Chapter 2: Alley Attack
A vast landscape of farmlands expanded past the hillside from the treeline. Scout kept walking the path, her new red imp companion floating closely along. In the distance, a line of buildings was visible. While it might have been just another market, Scout had an idea that asking about the Lord there would be quite helpful. After all, while the map would indeed lead her to the city, she had no real idea as to what Lord Pholstine even looked like.
The girl eyed the map for awhile longer before folding it up and pushing it into her bag. Val'Miir stretched a little and yawned, leaning against the human for support. "So how much longer do you think this job is gonna be? I have stuff to teach you, y'know," She'd say, looking over at Scout.
"Not much further, I should hope. I'm going to that town to see if the Liltshire folks know about his potential whereabouts," Scout replied. fixing her bag with one arm as she began to walk towards the farmland. "Oh uh, by the way, are you sure you should be... floating around in the open? Demons are fairly taboo, even cute ones," She continued, grinning some.
Val'Miir straightened up, looking somewhat offended. "Hmph! One more remark about me bein' cute and I'm gonna send you back to the Neutral Kingdom nude!" She huffed.
Scout flushed a little, bristling some. "Ah! I'll be good," She squeaked out.
The demon nodded and snapped her fingers. "Good girl," She'd reply. After snapping, the demon seemed to puff into red ash, floating into Scout's bag and into the charm she had picked up earlier. Despite not being next to her physically, the human could still hear Val'Miir talk to her as if she were. "And since you raise a good point, I'll stay put here for now. You'll still be able to hear me, though," She explained. The feeling of hearing her new companion talk in her head took her off guard for a bit, making her stumble and shiver some. Scout quickly got used to it though, nodding a little.
"S-sounds good to me," She confirmed, now walking through the farms. On either side of the human, simple farmers were harvesting their crops, bundling up everything and setting them aside in baskets. None of them bothered to look up at the stranger that walked by, as they were too focused to really bother. This didn't bother Scout much, as she was a bit awkward, especially around people she had never met before. Much like a lot of other farmers, they were dressed very simply, their clothes ratty and dirty from having worked in the dirt and rain for numerous years.
Scout took no notice of them either, as she found it somewhat rude to interrupt their work to ask about Lord Pholstine. About a few minutes of Scout walking in silence, Val'Miir spoke up again. "Hey, lemme ask this, since I'm bored. Did you ever work in a farm? You have that commoner vibe, to me," She'd ask.
The girl turned her eyes to her bag, as if directing her speech to it. "Don't act like commoners are pests. But uh, yeah I did actually. When I was a little girl," She continued.
"Aw, don't act like that. Technically, all humans are pests to me," Val'Miir replied, letting out a bit of a laugh. "Anyways, when did you get into this messenger business?"
"Ever since I turned 16, actually. I decided to try and find a better life for myself that wasn't farming, so I headed off into the bigger part of the Neutral Kingdom. Now that I'm 21, I've earned a decent pay and live in a decent home as well. Now that I have this promotion, I can hopefully rise up to be the most well known courier of the land!" Scout continued, getting a bit too into her fantasy. At this point, a couple of farmhands had looked up from their business to see a young girl talk to her bag. They eyed her strangely for a bit, since she hadn't realized what she must have looked like.
It wasn't until Val'Miir spoke up, giggling a bit. "Wow, some fantasy, sweet cheeks," She'd say, adding a sarcastic yawn. "Whatever, at least you have me to help you find a more interesting destiny than that. Plus, you might wanna keep your voice down. People are looking at you like you're mad," The demon said. Scout peered up and looked around, slowing her walking down considerably. The girl blushed deeply and gave a little wave to a few of the farmers. After doing so, she hurried along, trying to avoid eye contact.
"Gods, I really do look mad," Scout whispered to herself.
"Don't worry, if this whole messenger or witch thing doesn't work out, at least you can be a good towns' fool," Val'Miir joked, cackling a little bit as Scout flushed deeper. For the remainder of the walk through the farmlands, Scout remained silent, listening to her demon familiar laugh to herself for a bit before quieting down as well. After a while, the girl's ears picked up the noises of a market place. Scout hurried forwards.
The marketplace in question was bustling somewhat, filled with locals who were out shopping for fresh food. Naturally, there were other stalls open as well, such as a fabric stand, jewelry, and cutlery to name a few. The conversations of locals and shop keepers, the jingling of coins, the clangs of a blacksmith's hammer were just a sample of the noises that Scout could hear. It wasn't unlike the one in the Neutral Kingdom, even if this one was much smaller. Despite this, there weren't a whole lot of people, so Scout had no troubles walking around, scanning various stands. Her eyes were wide with interest and curiosity. She did always have a weakness for stands, and had always hoped to look around one.
