It was late when they finally arrived in Wilamark. Sunset had passed more than a handspan prior and the twin moons were high in the sky. Being a farming village, few were awake when the party of nine entered the village.
Arlie was looking forward to a warm bed and a nice bath. It would be a welcome reprieve after a long hard day on the road. Tanyi wasn’t kidding about the pace, Arlie could feel the burn in her thighs. The familiar consequence of exertion but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. None of them complained, well almost no one. Mirrelle had started complaining about the pace when the sun fell, it didn’t help that they’d been delayed a handspan. Not their fault, they’d been forced to detour when they’d reached a bridge several handspans ago. It was one of several river crossings on this part of the isle. Unfortunately said bridge had recently collapsed, according to the crew of workmen at the site, the collapse was the result of storm damage. Easily fixed but it would take them a couple of days to complete. Since waiting wasn’t an option, they’d gone south to another bridge that was reported intact, crossed then came back north, the overall delay was what made them arrive as late as they had.
Thron commented as Mirrelle grumbled again about the long march, “Aren’t you a knight? This isn’t that bad.”
Mirrelle turned on him so fast, Arlie hadn’t even had time to properly process what he’d said. “Of course this is easy for you! You have those stupidly long legs. I’m short, you dumb prick!”
Terrabeth giggled, “Well at least he is a cute idiot, and since you are mad at him does that mean I can play with him?”
“Only if you promise to break his dick in half, you slutty excuse for a knight,” replied Mirrelle with venom.
“Oh, I think someone needs a nice boob massage, maybe a pussy massage to go with it? I’m sure I can get the proper oils in town.”
Mirrelle sputtered, then winced as Tanyi whacked her, then Terrabeth on the head, “Cool it you two.”
Terrabeth gave her a look, “Yes Mommy,” then she switched gears, “Now I don’t know about you, but a nice long march always gets my pussy hot. Anyone want to help me?” She paused and drew the words out, “give it a good stretching?”
Mirrelle gave her a look, “Everything gets you hot.”
“Is that a yes?”
Mirrelle groaned. Arlie stepped closer to Thron, and whispered into his ear, “You just got lucky.”
He returned a confused look. Arlie sighed, it seemed what happened just flew right over his clueless head. He was just unfortunately hopeless.
Tanyi let out a breath, “Right well if you two are done flirting, lets get into town and find an inn.
Arlie didn’t argue, but Wilamark wasn’t a town. Voros would make a better claim. Arlie had noted the features of the town as they approached. The gently sloped fields surrounding the Villa were carefully tended in neat little rows, the occasional farmhouse or shed marked the landscape. The Villa itself sat in the middle of the fields, surrounded by a low wooden fence; she wouldn’t glorify it with the description of a wall. It wasn’t anything more than sharpened wooden posts driven into the ground, each one jutting a good three meters above the ground and banded together with thick cords of rope. Behind the wall, set a series of wooden watchtowers set every ten to fifteen meters around the perimeter. On either side of the gate sat a pair of stone towers that stood a good five meters taller than the wooden ones, and marked the only real fortifications in the entire village. Her hometown of Voros was much better fortified, but the forests of Varixyies were generally more dangerous than the lands of this isle.
Past the perimeter, she could see the houses of the Villa rising above the walls, built of wood with stone facades and trim, and roofed with thatch. Decent enough to serve as shelter and they looked nice but not exactly prime architecture, more function than form. It was hard to tell with only the moonlight to aid her vision, but it seemed the village was arranged around a single crossroad.
The group headed for the gate, as they drew closer, Arlie noticed that it was just a rickety wooden gate, crudely lashed together with wooden planks and rope, and secured on a wooden hinge, not even metal. One guard, half asleep, sat on a chair in front of the gate, his spear leaning against the wall. Terrabeth glanced at the towers, a frown on her face. Tanyi addressed the guard, “Sleeping on the job are we?”
He sputtered awake, took one look then called over the gate, “Ren! Guests! Open the gate.”
The gate started to swing open a moment later, and the guard relaxed back into his chair, waving them through with barely any more attention given and yawned. Seemed likely that he’d go right back to sleep. Arlie had to wonder if the town would be okay with a guard like him. Hellspawn had been seen on the island; they even had a gate in the Fishing town of Hiwari, on the smaller neighboring isle to the northwest. She’d half expected the sleepy village to be more alert given recent events, had news of it not reached them?
Entering the town proper, she looked around. Off to the left of the gate was a small rickety shack, the rope and pulley system attached to the wooden gate ran right to it and there was a window facing them. Terrabeth was already heading for the building. Arlie followed along.
Terrabeth pushed the door open and Arlie stepped in behind her. Stopping at the door, she took in the room. There was a pulley wheel, a desk in front of the window, a small cell on the back wall, made mostly of wood, but with some actual iron bars on the front. Yet what really drew her attention was the young lady on the chair. She looked to be about Arlie’s age, human with long brown hair, amber eyes, perky breasts, slightly large, about the size of a small melon, with huge, stiff nipples, and a slim, lithe figure. Her puffy pussy was twitching and leaking juices, her eyes half-glazed and she was entirely naked, her own hand between her legs. She looked up with a lazy smile, “Oh, hey Terra, welcome back.”
Terrabeth gave her a look, “Don’t, Hey Terra, me. What are you doing? Why is Brega out there alone and asleep?”
“Having a little fun, guard duty gets boring, nothing wrong with that, and if he’s taking a nap good for him.”
“Hellspawn have been seen on the island!”
Ren shrugged, “Like that matters, why would they ever come here?”
Arlie shook her head and stepped out the door, not that the thin walls really helped her ignore the shouting match, but it was the act that counted. She wasn’t needed there anyway. So instead she waited. Tanyi stepped near, while the twins were checking out the towers. Horon was looking at the gate, and Thron was being, well Thron.
