Perilous Jaunt Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Dante
The hooves of our tamed horses crunched the fresh green grass beneath us as we finally returned to flat land once again.
After a day and a half of riding through the Fanged Peaks, I was relieved to be out of the mountains and free of the frosted nights that clawed at my body with their icy talons while I slept. Our timely traveling speed was undoubtedly due to the ten knights that Queen Santel had generously sent to guide us. Because of them, we were not only able to travel on horseback, but also travel on the main road without fear of fighting more Talth. We didn't see any of the wretched mercenaries, but, if they had seen us, I was certain that the sight of Queen Santel's knights sent terror into every single one of their black hearts.
Yet, despite leaving the Iron Pass nearly two days ago, I still reeked of Queen Santel and of our lustful night together. It was remarkable that nobody mentioned the smell to me. And, every time I caught a whiff of Queen Santel's scent coming from my fur, grief plagued my conscience. It wasn't the fact that I had lain with her that was deeply troubling. Certainly not. The Queen's breasts were perfect and just ached to be touched. When her nimble fingers explored my body, I was as giddy as drunken fool. And, when she wrapped her legs around me as I entered her, I felt content, knowing that I was delivering her great physical joy. She was the kind of woman most men would relinquish a few fingers to have and I highly enjoyed my time with her. What truly troubled me was the fact that she mentioned my father. I was filled with disgust at how she said I looked identical to him. Didn't she realize I was reminded of that every time I saw my reflection inside a gurgling stream? I wanted nothing to do with him, which was why I ran away from Ernal in the first place. Yet, through some kind of cruelty, the world continued to remind me of my father by cursing me with his likeness. Queen Santel's mention of him only revived the memories of many nights I was dealt bruises and welts on my arms, legs and accursed face. These returning memories made me feel as though my organs had vanished and left behind a void of nothing. Sleep didn't seem like it could come fast enough at night and food held so little comfort anymore that I only finished half of all my meals. What was wrong with me? I had left that man and my equally despicable mother years ago. Why did it still pain me to remember them? Despite my attempts to answer my questions, the hollowness inside me remained and the days seemed to drag on into what felt like never-ending years while we had traveled through the Fanged Peaks.
"Is that Ansil?" Peter asked, as our tamed horse awkwardly stepped over a grassy knoll, causing Peter's back to gently bump against my chest. He wanted to ride with me for some odd reason or another when we were leaving the Iron Pass. I couldn't conjure up a good excuse to not allow him to ride with me, so I granted his request. The knights didn't protest, of course. For them, it meant one less tamed horse to feed.
Not a single tree was in sight along the rich green moors that were just up ahead. There was only the pure emerald grass beneath us, the blue sky that kissed the horizon and Ansil, whose walls stood ready to meet us three miles down the road.
"Yes," I told him and stared at the City, its wonder already being diminished by the calm storm of misery inside of me.
"And that's where Pan's sister is?" the prince pressed.
"Uh-huh,"
"Are you sure you need to buy more bullets?"
"Yeah,"
Out of the bottom of my vision, I noticed the otter's ears flick. "Dante?"
"Yes?"
"Are you okay?" Peter asked in a tone that was dripping with concern.
Immediately, I tried to make my voice more enthusiastic in order to deter him from continuing to ask more questions. "Of course!"
"You seem different," the prince said.
"I'm fine," I lied and gave him a good fake laugh. "I'm just not used to sleeping in the snow,"
"Are you sure? If it's something else, we can talk about-"
"There's nothing wrong, Peter," I cut him off, trying not to allow my anger to reveal itself. "If there was, I would tell you,"
Finally, he dropped the topic. "Okay. I just thought... You look sad now,"
The sound of our horse's hooves filled a brief pause in our conversation. "I'm just worried about Capres catching up to us," I told him. It was another lie, but at least it was a believable one.
"Oh," Peter gasped, obviously believing the story I had fabricated on the spot. "I'm sure we'll be fine. After all, the good guys make it to the end of every story, right?"
