Chapter 18 - Quiet

Why did people complain about kids so much?
Okay sure, they talked so much even Dartigan would find it excessive and they never stopped moving… but there was something else. To them, the world was new. Wondrous even. And while I’d met plenty of people like Bram that saw the world that way, hearing it from the children as we walked to Gold’s Lodge wasn’t tiring. At least not in the same way.
I spent so much time avoiding… well this. Not necessarily children but that feeling that came from spending time with people that didn’t involve plotting war.
I’d tried it more than a few times. To become close with those that rallied to my cause and to understand how the crown’s actions affected them. But every time, they either inevitably died or Frederick finally killed me, leaving them with no memory of me and me with a lifetime of memories of them.
“We should have a wall bigger than the gweat oaks!” A young boy named Sawyer said as we approached the east gate into Gold’s Lodge.
“Big walls just encourage people to build bigger siege equipment,” I said, hopefully low enough the kids didn’t hear me. Willow seemed to, but she’d been slowly trying to brute force the ability to concentrate on menus while walking and thankfully she didn’t engage.
It was over two hours past mid-day when we finally stepped through the gate. We probably could have been here an hour earlier, but the entire group had stopped only a kilometer away from the denser trees to have lunch with the road crew. If Thomas had his way, and I suspected he would, the crew would be finishing the road by the end of the day.
As the group continued forward, heading into town to make their various purchases, I stopped at the stable. While I would have really been fine with any horse, most would do the job for something as simple as pulling a wagon, I found myself oddly pleased to see the black mare I’d been eyeing was still there.
Willow looked back briefly and saw what I was doing. Since I’d already mentioned the wagon, she just nodded and went to catch up with the others.
An older man with a noticeable bald spot stepped out from a back room connected to the stable, then saw me lingering at the fence and came hurrying over.
“Hello sir, are you looking for stable space or to buy?”
“To buy,” I said, looking from the horses to a small storage area nearby. “Though… does anyone sell wagons here? Or are they only made to order?”
“My brother Alban is a Craftsman. He works out near the south gate and might have some available. If he doesn’t, I’m sure he’d be happy for the business and project,” the man said, barely thinking about it.
“Seems odd not to be in one of these buildings here,” I said and the man chuckled.
“Well, we do have a larger stable by his workshop, but not everyone comes through the south gate,” he explained and I got the sense I wasn’t the first one to bring it up to him. “Tell him Benjamin sent you and I bet he’d knock a few coin off the total price.”
“Can I buy one of the horses here?” I asked.
“Depends on the horse. A few folks got theirs boarded here and they’d probably be pretty miffed if I sold them.”
“How about that one?” I asked, pointing at the black mare. She whinnied the moment I gestured and Benjamin looked back at her.
“She’s available but… well… she’s also very stubborn,” he said cautiously.
“So am I,” I replied and he sighed.
“She’s a Highland Driver. There’s strong potential there, but they’re an extremely temperamental breed. If they don’t respect you, they won’t listen. Not exactly a horse I’d recommend for the inexperienced…”
“I think I’ll manage,” I said, still focused on her. I’d dealt with hellhounds, warbeasts, and even one dragon—not that I’d ever repeat that last one, he was just far more trouble than he was worth—so I was relatively certain a stubborn horse wasn’t going to get the better of me. “How much?”
Though he gave me an unsure look, he didn’t press the topic any further and was happy to negotiate. In the end, I paid the man twenty-five gold and fifty silver coins, then got a note from him to hand off to his brother. When I did purchase a wagon, the note proved I already had space set aside to have it pulled over so that by the end of the day, it would be ready for us to get on and go.
Before I left, I stepped up to my new horse and gave her a closer look.
“Hmm, how about I call you Quiet? Seems like I’m not gonna find it anywhere else…” I said, reaching forward to pat her neck. She backed away before I could even brush her mane. “Not a fan of new people? Me either.”
Benjamin offered me a sugar cube that I held out and, after a moment, Quiet took it from me with more care than I’d expected. I thanked the man and told him that we’d be back before the sun began to set, then made my way across town.
