Rescue at Royals Field pt 3

Samina doesn't get much more sleep however before a loud banging on her door wakes her up.

"Sam! Time to eat! Lazy proles get nothing done!" Uriah can be heard shouting outside her room.

Judging by the window the sun hasn't even managed another hour’s journey since her foray out of her room. Grumbling to herself she decides it's probably best to comply.

Dressed and ready Samina walks out of the room to a delicious smell coming from the main hall. She can see Thomas and Uriah already seated and speaking at one of the tables made for humans, but otherwise the main area is empty. Thomas’s sword leans against him where he sits and Samina notices the sharp edge looks brighter this morning. As she walks over to sit with them she sees the door to the kitchen is open and she can hear something boiling quietly.

Uriah is grousing softly as Samina sits down beside the two. “It’s getting quite cold in the mornings. I hope I’ll be able to get to Storach before the snow falls properly.”

“It is quite late in the year Uriah, but the weather has been mild, you shouldn’t have trouble. Five nights is not so long to be lost in the wilds.” Thomas responds. Samina notes his spirits seem in good order this morning. His smile is certainly endearing to her, which she finds rather odd given how short of a time she’s known him.

“Hmph, well, the sooner I get going the faster it will get done I suppose. Gregory! Where’s that porridge?! Have you thought about the offer any Gordan? Or what about you Sam, managed to convince this bear he should come along?” Uriah isn’t even looking in her direction as he asks this last question. Instead he has turned in his seat and is looking expectantly towards the kitchen.

“I haven’t talked to him about, we went straight to bed after you did last night.” Samina replies politely.

“Well, we’ve got time now while we wait for this BLASTED PORRIDGE GREGORY! You may as well discuss it now.” Uriah appears to dislike mornings Samina decides with a small smirk. She can tell his bluster is mostly just that though, more in mirth than in anger.

Gregory can be heard in the kitchen responding “It’s on its way mister Tenpenny!” To which Uriah can be heard to harrumph before he turns to look at the pair beside him.

“I don’t think I will take you up on it. I still need to prepare my house for winter, so I wouldn’t be able to just leave on a whim anyway.” Thomas is smiling, but Samina can see the sadness in his eyes. “If you had given me notice, I might just have. Might have been good to be active over the winter instead of idle.”

“I knew you were going to say that.” Uriah squints at him while saying this, before turning to yell once more at Gregory. Thankfully though, Gregory was already on his way towards them with 3 bowls of breakfast and Uriah’s mood improves in a flash.

The porridge is smooth and tasty. Samina has never eaten a meal quite like this before and savours every bite. She’s not sure what the spice on it is, but the flavour compliments the texture wonderfully.

After breakfast the three of them make a little more small-talk about the weather with Samina joining in more regularly than the night before. It’s when they begin to hear a lot of people moving outside that Thomas finally suggests they should get moving if they wanted to sell those potatoes. Gregory has the stable boy bring his cart around and they say their goodbyes. Uriah reminds them he will be packing his things and grabbing a couple last items in town before he leaves, so if they were to change their minds to just meet him here before noon. The ring of the door sends them off when they exit and they’re off to begin their adventure for the day.

“It sounds like it would be neat to see Storach.” Samina tells Thomas as they are walking to the market. “It sounds like it was a great place.”

“You could go with Uriah you know. You don’t need me to come with you if you really want to see it.”

Samina bristles in the middle of his sentence, but remembers to wait until he’s finished speaking before retorting angrily. “But you should be coming too! I don’t want to see it without you, its your home! Uriah already said that stupid Duke is gone so no one would try to kick you out and I bet there would be enough people who remember you to still get what you need to live and you could be a guardian again and help people and be a strong leader like you should be so you can train proles and make everyone safer!”

“I’m happy enough here Sam. Besides, I get to lead whenever I want already. Bunt never talks back either.” Thomas slaps Bunt on the shoulder as he says this and the Ox ignores him. Samina can barely hear him over the crowd as he whispers to himself. “They don’t want me back anyway.”

“You don’t know that!” She says directly, before stomping ahead of him without waiting for a response.

Walking in front of Thomas for the rest of the trip Samina gets a chance to mull some things over. “Stupid Thomas. He’s big enough to force them to listen, and nice enough to get people to like him, so why doesn’t he just make them take him back?” she thinks to herself. “And why do I care so much about this giant anyway.” She reaches up and touches the lump on her neck while she walks. It’s not itched since she woke up, but the lump is definitely there. “Why has so much changed so quickly?”

