A Journey in Griffonstone

by RangerOfRhudaur

Epilogue: The Caravan

"...and he slipped that case right by'r," Gadi sang. "And the rest of her life, that guard pressed her mind, tryin' to make banana cider!"

Cheers and laughs answered him as he finished, applause that he met with a mock bow that almost flung him from his saddle.

"Be careful!" Greta called back to him. "We're still waiting for your encore tonight!"

"You'll get it, don't worry," Gadi replied as he righted himself, "I might be a fool, but I'm not an idiot."

Greta shook her head. She would've preferred something more careful than that, but Gadi was never serious if he could help it. He'd almost died getting his family to the Iron Gorge, and now he treated every day as lightly as a child, calling even the coldest winter day a gift and acting like everything the Sun shone on was a joke, the funniest he'd ever heard.

And she had to admit, he did have a reason to act like that today. They'd just made a big sale in Griffonstone, five donkey-loads of pistachios, and at almost 20 bits for half a kig, and 60 kigs to a donkey, they were basically rolling in bits. And there were more to come; the Council was buying food to buy themselves friends, they'd take as many kigs of pistachios as they could get, and with access to the House of Otto's pockets they were good for them. Yeah, Greta could probably get more if she sold straight to the people, but then she'd have to find them, bring them the pistachios, make sure they were good for it, and all the other work that the Council would take care of for her. She'd been cool on the Council before, rolling her eyes at all the work the gold-crests put into deciding who got the head seat at the table, but now that they'd helped put bits on her table, she was-

A shaky cry came from Vak up ahead.

She frowned as she and the others formed a circle; Vak was a bit of a beast-crier, had been ever since one of Vola's little "miracles" had blown up right under his feet, but he had some of the best eyes she'd ever seen, even after Vola's mad device gave him the tremors. He could see a hawk a hundred strides up, and think it was swooping down to attack him. Which is it this time? she wondered as she felt for the hilt of her gilij, Is he just crying beast, or did he actually see something?

He came back to them at a gallop, fear written across his face. "A M-Man," he reported, "w-walking alone, l-less than fi-five minutes' r-ride."

"Hostile?" Greta asked.

"D-didn't n-notice m-me," Vak stammered. "D-didn't ap-ppear hos-hostile."

"Might just be a traveler," another one of their group said. "Where were they heading?"

"Nor-northeast," Vak replied, pointing towards the Winter Mountains.

"Why so scared, my good Vak?" Gadi chuckled. "They don't sound hostile, and even if they are, they're going away from us."

"H-H-Horati-ti-tio was sc-sc-scared," Vak retorted, nervously stroking his mount's mane. "O-One look, an-and he prep-prepared to-to b-bolt."

Most of the others groaned, and even Greta shook her head. Vak always looked for signs that something was wrong, even when they were more likely signs that normal things were happening. Of course Horatio would've been spooked by seeing someone walking out here, this far from the Gorge and the major temples, they were more likely to see King Grover walk again. Everyone knows you don't expect to find people in the middle of nowhere, even horses.

Looks like just another beast cry, Greta sighed, before muttering to herself, "Well, even if that's the case, it would probably be a good idea to figure out why Horatio was scared. Come on, everyone, let's check out Vak's mysterious Man."

---

He saw them once they were about two minutes away and stopped to wait for them, leaning on his tall, black staff to rest. While he waited, Greta looked him over, blinking in confusion as she reached his cloak; she could tell it was grey, but not what shade, or where the light and dark patches were. It seemed to shimmer, shifting from one color and pattern to another with every breath he moved.

"What kind of cloth is that?" she murmured to herself.

Before she or anyone else could reply, her mount snorted, then firmly planted its hooves, almost throwing her from the saddle as it stopped.

Greta gasped as she regained her balance and tried to still her heart, then glared down at her mount. "What was that for?" she snapped. "I could have fallen!"

"Pardon me," the stranger called as he began walking over. "It's my fault, I believe. Something about me unnerves animals, large and small." He raised his hand in a gesture of calming as Greta's donkey lashed its tail and began nervously backing away. "It's alright, though; I wouldn't hurt a fly if I could avoid it."