Tanyi spoke up, “Security seems rather lax don’t you think?”
Arlie nodded, “Sleepy guard, only two guards seem to be watching the gate. I’ve not seen anyone manning the guard towers, not sure about the watchtowers.”
“I’ll have to yell at the local guard captain, knock some sense into him. With Hellspawn close he shouldn’t be slacking on the discipline.”
“Well Terrabeth seems to be doing some of that already.”
A statement Terrabeth seemed to take as a cue, she stepped out of the gatehouse, looked right at Tanyi and said, “Fuck me silly, tonight, please? I need a distraction."
Tanyi gave her a look, her face softening after a moment. “I can see that.” She sighed, “Come on, lets find the inn.”
Terrabeth gestured, “Down that way, right in the village square. My Mom’s place on one side, and diagonally across from it is the other inn. Boring place; they don’t even offer companion girls.”
Arlie fell on behind her. Terrabeth was practically a local, she’d said as much, her mother owned an inn, and by extension, that meant she’d grown up here. Arlie spoke up, “Is the security here usually so lax?”
“... No, and I’ve never known Ren to... masturbate on duty,” she sighed, “It might just be an off day, but she wasn’t very repentant about it.”
“I see,” said Arlie, and Terrabeth was right, it could be nothing.
The town square was a short walk from the gate. They passed a few houses, darkened fronts, with quiet yards, about what she’d expect given the time. No one else was on the street, not even a guard, which Arlie found a little weird. Back in Voros, they had nightly patrols, primarily to keep an eye out for any monster that might have slipped past the walls, but also to deter thieves and childish pranks. Just because the sun had gone down didn’t mean everyone went to sleep. It wasn’t unusual for kids to stay up past their curfew and sneak out, get up to naughty business. Hell, sometimes she’d stay up late moon watching; she’d been doing much the same the night everything began with that damn prophecy that had changed her life.
None of that was the case here; every window was dark, and there wasn’t a patrol to be seen or a child on the streets. Good for order, perhaps but it felt too quiet. The square itself was a slightly rounded square in the middle of the villa, where two major streets joined. Several large shops sat on the edges of the square, their signs hard to read in the moonlight, but Arlie noticed a general store, a tool shop, the two mentioned inns, a blacksmith, a cobbler and a tailor’s shop. She wasn’t sure about the others; the angles of the moons left their signs mired in shadows and illegible.
Tanyi started for the inn, not owned by Terrabeth’s family, the Golden Field according to the sign. It was a three story building with a wide front porch. The walls were made of fitted logs, and treated planks. The roof overhead was the usual thatch favored in the village rather than clay tiles like in Voros. The front door was a thick, double door, painted light brown with light blue trim to make it stand out. A couple of mana lights sat on either side of the short stairs up the porch, both dark. As no one had lit them, but she could tell they were charged. Tanyi took the steps two at a time and knocked on the door. No answer. After a moment she tried the door, and it swung right open, not even a creak. The hinges had clearly been oiled recently but no one had locked the door, or hung a closed sign.
Arlie noticed the front desk, prominently placed opposite the door, while off to the left was the tavern, the bar quiet, a closed sign hanging over the counter. All the chairs were placed upside down on the round tables, the counters were polished clean. There was no such sign on the main desk, however, but no one was there either. She did see a bell on the desk, which Tanyi tried ringing.
After several rings, just when they were about to leave, a sleepy woman appeared, wearing only a loose wool shirt, while her lower half was completely exposed. She looked them over, yawned and said tiredly with little emotion other than apparent tiredness, “Guests? It’s a bit late.”
“It’s not that late, just a couple hand spans past sundown. We planned to be here sooner but the bridge was out and we had to use a different crossing.”
“Right, heard about that,” she yawned as she looked them over, “Seven girls, and two boys, nine people total. I’ve got three rooms free right now, might be a bit tight, I think ol’ Meribeth has a few rooms free, you might consider using her inn as well. Now how do you want to divide the rooms? I have a triple, and two doubles. I can wake Greg’s lazy ass and have him drag a couple of extra beds in if you need.”
Terrabeth spoke up, “I can go stay over at my Mom’s no need to lodge me.”
Marrielle sighed, “... I’ll go with her and keep an eye on her.”
Tanyi nodded, “Go then the rest of us will get rooms here.” She looked to Arlie, “What room do you want?”
Arlie shared a look with the twins, nodded and then said, “I’ll lodge in the triple with Lily and Rose.”
Tanyi nodded, “Works perfectly, Clara you are with me in one of the doubles and that leaves Horon and Thron in the other.”
The innkeeper nodded, got the keys, “Triple is 312, the doubles are 310, and 208. That will be thirty two silvers.”
Tanyi paid the silvers, then gave the 208 key to Horon, and took the 310 key for herself. Arlie noted it but said nothing as the innkeeper showed them up to their rooms. Still she had the feeling she might want to take a precaution herself.
The room itself wasn’t anything special, a very large bed big enough for three people, a wardrobe on the side, chest at the base of the bed, and a fur rug. The door had a simple lock, and the window looked out over the square. Arlie closed and locked the door after thanking the Innkeeper. Rose went right to the bed, but Lily said quietly, “Did she feel a little off to you?”
Arlie walked to the window, “... she did. I’m going to put some wards up just in case. I’ll do the same with other rooms, and no one leaves the room alone.”
Lily just nodded, and watched her work. She ended up taking her to the other rooms to place the wards she’d learned how to make in Kamiria. Guess she should thank her aunt, next time she saw her? When she was done with the wards, the girls retired to their room and fell asleep instantly. Arlie just hoped that the other two would be alright, she figured Terrabeth being a spellsword could set her own wards.