Like any marketplace, as Scout walked by stands, the owners would call out prices and offers of their wares to her. One stand had an older human man scaling and filleting fish, holding up a rather heavy looking one. "Freshly caught this mornin', love! Only 10 coppers!"
"Fancy silks for the pretty lady? Give ya a nice discount on 'em!" Another voice called, holding up a fine, fancy looking silk, usually reserved for the upper class folk. The vendor was hooded elf, whose skin was a pearl white.
"Plenty of knives o'er here! I'll even sharpen it for ya for no extra cost!" A gruff voice called to the human. It would come from a dwarven man, who's red beard was almost as long as he was tall. He was spinning a blade in his hands. Out of curiosity, Scout walked over to his stand, wanting to look them over. After all, dwarfs were the finest metalsmiths around. Each knife was very intricately done, some simple kitchen knives and some with intricate patterns on them.
As the human looked a few over, the dwarf man eyed her over, fixing his red mustache a bit. "Hm... don't think I've seen ya 'round before. With that robe, ya gotta be a messenger, yea?" He asked, his voice low and deep.
The girl peeked up from admiring the knives to nod to him. "Oh, yes sir, I am. I'm looking for a Lord Pholstine to deliver a message to. Have you perhaps seen him around?" She asked.
The dwarf didn't look away from her eyes, instead giving a bit of a grunt in affirmation. "Hm. I have, certainly. Saw him on 'is horse goin' that way," He'd say, lifting a calloused hand to point his thumb down the road. "When he's not in his castle, he's off at the pub, The Splintered Handle, showboatin' his glory and tellin' his stories. Bunch of hot air, honestly," The dwarf said, lowering his hand and shaking his head.
Scout tilted her head, intrigued to know more. "Stories? Is he a hero?" She'd ask him.
With a loud, hearty laugh, he would shake his head once more. "Hah! That's what those who are stupid enough to believe him call 'im. He gets his status from mercilessly murderin' anyone he finds undesirable. Which is to say, 'anyone who ain't human'. He don't bother with me, but he gets pretty ugly with nonhumans, from what I hear," He'd continue, thumbing over a sheathed dagger with his left hand. "He'd probably smart enough not t'mess with the dwarf who sells knives," He chuckled.
"I see. Well, uh, thank you, sir! I'll be on my way now," She said, bowing a little before heading in the direction in which the dwarf pointed.
"Remember, Miss, don't believe his lies," He called to her, watching her walk off. As he stared, his eyes managed to roam over her exposed legs some. "She's the only girl I've seen to walk 'round with their legs out in th' open like that," The dwarf said to himself. He felt over his beard, grinning a little. "...next time I gotta ask her name and where she's from."
Scout walked down the road, weaving between groups of people and the calls of vendors. Once she rounded the corner, she saw a pub with a wooden sign hanging from the building, which read 'The Splintered Handle'. There was no one around outside at this point, aside from the very beautiful white horse that was tied out front of the pub. Scout figured the horse belonged to Lord Pholstine, and walked towards the pub. Since the road was rather empty, everyone remaining in the marketplace. Because of this, a cloud of red ash would emit from Scout's bag, and Val'Miir would form right beside her, visible once more.
"Yeah, Lord Fancypants is definitely in there," the imp said, nudging the human. "By the way, I saw Shorty back there checkin' you out," She teased, raising her eyebrows.
Scout flushed and bumped against the demon, pushing her off of her shoulder some. "Oh knock it off! You're probably just saying that to rile me up," She replied.
Val'Miir shrugged, grinning. "Perhaps, but I'm not lying," She giggled. "Anyways, hurry on inside and deliver that message, already!" She said, returning in a puff of red ash back into the charm. With that, Scout reached into her bag and pulled out the scroll for the Lord, gripping it tightly and heading into the pub.
A wave of smoke and alcohol filled the human's nostrils almost instantly, which made her stumble some. As Scout looked around, she saw there was only one table that had any actual patrons. A large fog of tobacco smoke surrounded the one table, the sound of jovial laughter and talking coming from the one area. Other than the one table of numerous people, the bartender remained behind his counter, waving simply to the girl as she walked in. There was also the barmaid, who had just walked away from the table of men after delivering another round of ale to them. Scout wasn't too comfortable about being around a big group of people, but she had a job to do. She steeled her nerves a bit and walked to the packed table.
At the table were a bunch of men, one of which stood out in particular. He was dressed in a very fancy attire of lovely fabrics, colored in gold, blue, and white. His chiseled face was covered in a blond beard, which matched his very lovely, blond hair. He looked very much like a fairy tale prince. He was regaling about a journey that he recently had, which concluded with him slaying a tribe of murderous orcs. The people around him were quite amazed with this. None of them had noticed that Scout was even near them.
