Dev slowed down from a trot to a walk, after the first time his horse slipped on the road. He certainly had no intention of putting himself or his horse in danger of an accident. Still, his horse had a fast walking gate, and the cold air seemed to make the horse want to move briskly.
Dev was bundled up against the cold as well as he could, and still be safe from possible ambushes. He not only had to worry about road agents, but also the mage's guild, now. That was why he had left so early, to try to get a jump on any potential mage ambush.
Of course, he had taken the precaution of casting the spell to detect those around him for some distance, and so far it was all clear. He had a knit cap pulled down over his ears to protect them from the cold, and wore a pair of gloves. His cloak was pulled tight against the cold.
Still, his nose was cold, his fingertips were cold, his toes were cold. He would be glad when he got to the inn later in the day, he was going to sit by the fireplace and soak in heat!
By the time he got to the inn that afternoon, he was glad for the stop. Making a trip during the winter seemed even more foolish to him, now. He had met no one at all on the road that day.
The innkeeper was surprised to get someone coming from Taslon at all. His place did have a few local farmers, but travelers on the road were very rare during the winter months.
Dev was greeted with surprise, but welcome. Dev asked what the innkeeper had for dinner that evening, and was told he had rabbit and cabbage. Not exactly what he had become used to, but it would do.
Dev paid the innkeeper a little extra for grain for his horse and corn. He wanted to make sure his horse had the strength and stamina to make the trip in this cold. He still had weeks of travel to go.
For two weeks Dev traveled at a fairly brisk pace, sometimes pushing his horse along. He arrived at a King's inn and turned his horse over to the stable boy. He instructed the boy to feed and groom the horse well and to double the usual feed. He tipped the boy two copper pennies and went into the inn.
He pulled his amulet out and walked up to the innkeeper.
"I would like a room for the night and a good meal," Dev said, lightly touching his amulet.
The innkeeper looked at it then licked his lips nervously.
"A room and a meal will be six coppers," Dev was informed.
Dev was astonished. He knew that the innkeeper had recognized the amulet, yet he was trying to charge him. Dev looked at the man, then reached into his cloak pocket for his personal pouch. He pulled out six coppers and paid the man.
Dev put the amulet under his shirt and moved away from the innkeeper and walked over to a table by the back wall. He looked around the inn and noticed that there were four customers present.
He was about to dismiss them when he noticed something. All four were better dressed than the usual farmer. Another thing he noticed was that three of the four were armed with swords, which most farmers did not own or if they did, they left at home.
A cold chill raced down his spine as he realized that something was not right here. But if they were waiting for him, how did they get here before he did? Then it came to him. Carrier pigeons.
They could have been sent out from next large town to the west, letting these men wait for him here. Dev reviewed the spells he had memorized and felt ready if they tried anything. One of the men got up and got a refill of his ale, and moved to a slightly different location. They were definitely closing in on him.
Dev decided to put a stop to this. He readied his shield spell and stood and cast it at the same time.
"I don't like being bracketed. Obviously you people are here waiting for someone, and I can only assume that someone is me. Leave now, or I will take action to make you regret staying, if you live," Dev told the four men in a cold tone of voice.
"You can't threaten me..." one of the armed men started when the unarmed man threw a spell at Dev.
The spell shattered on Dev's shield and that seemed to motivate the other three men. They drew their swords and moved to towards Dev, keeping out of the way of the guy who had thrown the spell.
This told Dev that this had been a set up. They moved like a team who had done this before. Dev cast a smashing spell at the magic user and watched as he was forced backward and off his feet, but the guy was not out of it.
Even as the guy fell, he cast a spell that caused Dev's shield to flare brilliantly for a moment. Unfortunately for the attackers who had expected Dev's shield to go down, it hadn't. Dev had cast his rotating shield and the spell had settled evenly over the shield instead of bringing it down as planned.
Dev cast a spell of numbness at the closest armed guy and watched as the man dropped, unable to control his limbs. That left three men remaining. He cast a lighting bolt at another armed man and watched as he fell to the floor, dead. By this time the magic user was back on his feet and gestured at Dev.
Dev's shield shivered and seemed to crack. Dev cast another smashing spell at the magic user, and this time the man's shield failed. Dev watched as the magic user was thrown back, blood spurting from his mouth.
Dev turned to face the last man on his feet. The man looked a little wild around his eyes and slowly backed away.
"Stop and drop your sword," Dev commanded.
The man did as instructed.
"Who were these people and who are you?" Dev asked the terrified man.
What followed was an admission that they had been hired by the magic user to detain Dev either at the inn, or somewhere between the inn and Harghan, the town they were hired in.
"Was I to be killed?" Dev asked.
"No, just detained. The magic user, Pestry, told us to make sure you were secured. We were to guard you after he took care of you. He was sure he would be able to take you," the man stated, the terror on his face plain to see.
"Where were you supposed to take me after I was subdued?" Dev asked intently.
"To the guild hall in Harghan. After that, we would get the rest of our pay," the man responded.
"Well, you and your friend there are the only ones left alive. I suggest you wait till the spell wears off of your friend. Meanwhile, you can take the bodies out of the good innkeepers inn. A word of warning, if I see you or your friend again, I will kill you. DO YOU UNDER STAND?" Dev asked the man in a deadly voice.
Dev watched as the man took the bodies outside and then came to get his friend, who was still suffering from the effects of the numbing spell that Dev had used on him. The man looked fearfully at Dev, and then helped his friend out the door.
