Chapter 242: Telling Maveith
As soon as I was out of sight of the city of Sagren and the surrounding farms, I moved off the road. It was a long way to Sobral, and I suspected anyone walking alone would be swept up by passing blocks of soldiers. Army camps required a lot of bodies to operate—if they didn’t shove a sword in my hand because of my limp, I could find myself doing other duties to support the army. I had mine and Corvus’s Hound token, but I didn’t want to announce my affiliation to anyone or risk being tracked.
I made good miles the first day, and as I made camp in a small barn that night, I cleaned my blood compass and used one of Castile’s samples. The pull was very faint, which ant she was still alive and very far from .
She was east of , which confird what Zyna had told about the company joining the Emperor’s army. The question was whether there would be an attempt on the Emperor. It seed almost suicidal from my point of view—they could not have suborned all the mages and legionnaires at the Emperor’s side.
I didn’t use the dreamscape amulet for long, but I did get a bit of practice and reviewed the regional maps in detail. Once I collected Maveith, we would need to find a way to enter the Boutan Caliphate to look for his sister. The only way I could see this happening was as mbers of the Adventurers Guild. There were dungeons in the Boutan Caliphate that outsiders were allowed to delve.
Over the next week, I stayed out of towns and cities as I navigated the wilds toward Sobral. I successfully avoided any encounters with wildlife and monsters—I didn’t want to get delayed. I did find one of the Hound caches on the way. As Corvus had said, there was a stone at the base of a forked tree. A layer of composting leaves covered a sealed cask that I found buried a few inches deep with earth-speak.
I was disappointed by what it contained. It looked like soone had gotten there before and it had not been restocked. There were no artifacts, and the only useful bits of gear were four empty quivers, a few dozen al bars, and a wrapped stack of silver coins. I took the silver as back pay owed. I covered the cache again and continued toward Sobral.
When I reached the city of Telhas, I took to the road to hasten my journey. I found myself in Loule, just southwest of Sobral, two days later. Outside Loule, the army was marshaling freshly trained soldiers, and I was forced to show a Hound token to avoid conscription. Fortunately, the captain who checked the token did not record its number. This might have raised so interesting questions, as Corvus had been dead for a few days. From there, I made the twenty-four miles to Sobral in half a day.
Getting inside Sobral’s walls was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The flood of refugees had built a shanty town outside the city walls, and the flow of people in and out was steady all day. I was not even questioned when I entered the city. The duchess had easily tripled her city’s population since I was last here.
In my disguise, I went to a familiar tavern to listen for rumors and gossip. I wanted to find out if the goliaths had reached Sobral, and I planned to sneak into the Citadel’s stables tonight and abscond with Ginger. The ale was expensive and terrible, but the tables were packed and the conversations lively.
Soon after I sat at a small table along the wall, a young woman sat across from uninvited. “If you get the room, three large coppers.” It was clear she wasn’t taking my order, and I flinched at her thin appearance and young age. The desperation in her voice tugged at .
I passed her a large copper. “Get us both so ale and food.” I handed her my half-empty cup to fill. When she returned with two plates and mugs, I watched her devour the food and slid her my plate, which she quickly finished as well.
“Have there been any goliaths in Sobral?” I asked after she finished the two als.
She drank her entire mug of ale before answering. “Just two large coppers if you get the room.”
“Have there been any goliaths in Sobral?” I asked again, ignoring her offer.
“Just the woodsman. He lives north, I think—an alright fellow. Maven, I think, is his na. Doesn’t cause a commotion and sells his ga to the local inns. A large copper, but only because you’re nice,” she added a little pleadingly.
“How has the duchess been treating the refugees?” I asked, returning a weak smile.
“Well enough. Work is getting harder to co by, and my father broke his hand while cutting down trees for the new mill. But my brothers are out planting at the duchess’s new farms. I need to help out how I can,” she stated distressingly. I couldn’t tell if her story was true, but she seed naïve enough that I doubted she knew how to lie for sympathy.
“Thank you for your ti.” I placed a large handful of coppers and large coppers on the table as I stood. She swept them up, wide-eyed—but they were barely two silver in total. If I had given her silver, I feared she might get assaulted. She stood to go with , thinking I had paid for her ti, but I pressed a hand to her shoulder and didn’t let her rise.
“Go be with your family. I paid you for your ti for a few days.” I walked away, never getting her na.
I left the tavern and stopped by the apothecary. I didn’t enter—just confird the three young won were still working there. I saw Carina behind the counter, smiling brightly at a custor, and Lyla teaching another young woman at a workbench in the back. I nodded to myself, pleased I had helped, and moved to an inn near the Citadel to wait for nightfall.
The inn slled a little musty, but the room was clean. When the sun set, I snuck easily over the wall into the Citadel. The duchess had hired a lot more guards, and I was nearly spotted dropping into the courtyard. One thing about sneaking into a place—if you looked like you belonged, people tended to leave you alone.
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As nurous servants dashed about their business, I walked past the open courtyard toward the stables. I could imagine Adrian and Delmar being upset at how lax the guards’ discipline had beco in less than a year.
I slipped into the stables and walked past a stall where a stable boy was rubbing down a horse. He didn’t give a second look as I made my way down the walkway. My heart raced as none of the stalls held my reddish-brown mare. I walked out the back to the small corral, but none of the four horses there had reddish-brown coats either. Although I knew it was a possibility, I had hoped the duchess would have kept Ginger. But a trained and healthy warhorse would have been swept up for the war effort.
