Chapter 18 Pinebrook.

  A small flurry of snow heralded our arrival to Pinebrook, the good weather not lasting. We arrived at the front gates of the small city with a lantern on to make sure they saw us in the worsening weather.

  “Who goes there!?”

  A mature voice from the gate calls out to us, their figure obscured by the weather.

  “We are a new mercenary group from Nyft! We seek work and shelter!”

  I called out to the gatekeeper, as we approached, to see him bundled up and shivering with his spear laid against the wall.

  “Hell of a time to be out for work, why not wait until spring at least?”

  I replied with a small chuckle.

  “Guess we just couldn't wait, we got pretty good classes at the coming of age ceremony and thought there was no time like the present.”

  “Well, any proof of you coming from Nyft?”

  I turn around and present my tail ring.

  “The elder said this should be proof enough.”

  “So the old man's finally chosen a successor to his weird fighting style.”

  The others lean forward, shivering in the chill.

  “He chose all of us to keep his legacy.”

  Jean and Alice protest.

  The guard shrugs.

  “It's nothing special to me, I'm just a human after all. Welcome to Pinebrook I guess, the baron isn't busy today so feel free to see if he has work. The tavern is two streets forward and one to the right, you can't miss it.”

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  The guard rings a bell and the small gate slowly rumbles open. We all walk through and find ourselves in a proper city. Our small village can't compare, even in the cold some people brave the storm, moving across buildings and through alleyways. Our village couldn't have had more than 200 people living there, but as far as I can tell this one street might have just as many living here with how tall the buildings were. While not super tall, the buildings were four to five stories. We moved on, looking for the tavern to rest until the storm calmed down. Jean walked beside me as we lost formation.

  “Think the weather will calm by tomorrow?”

  “I hope so, or even better, by this afternoon. We have enough coin to last us a week should we be stuck. And enough rations to last us a month more if we need to camp outside.”

  I showed Jean the insignia I had ripped off the bandits' clothes.

  “I'm hoping the bandits we took care of had a bounty out for them, and that the baron has work seeing as this proves we’re competent.”

  We make it to the tavern, the wind howling as we open and close the door behind us, we shake our boots and wipe off the snow that clung to us. The atmosphere is cheery as a few older men frequent the bar. We walk up to the barkeep and ask for 2 rooms for the night and a hot meal for everyone in our party. Derek handles the negotiations as he haggles him down a coin or two. We spent the afternoon making small talk with each other and the barkeep.

  “Apperently a dungeon has popped up pretty close to the city, I heard the barons looking for able bodies to check it out.”

  Looks like we've struck gold. No wonder the gate guard had pointed us to the baron, travelers like us were rare in the winter months, and a dungeon seemed like just the thing to start building our name with. We separated, to our rooms, boys to one, girls to the other. We washed up with cloth and a bucket of water. Glad that we had Derrick to negotiate for us as we had a small bar of soap to clean with. After drying off with wind magic we laid down in our beds, with only two beds in the room Sarah was by my side once more. She fell asleep quickly while cuddling with my tail, Alice looked on after reading a few lines from her scriptures.

  “You guys have always been close… but after we killed those bandits she's only been able to sleep with your tail. It's kinda cute isn't it?”

  Alice giggles a bit.

  “I hope she doesn't become too reliant on it… it's nice having her warmth, especially in these colder months, but I have night watch sometimes…”

  I trail off.

  “Well, if you ask me, I think she just likes you and you're a bit too dense to see it.”

  I blink a few times.

  “What? But I mean. She-I-were both women though!”

  Alice shrugs with a knowing look.

  “Dont pretend I haven't seen how you look at her, all of us think you'll get together once you both hit your heads and stop being so dense.”

  She puts her book away into her backpack.

  “Well, goodnight Xion.”

  I murmur goodnight back to her and struggle to get the heat out of my face, eventually falling asleep with Sarah's warmth slowly easing my mind.