I sighed deeply. I then attempted to act as though I cared about what we were discussing and as if my body didn't feel like an empty vessel. "Not always. Sometimes, a good person has to die for the rest of the world to be saved,"
Silence then fell between us and it remained that way while we moved towards the City. For that, I was incredibly grateful.
"Halt," ordered the knight named Sir Devon, who rode ahead of us with Esme and the rest of his comrades.
Everyone tugged on their tamed horses' reigns, pulling our convoy to a stop.
Devon, who was a stallion and unable to wear a helmet because of his long snout, turned his steed around to face me. "This is where we must leave you. Queen's orders,"
"Of course," I answered and slid off my horse. Then, I turned around and reached upwards to gently lift Peter onto the ground.
Esme leapt from her horse and slammed onto the grass with her boots. She gave Devon a casual salute with a limp hand and a warm smile. "Nice ridin' with you, Devon!"
Devon smiled. "It was nice riding with you too, Esme. If you ever visit again, I'd like to take you up and that drinking game you were talking about. What was it called again?"
"Drunken Dragon," Esme reminded the stallion, kindly. "And I've never lost a single game,"
"Well, we'll have to change that, won't we?" Devon said and smiled. He then turned his attention towards me. "It's been a pleasure,"
I flashed him a smile to show my appreciation, even though smiling was the last thing I felt like doing. "It has. Thank you for escorting us. I'm glad you and your men were around to keep us safe from the Talth,"
"Talth," Devon scowled and spat out some snot onto the grass. "They give rat shit a bad name, preying on the weak and raping little girls in the woods. What I wouldn't give to just wipe them all out,"
"I think most people would agree with you," I said, hoping that the stallion would take his men and leave already.
"I can't believe they're even still around," Devon kept talking.
Go away. "Kill a few Talth for me the next time you see some," I told him with a fake smirk.
Devon laughed. "I will, but only if you kill some for me,"
"With pleasure," I answered him.
Devon smiled. "Good," He then slightly turned around in his saddle to look at his men. "Timothy. Donavon. You two are in charge of bringing their horses back,"
With that, the knights turned and traveled through the pass that we had just came through, leaving the fresh grass behind them and returning to the familiar cold of the snowy mountains.
"Okay," I said and turned to look down at Peter, who was still watching the knights leave. "Let's go,"
The otter blinked and he turned to look at me with his pale face. "All right,"
"Hold out your hands," I ordered and bent down, removing my knapsack from my back and beginning to dig for the rope inside.
"You wanna tie my hands?" Peter asked.
I shot him a look and then pulled out the rope from my knapsack. "Of course. You ran off after we first met, remember? That's why I've been tying you up this whole time,"
"No, I remember," the otter said, not holding out his hands towards me. "But we're heading into the City. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves,"
I blinked and remembered that we were going into Ansil. My tail ducked between my legs in embarrassment and I stared at the rugged rope that felt dry in my hands. "Sorry. My mind just blanked out, I guess,"
"It's fine," Peter told me, as I shoved the rope back into my knapsack, which I then tied shut and threw over onto my back again. "Are you sure you're okay, Dante?"
Fortunately, Esme came to my rescue and patted me on the shoulder. "He's still tired from giving it to the queen all night long,"
"Yeah," I smiled and tried to pretend as though there wasn't a pit of dread ripping at the insides of my stomach. "She rode me pretty hard,"
"I bet she did!" Esme laughed and withdrew her arm.
Peter continued to stare at me with his brown eyes that were filled with concern. However, he did not speak.
When we were nearly at Ansil's gates, it was only an hour past noon, which allowed us plenty of time to walk to Rhona's shop and venture a few miles away from the City.
Ansil was probably the most beautiful City in all of Alpis. While Lowpive did have the breathtaking blue sea beside it, its stonework lacked in comparison to Ansil's. Every stone on the City's wall was light maroon and reflected sunlight just enough to make its color visible from miles away, mostly because it was surrounded by nothing but moors of green grass. Above the City, stone gryphons perched on towers and along the City wall, their feathers so detailed that any careless eye could mistake them as real, despite the fact that they were the same color as the maroon bricks.