The northern market area is very different this morning. Samina easily finds the Lowell since he appears to be the center of attention. He’s in the middle of the excitement with a piece of parchment, writing down notes as a few people around him weigh assorted food stuffs. There is a lot of commotion, but everything seems to be working smoothly.

“Here Sam, hold the reins on Bunt while I go talk to… Lowell you said his name was?” With a nod of her head Samina takes the reins and watches Thomas walk towards the center.

The conversation climate in the area had been ignoring them until this point, or maybe Samina just hadn’t been noticing it due to her busy thoughts, but the crowd in the area once again starts to make snarky comments about the pair. She does her best to ignore them, but after the small fight with Thomas she finds her patience is running thin.

“Yon beanstalk does naught but lumber about like he’s simple. A travesty he gets as much as we for this.” Says one particularly loud woman behind Samina and she turns angrily around to face her. Samina knows this isn’t even the worst thing she’s heard this morning, but she can’t take it any longer.

“He is smarter than you, you hag!” Samina bears her sharp teeth at the woman as she says this taking a few steps towards her. Everyone around Samina suddenly stops talking and they quickly back away. “You all point and laugh but he’s a good person! He works hard and does good at whatever he puts his mind too!”

Another halfling nearby responds. “Fah! He’s a nobody! Cast out like a daemon he was! Sidled up to our hearth we took pity on his soul, but he’s naught but a curse!”

Before Samina can respond another voice can be heard approaching. “Here now! What be this ruckus about?!”

A heavy-set blonde halfling is moving through the small crowd around Samina. She can see he has a sword strapped to his back and she hears a couple of the people mention he is sheriff Braag. When he finally pushes aside the last member of the crowd near her she can see he has a blonde beard as well, and is wearing different clothes compared to the rest of the men in town. He has a black leather unbuttoned vest with black leather gloves that have a studded trank leading up to almost his elbow. For pants he has black studded leather once again, but his sabatons are made from proper metal. As he turns to look at the people in the area she notes the sword on his back is nearly as long as Thomas’s. Even though he is shorter than Samina, she admits to herself he is rather imposing.

“We’ve too many good folk around for a squabble! Clear off!” The sheriff makes shooing motions to the crowd slowly before walking closer to Samina. “An’ you prole. What for are you causing strife?” He’s eyeing up at her with a grim look on his face.

“They were insulting Thomas and I had to respond.”

The sheriff spits on the ground before answering. “Lout that he is he deserves it. Keep quiet and leave as soon as you can Gob. Gentlefolk here are roused enough as it is with the aelf daemons on our hearth. I don’t need your kind stirring the coals.” He brushes his vest quickly with his hands before turning and continuing to patrol the market.

Taken aback by this direct response Samina can only stand in place while she digests this. Thankfully though, the crowd has dispersed around her and they aren’t talking about Thomas or her any longer. She shakes her head and looks around for Thomas.

Thomas is walking back towards the cart and he has an unhappy air about him. Samina jogs over and Thomas says quickly as she gets near him, “He’s offering me twenty silver for the lot.”

“What?! But we have way more than that in the cart!”

“I know, but Lowell says the potatoes are too heavy to count the same as the other vegetables.” The disappointment in Thomas’ voice is clear.

“No! I’m going to talk to him!” Samina has had enough of these halflings mistreating Thomas.

Thomas looks shocked at this and begins to stammer a response but Samina has already passed by him.

“Lowell! I need to speak to you!” She calls out towards the trader as she makes her way over to him.

“Who’s this then?” Lowell sneers at Samina as she comes up to him. “Tom’s prole is it? Can’t even keep a dog on its leash then can you Thomas?”

“Now listen up you. Inside that cart are easily fifty bricks of potatoes. We pulled them out of the ground ourselves to fill that cart from bottom to top!” Samina is directly in front of the thin halfling with her arms crossed in front of her. This is the first time she’s had a chance to really look at him. He is thin, even for a halfling, with very light brown hair. What stands out the most however is how weathered he looks, like leather that’s been sitting in the sun for days. When he finally does look up at her directly he has light grey eyes that pierce into her, unflinching and sharp. He considers her like one considers the contents of a jar, picking out the important details before choosing his words carefully.

“You know my name prole. It’s only fair if I know yours.” He says steadily.

