Nuem crumpled up the parchment in her hands. She hated going around the Stone Mountain when she could, yet with what she just read, she didn't really have much choice this time. She'd extended her stay in Pleonths because she learned about a small business opportunity that she expected to earn quite a bit from. An opportunity that wasn't likely to last long or come around very often.
This opportunity, however, required her to visit the tribes of Shareis. The tribes that Nuem understood to be as unpredictable as they were savage to their enemies. She didn't like the idea of getting on their bad side, but it was well known that many travelers they encountered, merchants included, were just as likely to be attack by the tribes as they were to be left alone. No one knew why, just that it happened that way.
Yet, at the same time, Nuem wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste. She'd been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time. If this worked out, then she'd be able to either live a modest life or would be able to expand her services.
For one thing, she wouldn't need to have just four mercenaries as guards on her trips. She'd be able to afford a company for protection as well as enough wagons and other things to make such protection necessary.
The first step would be to go to Ohbids to the west. That city was primarily the border city to the plains on the west side of the Stone Mountain. There she'd be able to exchange some of her currency for the primary currency on the plains. While it would cost a little to do that, Nuem knew that not doing so would just be asking to get cheated. As while rainbow silver was accepted, it didn't go as far as in the queendom.
Which meant that while it cost a little to make the exchange, she'd at least be able to get better value for the wooden coins that were called Rose coins, characterized primarily from the rose delicately carved into each coin. It wasn't clear what kind of wood they were made out of, but the wood was a light rose color and was either naturally hard or was treated in some manner to become harder than even oak was.
It was said that the trees grew deep in the plains of Shareis, but no one really knew. The tribes that rules the plains kept the secret of those tress close to them. Much like the Queen of Jeas did with the secret to making Rainbow Silver.
However, she didn't plan on trying to get any secrets from the plains. She was only interested in the business opportunity. Which was in regards to some gemstones found near the mountain that hadn't been seen before. If the rumor turned out to be true, Nuem knew that she'd be able to name her price for them on the market. Depending on the quality of the stone as well as other points that she'd have to see before she could determine just how much she stood to make.
All that mattered to her at the moment was that she was likely going to be the first to arrive. Which meant that she'd be able to get the first pick of the find. Or at least, that's what she hoped for.
Holding the crumpled up parchment in her hand, she quickly made her way back to the inn she was staying at. She didn't know where her mercenaries were, but she knew they'd be back at the inn when the sun went down. Which wasn't too far away and meant that she'd be able to let them know that they were moving out in the morning. At first light.
While she liked getting as much sleep as she could, she also knew that she would need to spend much of the night getting everything packed and ready to go by first light. She doubted that she'd need another wagon, but hoped that would be the case. She couldn't say if that was accurate or not, but she knew she wouldn't be able to get another wagon, even if she had time to wait for it to be built. Her funds only went so far, and she only had so much of them liquid.
She couldn't hope that any of the mercenaries with her would get killed because the guild had already collected their due from them, which included the pay they'd receive when the job was completed. Which in turn meant that she'd still be out the amount in that case.
Sometimes when these opportunities came up, life seemed to make her know that others could get them but she wasn't one of them. Yet, she was determined to prove life wrong on that point. She wasn't going to let this chance pass by and force her to stay as she was. Slowly building her means so she could rise on top one day.
She wasn't going to continue to barely scrape by anymore. She was confident that she'd be able to turn things around from this one venture. Even if the rumors didn't pan out like she hoped, she was still confident that she'd be able to make it work in ways she hadn't before.
_
Beth felt warm as she became aware of the world around her. Not just from her blanket, either. She could feel two people pressed against her. While, it was pleasant, she had to take a moment to remember why she was in that position.
When she recalled what happened the night before, her eyes snapped open and she quickly looked around her. As she saw that everyone else was still asleep, she couldn't help but let out a breath of relief. Everyone else was still asleep.
