windows, every one of them was shuttered. Sighing in irritation he lowered his backpack and Hull's long sword to the ground and followed the man.
I stank like an animal nest inside. Ged gagged and held his nose as he saw the man crouch at the far end of the room.
"Why haven't you opened the windows? It would, um, let in some light." ("and fresh air", he thought)
Ged took a step towards the crouching fatman, thinking the stranger hadn't heard him as he heard the door slam shut behind him.
He tried to turn, but someone grasped his face and mouth from behind as well as his neck and throat with another hand.
"Now Carbos, slice the brat up!" someone hissed and Ged could feel his stinking, warm breath in his neck.
He struggled fiercely and flailed with his arms as her saw the short man the other voice had called Carbos rise up with a dirty knife and spring towards him, chuckling like a lackwit.
Ged was panicking in those precious moments, feeling the unseen assaillant choke him and seeing his death approach in the form of a fatman with a knife.
He was panicking, but in the same time it was as if something inside him knew as how to act.
Time seemed to slow down.
Ged stopped his flailing and opened his mouth as wide as he could, feeling his unseen assailants fingers slip in his mouth. Then he chomped his jaw together with as much force as he could.
He could hear screaming from behind him and the grip that was holding his throat loosen. He instinctively knifed backwards with his elbow, twisting his torso so his blow connected with his assailants midsection.
The scream changed into a pained grunt and wheezing gasps. Ged's brain registered this, but his concentration was already on the onrushing would-be knifer.
"...always remember what Hull told you about fighting humanoids!" the words rang in his memory, but he was already acting on them.
Feigning a stumble, Ged prepared the trap his opponent stepped right into. The fatman called Carbos slowed down and thus doomed himself. He pulled his knifehand back in preparation of a thrust that would have skewered Ged right in the stomach.
With all his strength, Ged kicked Carbos in the groin catching the dumb brute completely by surprise.
The knife fell from the man's suddenly limp fingers and he felled like a butchered cow, his face so red it looked like it would burst.
Ged's hand flew to the small pouch he carried on his belt as he turned to face the man who had throttled him. The man had recovered somewhat, and looked downright hateful with rage.
"Ya cursed little brat! Why didn't ya have the courtesy to die cleanly! Now I'll hafta paint the walls and the ceiling wiv' yer gore you little bastard!" the taller man cursed, drawing a knife so long it might have been used for a sword by a halfling or a gnome.
Ged didn't bother to reply, he opened his pouch and emptied it's contents, normal fine grained sand, to him palm. Or tried to.
To his horror, the pouch was empty! He had forgot to refill it after his last casting.
Time seemed to speed up to normal again.
Ged retreated, suddenly terribly afraid. His staff was lying on the floor behind the knife wielding thug and he hadn't the time to cast his Armor spell.
The tall assailant was edging closer, his blade ready.
"Wha-what do you want from me! I've done nothing to you!" Ged stammered, the words sticking to his throat.
"Yer head... har har... is worth a nice bit of money in gold fer someone. I care not who but I'll kill ye and get rid of this stinking poverty Black Bess inflicted me with. Sorry kid, but it's a dog eat dog world..." the man snarled, edging closer.
Ged saw no escape and prepared to desperately try and fight for the knife when the door flew open.
A small, frail red robed man stepped in.
The tall man with the knife whirled around in alarm, but grinned as he saw Tethtoril walk towards him (for that's who it was).
"Haw! Ye picked a bad house to stick yer nose into, monk. It's going to be yer final error." he laughed, and then lunged at the frail looking priest of Mystra.
There was a flash of light, and the lanky assailant tumbled to the ground, dead as a rock.
"Are you unharmed, Ged?" Tethtoril asked the quivering wizard, who was by now trembling so badly he had to lean on the wall to keep from falling down.
"Yuh-yes... Th-they t-tried to kuh-kill me. Oh Tethtoril, they tried to... and if you hadn't come they..." Ged's voice trailed off into a sob as he slid down along the wall to slump on the floor.
Ged didn't see the old and seemingly frail priest close the outside door before coming over to where he had slumped.
"Listen to me, boy. You will go to Gorion immediatly. Do not say a word about this to anyone else, or else your departure might be delayed. And considering what jusr happened, that would be a catastrophe." he said in a kind but stern tone, laying a comforting hand on the youth's shoulder.
"Duh-delayed? But WHY? Who would want to delay us because... Ulraunt?"
Tethtoril nodded with a sad look on his face.
"Yes. I am sure he would demand a full investigation, as is his right. Come now, let me help you up. There you go. Now, go to Gorion and leave these two gentlemen to me."
Ged looked at the dead assailant and the still living, though unconscious one.
"Thank you, I won't forget you Tethtoril! I promise I'll come back someday and repay you for saving me!" he told the old priest, with some of the fierceness back in his voice.
The kindly priest merely smiled and pushed him towards the door, before remembering something.
"Oh, take this scroll." Ged took the proferred item from the priest. Tethtoril smiled back, "It might have gone ill for you if I hadn't been looking for you to give this, when I noticed your supplies lying on the ground. Go now, with Mystra's blessing and mine."
Ged ran out, not looking back.
