Macewood,
a small village, that would be more aptly called a trading camp, is a small
selection of make-shift houses and tents, it boasts the biggest market for
miles and for this reason it finds home to many travellers. Macewood sits
nearby a set of sprawling forests, while being contained in the area known as
the plains, it is frequented by dust storms which give anything and everything
that doesn’t move a red-brown shade.
Seth was selling his wares
at the Macewood market and was currently bartering with a portly blue skinned
bar man over a large gold flagon.
“Ten gold pieces!” Seth Declared, beaming, “Picked this beauty
up in a tomb of a lost king!” Explained Seth, covering up this blatant lie with
a cheery smile.
“Hmmmm…..I’ll give you 7”
replied the bar man
“I said ten!” Said Seth
“What makes you think I’ll give it to you for 7?”
“Well, it’s a bit battered
isn’t it?” said the barman
This was a complete
understatement; the flagon was covered in dents and scratches even the lid no
longer fit properly on the top of the flagon.
“Yes, well, I had to wrestle a horde of undead warriors to
get it of their master’s corpse!” Seth replied waving his fists in front of his
face, fully knowing he had done no such thing,
“Ok but that doesn’t make it
look any nicer, I can’t have this on my mantelpiece for people to look at,” The
barman said.
“Look at!?” Gasped an unbelieving Seth “I meant for you to use it, I’ll have you know, that I test each and every one
of my products for their specific use, and this is definitely a using flagon!!
But I’m sure I can find someone who will use it properly since you seem
uncivilised enough to not know a using flagon when one is presented for you!”
“Fine! Ten Gold and be off
with it!” Flustered the barman as he pulled out the coin.
“Pleasure doing business
with you!” Seth Grinned.
The barman tucked the flagon
under his arm and walked off grumpily. It’s getting late thought Seth as he
started packing up his goods, saying each item out loud as he threw them into
his bag, to make sure he didn’t forget anything:
“Jewelled revolver, old
bottle, half a crown, tool bag, ‘relic of the gods’, all-seeing eye, mauve
coat, stone amulet, Ruby slippers, nuclear tea and enchanted javelin.” He said
each one with increasing emphasis as they went into his bag. Seth then heaved
his loaded bag onto the cart which was parked behind him. With everything
tidied and packed, Seth started the cart and pulled out into the emptying
street. 15 years have passed since the ‘incident’ as it was now referred to as,
and people still haven’t had the time or money to build anything more
permanent, Seth thought as he passed the makeshift houses that were built upon
the ruins of the old. As Seth left the small village he turned down a small
dirt track.
Ellyn heard the front do
slam open and close and braced herself for the inevitable-
“ELLYN!?!?” Baron Valther
bellowed, “ELLYN!? WHERE ARE YOU?!!?”
Ellyn slid out of a nearby
room and curtly replied “Here - sir!”
“Fetch me my Tankard!”
“Right away sir!” Said Ellyn
as she ran away to retrieve it. Ellyn navigated the winding corridors of
Valther’s manor as someone who travels them regularly. Ellyn, being Valthers
hand maid, must follow him everywhere he goes within the manor and do his every bidding. Therefore, she knew
exactly where to find his tankard, where he left it last night and where he
will leave it tonight, as he has done every night for the last 5 years. 5 years
4 months and 7 days, but who’s counting right? thought Ellyn as she reached the
flagon in his “drawing” room, a room that showed Valther for whom he really
was, a blood thirsty murderer thought Ellyn as she looked around the room which
was adorned with hundreds of stuffed animals, if you could still call them that
nowadays, that he had either shot himself or bought from travelling merchants.
On her way to Valther she
dropped into the kitchen to refill the tankard with Valthers favourite drink, a
beverage made from the distilled juice of a certain combination of mushrooms,
which seem to grow in abundance in the manors gardens. Ellyn thought herself a
master of this art as it was one of the first things she was taught when she
first arrived here and to say the least she’d had enough practice at it, what
with the amount Valther drinks she has to make a new batch every week. As Ellyn
returned to the front room, she found Valther handing a bag of Rockjaws to one
servant and large Búri to a large butler. She calmly went up to Valther and
muttered a polite “Sir,” holding up the tankard so he could reach it easily. He
was almost twice the size of her, in width more than height. Valther was a mean
man with beady little eyes, a wide mouth and fat nose, thrown onto a large
round face. This man would be nothing without
his money Ellyn thought as he messily drank from the tankard, slopping some
down his front.
Comments
Post a Comment