As we passed through the front gate, which was defended by three guards, Peter asked me, "Why are their white dots in the wall?"
I glanced to my right, towards the bricks that were close to me. Unmistakably, there were tiny pale specks inside them. "It's salt,"
"Salt?" Peter asked. "Why the hell would they put salt in the bricks?"
"To keep magic users out of the City," I answered.
"I thought all of them were dead," Esme said.
"Well," I explained, trying to recall what I had read in the book I found on Queen Santel's desk, "the robberies stopped, but there's still a good chance that some of them are still alive,"
"Wait," Peter said. "I thought the Scouring happened over a century ago. Didn't the Yurl's only move here after the Yurl War? Why bother putting salt in your walls after the Scouring was over?"
"From what I understand," I continued to elaborate, trying to recall whatever else I had read in history books, "most of the issues with witches and warlocks happened here between the Fanged Peaks and Owl's Overwatch. When the Yurl's moved here, I'm sure King Yurl decided to take the precaution, just in case there were more of magic users lurking around,"
Peter and Esme remained silent from then on as we began to fight our way through the swarms of people, whose aromas overtook my nose, making it useless to detect anything other than the various species that surrounded me.
Luckily, it only took us twenty minutes to arrive at Rhona's shop. Much like Pan's shop, Rhona's was identical to the houses surrounding it, aside from being windowless that is. Even its door, when I pushed it open, was heavier than it appeared. It probably has lead in it, just like Pan's.
_ _ Once all three of us where inside, I noticed that there were two tables in front of us, one to our right and one to our left. The one on the right seated four men, all talking and drinking a dark liquid. The table on the left, however, sat only two men, who were much more discreet with their conversation. All wore the hoods on their cloaks and kept their heads down in order to keep their faces from being seen. They didn't even turn to look at us as we shut the door and passed them to make our way to the counter, which was in front of a door and a six-and-a-half-foot tall red fox with a flat chest, whose brown eyes made daggers seem as dull as mud.
"Hello, Rhona," I greeted the shopkeeper.
"Dante," Rhona acknowledged my presence with a smile-less face. Unlike her brother, Rhona liked to dress in neutral colors and wore no jewelry. In fact, her tunic and trousers were a bland brown that managed to have less pleasantness than her.
"So," I asked, curiously, "were the hired mercenaries your idea or your brother's?"
The fox crossed her arms. "Pan's. It was one of the few ideas he's ever had that didn't involve cock,"
"And the door?" I asked.
"His idea, too," Rhona said. "He mentioned it in the same letter he sent me about hiring mercenaries,"
"You actually read his letters?" Esme questioned the unusually tall fox.
Rhona sighed. "Usually, he only writes me once a month, but, if I don't write back, he sends me more letters. He tends to ramble on about how he's doing and how much shit Capres' knights give him. In last letter I got, he said he plans on moving south somewhere, but still wants to make a little more money before he does. Personally, I think he likes pissing off Capres' men too much to ever leave,"
"I'll say," Peter chimed in. "He killed five of them when we were in his store,"
Rhona shrugged. "That's the one thing I don't hate about him. He actually gets things done, even if they involve violence,"
"Speaking of violence," Esme said, "how come you only have six guys guarding your place?"
"I only make enough money to pay for six," Rhona explained. "Tynas has a lot more rich lords than Ansil. But, there's less crime here, so I don't need as much protection as my brother,"
"I've always told you," I said, with a smile to prove that I was jesting, "that you would have a lot more money if you married someone rich,"
"Yeah," Rhona scoffed. "The giant shopkeeper of illegal goods and her normal-sized prince. That could happen,"
"Single ladies. Woo!" Esme cheered and held a fist over the counter towards Rhona with a smile.
The vixen stared at Esme's fist and, after a moment, unenthusiastically bumped it with her own. "It's always nice to see you, Esme,"
Esme withdrew back her fist. "You, too,"
"So," I said, "do you have any bullets for me, Rhona?"
Rhona's attention shifted from Esme to me. "Of course. How many do you need?"
"Fifteen will be fine," I said.
