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THE UNINTENDED CURSE

Ch. 14

"All a-shore that's go'n a-shore." Cried a voice as a gangplank was lowered from the main deck of the ship and onto that of the dock. Many a man let out a happy cheer at that call and to which many of them grabbed up their rucksacks and disembarked from the ship and onto dry land. Though many of their business in port would differ from the other, all the men going ashore were happy to place their feet upon solid/un-swaying ground once more.

"I will have to say that it is a shame that you won't be return'n to sea with us." Said the captain as he held out his hand and I shook it.

"Thanks, but no thanks captain." I said to him as I shook his hand firmly and gave him a pleasant smile. "I have business pretty far inland and by the time that it's taken care of you'll probably be far out to sea." It was pretty much the truth, even though the captain was going to be staying in port until the winter storms out at sea had passed and the warmer weather would bring forth or start anew the fishing season as well as good sailing winds.

"What about you two lasses, surely I can talk ya into ship'n out with us upon the turning of the season." The captain asked as he turned and addressed the two elven sister that stood on either side of me.

The elder sister gave the captain a kind smile, but shook her head. "I must agree with our host. We too have business a great distance inland and probably won't be returning to sea for a great long while."

"That be'n a shame ta hears. Now I have to go and find me a new cook when we ship out again. Lord be a know'n that I can't hire back me old one, for that be too risky." This got us all to laugh a bit at the mental image of an evil smiling cook that stood over a crew of ship mates that were all pinning to use the privy. With smiles upon all our face we parted company from the ship and its captain, with hopes that maybe one day that we'd ship out together again someday.

"The first thing I believe we should do is find a nice place to settle into for the next day or so." I said aloud as we stepped off the ship and turned to head into the ports town. This got the younger sister to look up at me and scowl, which left little question that she was overly eager to get on the road to home. "That way we can try and get our land legs back, get stocked up with supplies for the long road ahead, and hopefully find some way of getting out to where your forest home is." With the plan laid out and one to which the younger sister seemed to approve of; as she lost the scowl she was aiming at me, both sisters nodded in agreement to the plan for the rest of the day.

An hour later found our group sitting within a pub and discussing many a finer detail about how to go about acquiring everything needed for the trip ahead. "I still say that we should find a wagon and have the driver take us as close as possible to the wood." The younger complained as she leaned back in her seat, crossed her arms in front of her, and put on an upset/pouty face.

"And I told you why we can't do that." The elder sister said, trying to reason with the stubborn/unmoving younger sister. "It is elven law that none are permitted to know the whereabouts of our homeland." It was then that she saw her younger sister sit up and open her mouth, but the elder sister simply held up a hand and shook her head. "I know what you are about to say and our host is an exception. He really is not a person at all by our people's definition and to that; has some legitimate business with some of the elders." That seemed to quell any more retorts from the younger sister and to that I couldn't help but smile over my mug of ail at how frustrated she looked at not having her way.

Later that afternoon found the three of us in a room I'd paid/rented from the public house owner for the night above the pub and the younger complaining once again. "I still say that his room isn't suited for us at all." She walked about the room, pointing out that the bed was too small for us to sleep on, drafty even with the windows fully shuttered, and a few other things that she could nitpick at.

"And I told you that this is all I can afford with what modest/mere coin I have to spare at the moment, considering we still don't have the supplies we need to make the trek to your homeland and all." I sat down on the only chair in the room and sighed in defeat for a moment, before the elder sister came over and knelt before me.

"How are your wounds? Is everything holding up alright?" She asked in a bit of a concerned tone to which I noticed her looking intently at my shirt.

"So far, so good. I have to admit that I never imagined elven magic to work such wonders. Especially heal wounds inflicted upon a body from a blob monster." I lifted up the shirt of my host's body and exposed the nice tanned/pink 'healed' stomach that barely showed the faintest of scar lines across its/his girth. "To think that without it I'd probably have to...," a small shudder passed through me as I thought about sitting in one place for a long period of time while my host's body slowly/naturally healed itself.

"Then I am glad to have been of some assistance." The elder sister said with a bit of a smile, then turned and walked over to her younger sister to probably lecture her on gratitude for even this much. It was only a few minutes later that the elder sister had finally quieted her younger sister and to that allowed both the elder sister and I to talk about the next leg on our journey to get to their homeland. With our plans finally realized and our meager belongings stowed away in a chest that the girls placed a few, 'Anti-theft' spells upon, we agreed to head into the market and stock up on our supplies.

A few hours later found us back in the rented room, having purchased a week's worth of supplies, and a couple of horses that would hopefully take us all to the elves homeland. "Well, that's it for my earnings aboard the ship." I said as I upended my coin purse and allowed a small puff of dust to escape from within. "We'll probably have to do something down the road if we are to purchase any more supplies for the rest of the trek." With that said I threw the pouch onto the desk and slumped down into the room's solitary/only chair once more.

"I do not believe that that much will be a problem." The elder sister said as she tucked in her younger into the beds then came over to sit down at the end of the bed to look over at me with a tired smile. "If it is a problem of earning funds, then having two elves, not to mention to magic using sister elves, will be fairly easy on making something magical that you can sell."

I thought about that at some length and had to admit that she was probably right. "True, but you have to remember that it has to be something that won't draw to much attention to us and for that matter, something that can be made on the quick." To which the sister nodded to me and then turned to look over her shoulder at the now slumbering younger sister. It was at that moment that a strange thought occurred to me and I puzzled the thought for a moment before I voiced my question. "Just out of curiosity, why was it that you and your sister were captured?" Just by the way that the elder sister froze up at the question and seem to stay like that told me that it was probably a very unhappy or touchy subject. "I mean; was it just because of what you are, or was it for your magic?" This question; thankfully, seemed to relax her quite a bit and put her a bit at ease.

