Four Horsemen: Chapter 4 Part 1 of 1

Chapter 4:

Desari shifted her footsteps, taking the group down a side-street, then through a hurried alley between burnt and broken buildings till she was satisfied no one else was around.

“Okay, we’re going to need to blend in here.  They’re going to be looking for fighters, do any of you have skills other than fighting?”

“I know how to farm? Work with wood?” Petor shrugged.

“I know how to put nets together, fix ships, a fair bit about necromancy, runes and rituals,” Mya glanced around. “Oh and I know how to trade. It is a fine art form.” She winked.

“I know of smithing and inscriptions,” Valter said. “I can create the copper plates I’ve seen the adventurers wearing.”

“Good, that will make things much easier, will you need anything from us?”

“Having one to copy would be best.”

Mya coughed and held out a couple of copper plates with different strings or chains looped through them.

Quick with her hands.

“That will do,” Valter said, taking them and looking them over.

“Do you have any non-fighting skills?” Petor asked her.

“I know of alchemy and spells, though around here alchemy looks to be about the depth of their knowledge.”

Valter pulled out a block of copper and a dagger, the edge of the dagger glowed as he cut off slivers.

“We need a story of how we got here,” Desari said.

“Roaming adventurers all over the place.”

“Ornell and the Cadenfell riders, they saw us  fighting, can back us up about fighting for the city,” Petor said.

“Tunnels in the mountains here, for metals and coal,” Valter rubbed the metal slivers, checking them against the originals for the right size.

“Say we were here to look through the mines for materials for Valter to smith. Then the fighting broke out and we joined in?” Mya said.

“Don’t like saying we were in the mines lest they think we were trying to get further into the mountain. Though it’s a simple story and one that works.”

Valter took out a hammer and a small anvil, the slivers now plate sized. He hit the first plate and checked it.

“Catch,” He tossed it to Desari.

It was rough and worn, smoothed as if from use, with her first name stamped into the metal.

Four hits created four weathered plates.

Valter put his tools away again.

“Impressive,” Petor said.

“This should get us past the front desk at least. Come on, we’ll follow the other adventurers back.” She led them back to the main street.

Fighters trudged through the streets. Horses ran up and down the middle, carts laden with supplies on the move.

No one spared them a look as they followed.

***

Petor adjusted the copper plate on his hip and shifted the water skin he’d thrown on against the rain that had picked up into a regular deluge.

Valter’s arms didn’t fit all the way inside his, but he didn’t seem to mind.

The adventurer’s guildhall came into sight, three stories tall with a large courtyard, stables on either side, the hall extending across the entire block, general good stores on either side, to supply their neighbors needs, dark with the early hour. Forges released smoke into the sky, the sound of metal on metal ringing through the streets, the apothecaries lit, releasing multi-colored streams of gas from their chimneys, the hall’s lanterns illuminated the courtyard and the smoke spoke of a fire lit within.

The gates lay wide open.

“Not even a guard,” Mya said.

“Remember we’re all copper adventurers, newly formed party called the four horsemen,” Desari looked at each of them.

“The place is filled with some of the strongest fighters, think the looters are going to try and steal from here?” Petor asked.

Desari led them through the courtyard and up the stairs into the hall.

A basic tavern lay to the left, a few fighters eating breakfast as servers moved between the groups. The wall to the right was covered with papers grouped under copper and silver signs. Counters stood right ahead.

Two people sat at the desks looking overly tired and bored.

A man spoke in the lady’s ear at the counter and disappeared into the back.

“The guards send you back?” she asked.

“We were down in the tunnels, didn’t hear about the fighting till we came out,” Mya flashed a smile.

“You got a request?” The woman raised an eyebrow.

“No, we were looking for ourselves. Our friend is a smith,” She clapped Valter on the arm. “And our leader is an alchemist.” She grabbed Desari’s arm too.

“Oh,” The lines on the woman’s face relaxed. “How good are you at smithing and alchemy?” She asked, flipping through papers under the counter.

“I have a fair understanding of refining and working on simple tools,” Valter said.

“I am still learning Alchemy and can only make basic potions,” Desari said.

The woman grimaced, clicking her tongue, eyes focused on her papers, speaking under her breath. “Well, the church has said that they want every alchemist and smith.”

She pulled out two papers, eyed Petor and Mya.

“Do either of you have any skills?”

“I make holes in things,” Mya shrugged. And then bring them back to life. Petor cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head.

“I know how to do some minor wood working and I was a farmer.”

“Got plenty of farmers in the city now with the heretic armies at our gates.” She muttered as she scanned through something under the counter and pulled out a third paper.

She tapped the first. “This is a request from the church to make potions, you prove your ability they’ll let you make stronger stuff till you can’t.” She pushed it towards Desari and tapped the second. “Same thing, but with smithing. This last one is a supply run. The armories and caches down near the wall were hit by saboteurs. Church needs people to help move gear from the storehouses and warehouses around the city. I’ll need your plates.” She held out her hand.

They placed them in her hand, she put ink on them and stamped them on different forms. Pushing over papers with a plate on each.

“Alright, you’ve accepted the requests.” She started putting her copies away in a drawer.

“Thanks,” Petor said, gathering up his and Mya’s combined request and plates.

Valter picked up his sheet and started reading with Desari.

“What did yah get?” Mya asked.

“Supposed to head to Alan’s forge, going to be refining metals,” Valter said.

“Ingredient harvesting,” Desari grimaced. “I have to figure out which ingredients they’re using. I hope they tell me how they want me to refine it.”

“Remember, we want to keep a low profile,” Desari stared into Mya’s eyes.

“But it’s so boring!”

“Boring keeps us safe. You coming?” She looked at Valter.

“Where are you going?” Valter asked.

“The forge and alchemy stores were open still, they must be working around the clock. I don’t know about you but I’d like to get started before others start piling in.”

“Good idea,” Valter nodded.

“See you here for dinner?” Petor asked.

“Sounds like a plan,” Desari nodded. “See if you can find somewhere for us to sleep.”

“Keep our ear on it,” Mya said as they reached the front door of the guild. “Doesn’t look like its going to let up today.”

“Hopefully it will do help clean the streets and put out some of the fires,” Petor said and held out the request to Mya.

Desari stepped out into the rain, Valter following.

Mya squinted at the small map on the bottom, then pulled out a map, checked it against the illustration.

“Where did you get that?”

“Limos, remember? Its pretty detailed on the city thankfully. Alright I think I know where we’re going, this way!”

Mya stepped out into the rain and Petor followed.