Tales of Vyscher Book 1

Chapter 10

In the sevenday that Rek and Vic had been at the castle, Vic's room had undergone a drastic remodeling. The bed was now larger, so as to better accommodate two sleepers, and all the sitting chairs had been replaced with larger divans or couches, to provide more places to sit together. Both girls had lent a hand in repainting the room as well, giving it a light purple hue that looked gorgeous when the light of the setting sun hit it. Even the balcony underwent some changes, swapping out the chair and table set with a pair of chaises to take advantage of where the best view was, as well as low tables for snacks and drinks.

The balcony tables were in use now with a carafe of a sweet white wine to go along with some figs, nuts and soft cheese and crackers. Sunset would be approaching soon, and it would be their last one before reporting back for duty the next morning. As such the pair were lounging in each other's arms on the chaise that faced to the west, watching the shifting lights as the sun approached the tops of the mountains.

"Are you ready to go back, love?" Vic murmured to Rek; her lips nuzzled up against her ear.

"Mmmhmm, as long as we're going together, I'm ready," Rek replied with a contented sigh. "You sure you don't want to do the dinner with your parents?"

They had spent quite a few meals over the week with Vic's family, from lunches with Cobbil and Tebbin to a dinner with the entire family. Rek had been a little intimidated at first, but her natural ebullient attitude quickly won over the rest of the family. Now though they just wanted the last night alone before they would be thrust back into potential danger.

"Oh, yes, I'm very sure. This is exactly how I want to spend the night."

"Me too. I could get used to this whole princess life thing," Rek giggled.

"Well, my parents did say I could keep my quarters as long as needed, so I guess you'll have to. Most Bishops get their own places after they graduate training, anyway, so why can't this be ours. Besides, now that we've redecorated, it would be a shame to move out."

"I'll have to move a few things in," Rek said shyly.

"Then we'll have to get some more wardrobes, I think we can handle that!" Vic said in a matter-of-fact tone. "You'll have no reason to look elsewhere."

Rek spun in her arms to face her and gave her a deep kiss. "I never needed a reason to leave, all my reasons for staying are you."

Vic blushed, "You're my reason for everything."

It took less than two days as a guard on the small merchant caravan before Serev realized that there was something wrong with the merchant. Koplin seemed like a normal enough trader, with a pair of wagons and three other guards. But the wagons held nothing but food stuff for the guards as well as some crates of manacles. That hardly seemed like much to trade, and it certainly didn't seem like he would need four guards for a load of manacle unless there were a lot of bandits or goblins in the area.

He had signed her on quickly, not seeming to care about her qualifications, and they had set off that same morning. Taking look at the other guards, it made sense, they looked more like street thugs than professional guards that would help against bandits. He had simply said they were picking up livestock and delivering them, so she had assumed there would be cattle somewhere for them to pick up. But now, with mountains on the horizon, it seems like the livestock might very well be waiting for them there, and the chains in the crates made it obvious that Koplin deemed slaves to be livestock.

She silently seethed in anger. She would never deliver slaves, and those that dealt in them were the worst kind of scum.