The Sceptre of Samnos

Ilandia Part 4

     Monk saw they were making the woodsman uncomfortable and changed the subject, asking about life in their home town. Shaun and Matthew answered their questions gladly while sipping their drinks, and when the soldiers began fingering their empty glasses meaningfully Shaun took the hint and bought another four drinks from the barmaid. Just ales this time. If they’d spent the whole afternoon drinking ‘old and filthy’ they would have been under the table in short order.

      The ale was surprisingly good for city booze and the four men downed several of the half pint glasses while chatting amiably like old friends. After a while the two forest men were feeling pleasantly light headed and began talking quite freely about their families, especially Diana, and the soldiers were impressed and surprised to learn that they had a cleric of Caroli in the family. They in turn told amusing stories about their commanding officers and some of the city’s priests of Samnos, but even though they mocked the followers of the God of War, the forest men could tell they had a grudging respect for them and would probably have been happier following them into battle than their secular superiors.

     The hours passed quickly in the tavern, and soon the soldiers announced that they had to report for duty. “This’d be a bad day to be put on a charge,” explained the taller of the two men, whose name, Shaun realized, he’d forgotten to ask. “Got a three day pass coming up, and Florrie’s bed needs warming up for her.” He winked at the woodsman, thanked them for their enjoyable company and then they left, passing a word with another of the inn’s customers as they went. "We'd better leave soon as well," said Matthew. "It's getting late."

     "Yeah, sure," said Shaun, who was beginning to feel pleasantly relaxed. "Just one more glass of the old falling down potion first though, eh? Tess, one more glass for me and my little brother here, if you would please." As the barmaid placed the drinks on the counter he fingered around in his pouch and found to his surprise that he was right out of silver and copper coins. With a sudden sense of foreboding, and cursing himself for losing track of his finances, he took out a gold clannet. "I'm afraid that's all I've got left," he said quietly, trying to hold the heavy coin so that his hand hid it from the view of the house's other customers.

     The barmaid's sudden shocked intake of breath was heard by everyone even above the hubbub of conversation, however, and a deathly silence descended as every eye in the room fixed on the glittering gold coin. Shaun knew he'd made a dreadful mistake and was stone cold sober as Tess, with a look of profound respect, took the coin and almost emptied the till to give him his change. Matthew watched in horror as one of the tavern's patrons slipped out of the door with a crafty look on his face. They drank their drinks as quickly as possible, while trying to maintain an image of confidence and security, and then left hurriedly. Outside it was getting dark. They hadn't realised it was so late.

     "Untie your sword, Matt," said Shaun as they hurried off down the road in the direction the barmaid had given them. “Let’s hope Monk and his pal were just trying to scare a couple of gullible out of towers.” The narrow streets and alleyways, which had seemed charming and quaint only a couple of hours before, now seemed sinister and threatening, with menace lurking in every shadow. They hadn't gone a hundred yards before their worst fears were realised as three ugly men with drawn swords stepped out of a doorway, blocking their path. One of them was the man who'd left the tavern a few minutes before. Another two men appeared behind them, blocking their retreat.

     "Now we don't want any trouble, do we?" said one of the men, smiling evilly. "Just hand over all your money and we'll let you go on your way." He advanced slowly, the other two close behind him. "Come on," he demanded, holding out a grimy, calloused hand. "Hand it over."

     Neither Shaun nor Matthew believed they would let them go, however, and they drew their swords. "Come and get it," said Shaun, trying to look and sound as mean and hard as he could. He knew that muggers were cowards, that they spent their lives looking for easy targets. He and Matthew were not only young, they looked young, and the brigands no doubt thought that their swords were only for show, that they had little, if any, experience with them. If they could convince them that they knew how to defend themselves, however, they might just slink away in search of easier prey.