Chapter 15 - Oakwood Secured!
-----Sol moves over and takes the parchment from the man's hand. He calmly walks over to Sarah and hands it over, before turning his attention back to the men-at-arms. He smiles grimly and says, "Ye do realize that Krondor has been declared a criminal and an enemy of Hearthorn and has been stripped of his rank and lands. Ye have no lord...so...where is he now? And I want detail here, so don't be light on yer description."
-----Raven lets out a low growl and then looks over to Sol, "Can you believe how evil Krondor is?" Raven looks back at the Krondor's men, "You both made poor choices by following that monster in human flesh. Tell us where Krondor is." Raven starts to advance on the two men. He kicks their weapons away and then ties them up as they talk.
-----If the men thought of protesting as Raven begins to bind them, one look from the ranger makes them think better of it.
-----"Krondor ‘as a moathouse keep ta the east o’ the village o’ Nox in Redmarsh!" one man quickly says. The other one looks at Raven and says, "Really sir, ye don’ ‘ave ta be doin’ that. We be answerin’ yer questions."
-----Sol snorts at Krondor's whereabouts, "Well, that pretty much confirms th' Lord Chamberlain's information. Looks like we'll be paying Redmarsh a visit as soon as we've cleared up here." Confident that Raven has the men-at-arms well under control, the Gorian heads back behind the first wall hanging murmuring, "'Fore I forget, there was a trunk in here."
-----Raven looks at the man who questioned being tied up and says, "Shut up and be grateful we didn't kill you both. Krondor killed some good friends of mine. Well actually he didn't, it was men like you that did." At that point Raven roughly finishes tying up the last guard. Raven continues talking, "If you keep talkin' straight to us, you'll get out of this alive. Which is more than my friends got. Do we understand each other now?"
-----Not really caring if they do, Raven continues, "What's in the trunk? Is it Krondor's gold he wanted YOU to give to this evil cult?"
-----"Aye, that it is," One of the men answers not daring to meet Raven’s eyes.
-----Sarah bursts out laughing as she reads the note. Seeing the strange looks she is getting she waves her hand to Sol, "Hey, Sol, read this. It appears Devlin has complete control of this area!" Sarah laughs again.
-----Sarah exhales happily, the tension she was feeling is all gone. Fingering her wand she walks over to the now bound men. "You served Krondor, huh? You probably were on all sorts of raids and panic causing missions for him, right?" Seeing them about to protest Sarah raises her hand up for silence. "Don't bother." She says sternly. "And now you see us overpower your precious master’s mistress and you suddenly feel repentant?"
-----Sarah looks to Sol and Raven and in an entirely sober tone says, "We should kill them."
-----Raven raises an eyebrow at Sarah's statement to kill them. Raven glances to Sol to see how he is reacting to the idea. Raven seems uneasy, but says nothing.
-----One man falls to his knees and pleads with Sarah, saying, "Please, have mercy, MiLady, we was only guardin’ ‘is keep. This be the first mission he was a’sendin’ us on!"
-----Sol was behind one of the wall hangings and emerges briefly, before heading behind another one. On his way he mentions, "There's gold in th' trunk in there." The warrior's glance at Raven shows the hunter that Sol has at least partially managed to convince himself that Sarah is being dramatic in front of the prisoners to make them talk. Partially convinced.
-----Raven says, "Best we gather what we want, burn the bodies and then turn these men over to 'the law'. We can count our 'take', as Dread would say, when we are clear of this evil pit." He begins to look for oil to burn the bodies.
-----Sol emerges from behind the other wall hanging, carrying a book and two money pouches. With a smile he hands over the book to Sarah and turns back to go behind the original wall hanging where the men-at-arms emerged from. His voice sounds from the alcove, "Ye may as well read Krondor's note to us all, Sarah."
-----Sarah’s eyes light up like fireflies when she sees Sol handing her a book. "Magic? Is this a magic book?" She says rather quickly, opening it up and looking to see for a few seconds.
-----A few moments go by and Sol repeats his request to have the note read. "Huh? Oh sorry..." Sarah says sheepishly, and she begins to read the note, rather dramatically.
-----"It begins...."
Go to Page 2