“Sam.” Samina does her best to turn her face to stone. She’s surprised by Lowell. Usually she can read a person like a book, but Lowell is steady. No twitch in his eye, nor accidental sniff from his nose. Not even a fidget from his feet as he glares back at her.

“Sam then. I’ve already discussed this matter with Thomas and we’ve come to an agreed price. A price that is still more than fair considering what he would normally get for them.” Smooth and clear, Lowell watches her eyes the entire time he’s speaking.

“I’m sure he agrees with you, but that doesn’t change how much you’re paying to everyone else.” Samina is doing her best to keep her voice steady as well, and making sure to match his stare. Unfortunately, she can’t stop the itch in her throat from coming back at such an inopportune time and she absentmindedly scratches it before realising her mistake. She sees Lowell smirk ever so slightly as she folds her arms back over her chest.

“The deal I make with each person is a deal I make only with that person. Yes, rumors were circulating last night I would pay handsomely but ask around today and see how many have managed to get that price.”

Samina lets out a harrumph. “They still got better than you’re giving to us! Blatant favouritism like this hurts your reputation you know.” This seems like the right angle to have taken as Lowell’s eye twitches noticeably. “And everyone knows a trader lives on his reputation. You might get away with it here where everyone treats Thomas like a burden, but what about other places? If Threeberry knew you treated strong farmers badly do you think they’re likely to want to supply you?” Lowell’s eyes have a slight anger to them now, and she can see a bead of sweat forming on his temple.

“My reputation is not the one to question Sam. There has been a blight on potatoes this year, everyone knows it. I can’t pay extra for produce that won’t last the trip.” Lowell sounds like he is working hard to keep his voice modulated. Samina wants to smile now herself, but decides it would be best to keep the pressure on instead.

“And yet you never asked to see the produce for yourself! You assume that one is as good as the other without checking! Thomas! Show
him the potatoes!” Looking around the market quickly Samina spots the farmer she traded with yesterday. “You there! You had some of our potatoes yesterday! Were they acceptable?” The farmer is surprised to be singled out like this and nods quickly.

Thomas has pulled back the tarp a bit and brought over a handful to show Lowell. After holding Samina’s gaze a bit longer he reaches over and checks the potatoes. He squeezes them, turns them over, and feels the weight in his hands before passing them back to Thomas. He takes a handkerchief from the front of his shirt and wipes his brow quickly.

“They are good, I will give you that.” Samina notes he is having a very hard time standing still now, but is managing to keep his eyes locked on hers. “There is another problem however. I don’t have enough carts to bring this many to Carveil in one trip. I would be forced to leave at least half here, increasing my costs for storage and travel as I must make two trips to transport them. This cost means I must pay less for them.”

Samina thinks quickly about this. Lowell has made an interesting point. Looking around she sees he has two oxen pulling close to a dozen halfling sized carts in two chains.

“You already have ox’s, we’ll sell you the cart with the potatoes then!” Samina knows this is a gamble. She has no idea how much a cart costs, nor if Thomas would even be willing to do this. Looking at Thomas she shoots him a glare that says, “Don’t screw this up!”

Thomas is dumbfounded though. Samina can’t help but smile for a half second looking at him as she’s obviously impressing him. Quickly she looks back to Lowell to see he has closed his eyes tightly. It looks like he is calculating something in his head, and his hand is moving on his ledger like he is drawing symbols quickly. She also notes he has started to breathe faster and has begun tapping his left toe quickly.

“I…. can give you sixty silver for the cart and potatoes. IF there are at least fifty brick in there as you say! I’ll not give you a copper extra if there is more, and the deal is off if you have even a pebble less than fifty brick!” There is genuine vitriol in his voice as says this, shooting his eyes open. He attempts to bore holes through her skull with the daggers coming from his eyes as he awaits her response.

Samina makes a show of thinking this over for a second before shaking her head once in agreement. Lowell extends his hand towards her, palm sideways. Not understanding, Samina slowly does the same and Lowell grabs her hand with a snarl. After a quick pump, he breaks the grasp and storms away. “Check it!” he yells at one of his helpers before leaving the market and disappearing around a building.

The next half hour passes slowly to Samina. The deal has amped her up more than she wants to admit, as she can feel tingles of excitement everywhere in her body. She does her best to keep her cool though, focusing as hard as she can to keep the stone face up. Thomas however, has turned into a lantern. He works with the helpers quickly and efficiently to weigh out the potatoes, smiling the whole time. Every so often Samina thinks she hears him whisper something like “wow” or “good job”, and each time it makes the tingles in her dance a bit stronger.

