//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 the road to Weyville // Story: The merchants new life // by Jade Copperfield //------------------------------// Hello book or journal or whatever it seems I haven't updated you in a while so why don't I catch you up a little. It has been about ten years since I last updated you so that would put me at seventeen and like most teenagers I have more than a few problems. I have been going to libraries when my family decides to stop by and whenever I'm there reading or looking things up I see other kids studying to an almost insane degree. but there are a few that don't do that and socialize a bit and that's my topic for right now. I have had a few people come by and ask me what I'm studying for, I tell them that I'm not studying for anything and they look at me oddly. Then they start asking me questions like "do you go to school"? or "Do you have this teacher"? When I feel like I had enough questions I tell them that's enough and I move somewhere else but that is not where it ends. Sometimes girls come by asking these questions and I freeze up like marble statue. I haven't interacted with other girls much in the past ten years but now its getting to me. Probably because I have all these god damn hormones and I unfortunately can't get my head out of the gutter sometimes. It doesn't help that some of them are honestly quite pretty and nice but I can't help but doubt them and wonder if they just want someone to buy them stuff or have a genuine relationship. But either way I can't stay in towns for long because of family and I just don't know how to be I don't know a dating type of person well either way this wraps it up. Huh I guess I won't ever get someone special at this rate. I have been walking for several days and right now it was midday, I'm hot, angry, and I'm coughing, what a perfect combo. I took of my coat shortly after leaving Riverside and now its in my pack somewhere. I hacked for a minute next to a tree that I was leaning on. I have been following the road from the woods and hopefully I can stay like this all the way till town come up. I got of the tree that I was leaning on for support and continued walking for a few more minutes until it was interrupted by another cough. "Fucking damn it stop making me cough you god damn throat".I let out my frustration by repeatedly insulting my situation. But unfortunately that wasn't my only illness, I felt unusually hot, my claws were shaking slightly, and my guts felt like they were being repeatedly gut punched. And all this added up to me being on unsteady feet for the past two days, but right now it felt worse since I now couldn't look straight. I continued walking for the day until the sun descended behind the rolling hills of grass that was on my left. I looked to the forest to my right and continued into it for a few feet and I made camp at the edge. I put the logs in the shape similar to a box and I grabbed as much dead or discarded plant life as I could find and lit it on fire with a match. I didn't feel like it was very necessary but if there are predators the fire will hopefully ward them off. I ate a light dinner and laid down using my coat as a blanket. Shortly after I almost went to sleep I heard a wolf's howl and my eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I could barely get up to a sitting position but I managed to sit up after a minute of trying. I scanned the area around me for the rest of the night since the wolves never stopped howling. When the sun came up I felt half dead. My throat was dry no matter how much I drank, my claws were shaking much worse, and my head was on fire the entire time. I destroyed camp and continued onward following the road for most of the day until I rather unfortunately tripped on something and fell face first into the dirt. I felt sore and when I put my claw to my beak there was blood. "Fuck, just my luck". I muttered under my breath as I attempted to get up. My arms burned as I picked myself up but I managed to get up after a few more tries. I continued moving onward even as my vision started swimming slightly and my walking became erratic but eventually something claimed me that day. Whether it was the fever, the lack of sleep or a combination of everything else I fell on to the ground. I tried moving to continue onward but my muscles wouldn't work so I guess I accepted my fate or specifically my body made the decision but that didn't stop me from hating it even more. My eyes closed as something was happening ahead I made a mentally curse"Fuck you to body". I opened my eyes expecting to see darkness but instead saw a wood ceiling and a face, and might I add a face that I hate to see. The face of someone that seemed genuinely worried but I still hated that face it made me feel weak and pitiful. The man was middle aged, had a beard that seemed poorly cut and his eyes were blue but they also held experience behind them. The man got up and grabbed a small pot that had a cloth next to it and started wetting my face that also felt like it had a cloth on it. I decided to try and speak all that came was a dry terrible cough and significant pain in my throat. The man said" Don't try and talk it will only make you cough more and make you feel more miserable". I obeyed his advise for now seeing as he was right and if he wanted to he could have left me for dead when he found me. After he was done messing with my face I started to try and sit up only to