The Shady Adventures of Fabian

Chapter 58

"Are you going to sleep all day or what, mate?" Briawny said as she gave Fabian a little kick in the ribs. "Daylight's wasting."

Fabian opened his eyes with great effort as it felt like they were glued shut. A tiny bit of daylight was barely starting to appear over the hills. Otherwise it was still pitch black. "You've gotta be kidding me, lady. Let me sleep another hour."

"You can sleep here as long as you want, but the rest of us are taking off. I, for one, am happy to leave you behind."

Fabian sat up and immediately winced at the pain in his shoulder.

"I took the liberty of bandaging that up for you, sir," Brandon said. "You lost a lot of blood, but I think you'll heal nicely. Derek taught me a couple of tricks about healing during our time together."

"That guy actually talked about something other than goats?" Fabian said as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "That's amazing."

"Here, we saved you this for breakfast," Briawny said as she shoved the liver of some sort of creature at him. "The rest of us have already eaten. You can take that with you on the road, since you'll be riding in the bitch seat behind Sir Mikael."

"I'm pretty sure whatever seat you're in is the bitch seat," Fabian muttered as he hopped back on the saddle behind the paladin.

"Come on!" Briawny called back as she urged her horse into a gallop. "If we travel hard today we can reach the kingdom of Therosh by nightfall. I have a friend who works in the castle and can probably find us proper beds. From there we'll be less than a day's ride from the wizard's tower."

"A proper bed sounds nice," Fabian conceded. "And in a castle? Is it a good castle this time with lots of fancy stuff? Because that last castle kind of blew."

"Therosh is a small but wealthy kingdom. I'm sure you will find the accommodations satisfactory."

They rode for several hours across a vast grassland before entering a sparsely wooded area. They encountered a stray orc, but Briawny lopped off its head with a single blow as she rode past.

Fabian had been getting jarred around on the horse for hours and between his ass and his shoulder he was in a tremendous amount of pain. He really wished he still had his supply of dreamweed. Maybe someone at the castle could provide a hookup of some sort. The servants often could be relied upon to have something.

The sun was just beginning to set over the horizon when they spotted the castle in the distance. It wasn't big as far as castles went, but it did have a bunch of ornate carvings on the outside that spoke of a decent amount of wealth.

They reached the gate about an hour later and found it was already closed for the night. Briawny dismounted from her horse and rapped loudly on the wooden doors.

"Who goes there?" a voice called down from above.

"Oy! It's Briawny! Is Gareth around?"

"Gareth's in the castle attending to the king. His Majesty is very ill, I'm afraid. Still, I've heard Gareth talk about the brave Briawny before and I know he holds you in high esteem. I'll take you and your companions in to see him."

There was a loud creaking sound and the gates opened slowly. A small man in leather armor greeted them carrying a torch. "An honor it is to meet you, Briawny. I'm Irwin the guard. Let me put your horses in the stable. Then come into the castle and I'll fetch Gareth for you."

He led them across a courtyard filled with numerous fountains and statues covered in ivy. Fabian was starting to like the look of this place more and more. There was sure to be some valuable stuff inside.