The woman nodded at Rook in acknowledgment. While the man’s eyes went wide with questions, no doubt about how to join the order. The woman’s lips pulled in a small smile, obviously proud of her young guard. Jody pulled at his beard, and his face cracked in a smile. Then a moment later, Jody went up and shook the woman’s hand like an old friend.

  “Ericka,” Jody said, still clutching her hand. “I’ve missed your company down at the Ogre, your Goban stories about the giant snakes always scare the ale out of me,” Jody said, with a laugh.

  “I do enjoy scaring the piss out of everyone as well, Sentinel. But with everything in the Infernal kingdom, we’re on a higher protection condition. So, my shifts increased.” She looked at her young companion. “Someone has to lead these horses to water. Ain’t that right, Jamie?”

  “Aye, Sergeant,” the man’s voice was even, devoid of the nervousness before.

  Jody looked at the young guard. “My glamour will fade, lad, as all things do. Just know that at the center of someone who accomplishes something great is just a man or woman, so treat them as such, and it’ll make your job easier.”

  “Thank you for the advice, Sentinel,” the man said, and nervously extended his hand.

  Jody shook it. “We’re off to see old Edith.”

  Ericka’s face darkened. “Yeah, do be careful, all of you. Captain Phane wanted to dispatch a few of us Sergeants to check what’s going on, but orders from the City Council said, no.” She sighed. “Such is life, but I won’t keep you. Open the gate!”

  The large black doors swung open, and Rook’s party stepped through.

  “Thanks, guards,” Rook said, with a wave. “Pleasure to be traveling while you’re on shift,” a hint of sarcasm in his words, which only Reina seemed to get.

  Rook gently whistled a tune as they walked down the route towards West Goldwheat field. Squinting his eyes, he could just make out the outline of the village in the distance. A group of houses gathered around a lake or large pond. Turning towards her, Rook frowned at the enhancer’s look of concentration.

  “You look like a toddler trying to shit.”

  “Excuse me?!” She exclaimed, red-faced, and her lips in a frown. “For your information, I’m identifying you, trying to raise my skill.”

  Jody burst out into a laugh. “That’s a first for me.”

  “Oh, I thought maybe you were checking me out.”

  Her eyes were barely a line with the glare she shot him. The corners of her mouth curled into a wicked sneer. “I can sap you, you know?”

  Rook hurried his pace in a show of playful retreat. This is fun. He chuckled at the enhancer’s attempts to sap him.

  “Alright, I yield,” Rook said, with a smile. The corners of his mouth ached from laughing, and he had to wipe away a tear.

  “Good. I’m getting tired of chasing you.” Reina was catching her breath. “You aren’t exactly slow, you know?” She asked, taking a waterskin from her pack. Taking a long drink, she handed it to him.

  “Thanks.”

  “I was enjoying the brisk pace for once,” Jody said, having no trouble maintaining the speed of their playful tag.

  The walk was pleasant, the air was rich with the smell of tilled soil, wheat, and flowers, indicating that they were nearing farmland. It was something he was familiar with, and from the look on Reina’s face, she was as well. In the distance, the mountain pass, Stonebridge stood a looming adventure he no doubt would come to explore.

  Opening the journal, he read the quest once more. Cattle, cattle, cattle were at the top, just below his Sacred Cipher questline. How the hell am I even supposed to get started on it? Do I ask Jody? He decided it’d be better to keep it close to the vest.

  They passed the next hour with small talk. Jody told them a story about the burrowing serpents of the Goban Desert. They came to a slope upwards in the path, and at the top of a hill, a picturesque valley met his gaze.

  “East Goldwheat,” Reina said, with a contented sigh. “Never loses its glimmer.”

  The village sat in the middle of the valley, beside a small lake. The plots of soil were scattered around, with stables, land where cattle roamed, and to the east, a small grouping of hills, surrounded by a green barrier of trees.

  “Yeah, it’s beautiful.”

  After another twenty minutes or so of walking, Rook shielded his eyes from the midday sun. “We really should’ve taken horses or a carriage.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Do you think that you’ll always have a horse to travel long distances?” Jody asked, taking a drag from his pipe. “Absolutely not, let’s get a move on, I’d like to be there soon.” Jody sped past them in his familiar fashion.

  Rook nodded to Reina. “Wait,” Rook whispered, taking the ale and bread from his inventory. “Might as well have this ready for the Matriarch.”

  “Agreed,” Reina said, leading the way on the dirt road.

  The dirt road was lined with a sunbleached wooden fence around the village perimeter of East Goldwheat. He looked around; most residences were made of wood construction houses, both single and long. A courtyard in the middle of the town held the remains of an ashy pyre. The wind sang past Rook’s ears, bringing with it the smell of lavender and manure. In front of a longhouse with the symbol of the Bloodstone, stood planters filled with lavender. The plants spilled over, giving them an unkempt appearance. Parked in front of the house was a Bloodstone carriage with two auburn Clydesdale horses.

  “We should keep low, at least until they leave,” Rook said.

  Reina followed his gaze to the carriage and nodded. “War horses,” Reina said, with a frown. “Only the best for the Bloodstone emmisaries.”

  They continued into the town, taking a wide berth away from any prying bloodstone eyes. The first sign that the town had issues was the lack of people walking around. Instead, people chose to look out the windows, peering over frames with nervous eyes. Those who tended the fields did so with fearful gazes. I hate to see what they do with enemies. Rook glanced at Reina, who gave him a knowing look. Apparently, this was out of the norm. With a heavy sigh, Rook paused in the courtyard, looking from house to house.

  “Something’s not right,” Jody said. “Be on your guard.”

