Graduation at last, and now the real fun would begin. Grunth hadn’t realized that time

had gone by so quickly, it had been only a few months ago since the attack of the

ferocious bear in the dark forest. The incident with the two thieving cadets hadn’t been a

cakewalk either. Also, their first night on patrol in Coranan had been quite an adventure.

Now the squad was being sent to an outpost in the middle of nowhere, so there was no

way that anything like that could happen again. Grunth sighed to himself, then gathered

all his equipment for the long march north. “It will be good to see Zugril again” Grunth

thought, “Maybe I’ll even run into Hibbut, I’d like that”.

Two days later they arrived at Geshtei. First things first, he helped set up camp in the

courtyard, cleaned his equipment, then reported in for duty. One of the officers told the

squad that since they were in Geshtei castle there was no need for guard duty, so the

squad had free time, “just stay out of trouble” he said.

With this free time Grunth thought he would go see some old friends, so the first place he

visited was his old stomping ground, The Apple Tankard. As he headed out both Nico

and Sylud came running up behind him, “Where ya going Grunth?” Sylud asked, “I’m

going to find some friends, they’re at da Inn just down da road” he replied. When they

arrived at the Apple Tankard, Grunth bowled in through the front door expecting a less

than enthusiastic reception, and he was not disappointed. Soren the Innkeeper slowly

walked over to the table where they were sitting and spoke to Grunth, “Ello Grunth, wot

ya doing back ere’, I thought they sent ya away”. “I joined the Legion, it’s a better living

than cleaning up after damn horses” Grunth retorted. “I don’t want any trouble from ya,

so keep it civil” Soren stated, “Now what can I get ya?”. “A round of ya best ale” Nico

announced.

As the boys sat and enjoyed their meals and ale, Grunth noticed Nico was drinking two

tankards to his one, but thought to himself “He’s going to feel that in th’ morning”. A

few hours later Nico had drunken himself into a stupor and was still keen for more, but

Grunth decided that it was time that they got back to the castle, so both Grunth and Sylud

picked up their squad mate from the table and hauled him all the way back to their tent.

The next day Grunth visited the Agrikan temple to catch up with his comrades in the

Order of the Cohorts of Gashang and offer some prayers to his god, for it had been a

while since he had bent his knee to his diety.

Later that day, when he returned to the castle, Nico was once again heading off into town.

“Wait up Nico I’ll come wif ya” Grunth called out to his squadmate. They ran into Sylud

on the way to the Raftsman’s Inn, which Grunth had worked at a few months earlier.

Upon approaching their table, Zugril bought over three tankards of his finest ale.

Slapping Grunth on the back as he drank, Zugril spoke to the young group of boys, “Keep

your eye on this one boys, he’s my best student, taut im every fing he knows”. Three

hours later, Grunth had caught up with all the news of the happenings in Geshtei and

once again Nico had drunk himself senseless. “Better get your mate home Grunth, ya

know I don’t let nobody sleep in my bar” Zugril growled across the bar to Grunth.

“Righto, we’re outer here, Good catching up wif ya Zugril” Grunth called back as he

dragged Nico’s unconscious body out of the door.

On the third day, Grunth decided to try and catch up on his reading and writing with

Lothar, because Nico was still recovering from the night before and couldn’t be bothered.

When their final day in Caer Geshtei rolled around, Grunth was eager to get out of this

town to see where he’d be spending the next few months. As it turned out, nowhere, or

pretty close to it was Grunth’s impression when they finally got there. It was just like his

home town near Geminost, a strem, a few buildings and nothing much else. “Aw well, at

least there won’t be much going on in this place, maybe it won’t be so bad after all”

Grunth thought to himself. If only he had known what was just around the corner…

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Next Story.

Written By: Gerrard Saunders (a.k.a Grunth of Callon)