Moros didn't answer her scolding, a soft snoring came from his side.
Setia covered herself with a cloak. Despite of ll the wine she drank and how tired she was, sleep didn't want to come for a long time. When she finally fell asleep, she found herself in Kanror and once again she fought for her life, only not with a fat Equerd but with Tregor who kept repeating that she had betrayed him. She pushed him away and ran into the swamps, where she saw Moros. He was standing with his back towards her.
"Help me!" He was screaming. Moros turned and had the face of Nagor, who dug his crooked fingers into her cloak and dragged her deeper into the brown swamp water. She desperately fought against the ubiquitous water, trying hard to stay afloat. She felt herself starting to suffocate.
She awoke suddenly to the sound of her own rapid breathing. She wondered what time of the day or night it was. Time always stood still in this rock room. She got up, not wanting to sleep. She knew the way to the main part of Hiron's rock kingdom. When she quietly opened the door, she saw an old friend bent over the knife to which he was attaching the handle.
"Do you never sleep?" She asked.
"And you sleep for too long. It's already noon." He pointed to the window through which the radiant sun shone.
"I've lost track of time." Setia sat down on a chair with a sigh
"No wonder I was once young too." Hiron sighed.
"Although I admit that I have never been as beautiful as this young man."
"I sense the irony." Setia slowly chewed a piece of yesterday's bread, not intending to explain herself for her acquaintance with Moros.
"I have to go with the cargo to Prince Tendred in Emfera today." Hiron raised the knife closer to the light, which he was finishing making sure that the cover on the hilt was well fastened
"Well Hiron, I see you move in aristocratic circles." Setia joked.
"Yeah, the prince has a high opinion of himself and very little money. He's in arrears with a previous delivery and he's waiting for a new one." Hiron frowned and rubbed his long beard.
"It's not going to be an easy conversation."
"I can drive there for you, and I need to do some shopping anyway," She pointed at the threadbare dress she was wearing. "I also have experience in debt collection." Setia smiled innocently
"That's for sure." Hiron looked at the girl carefully.
"Do you really want to do this for me?"
"Sure, no problem."
"I'll give you a list of my last order and my seal for confirmation."
"Okay." Setia got up
"I have to wash up."
Hiron walked over to the chest by the bed and took out clothes and a piece of linen. Without a word, he handed her the women's clothes Setia knew to whom this dress belonged. Grena, Hiron's late wife. She remembered it well. She looked at Hiron's face and squeezed his hand.
"Go out this way." Hiron pointed to the door in the housed part of the cave. The soap is on the shelf."
Then he went back to the table and started tidying it up. Setia headed to the stream behind Hiron's house.
Upon returning, she found Hiron busy talking to Moros.
"Hello, sleepyhead." She greeted Moros and sat down on a free chair combing her wet hair with her fingers. Moros watched her with wide eyes. She wasn't wearing a bandage. Where her left eye should be, there was a thick red-and-pink scar from a stitched eyelid that ran down the middle of his left cheek and above the brow bone, splitting the brow in two. Hiron also watched her silently, after a moment he said
"You look good in that dress."
"Thank you." Setia's face remained expressionless.
In the afternoon Hiron's cart, loaded and harnessed to an old gray horse, was ready to leave. Setia, in an equally gray dress that was too loose and too short, entered the cart.
"Here, you have documents in your pouch, good luck! You will need it." Hiron waved his hand goodbye, Setia nodded and with a smack and a light stroke of the reins she mobilized the gray horse to move on. Moros watched her until she disappeared around a bend. The image of her disfigured face flashed before his eyes.
The sound of the wheels rolling on the beaten road calmed Setia, at first she had to pull the reins a little, because the horse was trying to feel the new driver and wanted to test her, and now they were slowly rolling along the road straight to Emfer. Hiron's cargo clattered softly over the bumps. After a while she rode out of White Canyon straight onto the road connecting Fenigrid to Bazaldia. She turned left and spurred her horse. Ever since the defeat at Kanror, she had wondered what to do next? Did she still want to be a mercenary, fight for someone else's interests, or should she be doing something else? Just what? Working on the land was not for her, she didn't know anything about it, maybe opening an inn ... It's also kind of not to her taste.
She might also find a husband and give birth to five children. She laughed out loud at the thought. But it was a bitter laugh. She instinctively touched the blindfold on her face, her beauty was gone.