They have just passed the halfway mark in emptying the cart when they reach forty brick and Lowell’s aides decide that’s good enough. Thomas practically runs to the front of the cart to unhitch Bunt while passing a small bag to Samina who then goes to talk to the lead helper. She can see he has started to count out small silver discs onto a crate they had nearby. As she watches the stack grow she gets more impressed with her performance. “I really did good here didn’t I!” she thinks to herself.

Coins in hand, the pair lead the big ox out of the market while Thomas carries his sword nonchalantly resting on his shoulder. Just as soon as the crowd has thinned to a handful Thomas picks Samina up and places her on the back of Bunt.

“Sixty silver! Sixty Sam! That was wonderful!” Thomas is still beaming he’s so happy. Samina can see him weighing the money bag in his hands over and over. She’s also glad to notice that the towns people have stopped gossiping about them. They aren’t acting any friendlier to the pair, but at least they aren’t slandering them any more. Samina glances around at the houses passing by to help ease the tension in her neck and finally allows herself to smile openly. When she looks over towards Thomas she’s nearly knocked off Bunt as he gives her a full-on kiss to the lips. Checking quickly, she sees they are alone for the moment so she kisses him back before he pulls away with a smile that could chase clouds away.

“We’re set for years with this Sam! First things first though.” Thomas pulls a second small bag from inside the pocket of his pants and separates forty coins into it. He hands the bag over to Samina with a smile. “It’s everything you earned. I only agreed to twenty after all.”

Samina is shocked. She’s never had money before, and doesn’t even know the worth but given how excited Thomas is she knows he’s giving her a fortune. “B-but, I don’t know what to do with these!” She finally manages holding the bag gingerly. The soft jangle of the coins is almost musical as she shifts the coins with her fingers.

Thomas laughs heartily for a second. “OK, lets go show you what you can buy with these!”

They spend the rest of the morning going to different shops in the town. At the wainwright, Thomas orders a new cart for his ox and a small box he takes immediately. The cart will be ready in a week and he pays up front for it; two silver coins.  Next, they stop at a potter and buy a new set of four bowls, four plates, and four cups for a copper a piece. Thomas gives the proprietor a single silver and receives eight pieces of copper in return. The tinker sells them an iron lock to fit on the box with an iron key for a silver. At the cooper, they get two Greenpike pails sealed for carrying water and a short rope to tie them together like a shoulder pack on Bunt for six copper. The cobbler provides them both with a pair of leather boots and a leather sling for Thomas’s sword. Initially the cobbler wants twenty-one copper, but Samina takes the chance to help again and dickers the price down to a single silver.

After leaving the cobbler Samina watches as Thomas sets the sword into the sling in such a way he won’t hurt himself carrying it. Thinking back to the conversation with Uriah she tugs on his hand as he’s rearranging things on Bunt to carry the newly purchased items.

“Is there really that much to learning to use a sword Thomas?” Samina asks once he looks down at her.

“Oh, so it looks easy, does it?” Thomas chuckles to himself.

“I don’t know… I’ve never seen one until yesterday. Uriah makes it sound like a master’s job. Could you teach me?”

Thomas looks down at her with a strange expression. “Do you actually want to learn?” he finally asks after watching her for a while.

“Would it help keep me safe?” she responds quickly.

Thomas continues to watch her for a minute before nodding. “OK. Let’s go get you something to train with.”

Together they had to a blacksmith and Thomas picks out a steel short sword appropriate for her. It doesn’t have an edge, but he explains learning how to maintain a blade is part of the learning process. Plus, it’s safer to learn before the blade can cut yourself. Samina decides to also buy herself a small sharp knife while she’s here. Together the price comes to three silver, which Samina pays for herself. She is given a small scabbard with the dagger, so she attaches it to her belt as they leave.

Thomas decides they should probably wait for the new cart before buying the winter provisions as the items they already have are close to the limit they can carry back to the house.

“One last stop before we head home though. I do believe I promised we would stop and buy new clothes for you!” Thomas winks at Samina. Samina’s cheerful hurrah sounds just like a sparrow singing in spring, and together they make their way to the open-air shop they saw yesterday. Thomas is obviously enjoying this shopping spree. His confidence is impressive at the shops, decisive and authoritative with the choices he makes and Samina is glad to see a different side of him.