While she didn't mind the pleasures that Aerbris and Raeys gave her, she would prefer to not have it in such a public location to her friends and the others in the room. She could still feel Raeys inside her, which while pleasant, wasn't something she wanted to have to deal with when everyone else started to wake up.
Carefully, Beth looked for her clothing so she could get dressed. She didn't want to wake up even Aerbris and Raeys, but she couldn't get dressed without risking that. Her tunic was easy enough to find, but her leggings were a little harder to locate. Largely because she eventually found them at the base of her blanket.
When she was dressed, she felt a little better and resolved to talk with the two who she'd slept with the night before about when she'd appreciate them doing that to her. Primarily because she didn't want a repeat of this morning, where it was possible to get discovered like that.
While she knew Ralph and Wes wouldn't care, other than being able to make comments about it, she couldn't say the same for Hesha and Feon. She didn't think they'd have an issue with that, but she couldn't be sure right then. She just didn't think it was worth the risk at that time.
As she finished getting dressed, she started to move towards the door, when she heard movement nearby.
"Embris? Is that you?" a sleepy voice asked, making Beth smile affectionately.
"Sorry, Feon," Beth replied quietly, hoping not to disturb her sleep if she could help it. "It's just me."
"Tell Embris that it's her turn to feed the goats," was all Feon replied with before her breathing returned to the even pace she had as she slept.
Beth couldn't help but chuckle as she made her way to the door. She was a little surprised that she was able to be so alert at this time, but didn't care to think too much about it. After all, while she did go to sleep later than Ralph and Wes, she also couldn't help but worry about what she was going to be forced to agree to.
While she was given a 'choice' in the matter, she was confident that it wasn't really a choice. That if she didn't agree, that they'd find some way to kill her and her friends. The fact that they gave her a 'choice' was that they either weren't desperate for her help or that they felt that there was other options, but Beth and her friends were the most convenient.
Though, she hoped that they'd be able to find the griffin canyon quickly enough and get out of this world before this particular piper came calling again, she couldn't help but worry that things weren't going to be that simple.
If nothing else she hoped that she and her friends would be able to find what evidence they needed to justify committing themselves to this. If only to help them accept the things they were being told to do. Which Beth was certain wasn't as clear as the mysterious person had told her.
Still, no matter what else, breakfast had to come first. Even if she wanted to, Beth knew she wouldn't be able to think straight without getting something to eat at the start of the day. Or at least two mornings in a row, given the day before when she'd had to wait for Aerbris to be released from the guards, since she hadn't had a chance to get anything to eat then and didn't have any money to purchase anything until after she'd not only resolved the issue, but also gotten her money back.
Beth first checked with the inn to see what they might have to eat at the start of the day, but wasn't able to see anything that appealed to her, so she left to look at the morning stalls. A few offered cooked food, but otherwise the ones that offered food merely offered the raw ingredients for anything cooked. Including fruit, although some of the food, like the fruit, typically was edible without being cooked. Beth couldn't say why, but she wanted something cooked right then.
However, nothing that she could find appealed to her, so it wasn't like she could continue looking. As time continued to pass and eventually she'd have spent the entire morning without having eaten anything again. So, she got a bunch of fruit to bring back to the others so they could have some to eat as well. While this fruit seemed kind of similar to peaches in both shape and color, it wasn't very juicy, but rather almost leathery, like dried fruit, and had a taste Beth couldn't quite compare to anything she'd had before.
She figured they should be ready to head out soon, though it wasn't yet determined just where yet. She had the locations of the griffin canyons in her pocket, but she couldn't say if those would be places they should actually look at. She herself wasn't confident that they would be spending their time wisely by looking at those, yet at the same time, she knew they needed to at least rule those out as possibilities.
After all, if there was one griffin canyon in this world, she couldn't say that she'd be surprised if there were more. As such, she knew that they'd need to rule those out before they could really ignore them, unless they somehow found the one that Charlie had been hanging over before.
