When she woke up, Cole was gone. She went to the window and peeked through the crack between the curtains. It was dawn. Village roofs were wet with dew. A skinny dog was scavenging garbage cans below the window.
Hellrien washed up, got dressed and enjoyed a light breakfast in the dining room. She was in Captain Basaran’s office in the Dawnhall before mid-morning.
The captain barely lifted his gaze from his desk when she arrived. A hand raised to move one, two, three parchments on the desk, crumpling the top one in the process. ”Hal… Hellrien?” he said with a squint in his eyes, switching his gaze between her and his work.
”Hellrien, aye, sir. Taala and Ero still not back from their ventures, sir?”
Basaran quirked a brow and stopped shuffling his papers, focusing his whole attention to Hellrien for a moment. ”Sir me one more time and I’ll have you reenter and try again. I have a name.” He tempered the sternness of his statement with a brief smile before leaning over the desk to grasp another pile of papers. ”They’re still gallivanting about. I’ve not even heard from them since their departure.”
”Alright, Bas”, Hellrien couldn’t help but grin. ”I have something to report.”
Basaran grinned and stretched himself up from his desk, tossing papers this way and that.
”You are their captor asking for a ransom for their safe return?”
”No, s… Bas”, Hellrien chuckled. ”I’m not sure if you’ve heard the latest news yet. Has the Watch been in touch?”
”Do you t’ink the Watch has time for someone like me?”
Hellrien paused for a moment. She was thinking about the cold, contemptuous interrogation she had been put through in the Bree-Town Jail. It was almost as if they had wanted to find a reason to throw her ass in jail. ”I guess they wouldn’t. Well, they held me in for questioning for the most of yesterday evening.”
”What abou’?” Basaran grunted.
”There was a little incident during my trip to Stock. Some brigands attacked our cart on the way back. They are all dead. No harm came to Colewulf’s merchandise or staff.”
”And they questioned you over a brigand attack?”
”They wanted to be sure there was no no foul play involved”, Hellrien pondered calmly. ”I had just killed three men, so they needed to be sure I had a damn good reason for it.”
Basaran’s nondescript face expressed nothing, neither approval nor disapproval. He curled his fist into his palm and cracked his knuckles, squinting his left eye. He had two small scars forming an upside down ’v’ over his left eyebrow, the only distinguishing feature on his otherwise indescribable face.
”Sorry, was this in their territory of business?” he queried.
”Well, I thought it was, seeing that the attack happened not so far from Bree”, Hellrien said. ”Thus I brought the corpses to them.”
Basaran laughed, shaking his head. ”Sorry, but I don’t know many mercenaries who clean up after themselves. We usually just drag them away from the road and be done with it. Not surprisingly they questioned you for that.”
”I’m a bit new in the mercenary business”, Hellrien smiled dubiously.
”You’re not the first. And you won’t be the last. I was a bard when I joined the Dawn. Take a picture of that, and where I am now.”
”Anyway, they could find no fault with my conduct, and the brigands were known to them from old. Their leader was wanted for manslaughter in Bree, and the other two were no angels either.”
”Brigands do as brigands are. They’re not forcing anything on you for this whole affair, right?”
”No, as far as the Watch is concerned the case is closed. Just wanted you to hear it from me first. I do have some concerns though…”
”Hah, they won’t bother their time with coming to me about anything. Last they came here was when some daft vigilante had a stab at me. Even then they liked to question the innocent party. What concerns?”
”Well, of course I updated my client, Cole, first about what happened. But somehow it seemed to me like he knew much more about the incident he was willing to share.”
”Are you suggesting it was premeditated? Or that he knows full well someone is after these wagons?”
”The cargo was supposed to be just apples and cloth back from Bree. Yet he kept hounding me about whether the driver had at any point been in the cart alone with the merchandise. The driver – I suspected he might have been in cahoots with the brigands. But Cole was very nervous about his apples and rags, and got agitated when I questioned him about it. And he seemed to know the leader of the brigands from some business they had of old.”
”Did you by any chance ever look in the cart yourself?” Basaran quirked his left brow, then his right one as he leaned back on his chair.
”In the cart, sure, but not in the crates”, Hellrien responded. ”Nobody knows what was in those crates except Cole, I suppose.”
”Want someone to try and find out?”