It’s passed noon by the time they arrive at the clothing shop. The clothes are once again laid out on dozens of small tables in front. Men’s clothing is mostly arranged by size on the left, and the women’s clothing is arranged by color on the right. There is a friendly looking halfling man tending to the shop lazily. He sits in a chair next to the door to his building which has been held open with a hook and twine that connects to a pole outside. He is commenting on the weather to any passer byes, but since most ignore him he stays sitting. Like most of the halflings in town he has brown hair and no beard and wears the customary black and white clothing.

Samina spends a few minutes looking at the men’s clothing but has a hard time finding pants she thinks will fit her. There are clothes made for both halflings and humans, but nothing in between. She’s about to give up when she hears Thomas say he’d like these. She quickly looks over but whatever he was buying is already being wrapped in a dull scrap linen for transport. She frowns slightly, wondering how he managed to find something for his giant body before her. Thomas pays the proprietor and places the package into the wooden box balanced by the pails tied together on Bunts shoulders. Shaking her head, she carries a couple human sized shirts with her as she walks over to the halfling.

“Do you have legs that could fit me?” she asks. The shop keep looks over her quickly before responding.

“Hmm, a Gob? Come inside, I may have a set for the young humans.” He stands up and directs her into the shop.

The inside of the shop is nicely lit and Samina can see a young pregnant halfling rocking in a chair. Playing next to the woman are two children playing with fanciful cloth dolls. Once inside fully he shows her another long shelf of men’s clothing.

“You can try them on if you wish, to find what fits best.” The tailor points to a few pants he thinks will be closest.  Samina attempts to put on a pair but finds her belt sits too low. Removing the belt and dagger she places them aside and tries on a few pairs of pants before settling on two different pair. Finding a vest is easy, and she pays a silver piece for the clothing. Deciding she would like a bath before wearing her new clothes she wraps all of it together using her belt, tucking her dagger and coins inside once it’s tight.

“Thank you!” she says cheerfully. Thomas must have heard this as he speaks up from outside.

“Sam, you should ask about winter clothing. We can pick it up when we return next week.” Thomas is looking in through the door so Samina hands him the clothes she bought and turns back to the owner.

Picking up a small string with several evenly spaced knots the tailor turns to her. “May I take measures? We can find the right cloth and fit it to you proper.” Samina nods happily.

The tailor first checks around her hips and then the length of her legs and makes a mark on his page of scrap paper he has nearby. He checks her height, arm width, arm length, and shoulder widths carefully and making marks as appropriate before going to check around her chest. He has his face sideways as he does this, but still manages to get a nose full of her breast as he hugs her while reaching around. Immediately he jumps back from her with a surprised look on his face.

“You’re a mother!” He gasps as he moves away from her. He’s turning white as he turns to his wife. “I-I didna know! She tricked me! I would never have touched her had I known Valerie!” The children have stopped playing and stare wide-eyed over towards them.

“Harlot!” Valerie screeches at Samina, struggling to her feet. “David is a good man!”

“What did I do?! I didn’t do anything!” Samina has instantly panicked.

“You had me touch you! With my own wife, right here!” David is furious as he says this, the color returned to his face, and is quickly turning red in anger now.

“Strumpet! You defiled my husband!” Valerie is pregnantly lumbering her way towards her with hatred in her eyes, and Samina turns to run out the door. After just two steps however the shirt she’s wearing once again gets caught under foot. With a horrible tearing noise the shirt begins to rip as she falls to the ground at the door way. Struggling to get away, Samina scrambles through the door but the shirt catches on the hook holding the door open. As she at last stands to run away the tattered remains of the shirt pull off her.

There is already a small crowd outside the shop, gathered by their intrigue from the yelling inside. Gasps erupt around her as they look upon her naked body shooting out of the building. The noise startles Samina and she skids to a halt after just a few steps. That’s when she begins to hear the whispers. Everyone in the crowd is speaking at the same time, but for the first time in her life Samina hates she can hear them all clearly.

“Uncouth!”

“Gods she’s ugly!”

“Harlotry, call the sheriff!”

“Indecency!”

Already blushing from being exposed, Samina covers her private areas as best she can. She can see Thomas was placing her new clothing in the box when this fiasco started, and he has already turned to rush over to her. Quickly, the shock in the crowd fades and the gasping dies down, only to be replaced by far worse comments.

