Heart of Dorkness

Scourge Five - Tourists

“And when is it leaving?” I ask again, just to make sure.

“At two hours before mid-day, on the tenth bell,” the man behind the counter says.

Arranging for a carriage to join a convoy is a lot more painless than I’d assumed it would be; It’s a lot more expensive too, and I can tell that Felix is cringing next to me for every gold coin added. Mostly those are a joining fee, a fee for supplies along the way, travel insurance (which mostly means that if our carriage breaks down, the entire convoy will stop to help instead of leaving us on the side of the roads to meet the local wildlife) and of course the biggest fee is the shared cost of hiring guards for the trip.

The convoy leaving tomorrow is supposed to be relatively large, but it will split in half along the way, some of it going to the capital and the rest veering off towards Algecante, which is a big city to the south.

“Is that everything?” I ask as I finish signing on the dotted line of a contract.

“That is, indeed, everything,” the merchant says. “The Navarra Merchant’s Consortium always welcomes customers with open arms, old and new.”

I nod. I don’t know how welcoming he’d be if I wasn’t flashing so much gold around. The fact that we’re using an important family’s carriage might also be helping our reception. “Whelp, if that’s all, we’ll be off. See you tomorrow, sir,” I say.

Bianca, Felix and I exit the building, with Bianca holding the door open for us on our way out.

“You don’t need to be all subservient, you know,” I say as I walk next to her. We don’t make it far that Bianca pauses.

“Pardon?”

“I mean, I appreciate you helping, but I’d much rather we be friends than having you be all stiff and formal and all that,” I say. Felix and I are great friends, and our relationships aren’t like that. Esme is a lot more formal than I am, but she’s not formal towards me, she’s a friend.

“Forgive me, Lady Valeria, but it isn’t in my nature to simply ignore etiquette, nor would it be appropriate to do so.”

“Ah, but I’m asking you to, so doesn’t that mean that now you’re etiquettely obligated to not worry so much about etiquette?” I ask.

Bianca shakes her head, there’s no real change in her expression either. “No. I’m afraid that’s not how it works. I can act less formally, if you truly wish it, but... but etiquette is a form of protection, for both sides of the conversation. Once it is lost, it can be hard to rebuild.”

“Uh, Val,” Felix says.

I turn towards her. She’s staring off into the middle distance, eyes half-lidded, which means that she’s mostly using her Joy magic to see things. “What’s wrong?” I ask.

“There’s a fight starting over there,” she says, a thumb flick towards the gate pointing the way.

Bianca and I both focus on the south gate, where there is something of a kerfuffle going down. A group of what I guess are the city guards are standing around, staring at another group who are quickly arming up.

The guards are easier to recognize: they have these tabards over some thick padded gambesons, with wide belts around their waist onto which a cudgel is attached. Most are carrying short spears too, with a flag attached to the end right under the point. Vizeda’s symbol is on both their tabards and the flags, a caricature of a lighthouse, with some flowers embroidered under it.

The other group isn’t nearly as uniform. They have mis-matched armour, and no two of them seem to carry exactly the same weapons. There are plenty of polearms, and some swords both fancy and more brutal-looking. One big guy even has a heavy axe that he’s lugging around. It’s this group that seems to be rallying.

Or maybe rallying is too generous a term. They’re mostly clumping together in circles that often break apart as a younger member goes running off, either towards one of the buildings around the gate area, or deeper into the city. There’s certainly a lot of urgency there.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“I would presume, from context and previously overheard discussions, that a group of caravan guards were assaulted,” Bianca says. “It’s possible that this second group intends to sally forth to rescue them.”

“Huh,” I say.

“We probably shouldn’t interfere,” Bianca says.

“Yeah, alright,” I agree. We’re supposed to be a bit subtle about things, and meddling in what’s obviously some sort of... situation, isn’t subtle at all. Esme would be tugging me away by now if she were here.

“That’s going to be trouble,” Felix says.

“Maybe our caravan tomorrow won’t be guarded as well, but it’s hardly like we need to worry about monster attacks,” I say.

Bianca nods. “That’s true, Lady Valeria. Though I must caution you that there are bandits to worry about as well.”

“We can take a few bandits,” I say. I raise my arm and squeeze my bicep. It’s not big or anything, but it’s hardly flabby. “See, we’re tough.”

“Yes, very,” Bianca says.

I can’t tell if she’s being sarcastic or not, her delivery is so flat.

“So, food?” Felix asks.

I roll my eyes. “Really? There’s all sorts of drama happening right over there and you only want more food?” I ask.

Felix shrugs. “They probably have sweets and things here.”

“Oh,” I say.

Sweets would be nice. Mom keeps insisting that we eat well, which mostly means big, healthy meals every day. That also means a distinct lack of sweets and pastries and things like cookies.

“Okay, new plan. We sneak out of the city, find a place where I can communicate with my little friends and make sure that we have all that set up, then we find the nearest place that’s open with pastries and stuff and we buy a bit of everything.”

“We should go to the pastry place first,” Felix says. “In case they close early.”

I hum and rub my chin as I consider it.

“Are we truly planning to prioritize pastries over carrying out what is ostensibly an important task?” Bianca asks.

“Well, important tasks are important, but cookies,” I say.

“Cookies,” Felix agrees.

“Lady Valeria, would it be improper of me to inquire about your age?” Bianca asks.

I feel some blood rushing to my cheeks. “I’m sixteen... ish.”

“Ish.”

“Well, I don’t exactly celebrate my birthday every year,” I say. Birthdays are disappointingly not a big deal to Mom and others.

“She’s also short, so she might be younger.”

“I am not short,” I say. “I’m still growing at a respectable rate. I’m sure I’ll be just as tall as Mom one day.”

“Your Mom is beyond tall,” Felix says. “I don’t think you’ll ever be that tall.”

“Your honesty hurts,” I whine. “Come on, Bianca’s probably right, we should do the important things before getting snacks. Are you okay with that?”

Felix turns my way, and she purposefully meets my eyes. “You know I’m always okay with whatever you want to do,” she says.

I huff and turn away, the hood of my cloak hiding the renewed blush. Felix can be so silly sometimes, I swear. “Let’s just find an exit from the city, something near the shore. It can’t be too hard, right?”

“There should be an eastern gate,” Bianca says. She eyes me strangely before folding her hands over her tummy. “I believe it is mostly used for cattle and farmers, but we should be able to exit the city without any issue.”

I nod, and then gesture ahead. “Lead on, please.”

Bianca takes the lead, though I do walk next to her because it would be rude not to. Felix takes the rear, following along with a content smile on and her arms folded behind her head again. We probably look pretty strange, two cloaked figures next to Bianca, who looks like a proper lady in her dress.

We’re not too far from the south gate when I hear a commotion out ahead. I feel my heart beat faster as a troop of guards comes around the corner, maybe a dozen of them in all, with swords and shields and spears.

The electric tingle of adrenaline leaves me with a sigh when the guards don’t try to stop us, but instead rush on by.

“That’s definitely trouble,” Felix says.

“Maybe there’s just a change of guard?” I speculate. It’s possible.

“It’s the right time of day for it,” Bianca says. “Though the urgency isn’t normal.”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” I say.

Then, of course, a bell starts to ring, constant tolls that echo out across the city.

“I don’t suppose that’s the noon bell,” I say.

“No, that’s an alarm bell,” Bianca says. “There should be a second bell.”

She’s right, a second bell starts to ring a moment later, much higher in pitch and louder. It stops after two rings though.

“Monsters,” Bianca says. “That’s the alarm for a monster attack.”

“Oh, shoot.”

***