Heroes of the Realm Chapter 5: Decisions part 1

Thayne woke up to shouting coming from somewhere below him. For a moment he thought it was Old Barney yelling at a barmaid about a broken glass, till the memories of the last day flooded into him. He opened his eyes and sat up in the bedroom he'd slept in the night before.

"Roland, wake up!" he said as he nudged the still sleeping man. "Something's going on."

Roland swatted at him and said something incoherent. Thayne slapped his bare shoulder in response.

"Alright! Gods I'm up!" Roland said as he began to rub his eyes.

Thayne got out of bed and peered out the window. Below he saw three knights, their armor shining in the morning sun. Two were on horseback and one was dismounted and was currently in a shouting match with Samantha. The two on horseback kept looking between themselves and the combatants.

"I think there's trouble," Thayne said. "I think those are more guards-what in hells man?!"

Roland stood up from the bed letting the sheet drop off of him. Thayne saw that the only thing he was wearing was the pointed cap on his head.

"What?" asked Roland through a yawn.

"You're naked!" Thayne exclaimed.

"And?"

"And I slept next to you!"

"And?"

"And... You were... Are... Naked!"

Thayne felt his face get red as Roland continued to stretch away the morning soreness. He'd had no brothers and no father to speak of, so he'd rarely seen anyone naked besides himself.

"Thayne here's a revelation for you: We have the same parts. See?" Roland began to shake his hips at Thayne causing him to blush even deeper.

"I... I should go... See if I can help downstairs." he said as he ran out of the room followed close behind by Roland's laughter.

***
Hugo, Gimini and Bud stood behind the houses front window, watching the show. Samantha was almost nose to nose with a knight, both screaming about proper procedures,goblin battle tactics and local law.

"Three gold says he hits her first right in the nose." Said Bud.

"I'll take that" said Gimini.

Hugo rolled his eyes. "She won't lose control that bad. This is standard negotiating tactics for her."

"Then why not put some gold on it?" said Bud, a smile on his face.

"Because it's beneath me," said Hugo. "I don't take easy bets."

Gimini and Bud both chuckled.

"What's going on?" Asked Thayne as he approached the window.

"Well these good men believe that we butchered the family that lived here, made it look like a goblin attack, then took over their home." said Hugo calmly.

"Oh," replied Thayne. "Are we going to get arrested again?"

"I hope not," said Gimini. "I've got five gold riding that we stay out of jail tonight."

"Wait," said Hugo, easing the building tension between his eyebrows with his fingers. "You bet that we wouldn't end up in jail and that Samantha would throw a punch at the knight?"

"Yes he did," said Talesian stepping beside him. "Do you not have any faith in our de facto leader?"

"I have all faith in her, and I believe that we will not be going to jail, but I don't understand the gnome's logic."

"Wait, there's a bet?" Thayne asked.

Before more bets could be made Cassandra strolled around the house with another knight and Moonlight in tow. Samantha and the arguing knight both turned to look at them. Cassandra's knight was dressed in less ostentatious armor, consisting of leathers and a cap.

They approached the other knights holding several arrows and started talking in a tone that the indoor observers couldn't quite make out.

"What are they saying?" asked Thayne.

"I would hope that they're explaining how none of this is our fault," said Hugo. He and Samantha had met the knights earlier that morning when the homeowner had failed to make his usual rounds at the local marketplace. The knights had suspected foul play but as usual wouldn't listen to a word either of them had to say. Hugo suspected it was because he was a dwarf and Samantha was a woman, though hopefully after this they would change their minds about doubting either in the future.

After a moment, Samantha and Cassandra turned back towards the house and began walking up. The knight that had been arguing with Samantha climbed back on his horse and the three rode away while the last jogged back into the woods.

As they entered the group began bombarding them with questions, except for Gimini who was busy pestering Bud for his winnings. Hugo stood back and waited to hear the explanation.

"They don't think we did it," Samantha said after a moment, "But I think they want to put it on us. It's only Hugo and I's connection with the Temple of War that prevented them from throwing us all in chains."

"Do they know of the goblin attacks?" asked Hugo.

"They claim that it's impossible since goblins don't come this far into the Kind, and so it must've been bandits pretending to be goblins, basically what they accused us of being."

"Bandits?!" exclaimed Hugo. "There's a whole mess of dead goblins back at our campsite only a couple hours from here!"

"Not anymore," said Cassandra.

The group looked at her suspiciously. "I went back there with that other ranger since I can travel a lot faster through the woods without all you around..." She said smiling. "Anyway, when we got back there all the bodies were gone."