“Look at those scars on her legs! Horrible for a woman to be cut like that!”

“Bruises too! Does she truly believe she’s a man?!”

“Her chest is disgusting! Look how large she is!”

“And her rear is as big as a human’s!”

Samina collapses to the ground with tears welling up in her eyes. She’s never thought to be ashamed of her body before. She tries to hide herself as best she can, curling up in a ball and hiding the scars on her legs with her hands. Thomas makes it to her finally and picks her up. His arms are warm, but she shivers anyway.

“Look, she is truly a harlot! That brute picked her up without asking!”

“Daemonry take them! Such indecent behaviour!”

“He molests her even!”

Samina can feel Thomas’ heart beat through his shirt as he makes his way back to the ox. The voices must have gotten to him as well as she hears him take a deep breath while he turns to the mob around them.

“BE QUIET!” Thomas yells with the force of a thunderstorm. The crowd silences immediately and he stares them down for a second. When no one moves nor matches his gaze. One by one he looks through the crowd before he turns again to continue towards Bunt.

A loud crack can be heard and Samina is suddenly falling. She lands face down in a heap and the wind is knocked from her. Gasping for breath she pulls herself to her hands and knees and looks towards Thomas who is down on one knee. Blood is streaming down his right ear from a large gash on the side of his head and Samina watches his face morph into a monster.

Thomas spins around screaming wildly. He swings a balled-up fist into the nearest person to him and Samina hears a sickening crunch as he connects with a halfling woman’s head. She flies away several feet before crashing into a wall. Thomas hasn’t stopped there however as he brings his left leg speeding forwards into the chest of a halfling man, pushing him down then following through by stepping on him. Bones snap and the man coughs up a burst of blood. The crowd pauses. Thomas takes his foot off the man then winds up and kicks him aside brutally. Panic breaks loose and everyone starts screaming and running.

Thomas starts to chase the nearest people to him but they duck and dodge him as best they can. It takes some time but Samina finally catches her breath and coughs to him, “Stop! Don’t hurt them! Let’s just leave!” Something solid and cold bashes against her left shoulder knocking her flat into the ground once again and she screams in pain. Looking up she sees a halfling with a small craftsman mallet is lining up another swing and she recoils away quickly. The mallet is coming towards her brow when it suddenly changes direction. Thomas has grabbed the halfling by the head and he throws the small man into the air backwards over his shoulder. Easily thirty hands into the air he flies, yelling in fear the whole time. The fall back to the ground finds the halfling landing head first with a sound like a melon being stepped on. Thomas picks up Samina by the waist under his right arm, grabs the reins on Bunt with his left, and begins to run.

The pain in her shoulder is making Samina see stars. Each step that Thomas takes jostles her body causing her shoulder to send additional nails through her bones. As he takes one longer step than normal down a slight incline the pain becomes too much for Samina and a wail escapes her. Thomas slows a tiny bit, but continues to move quickly.

“Sam! We can’t stop! Bear the pain until we get out of town!” Thomas tells her through gritted teeth. “I don’t know where to go. Worms why did I just start running!” The pair are currently running down a side street in the town with only housing to each side of them.

Any citizens they pass jump out of their way before staring in amazement. Turning left, then right, then left once again Thomas searches frantically for the main road.

“There! I see the bell!” Thomas makes a bee line for the next few dozen steps. He bursts out from between the houses and Samina sees they are in an area she only saw from afar yesterday. The building with the bell is just a few doors down from them. Samina looks to the south east and can see the bridge, crowded with people. Turning to the north west, a worse sight greets her.

“Stop where you stand Thomas!” Sheriff Braag yells at the pair. He is standing in the road next to a couple of halflings that Samina recognizes from the crowd in front of the tailors. “You’ve grievously wounded some gentle folk! Submit, and we will set this right!”

Thomas has stopped moving now about fifty strides from the sheriff. “What will happen if we submit?” he asks cautiously.

“You shall both be given trials for your crimes. Her harlotry and witchcraft is evident, but your fate is not yet sealed.”

Samina has no idea what the sheriff is talking about. But she gets the idea her life is in sudden severe peril.

Thomas pauses for a second and Samina’s heart sinks. “Is he actually going to submit?!” she thinks to herself in a panic.

