Chapter 1
It was a cold and sleepless night, Nis wondered if somewhere else people were cooped up nice and cozy, the shutters drawn and the fire roaring. Nis held to that thought as the icy winds cut through to his bones, he wished he had not let his cloak fly away. Now his only shelter was the drooping, snow covered pines that covered this side of the mountain. The sky was relatively clear, although you could hardly tell with the way the wind kicked up the snow. It was not in the slightest comfortable, but Nis would rather have a sleepless night being poked by pine needles than die an ice cube. Slowly Nis started to feel the full exhaustion of the day, his eyelids began to get heavy. The needles kept him awake, but only barely.
When the wind finally let up, morning twilight had already begun. Mechanically, Nis started the process of getting up. The lack of sleep and warmth had lessened his ability to move elegantly. Left foot, push, right foot, stay for balance, right arm push. It took him several minutes, he moved from sitting to kneeling, from kneeling to standing. And finally moving one foot in front of the other. It wasn't until that point, when he was comfortable using his feet again, that he took note of the change of scenery. He was about halfway up a mountain slope, there was a small hamlet down below. It had been hidden by the wind before, but now seeing it Nis felt new hope coursing through his body. He didn't have much further, that had to be Loughtown.
Nis began down the snowy slope, the town was at most a morning's journey. Warm light escaped the few windows of residences that were up at this hour, and as he got closer a few torches were visible around the outskirts. Patches of grass poked through the powdery snow. Nis wondered how long he would have to wait to speak with the lodge master, hopefully not long, his message was one of great urgency.
As he neared the gates there was a small man with a torch in one hand and a sandwich in the other, at his side was a dagger. As Nis approached, the man looked up from his meal, and with a mouthful of bread said with irritation, "What do you want, 'n why er ya here?"
"I have an urgent message for the lodge master. I must be permitted to speak with him." Stated Nis slightly confused, he didn't understand why there would be a guard here. There hadn't been guards in Loughtown since the beast wars of Cathridge. This did not bode well, could he have come too late?
The short man finished chewing and said, "Is that so, the lodge master doesn't want any visitors right now, been some trouble lately and for his protection all messages have to go through his second." The short man grinned, barring filthy yellow teeth. This man didn't seem like the type to be put on guard duty, it didn't make sense. "Ay, I see it in your eyes, and you're right, I don't belong here, just the town drunk. Go on then, get going." Nis wondered if there was any truth to what the man had said at all. Well, I will soon find out, he supposed.
The sky was growing lighter, the sun would be rising soon. Nis paced through the icy muddy streets looking for the local inn. The buildings here were constructed of pine logs, and stones for chimneys. The mud crunched as he walked, only giving the slightest hint that it was slippery. He came to a crossroads that looked to be the center of town. A round fountain adorned its center, dry of water do to the cold weather. There were several shops here, but the house shaped sign caught his eye before he thought to look at any of the rest. "The Inn," he thought aloud.
He walked up the four wooden steps to the door and knocked. His hands were still quite cold and it hurt to hit the door. He couldn't wait to warm himself by the inns fire. After a few moments the door cracked open, a round face appeared in the crack and said, "What in tarnation? Why are you knocking at this hour son? Well I'm up now so I guess it don't matter anyhow. Come in then." The Innkeeper opened the door a bit more so than Nis could slip in, but only barely, Nis had a feeling the Innkeeper didn't want the warm air getting out.
The inn was warm, but dimly lit by only the fire; the windows were all shuttered. In the common room there were two tables made of worn pine, a bar with stools that looked like they had seen better days, the fireplace which seemed to have been made from river stones, a doorway into one could possibly assume was storage, and a set of stairs to the upper floor. The inn keeper made his way to the bar, Nis pulled a chair from the table nearest the fireplace and sat down in front of the fire to warm his almost certainly frost bitten hands.
"So what brings a stranger to these parts, and at this hour, for goodness sakes?" The innkeeper asked, in a conversational manner.
Nis thought about his message, he needed to keep it for the lodge master only, "I'm here on business." He answered, trying to get the conversation dropped.
"Well, what kinda busyness son, I ain't askin for the kingdom here ya know, just a little talk between folk."
"...I'm a simple farmer, I'm here for seeds." Nis hoped this lie would be believed, and that he would be able to warm himself unmolested. The innkeeper still wanted to talk though.
"You seem a mite far from any farms I know of," the innkeeper was scratching at his beard thoughtfully and sniffed in amusement, "Dear me, I haven't even offered you a drink or my name, of course ya don't want to talk!" The innkeeper picked a pewter cup out from under the table, grabbed a container with a light brown liquid in it, and poured it slowly into the cup. He carried it over to Nis and held it out to him. "The names Gimble, here, take it, its some of Loughtowns best."
Nis took the cup, and sipped it silently. He could not risk his message on any but the lodge masters ears. He knew it was an innkeeper's job to collect news and stories from travelers, but this was one story that he would not get. For his own good, Nis thought to himself. He looked at the inn keeper, Gimble. A short man, a kind round face. Simple clothes, his hair was not holding to his skull though. His eyes were bright compared to the rest of him, there was knowledge there, more than one might presume on a first glance.
Nis realized that he was staring very much at those eyes, and looked back to the fire. The fire and ale were warming him quickly, he began to relax himself a little. Tension leaving him that he didn't know was there before. Slowly but also quite quickly really, he drifted into sleep.
Nis awoke with a start, it was full morning outside. The sunlight glinted through the closed shutters, how long had he been out? Nis got up, he felt slightly stiff from sleeping in a chair. As he was stretching his legs, Gimble came over and put another log on the fire, "Ya know this is an inn right? If ya want to sleep you can always get a room."
"No I'm fine, I guess I just didn't realize how worn out I was." Nis pulled one of the few coins he had out of the small leather pouch he kept in his shirt, and handed it to Gimble, "For the ale, thank you for your hospitality, I must take my leave." With that he turned to leave.
"Take care of yourself traveler" Called Gimble as he left.