Everyone looked surprised at the news. Hugo didn't truly know that much about goblins but from the ones he'd seen last night he would highly doubt that giving proper burial to their fallen would be a high priority to the creatures.

"So... what do we do now?" asked Hugo.

"For now," sighed Samantha, "We get breakfast."

***

Talesian sat between Gimini and Roland at the large round table in the tavern. The village where it sat, for what it was, was less than an hour by cart, which the group found in the barn as well as six sturdy horses to pull it. At the first chance they got they'd told the town leaders what had happened to the family, corroborated by the knights who had ridden ahead of them, though the knights insisted the family was attacked by bandits disguising their attack as goblins. The group turned the wagon over to the town to do with it and the house as they please.

The tavern was the biggest building in the village, standing at two stories and featuring a large common room. The second floor had rooms for travelers to stay, though each one was about the size of a standard prison cell.

Talesian was glad to be back in civilization, no matter how rural it was. The adventuring for what it was had served as an interesting distraction at best and a miserable association with miscreants at worst. His plan from here was to buy a horse and ride to the nearest city with a proper teleportation circle and return home immediately, with fantasies of never leaving his family estate again.

Samantha broke the silence that loomed over the group since their food was brought, a watery beef and vegetable stew that screamed for seasoning.

"Something's not right," she said without looking up. The rest looked up from their food at her.

"Yes, the seasoning is definitely lacking," said Talesian. "I think even some rosemary would make this far more-"

"Not the soup!" Samantha shouted upending her bowl. Talesian eyed her, once again swallowing his own anger at her ill breeding.

"Then my lady I'm afraid I'm at a loss as to what you could be referring to," Talesian said, pretending that this was a proper social function rather than yet more time spent among the heathens.

"I'm referring to, my dear lord elf, the matter of the... the goblins. I'm talking about the goblins, alright? Why are they here? Why is the local guard so adamant about covering it up?" she said, venting her frustration.

"To that my dear I'm sure I don't know." said Talesian. "While it is an intriguing puzzle I'm afraid that it will have to go unsolved for me. I intend to find a suitable mount as soon as possible and return home immediately."

The rest of the group stayed silent at that, staring at Talesian. After a few moments the tension became unbearable and he spoke. "Well what did you expect exactly? We're hardly heroes. The village's problems are their own, and we were only going to travel together until we were safely out of Seagull's Landing's jurisdiction, at which point I assumed we would all return to our normal lives."

"Is this how you all feel?" asked Samantha to the group.

Nobody said a word, yet nobody made eye contact with her besides Talesian.

"Come now, my dear, besides you and your stalwart companion surely you know that a..." He glanced at Bud "...diverse group such as this could not get along for long. We are not an adventuring party."

"Why can't we be?" asked Thayne, his voice small as he spoke into his hands.

Talesian shot him an icy stare as he sat down his spoon with a firm clack.

"I believe it is about time you learned your place in this world, young one." He said as he sat tall in his chair. "There are some divisions that some people should never cross, weather political, theological or hereditary. The idea of a heroic band of adventurers from across the realms is nothing but a fairy tale, told to common children to give them something to think about while they go about the mondanity of their lives. In reality such parties usually fall apart after a few weeks due to their inherit incompatibility with each other. I would suggest that in the future you learn those incompatibilities better, or you will find yourself in a situation where you are not welcome and where you don't belong."

Bud stood up at this. "Now I've had it with you thinking you're better than everyone else just because your parents had money and were the same race! Say something elitist again and I'll..."

"You'll what? Die consumed by fire before you get to me?" Said Talesian, fed up with the half orc almost as much as he was with the half human.

Bud reached for his axes as Cassandra and Thayne grabbed one arm and Hugo grabbed the other, all three straining to hold him back.

"You weak armed little spell-spitter! Why don't you take that attitude back to the damn Underdark with the other drow elitists!" Bud yelled as he tried to get across the table.

"How dare you, ser!" Talesian said as he stood up, a glowing orb of fire appearing in his hand.

"Enough!" Shouted Samantha as she banged her sword down on the table. The group stopped and looked at her.