have him stop me with a single hand. The man said" You shouldn't be trying to get up it will only make it worse". I didn't care, I just pulled his hand off and sat up with my back against the wood wall and decided to look around the room more. The room I'm in is similar to a standard bedroom with a dresser with mirror on top on one side, though I was surprised to a small bookcase filled with books varying from small to the size of dictionaries and thesaurus's. I heard a grunt come from the man and I turned to see him holding out a glass to me and it also allowed me to get to see a night stand with a small candle that was lit. I took the glass from his hands and sniffed it a few times and saw there wasn't anything odd about it. So I drank it and gave it back to him and he put it back on the night stand. After that was done we observed each other for a bit and I noticed that his hair was snow white and was kind of messy. His clothes reminded me of a hunter, he wore a long sleeved green shirt, brown pants, and he had a belt or band on his chest with metal loops that could hold something if you had a strap with it. After observing him I decided to check my self and I noticed I was shirtless, I groaned. "Great I'm shirtless in the house of the man that has most likely saved my life and which I now owe him a lot. I sat there in silence as he did a once over on me to see if he missed anything like a wound or something. The silence was starting to get to me a little so I decided to speak. "I guess I owe you my life". He looked up at me with a skeptical look and nodded. I sighed and brought my arms to my sides" Just perfect". He continued to look at me before he decided to speak more. "You have a problem with me saving you"? His voice was kind of deep but not really but there was a hint of a exotic accent. I sighed" No not really just I have problems with things like this". He noticed my reluctance and decided to pry. "Why would you have a problem with this"? He kept his eyes on me not moving an inch. "I don't like owing people stuff especially something like this and besides... I don't like being under someone's mercy". "I...guess that's understandable". I kept an eye on him as he kneeled there in front of me staring into my soul. As we kept up the mutual inspecting of each other I realized I didn't have any of my stuff. I said" Where's my stuff". He perked up at that and stood up. "I have all your stuff...do you want to see it"? I glared at him and responded. "Of course". I kept my face low and basically growled it out but he wasn't scared or intimidated he just walked away through a door. "If this guy plays anything I'm going to rip his throat and feed his carcass to the hounds".The man eventually returned with my pack and shirt. He put them at the foot of the bed and I crawled over there and grabbed my shirt. I quickly put the shirt on not caring when the cloth fell but before I knew it the man pushed my down and put the cloth back on. I asked him" Why the hell did you just do that". "Because you need your rest and besides that's the only thing keeping your fever down". I decided to accept the cloth part but I could careless about the lay down part. "I don't care about rest I want to go". I argued as I sat back up and tried to stand up but he put a hand on me and kept on putting me to the wall. "You can barely fight against me pushing you why would you risk standing when you would most likely fall over". I kept on glaring at him and debated biting his hand but knowing anything he would probably pull a knife from somewhere and gut me. So I decided to play along only if he got me something. Before I could say anything he asked me a question" Now what is your name". I looked at him and questioned why he would now ask that but I didn't dwell on it long. "Get me a bottle with amber liquid in it with a glass from my pack and tell me your name then I will answer". The man didn't seem to bother negotiating because the next moment I had a bottle of scotch and a small glass. "My name is Brock now what is your name demon". I filled my cup as he was talking and I looked at him when he said demon. I sighed and began a rant" Why do some of you people assume I'm a demon because seriously a demon is a phantom that fucks with people not a furry, feathery, clawed creature and my names Jade". He looked at me skeptically for one second before he stood up and went over to the small book shelf and pulled one out. He then walked over, kneeled down, and flipped to a page with a drawing of a hairy creature with blank soulless eyes. "This is what a commonly looks like and it does look a lot like you so this is not what you see as a demon and will you continue to deny being one". I kept on looking at it and I noticed it had horns on top, it had claws that couldn't exactly be used as hands, and it also had a tail that looked like it had a blade at the end. The image I might add was also all hand drawn and was black and white. I took a sip and replied" Then if you knew I was a demon wouldn't you have I don't know KILLED ME AND USE MY COAT AS A BLANKET"! I shouted at Brock. He looked taken a back by my sudden outburst but gave me an answer. "Because you looked remotely civilized". I bent my head down and with no regrets downed my drink and filled it again in a heartbeat. It was burning my stomach and wouldn't help later on but I didn't give crap, I was in for along day or night. "That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard". I