Without a word, Rhona slipped through the door to her right and disappeared into the back of the store. She then returned a moment later with a leather pouch that was about the size of my fist, dropping it on the counter.
"That'll be fifty gold," she informed me.
I took off my knapsack and opened it, searching for my purse. "Why are your bullets more expensive than the last time I was here?"
"My business partner got into some trouble and found himself hanging from the branch of a tree by some rope," Rhona explained. "This new guy I'm dealing with now has a higher interest rate, so I had to raise prices,"
"Oh, well. I guess that's just how the world works," I sighed and opened my purse. I then began to place gold coins onto the counter one-by-one as I vigilantly counted them.
"Yep," Rhona agreed with very little care. "Hey, I heard you've been having some trouble with the Talth,"
"Where did you hear that?" I asked, as I pulled out the twelfth coin from my purse.
"I've seen some wanted posters hanging around town," Rhona said. "They say you, Esme and some otter are worth nine hundred gold,"
"Damn," I swore. "There's going to be more people looking for us now,"
"Why did it go up?" Peter wondered.
"Because you killed some Talth inside a church," Rhona clarified.
"What?" I asked, fearfully, as I stopped counting my gold to look up at Rhona.
"That's what the poster say," Rhona told me with an unenthusiastic shrug. "I knew it was total horseshit, though. I know you're not the churchgoer type,"
"We didn't kill them inside the church!" I said with my voice slightly raised. "We killed them in front of it!"
"No need to convince me," Rhona said with less personality than a cold fish. "I'm not going to turn in one of my most loyal customers,"
"Fuck," I cursed and tightly squeezed the gold coin in my hand.
"Dante," Esme spoke with a soothing tone, "we'll just stick to our original plan. Keep off the road and don't stop at any more Capitals. We'll be fine,"
I took a deep sigh and continued to count my gold, placing it on the counter. "We just can't catch a break,"
"We've been lucky so far," Peter pointed out. "Once we're over Owl's Overwatch, the Talth will leave us alone,"
"Not exactly," Rhona said. "You'll be away from Osric and the Talth he commands. But, once you're in the South, you'll still have to deal with Derek and his men,"
Peter grew quiet, remembering that the Talth were spread across all of Alpis, not just in the North.
"Are you the otter the poster's mentioned?" Rhona asked Peter.
"Oh, yes," Peter answered her. "I'm wearing some makeup we got from your brother,"
"Smart," Rhona commented with a slight hint of admiration.
"My name's Peter, by the way," the prince added.
A moment of silence passed and Rhona slowly turned her head to look at me. She then spoke in a cruel whisper. "You're traveling with Peter Gannish?"
I continued to count my gold, unable to understand her concern. "Traveling? No. Returning would be a more accurate word,"
"Dante," Rhona snapped at me, "take my advice. Ditch this kid and hide somewhere for a while. It's bad enough having the Talth hunting you, but walking around with King Gannish's son is suicide! Do you know what would happen if people here learned you were protecting the son of King Gannish, the same king who taxes the Northern people out of their homes and onto the streets?"
"He's not the only king who taxes the North," I reminded her, sliding the pile of fifty gold coins across the table. "Yeah," Rhona agreed, sullenly, "but he was the one who came up with the idea in the first place!"
"I'm not turning back now!" I said. "And it's not like I could just abandon him. He doesn't know how to fight or hunt. He doesn't even have a map to guide him home! How long do you think he would last out there by himself?"
Rhona gave me a hard stare, but then sighed and started counting the coins I had given her. "Fine. Get you head cut off just for some gold,"
I didn't respond.
After she was done counting, Rhona swiped the coins off the counter and into her hand. She then squatted down and put the gold somewhere beneath the counter.
I then took the bullet pouch from the counter and tossed it into my knapsack along with my purse, just before putting my knapsack back on. "Nice seeing you again, Rhona,"
"Nice to see you as well, Dante," Rhona said with no emotion whatsoever as I turned and made my way towards the door, Esme and Peter walking closely behind me. "It's a shame this will probably be the last time,"