The Sorcerers Journey

Chapter 2 : The Stranger

  Guy walks into the guardhouse looking for captain Barlow. The main room of the guardhouse is a spacious area, made up of chairs and tables. Many on the off duty guards spent their time in this room playing dice or cards. Guy walks through the room to see if the captain was lounging around, but to no avail.
  Spotting his good friend Jean playing a hand of poker. Guy begans to walk towards him to see if he knows anything of the captain's whereabouts. "Jean!" Guy called out. "Do you know where Captain Barlow might be?" He pulls a chair with him to sit, as to not disrupt the game much further.
  Jean turns and lays his cards down as for no one at the table to see them. He looks puzzled and thinks for a few seconds before answering. "I believe I heard him say something about the stranger requesting an audience with him and the mayor." Jean looks back to the table and frowns, someone had a higher hand than him, and he knew he was going to loose. Jean folded and stood, stretching with a yawn.
  Jean was a bit shorter than Guy and a bit more stocky, as well, he was built like a work horse. With a round face, a button nose, brown hair, and hazel eyes. Jean was born in Doestan and was raised by his grandparents, for his true parents died to a sickness soon after he was born.
  Guy stands with Jean, looking puzzled, "That's strange isn't it? Not everyone can get an audience with the mayor, let alone the Capitan as well." Guy looks around thinking of what he should do, then Jean interrupts his thoughts.
"Why dont we go listen in?" Jean says with a wicked smile. He had always been a bit of a troublemaker."What harm could it do? It's not as if they would know that we have." Jean begins to walk towards the door with guy following suit.
"Jean I don't like this, if we get caught we could both be in bigger trouble than what you think!" Jean walks through the door taking a deep breath of the fresh winter air, a fresh snow had just powdered the ground erlier that morning.
  Jean looks at guy and smirks, "My dear friend you worry to much, do you ever loosen up?" He says as he spreads his arms wide and back steps toward the mayor's office. Guy begins to get red in the face and follows him grumbling to himself about not wanting mop duty. Jean looks towards Guy and laughs, pushing him a bit. "All will be fine Guy, trust me." He says with a wink and quickens his step.
  The walk to the mayor's office takes them about ten minutes. The building its self is not extremely special, just a two story farmhouse fitted for the duties of the mayor. There were no guards at the door, which struck guy as odd, there were always at least two watching the entrance.
  Guy looks over at Jean with a worried expression, "Do you think something is wrong? This is definitely not normal." If Jean is worried he did not show it, in fact he looked eager, as if his thought process was that it would be easier to listen in. Which is exactly what Jean was thinking
  Jean not looking towards Guy for conformation starts to head into the building, "Come on Guy, now is as good a chance as any." Jean notices that Guy hasn't moved. "Guy come on, there is no time to waste!" Jean grabs Guy by the wrist with a wicked grin and pulls him in.
  The foyer to the mayor's office was a bit dark as the candles used to light the room are in need of being replaced, coupled with the cloud cover and recent snow it's much darker than normal. The clerk who would normally be waiting to greet anyone who walked in was not at her desk, nor anywhere to be seen. Which again struck Guy as strange. Jean noticed Guy's worried look and slapped him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, the Captain most likely dismissed the guards, and the mayor probably gave Jillian the rest of the day off, so let's go." Jean continues on towards the stairs.
  Guy reluctantly follows behind Jean up the stairs that lead to the mayor's office. Two steps before the top of the staircase the captain walks out of the mayor's office and spots Guy and Jean. He looks at the tow of them with a somber expression. "Guy I need you to come with me into the office and listen to what the stranger has to say, it's something that will change your life."
Guy looks over at Jean worry evident on his face, and looks back over at the Captain. "Captain Barlow, what's wrong? Who is this stranger?" Barlow just turns around and shakes his head, "Its just best that you come with me, Jean you head back to the guardhouse I'll be back soon." Barlow turns back around and walks to the door opening it and waits for Guy.
  Jean now begins to worry, what could this person want with his best friend, who could this be. Before Guy could get to far from him Jean grabs him by the arm and looks home in the eyes, "Guy be careful and be weary of this man." Jean looks away, "I feel that something is amiss." Jean squeezes his friend's arm worried for his future and his wellbeing. He let's go of Guy's arm and turns to walk down the stairs and back to guardhouse, Guy wonders if he will ever see his friend again.