When they re-entered the city, Fero was immediately struck by the smells. They had seemed considerably less in the parkland of the Duke, and he could almost imagine he was back in the countryside. However, when they left the gardens and park, the stink of the city hit him again.
‘How can people live like this?’ he thought.
When Carthinal and Asphodel left for their respective destinations, he and Basalt wandered around the city getting to know it a little better. It did not improve with the knowledge in his opinion.
‘The sooner I can get a job that takes me out of here the better,’ he grumbled to Basalt. ‘I really don’t like cities. They are crowded and they smell.’
‘Yes, well,’ replied the dwarf. ‘They do give a lot of employment to people though. Many things are good about them. The land could not support so many people all trying to grow food on their own small bits, or hunt the game in their own areas. It would soon be depleted, not to mention a little fact of safety. It’s safer in a city with others around and walls to protect you.’
‘I suppose you’re right, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.’
They had found themselves once more outside the walls of the Ducal Palace in the centre of the city. It divided the city into four areas, and Basalt and Fero had just come from the area known as the Warren, which was the poor quarter of the city, and was the place where the thieves, assassins, common whores, beggars and honest poor lived out their lives. It was also the reason for Fero’s complaints about the smells, for although the city now boasted a sewer system, the homes in the Warren were not connected, as the inhabitants could not afford it. That and the close proximity of the dwellings and the unwashed bodies, not to mention the piles of horse dung all added to the noisome atmosphere. The road cleaners did not clean up these streets, as they did not go into this area, it being deemed not important enough. All these things went to make the Warren a very smelly place to be. The two of them, therefore, decided to return to the Golden Dragon to get cleaned up and eat a meal.
After their meal, they were sitting in the main room of the inn when Carthinal returned from the Tower. He had a scruffy and smelly boy with curly red hair with him. Carthinal answered their queries by telling them that this was the boy who had stolen his pouch and he was going to question him about the theft and get his goods back.
The other two waited as Carthinal took the boy to their room to question him. Much to their amazement, Carthinal returned with the boy saying that he was going to get his stolen things back.
‘How do you think he got the boy to agree to return the goods?’ asked Fero.
‘Search me,’ replied the dwarf, ‘but mages can do some strange things and compel you against your will, it is said. Maybe he put some sort of glamour on the boy.’
‘Didn’t think he was powerful enough for that yet,’ replied Fero. ‘Still, if he can get that figurine, Duke Rollo would be grateful I think.’
Basalt took out his pipe and ordered a couple of ales for the pair of them. They sat there enjoying each other’s company, and planning what they were going to do the next day to find work.
Eventually, Carthinal returned. Fero sniffed the air and observed that Carthinal smelled like a sewer rat, but Bas was less restrained in his comments, and so Carthinal, grinning, left to partake of a bath. When he returned, he told them of his adventure in the sewers beneath the town, and that although he had got his pouch back, the boy had already sold the figurine. However, he was prepared to try to get it back.
‘You amaze me, Carthinal,’ said Fero. ‘How you managed to get a thief to return his ill-gotten gains I will never guess.’
‘No, friend, I don’t suppose you will,’ was all the reply he got. ‘I’ve got a test tomorrow, and so you will excuse me if I do some work for it, won’t you?’ With that, Carthinal opened a book and began to read it.
Eventually, the others decided to leave him to it and go to bed.