Although, as she thought about it, as long as they reached the edge of the canyon, they should be able to figure out if it was likely or not, since she couldn't imagine many of them having a gate in the air above them at any point along it.
When Beth returned, she couldn't say she was surprised to see the others still crashed. She wasn't that worried, since it wasn't like the fruit was in danger of going bad before everyone woke up, though she did wonder if someone might need to go out for more if certain individuals woke up before others.
However, she couldn't say that she was that worried about that. The idea of heading out to get more fruit didn't bother her right then. If anything, it would help distract her from the worries she had about the mysterious figure.
The first encounter she had, she thought the person wasn't as dangerous as they wanted her to think they were, but after the night before, when they appeared and disappeared without her being able to notice, she couldn't help but feel rather unnerved. She could only chock the first encounter up to the fact that the person got careless and slipped up. With how the second encounter went, she couldn't say that she could hope for them to slip up again.
The danger she recalled as that person stroked her throat was enough to make her wonder just how much they really were being allowed to know about what was going on. How much was going on below the surface that they wouldn't be able to know anyway?
Beth wasn't sure, but she also knew she couldn't do any of this on her own. If she tried, she'd drown in the currents before she even knew what was going on. That much she was certain of, even if she knew what was going on for a certainty.
About an hour or two later, everyone had woken up and Beth hadn't had to go out to get more fruit, which she was happy about, despite having expected the need to do so.
As they ate, Beth explained what had happened as well as what she thought about the encounter with that stranger who seemed to be able to appear without a sound and made the veiled threats and vague promises to her. As well as the locations of some griffin canyons and what her thoughts about those were, too.
"So, what we need to figure out is if we take a look at these canyons or if we ignore them altogether. Then whichever we choose, what do we do to determine if we should risk making enemies of these people or do we join in and help them out? Plus, do we first head back to talk this out with the others first?"
"I say we at least verify these canyons," Ralph said as he ate a piece of fruit. "I mean, I believe we're closer to these mountains the canyons are supposed to be in, so it's not like we'll be wasting time checking them out first. Plus, I'm sure Tim will come across them in the maps as well, so we can at least let him know that we already eliminated them as possibilities."
"What I'd like to know is how the hell are we supposed to know if the queen really is as bad as your mysterious stranger said she is?" Wes remarked. "If Charlie were here, she'd be able to just peer into the thoughts of the people here and we'd be able to know that way. Only, since none of us can do that, how would we be able to find out?"
"What if we sent someone to try and see what the people around the queen is like?" Hesha asked. "I mean, I remember hearing Inshet say that my mother often said that the best way to know what someone is like it to know how they treat the people around them when no one can see. That they'll generally act differently than when they think others can see them. That those are the times when you'll see who they truly are more than you can otherwise see."
Beth couldn't help but smile at that. She couldn't think of anything to argue against that, but she felt like they were going in too many directions at once right then.
"Uh, how about we first rule out those canyons and then worry about what to find out about the queen?" Beth suggested. "That was we have at least that off the table and we can then focus on what else we need to get done.
"Um, could we stop somewhere along the way?" a timid voice asked, almost so quiet that Beth didn't hear the question. She turned to see that it was Aerbris who'd spoken. Aerbris was sitting down, with the hands clenched into fists in her lap, looking like she was bracing to be attacked.
"You have somewhere you'd like to swing by?" Beth asked, unable to keep their activities from the night before out of her head as she looked at the young woman.
Aerbris nodded, looking like she was terrified about what their reactions would be. "I wanted to see if anyone survived the attack on my village," she said, looking down at her hands, her entire body trembling.
Beth looked at Ralph and Wes who merely nodded. Then as she turned back to Aerbris, she told her gently, "Sure, we can make a little detour. It shouldn't be that big of a deal."
Aerbris' head snapped up so fast Beth wondered if the girl might give herself whiplash. Her expression said it all. That she hadn't expected to get that response, which made Beth understand just how important this was to her. Beth couldn't say what might come as a result of this, but she knew she'd at least made someone's day that morning.