Nathanriel's Fate: Chapter 4

Story by MigeYeFoxe on SoFurry

, , , ,

#4 of Nathanriel's Fate

I don't know about anyone else, but if I had been running around in the filth of that fighting pit I would be wanting a bath as well. And we'll get more into it later but the Merchant's Guild actually plays a bit larger role in the rewrite. In the original they were there and controlled everything but that's all they ever did. They were mostly neutral. Not so much anymore.


Nathanriel's head turns a few more minutes later as he can hear something in the distance to the side and once recognizing it decides quite conclusively that he was going there.

"Do you guys hear that? I think I can hear a river nearby."

"Water would be a good thing to have at this moment," Bob reaffirms.

The source of the water turns out to be little more than a creek. There was certainly running water but the water level at even the deepest part of it didn't even make it all the way to Nathanriel's ankles. But it is definitely enough for their needs. Nathanriel and Bob practically dunk their heads into the water and take long drinks of the water. Angylia isn't as messy about getting water as the other two, instead choosing to kneel at the edge and use her hands as a cup. Once he had had his fill Nathanriel filled up his canteen he'd picked up at the armory before taking his armor off, placing it on the grass nearby and returning to the water.

"What are you doing?" Angylia asks.

"I don't know about you but while I have the means to I'm going to at least try to clean myself off. You have no idea how uncomfortable it can be to be wearing armor when your fur is so caked with dirt and mud that you start wondering if it's pulling it out rather than move the mud around."

"Good idea," Bob comments before doing similar and joining Nathanriel in the water.

It certainly takes a while but he is able to start to work the mud out, though it is still somewhat painful at first. He is amused slightly watching the stream of brown coming from the two of them After a few more minutes he's able to finally see some of his actual fur color show through all the muck and after another while he's back to looking like his old self again, if a little bit drenched to the bone. Bob is in much the same situation the fur on his body turns out to be a far more vibrant display of blue than he had originally thought. Finally done he shakes as much of the water off him as possible before heading back to Angylia, definitely wishing he had access to a brush to put his fur back in line properly or at the very least a good towel to help dry himself but he'd have to simply make do with what he has.

"Great, now I'll have to deal with the two of you stinking up the place with the stench of wet fur."

"Oh, I could probably take care of that," Bob answer as he reaches the two of them. "I haven't had to drain my magic so far so I should be able to conjure up enough of a strong warm wind to have us dry in no time."

"Sure, why not," Angylia shrugs.

Bob flexes his arms and closes his eyes, concentrating as hard as he can. A soft green light begins to envelop his hands as he begins to press them together, falling to his knees as well as if about to pray. As the light continues over his hands the wind around them suddenly starts to pick up, blowing harder and harder. Nathanriel turns to try and see what it is that the wind is coming from but sees nothing. A small sliver of red begins to work its way into the green light and the wind grows much hotter, feeling as if it is at least gotten thirty degrees warmer. The wind moves this way and that, almost blowing them around. But after a moment or two more it dies down and Nathanriel does admit to feeling a lot drier than he had before the spell. Bob stands up again, panting slightly and looks over the effect of his spell.

"How'd I do?" he asks, sounding somewhat proud of himself.

"It'll do. Can we get out of here and get to the town now? I still don't feel comfortable being in this forest since we still don't know who fired that arrow," Angylia complains and starts walking off, leaving the two of them to grab their armor and run to catch up.

The town happens to be a lot closer to their prison than Nathanriel would have guessed, especially since he was captured well out in the middle of nowhere. Angylia explains that they actually have a lot of traps set up throughout the entire country and all captured demons made their way to that place but since the main source of its income is from gambling it didn't work to have it too far away from civilization. Not to mention that by being only an hour away by horse they'd be able to get supplies or reinforcements before things got too out of hand. It's just that they were completely unprepared for having to deal with two demons of that caliber tearing through that place.

As far as towns go it is fairly modest. It isn't nearly as big as many of the larger cities but it does seem to be a hub for the area, apparently complete with its own wall surrounding the entire exterior which is common for almost all towns of any size in this area. Oddly enough, the guards at the wide-open gates do not so much as turn to regard them as they approach, nor ask any questions as they enter, as if both gate and guard are more for show than protection.

"So where do we go first?" Nathanriel asks as he watches the townsfolk, using them as a guide for how on guard he should be while in this town. There does seem to be open contempt towards them, but none of them seem about to attack. Which is a good sign for it means that though this human town will try to screw them over whenever possible they won't try to kill them, theoretically at any rate.