A market sitting in the center of the main town sprawl was surprisingly busy. I was relatively sure the women from Danwood were somewhere in the crowd, but I’d already told Willow to have the villagers wait for me at Hill’s Oasis once they were all done.
Now that I had her acting as manager, she handed off her own shopping list to Lana. She was surprisingly eager to get things going and she’d insisted I let her start taking care of some parts.
Or, as she put it, “If I’m the manager, you should let me manage it from the start.”
Since she didn’t have to lift a hammer for it, I could just dust my hands off and give her the go ahead to handle dusk near everything from groundbreaking to the grand opening. I didn’t necessarily have any intention of giving up that much control… but it would be beneficial to make sure I hadn’t just handed over a business to someone who couldn’t handle the job.
So, I’d put her in charge of hiring half a dozen men for the construction project. Technically speaking, I’d only hired her for the inn, but I told her if she could find workers who would be open to extended work past just that project, I’d give her a small bonus for the effort. I could tell she took that as a challenge and it kept me from having to have the same mind-numbing conversation over and over again.
Alban was only a few years younger than his brother and he visibly perked up when I handed off the note. He didn’t have a huge ready-made stock, because why would he in a town that probably didn’t buy them that often, but he did have two that were available.
Unless I wanted to commission a brand new one, which Alban did confirm would take him a few weeks to build, they were the only options I had. One of the two was entirely too small, probably good for just two people and a handful of goods, and I just didn’t see the point of buying one that was so limited.
The other wagon was better, but it could use a bit of work. the cloth canopy on it was torn up and the wheels had very clearly seen better days. But it was big. Still small enough that I wouldn’t have to buy a second horse, but large enough that I was pretty sure I could fit all of the Danwood villagers that had come this way on the way back. Sure, it would probably be cramped with that many people—especially if Willow found people who wanted to come back and get started at the break of day—but I doubted anyone would complain when the alternative was walking.
I’d also probably have to shove all of their goods into my bag, but when using it required a minor thought, it really didn’t make sense to not use it. Especially given the fact that I had to assume that since the crew knew about my bag, their wives and family probably did too.
Alban and I negotiated for a bit, then settled on a price after he confirmed he could fit new wheels and a patched canopy onto it in the next few hours. Once that was done, he’d have it hauled over to the east gate and a harness fit for my horse.
Thirty-five gold and ten silver later—because I’d let him talk me into adding a prestocked bag by the reins with treats in it for Quiet—I was done with the main thing I really had to do while in town. There was something nice to be said about delegation, even if now I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the rest of the afternoon.
I was wandering around, somewhat aimlessly, when I came across a large bulletin board near the town center. There were several random papers littering it. Job offers, trade requests, a long written description of Prince Frederick’s “missing” companion…. Wait.
I briefly recalled the men at the bar talking about this, but that had been a couple weeks ago now and they couldn’t still be looking over here… could they? I looked around to make sure no one was paying attention, then reached over and pulled the description off the board.
As I moved to walk away, a rugged voice broke through my distraction.
“—some activity going on over in Danwood. Not sure if it’s got anything to do with this fella or not, but they’ve had quite the book this last month.”
That… okay that was definitely talking about me… but there’s a lot of reasons that some locals might be talking about Danwood’s growth. I might have slowed my pace just a bit as I tried to get a lock on where I’d heard the voices.
“Any lead might help, sir. Thank you for the tip, if this leads me to our missing companion, I’ll ensure you’re justly compensated.”
Boarshit. I knew that voice. I didn’t suddenly crouch down, or try to hide behind something. That was what amateurs did. Instead, I kept walking, looking in my periphery as I went. It didn’t take long until I saw long blonde hair topped by a squared off, ornate hat that looked frankly ridiculous.
Even without her turning around, her tooltip gave her away.
[Gwendoline of Shinecliff, Level 13 Priestess]
This could not be happening literally on the day I found Quiet… sure I’d been the one to pick the name and it was just a horse instead of the actual concept of quiet that I had been hoping… but seriously, this was ridiculous.