"Also, thank you all for helping me. You and your companion saved my life without even knowing anything about me," Kivamus said gratefully to Hudan.
"It's no problem, my lord," Hudan replied. "You must know about how the previous baron and his guards were killed by such people. My cousin was amongst those guards killed by the bandits."
"I'm really sorry to hear that, Hudan. I think that those attackers and the ones whom you killed today might be a part of the same group, likely with my brothers behind them."
"If you say so, my lord. I just hope my cousin's spirit rests easy after today. May the Goddess save his soul," Hudan whispered. He continued, "Feroy will have gotten out everything that the remaining attacker knew soon enough, so we'll hopefully find out more then."
Shortly, the door opened again and Feroy, along with the taller wagon driver, who looked pale and kept giving nervous glances towards Feroy, entered inside. "You won't believe what gibberish he was spouting!" Feroy spoke up loudly, while the two of them took an empty chair each.
Meanwhile, Syryne, along with Lucem who seemed fine by now, brought a few mugs of ale for everyone on Helga's order. Kivamus took a welcome sip after the recent ordeal, even if he wasn't sure he liked the taste of it.
"Tell us, Feroy," Hudan said.
"Yeah. So get this, the guy was saying that," he took a big gulp from his wooden tankard, "they were after a son of the duke himself!"
"It's true, Feroy," Hudan smirked. He gestured towards Kivamus, "Meet Lord Kivamus Ralokaar, son of our esteemed Duke. He has recently been granted the Barony of Tiranat, where he is traveling to take over as the new Baron."
"You are surely jesting!" Feroy glanced at Kivamus for a second, then said, "Really?"
When everyone else just looked at him without saying anything, he suddenly stood up and bowed to Kivamus, "Shit! Uh… I'm sorry, my lord! Please forgive this one's moment of insanity," while unknowingly splashing his ale in the process.
"It's okay, Feroy. Just take a seat and tell us what you found," Kivamus sighed.
"Uh... yeah, thank you, my lord. So, where was I?" He sat down on his chair and spoke seriously now, with all traces of fun gone from his face. It was the face of a seasoned veteran. "He said that one of them was following your wagons from the morning. They didn't know you by sight, so they were told to kill any young person with good clothing amongst the passengers, at all costs, and not to leave anyone else alive if possible."
"Did he tell you how he got this information?" Gorsazo asked. "And, uh... where is he?"
"Don't worry, he won't be killing anyone else in the future," Feroy stated, making others around him grimace at the implication. "And no, he didn't know the name of the person who gave him this information. He just said that it was a contact in Cinran he met a few days ago who always gave them tips about vulnerable targets traveling on the road. That person always met them in a dark alley with their cloak's hood up, so the bandit didn't know his contact's identity." He took another sip from his mug. "However, this time these bandits were caught unprepared because they weren't expecting you to leave Cinran for at least another day, my lord."
"It seems it was a good idea to travel as much as we could in the past few days, Gorsazo," Kivamus interrupted. "Even if my body hates me for it," he muttered under his breath.
Gorsazo nodded, "Indeed, my lord. We could have stopped at inns every night on our journey from Ulriga to Cinran, but I decided not to, so we could leave early and travel farther each day. I had no idea what could be waiting for us on the road, and it always pays to be more cautious."
"That's certainly true," Feroy continued. "Their original plan, according to the schedule their contact had given them, was for their whole party of more than a dozen men to assemble by tomorrow and leave around the same time as you, whenever you left Cinran, and then ambush you later that day. But they were expecting you to rest for a day or two in an inn there, my lord, as most nobles do if they've traveled as far as from Ulriga to Cinran. They had a scout watching a particular inn as well, where they were expecting you to stay. Though he didn't know why specifically that inn, my lord."
"That was Gorsazo's doing," Kivamus told him. "It was an excellent idea, Gorsazo, that you didn't let us stay in the inn where the wagon driver dropped us in Cinran. Or they would have known about us since yesterday and would have been much more prepared."
"Thank you, my lord," said Gorsazo, accepting the rare praise. "Well, carry on then, Feroy."
"Yeah, so their scout was passing near the gates in Cinran by chance this morning and recognized you leaving, my lord. So the bandits, or rather, the mercenaries, had to gather whoever they could, and attack you today itself. They immediately sent word to those members of their group who were living in or around Cinran, but only a few of them had reported by around noon. So their leader, the big guy, decided to leave Cinran with just three other mercenaries around noon, not counting the rider they had dispatched earlier in the morning to follow you on the forest road. Since their scout had told him that you only had a single escort, their leader was confident enough to finish his task. But because they had left late, their group only caught up with you by the evening when you had reached close to this inn. That's why there were only five of them who attacked us. If they had their full strength, we would have stood no chance, my lord."
"That seems very true. Now I know why my brother didn't send any guards with me since they had planned all this in advance. I was so distraught about leaving Ulriga that I didn't question it then," Kivamus mentioned. "And thank you both again, for saving our lives. It's the first time I'm going to Tiranat, and as you all can guess, I have no power in Ulriga anymore. But still, if any of you need my help in the future, and it's in my power, I will do whatever I can to help you."
"We were only doing our duty of protecting the inn and its visitors, my lord," Hudan said. "And I can already say it was a good decision. You are nothing like that bastard… uh, the previous baron, my lord. Forgive me for saying that, but it's true."
"He's right," Helga said. "In the time you've been here, my lord, the previous baron would have muttered enough obscenities to shame a sailor while berating others and trying to lay his grubby paws on Syryne. You are nothing like him, my lord."
"After hearing about the kind of person he was, I'm very glad." Kivamus glanced at the others in the hall. "Now, would you please serve us all a warm meal, Madam Helga? And as many pitchers of ale as they can handle!" he boomed, his voice ringing through the rafters of the inn. "I'll pay for everything tonight!" And the small inn was filled with the sound of cheers and praises for Lord Kivamus.