Dev turned to the innkeeper and asked him how much he knew about what was going to happen.
"They threatened me. The magician said if I tried to warn you, I would be killed. I had no choice. I did try to warn you though, by charging you when you knew you should have gotten free room and board, my lord," the innkeeper said, sweating a little as he placed the six coppers onto the bar.
"I understand. First, I am not a lord. I am Sir Devlin Cantor, and I do not hold you responsible their actions," Dev told the man, as he scooped up the coppers.
Shortly, the sound of horses heading down the road westward could be heard. It was fast coming on dark, and Dev knew the two live riders were in for a very cold ride. Somehow, Dev felt no compassion at all for them.
After eating a meal, Dev retired to his room and started reading his spell book for more powerful offensive spells. He found a couple that looked like they would do and he read them, committing them to his memory.
One spell he was impressed with was a spell designed to take down a shield with the first cast. One side effect was that it would leave the spell caster extremely tired for several minutes, but to be able to take down an enemies shield with one cast was worth it as far as Dev was concerned.
Dev frowned as he remembered using a similar spell against the wizard Jern some time ago. That spell had totally broken his shield and if it had not been for a protective amulet, Jern most likely would have been dead. So why had this magician's shield survived? Something, indeed, to ponder upon.
Harghan was a small town and Dev found himself a "guest" of the local Baron while complaints against him were investigated. The mage's guild had lodged a complaint against Dev with the local chief constable of murder, but when Dev had presented his parchment as envoy from the King, the local Baron had gotten involved.
At first the chief constable had been set to arrest Dev for murder, but when a well dressed, and well to do knight showed up, along with the parchments from the King... well, things changed a bit.
While a constable had been dispatched to the inn to get the innkeepers version of what had happened, Dev was invited to stay with the, Baron Notici, until resolution of the conflicting stories were resolved.
Dev had placed a counter complaint against the mage's guild for attempted kidnapping and murder of a King's special envoy and hiring thugs to commit murder. The mage's guild had not known about Dev being appointed a special envoy. That had come as a shock to them.
Attacking a King's envoy carried a stiff prison penalty or death, depending on the seriousness of the offense. Two deaths had resulted from the fight at the inn, and the constable had just ridden back from taking the innkeepers deposition. That had taken a day both ways for the constable.
The chief constable and the Baron listened to the report from the official sent to talk with the innkeeper. Both the chief constable and Baron looked grim by the time the constable finished his report.
"Sir Devlin, it appears that the local mage's guild has indeed violated the law, and I apologize for any inconvenience we may have inadvertently caused you. Chief constable, I charge you to arrest the local guild master of the mage's guild and hold him for questioning along with the two purported "witnesses" to the so called murders," Baron Notici said.
However, it was not going to be as easy as that. The local guild master was not to be found anywhere. Nor were the two "complainants" who had along with the local guild master leveled the original charges against Dev. They had apparently disappeared sometime within the last day.
The third morning of his stay in Harghan found Dev just riding out of that town after having a hearty breakfast provided by the Baron to send him on his way. Both Dev and the Baron had written reports relating what had happened, and messengers had been dispatched to the palace of the King. The Baron reported to the King, and Dev reported to the King and to Lord Benaldin.
It would be a long time before Dev heard anything from either Lord Benaldin or the King, though. He was weeks away from Taslon, and getting further away everyday. He was curious as to what the King would have to say about his envoy being attacked so blatantly, though. He felt the mage's guild was in for a hard time.
Dev considered some of the magic means to communicate over long distances. For example, he knew there was a device at Arnu, Westford, Taslon and another at Holmdon, which allowed the King's wizard to communicate with those far distant places instantly.
Such small towns such as Harghan did not have these rare devices, and had to rely on messengers or carrier pigeons. From what Dev understood, the communication devices were old, and their making lost in the past.
Days turned yet into more weeks, and Dev finally rode into Westford. He was almost to where he needed to go. He remembered his first time marching into Westford, just a little over a year ago had it been? He was amazed at how time seemed to fly.
He decided to stay at a first class inn, and found one that suited his mood. He needed to find out who here in the city had knowledge of the elves and who the original investigating officer was.
First though, he wanted to clean up from the trip, have his clothing cleaned, take a hot bath, trim his hair and beard, and eat something besides what could be found in country inns. He found all this at the Griffin Inn.
This inn serviced the landed, gentry, and local lords. It had hot baths in the back portion of the first floor. The inn also provided cleaning services for clothing, boots, weapons, just about anything you wanted cleaned.
Dev made use of all the services provided by the inn, including a barber. While he was soaking in a hot tub, his clothing had already been taken to be washed. After being washed, they were wrung as dry as possible, then a hot iron applied to them to finish drying them and getting rid of wrinkles, giving Dev clean clothes to get back into.
Dev felt much better after soaking in a hot tub of water. The room was kept warm with a roaring fire in a fireplace, and steam filled the air. When his clothing was ready, Dev got out of the tub, dried off and redressed in his newly cleaned clothes.
He then went to the dining room, and was surprised to find he could order one of several meals. He chose the duck. A portion of duck arrived on a platter with potatoes, peas, and carrots. He ate everything, and washed it down with a fine ale.
By this time, it was getting late in the day, and Dev decided to present himself to Duke Foxmire in the morning. Tonight, he planned on getting a good night's sleep in a feather bed!
Edited by TeNderLoin
Volentrin