That is the title of this excerpt of a book I am writing
NOTE: the book is not set in the DF world, but in a completely different world. There are dwarves/elves in it, but they mostly live in exceptance of each other, with some cults being the exceptions.
Should anyone want to read the whole (albeit, unfinished) thing, I will say, there are only three chapters, neither of which is particularly long.
Just tell me what you think,
Romegypt
They woke up in the morning to a sharp rapping on their door. Leeyl rubbed his eyes as he sat up. A visitor? Or maybe the inn keeper.
He opened the door to see a man and woman standing in the doorway together. They had the crest of COs on the left side of their vests. The man was rather built, and had black hair with green eyes. His nose was slightly pointed, though he was by no means ugly. He was quite a bit shorter than Leeyl, maybe six inches.
The woman was rather attractive, with long, black hair, and a slightly angled face. Her chin was slightly rounded, but not because she was fat. She was rather thin, and her blue eyes went almost perfectly with the Teal of her uniform. She was also much shorter than Leeyl, slightly more so than the man.
“Why hello,” Leeyl said, slightly surprised. “May I help you?”
“You may,” the woman said crisply, though it still had a note of friendliness to it. “Are you Leeyl Gordwraith?”
“I am,” Leeyl said carefully. “Why, may I ask, do you need me?”
“We need to talk to you about the incident that happened here a week ago.”
“What, the raid?” Leeyl asked. “I thought I was going to have to talk to the Captain of the Guard to get info on that.”
“You don’t know?” the man said incredulously. “Aren’t you an HCO? What kind of HCO doesn’t know what happens in one of his own towns?”
“I was away at the time,” Leeyl said politely, trying and succeeding to maintain his calm.
“Away?” the man said unpleasantly, and the woman covered her face with a hand. “Away! How were you away! I can’t believe it! Me, a CO, is more dedicated to the order than an HCO!”
“Watch your words,” Leeyl said, not threatening, but no longer friendly.
“I shouldn’t have to! I do better work than you!”
“Please, Nierac,” the woman said, slightly pleadingly.
“No!” Nierac said, puffing up a little. “It’s obvious he knows nothing! I told you this was a waste of ti-”
Leeyl grabbed Nierac by his collar, and pulled him off the ground, so he was holding him slightly above his head. “I was gone,” Leeyl emphasized. He set him back down. “I suggest you not speak to or about me like that again.”
“And what were you doing!”
“Heard of Kordal?”
Nierac sniffed. “Of course. Any good CO has.”
“Well, I killed him.”
Nierac simply stood there gaping. “You-wha…-you kil…”
The woman was smiling now. It was good to see Nierac put in his place. He often thought of himself as far superior to most COs, and in a lot of ways, he was. He still didn’t need to go flaunting it out all over the place.
“Yes,” Leeyl said impatiently. “I killed him. I had to track him through the Aprica jungle to find him. Devil of a time. In fact, you’ll find you know most events of the past year better than I do, if I know them at all.”
“You were gone that long?” the woman asked.
“I was. Ten months. May I ask your name?” he asked.
“Oh!” the woman said, blushing slightly. I almost forgot! My names Ialane! And, well, you must know who Nierac is.” She pointed to Nierac.
“I gathered,” he said. “Anyways, I have no idea what happened here, and was going to find out. You wouldn’t happen to know would you?”
“I have the basic story here,” Nierac said, he senses regathered. He hefted a small folder. “Goblins raided the town, and took the dwarven squad on duty by surprise. Massacre, at least until the reinforcements arrived. Thirty goblin spearmen, twenty swordsmen, and five goblin marksmen with crossbows.
“And how many dwarves routed them?”
Ialane continued Nieracs speech. “The squad that was taken by surprise lost seven of its ten members. The reinforcements contained fifteen spear dwarves, five marksdwarves, and twenty human swordsmen, that had been trapped by a rather horrible storm, flooding the routes.” Then she added, “We counted the goblin bodies, as well as all the dwarven bodies. It helped the squad in question was filled with veterans, and the goblins only had copper kit. That’s all we know.”
“I see,” Leeyl said, “That’s the basic story?”
“Yes,” Ialane admitted. “We don’t know more.” She looked almost ashamed about it. Maybe she was ambitious.
“Quite a few details for a basic story,” Leeyl observed, hoping it would cheer her spirits, whilst being truthful at the same time.
“Who is there?” Mafayeth interrupted from his bed.
“Nobody you need to know,” Leeyl said. “You can keep sleeping.”
Mafayeth grunted thankfully, and rolled over to sleep once more.
“Well, what say we go see the good captain?” Leeyl clapped his hands together and raised his eyebrows.
Ialane and Nierac nodded. Leeyl got ready, which only took a few minutes, and they were off.
