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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 2623695" data-attributes="member: 3192">As Father Ben rode along, itching himself under his arms and sometimes elsewhere, and listening to the little woman who was somehow both Fae and Elven, he came to believe she actually enjoyed the beatings that had broken her body.  “Why would anyone want to be hit by hammers?” wondered Ben.  Dram waved his hands from in front to quiet the others.  He silently pointed to the smoke of some campfires ahead.  Veering off the road to their right, the team took a wide berth fearing the worst.  A good distance away Dram pulled the horses even keeping the smoke to their left.  A wide blue river crossed their path at the bottom of a hill.  Dalin and Dram rode forward and tested its depth with a stick.  The river was shallow and quite clear, so the horses were lead single file to the far side.  The team moved back into formation on the far bank.  Ten minutes later and Dram was steered back towards the southern road.  “It’s best to avoid anyone out in the open,” Darius said plainly to his team.  “We don’t know who to trust right now.”Storm clouds chased each other across wide-open sky but ignored the party.  The treeless plain offered no reprieve from the hot sun.  As it turned orange then red blossoming into a spectacular sunset a small wooden palisade was spotted ahead.  Worked lands encircled the tall wooden walls.  Perhaps forty farms in all stood outside its’ doors.  As they approached Ben noticed each of the houses stood empty with door barred or left open with nothing within.  Dalin pointed out the fields were still being tended as the crops had reached harvest height.  “None have been cut though”.  Dram stopped a hundred feet from the wall.  Darius rode ahead alone and knocked on the door.“State yer’ business” a high-pitched voice cracked.“We are on a mission from the Gods,” said Darius.  A smaller door opened built within the larger one.  A teenaged boy and an elderly yellow dog with one good eye looked out.  “Wait here.  I have to check with the master.”  The door closed and Darius waited impatiently.  Five minutes passed and he knocked again.  The larger door opened in response.“Ya’ll have to stable yer’ horses at the Inn” said the boy.  “What inn is that?” asked Ben.“Uhhh.. the Harvest Inn, I guess”“What is the name of this town?” inquired Darius.“This ain’t no town.  We’re a thorp.  Called Gone’way” the boy replied.Inside the circled wall were less than a dozen houses.  The boy and dog lead them to the only two-story building in town.  It looked like a granary.  Indeed, inside were no beds or stables, but a small pile of hay and grain were piled in the back.  Darius started collecting coin from the others to pay for their stay.  Rose had none.  “I never carry metal,” she said.  Darius let it pass.  He gave the kid nine silver and fifteen coppers as a tip.  As the boy goggled at his fortune Ben asked if he could be allowed to hold services while in town.  “What?  Yer’ a priest?!  Really?”  He seemed genuinely impressed.  With hardly any urging he ran off to sound a tower bell.  Ben cleaned and changed into his vestments while the others unpacked and brushed down the horses.  When the “inn’s” doors were reopened Ben was taken aback.  He counted about ninety people outside.  Each stared at him in wonder and fascination.  Ben saw only elderly and young folk.  It must have been all of Gonnaway.  Reminding himself not to mention fathers and mothers or sons and daughter, Ben launched into a sermon about staying true in trouble times.  He gave examples of trials where others had kept the faith and won out in the end.  “Hallelujah” one woman shouted.  He stressed how everyone was needed in Margrave to work each day to keep the County strong and secure.  “Praise be to the Gods!” shouted another man.  Ben asked for constant vigilance in duty and a sharp eye for possible invaders.  The whole crowd was hooting and howling before Ben could even finish.  Those who could had started dancing and some of the older faithful had passed out.  After a closing prayer the congregation surged forward and hands groped Ben from all sides.  After what seemed an eternity Ben saw Dram pushing others away and led Ben out of the mass of bodies.  Ben called out for the townfolk to have a peaceful evening as Darius shut and barred the door to the inn.  “You would make a good sacrifice” said Rose.  “Not like me, of course.  I have impure blood.  But yours is very worthy”.“Thanks” said Ben confusedly.  Thinking twice he decided to move his blankets to the far wall away from Rose.  Secretly he staked them down from the inside and tossed some rocks in the bottom for good measure.Darius and Dalin went to speak with the master as the others bedded down.  The “master” turned out to be the old dog’s master in truth.  He was very old and nearly bald with white wisps of hair sticking out erratically from the sides of his head.  Swapping stories Darius learned the town had sent off many of its members to the Front.  Then the raiders from the east had come and killed everyone brave enough to fight back.  The attacks could come at any time, but the nights were especially bad.  A dragon of legend haunted the nighttime skies.  Few had dared to leave since then.  Darius reassured the old man he would pass along the tale.  Heading back to the sleeping quarters Dalin and Darius found the rest of the team already asleep.</blockquote>

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