“I wasn’t told details,” Hans told me. One look at the thief told me she was in the same boat as us; our bosses hadn’t been very open with details it would seem.
Our first day of travel was uneventful, if awkward. Conversation was pretty scarce around a bunch of people who had been thrown together by a job. I didn’t want to be the one who started any discussions; it would ruin my image to be talkative so I had to wait for the other two to decide they wanted to talk. The other two didn’t seem very talkative either, either that or they were maintaining an image just like I was.
“Don’t either of you get any ideas,” was the only thing the girl said the whole trip and that was towards the beginning. I guess she was aware of her position as a young woman traveling with two men.
“Do either of you know anything about this Headwall’s Wood,” I finally asked, as much to break the silence as to find out information.
“Not many people go near it these days,” the self proclaimed witch told me. Knocking around this world had given me some knowledge of magic and the feeling around the guy we were traveling with wasn’t much. I had been around major magic users and they had a feeling to them this guy didn’t have.
“Is there any reason to keep away from it?” I asked.
“I asked around and I heard that a really powerful wizard had settled in there. You probably wouldn’t have heard of him but he’s a big name with magic users. Doyle, I hope this job isn’t to do with Doyle.” The conviction in the man’s voice made me hope he was right. He didn’t seem like much of a magic person but he still felt like someone who had been through a lot and if he was scared of someone it would probably be a good man to be scared of.
“I have some sealed orders,” the thief commented all of a sudden. Both the witch and I looked at her in surprise. “If you like we could open them now and find out if this has to do with that Doyle or not.”
“Are we supposed to open them yet?” I asked.
“Not until Belvien,” the girl admitted. “But they won’t know.” It was tempting but if it got out I didn’t follow the boss’s instructions on a job I wouldn’t be able to ask half as much on my jobs.
“I’ll wait until the city,” I told my companions and we sank into silence again.
We were in the city by that night. Twenty miles isn’t all that far by horse. We found ourselves a hotel and the thief brought out the sealed instructions for our inspection. Both of them were sitting in my room, without me saying anything I seemed to have become the group leader. I wasn’t complaining about that though, I was the most professional of the group and I didn’t trust the two to make decisions that would become our type of work.
“In Headwall’s Wood there is a tower. You will proceed to this tower and enter it. There you will go to the third floor where there is an item that you are to acquire and return with,” I read out. “It says we have two weeks before we are given up for dead.”
“I don’t like the sound of that last part,” the thief commented. I didn’t say anything but I felt the same. Any job that ended with them making provisions for your death was bad news in my experience. I suppose a lot of bosses make allowances like that but not to your face usually.
To be continued...
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