Thomas turns and places Samina on top of Bunt. “I’m sorry for this Sam. I can’t let this happen.” Samina is shaking her head in rejection and he sighs heavily as he places his hand softly on her back for just a moment.

Thomas pulls his sword harness off from his shoulders and draws the blade with his right hand. He then reaches into one of the buckets hanging from Bunts shoulders and pulls her new dull short sword out with his left. Finally, he turns back to the sheriff.

“Then seal my fate. You’ll not touch her while I’m here.” Thomas takes a practiced fighting stance in front of the ox. His giant sword is held perfectly steady pointed towards the sheriff while his other hand holds the short sword reverse-grip.

All the citizens have evacuated the roadway by now and are peaking out from behind buildings. Only Sheriff Braag remains in the open. Glowering at the enormous form in front of him, he slowly extracts his own blade from his back. It’s shorter by a great deal than Thomas’s, but the sheriff looks like he knows how to use it, holding it deftly in his left hand. “You dare pull weapons in our town? We should never have pitied you. Scoundrel!”

Samina only sees the sheriff’s right hand move in a flash, followed by a whistling sound but Thomas had sprung into action the instant the sheriff moved. A small cut appears on Thomas’s neck that starts to bleed slowly. The sheriff repeats this action a couple more times before Samina can see what’s happening. The sheriff is reaching into his open vest and pulling out small throwing knives to throw at Thomas. None of the knives manage to land a decisive hit as Thomas dodges and weaves expertly, but most are close enough to leave a small cut somewhere that starts to bleed.

“Bah, slippery dog! If I can’t hit you…” the sheriff pauses for a second before suddenly turning to look directly at Samina. She watches in horror as he reaches into his vest again.

A shriek erupts beside Samina before the sheriff can throw the dagger at her, causing him to pause with a look of sudden disbelief. Taking a chance to glance over Samina sees Thomas has balanced his sword next to the neck of a woman halfling who was a bit too close to the excitement. The woman is as pale as a ghost, trembling with her eyes closed as the sharp weapon rests upon her shoulder, a thin red line appearing on the metal at the edge closest to her neck.

“Throw another dart at me Isaac Braag, and you earn your death. Throw even one at Sam, and you will have bought the deaths of as many men, women, and children as I can reach before you cut me down.” Thomas’s voice is steady and malicious as he says this, staring down at the sheriff. “Let. Us. Leave.”

The poor halfling woman has tears streaming down her face by the time the sheriff backs a few steps away, lowering his sword, and keeping his right hand held up in the air. “Go, coward. Let these folk have respite from your daemonic visage.” He spits on the ground for good measure before continuing. “You deserve your witch. May you rot.”

Thomas slowly removes the sword from atop the woman’s body. He returns to Samina’s side and leads the ox by the reins along the cobbled path out of town to the north west. Nobody says a word around them as they walk past. When Samina risks a look, she can see the sheriff following them from a decent distance. As they pass the last building the road disappears and they cross back into the wilds of Royals Field. The sheriff stops at the edge of town and watches them make their way through the Greenpike. The last Samina sees of the black garbed halfling is him turning with a huff and talking to someone nearby.

“We need to make for the pillar line as quickly as we can Sam. Moving in the wilds is dangerous and slow.” Thomas has brought Bunt to a trot as soon as the village disappeared behind them. He’d returned the short sword to the bucket at Bunts side, but continued to hold his long sword. Samina is still naked and is only holding on to the back of Bunt as best she can. Her shoulder pain is slowly fading but when Samina looks at it, it is growing noticeably swollen already. She tries moving her arm and finds it only causes a relatively small increase in discomfort. Hopeful that her shoulder bones aren’t broken, she looks up at Thomas again.

Thomas is bleeding from at least a half dozen cuts. One on his neck has stopped but has left a long coat of blood down the back of his shirt. Several holes on his side reveal gashes that bleed slighty still, and one deep cut on his left leg is still flowing. Samina gasps as the blood soaks slowly down his legs.

“Thomas! You’re bleeding so badly! We need to rest until the bleeding stops at least!” Samina begs him.

“Not yet. We’re still too close!” Thomas stubbornly keeps pushing through the Greenpike leading the ox.

Remembering her training from Tulgu she responds, “Please Thomas! If nothing else you’re leaving a trail!”

