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| - "And I thought you were the boss here." said Marin in a less than respectful tone. They were hopping around on a cart that was used for transporting goods, (but that now was transporting five people disguised as travellers and other two disguised as merchants) pulled by the two reptilian beasts. "Well, I said I was the leader, not the boss. A leader is a guy that inspires other people to do their bidding, a boss is a guy that actually has a bidding for other people to do. But I like to think we decide things together, me and Gilbert." Hobenrûd whispered to her, in a tone low enough so that the other five people wouldn't hear. After a brief silence, he added, very louder: "So shut up, wench." Marin rolled her eyes and looked around. She was already feeling bored. If there was something she didn't enjoy, it was travelling. Everyone she knew loved to talk about how travelling is good and seeing new things is amazing. But they seem to forget just how...boring it was. She didn't mind seeing new places and all that, but it would take ages for her to reach there. Trying make time pass faster, she decided to ask something that was bothering her for some time: "How do you know we're going in the right direction? It looks like we're going in circles.", soon after, however, she regretted having asked, since it made Hobenrûd smirk again: "See the scratches on the trees? They form a path, full of twists, so that no one can follow us, between the three towns near the forest and the camp. One scratch is the path to Halhm, two scratches is Munber and three is Jointsville. They also serve to make everyone think the forest is dangerous and leave us alone. Like the fluorescent balls and the wind flutes." "The what?", Marin asked, suddenly interested. "We spread rumours that this forest is haunted, so that the people will leave us alone. The scratches were my idea. Gilbert used a liquid made by some trees near Gulge inside glass balls. This liquid, I'm not sure why, ask Gilbert 'bout that, gets bright at night, so everyone thinks they see ghosts. And this other guy, Keaton, he helped us build some big wooden flutes that, when the wind go through them, make the weirdest sound I've ever heard. It works wonders." One of the soldiers on the cart, named Jarek, hesitated for a second before adding: "Keaton was my brother. We were musicians, until he made a song denouncing the king...He sent soldiers that killed our family and we...we barely escaped. A friend of ours told us about the Cherry Wood's Knights, so we came here...he died a month ago of some coughing disease." He gripped the dagger hidden in his jacket a little stronger and his eyes watered. Marin stopped looking at him and turned to the path ahead. She thought that this was starting to get too personal, and decided to focus in finding a way of gaining Hobenrûd's trust; enough trust that he wouldn't kill her as soon as she revealed who she was. For she hadn't given up of her plan yet. She still wanted to get the rebels to help her to get the throne. Soon the landscape changed dramatically as they reached the wide open greeneries of the Eastern Plains. Small herds of wild bovines could be seen on the horizon and a cloudless sky announced that that day would be good. Another soldier, called Gangee, exclaimed behind Marin "Hey! It's a flock of Glumbelies. People say they're a sign of good fortune." Marin looked at the sky, six little blue points flew in a V formation, due west. "Even if those really are Glumbelies, people only say that they're a sign that there's food nearby." said another soldier, Humd. Gangee responded by saying: "Well, where I come from, food nearby is good fortune." They went in the direction of the Northen Mountains for several minutes, until they found a dirt road. They followed it through the highlands and soon they were in the village of Halhm. Halhm was a small trading stop between the western part of the continent and the port city of East Gormenor. Most of the village's income came from buying and selling products from merchants and to merchants that passed through there, and the village's seven warehouses and two trading posts were, apart from the small subsistence agriculture and the local pub, the only source of jobs to the villagers. Hoben stopped the cart near the local pub, the "King's High Brewery", and told the others "Okay, folks, go buy some supplies, me and Priss will take care of the scaring." The scaring?" Marin asked. "I told you already, we spread rumours about the Cherry Woods to keep people away. Look, just follow my drift." He entered the pub and looked around. It was a seedy establishment and, no doubt, the meeting place of the Red Wolves gang, that controlled the local black market. The tables, bar, barstools and chairs were made from badly crafted lumpy wood, the floor was covered in wooden planks, and, contrary to all safety rules, a fireplace, currently unlit, but that the black walls announced to have been lit recently. When Hoben entered, the loud sounds of many people talking at the same time stopped, and all the eyes in the room turned to him. Seeing this, he exclaimed "Blimey! I'll never ever get near that Sallund dammed forest again! It was the most dangerous trip I've ever had to do. Wolfmen! Flying manhunting beasts! Ghostly whisperings! And even undead! Undead, I said!" Almost all people in the room laughed, but kept to look at him. "Even though I courageously did my best to follow the shortcut through Cherry Woods and lead those travellers to their destinies, I admit I faltered many times. If it were not for the encouragement of my love for this woman, I would have given up at the third attack by the wolfmen! Isn't it right darling?" Marin looked at him, wide eyed, looked at the other people, and then looked at her feet. "Y-yeah...yeah...i-it was...that, yes." Hobenrûd climbed a nearby table and continued: "I felt like the great adventurers of the past, fighting countless monsters!" He was fencing with an invisible sword, against a foe made of thin air. "Monsters so horrible that can't be named! Luckily, the travelers with me were great adventurers of the present, and in a joint effort we managed to destroy the black crystal that gave life to those horrors!" Hoben got down from the table and sat near Marin again. He seemed to remember something: "Oh, but it is not over yet. Seconds after we destroyed the crystal, a witch appeared and told us that she would create another one, even more powerful, and all those that travelled the Cherry Woods would serve to feed her horrible creations! ...Bloody hell, I talked so much my throat is dry. Barkeeper! A Kleigen Madness, will ya? What you'd like darling?" Marin, that was too interested on her feet to look up, answered: "Ju-just water." She then rose her eyes to look at Hoben's face, and whispered: "Did you really need to exaggerate that much?" He drummed his fingers at the table and whispered back: "Oh, what're talking about? They loved it. Last time I did that, they given me drinks for free." Seconds later, the barkeeper brought the drinks to their table, which was uncommon at that time, and said, smiling "For you two, it's on the house. Wish you luck in your next adventure." Marin went wide eyed again. Hobenrûd smirked, lifted his cup and exclaimed: "Cheers!"
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