The guard house was rather large, and had steps leading to the top on the outside. It was connected to a wooden wall that ran the length of the village, and would eventually probably be made of stone. They climbed on top of the building, and he could see where an obvious battle had been fought, and even saw where some goblins had not yet been taken away. They opened a door that led into a stairwell that went down into the barracks. Dwarves were drinking and telling stories, and some were appeared to be mourning for the ones who died recently. They stopped a rather thin and lanky dwarf, at least by comparison, who must have been a magician. He informed them that, yes, the guard commander was here, and yes he could see them now.
They walked into his office, and stopped to admire the furnishings. Everything was rather expensive looking, especially for a town of this size. Several professional paintings hung off of the wall, which were painted a deep green. The desk was intricate, and looked as if it had taken month to make, with many curves and grooves etched into it.
Behind the desk was yet another dwarf. He had long dark hair, tied into a ponytail. He had a rather angular face, and greenish eyes, tinged with blue. He was well muscled, and looked friendly, but there was a hardness in his eyes that said he had killed before, and could do it again.
“Ah,!” he exclaimed. “You must be Leeyl!” he bowed in front of Leeyl in magnitudes, almost touching the floor with his nose.
“That’s a rather extensive bow,” Leeyl remarked.
The dwarf grinned. “My mam taught me how.”
Leeyl nodded.”I assume you know why we are here?”
“Ah, yes.” The dwarf smiled grimly. “We drove those goblins out quite quickly, although it cost us quite a bit.”
“I’ll bet it did,” Leeyl said. “We’re sorry for the loss.”
The dwarf looked down. “We lost many good men today.”
“What is your name? Niern asked abruptly, breaking the moment, but getting right to the point.
“Gierdan,” the dwarf said. “Gierdan Falloh. I’m Captain of the Guard here, if you haven't noticed.”
“We had,” Niern said unpleasantly. “You were going to give us a more detailed report?”
“Yes,” the dwarf said, nodding. “The goblins came from a nearby tribe to the north. We meant to send a patrol to destroy the camp, but took too long, and it became a permanent settlement. They took us by surprise. Our patrols weren’t expecting any goblins to raid such a large village. We’ve sent for reinforcements from Mua.” He looked at Leeyl. “You didn’t happen to see them on your way did you?”
“I came from the south.”
“Ah. Alright then.” He looked down at his papers. “We lost a good amount of men, more than the local COs probably know.” He looked meaningfully at Niern and Ialane.
“We heard seven,” Ialane finally said.
“We lost the entire squad, and then seven of the reinforcements,” Gierdan said sadly.
Ialane and Niern both looked shocked. “But aren’t your patrols good soldiers?” Niern exclaimed.
“Yes, but that one patrol happened to be fresh recruits.” He glanced at his papers once again. “Is there anything else you need?”
“How is your situation on supplies?” Leeyl didn’t really care, but it never hurt to be sure.
Gierdan grimaced. “The mayor won’t give us proper supplies or weapons. We barely have enough iron weapons as it is. Food is rather low, and men have actually had to start buying their food with the money they earn.” He sighed. “Sometimes I think that he wants us to fail for some reason. He’s got this cronie named Kord thats always wanted to be Captain of the Guard. I think he is trying to blame me, so he can have me removed.”
“Interesting theory,” Niern said thoughtfully, rubbing his cheek. “Do you have any other proof?”
Ialane looked at Niern, seemingly surprised.
“I have been looking into the matter,” Gierdan admitted. “But don’t tell anyone. I don’t want the Mayor finding out. I had an assistant trail him once. He was meeting with some representatives of a group called the Demon’s Retinue. They talked about how they would be in power soon.”
Leeyl searched for the mayors name. He remembered it distantly-Gao was in his area. Kovin? Ceevin? Wait, Dreivan, that was it!
“Dreivan, yes?” Leeyl inquired.
The captain didn’t look surprised. “Correct.”
Dreivan had always appeared shifty to Leeyl. He had supposed that’s just the way the man was. But he had never seemed like one to commit a crime, or possibly treason. “Do you know what he meant by that?”
“No idea,” Gierdan said. “I’ve wanted to trail him again, but for some reason, he’s started watching his back now. I don’t know if he realized someone followed him or what, but I would really like some concrete evidence that I can use against him.”
“Well, I would help you, but we need to get to Forsa,” Leeyl said. “Me and my buddy.”
“I take it you will be seeing the LCR there?” Gierdan said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms.
“Yes. He’s in charge of all the regions and such south of Forsa, that are still in Titha. Since there are only three major towns there, there are only three regions, and I cover these.”
“I see,” Gierdan said. “Well, when you get back, I’d appreciate some help here.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Leeyl said, smiling. He stood up, followed by Niern and Ialane. “Call us if you need anything, but keep in mind, I’ll be gone by monday.”
“That only gives me two days,” Gierdan said, reaching his hand out to Leeyl.
“It’ll be fine,” Leeyl said, shaking Gierdans hand. “I’ve got to get back, and if you don’t find solid proof in a couple of days, you may not find any at all for quite some time.”
“Take care!” Gierdan said, as Leeyl walked out his office, and out onto the street.
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Topic: Under suspicion (Read 705 times)