The Sword Maiden

Not the Finnleys

Daxton investigated the rest of the town in relative silence.  He kept up his dank, glowering look, scaring everyone who looked at him.  To make up for it, I tried to keep up at least a half smile.  People must have thought we were the oddest pair.  

We found the town to be, beyond the market and smithy, a bunch of houses to the north.  They were arranged in orderly little blocks, all seemed to be about the same color and size.  I found this odd, as most towns weren't this way, some houses were big, some small, some brown and some gray.  

There also weren't many gardens.  Most women in other towns had at least a little square patch that they took care of.  Of course, those who were married to farmers had huge gardens.  But I saw few small gardens, and no big gardens.  

Finally we made our way back to the square.  Redwar was already there, leaning up against the huge sycamore tree that was the center of the square.  Figs were on the branches, but nowhere near close to being ripened.  I wondered what a fig tasted like.  

It's cool shade was a relief after riding around in the sun, which was getting stronger as it reached its noon height.   I slid off of Axe and Daxton followed suit. 

"What'd you find?"  Redwar asked as he calmly stroked the pommel of his sword.  

Daxton remained mute, so I spoke up.  "The market is not as big as Ladris's, but nowhere near as small as Baradom's.  However, there were many women in it.  Daxton surmised that they were the wives of miners, and we found out that there's at least one mine around here.  The blacksmith seems to make mostly pickaxes and shovels, I only saw one sword and two daggers."

"There was also a small bakery.  Only one fruit seller was there, and he had Pearlots.  That's how we found out for sure about the mine, because he said the miners eat them often."  

"To the north is mostly houses.  They're all square shaped, and about the same size.  They're the same color, a dark gray, for the most part.  Not hardly any gardens or flowers."  I wound up my summary.  

Redwar nodded thoughtfully.  "Alright.  Hear anything about that big clock?"  

I shook my head.  "Not one word."  

I half expected Redwar to turn to Daxton and ask what he thought of the town, but he left him alone.  I swung my canteen around and took a couple gulps of water as we waited for Valeria and Derrek.

They weren't long behind us.  Redwar asked them the same question.  

"The Sheriff's office is just down that road," Valeria said, pointing down the way they'd come.  "It's jail is right there was well.  It's not very big, and looks a little flimsy."

"The courthouse is at the bend of the road.  It's not as big as that tower of a clock, but it's still sizeable," Derrek chimed in.  

"And there's really not much beyond that.  There's a couple of houses, and they look really nice, but that's it," Valeria finished.  

Redwar nodded again, then told me to tell them all that we'd found.  

When I finished, Redwar pushed himself off the tree.  "If I had to guess," he mused, "The mine, or mines, would be over that way," he said as he pointed towards the north.  

"Why?"  Piped up Derrek.  

"All the houses are that way.  It'd make sense to build the houses as close as possible to the mines."

Redwar had made the same arrangement with the tavern owner that we'd had with the Finnleys.  But when I stepped in, I could instantly tell that I wasn't going to like this place as well.