”Well”, Hellrien mused ponderously, ”I know it’s not my business or our business if our client has gotten himself mixed up with some shady business, but there is something that does concern us: in a few days there will be another trip, all the way to Michel Delving. And according to the deal we have with Cole we have to take another Dawn member along. So there’s two of us at stake in case something goes wrong.”
Basaran shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest, flipping his papers about. ”No, just easier to take down anyone who dares to cross your path. You’re still interested in doing it, even after something that seems predetermined?” he asked curiously.
Hellrien nodded. ”I’m interested. Just curious about what Cole has got himself entangled with, seeing as he wasn’t sharing.”
”Some people like to keep their business as their business, but when it involves someone else it gets a little more… precarious.”
”For the Michel Delving trip there will be two carts, two drivers, six guards from Cole, and two of us. It’s gonna be a bloodbath if somebody has a mind of robbing that caravan. Even more so if they know what’s in those carts and if they want it really badly…”
Basaran shrugged somewhat, letting out a sigh of air between his lips. ”I mean, sure. Nothing should be wanted so badly that people would give up their lives for it. Not materially speakin’. Still, some do it. I’ll make sure to have someone with you before you go.”
”Who do you suppose we should bring on with this one?” Hellrien asked. ”I feel that they should be aware of the risks before taking the job, that’s why I’m telling you all this.”
Basaran shrugged again, squinting.
”Suppose you could ask one of the conjoined, but it would be hard getting them on a job separately. Other than that, I am slim for members right now. Ebold, perhaps.”
Hellrien nodded. Ebold was good. She also remembered having a discussion with Taraborn earlier about her gig with the Greenway Company, and he had expressed interest in joining in one of the longer trips at some point. Perhaps she should ask them both? It would mean triple price for Cole, but if he had any guilty conscience about what had happened on the trip to Stock – and if he feared something similar might happen during the trip to Michel Delving – Hellrien believed she would not have much difficulties in twisting Cole’s arm to convince him of the necessity of extra security.
”I was thinking of something else too… would it be possible to send some people to the most probable ambush sites? Bridges, knolls… you know?”
”Given the chance I could send both Taala and Eroforth to do that together, you might be onto a plan. It’s plausible. But I still can’t offer many at the moment.”
Hellrien thought about it for a moment, then realized how unrealistic her idea was. There was just too many ambush sites on the way to cover them all. They would need a whole army. And Cole couldn’t afford an army. At least he wouldn’t pay for it. It was just not worth it, no matter what he was moving.
”I guess you are right. We would need a whole army to cover every possible location.”
”I’m moving towards the Shire pretty soon myself. I’ve a few loose ends and contracts to finalize for a certain group of dwarves. Expectin’ to be gone a while, enough that I’m leaving Bronnan in charge whilst I make leave. Any chance I might be near the area when you’re passing with the caravan? That might be easier.”
”It is possible”, said Hellrien. ”The journey will start in a few days, this week for sure, but I haven’t been given an exact date yet.”
”Then no, that won’t work as well as I might have thought”, said Basaran. ”I can’t guarantee I would be out of Bree before then.”
”I guess we need to focus on the caravan security then.”
Basaran waved his hand around before Hellrien, tilting his head to one side. ”You look pretty suited for a fight, let’s be honest?”
”I wouldn’t miss it for the world! But I don’t want anyone else of us to risk their necks without being fully aware of the risks.”
”S’ what we’re here for. None of us stand around assuming each contract will go down as smooth as mead. We take a risk each and every time we come face to face with an opponent. It’s our job, righ’?”
”Damn right, Bas! I’ve done stuff like this before, and it’s gotten into my blood”, Hellrien said.
”Don’t let it sink so deep that you forget you’re more than a weapon, though. There’s still a person behind every blade.”
”I won't. It's just... if you have gotten a taste of battle, how do you go back? Maybe some folk do. But for me, I never could. That's why I'm here today. Because out there, alone, without purpose, I'm a nobody.”
Basaran smirked and pushed his papers aside. He seemed to have lost his interest in them.
"There are different values to battle. Some do it for glory, some for coin, some for a purpose. Then there are those that fight to survive. There is always a way back, and everyone has a purpose. What makes you feel so little of yourself?" Basaran asked.