"Talesian you're right. We're not a real adventuring party. Frankly I'm surprised we haven't tried to kill each other before now, but here we are. Fate brought us together but as of now nothing holds us bound. I can ask no more from any of you than what you have already given. If you so wish to go your separate ways from here please do so with my gratitude for your service and know that in me you will find a friend should you ever need it. But tonight, at sunset, Hugo and I are going to track down these goblins and see why they're here and why the guards are so afraid of them. I would be honored if any of you would wish to join us in this endeavor. Meet us at this table at sunset if you do. Just remember this: It took none of you any time or heartbreak to leave Seagull's Landing, so I assume none of you had anything worth fighting or living for back there. Maybe it's not much, but maybe making sure that the fate of the family we found last night isn't shared by anymore families if it can be helped."

Samantha sheathed her sword and walked out the bar door, with Hugo close behind. Talesian lost whatever appetite he'd had for the stew, as did the rest of the group, and one by one they each left the inn.

***

The summer wind blew through Cassandra's hair as she watched Moonlight chase insects in the field. She'd needed some space to think so she'd taken him to the outskirts of the village where she'd found an unused pasture to let the dog play in. Watching him jump and play made her smile.

"I have a question,"

Cassandra jumped at the sound of the voice. She turned to see Roland standing over her and the rock she was sitting on.

"I apologize. I did not mean to startle you, my dear." he said as he looked down at her.

"Why do people keep calling me that?" Cassandra asked as she looked up at him?

"Call you what?"

"Dear? Is it because my armor is brown?"

"Not at all," Roland said as he sat down beside her. His black hair fell around his face in straight lines. Cassandra was sure when they'd met it had been curly, but that was in the dark so she could've been mistaken...

"Dear is a term of endearment" he explained. "It's like when a man calls a woman his "dearest". It doesn't mean she's the most deer-like person he knows, it means that she is very dear to him."

"I see, so am I dear to you?"

Roland looked surprised again. "I mean... Well... It can also be a saying... " he stammered. "I mean we're not betrothed, but I don't hate you... Though I hardly know you..."

Cassandra laughed. She'd spent little time with the human yet she'd grown to like him. "I understand now. Thank you."

"How does a person who grew up in civilized society not understand what being called dear means?" he asked.

"It's simple, I didn't grow up in civilized society." she replied looking back at Moonlight.

"Ah, it makes sense then." he said.

"Where did you grow up?" she asked.

"Does it matter? The point is I'm here now. Samantha's right, everything I own is on my person. I have nowhere to go except not where I'm from."

Cassandra considered that for a while as she looked at him once again. He wore black leather armor, which on closer inspection she saw was not dyed but was cut from a leather that was naturally black. His matching hair came out from under his cap spilling over his almost porcelain face. His bright green eyes looked back at her with an almost unnatural beauty.

"What are you looking at?" he asked, beginning to look nervous.

"Nothing, sorry" she said. "You had a question."

"Yes. I did. How do you get your abilities?"

Now it was Cassandra's turn to look confused. "My abilities?"

"Yes, the way you control your familiar," he said gesturing towards Moonlight. "And the precision of your arrows. How do you get these abilities?"

"Um..." Cassandra said, thinking. "Well, I didn't use magic if that's what your asking. Moonlight is my companion. I've trained him, he's loyal to me because I have a way with animals. And I learned how to shoot my bow through practice."

He considered her for a moment before asking "So do you consider your abilities evil?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"Well I've seen you kill with them. You killed those goblins and wolves last night."

"They were going to kill us! It was either us or them! I wouldn't just outright kill someone!" she said indignantly.

"I didn't mean... What I meant was... How do you tell the difference between good and evil?"

Whatever Cassandra expected it certainly wasn't that.

"Well... For me... I would suppose... "She started, trying to understand the question. "It would depend on the person?"

"Please explain my de... Cassandra." Roland said.

"Well... Take my bow for example. I used it last night because I didn't want to die, and I didn't want anyone else to die either. I consider that reasonably good. I don't know about goblins... Maybe they needed to rob us so they could sell our stuff for food, or eat us because they were starving, I don't know. They weren't going to take the time to explain themselves so I didn't take the time to ask." she explained, feeling more comfortable with her answer. "But let's say that, right now, I took my bow and I killed you dead right here.

Roland lifted his eyebrow considering her again. "Do you really think you could get a shot off before I could get a spell?"

"Yes but that's besides the point." She said as he chuckled. "My point is I have no reason whatsoever to kill you. I could take your things and sell them and get some money off of them, but besides that you have done nothing since we met last night that has threatened me or anyone else. In my opinion you don't deserve to die, so if I or someone else killed you..."

"It would be evil." Roland finished.

"Yes." she said.

"Then what about leaving a people defenseless to a problem they don't know about? "

She laughed softly. "That would most definitely be evil."