Thomas doesn’t say anything, but begins to slow down. Finally, he slows to a stop. Samina jumps down from Bunt with a sharp rasp of pain as the landing jolts her shoulder, but she bears through it and runs over to Thomas. She pulls his shirt out of his pants and asks him to pull it off. Thomas looks confused, but removes his vest and does as she says. Taking his ruined shirt, she bites and tears strips of cloth from the shirt. Spitting into the cloth strips she does her best to clean around the wounds. Finally understanding, Thomas sits on the ground and lets her work. It takes her longer to clean the wounds than she wants due to the pain in her shoulder. Eight slashes in total, the worst by far was the one on his leg, and she does her best to make a bandage over the wound.

“We’ll have to sew this one closed tonight, and maybe the one on your neck.” She says as she inspects the wound closely.

“No, we won’t. I’ll be fine.” Samina can’t tell if its bravado or not from the way Thomas says this.

“Alright, we should be OK to continue now.” Samina uses some dirt to clean her hands of the excess blood quickly before standing next to Thomas expectantly. He looks her up and down slowly and openly.

“Did you want some clothes before we continue?” His voice is calm and tired. He’s only wearing his pants and his vest is on his bare chest now that his shirt has been used for bandages.

Samina thinks about it for a second before shaking her head. “No, I want to clean up still before wearing them. I’m fine like this, the weather isn’t cold.”

Thomas nods slowly before suddenly reaching out and pulling her head towards his. He gives her a passionate kiss before releasing her and stands up. “Let’s continue then. The river should be nearby. Can you keep up running, or would you rather ride again?”

“I can run for now, but I'll get a ride from you later.” She says with a toothy grin.

They had changed directions slightly from the last time they were running. Leaving the bloody cloth scattered to misdirect the scents, they head directly south. It takes only a few minutes and they come to the river meandering its way through the grass. Quickly they lead Bunt down the short cliff and start walking up river, away from the town. Samina takes the time to wash herself quickly as they move through the near freezing water for a few hundred strides before exiting the river on the south side and climb the other bank. The sun is warming her up quickly so she waits until she is dry before she asks for her new clothes. Taking only a pair of pants and a shirt, she leaves the rest still bundled with the belt. Her new leather boots are sitting in the bucket, but she decides she won’t need them yet.

They run for barely another minute when they shoot out onto the pillar line path. Taking a quick look left and right they don’t anyone moving and turn west. Thomas thinks it might be better to walk for a bit, briskly since they do want to make distance, but not running to save their strength in case they need to run again later. Samina thinks he is being far too paranoid and calls him out on it.

“Why would those people want to chase us? We’ve left them alone now!”

“I’ve likely killed two of those people Samina. They’re going to want revenge for that!”

“They attacked us first though!” These halflings make less sense every time she learns something new about them.

“The sheriff will believe them though, not us. And they’ll likely say we provoked them.” The way Thomas responds leads Samina to believe this has happened before. She frowns sourly, but once again decides to follow his lead.

They walk in silence for two more slabs. There is a small rise ahead of them and Thomas motions for her stop as they get closer.
“There is someone on the other side of that hill. Wait here, I’ll go see if they might be dangerous.” Taking his sword, he dashes into the grass beside the road and runs off.

Samina waits patiently. Its an opportunity to process the day’s events and she takes the time to come to grips with it. Together the pair has managed to amass a small fortune, buy new household equipment, clothes, and get evicted from Thomas’s farm. Whispering to Bunt she says, “Well, I suppose we could have been far worse off. Thomas or myself could have been killed. I guess that nice blanket isn’t Thomas’s any more. Nor the well or house. Or your little roof right Bunt? I’m sorry Thomas. I’m making your life just awful right now.” She looks to the west and can see Thomas’s head peak over it. He’s walking towards her calmly and it looks like he’s talking to someone. Taking it as a good sign, she pulls on Bunts reins and starts towards him.

After a few dozen strides she sees a familiar face appear beside Thomas, and she feels a wave of relief wash over her. Uriah waves to her, and she waves back happily before picking up her pace and running to meet them.

“Heyo Sam! I hear you two have changed your minds, and are joining me on this trip after all! No word on why he looks like he hugged a Crocolisk, but judging from your shoulder I’m guessing its quite the tale. We’ve a few more hours of daylight though, and I’m guessing you two would like a bit more distance behind us before we rest for the night, am I right?” Uriah has a snark in his voice, but no mistrust. Samina silently praises the gods that Thomas has at least one true friend other than herself. Together, the three of them continue down the path.