Chapter 4
Vicven awoke in a furry. He quickly calmed when he realized they were in no danger. His dream had taken a horrible turn. The dream had become Eilstina and himself running from the creature for years to come, and once the creature had caught them it told them how it had killed Halei and everyone in the town, before it finally killed them.
With his subconscious not letting him return to sleep, Vicven arouse from the bed. He noticed that Eilstina had at some point climbed into the bed with him. The room was drenched in darkness. It couldn’t have been more than four in the morning. Vicven maneuvered his way to the door through the darkness, it squeaked as he pulled it open. He heard Eilstina moan and begin to shift on the bed, Vicven quickly slipped from the room before he made any more noise.
The hallway was dark, and silent. Vicven walked to the window, overlooking the houses stretching towards the woods. The moon light flowed off the river, covering the houses in a silver coating. The view made Vicven miss the forest. It seemed like years since he had seen the forest, yet it had only been a day.
He made his way down the stairs. The inn was empty except the night barman. He seemed ready to collapse. The man looked at Vicven coming down the stairs.
“Hello good sir.” The man said; yet Vicven caught his body stiffen and saw his hand move to up under the counter. Vicven ignored the man’s words and responded with assurance.
“You want need that dagger. I don’t plan on hurting you.” He said to the man. The man seemed relieved by the statement yet surprised that Vicven knew about the dagger.
“Thank you good sir,” the man said. “It’s nice to hear that not everyone in this town is out to rob you.” Vicven caught the truth in his words.
“Why have the thieves’ been so active lately?” Vicven asked. The man looked around the bar before he spoke. It seemed whatever was happening involved the thieves’ leader.
“To be honest,” the man began. “Nobody really knows, but everyone has their suspicions. Mine and most everybody else, is that the thieve leader died and the thieves are fighting to take her place.” The man ended the story in a whisper. It seemed the thieves had everyone in a panic, but Vicven had caught a few key words in the story. The thieve leader had died; it certainly meant that the thieves where at war trying to claim new lands and decide on a new leader. This would be something to check into before they leave the town, he thought. He decided enough with suspicious talk and changed the subject.
Hours passed while talking to the man; yet no conversation was as interesting as the first. The man, Vicven could tell, was grateful for the company. Not many people wander into an inn at four in the morning. The man rambled on for a few more minutes then suddenly stopped.
“Why were you up at four this morning, surely you didn’t need to get up that early?” He asked. Vicven hesitated for a moment, he didn’t know if he should tell him why he was up. As he was about to speak a traveler stumbled into the bar, and Vicven used this distraction to slip away from the man back to the room above.
Vicven rounded the corner, and walked straight into the aunt. She scowled at him deeply as if she had been touched by her mortal enemy. Vicven watched as she walked around the corner, happiness feeling him when she was out of his sight. He continued his way to the room, pondering on the thieves and their reasons for fighting. Vicven seemed to lose himself in his thoughts, and before he realized it he was laying on the bed in the room. After several seconds of lying down, realization struck him; he had made it to the room. He glanced around Eilstina was not there, that’s when he heard it running water. Eilstina was in the shower, and no sooner did he think these things did the water shut off. He panicked he had no clue what to do, in seconds she would come out that door naked, assuming no one was in the room. As he thought these very words the knob started to turn. Finding nothing else to do Vicven closed and shielded his eyes.
Eilstina pushed the door open and walked into the room, paying no attention to Vicven standing in the middle of the room with his hand over his eyes. She decided to tease and play with him.
“You know, you should really be careful about when you walk into rooms. For all you know I could have been standing in the room naked.” She saw Vicven tighten up as she spoke. It really pleased her to see him in such conditions.
“I’m sorry Eilstina. It won’t happen again. I was lost in thought and just stumbled into the room.” Vicven rambled, he was truly nervous about seeing her naked. Eilstina thought the action of rambling was cute, and let Vicven out of the room.
Vicven stood in the hall for several seconds before walking to the window again. The thought of seeing her naked still ran through his brain. Outside the window the sun had risen. It had been up for quite some time; it looked as if it were almost eleven o’clock. That man sure could talk. Vicven heard the door click closed down the hall, and Eilstina soon stood beside him.
“I think we will stay in town a few more weeks.” Vicven said to her. He wasn’t sure how she would take the news. Eilstina looked at Vicven and sighed.
“You found out about the thieves haven’t you. I was hoping to keep that away from you.” She said to him sorrow in her words. Vicven turned on her, disappointment in his eyes. It hurt her to see him that way.
“You knew about them, and you didn’t tell me.” He spoke eventually. Eilstina looked up at Vicven to see the disappointment gone and replaced by anger.
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to get involved. You’re still not completely healed. You can’t use a lot of your energy, and I don’t know how I would feel about losing you.” Eilstina said now a twitch of anger slipping into her words. Vicven stared at her, part of him hated her for not telling him yet the other part loved her for trying to keep him safe. He turned to stare out the window; he saw men, women, and children alike all going about their routines. The thieves he noticed where standing back in the shadows watching and waiting for their next prey. It was then that he decided they would get their next prey and that prey would be their last. Eilstina watched as Vicven gazed out the window. She saw the look in his eyes as they drifted to the thieves; she knew the answer before he said it.
“We stay.” He said then descended the stairs.
Two weeks had passed since that day in the hallway, and Vicven had learned little to nothing about the thieves. Most people where too afraid to talk about them; and the ones that did knew nothing. Vicven had finally managed to get a lead by trapping one of the thieves in a deserted ally, but it only lead to a dead end.
Vicven sat on the bed deep in thought. He had been this way since he awoke; he decided it was a time for a brief break. The trip out of the room and down the stairs took little to no time what so ever. Many people lingered in the bar today, and why shouldn’t they it was a town holiday. It had been ten years today that the town militia had driven off the Orc tribe. Vicven made his way towards the table in the back where he always sat. As Vicven rounded the table he noticed two men sitting at his table, he thought nothing of it and made his way to the table next to them. Vicven took mental notes of the men as he passed the table; one was very large, (he looked to be half orc) and carried a great axe. The other man was rather small for a human, but he was indeed human, he carried two twin blades.
“Hey, you elf, they say you’re the one asking about the thieves? He big one whispered as Vicven passed the table. Vicven stopped and nodded at the man. The two motioned for him to sit at the table with them. He removed his sword from his hip and sat down putting the blade in his lap, a sign that meant he would not hesitate to fight back, if they attacked.
“Oh, you won’t need that little weapon. We are just here to talk.” The little man said to reassure Vicven. He could tell that the man was telling the truth, and placed his blade on the table.
“Hello Vicven, I’m Ga’laick Seerdon, and this is Jamgretor. We have been searching for you, for quite some time actually. You don’t make it easy for people to find you.” Ga’laick said.
“Darn right he doesn’t. We must have searched seven inns before we found you.” Jamgretor said. Vicven looked at the pair; they were an odd couple of people.
“That still doesn’t explain why you came looking for me.” Vicven stated.
“I would assume that the thieves would have sent you to kill me, so I would stop poking around.” The two looked at each other, they seemed to be talking but not saying anything, after a few seconds they both nodded.
“Well we are sure that the thieves will come to attack you, and we want to be there when they do because they have been terrorizing our town for too long.” Ga’laick said with determination. Jamgretor nodded his head and looked out the window.
“Something bad is going to happen soon, I can feel it.” Jamgretor said. Vicven looked at the two men; they seemed to be nice people.
“Yes you can join us, but I need to see how well you put those weapons to use.” Vicven responded with a smile sliding onto his face. He was glad he had made the trip down stairs.