"Well first thing we should do is find a Merchant Guild owned Inn. That'll have the best chance of being given a room at a decent enough price that we could actually afford it on what little Bob and I likely scrounged up working our positions at the pit. After that but I don't know about you two but I could do with a nice hot shower and a good long sleep. I haven't had to drain my magic like that and it has left me rather exhausted."

Finding the Inn isn't as hard as Nathanriel was expecting. Most of the buildings are not marked in any way beyond a number. Most of those that do have signs are written in a human language Nathanriel cannot read. There are a few buildings, however, that have signs printed in both the human language and in the Merchant Guild's common language, which he can read. Supposing that the ones written in Common are affiliated with the guild, finding the Inn is a simple matter of reading the store signs until he can find one that he can read that looks like it is designed to hold people overnight. The one they find seems to be called 'The Horned Helmet.' It is a fairly large building considering the size of the town but then Nathanriel supposed it would deal with a lot of traffic during those times that they were doing major pit fights.

When entering a human female in a simple dress moves from behind the counter to greet them, at first using words Nathanriel couldn't understand before switching to common.

"Welcome, travelers. We don't get many demons in this area. What brings you to our lovely town?"

"We're just passing through," Angylia answers for them. "Don't worry about these two, they're just my bodyguards. They won't get into any trouble."

Nathanriel's about to protest at being dismissed in such a manner but then he remembers that Angylia does look human enough even if she isn't and thus they all might be treated more accommodating if they played the part of some human noble girl being escorted by a couple of armed demon bodyguards.

"I assume then that you'll want a room for the night then?" the woman asks.

"Yes please. A single room will suffice. Though I would like to have a bath drawn if at all possible."

"That won't be any problem. There are several bath rooms in this building, each one with working plumbing and heating, though you'll have to prepare it yourself. It is considered complimentary to those who stay here," She heads back to the counter and pulls out a book and begins flipping through the pages. "Now unfortunately with your two companions I'm going to have to put you in the demon wing. Is that all right? Good, a room will be fifteen gold."

Angylia frowns somewhat as she checks with Bob on the matter. Having been stripped completely when he was captured and thus not having any money Nathanriel wonders at the price. Nathanriel has never really been all that rich in his life but he was still able to get up to having thirty gold to his name at one point. So it is certainly an amount that he can see people being able to afford but it does seem rather expensive. Far more than any normal person would be willing to spend just for one night. Which means either it is a very high quality resort catering mainly to the somewhat wealthy and mainly during the times that the pit is active, or there is some way to get enough of a discount that it becomes far more affordable. In either case Bob and Angylia seem to have almost just enough lesser gold coins to be able to afford it, though wouldn't have more than a gold or two's worth afterwards. But considering it probably isn't too safe out there for them to sleep outside and here they'd have the protection of the Merchant Guild behind them they pay anyway.

The room they seem to have been given is off in some back corner of the building but it does seem well kept enough, even if smaller and not as nice as Nathanriel would have expected for fifteen gold. But if they're only here for one day then it will do well enough for one safe place to sleep before trying to find a more permanent home. But what little money they have left wouldn't really be enough to ensure they can get to that next destination without needing to do a lot of living off the land, not to mention he still needs to go about trying to get some more Anrisil soon.

"Well while it's still daylight I think I'm going to go have a look around the town. See if I can find the Merchant Guild's store in this location and then see if I can get some work to do before we leave town."

"I'll go too," Bob adds. "If anything else I could use a bite to eat."

"Okay then, you two have fun, just make sure you don't get into any trouble. These are still human lands and even with the Guild here the laws are much harsher for demons and we have no means to get away even if it is just a fine."

"Don't worry," Nathanriel waves her off while heading back towards the door. "I just got out of one cell, I'm not going to do anything to give them a reason to put me into another one."

Though food does sound nice they would still need the money to buy said food, thus the Guild is still the best place to go to first. When he gets back to the main entrance Nathanriel asks the receptionist how to find the Guild. Then with these directions both he and Bob head back into town. Walking through the streets everyone gives them a wide berth, though some of the guards place their hands on their weapons but do not take any direct action towards them. The Merchant Guild's shop is pretty easy to find, given the size of both the building and the sign. The structure seems very reminiscent of a temple. Either it was built with this impression in mind as a show of extravagance or they had decided to take over what actually was a temple of some kind at one point. The interior of the building is almost more impressive with many lights all over the place, though whether powered by magic or electricity he cannot tell.