Put back together

37. Risks and respect

Elliott had not been a fan of Logan's new shirt at first. Not at all.
The librarian hoped that no one was going to ask him about the small bite marks on his collar. Because somehow over the last few days Elliott's teeth had gotten a lot sharper.
At least they didn't bite people anymore.
They had eventually tired themselves out and fallen asleep in one of his coat pockets.

It was warmer here in Terona than Logan was used to.
Up on Natica the air was cool, even when the sun shone and in the dark forest of the Cursed Islands where no sun light ever reached the ground it was never really warm either.
However here it was warm even in the shadows.
It made Logan sleepy.

They walked on a road between tall thin trees and at almost every crossroad there was a small fountain framed by clay bricks and signs pointing the way to cities and places, some of which he had heard of and some he hadn't.
Virgil didn't seem to pay any attention to the signs but kept taking the path towards Onsteda.
Logan wondered how many times he had gone there.

It was late in the afternoon by now and the buzzing of insects filled the air when they finally reached the city.

The buildings were painted in bright colours and seemed to be stacked on top of, leaned against eachother.
Children ran around in the stone paved streets and adults filled the many small shops that lined the street.

Logan had read about cities, had read about how many people lived in them, but actually seeing all these people was weird.
He had never seen so many people in his live.

"How are we supposed to find a cartograph around here?" he asked trying to take everything in.

Patton shrugged next to him.

"I know that there is one who lives in the castle," Virgil said. "Not sure if there's another one."

"We can just ask someone," Roman suggested. "Cause I'd rather not go there. Too risky."

"Sounds good to me!" Patton agreed and went straight to the nearest person. "Excuse me, can you tell me where I could buy a map around here?"

He smiled at her and Logan was pretty sure that he was actually glowing.

"There's a cartograph in the palast. You can just ask the guards where exactly. They're quite helpful," the woman smiled.

"Is there any other place where we can find a map?" Patton asked again.

"No, I don't think so," she replied shaking her head. "There used to be one near the market place but she retired a few years ago."

"Oh, okay. Thank you very much!", Patton turned back to them. "Guess we don't really have a choice..."

Roman swore under his breath. As the crown prince he could be very valuable to the teronan king if he planned to pay Sallerow back for the last war between the two kingdoms.

"Let's just be careful," Logan said. "And maybe you should hide your sword hilt."
He gestured at the golden sun worked into the hilt of the weapon.
"I doubt they'll trust someone who's carrying a sword with the sallerowan crest on it."

Roman quickly tugged his shirt over it.

"While we're here we could also look try to find a bow or something for one of you," the prince suggested.

"I have something else to do, so how about we just meet back here in two hours?" Virgil spoke up fiddling with his sleeve.

"Sounds like a plan," Logan agreed.

Patton and Roman nodded.

"See y'all later then," with that and a weird handgesture the mage disappeared into the crowd.