procession towards the stone outcropping where his brother and Sara still rested. Entering the small clearing around the giant stones, Garret motioned towards the goblin’s body for them to see. It still stood, as Garret had left it, impaled upon a stick that he himself trust up beneath its ribs, out its collarbone, and into the base of its skull. Two of the knights remained at the entrance of the clearing, the third who Garret assumed was the same one he had spoken to, approached the goblin, still leading his horse by the reigns. When the knight was sure it was the same goblin as he had followed, he drew his sword and with one mighty swing cleaved the base of the branch where it was stuck in the ground. The goblins body tumbled to the ground held stiff by the pole that remained thrust through its body. Returning his sword to its sheath, the knight tied the goblin’s leg to his horse, planning to drag it away with him. After the goblin was secured, the knight turned and nodded once to his peers. He then turned his steel eyes to Garret.
“You have done the Kingdom a service, Garret Derringer, and so you shall be rewarded. Drawing his steed to him, the knight untied a large sack from his saddle, and walked to where Garret stood. He handed the bag to Garret, then reaching to his waist, slipped his mail covered hand beneath his breastplate and pulled forth a coin purse, this too he handed to Garret.
“The sack is food, it is fairly fresh, and there should be enough to sustain you and your companions until you reach Raven’s Hold. From there use the coins to rent horses to make up lost time. The inn will be expecting you, tell the keeper Sirus sent you, he will have a room and horses waiting. You still have plenty of time to make the journey on foot, but if you wish to participate in the festivities in Castle Valdadore I suggest you use the horses.”
Garret tried to thank the knight, but the man raised his hand in protest. The knight joined his two companions, and they began to lead their mounts back out to the trail. Garret watched them go, and just before they were out of sight the Knight he had spoken to turned around and looking back to Garret said:
“I shall hope to see you at The Choosing young hunter.” He then turned and walked out of sight.
Garret could hardly believe what had just happened. All their problems were solved. They now had food, and now too had much more time to let Seth heal before continuing on. Garret turned to walk across the clearing, a huge grin on his face, impatient to tell his companions of their new found luck.
Garret entered the cavern quickly, not allowing his eyes time to adjust to the deep shadows inside. He walked into the area they had slept the night before, already forming words of greeting on his lips, and came to an abrupt halt. No one was here, his and Seth’s blankets remained, as well as Ashton’s bear hide, and he even noted Sara’s pack against the one stone wall. But Seth, his girlfriend, and Ashton were missing. Garret took another step forward into the dark room, to see if anything else remained, and was struck hard in the stomach. The force of the blow knocked the air from his lungs and hurled him over backwards landing with a thud on his back, his head bouncing off the stone floor. Stars erupted before his eyes. Something was upon him then, pinning him to the ground though he could not make it out. Garret struggled to free himself vigorously, abruptly stopping as he felt a blade pressed to his throat. Garret moaned in defeat.
It was that moan that saved his life.
Seth had seen his opportunity and taken it. As his enemy took one final step closer Seth lunged with all his might, hurling himself bodily at his opponent hoping their collision would knock the man off his feet. Seth impacted the man knocking them both sprawling across the stone that made this portion of the cavern floor. Seth had nearly expended what little energy he had in the lunge across the dark room. Sweat already beaded on his head and arms. His legs trembled, and his vision darkened. He could see movement to his right, and untangling his feet from one another was able to drag himself on top of the man. The man struggled as Seth remembered his sword, and reaching for it, he was nearly unseated. He grasped the sword and dragged it across the stone. It seemed so heavy, he was unsure if he could even lift it. He pulled the blade to him, and careful not to kill his enemy, at least not before he had answers, rested the blade on the man’s neck.
Garret moaned in pain, and Seth realized his error. Barely able to lift the sword any higher, Seth pushed it with all his might, over his brother’s head and released it. It fell to the floor with a clatter. Completely and utterly spent, Seth could not even lift his own body enough to remove himself from his brother. Instead he just leaned to one side allowing gravity to do the work. Seth fell off his brother, landing with a thud on the hard stone floor. He lay there panting, hardly able to see when Sara reached him.
