Donner and Thalia: The Lair of the Rat God (Episode 1)

Chapter 3

3.

"So, do you feel proud of yourself? Vanquishing the dread terror of the huge rat? Surely the bards will work for days to begin this epic poem," Thalia said as she walked at Donner's side on the way to the Town Hall.

"Every great Knight comes from humble beginnings," Donner said, "With my first contract completed, I can officially register as Knight and start taking higher-paying jobs. All it takes is one great achievement, and the next thing you know, I've earned a name of my own. I'll be dubbed by the royalty of Kinleath. I'll start getting invitations to fancy castle court parties. I'll get to rub shoulders with the nobles," he turned to Thalia, "I'm going places, you better believe it."

Twenty-five gold, for one day of work. That was almost as much as his father would pay him for an order that took a week. He made his way inside and held the door open for Thalia. Once again, he straightened his shoulders and puffed out his chest as he made his way to an oak desk with a clerk behind it, furiously scribbling away in a book.

"Hello, who do I talk to about turning in a Contract?"

The clerk put his quill down. "A contract, yes, of course, do you have it signed by the maker?"

"Yes, I do," Donner smiled as he pulled out his parchment and rolled it out on the desk in front of the clerk. "Signed and completed, twenty-five gold please," Donner held his hand out for payment.

The clerk gave the contract a once over, and everything seemed in order, "Very good, are you a registered Knight?"

"No actually this is my first contract, was hoping I could register here as well, is that possible?"

"Yes, of course," he said as he reached into his desk. "Once you register officially as a Knight, you can receive payment and be allowed to take higher-ranked contracts," the clerk pulled out a large stack of printed papers held together with a small metal clip. "There's just a little bit of paperwork you must fill out, for the Capital archives, of course," he said, handing the stack to Donner.

Donner flipped through them, ten pages, front and back printed, "Do you need this much information?"

"The capital likes to have thorough records of Knights employed. We need to have a way to know who the best fighters are in case of a rampaging dragon, or other such beast or calamity, or if war were declared."

Donner sighed, "Can I borrow a quill?"

The clerk handed Donner a black quill and some ink, and he took a seat by a small table with Thalia before he inked his quill and started to fill out the forms.

"Okay, name, Donner McClure...birthday...parents...this might take a while," he said, looking up at Thalia.

"Is this the kind of high-flying adventure you thought being a Knight would give you? filling out paperwork? You know they say that adventures are only a tenth of what most of the higher-ranked Knights do, are you sure you don't want to rethink your career choices?"

"It's not so bad, not like I'll have to fill this out every time, it's just to get me started. There are a lot of Knights out there. It only makes sense the capital wants some information to keep track of all of them. Though some of these questions on the back pages are little, odd," Donner said as he thumbed through the packet.

"How so?" Thalia asked, crossing her legs and leaning against the wall.

"Like here, what phase was the moon in on the day of your birth? This is ridiculous. Look at this question. What astrological phenomenon, if any, occurred while your mother was pregnant." He looked up, "How am I supposed to know this?"