stared blankly at Brock. He added as I continue to stare" I follow the wolf guardian Broxis does that help". I looked at him blankly as I continue to drink. "You should know that I don't have a clue who Broxis is and how that matters in the slightest". He sighed and went back to the book shelf. He grabbed a muck thicker book and turned to a drawing of a spectral looking wolf that was blue and had glowing white eyes. There was also text on the page. Brock said" You should probably read this". So with him handing it to me and me having nothing better to do I read it. And while I was reading mid way he left me alone. While I was reading it I said it in my head. "Broxis the wolf guardian is one of the twelve guardians of Medius. We know little about him other than his statues or shrines are often in forgotten places due to the war between demons and angels. It is said that during the war some of the guardians chose sides and Broxis chose the side of Hell for unknown reasons. We currently don't know much about him in recent years or from the past, possibly due to most documents during that time are long forgotten, destroyed, or are simply illegible. I will continue my research on other guardians some with more attention than others but I need to find out if they do what they said they do. Minor side note that show in St. Curtis is most likely just an illusion there is no way a guardian would do that right? From the research journal of professor Howard". I finished reading it and noticed how it was oddly a journal not what seemed like a legit textbook, this was just research that has been gathered but they weren't hard facts. I sighed and slowly closed the book and looked up to the wood ceiling. "Even these so called guardians are illusive but apparently there was a war and some decided to choose sides so why the hell would some pick what I will dub as evil now and others side with good".I heard a door open and saw Brock come back into the room with a wooden bowl on a small tray. He set it down on the night stand and I noticed it was filled with soup. I looked at him oddly until I handed back the book to him. Brock said" So now you understand". I noticed his accent got thicker in his voice and it made me lean back for a second but I quickly recovered. "If you count not having any hard facts and given a very lack luster summary then you got a yes but if you meant full understanding no". "Hahaha yeah when all the important stuff happens hundreds years ago almost everything is speculation except that it ended eventually". I looked at him oddly when he laughed, but I took more interest in the food since it was staring at me and I was hungry. Brock seemed to notice and said" Yeah here I don't normally get guests often". He handed me the tray and I examined it. It was what I could tell just broth and there wasn't any odd smells or anything from it so I tasted it. I felt like my soul just escaped me. "So you like it and it isn't poisoned honest". I looked back up at him and handed it back. "Take it I'm not hungry". I continued to drink till my bottle reached half empty and I was sufficiently blurry eyed I set the drink down and asked him what time was it. "it's almost dark out are you tired". I nodded to him and he left me alone and I took the time to rush over to my coat and pack to see if he touched anything. My pack wasn't missing anything but when I checked my coat my knife was gone but oddly he left the gun. but luckily I still had all my money and items to sell so I'm not dead in the water yet. I laid down in the bed and closed my eyes. Sleep has always come hard unless I'm dead beat drunk or I'm more tired than a sailor, and right now I'm neither. I didn't feel safe in random places like this but I didn't exactly have a choice the minute I opened the bottle. But that wasn't the only thing, there was a lot of howling outside like an entire pack lives less than three miles away just decided to celebrate something due amount of howling. But after thinking I unknowingly fell asleep. I awoke the instant the roosters started sounding the alarm. I quickly grabbed all my stuff and exited out the door to see Brock directly in front of me. And since I wasn't laying down I could tell that he was about two inches taller than me. I had to bend my neck to look into his eyes. Brock decided to end the silence" So you want to leave already". "Well no shit Sherlock".I decided to talk slightly more politely" Yes I want to be in Weyville by whenever but certainly in this month". Brock seemed mildly surprised at this and let me through to the door that led outside. I opened it and noticed how everything looked like it got hit by paradise if that can explain it. Everything just seemed to glow and have this odd life to it while I felt dead inside like I usually do. I began walking but I was stopped by a yell. "Hey your going to need this"! I looked back and saw Brock with a knife and leather holster for it correct that My knife. I quickly grabbed it but when I pulled it didn't budge that was until he told me something. "Be careful in Weyville there is someone that might not like your existence". He let it go and I yanked the knife back toward me. But he wasn't finished talking. Brock continued" If you truly want to continue you should be there in about a day...oh and good luck on your adventure". I left him after that and his honestly beautiful house. Or more specifically the garden because a man can appreciate good gardening.