Trail of the Gods_ The Morcyth Saga Book Four - Brian S. Pratt [74]
By the end of the day, they come to a crossroads where they learn from a fellow traveler that the north road will take them to Osgrin and then on to Trendle. An inn and a couple other buildings have been constructed here and they decide to stop for the night.
The inn is of good quality and has a stable with a stableboy who lives in a small room in the back to keep an eye on things. A quick supper and James hits the bed, he’s still not completely over the ordeal of the day before. The night goes by quickly and he wakes up almost feeling back to normal.
They have a quick meal in the common room before heading out on the road, the box again secured behind James’ saddle. They take it quick, really wanting this whole thing over.
An hour or so after they start, they come to a fair sized town sitting at a crossroads. They discover it’s called Guellin, a town whose main source of trade is wool and wool products. James could’ve figured that out by the number of sheep farms they came across along the road as they drew near.
The road heading south would take them to Willimet if they were going in that direction. Willimet! Just hearing the name makes him seethe after the way that woman treated him. If he wasn’t in such a hurry, he’d go down there and demand his money back. Not to mention that she begin telling the truth about what happened and stop all this demon possession talk. That’s probably what’s driving the curious out to The Ranch.
Leaving Guellin behind, he comes to the realization that this may be a good place to procure some wool stuffing for Tersa’s teddy bears she’s making. Have to talk to Delia about that.
The road ahead of them begins to have fewer and fewer travelers as they progress until it’s just the odd caravan coming to or from Trademeet. From what one caravan master said, Trademeet is still over a day away unless they want to kill their horses getting there, which they don’t.
By the time the sun begins to dip below the horizon, they’re still out in the middle of nowhere. James says he’s not that exhausted and that he could go another couple hours in the hopes of finding an inn. So they press on and two hours after night had fallen, they begin to see the lights from a small town ahead of them.
Finding an inn, they get settled in and after a meal in the common room, head to their rooms for the night.
The next morning, clouds can be seen coming in from the west. James sees the approaching storm as a blessing which will hopefully give him some relief from the hot summer sun beating down upon them. By noon, the clouds have blanketed the sky and a short while after that a drizzling rain begins falling, making everyone uncomfortable. Except James, who finds this a welcome relief to the sun. Since coming here, he’s managed to get quite a tan. They plod on through the rain the rest of the day until they see Trademeet appear on the horizon ahead of them.
Chapter Fourteen
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Upon reaching the outskirts, James announces, “Fifer and Yern should be here somewhere.”
“So this is where they went to?” Uther asks.
Nodding, James continues, “I had them come ahead of us to procure some things we’ll need, as well as scout around.”
“I would think they’ll be in a tavern somewhere getting drunk,” Jorry says.
“This place is pretty big, may take us awhile to find them,” Illan tells him.
“I realize that,” says James. “If I would have known of a place here, they could’ve met us there, but I didn’t.”
They begin searching the taverns and inns along their way. Finally, after searching in over ten places, they find them sitting at a table, each with a buxom young woman on their knee.
When Fifer sees them walk through the front door, he has the girl get off his knee as he says to Yern, “Looks like the fun is over.” Seeing Yern’s confused look he indicates the door.
“Damn,” Yern curses under his breath. “Sorry my lovely, but duty calls,” he tells the girl in his lap as he gently removes her from his knee.
“There you layabouts