The sun hung gently above the horizon providing a steady source of warmth that illuminated the lands below.Clouds drifted across the sky at a snail's pace each forming myriad patterns that scattered forth and rearranged at the behest of the calming breeze that blew threw the villages below that dotted the land like minute points of red and black on a bright green canvas.
The main thoroughfare was as busy as usual ; people walking steadily from store to store jostling each other as they did so , children running about helter-skelter managing to trip both themselves and the occasional adult as they did so , hawkers bellowing at the top of their voices in a bid to sell out their wares and get one over their rivals and to top it all the random unsuspecting farmyard animal sitting aplomb bang in the middle of the street it could range from being a shepherd's dog to a massive bull but one thing was certain it certainly wasn't going to move anywhere , not by sundown at any rate.
"A pound of shallots for just 10 coppers ! You ain't going to get a bargain like that ! Come when you still can !"
"A pound of carrots for 5 coppers ! Excellent quality and the cheapest price !!"
"Oi! Where are you shoving your pointy elbow up , yeah? You damn ox ! Looking for a fight are you ?"
"Call the guards ! We've got a rabid dog on loose !"
Far away from the hundreds of sights and sounds of the main street .
"Ting " .
A bell rang at the front of a secluded premises situated by its own on a unremarkable sidestreet that ran away from the main market street.
Its less than ideal location and the banal rather unflattering decorations to the front hardly encouraged the occasional passerby to drop by .
Thus it was that it was quite natural for hardly any visitor to be seen entering in for long periods.
At least to those whose living and housing was done just nearby it was quite an infrequent occurrence of the sort that occurred once a blue moon.
However upon seeing the identity of the visitor most of the doors and the windows snapped shut and curious minds were sentenced to their beds.
"But I don't wanna! "
"Young Man, you are going to your bedroom at once and reading some books for a change instead of playing the ridiculous games that you do !"
A sound of frenetic pounding on the staircase followed no doubt expressing the rage of the punished person.The said expression was undoubtedly ignored as a matter of course
"And what are you doing , lazing about like a piece of fish! Help me with closing these windows !"
"Oh,oh sure certainly, at once my dear. By the way is it one of them by any chance ?"
"Course it is otherwise why would I be closing everything up.Use your brains for once you blithering idiot !
" Aren't you aware that there is no saying what would happen if one of those ", herein a solitary finger is lifted upwards," think we're snooping on them or something ."
" Did you know that the Bretts had to cough up a hundred gold just cause one of them thought that Old Ma Bret was looking funny at him.
" Jim , you know Old Ma Bret , she wouldn't even hurt a fly ! What if it happens to us next ? We don't even have a hundred gold even if we did add up everything in this house !"
The last sentence was said with a pointed look at the one being addressed causing him to break out in beads of sweat."Oh yes, Old Ma Bret of course.Such a delightful old lady ,If I remember .Now, dear won't you help me with the latch on this window."
"Hmmph"
The visitor in front of the door couldn't help a wry smile from breaking out in his face .
Quite unfortunately the conversations held in many of the neighbouring houses in the strictest of 'confidentiality' could be heard very clearly by him.
He wasn't offended by them ,of course.
Several times in his wanderings high and low, far and wide he had come across many a welcome some ingratiating , some withdrawn and others outright hostile.
To say the truth , such a welcome did happen to figure out right among the best ones he got from the simple townsfolk.
Of course, he could have hidden himself better .
But there was no point , not when the identity of any visitor to this 'quaint little shop' was painfully obvious.
The door gently opened without a single creak.
A familiar face caked with sweat was staring back at Brenn."Oh it's you ! Haven't seen in you a while, come on in !"
Brenn nodded curtly and followed the other man into the shop closing the door behind him as he did so.
From now onwards he was no longer in the world of the common people he had entered the world of the mystical and the supernatural.
He had entered the world belonging to the knights alone.
The first thing that would hit anyone when they would step inside was how strikingly contrasting was the interior from the exterior.
Compared to the outside which was plain to a fault the ambience of the inside was another deal entirely.
The walls were shining with pieces of shields, visors, swords and any and all sorts of armored equipment that had ever been known to man.
There was but a single lantern at the ceiling ; made of a material unknown to Brenn but was undoubtedly rare and precious. It spewed a steady stream of a warm, golden light that lit up the room in a radiance that gave it a mystical air.
Brenn didn't glance at any of the sets on the walls and headed straight for the well lit counter in the center . To the amateur knight any of the sets would be a fortune enough to last a lifetime but only their seasoned seniors were aware that the real treasure was not any of the equipment that was displayed so prominently but the man behind the counter who sat on a stool who was quietly sipping from the bottle held in his hand.
He put both of his hands on the counter and proceeded to lean across towards the proprietor on the other side."You doing business Pieck ? 'Cause I need to buy some things."
"Get Lost ! When did you lot not need something or the other ? Can't you see that today I'm just an old man , having a good long drink in peace and quiet ."
"That's what you always say , but you don't mind that extra copper , now do you ?"