"A little of both I would imagine." She got up from the bed and stood before the window overlooking the bay/port. "For it may not be common knowledge amongst your kind, but being what we are is almost as valuable to some as our magic."

I got up from my chair, walked over to stand beside her, and placed a hand upon her opposite shoulder. "I didn't mean to bring up an unwanted memory. I'm just curious about you elves is all." I let out a slight laugh and smiled. "I mean, when I was human and all, I'd heard stories about elves, and just like any other human I thought your kind was just something to intrigue us males."

"And what do you think of us now that you know; not one, but two elves?" She asked back as she placed a hand over my hosts and sighed slightly; as if just the mere touch of someone else was some kind of reassurance/comfort to her.

I couldn't help but laugh as I turned my head slightly and looked over at the sleeping form of the younger elf sister. "As far as your sister is concerned; I think she can be a royal piece of work, as well as a pain, but...I can almost view her as a spunky little/younger sister." This caused the two of us to laugh a little, and even a little louder when the sister mumbled something about to much noise a moment later but remained asleep. "But all in all, I have to admit that I'm glad my expectations of meeting some elves are or was nothing like I thought it'd be." This got both her eyebrows to raise but I simply just waved a hand to throw off any question that she might have a moment later.

For the next several days not much happened that were of much notice, other than a few odd looks from a few passersby's that our group of three passed. To which I found was that each person was staring at the sisters, and to prevent that I simply 'Acquired' a pair of full bodied traveling cloaks that easily hid the sisters from view. Though upon the last day of the week, when the supplies were beginning to dwindle down and the need to replenish them came up, did we decide to leave the roads and look for the nearest populated town. The town that we eventually came across was what one would call a crossroads town. In other-words it was a town that intersected several different roads and to that had become a very popular place to stop and possibly trade with caravans that would come from many different villages, hamlets, towns, and even a wayward providence or two.

With the knowledge of this place being along a good trade route, the three of us began to work together in making several different things to sell. The simplest thing that we put together was that of a few wooden amulets to promote either good health, wards against evil, or things of simple effects... and with those things bringing in a slight sum of coin, I began to work on some other things that the girls could enchant or place spells upon that would bring in a bit more coin. It was upon that of our second day there at the market that something changed/endangered our simple little routine/plans.

After a first successful day of sales of those smaller trinkets and such, we'd purchased a few other/larger items that the girls could enchant/enhance through their magic's and decided to increase our price for those better spells/enchantments. It was around mid-day that a man in what appeared to be a full bodied, expensively tailored cloak came up and started asking me about how I'd come across such fine wares. It was upon that of his asking such a pointed question that I instantly was on my guard and gave him a forced smile. "Now sir, you can't expect me to reveal my source. I have to protect my way of income after all." I let out a forced laugh and shook my head at how ridiculous his question was.

This only got the man to scowl at me and slam his hands down upon my booth and leaned into stare a little more forcefully at me. The whole act caused his hood of his cloak to move back a bit and reveal his wizened/weathered/wrinkled face. "Play me not for a fool boy, for I can summon the guards here in a moment if I tell them that you are harboring 'witches'."

At first this accusation got me freeze up in surprise/fear at this accusation; as it was a common fact that if someone were to harbor witches that they could swing from the end of a very short rope, but once that moment passed I quickly thought about it all and finally laughed back at the man. "You may summon the guard, but what happens when they find that your accusation is false?" Unfortunately my retort/come-back didn't seem to have the desired effect as the man simply straitened upright and laughed.

"It is you who is the fool if you think I shall suffer any repercussions from any accusation that might prove false." He took a step back, placed both fists upon his hips, threw out his chest, and raised his chin. "Know you not whom you address? Surely one who stands in great favor such as I, need not fear such things."

This got my right eyebrow to rise for a moment and I just sighed. "I expect you want me to say that I know you, but...I don't." This seemed to take his inflated ego and quickly pop it, as he slightly slumped and sighed. "I hale from a land far across the sea and am only here on the grounds that my funds have dried up and I need to make some more coin if I intend to reach my destination within due course."

It seemed to take the man a few moments for what I'd just said to sink in, but when it did it only seemed to anger/enrage him further. After a while though he seemed to brush that anger off of him with a cough and regain his composure. "Be as it may, as proper etiquette dictates I should lecture you in higher society and its monarchs, but seeing as my business is that of a higher matter, I must remain on topic." This got me a lost for a moment before he once again slammed both his hands down upon my booth and glare deeply/hatefully at me. "Tell me where it is that you acquire your goods, otherwise I'll have the guards tear down your booth and remove you from this town." 'Forcefully', he whispered as like that of an afterthought.

Just by the sheer weight that this guy was throwing around I knew that many a person would jump to his wishes, which meant that I'd best watch my tongue around this person from that point forward, otherwise he would/could have the guard tear down my booth and kick me out of town. It was also at that moment that I did something foolish, as I absentmindedly looked over my shoulder at the entrance to my tent, that look gave away my source and had the man quickly rush behind my booth and head straight for the opening to the canvas/tent.

I was so shocked by how fast the man had slipped past me; as by his mere appearance of his wrinkled/elderly visage, that I only/finally moved when he threw back the opening to the tent with both hands. The act of having the tent must have surprised/frightened the girls within as when the interior of the tent was suddenly flooded with light there came a quick eek of surprise from within, to which was followed by some kind of shout, and finally a small explosion that made any part of the tent that was tied down flutter for a moment. By the time that all this had passed I had gotten to my feet and quickly in front of the man to block his view from within, but my efforts proved fruitless as somehow he must have seen the girls as the next few words he said sent shivers up my spine.

"Un-collared elves."