Sorrowfully, I walked out of the Citadel gates, and one of the guards briefly questioned . I told him I had entered through another gate and had just dropped off so herbs for the kitchens, which appeased his curiosity. The city gates were shut at night, and I didn’t care to sneak out, so I returned to my room at the inn to wait until morning, feeling a heavy tinge of guilt over losing Ginger.
In the morning, I headed north of the city and was surprised to find that much of the forest had been cut and dozens of rough cabins had been constructed in the months I’d been gone. They were clearing a large swath of forest, and a lumber mill was beginning operations that very morning. No one any attention as I continued north into the woodlands.
I approached Maveith’s cabin with trepidation. I was reassured to see freshly stretched giant weasel hides outside. Maybe the four goliaths had co directly here and were safe. I pulsed earth speak and found that he had moved two of his alarm tripwires, so I stepped over them.
I could hear Maveith mumbling to himself inside but couldn’t make out the words. Taking a breath, I knocked loudly on the wooden door between the two massive boulders. Silence fell inside before Maveith bood, “Who is there?”
“Avon calling,” I said loudly to the door. I heard Maveith rush to open it.
The large gray-skinned man’s eyes went wide, and a grin slowly ford on his face. “I thought that was your voice!” he yelled excitedly. “Who is Avon?”
Before I could answer, an excited horse pushed past Maveith, bowling him out of the way. Ginger headbutted , pushing back in her excitent. I wrestled her head, grinning madly. “Ginger, good to see you too. I was worried when you weren’t in the stables in Sobral.”
Maveith was still smiling. “I took her before the army collected all the able-bodied horses from the stables. The boys working there helped sneak her out.” I rubbed Ginger’s powerful neck, and she nudged hard, then began exploring my pockets, blowing her nose into them.
I laughed aloud. “So, you’re only happy to see because you wanted an apple. Well, I still have a few dungeon apples.” I produced one, and she inhaled it, chewing happily and creating a foamy ss.
Maveith’s face slowly turned from happy to discontented. He said accusingly, “Eryk, Ginger is most definitely not house-trained!”
Ginger was already seeking a second apple, and I defended her, “Well, did you praise her every ti she did her business outside? Did you take her out every few hours?”
Maveith’s face turned contemplative. “Well, no.”
Before he could continue, I said, “So there you have it. She needs positive reinforcent. Just threaten not to give her an apple.” Maveith was still processing my words when I asked, “Did the four goliaths I freed reach you?”
Maveith cocked his head. “There are other goliaths in the Telhian Empire?”
“Let’s go inside and talk, Maveith.” I wasn’t sure whether I was looking forward to telling him his sister might be alive or not. I walked Ginger first and gave her another apple after she relieved herself, and then she joined us inside. His dwelling did have a musty urine sll to it.
Sitting at the table, I took a deep breath and told Maveith, “I am no longer a legionnaire or a Hound, Maveith. I won’t reveal what I did, since a Truthseeker might uncover the truth from you. But I am leaving the Empire.” Maveith looked shocked by my revelation.
He finally said, “Where are you going, Eryk? Will you co with to see my father, then?”
“Well,” I tried to break the news slowly. “You see, I ran into so goliath slaves unloading a Caliphate warship in Kraken Bay. They knew of a goliath slave woman nad Myra.”
Maveith’s tendons bulged in his neck, and his forearms tensed as his fists clenched. His breathing quickened slightly before he cald. “It’s a common na. The orcs have taken many of my people over the years,” he said finally, clearly hoping it wasn’t his sister’s friend.
I spoke slowly. “Yeah, that’s what the other goliath said. But she also ntioned that when Myra arrived nine years ago, she was with another goliath woman nad Zorana.” I stopped, watching his reaction.
Maveith twitched. He shook his head. “Eryk, don’t play gas with . Zorana is dead.” I could see tears welling in his eyes—tears of anger, guilt, and hope.
I needed to rein him in a little. “I don’t know if she’s still alive, Maveith. But the goliath I talked to said they arrived in the Boutan Caliphate nine years ago and knows which orc warlord purchased them,” I said to the agitated Maveith.
Maveith’s head snapped around the cabin, and he stood abruptly, beginning to pack. “Where are the goliaths who told you this? How are we getting into the Boutan Caliphate?” It hadn’t taken him long to commit to searching for his sister, no matter how small the hope. It’s what I would have done for my sister as well.
“Calm down, Maveith. I’ll go with you to look for your sister. But on the way, we need to go to Gramney, the capital of the Duchy of Manch. I need to drop off so passengers,” I inford him. I also hoped Castile and the others might be there as well. It seed unlikely they would survive confronting the Emperor, but I held out hope.
Maveith’s face twisted in confusion, and he paused in his packing to study . “Passengers?” He slowly pieced it together. “Eryk, you didn’t put more unwilling elves in your dinsional space, did you?” He was looking at disapprovingly. Then so hope flashed in his eyes. “Wait. Do you have Raelia with you?”
“Of course not!” I said, exasperated. “I can assure you I don’t have a single elf inside my dinsional space.” I hesitated and admitted, “Just four humans the Empire ordered to kill—but they are very much alive.”
“Four humans?” Maveith said, surprised. “We need to get to Gramney as quickly as possible to release your captives.” Maveith sighed, a hint of unhappiness in his voice.
“Captives? That is a bit harsh,” I replied, mock hurt.
“You can explain your justification on the road.” He continued packing. “If Zorana is alive, I will find her.”
“We will find her,” I said firmly. Maveith nodded appreciatively, and I helped him pack for our journey.
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