"I have all the coppers that I need " , the other man grumbled as he stood up revealing his thinning brown hair and ruddy cheeks flushed a bright shade of red no doubt a consequence of emptying several bottles in a single go.
"And I take my payments in gold mind you ,not copper "
"Sure,sure"
Brenn handed a gold coin already taken out beforehand to him."How does this look ?"
The other man looked at it for a bit ,"Well it does look shiny " , he then took it in his mouth and bit it with his teeth,"Tastes like the real thing too "
"I suppose we are having a trade then "
"Yeah, yeah sure " The owner twirled the coin around his fingers so fascinated was he that all other thoughts seemed to have been banished from his mind including the visitor in front of him
The owner's inebriated state didn't worry Brenn though.It had been difficult to handle the first couple of times but he had grown used to it afterward.
At last after what seemed like an eternity the other man looked up and realized the presence of somebody else in the premises.
"Well, what are you still doing here ? Shoo !"
"We haven't had our trade done yet, Pieck " ,Brenn explained patiently unconcerned by the rudeness of his host.
"Oh , right , sorry .Forgot that now didn't I ? "
"Right now what do you want ? The shields right there have a nice offer on them .I can even give you an extra discount of about 10% ."
"Not those Pieck ,I want the goods ." Herein Brenn stared pointedly at the other man.
"Oh those, But they aren't cheap"
"There's more of that where it came from " , He pointed at the gold coin that was even now twirling in the other's fingers.
"Fine then , let's see what you want ."
"I need a better suit of armour, A couple of short swords the sort that you can swing freely in confined spaces , thick leather that isn't easily torn yet is light enough to support movement.All for my size of course.You have the measurements already."
"Throw in a couple of flares and about a pack of flash bombs as well"
"Hmm,that can be arranged .Anything else ?"
"I need to hire one of the dogs that your brother keeps at his farmstead and more importantly", he leaned forward till there was a distance of about a finger's breadth between them ."I need a scroll"
"Regarding the dog , I can talk to my brother,I suppose.As long as you let it loose before your encounter it should be no problem. The fare would be 1 gold an hour till the dog comes back on its own.No need to worry it isn't one to dawdle .If anything happens you compensate according to the market price.That fair?"
"Fair enough".Brenn nodded he was well aware that he wasn't going to get a better deal.
"Good. As for the scroll.What do you think this place is the treasury or one of the vaults of those duchal families ? I honestly even doubt if you could find one for sale in the entire Kingdom !"
"I'm not so sure about that.I think I might find one here ."
"Whatever makes you think that ? "
"Just a feeling " .Brenn reached inside his clothes and brought forth a small,crude bag with its mouth held close by his hands he then placed it on the counter where accompanied by a familiar jingling noise a thin pile of coins slowly leaked out of the mouth.
The golden glitter of the coins was all too apparent.
The owner took a glance at the newly created pile for a while before turning back to Brenn.
"I do remember that a while ago a ruined noble sold off which could be what you want for.I may have it in my storehouse."
"And"
"I'm not sure if I remember where I placed it .Its going to take a great deal of effort on my part to search for it."
Brenn had a wide smile on his face as he pushed forth the money bag towards the owner
"A little compensation would work , now wouldn't it."
The other man looked at the bag before turning to Brenn .He began to speak in a solemn tone ,"
Remember you still have to pay for the others ", he leaned forward to stress his intent ," independently."
"Sure"
"Come back at dawn .I will have everything ready by then."
"That's settled then."
"Farewell ,Pieck" Brenn took his leave from the shop without stopping to look back at the owner
who had already gone back to his own world taking sips from his bottle once more.
The next day just as the infant sun slowly ascended to the skies , red as an apple , a lone knight armed to the teeth could be seen walking on a rough country path on foot , a single dog that scampered at his heels being his only company.
Distant plumes of smoke rising gently into the purple sky reminded him that he had reached the first stop in his journey.
He didn't go onwards towards the village which it was quite obviously, instead he chose to head down a beaten track that led away from it.
After he had covered a sizeable distance he found himself under the eaves of a forest that stretched on and on endlessly in front of him.
He frowned for a bit before sighing.
He could still see the distant smoke from the chimneys which meant he had circled right around the village .The only place from which the orcs could attack from and retreat to was here the Emerald Forest a humongous monstrosity that lay at the intersection of two kingdoms.
Calculating the distance from the village he was in close proximity to their prefered route .He didn't wish to set foot directly on the route taken by them to avoid being detected by scouts.This place was good enough.
He reached inside his ample clothing and pulled out a red string that although a little worse for the wear had still managed to retain its original state.He held the string in front of the nose of the dog which proceeded to yelp a couple of terms before carefully sniffing.
"Sniff.Sniff"
"Bark !"
The dog then rapidly rushed into the forest barely giving any time to the Knight to think.He followed after the dog managing to keep pace with it.
He pulled down the visor on his helm hiding his face away , his thoughts inscrutable as he headed closer and closer to the lair of the murderous orcs.