  “I feel something off, too,” Rook said, trying not to focus on the pit in his stomach.

  “Everything okay?” Reina asked Rook, slight unease in her tone.

  “Yeah, just waiting now for someone to address us,” he said.

  Reina frowned at him. “You expecting someone to call for us?”

  “Shouldn’t be long now,” Jody said.

  As if the people heard their exchange, a big bearded man walked out of a farmhouse carrying a pitchfork, reminding him of Farmer Jacobson.

  “State your business travelers,” the man said, gazing at them.

  “We wish to speak to the Matriarch, our business doesn’t concern you…yet.” Rook held out the cattle, cattle, cattle parchment. “Got this from the Stumbling Ogre.”

  The man took the parchment and scanned it. His eyes went wide, and he shot a look back at Jody, then returned the paper to Rook. “Sentinel, please forgive my ignorance, and I’m sorry to you both,” he said with a slight bow.

  “It’s fine, I sometimes forget to put my badge on the outside of my cloak,” Jody said.

  The farmer smiled. “The Matriarch is busy now with an envoy.” He leaned in, his shifty eyes looking left and then right. “With you know who.”

  “Oh, definitely,” Rook said conspiratorially with a thumbs up.

  “Names Noah, been keeping watch around here with the patriarch since East Goldwheat came to be.” With a yawn, he rested the pitchfork shaft on the ground. “Been harder lately,” he said, rubbing his eyes with the back of one hand.

  Rook hefted the supplies off his shoulders and set them in the shade of a nearby house with a relieved sigh. Who knew a small barrel of ale would be so heavy? Noah gave a longing look at the barrel, licking his lips like a dog before supper. Are you going to drool?

  Jody regarded Rook with a curious glance, as if he had a burning question. Rook tried to ignore it and focus his attentive efforts on Noah.

  Seeming to notice Rook’s face, Noah straightened. “Right, the Matriarch will be here in just a moment.”

  Reina looked around the town, grabbing one of the dried pairs of bat wings hanging on the fence posts. “What are these for?”

  Jody walked next to Reina and silently cursed the Maker’s beard.

  “Ghouls,” Noah said with a tired tone. “Thought they was legends, but one of the farmers saw one running into the smugglers’ cave just east.” Noah looked up, shielding his eyes from the swollen sun. “If you’d like, I can put you up in my house until she gets done with her business.”

  “That’s okay, thanks for your time. We’ll wait for the Matriarch to come in,” Rook said, giving him a slight bow.

  “Suit yourselves. She should be around in just a moment,” the man said with a returned bow, pivoted on a heel, and walked back towards a patch of brown plot.

  “What’s a ghoul?” Rook asked, not daring to use his minimal information on the matter. For all he knew, Ghouls in this world could be flying beasts with no relation to the evil creatures in Earth’s lore.

  “Nasty things.” Jody spat. “Pure evil.”

  Reina handed him her journal. “Read it.”

  Ghouls- Silver- Gold Ranked monster

  Abominations of failed necromancy, ghouls have extreme adversion to sunlight and are prone to chopping damage. If you do encounter one, beware of sympathetic feelings. Ghouls range from brown in color to grey.

  Below the description was a picture of a grey-skinned monster. The skin was stretched thin and tight over pronounced bones. It had wild hair and a face with sunken features, black eyes, and sharp teeth.

  Rook shut the journal after involuntary shudders ran up his spine. “Literally, the thing of nightmares,” he muttered.

  Looking at the bat wings on the nearest fence post, his blood ran cold. There’s no way these will ward off a freaking ghoul. The doors to the longhouse whipped open. A man in yellow and red robes walked out, placing a very gaudy sun hat atop his head. Bloodstone fucks. A nagging dull ache throbbed in the back of Rook’s mind. Feeling like he just stood up too quickly, he had to stop and breathe.

  “I don’t like them any more than you do, stranger, but they offer one gold per harvest of wheat we send them.”

  Reina jumped, and Rook whirled around at the new voice.

  An elderly woman looked at the bat wings. “It does nothing, but the villagers appreciate it. Makes them feel safe,” the elderly voice of an older woman with sun-kissed skin said. “Names Edith.” She wiped her dirt-stained hands on an even dirtier apron and extended it towards Reina.

  “Reina,” the enhancer responded.

  She eyed her for a long moment and then smiled. “Jax girl,” she said with a nod. “I knew your mother, one hell of a fencer and enhancer, even better friend. We partied in Haver’s Depths on more than one occasion.”

  Reina gave her a smile. “Thank you.”

  “Sentinel Iron Jody, your reputation precedes you. I appreciated you taking the time to follow through on this.” She shook the dwarf’s hand.

  The matriarch turned towards Rook, grabbing his extended hand and locking it in with the other dirty hand. “You. Where does your family hail from?” She asked, looking him up and down.

  “Pinnington” Rook lied, shooting Reina a nervous smile.

  “Never heard of it,” she replied after making a full circle around him. “You have the black hair and almond eyes of the distant Maldoon people.” She paused, regarding him. “But you’re different.”

  “Uh, yeah. It’s in the Northwest portion of the Ocean, I guess. I’m from a small place not much different than this,” Rook replied honestly. Something about the woman made him want to tell the truth. Something in his mind screamed for him to say Pineville.

  “Where are you really from?” She asked, leveling him with a glance.

  The urge to tell her the truth ate at his guts. His breath hitched in his throat, and his heart fluttered. The dull throbbing ache came back more fierce this time. Reina was no help, and she looked like she had been given 12CCs of truth serum. He could hear her teeth grinding. It was too much for him to bear.