”Well, Bas, do you know what people out there think of me - thought of me - before? A whore, a tramp... an outcast. I could never fit in. Anywhere. Not until I found a bunch of people who taught me how to fight and kill folks. That's when I found one thing I was really good at. The only thing”, Hellrien tried to explain.
”Flip it on it's head. A lover, a wanderer, a lone fighter. Words are words. Otherwise the Dawn would still stand for murderers, crooks and villains, just because of what others spouted in their talk. Speaking of, you're good at talkin', so you've got at least one other trait than battle”, Basaran remarked at Hellrien.
Hellrien grinned.
”If you say so, Bas… words are words”, she said. ”Still, it's good to be doing something that you know you can do better than most others. You know what I mean? It gives you the sense of purpose, like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing in this world. Most people never get that feeling in their lives. And that feeling is very addictive."
Basaran shrugged and pushed an index finger into the bridge of his nose.
”Not belittlin’ what you believe is your purpose. But to fight should not be the end all”, he said quietly, quirking a brow. ”Do ’yer not enjoy anything else?”
”I enjoy drinking, Bas! Always have. But nobody ever respects a drunkard. At least not from being a drunkard. If a drunkard gets respect, they get it from their talents and strengths, not their weakness”, Hellrien said and added after a small pause: ”I’m pretty good at hunting too. But that’s more like a hobby of mine.”
”Drinkin' is more like, average to everyone, though, hmhm. Huntin' is always good. I’m going to need to relearn that when I get a move on. Y'ave more traits than battling, Hell', might just take someone else to show you one day.”
"If you say so. I can take you out hunting anytime we both have free time. Ever been to Ered Luin?"
Basaran shook his head, squinting his eyes.
"Names aren't my forté. Possibly, but it's been a long time since I've done much travelling”, he said.
”It’s a long way to the west, beyond the Shire”, Hellrien said. ”A hunter's paradise! I'm sure there are other places like that in the world. One day I want to see them all.”
”See, I know names like Shire, so forth”, Basaran mused, squinting his eye. ”No’ just some boar around the fields and forests o' Bree to hunt?”
Hellrien shook her head. ”Oh no – Bree is a fine hunting place too, I’m sure”, she said. ”But Ered Luin has been my favorite ground so far. The mountains! You should see them... if you like outdoors life, of course.”
”Bein' honest, the Misties are still quite a sight for me. Y'know, between the huntin' orc and having to dine with possibly the loudest, hardest-drinkin' race.”
”Never been that far east myself - but I hope to see it one day.”
Basaran removed the glove in his hand by clenching his teeth around the tip of his little finger and pulling it off. ”Gis it a while, we migh' be ghoin' back”, he said through his nibble.
Hellrien nodded soberly.
”Well, I guess I should be on my way. Unless there's something else...?”
”Was there anythin' else you wanted to say yourself? I ain't the best at continuin' conversations in the best of times.”
”Nope, I think we’ve covered my concerns”, Hellrien said.
”I'll do what I can to ease the stress and worry, don't panic. S’ wha’ I’m here for. Glad 'ter finally get to speak to you more than an introduction, though.”
”It’s been a pleasure, Bas.”
”Pleasure's all mine, Hellrien. Don't let me keep ’yer if you have things to do.”
”Good bye, Bas.”
Hellrien stopped outside of the Dawnhall to light her pipe. She wondered what kind of impression she had left with Captain Basaran. Had she been too dramatic, made a lot of fuss over nothing? What if nothing happened at all?
She shrugged. What in Mordor’s ashes did that matter? Besides… something had to happen. She had a very strong gut feeling that it would.
She rode into Bree and went back into the Prancing Pony.
Nobody had left any word for her to Barliman.
She went up to her room. To have something to do she unsheathed her swords and started practicing the choreographed patterns of Elite Gondorian Arts Burwod had taught her back in the Blue Mountains. She kept going until she was soaking wet with sweat and both her arms and shoulders were aching. Then she poured herself a drink and loaded her pipe.
Securing her technique with the Arts always gave her certain confidence, ever since Burwod and Ranesora had drilled the habit into her in the Stronghold. It was like a second nature to her now. Missing too many days without practice always made her feel helpless, insecure and fat these days.
She washed up, slept a couple of hours and went down to have a dinner in the common room.