Ashton too had recognized Garret’s groan of pain, and had assumed the worst. Thinking Garret was impaled upon his own brother’s sword, Ashton rushed first to Garret to immediately begin his prayer and his healing. Reaching Garret, and assessing his body he found no wound other than a lump on his head. He then remembered Seth’s tumble to the floor and realized that Garret must have defended himself in the attack and injured his twin. Ashton twisted around on his knees, already in the position to pray and looked to Sara, who now was lifting Seth’s head and torso to her body to hold him tightly like a parent might hold an injured child. She shook her head, letting Ashton know that Seth had not been injured. Ashton, not knowing what then to do, turned back to Garret and smiled.
“Welcome back.” Ashton said cheerily to Garret, his child like face gleaming at the jest, yet knowing as he did that this was probably all his fault.
The remainder of the evening went better than any of them could have expected. Seth had blacked out again for a while, but rested peacefully in Sara’s lap. Garret was unharmed, besides a large knot on his head which he refused to let Ashton treat. After Garret had been able to regain himself, and gather his bearings, Ashton and Garret exchanged their versions of the events that had just taken place. Garret was not upset with Ashton in the least, telling him he had done exactly what Garret would have done had the roles been reversed. After telling his tale, Garret brought out the large sack of food, and the small pouch of coins. Curiosity got the better of them, and wanting to see how much they had been rewarded, Garret drew loose the strings of the small pouch and poured its contents into his hands. Garret and Ashton leaned their heads together, peering into Garrets palm. Sara watched from a few feet away unable to see what it had contained, but instead watching her friend’s faces to see how they would react. Garret sat silently blinking over and over again at his palm. Ashton however gasped in disbelief. Regaining his composure Garret poured the contents of his palm back into the pouch, and pulled the strings tight. He leaned towards Sara, and extending his arm held the pouch out to her. Sara shook her head silently to Garret’s gesture, not wanting to speak for fear she might wake Seth. Instead of retracting his arm, Garret spoke.
“It’s yours Sara.” Garret smiled as he spoke the words quietly. “Sirus said it was a reward for killing the goblin. If you had not wounded it we would all be dead, so it only seems fair to me that the reward should be yours and yours alone. The only stipulation Sirus gave with the money, like I said a few moments ago, was that we use some of it to rent horses when we reach Raven’s Hold.” Garret gestured again flicking his wrist to swing the pouch in her direction.
Sara’s expression darkened and her face twisted with a look akin to pain.
“I’ve never actually had any money.” Sara admitted, her cheeks flushing slightly. “I don’t really understand how it works, you know, what piece is worth how much. I don’t want to mess up and give away more than I’m supposed to, and then we don’t have enough for the horses or something else we might need.” Sara finished her eyes on the floor, ashamed of her ignorance.
“That’s no problem.” Ashton chimed in. “We will teach you.”
Garret nodded in agreement, and the two boys scooted closer to Sara forming a loose circle. Garret poured the contents of the pouch onto the stone floor beside Sara, and sorted the coins. As he sorted them Ashton told her their names. The small brown ones were copper. They were the least valuable. The same sized gray ones were silver. One silver was equal to one hundred copper. Next was a large brown one, which Ashton explained was worth twenty five copper, it was made of the same metal as the first one, just larger. The next coin was a large silver coin, valued at twenty five silver. Again this was the same metal as the smaller silver coin, and was larger therefore worth more. Finally the Last coin, which neither boy had ever seen before, was a small gold coin. It was the same size as the other smaller coins, but was made of gold, and had a crown stamped into its surface on either side. This one was valued at one gold, or one hundred silver.
Sara committed it all to memory. Pointing to each coin she would state its value, and the boys would nod. They played a short game with her then, placing various coins together and asking her the total worth of the coins. She was an apt student and quickly learned the lesson and was able to calculate the value of varying piles of coins without any mistakes. The final pile they gave her to calculate was the entire contents of the small pouch. There were seventeen small copper coins, and three large copper coins. There were also eleven small silver coins, and two large ones. Finally there were the two gold coins. It took several moments for Sara to calculate, but her mother