Another snort and tail lash came from Greta's mount, but it returned to its previous spot, keeping a wary eye on the stranger.

Greta smiled down at it, running a hand through its mane in comfort, then turned to the Man and asked, "Who are you, stranger? Not every day we see travelers out here in Githlaegir."

Their face, still half-hidden by their hood, stared back at her a moment before replying, "Call me Guise, if you wish. And who are you, if I may ask?"

"Simple farmers," Greta carefully replied, noting the evasive answer "Guise" gave them, "trying to get home before it gets dark. What about you? Most people who come out here have a reason to, what's your's?"

"I seek the Temple of Grail," he answered, crossing his arms. "I have business there, urgent business."

"Not looting," Gadi chuckled. "You look just well off enough to tell that; any poorer and you might be desperate enough, any richer and you might be cold enough."

Some of the others lightly chuckled, but not Vak, Greta, or the stranger. "No, not looting," he quietly replied. "No, I go to save what others would loot. I only hope I'm not already too late."

"Well, what're you waiting for?" Gyla squawked at him. "You said it was urgent, so get a move on!"

"I should," the stranger sighed as he picked his staff up again. "I've already wasted too much time. Thank you for the company, and fare well."

"'Company?'" Greta snorted. "We barely said five words to each other."

The stranger sent her a winsome smile in response. "To a lonely Man, five words may be enough. Farewell, Greta. Stay safe, stay out of the shadow."

With that, he left, quickly cresting a hill and vanishing behind it. Vak craned his neck to watch him leave, the familiar mask of anxiety coming over his face as he did so. Shakily clambering down from Horatio, Vak shuffled over to the foot of the hill he'd crossed and knelt down, examining the ground.

"Vak," Greta sighed, "what are you doing?"

Not responding, Vak continued up the hill, pausing every so often to peer at the grassy slope. After he'd climbed about halfway up, right as Greta was about to call him, he bolted back, his anxiety transformed to true fear. "F-footpr-prints," he stammered.

"Yes, Vak," one of the others rolled their eyes. "People leave footprints when they walk. See?" They pointed down at the trail Vak himself had left in the crushed grass.

"N-n-n-not G-G-G-Guise," he protested.

Gadi furrowed his brow. "What?"

Frantically, Vak waved them over, showing them the ground he'd been investigating. "L-l-l-look," he said. "N-n-n-no pr-pr-prints."

Greta stared, bewildered; Vak was telling the truth. He wasn't seeing things. None of them were; there were no marks to be seen, nothing anywhere along the path the stranger had walked. It was like he'd never been there at all.

"Move out," she ordered. "Maybe the guy just walks really soft, but I'm not risking anything. Only person who doesn't leave tracks like that is someone who doesn't want to be found, and people like that usually have good reason to want that."

"Like a thief," Gadi shook his head. "I really thought he was just well-off enough to not be a looter."

"Or a-a g-g-ghost," Vak whispered, nervously petting Horatio's mane.

"Even if he is a ghost," Greta took command, "he was going away from us, and if anywhere's prepared for a ghost, it's one of the temples. Come on, home's not getting any closer, and the Sun's still falling."

The others obeyed, quickly mounting up before riding out. Gadi joined Vak in the rear, hopefully helping calm him down; he was jumpy enough already, he didn't need anything else to be afraid of. Fortunately, however irritating his lack of seriousness might have been sometimes, Gadi's attitude made him one of the best calmers she'd ever seen. Whatever mood someone fell into, five minutes with Gadi and they'd be back to normal. Greta curled her lip as she looked over the frightened faces of the others; he'd have plenty of chances to show that tonight. Even she was feeling a bit spooked, and all the stranger had done was wish her-

"Farewell, Greta. Stay safe, stay out of the shadow."

She'd never told him her name. He'd barely even heard her talk. How did he know her name?

Shivering, she crossed herself with claws, murmuring a prayer to Grendel for protection; looked like Vak might not have been crying beast after all.

Comments

[Eroraf86]

"Farewell, Greta. Stay safe, stay out of the shadow."

Vashta Nerada, anyone?

[FanOfMostEverything]

Thoroughly ominous note to end on. Looking forward to the next tune.