A Quest of Dragons The Heart of Winter

Bandits

The morning came early and Gavin was already making preparations to leave. In his room he worked amidst the light of two bedside candles. The door creaked open slowly and Sariel stumbled in and crumbled to the floor, barely coherent.

"Feeling alright?" Gavin asked, nudging her thigh. "Have you packed everything you need?"

She grunted.

Gavin smirked and kept on working. He collected his things, a short sword in its scabbard, a worn chain-mail shirt he would wear under his tunic, a day or two worth of dried meat for the journey and two changes of clothes. He also prepared two skins of water just in case they didn't make town in the time he thought. A couple of blankets and a short bow with a quiver of arrows finished off his pack. "You ready?"

Sariel grunted again and again, Gavin jabbed her in the side. "Hey, let's get moving!"

"Don't touch me," Sariel complained. "I'll move when I'm ready."

"Suit yourself," Gavin said finally. "I'll just keep the treasure for myself."

Sariel's ears pearked at the announcement. She opened her eyes and jumped to her feet. "I'm ready!" She frowned when Gavin handed her the pack and everything else but his short sword.

"Great," he announced. "Bring this to the stables."

"What about..."

"You agreed to do whatever I said," Gavin retorted. "We can take a horse and wagon from the stables."

Sariel wrapped her arms around the pack. "I've got it just fine. I don't need your help."

"Are you going to be like this the entire trip?"

"Depends. Are you going to be an ass the whole time?"

Gavin sighed. "Haven't even left yet and already I wish you weren't coming." He pushed her toward the bedroom door and the two headed down a creaky wooden stairs. "Be as quiet as possible," Gavin whispered. "I don't want anyone to know where we are going."

The stairwell was dark and the two crept their way out the front door. They headed around the back of the Inn and approached the stables.

"So, what, we're just stealing a horse and wagon?" Sariel asked, stopping short of the large wooden pull door. "You're joking, right?"

"What's the matter?" Gavin asked. "You've broken into places, picked their locks and no doubt taken a few things with you and now, you have a problem with stealing a horse and wagon. THAT'S a joke, right?"

Sariel slapped his arm. "Oh shut up!" she shouted, her voice echoing in the dark morning sky. "Just be quiet!"

Gavin went silent and once again neither of them said a thing. Gavin reached out and grabbed the large wooden handle and began to pull the door open. He was working in the dark and basically blind at this point. He could hear the horses rummaging around in their stalls and munching at some hay. He reached back and pulled Sariel with him. "Come on," he whispered. "Let's get out of here."

Suddenly in the center of the room three torches sparked and lit up. In the torchlight, Gavin could see a familiar face dancing in the flames. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" An older man's voice called. "Looks like the spider caught himself a couple of flies. Where do you think you're going, Mr. Gabrielle?"

"A horse's ass to you," Gavin spat. "My business is my own."

"I've got bad news," the man warned. "As of today, your business belongs to me." The torchlight now fully illuminated the man's face.

"Damien," Gavin announced. "Damien Black, you sonuvabitch."

Damien smiled. "Just remember who pulled you out of that snow drift," he said. "Maybe think twice before you leave me stranded next time."

"Come on, Damien, you and I both know that only one of us was leaving on that sled," Gavin complained. "Don't be such a baby."

Two crossbows illuminated in the torchlight. "I'm not playing games this time," Damien warned. "So here's how it goes down, you and me, we're splitting this score right down the middle, 50/50. That'll make us even, that'll make us about square."

Gavin looked over at Sariel then back to Damien. "Alright, you sonuvabitch, I'll give you half of my share, deal?" He stuck out his hand.

Damien accepted the handshake and pulled Gavin in close. "Don't screw me over again," he warned. "Otherwise..." The crossbows trained on Sariel.

Gavin raised an eyebrow. "I just met her last night. I couldn't care less."

"You horse's ass!" Sariel shouted, hitting him across the side of the head. "And after I agreed to help you."

"Oh bugger off!" Gavin chastised. "Last night's meal cost me a small fortune and you've the nerve to shite on me? Maybe I should leave you with them."

A chuckle echoed in the shadows behind Damien Black. "Yeah," he said with an inflection in his voice. "We will take good care of her."

"Gavin!" Sariel said, frustrated. "Are you serious?"

Gavin smirked, Sariel hated it. "No, I'm not. The girl comes with me and we go alone, understand?"

Damien cocked his head. "And here I was hoping we'd have entertainment for the evening." He snuffed his torch and moments later, he and his cohorts were gone.

"Damien?" Gavin asked the shadows. "D-Damien?" He turned to Sariel. "I guess he agreed to my terms." Gavin started to laugh but it was cut short by a hard slap from Sariel.

"Barter with my life again and you'll have more than a slap to worry about."

Gavin cocked his jaw and swallowed the pain. "Not sure I deserved that," he stated. Gavin searched around and followed the sound of horses in the stables. They took several minutes preparing the cart and horse and finally were headed down the road to Ravenshire.

The journey was quiet with both Gavin and Sariel plotting their next moves. Gavin had fastened his short sword to his side and had lit a lantern that he took from the stables. He hung it over the side of the cart.

"At this pace, it'll take us roughly a day to get to Ravenshire," Gavin explained. "Before we arrive, how much do you know about the three deities?"

"What do they have to do with anything?"

The cart hit a bump and it rocked back and forth, causing them both to lose there ballance momentarily.

"Everything," Gavin revealed. "See, the Queen of life, the King of Death and the Duke of Spirits all are said to have their own burial chambers in Ravenshire except they're all buried deep beneath the abandoned city. Many have tried to purge these tombs of their treasure's and none have returned, except for one. One man escaped."

The lantern flickered and Sariel leaned in to Gavin. "How do you know all of this?"

Gavin breathed deeply. Then he smiled slowly and softly. "I was that man. I've been to the Duke's tomb and I'm the reason his spirit is haunting Ravenshire." He looked back and saw Sariel in the lantern light. She sat back against the cart.

"You have got to be kidding me," Sariel sighed. She looked exhausted already. "I'm beginning to think it would have been better if you hadn't escaped."

Gavin laughed. "You're the worst partner I've ever had and I don't say that often."

"Isn't it usually someone else saying that to you?" Sariel asked, taking another jab at Gavin's pride. "Now I understand why you..."

"I knew I shouldn't have said anything," Gavin said quietly. "I knew you wouldn't understand."