Heroes of the Realm Chapter 5: Decisions Part 2

Gimini was not at all surprised when he walked into the tent that it was far bigger and more luxurious on the inside. He'd suspected it was why the idiot elf had insisted on staying in it rather than find a bed at the woodworkers house.

He quickly blended into the shadows near the door and took in the rooms splendor. The inside of the tent was a large hexagon with wooden floors. The middle had a sunken in sitting area for two, featuring two large leather chairs and a wood stove, though where the smoke went Gimini could only guess. On one side sat a modest but still comfortable looking bed and opposite a wash station.The roof arched into cathedral like ceilings over twelve feet above the wood floor, with pillars made from raw birch. The walls were made of intricately designed tapestries which colors shimmered in the torch light. Across from the doorway was an impressive desk where Talesian was busily writing in a large tome and muttering to himself, his pointed hat hanging on a coat rack behind him.

Gimini moved through the room silent as a shadow until he was standing beside the distracted wizard. He smiled to himself.

"What you writing there?" He asked in a loud but friendly voice.

Talesian jumped out of chair and let out a loud yelp. His quill blotted on the page as he landed on the floor and tried to recover the fractured remains of his dignity.

"What are you doing here? Are you going to rob me?!" the elf yelled, still too surprised to do anything useful.

"Maybe, I haven't decided yet." Gimini said conversationally.

"I'll report you!" said Talesian.

"Not if I kill you first." Gimini said as he shrugged.
Talesian stood up at that, his hand beginning to glow as it had earlier at lunch. "I'd like to see you try."

"Pfft, I wouldn't kill you in here," Gimini laughed. "This tent is the only thing of value you have, and I'd hate to have to clean your blood out of it."

"If you think that a peasant like you can understand the delicate magics it takes to build my sanctuary-"

"It's the top clasp on the door of the tent. when it's secure the interior is a normal small tent but when it's opened the interior becomes this obscenely decadent eyesore."

Talesian's jaw dropped, which made Gimini smile even more.

"I've seen magic items like this," Gimini continued. "It's a basic portable space concept, but of course yours is elven made, which means the quality and craftsmanship are top notch, so it would be quite valuable on the open market."

Talesian stood up straight, recovering the last of his composure. "So is this what you intend to do good sir? Steal my tent?"

"It would hardly be stealing," Gimini said. "I mean you are leaving anyway so you probably won't have any use of it."

"It would still be stealing weather I need it or not," the elf said.

"Though the part that confuses me," said Gimini ignoring the elf's logic. "Is why you would set this thing up in the middle of the day behind a perfectly serviceable tavern if you were just going to leave anyway. Seems like a lot of trouble."

"I... I hadn't found the right horse yet." Talesian said, uncertainty cracking his well practiced sneer.

"We're in a farming community Tal, the only thing they've got here are horses and produce."

"I haven't... Found one that meets my standards. A nobleman cannot be expected to ride a mere draft horse into a major city without-"

"Of course," interrupted Gimini "There is the possibility that you hadn't fully decided on leaving yet."

Talesian looked offended, a look that Gimini would've put good gold on was practiced as much as the rest of his facial expressions.

"Oh please," he said, righting the chair. "You may be an uptight magic user who thinks he's better than everyone else due to the sharpness of his ears, but I saw you yesterday against that ogre. You could've run away and nobody would've blamed you, but you stood there and fought it. I saw the look on your face too, you looked like a boy at his first time in the brothel. I bet you've never used magic against something that could actually hit you back. All those fancy spells you've got and all you've ever done is demonstrations for teachers and party tricks, but out here, away from everything, you actually get to do real magic. Dangerous, exciting, life-or-death magic. And while the snooty aristo inside you is already dreaming about your safe halls and piles of money, there's a spark in you that wants to see what else you can do, and what else is out here that you never knew about."

Talesian stuttered but no words came to him. He just stared at the gnome and tried to get anything coherent out.

"Yeah, I'll rob you, if you decide to take off I'll take this pretty tent and let you figure out your way home without it, but I don't think you will. I think that, come sunset, I'm going to see you inside that tavern, because for all your whining and prissy little problems, you are an adventurer."

***

Thayne sat on the edge of the fountain tuning his fiddle. Travel was not really good for such a delicate instrument but this little guy seemed to be holding up pretty well despite the action.

