Robin: Inevitable War

The Journey

      Now that the message had been successfully delivered, Robin decided it was time to head out. Realizing all he had was a soggy bag and a sword sheath missing a sword, Robin went back into the river after putting his stuff on a rock to dry.

It has to be in here somewhere... it's a sword, it's not like it can get up and walk away.

He managed to find his second sword after a few minutes a little ways down the river, so he got out and walked back to the rock with his stuff. Looking through the bag, he disposed of the ruined food. He knew he would have to go into the nearest town if he didn't want to starve, so he wringed out a hat and put it on to cover his wolf-ears. Tucking his tail into his clothes, he put his bag and swords back on. Robin tried to dry out the map as best he could, but it was hard considering what it had just been through. He couldn't really make out the names of the towns anymore, but he could still see where they were so he started to head off towards the nearest one.

Luckily, the cliff was only on one side of the river, so he wouldn't have to do any climbing.

It was almost noon by the time he got out of the forest, and his clothes had finally dried out. He could see the outer rim of the nearest town, but he could tell it was still going to be awhile before he got to it.

There were a few fruit bushes here and there around the plain, so he decided to stop and pick some. He could see some hunters coming towards him to go into the forest, so he decided to not stay long. Putting most of the fruit in his bag, he started to head off towards the town in a direction that would prevent him from running into anyone.

He thought it might be odd to open-carry a sword into the town, but as he got closer he found out that just about everyone had their hands on a weapon. He didn't know if that was normal for a town, or if they were just taking precautions from a greater evil.

I wonder if King Umlaut's men actually support him or not, or if he's actually as bad as I've been told he was.

When he made it into the town, he could see that it mainly consisted of redgiants. He was a little nervous to approach one of them, so he walked up to the one that looked the least likely to harm him if he asked a few questions.

"Excuse me, would you mind if I asked a few questions? I'm not from around here," Robin backed up as the massive redgiant turned around. Robin had only just realized how much more muscle this redgiant had compared to the others.

Robin backed up a few steps and hesitantly looked towards the ground. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

The redgiant put on a huge smile. "Oh, it's not a bother. What do you need help with?"

He had an extremely soft and soothing voice, which was strange to hear when you looked upon him. He was dressed in all black, and had a wicked mustache growing. It looked like he could've been apart of a group of hunters, but on further inspection, he seemed almost completely harmless.

I guess I can expect all different kinds of characters on this adventure.

"My home is pretty far away," Robin stated, "and I was just wondering how this town was run. What do the hunter's jobs consist of?"

The man considered the question for a moment. "Well, they bring back food, slaves, and whatever else they can make a profit on. I think that's pretty universal."

I still don't know what a slave is, but at this point I would seem stupid to ask.

"What is your opinion on Umlaut?"

He seemed really taken aback about the question. "You do know what we aren't really supposed to discuss that, right? It's not like I can criticize him, or he will have my head on a plaque," he paused. "I think he's great."

Right. That's probably something Titan or Esmara should've told me. They can't speak against their king.

"Thank you, that's all I really needed to know. Can you point me towards the market?"

"Sure thing, it's right over there." The man smiled and sent a quick goodbye towards Robin, and Robin did the same back.

He walked past a few houses and people before making it to the market. It was larger than he expected, and filled with activity. He saw many different stands with food, clothing, and other things, but what interested him the most was not any of these things.

Well, I think I know what a slave is now.

There were masses of people chained by their necks in a line to a wall behind them. Their hands were bound, and there were hunters guarding them. Some of the chained had thick rings around their necks, showing that they were magic users. If any of them tried to use their magic with one of those things on them, well, it wouldn't feel very good.

Apparently hunters don't just hunt for food, they hunt for people too.

Robin felt the urge to save them, even if he could only save one, and maybe gain a companion for his trip. He soon realized that they were too expensive for what he owned, and he couldn't risk the mission. He hurried on, trying not to meet the eyes of the desperate-to-escape slaves. He had no idea about how they were treated, and he didn't really want to know.

Walking up to one of the food markets, he pulled out the few coins he had.

"What can I get with this?" Robin asked a short woman sitting behind the stand.

The clerk eyed the money before offering up a few cuts of meat, fruits and vegetables. Using all of his money to get the most plentiful option he was offered, he headed off in the direction the map pointed him towards. Looking upwards, Robin could tell that the sun was going to set soon and that he would have to make up a camp soon.

I have two choices: make a camp near the town while there is still light outside and risk being taken by a hunter, or try to find a safe spot away from town in the dark. I think I'm gonna risk moving away from the town. I don't want to be caught and chained to a fence like that.

Robin shuddered at the thought of belonging to someone, having to do all their dirty work for nothing. Starting off at a brisk pace, he found his way out of the town. He still couldn't see any signs of water or of the port he was supposed to find, Port Laville, so Robin suspected it would still be at least another day's walk from where he was at.

Getting more and more paranoid as the sun fell in the sky, Robin became more cautious about everything he was doing. Traveling alone is the worst thing you can do at night, and it seemed like a hunter was going to jump out at him at any moment.

Okay, I should probably stop here, it has just enough cover to hide in. Besides, I'm just scaring myself. I doubt that there are many hunters out here.

He decided to sleep behind a large bush, so he gathered up as many things he could use to hide himself as he could. The weather was just warm enough so that he didn't have to make a fire, and he only needed enough cover to hide himself from danger. 

Once Robin was comfortable with his makeshift sleeping area, he curled up to the sound of owls hooting overhead and quickly fell asleep.