A Talking Sword

Chapter 3 - "New Beginnings"

In the morning, we had packed all of our belongings in large rolls and set them on the ground outside the inn. Everyone except for Circa, that is.

Finally, she came down the staircase and exited the front doors of the Inn. Her hair was a mess; she held Circa-the-bow limply at her side.

I tried not to make fun of her. "Forgetting something?" I snickered.

"What's up? Let's go." she said.

Haut leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Is she drunk?"

"Almost definitely," I replied.

Ulith approached her lovingly. "Circa? Don't you have anything to bring with you?"

Circa shrugged. "I burned all of my personal belongings except the clothes on my back and this bow." She looked down awkwardly to the bow in her hand.

Ulith frowned, then returned his face to normal. "You'll be okay," he assured her.

"Of course I will!" she retorted quickly. "It is an elvish custom for us to burn all non-essentials when we leave a home to journey out and start a new life."

Ulith frowned worriedly. I got the feeling that that wasn't true.

"I'm pretty sure that's not true," I replied. "You shouldn't burn your belongings when we're about to leave on what could be a long trip, Circa."

"You're disrespecting my culture," Circa said. "Back in Errvezamond, you could be put to death for that."

"If I ever meet an elf I'm going to have a lot of questions to ask him," I challenged. She pretended she didn't hear me.

With that, we all picked up our belongings, passed by the town hall and saluted it--I'm not really sure why--and headed out of Manshelm. Ulith decided we should walk north on the main road to Rhone in order to find a suitable town or client for our abilities. He seemed excited at our prospects.

"I love new beginnings," he said as we walked along. "It's great to not be tied down. We've been growing in skill, so finding a job shouldn't be a problem. And look at how nature greets us!"

"Oh, I totally agree," said Circa happily. "I just love being homeless, wandering, not knowing the next time we'll be paid . . . " She glared angrily at the woods to our left.

The pale sunlight rose above the tree line and glanced warmly off the green leaves of the forest to either side of the main road. We had walked out of Manshelm before sun-up; now it seemed the sun had been rejuvenated by its trip below the horizon. To our right, a distant farmer walked around his toolshed. He had just woken up and was preparing to feed the chickens. He had probably been up already for several hours. People got to work early in Manshelm.

Soon we came to the end of the rickety fence protecting the farmer's land. His plots stopped, and there were unplowed plains for a couple miles. The forest continued on our left. Not much else to say about that. It was your standard forest. Too thick to see the other side but not threateningly so.

Oh, on the first day's journey we passed a pond with a couple ducks in it. Circa sent an arrow at one because we would need food in the future. She missed. In any case, it would have taken many ducks to feed Haut alone, not to mention the entire group. I wondered if I was the only one worried about our future.

Circa limped along behind the group with a wounded pride. I wasn't too worried about her aim--she might've been seeing double, and chose the wrong duck--but she needed to stop drinking. Maybe she'd calm down a bit when we found another town or something else to keep her busy. Even just a traveling circus. We managed to convince one to stop in Manshelm for an evening last year with the help of Ms. Havyborth's roast chickens. Circa went to a cart where anyone could win prizes for throwing three rings around a stake in the ground. She won a doll for every girl and a wooden sword for every boy in all of Manshelm. She didn't have time to drink at all that night.