The sun was beginning to turn the sky red as it sunk into the west. The small group of children that had watched him for the last hour were starting to filter away as names were called to supper. None were brave enough to approach the half elf, and Thayne didn't mind. He was used to solitude. He liked it when he needed to think.

Bud walked through them and they scattered like leaves in the wind. He sat next to Thayne on the fountain and drew one of his massive dual axes. Silently he began to sharpen it with a whetstone produced from a pocket.

Of all the people he'd traveled with in the last day, even compared to the elf wizard, Bud intimidated Thayne most of all. Always shirtless, his muscles flexed with the simple action of sharpening, showcasing strength Thayne would never have. The half orc was a terrifying presence, as even sitting he was at least a head taller than Thayne.

"So you going?" Bud asked as though they had been talking for hours.

"Going?" Thayne replied, a slight squeak in his voice betraying his youth.

"Yeah, going. With that woman and the little bearded guy."

"You mean Hugo, the dwarf?" Thayne asked.

"Is that what he is? Huh." Bud shrugged.

Thayne wanted to ask if he'd really never seen a dwarf before but he shook the thought out of his head, choosing to focus on the question at hand. "I don't know."

"Hmph," said Bud.

"Are you going?" asked Thayne.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

Thayne realized he knew nothing about the half orc. Since they'd met yesterday he'd said very little about himself.

"I've always wanted to go on an adventure," Thayne said, barely realizing that he was talking. "I dreamed of being a legendary hero that the bards sing about, someone who slays monsters and saves the world."

"Then why not go?" asked Bud, the sparks flying from his blade.

"I... Well... This isn't how I imagined it." Thayne said. "I didn't know that they're would be so much resistance. I thought we'd ride into town, the villagers would tell us their plights or a king would send us on a quest, and off we'd go to slay a monster or rescue a damsel. But in the last day I've been arrested for killing a monster in a major city, slept in a home where the owners had died in just hours before, and was then accused again of killing said owners and stealing their property. That's hardly the stuff of a bard's tale."

Bud didn't say anything but kept sharpening his axe. The occasional spark flew onto the dusty road.

"What have you always wanted?" The bard asked.

Bud stopped sharpening and examined the blade. "I don't really know honestly. I just sort of go where the wind takes me."

"Have you always done that?"

"For as long as I can remember, all year and a half."

"Year and a- what?"

Bud smiled as he stood up. "There. Now you have an even better reason to stay: To find out my story."

***

The orange sky lit the tavern as though it had the stained glass of a great cathedral. Everything was colored an orange red as though the world had turned to liquid gold.

Samantha sat at the same table she and her companions had taken breakfast, her gear ready for the evening's excursions. Next to her sat Hugo drumming his fingers.

"Have you ever seen a dragon?" She asked.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Hugo, looking confused.

"A dragon, you know, one of those big fire-breathing lizard things. You ever seen one?"

"I did once," said Gimini as he trotted down the steps. "It was a whelpling. They kept it in a freak show I visited. Thing was inside a big ol' glass jar."

Samantha looked up at him. "No I mean an alive dragon, a big one breathing fire."

"That's actually a misconception," said Cassandra following Gimini down the stairs. "Only red dragons breathe fire. Other dragons breathe all sorts of things."

"Really?" said Samantha, genuinely surprised. "What else does a dragon breathe?"

"Depends on the color," said Roland as he walked into the door. "Black dragons spit poison I think, or it's acid."

"It's acid," said Talesian following behind Roland. "Blacks spit acid and greens spit poison."

"Are we talking about dragons?" asked Bud coming down the stairs. "I saw a white one freeze a killer whale before eating it."
"Wait so there's red, black, green and white. Any others?" Samantha asked counting off on her fingers.

The others looked around, waiting for someone to speak up. The group went silent as they considered what dragons were missing, as well as companions.

"Well," Samantha said. "Shall we get going?"

One by one they left the tavern and headed to the only logical spot to start looking for the goblins-the woodcutter's house where they had spent the night. Before they were out of sight of the tavern though, Samantha turned when she heard a voice.

"Wait for me!" yelled Thayne as he ran down the road. Fiddle in one hand and pack flying wildly in the other. The group stopped as the half elf caught up.

"Glad you decided to join us," said Samantha as they started marching on. "Do you know anything about dragons?"