Heart Of

Chapter 54 - To Brelzic

[the fourth day of the month of Lykos]

The next morning, after breakfast, Aushen and Valleus had a discussion that the knight was not pleased with. "Lenarik, come over here please," Aushen said, sitting on the edge of the bed. Valleus stood next to him, expression of vague disdain cast towards the bandit as he approached. "Hold out your arms towards Valleus, and stay still," the prince instructed.

Lenarik did as he was told. Valleus sighed, grasping one of the chain links around Lenarik's wrists and breaking it between his thumb and pointer finger. Lenarik stared in confusion. 'I thought these chains were iron... Maybe whatever about them that affects me affects their composition as well.' Valleus held the chain in place against Lenarik's left hand and unwound the remainder from his right hand. As though it was a chain of daisies instead of metal, he ripped the extra length off, leaving just enough to form a chain-link bracelet around Lenarik's left hand. Then, the knight closed his eyes in focus. Lenarik watched in awe as the two loose ends of chain on his left hand fused together, completing a snug (but not uncomfortably tight) band on Lenarik's wrist. To the bandit's surprise, it was impossible to tell which of the chain links had been broken before. 'How did he do that?!'

Valleus had bristled at the thought of removing Lenarik's binding, but Aushen made excellent points: Lenarik drew too much attention walking around chained, and he needed to be able to carry supplies. Further, as he was leading, he needed to be able to protect himself if necessary. Valleus didn't even trust the bandit as far as he could throw him, but he trusted Aushen's judgment, and so complied.

Once they were ready to go, the group wanted to leave Notsfur in a hurry. The villagers' piercing stares followed them with as much scrutiny as when they'd first entered. Unfortunately, their travel couldn't resume without the purchase of a horse and a small cart. Now that they'd be traveling down marked roads, they couldn't risk the attention carrying the unconscious Rien would bring.

Luckily, there was a man selling his horse and cart just down the road from the inn, but unluckily, he regarded these outsiders with suspicion. "What do you want her for?" the man asked Rohdri irritably after the Fiilzian inquired about his asking price. "She don't take kindly to strangers." This was an obvious lie, as the mild-mannered horse was nuzzling against Aushen's palm as they spoke.

Rohdri blinked, forcing a friendly smile onto his face. "We're traveling, and our friend is sick. We just need a better way to bring him along."

The man paused, studying the group before him. His eyes fixed on the large bag of yuza Rohdri held. "This horse is precious to me. She was a, uh... gift from my wife when we got married. I won't let her go for any less than two hundred and forty yuza." The man's shifty eyes showed that he'd clearly lied again, trying to work up an excuse to drain the group of every coin he could get.

Although Rohdri was still getting used to Theuril culture and the value of their currency, even he knew that was an outlandish thing to ask. "T-two hundred and forty? That's... an awful lot," Rohdri stammered, paling. "He wants two hundred and forty yuza for the horse and cart," the Fiilzian explained to his Kumbran companions.

Aushen and Valleus' eyes widened. "That much? Isn't that too high an asking price?" Valleus murmured. He didn't quite understand Theuril currency, but he remembered the locals' reaction to the hotel costs the night prior, and those were a fraction of what the man before them was asking now. Further, it wasn't as though this was his only horse and cart— just behind him in his stable, two more horses and a larger, nicer cart were also advertised for sale.

"I guess we don't have a choice—" Aushen began, but was cut off by Lenarik holding his hand up.

"Let me take care of this," he proposed, a look of irritation in his features. He couldn't do anything about being forced to obey and go along with this group of foreigners, nor could he do anything about them spending his (stolen) money, but he could at least keep them from wasting so much of it.